What?
Was this right?
Watching Golden Lion Shiki clench his fist before him, looking as though his ambitions reached the heavens, Austin felt as if he had returned to the Battle of Ed War.
If he remembered correctly...
Back then, when Shiki had wanted to recruit Captain Roger, hadn't he used the exact same pitch?
Austin had heard it from the side himself. He hadn't even bothered changing it?
The corners of Austin's mouth twitched twice as he answered Golden Lion with a dead-eyed stare.
If he truly wanted this world, he would have gone and taken it himself long ago.
While success wasn't guaranteed, after twenty years of painstaking preparation, his odds would have been quite high.
Why would he need to partner up with an old man like Shiki?
"Save it. My answer is the same as Captain Roger's. I only like doing what I want to do. I have no interest in ruling the world, Shiki!"
Austin's answer was much the same as Captain Roger's had been back then.
Hearing Austin's familiar words and tone, Shiki froze for a moment, as if he were seeing Roger from back then—that overwhelmingly domineering figure...
But the old lion of today no longer had the means to lose his temper.
His legs had been severed, and a ship's rudder was embedded in his head. Whether it was swordsmanship or Haki, he was far removed from his peak.
His Float-Float Fruit ability, the only thing that could still inflict effective damage, likely wouldn't be of much use against Austin either.
After all, this was a monster who could fight peak Whitebeard and was no weaker than Roger had been in his prime!!!
After a moment of silence...
Tch—
Golden Lion sneered. There was no desolation on his face; if anything, the