The scene fell silent for a moment.
Whether it was Roger and the others aboard the distant Oro Jackson, or Whitebeard and the others, their bodies riddled with bloody holes and seriously injured, all of them looked toward that proudly standing figure.
At this moment, Austin no longer had his previous approachable, joking demeanor, nor his calm indifference as he smoked freely. There was only a...
Hard-to-describe dominance.
The dominance spoken of here was not Conqueror's Haki or anything of the sort, but a kind of bearing.
Around his pupils were rings of sinister black lines, while an icy chill flashed in his eyes as they swept over everyone.
Even figures like Golden Lion, who had always feared neither heaven nor earth and believed his ambition was great enough to rule the world, had been forcibly intimidated by Austin alone, with one blade and one spear.
It was not because they were cowards.
It was because they could tell that the man before them truly had the confidence to wipe out every last one of them.
That kind of confidence could not be faked.
And the reason future Sea Overlord-level figures such as Golden Lion and Whitebeard had been willing to serve under Rocks...
Aside from recognizing his immense ambition and his Conqueror's Haki, whose power seemed to pierce heaven and earth...
Was, more importantly, his absolute strength—strength enough to kill any one of them.
The confidence Austin displayed was exactly the same as what they had seen in Rocks. Even if his true strength might not match Rocks's, still...
"Monsters of the sea really do appear one after another..."
Battle intent flickered coldly in Whitebeard's eyes, but he did not choose to act under the current circumstances. Leaving aside whether they could even take Austin down...
That full-force strike