Young Sea Ice, Eat My Bullet!

And so, in the days that followed, most of Austin's training focused more heavily on strengthening his physique.

Though he could not compare to certain geniuses who put in two hundred times the effort,

whether it was sniping, swordsmanship, or hand-to-hand combat, he could learn them at twice the efficiency of a genius on Shanks's level. That still made him a monster.

So, developing his physical strength and Haki early was more important than anything else.

Time flashed by.

Two months had passed since they left his hometown, and Austin's life had been fulfilling yet peaceful.

Not long after dawn, Buggy and Shanks dragged Austin out of bed to clean up. Captain Roger's bounty had risen again last night, so the crew had held yet another feast.

Everyone had drunk themselves silly, except for The Three Worst Supernovas.

Damn it!

Who wouldn't get mentally exhausted from throwing banquets every single day?!

Austin could do nothing about these hot-blooded idiots, or Roger, whose personality was somewhat like King Luffy's.

It was not that he did not want to join them. It was just that the so-called rum tasted awful, and Austin, who had no addiction to alcohol, could not appreciate it.

This was nothing like the passionate Pirate King voyage Austin had imagined. Aside from the occasional storm, thunderstorm, hailstorm, and hurricane, there was none of that thrilling adventure he had expected.

Sure enough, the so-called magnificent Pirate King voyage was really just a bunch of top-tier strongmen hanging out.

By the time lunch was nearly ready, Austin and the others had finally finished clearing away the bottles and scraps.

Just as he was about to eat a billion little bites before going to train,

Austin suddenly seemed to sense something. He froze, then abruptly looked toward the distant sky.

Something was flying over!

Austin heard it first through Observation Haki.

Buggy ran to the railing and took a closer look, only to realize that it seemed to be a cannonball!

Holy shit!

He immediately looked into the distance and saw a stretch of white sails appear in his field of vision.

What kind of cannonball could be thrown that far?

A missile?

Austin vaguely guessed who it was.

Without even bothering to shout a warning, Austin immediately pulled out the long rifle from his back and aimed at the black dot in the sky beneath Shanks and Buggy's tense gazes.

At the same time, Captain Roger had somehow appeared at the bow, watching Austin raise his gun and take aim.

"Kid, that guy's cannonballs are fast. Can you hit it?"

Roger grinned broadly, watching Austin still line up his sights.

Who was he looking down on?

He might not be able to beat the man himself, but could he not hit a cannonball?

Austin curled his lip, centered the sight on the black dot, and supplemented it with Observation Haki.

"Got it!"

Within the range of his Observation Haki, the cannonball was struck by his bullet dozens of meters away from the ship, hit dead center.

But...

He had hit it, but not completely.

To Austin's horrified disbelief, the cannonball did not explode in midair as expected. Instead, as though nothing had happened, it deflected his bullet and continued falling along its original trajectory.

Six six six, this cannonball was a cheat!

No, this was definitely a cannonball coated in Haki!

Seeing that he could do nothing about it, Austin decisively put away his gun and retreated behind Buggy and Shanks.

He was not worried. If the sky fell, the tall ones would hold it up. It was not the three little brats' turn yet.

Sure enough,

"Divine Departure!!!"

With Captain Roger's furious roar, black-red lightning wrapped around his blade as a slash streaked across the sky.

It seemed as though the heavens themselves were about to be torn apart!

Aside from the one Austin had aimed at, several cannonballs following behind it also exploded violently in midair before they could hit the sea.

Austin was dazzled by that overwhelmingly powerful slash.

He knew from the anime that this move was absurd, but seeing it in person was a completely different experience.

One slash splitting the sky?

Divine Departure was good. He had to learn Divine Departure!

Austin's scalp tingled as he watched, and he was practically drooling. His Observation Haki carefully sensed every movement Captain Roger made while unleashing it.

But perhaps he was still too weak. He could only sense an immensely powerful force circulating through Roger's body and could not make out anything clearer.

Austin felt regretful.

Maybe it was like how the Sharingan could not copy Forbidden Jutsu. His level was too low to paste it over.

But before he could react, Shanks and Buggy grabbed him and pulled him behind the many crew members rushing over.

"Hahahahaha!!! Men, prepare to fight the Marines!" Roger laughed loudly as he drew his sword.

"That Mad Dog was hard enough to shake off. How did he catch up again in less than two months?" Gaban, wearing a sleeveless shirt and holding twin axes, grumbled irritably.

"Then let's give them a little welcome gift too." Rayleigh was more straightforward, casually sending a massive sword slash cutting across the sea.

Naturally, just as Austin expected, it did nothing. A black fist from the warship smashed the slash apart by force!

Austin was quick on his hands and feet. He climbed up to the crow's nest in a few moves and greeted his sniping instructor, Bitam. "Yo, Uncle Bitam!"

Bitam was fat, but his reactions and movements were not slow. Seeing Austin climb into the crow's nest as well, he smiled. "Oh, Austin. Be careful. The people we've run into this time aren't some small fry."

"I'll take care of myself." Austin smiled and looked through his rifle scope at the figure on the distant warship.

He was a burly, short-haired, bearded man in a Marine Vice Admiral's coat and black suit, casually weighing several cannonballs in his hands.

The cannonballs that had left Austin helpless earlier had been thrown by that man with his bare hands.

If Austin had anything to say about it, the cannons nowadays were just too pathetic. Even automatic mode could not beat manual mode.

"Guess that really is King's Chicken-chan..."

"Hey, hey, hey! Can you hear me, Roger? Surrender and submit!"

From far away, Garp could be seen holding a huge loudspeaker and shouting.

"Hahahahaha, that won't do, Garp!"

Roger answered with the same smile, and the two old rivals began shouting at each other from afar.

The two exchanged their usual passionate opening lines.

Next came the usual chase and the mutual flinging of Haki-infused attacks.

The Roger Pirates had many powerful members and were highly mobile, so it was unrealistic for Garp alone to capture them all.

And Roger's group had no desire to stubbornly fight Garp, that tough old bone, out on the sea.

After all, if even a little of either side's Haki-infused attacks leaked out, the result would be a destroyed ship, surviving people, and everyone swimming together to the next island.

Whenever the occasional overconfident Marine used Geppo to approach the Oro Jackson, they were either knocked into the sea by Rayleigh and the others or ambushed by Austin's sniper rifle.

Among those reckless young Marines, Austin spotted an unusual figure through his scope.

A Curly-haired Stickman.

"Hey, hey, hey, that guy is mixed in with the ordinary Marines. He definitely isn't holding in anything good!"

If Austin had not recognized him, that young man might really have slipped past him.

An Ice-Ice Fruit user trying to approach their ship—no matter how he thought about it, that could not be good.

Silently taking out the only Seastone Bullet he had painstakingly coaxed out of Bitam, Austin began aiming, the corner of his mouth curling upward.

He would take this as a greeting gift—young Sea Ice, Kuzan.