Austin closed his left eye, steadied his breathing as much as possible, and locked his Observation Haki firmly onto the tall man among the many Marines.
His finger lightly rested on the trigger before decisively pulling it.
"One Shot Style: Fate Kill!!!"
Austin, who aspired to learn from Naming-Naming Fruit users, naturally wouldn't let his style fall below anyone else's.
Even if it was just a basic shot enhanced with Observation Haki.
"Splat—"
With the sound of flesh tearing, a spray of blood blossomed over the sea before scattering into the water.
The figure falling from the air was extremely tall, clearly a head taller than the surrounding Marines, yet he looked remarkably thin. His eyes still held disbelief, terror, and helplessness.
Then he slowly sank into the sea.
"Hey! Kuzan!!!"
A Marine fighting nearby saw this scene and shouted, not forgetting to use Geppo to rush over and rescue him.
As a veteran aboard Vice Admiral Garp's ship, he knew full well this recruit's potential and Devil Fruit ability. A talent like this couldn't be allowed to die here.
"My ability..."
As Kuzan gradually sank toward the seafloor, he felt the intense pain at the root of his thigh, along with the weakness and suffocation spreading through his body.
A damnable possibility came to mind.
"Who the hell uses Seastone to shoot a mere grunt..."
But just before he hit the water, he vaguely caught sight of the one who had fired the sneaky shot. It seemed to be someone with long black hair.
"Tch! A man's instincts, huh? Even an Observation Haki-aimed shot could miss!"
Observation Haki showed that he hadn't hit where he'd intended to, which meant the first female Admiral in Marine history would no longer exist.
Austin smacked his lips, feeling somewhat regretful.
But he wasn't the kind of person to put all his eggs in one basket.
Wasn't it better to spread the favor around?
This was also to reverse the imbalance of too many men and too few women in the Marines, for the balance of the seas!
Thus, in a certain sense, Austin became king before Roger did.
What kind of king, you asked?
Of course, the king of blowing up orders!
"Charging in with a sword to hack at people really doesn't suit me. Ambushing people from high ground is the true way."
Watching Austin's shooting grow increasingly refined, Bitam, who was mainly dealing with incoming cannonballs, felt both gratified and a cold sweat run down his back.
This kid really was inhuman.
The pursuit battle was somewhat deadlocked, but overall, the Roger Pirates held the advantage due to their overwhelmingly high average strength. They were also steadily pulling away from the Marine warships.
"Bang—bang—"
"My Armament Haki..."
Austin had once again foreseen the bullet, only for the attack to be blocked by an Armament Haki-covered crotch. He felt helpless.
He could deal with low-level grunts, but anyone who knew even a little Two-Colored Haki left him completely without options. Every attack was difficult to track in reverse and impossible to break through their defenses with.
Of course, with his incredibly precise Observation Haki, no bullet could hit Austin either.
"Just wait until I master Armament Haki and Future Sight. Let's see if you can still protect yourselves then."
"Tap—"
Austin nimbly slung his gun over his back and quickly climbed down the rope from the lookout platform.
Since he hadn't developed enough yet, he wouldn't play in this high-end match for now. Those Armament Haki attacks coated in Conqueror's Haki would kill him if they touched him and wound him if they grazed him.
The other crew members on deck didn't say anything when they saw the small boy with a gun retreating toward the cabins.
After all, against this group of elite Marines, a nine-year-old child couldn't be of much use. If he insisted on fighting, they would have to split their attention to protect him.
Buggy and Shanks were the same. The crew had no time to spare for them, so they were no different from Austin.
Even though Austin felt that the current Shanks and Buggy combined still couldn't beat him.
But in the eyes of the official crew members, the three brats were pretty much the same.
—Equally useless.
"Hey! Shanks, that guy Austin has definitely already gone into hiding. We should hurry too!"
"Don't be like that, Buggy. This is a battle between men of the sea!"
Sensing the two figures still lingering on deck with his Observation Haki, Austin stopped and headed toward the other side of the ship.
At heart, Austin was still someone who loved having fun, which was why he liked traveling the world and doing whatever he pleased.
His crazed desire to become stronger was also so he could have fun whenever he wanted, rather than become someone else's entertainment.
Now that he saw those two living treasures still fooling around on deck, Austin grinned and no longer hurried back into the cabins.
On deck, a red-nosed kid was tugging at a red-haired kid, while the kid carrying a black gun crept quietly toward them.
It looked like Shanks wanted to join the battle with a sword, while Buggy wanted to persuade him to hide together. Since he couldn't pull Shanks away, they had gotten into an argument.
For all his nastiness, Buggy was still someone who valued loyalty.
"Buggy, who did you say was hiding?"
Without making a sound, Austin suddenly slapped Buggy on the back as he struggled. His eerie voice rang beside Buggy's ear, nearly scaring both of them to death!
"Austin! You bastard, can't you make any sound when you walk?!"
Buggy turned red with rage as usual, but after shouting, the moment he saw Austin appear, he immediately wanted to drag him along and take Shanks into hiding.
After all, they didn't dare approach Garp's warship, and they had no ranged attacks if they stayed on deck. They also had to worry about bullets flying their way.
Not everyone awakened Observation Haki at the age of nine.
"Hey, Austin, let's go back into the cabins together." Buggy was the first to invite him to retreat as a team. Austin thought about it and nodded.
Like Austin, Buggy had only joined the Roger Pirates not long ago. He wasn't yet the Sleepless Man for Three Days and Three Nights he would become years later, nor had he been tempered by much combat. His reaction was perfectly normal.
But Buggy looked at Shanks, who was still leaning over the side of the ship and eagerly watching the excitement, and felt a headache coming on. This guy had been adventuring with the Roger Pirates since birth and was incredibly stubborn.
"What's going on?"
Austin casually used his black gun to block a bullet flying in from afar. Seeing Buggy's ugly expression, he was somewhat confused.
But after noticing that Shanks hadn't moved, he immediately understood.
The Three Worst Supernovas had always acted as a group. Shanks really couldn't help and only caused trouble.
This wasn't the Wano Country war from years later, where generals fought generals and soldiers fought soldiers, with White Group apprentice crew members and grunts available for Shanks to occupy.
Any attack from these elite Marines with even a bit of Haki behind it could take the nine-year-old redhead's life.
Although Austin knew Shanks would become incredibly powerful in the future,
Right now...
He hadn't developed yet, so he shouldn't act reckless.
Looking at Shanks, who was still leaning over the edge of the deck to watch the spectacle, Austin motioned for Buggy to move aside.
Under Buggy's bewildered gaze, Austin raised the black gun in his hand and aimed it at the back of Shanks's head.
"Bang—"
With his natural monstrous strength and relentless, crazed training, Austin couldn't say for certain, but his strength was most likely no less than Young Whitebeard's.
One blow from that gunstock, and even Red-Haired, one of the Four Emperors, would roll his eyes back.
"Not bad. Young Austin VS Young Red Hair."
"Young Austin wins."
Austin nodded in satisfaction, then dragged Shanks by the collar toward the cabins under Buggy's stunned gaze.
Before you continue