Call It a Draw, Austin!

After the battle,

On the slightly worn Oro Jackson in an unknown sea of the New World.

The sky after the rain was exceptionally clear. As soon as the weather improved, Roger began calling for another round of partying.

As for the reason... he could just make one up.

Then let's celebrate shaking off Garp's pursuit once again!

"Party time!!!"

"Ooooooh!!!!!!"

As the captain raised his cup and shouted, the rest of the crew laughed and echoed him. The deck brimmed with a boisterous, bold atmosphere.

Bang—

Amid the lively atmosphere, the violent sound of a door being kicked open was hardly unusual. No one even noticed the red-haired brat with a huge bump on the back of his head gritting his teeth as he looked around.

The straw hat on the boy's head had been pushed crooked by the bump, making him look rather comical. The nearby crewmen who noticed him immediately burst into laughter.

"Did you hurt your head in the earlier naval battle, Shanks?"

Roger, clutching a bottle and drinking merrily, spotted him. He walked over, rubbed the head of this promising young sapling of the New Era he thought so highly of, and asked with a smile.

"No... where's Austin?"

Apparently unwilling to mention the bump on his head, Shanks awkwardly changed the subject.

After waking up, he had grabbed Buggy and asked what had happened to his head. Buggy, being completely disloyal, had promptly sold Austin out at lightning speed to divert the incoming fire.

To be fair, Shanks considered himself a very easygoing person. But getting clubbed from behind by a companion, being knocked unconscious, and ending up with a huge bump on his head was a little too embarrassing.

Everyone knew that aside from his companions, what Shanks valued most was his pride.

In nine years since setting sail, this was the first time he had encountered someone so utterly disrespectful.

And so, young Shanks, who had enjoyed smooth sailing all these years, saw red.

He wanted to prove himself—or rather, avenge the bump on his head.

Weaving through the bustling party, Shanks kept scanning the area for Austin.

In the end, he found him among a group of burly men.

The bastard was eating grilled meat.

The kind where he chomped down one huge bone after another while chugging drinks. He looked relaxed and blissful, like he would have been the top food streamer in the old world.

"Oh? Shanks, why are you glaring at me? Want some grilled meat too?"

"Why are you holding a sword? It's already cut up. Each bone is covered in meat."

"What? A manly battle? I'm too hungry right now. Wait until I've eaten my fill. You wouldn't want to win unfairly, would you?"

"I ate too much. You understand, right? Let me digest for a while."

"...Wait, I'm done digesting, but I ate too much just now, so I need to take a dump. Want to come along?"

"Are you ever going to stop? You're even waiting outside the door while I take a dump? You insist on dueling, huh?"

"Fine, then watch out for my shit-covered mop!"

Shanks knew about Austin's Innate Monster Strength and absurd Observation Haki, so when faced with a weapon that came with "magic damage," he wisely chose to retreat for the time being.

He could handle a real fight with blades and guns. Even if he lost, it was no big deal; at worst, he could wrap himself in bandages and lie around for a few days.

But a shit-covered mop? That was something he genuinely feared!

Still, because of that incident, Shanks kept staring at Austin for the next few days, making him feel thoroughly uncomfortable.

Whatever. A brat was a brat. If he wanted a fight, then they would fight.

Austin shook his head, took an ordinary longsword from the storage room, and tossed it to the still-sulking Shanks.

Shanks caught it in a fluster. Austin raised a finger and beckoned to him, a roguish smirk curling at the corner of his mouth.

"You bastard!"

Shanks was excited. He could tell that Austin was finally willing to fight him. He immediately gripped his sword one-handed and readied himself. Seeing Austin stand still without moving, he stopped holding back.

"Planning to use the gun on your back? I won't give you a chance to fire."

He admitted that Austin's marksmanship was formidable, but he was not afraid of him in close combat.

Seeing Austin act like that made Shanks even more unwilling to accept it. He kicked off the ground and slashed toward Austin.

The swordsmanship he had inherited from Rayleigh and Roger was certainly refined and powerful.

But techniques taught by the same master clearly could not break Austin's moves.

Whoosh—

Whoosh—

Whoosh—

Austin closed his eyes and did not strike back. He merely kept tilting his head, turning his body, and pulling in his stomach...

"Damn it, Austin! Are you just going to keep dodging like this?!"

Shanks was seeing red. He felt like he was being toyed with.

"...Since you want me to use a weapon, fine."

Austin opened his eyes. He had originally wanted to practice his Observation Haki a little longer, but helplessly pulled out a small knife he had swiped from Buggy.

"Sorry, I don't have a smaller knife than this."

"Are you kidding me?!"

The truth was, peers with Haki and peers without Haki were simply not on the same level, even if one of them was Red-Haired Shanks.

At only nine years old, he could do nothing but continually use his swordsmanship to circle around Austin. Yet every strike was casually and precisely blocked by Austin's little knife.

Blade Deflection ×N

Even his full-force slashes clearly could not shake Austin's monstrous strength, forcing him to retreat again and again.

"Shanks is being completely suppressed by Austin."

Quite a few crewmen were watching the show, including Roger, Rayleigh, and Gaban. Watching the situation unfold, Rayleigh shook his head with a sigh.

Although it looked like nothing more than a rookie scuffle to them, Austin was indeed firmly keeping Shanks down through his Observation Haki and monstrous strength.

And in their experience, such natural monsters almost without exception possessed the qualities of a king.

"With these brats around, the future era is bound to be exciting!" Roger laughed heartily.

Aside from those three, the rest were lively troublemakers who loved watching a spectacle. They were pirates, after all; watching excitement was what they liked best.

Austin's master, Bitam, even took the opportunity to open a betting pool for the odds of victory.

Austin: 1 to 1

Shanks: 1 to 10

Draw: 1 to 5

This even drew Roger in, who excitedly took out some treasure to place a bet.

"Austin, well done! Keep it up and take the win in one go!"

"Hey! Shanks, don't give up so easily!"

"Huh??? What are you talking about? No matter how you look at it, Shanks can't win."

"What if he does? The odds are 1 to 10."

"May gamblers die miserable deaths!"

The watching crewmen argued heatedly. Roger had placed a bet too, and kept cheering for Shanks, who barely had anyone supporting him.

Although he could tell that Shanks had almost no chance of winning, he had raised the boy since childhood, so he still had to show some support.

Besides, the treasure he had wagered had been looted not long ago, and he had no use for it himself anyway.

Just as everyone was excitedly cheering the fight on,

Austin's Observation Haki suddenly seemed to sense something. A strange feeling came over him, followed by a voice ringing beside his ear.

"Call it a draw, Austin."

"Uncle Bitam?"

(In the film Red, Observation Haki was used this way. Yasopp and Usopp were in two different dimensions, yet they could communicate and listen to each other through Observation Haki.)