Too weak to fight back, left at others' mercy

"You're just a kid. What do you know about how much we've sacrificed?"

Shanks tightened his grip on Griffin, squeezing harder still.

"Sacrificed? Mister, has all this sacrifice you talk about really translated into the strength you should have gained?"

A trace of undisguised mockery crept into Shirahoshi's voice:

"You sacrificed so much and painted such a beautiful picture of the future, yet you never made any practical plans or progress on the most important issue of all: how to overthrow the World Government."

"I'm already sixteen, gentlemen. You've spent a full twenty years standing still."

"Nearly twenty years ago, Shanks, my father assessed you. Back then, he rated your strength A+ and praised your potential to reach S+."

"And now, twenty years later, my father can't even be bothered to fight you anymore. As a member of the next generation, I've witnessed your struggle here with my own eyes. But the highest rating I could give you is S-class."

"Neither you nor your companions have lived up to any of your potential."

Shirahoshi's sweet voice was now like the sharpest of knives, driving mercilessly into every pirate's heart:

"With the talent that made Roger place such high hopes in you, you should have been far stronger than this after twenty years."

Every word Shirahoshi spoke became a tangible humiliation, slapping the Red Hair Pirates hard across their faces.

Although Shanks was still fighting desperately in the center of the battlefield and had not yet lost.

Looking around, however, aside from Beckman, who was barely holding Sanji at bay, every elite member of the Red Hair Pirates lay on the ground like a dead dog.

That despair-inducing gulf in strength lay bare before them, while a sixteen-year-old girl rubbed their faces in it without restraint. No one could retain even