What's in the Newbie Gift Pack

Yasopp peered through his telescope at the pirate ship steadily approaching from the distance, his brow furrowed in evident wariness.

That these people would sail straight toward them just as they were preparing to host a banquet, all while displaying such an aggressive posture, deeply annoyed him.

He took a deep breath, looked toward Shanks beside him, and asked, "Boss, should I fire a shot to drive them away?"

Shanks stared straight at the tiny black speck on the horizon, his gaze deep and contemplative.

After a moment of silence, he turned his head to glance at another sailing ship following alongside them. "Hmm, go ahead and fire. Let them know we aren't to be trifled with."

If there weren't over two hundred Ganan Remnants following him, Shanks might have ignored this pirate ship.

As long as they didn't actively provoke him, Shanks would never pay any mind to the pirates running rampant in the East Sea.

But things were different now. The Ganan Remnants beside him were extremely vulnerable, and Shanks did not want them to be threatened.

Although he had absolute confidence in his ability to protect them, it was not a good thing to let them bear risks just because of his own whims.

Having received Shanks's permission, Yasopp drew his firearm and aimed at a lamp on the distant pirate ship.

"Bang..." The flintlock roared, its muzzle flash flickering.

The bullet tore through the air, instantly crossing the sea surface to precisely shatter the lamp on the deck.

Yasopp slowly lowered his firearm and picked up the telescope once more.

However, before Yasopp could clearly see the situation on the distant pirate ship, Louis raised an eyebrow and turned his head toward the direction of the pirate vessel.

"Yasopp, that shot of yours doesn't seem to have had much of a deterrent effect. It doesn't look like it scared them off."

Within the perception of Louis's Observation Haki, that pirate ship had already begun to move. They were maneuvering the cannons on their deck, aiming them at the Red Force.

Hearing this, Yasopp's expression turned slightly more serious as he raised his flintlock once again.

"Understood. This time, I'll sink their ship!"

He raised his gun, his eyesight combined with his Observation Haki to lock onto the pirate ship, and slowly squeezed the trigger.

"Bang..."

The gunshot rang out again. A lead bullet, wreathed in Armament Haki, sliced through the air and struck the hull of the pirate ship with pinpoint accuracy.

"Boom..." Waves of sound churned, and flames soared into the sky.

A dark red fireball rose, and the entire pirate ship exploded as if it had been hit by a full broadside from a warship. Fragments flew upward, scattering in every direction.

Louis took it all in, then lowered his head to look at Yasopp's weapon, lost in thought.

In the hands of Yasopp, an ordinary rifle could unleash the formidable power of a full naval broadside.

Haki truly was miraculous.

Louis vaguely remembered that when he was two or three years old, he had pulled a gun from the starter pack left behind by the system before it ran off.

However, Louis had thrown it into the sea.

It was only because that gun was a Sten Submachine Gun. Setting aside how ugly it was, the most important thing was that it had once misfired in the middle of the night, startling Louis awake.

As for the rest of the items in that starter pack, besides the trigger-happy submachine gun, the other things left Louis quite speechless.

One was a beginner's manual for puppeteers from the neighboring Sunagakure, but it did not include a Chakra Seed.

Since Louis didn't have the lineage of a Vegetable Person from outer space, he had absolutely no such thing as chakra. In the end, Louis decided to try it out after some time, creating puppets to use in conjunction with his Life-Life Fruit ability.

The other item was the Expansion Jutsu, which also didn't come with a Chakra Seed, rendering it completely useless for the time being.

On the other side, after observing and detecting no signs of life, Yasopp lowered his rifle once again. He turned his head to look at Louis beside him, grinned, and asked, "Louis, what did you think of my sniping?"

Hearing this, Louis looked down at him and praised him with a smile, "Very strong!"

"If you work hard for a few more years, you might just be able to break through my defense when I'm not igniting the flames on my back!"

"..."

Upon hearing this, Yasopp felt his entire mood sour. His face turned ashen, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him.

The others, hearing this, all wore expressions of suppressed laughter. But as they laughed, they soon couldn't anymore, and they all simultaneously fell into deep thought.

Because the strength of the vast majority of the Red-Haired Pirates was roughly the same, if Yasopp couldn't break through Louis's defense, the situation wouldn't be much better for them.

At this moment, as everyone knows, smiles do not disappear; they simply transfer to someone else.

Shanks turned toward his crewmates with a brilliant smile and said, "It seems your training is still not enough!"

"You have to remember, Louis is only ten years old. In a few more years, the gap between you will be absolute!"

The crowd opened their mouths to speak, but in the end, they remained silent.

"..."

After putting a little pressure on his crewmates, Shanks once again displayed his smile, which lacked any shred of dignity, and said, "Prepare for a banquet!"

As the words fell, everyone quickly cast their thoughts to the back of their minds and responded to Shanks with laughter.

Upon hearing this, Uta ran happily toward the railing on the other side. After taking a deep breath, she shouted loudly, "Beckman! It's time for a banquet!"

"Alright..." A response came from the other ship, "I'll be there as soon as I finish securing the ropes and chains!"

In an instant, the decks of the two ships became a hive of activity.

Louis and Yelena watched as the crew skillfully transformed the stage into a barbecue grill, their expressions shifting subtly.

After a moment of contemplation, Louis looked at Shanks and asked, "Shanks, is there anything we can do to help?"

Louis felt that staying on someone else's ship while everyone else was busy, only to stand around idle, was somewhat awkward.

Hearing this, Shanks paused, his hands freezing as he fell into deep thought. After a long while, he still couldn't think of anything that required the help of Louis and his companion.

Finally, he scratched his head and said casually, "How about you start the fire for us in a bit?!"

Louis: "..."

Suddenly, as if something had occurred to him, he slapped his palm with his fist. "How about you go into the sea, little Louis, and fish back the wreckage of that ship from earlier?"

"As it happens, we might be running a bit low on fuel for cooking!"

Shanks had roughly guessed what Louis was thinking at that moment, so he casually found him a task.

To this, Louis nodded. "Sure."

He then activated his ability.

Specks of golden light emerged from Louis's body, forming a stream of golden radiance that circled his frame.

The golden light shimmered, unconsciously drawing everyone's gaze as they instinctively looked toward Louis.

Following that, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the dazzling light scattered and merged directly into the sea behind him.

The next moment, the azure ocean underwent a marvelous transformation.