The second encounter with Red-Haired Shanks

Fifteen minutes after the boarding action began, the Marines had completed the battlefield cleanup and cleared the interior of the pirate ship.

The naval officers and soldiers did not rush into the ship's hold recklessly. Instead, they brought in bombs made from modified artillery shells and blew up the hold one by one.

Only then did they enter the ship's cabin to finish off the pirates who had been injured, stunned, or killed by the explosion.

Luck, this time they didn't encounter any monsters in the cabin that could withstand bomb explosions, nor did they find any kidnapped civilians.

Then these pirates were tied up and hung from the mast of the warship, strung together like grapes, to slowly dry under the Hiyori and sea breeze.

As the pirates' cries gradually subsided, silence reigned over both ships.

Major Borg and Lieutenant Colonel Faye bumped fists, then he quickly ran to the stern tower to report to his most admired Brigadier General, "Reporting to Brigadier General Shazo!"

"The Marine Corps have completed their mission, killing 62 pirates, capturing 37, and killing the pirate captain Alvida! No Marine Corps were injured!"

"Please issue the new order!"

Shazo raised his hand in salute, then ordered, "Marine Corps mission complete. You may disengage."

"Yes!"

Major Borg turned and ordered the 35 Marine Corps: "East Blue Special Mobile Fleet, Marine Corps, operational status—off!!"

Only then, upon receiving orders from Marine Corps Commander Major Borg, did the Marines erupt in joyous cheers, breaking the silence that had terrified the pirates.

Throughout the entire battle, Shazo never had to lift a finger.

This made him very satisfied with the Marine Corps and fleet he had trained, so he returned to his private room with peace of mind and began his training.

Recently, he has been working hard to digest the explosive power brought by Saiyan Shazo, and his training volume has increased more than tenfold compared to usual.

Even sleep time was compressed to less than 2 hours a day in order to digest the food as quickly as possible.

"90,000 combat power, that's terrifyingly strong."

"It's so easy to destroy an island; I'd even like to try and blow up the Red Line."

"Hmm, that seems like a very interesting idea."

"I'm really curious, what kind of impact would blowing up the Red Line have?"

Will the Calm Belt disappear?

Will the strange geomagnetism and abnormal weather of the Grand Line return to normal?

Brigadier General Xia Zuo is now many times stronger than he was ten days ago. Not only has his strength increased, but his speed, stamina, superpowers, Armament Haki, and Observation Haki have also greatly improved.

In particular, Conqueror's Haki, combined with his perception of ki, successfully integrated with [Mantra], replicating the [Mantra] most closely resembling the Enel developed after eating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

Shazo's [Mantra] has a wider range of perception of human existence, and can "see" a ship hundreds of kilometers away and track it with ease.

However, his range of precise perception of Brainwaves is even smaller; he can only "hear" people's thoughts within a room-sized area.

But that's enough for Shazo.

Unlike Shazo from other worlds, he is a complete martial arts enthusiast. As long as he knows where the enemy is and how many there are, he doesn't need to know anything else.

Just as he was thinking this, his [Mantra] detected an electromagnetic signal marked as "extremely dangerous".

Because of the great distance, almost at the edge of Shazo's [Mantra] perception range, it took Shazo a long time to distinguish that the person was Red-Haired Shanks.

Shazo was smitten.

As one of the strongest Pirate World, Shanks, who possesses the strongest Conqueror's Haki, is the best target to test one's strength.

At this moment, Shazo was bursting with confidence. The mysterious background of Shanks, which had once made him extremely wary, and his relationship with Imu, the World's Strongest, were no longer a concern for him.

He's a Marine, Shanks is a pirate, so it's only natural for the Marines to fight pirates.

If Imu is truly so unreasonable as to want to kill Shazo just because the Navy killed a pirate, then he should come out of the Holy Land Mary Geoise.

With that in mind, Shazo Zuo put on his general's uniform, without even taking his standard-issue sword, pushed open the door, walked out of the room, and found Lieutenant Commander Faye ship's captain.

Shazo ordered, "Faye, I have urgent business to attend to. You take the Marine Corps, warships, and spoils and return to the 77th Regiment on your own."

Branch.

Faye accepted the order without hesitation.

Over the course of two years, the East Blue Special Mobile Fleet repeatedly swept through the East Blue, eliminating all pirates with bounties reaching tens of millions.

Under Shazo's control, pirates with a bounty of 5 million Beli were deliberately left behind.

A few of these guys are genuine pirates of moderate strength, but most are dogs kept by kingdoms or nobles, making a living by helping their masters tear apart enemies, rather than robbing civilians.

Allowing such relatively low-risk pirates to exist can help curb the rampage of other pirates.

Occasionally, some pirates will become ruthless, committing all sorts of atrocities such as robbery, murder Fire Release.

Once these pirates commit a transgression, Shazo will immediately strike hard, completing the pursuit and killing in the shortest possible time, and then stabbing their master in the back to take their heads.

Shazo would put the heads of pirates and nobles together, and say nothing else, ignoring the nobles' accusations and complaints.

Marine Headquarters certainly wouldn't punish Shazo for such a trivial matter.

After this happened several times, the nobles of the East Blue became obedient when faced with pairs of heads, and the pirates of the East Blue also learned the "rules".

In the East Blue today, there is a set of unwritten rules known as the "Executioner's Code".

First, when landing and raiding a village, one must not massacre the village, set fires, or steal the last rations.

Second, when raiding merchant ships, one should not carry out a Carnage; at the very least, one should leave behind a small boat and a few days' worth of food and water.

Third, no one may initiate attacks on the navy.

Although there are only three rules, they are like ironclad laws, binding all pirates in the East Blue.

Anyone who violates this rule will be hunted down by Shazo himself, just like Alvida, and will die a violent death within a few days.

Therefore, the East Blue is very safe, especially the Marine warship. The East Blue Special Mobile Fleet, which belongs to the 77th Branch, is a force that terrifies pirates, so there is absolutely no safety problem.

Lieutenant Colonel Faye was not worried about Brigadier General Xia Zuo's safety; he firmly believed that no one in the entire East China Sea could harm the Brigadier General.

Having arranged the affairs of the warship, Shazo took to the air and flew towards the direction where Red-Haired Shanks was.

Now his flight no longer relies on the application of Electromagnetic Force through [Electromagnetic Control], but is legitimate flight, derived from the basic education on Planet Vegeta.

Shazo's flight speed was not fast, because he was going to deal with Red-Haired Shanks man who could foresee the future through Observation Haki.

The faster you launch a surprise attack in his presence, the easier it is to be counter-attacked.

Therefore, the closer he got to Red-Haired Shanks, the slower Shazo's flight speed became. In the end, he even landed on the sea and used Ninja techniques to speed across the water.

In the end, Shazo didn't even run anymore.

He walked steadily on the sea, step by step towards the deserted island where Shanks was.

From this distance, Shazo had a complete grasp of everything on the island; he "saw" the members of the Red Hair Pirates.

The number of Red Hair Pirates ' officers has increased significantly since their last encounter.

Besides the three old guard—Ben Beckman, Yasopp, and Lucky Roux—there are also Hongo, Bendick Snake, and Limejuice, all of whom are top-ranking pirates with bounties.

A banquet is being held on Huangdao Island. In addition to the members of the Red Hair Pirates, there is also a powerful swordsman, Dracule Mihawk, who has not yet obtained the title of the World's Greatest Swordsman.

Despite discovering so many powerful pirates, Shazo's steps remained steady as he walked unhurriedly toward the deserted island.

It wasn't until they approached 4000 meters that Shazo suddenly laughed, "Just as I guessed, nothing can be 100% perfect."

"When the special characteristic of Observation Haki is the Future Sight, it becomes less refined in subtle perceptions, thus overlooking the calm and peaceful approach of the 'me'."

"You agree, don't you, Red-Haired Shanks?"

Shanks reached out and rubbed his head, but didn't touch the captain's Straw Hat.

After a slight pause, he subtly lowered his right hand and touched the wound on his missing left arm.

Then, Red-Haired Shanks spoke up, "Indeed, Shazo the Executioner."

He suddenly laughed, "However, I'm currently hosting a banquet to entertain my good friend Mihawk, and everyone is having a good time."

"For my sake, let's not fight today."

Shazo almost laughed.

During our last meeting, I never heard the phrase "for my sake" from beginning to end, and I didn't witness Red-Haired Shanks ' ability to act as a "people's man," which was truly a pity.

I never expected that this regret would be fulfilled today.

Shazo nodded with satisfaction and agreed, "Alright, I'll give you that face. You can continue your banquet. I'll stand here and wait for you to finish."

The Red Hair Pirates were stunned. How could the banquet continue when they were being Commodore at by a Marine Commodore?

Even Dracule Mihawk found it disgusting.

The hot-tempered Limejuice immediately started cursing. "I %%@$!!"

Red-Haired Shanks stood up, his face grim as he looked at Shazo: "Commodore, are you determined to fight us?"

Shazo nodded. "Yes, you can't escape this battle today."

Red-Haired Shanks felt a toothache, but still placed his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Your resolve is truly unwavering. What gives you such courage?"

"So it was you who discovered that my Observation Haki has a flaw, preventing me from detecting you at greater distances?"

"But I think 4,000 meters is enough for me to react in time."

"Furthermore, without Borsalino or Iron Fist Garp today, you actually dare to challenge so many pirates like us all by yourself?"

Shazo grinned. "Red-Haired Shanks, I actually quite like you, but sometimes I find your confidence rather annoying."

"Especially now, you make me feel even more annoyed."

"So, I'm telling you two things today: First, 4000 meters isn't enough to protect you!"

Bang--!

Shazo stomped on the seawater beneath his feet, and combined his flight ability with the pull of Electromagnetic Force, instantly appearing 30 meters in front of Red-Haired Shanks as if by teleportation.

Red-Haired Shanks had already drawn his sword with utmost seriousness, red Conqueror's Haki coating the blade as he unleashed [Divine Departure] with all his might.

Clearly, he had anticipated Shazo's attack and prepared accordingly.

Two years have passed, Shazo's strength has improved rapidly, as has Shanks'.

Not only has the number of the pirate crew's officers nearly doubled, but their Swordsmanship has also made great progress, with their sword technique [Divine Departure] reaching a level of consummate skill.

While it may not appear as powerful as it was two years ago, it is actually because it has better control over its power, preventing it from being released carelessly upon hitting the enemy and thus avoiding wasting its strength.

Shanks has improved tremendously, but Shazo's improvement is even more astonishing.

Two years ago, he had to go all out and use every means at his disposal to block the inexperienced [Divine Departure].

Now, facing an even more powerful version of the same move, Shazo simply swung his right fist and steadily withstood it.

He even had the strength to quell the enormous shockwaves and tremors caused by their collision.

Suddenly, Dracule Mihawk appeared beside Shanks, having drawn his greatsword "Night" and pointed the tip at Shazo.

Shazo laughed, "It seems your banquet can't continue. Why don't we have a fight now?"

"The battle is over. I'm heading back to my base. You can continue your banquet."

"Is it alright?"

Before Shanks could say anything, Mihawk had already flipped his greatsword "Night" and swung it high upwards, unleashing a "Flying Slash" that only Swordmaster could master.

A magnificent Sword Qi shot out, slashing towards Shazo.

Shazo didn't feel any pressure.

He spread his left hand, each of his Five Fingers forming a Rending Fist Qi Force of the Nanto Seiken, meeting the Flying Slash head-on without showing any weakness.

The massive Sword Qi collided with the palm, but the Sword Qi was actually deflected by the left hand.

Mihawk's sharp eyes flashed, instantly filled with a fighting spirit.

He crossed the Calm Belt this time because he heard that Shanks often appeared in the East Blue, and he came specifically to find him for a sparring match.

After finally finding him, they discovered that Shanks ' left hand was missing.

For a swordsman, losing an arm means having to relearn all his balance, power generation techniques, and combat skills.

Even though Shanks is right-handed, his strength will inevitably decline significantly in a short period of time, and he may even develop a fatal weakness.

Mihawk's desire to duel vanished instantly, and he could only follow Shanks ' suggestion to attend a banquet for which he had absolutely no idea what to do.

He now discovered that Shazo's strength was truly astounding, and the techniques he used with his left hand were unheard of.

Mihawk, eager for a kill, unleashed his suppressed fighting spirit, and his aura exploded, with a terrifyingly powerful Armament Haki wrapping around the blade of the Black Blade "Night."