Marching on the Navy Headquarters

At those words, Ryan felt as if thunder had struck his head!

The person Lieutenant General Garp had taken a liking to?!

No wonder that kid was so arrogant and overbearing. He had a reason for it after all.

What on earth had he done?!

As Ryan covered his head and lamented his actions, T Bone stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "That Leiyin kid was also in the wrong regarding this matter, so please forgive him."

Hearing T Bone say this, Ryan was dumbfounded on the spot. "N-no, it was my fault. I failed to recognize a great man. I was blind to the gold hidden in jade. I'll go apologize to Mr. Leiyin right away."

The moment he heard that Leiyin was one of Garp's people, Ryan immediately backed down.

T Bone smiled. "There's no need to apologize. Leiyin and I are leaving Rogue Town soon."

"Hm?"

T Bone told Garp about what had happened here through a Den Den Mushi, and Garp merely burst out laughing when he heard it.

T Bone knew that, given Garp's personality, not only would he not blame Leiyin, he would instead take him more seriously. Garp himself was also a reckless troublemaker. Otherwise, he would never have ended up with the son of the Revolutionary Army's leader and a grandson who shouted all day about becoming the Pirate King. In other words, Garp also liked people with powerful strength.

Moreover, if they examined the matter carefully, Leiyin was not actually at fault. The whole incident had started because Leiyin had beaten up Marine Sergeant Beck to protect a little girl, which had led to the series of retaliatory actions that followed. From this perspective, Leiyin's nature was not all that bad.

Garp did not deny the validity of standing up to an unrighteous military force for the sake of a little girl one did not even know.

A day later, T Bone found Leiyin and explained why he had come. He then took out a Den Den Mushi and dialed Garp's number.

As soon as Leiyin took the Den Den Mushi, Garp's voice came from the other end. "Boy, I heard you've been quite unruly in Rogue Town."

"Those guys deserved a beating. They came looking for trouble with me, so I could only teach them a lesson."

Garp: "Hahaha, you really are reckless, boy. You don't look like a Marine at all."

"By the way, old man, Captain T Bone came to find me. He said you had something to tell me?"

"Oh, it's like this. I don't think it's suitable for you to stay there anymore, so come to Navy Headquarters with T Bone."

Huh?

Leiyin had been looking lazy, but at those words, his eyes widened. He glanced at T Bone, who nodded at him.

"Isn't this a little soon?" Leiyin scratched his head.

Garp: "What? You don't want to?"

"It's not that I don't."

Although Leiyin's tone was indifferent, he was secretly delighted. Once he reached Marineford, Navy Headquarters, he would be able to enter the New World freely. By then, he could meet the world's strongest combatants—the Three Admirals, the Four Emperors, and the Shichibukai.

"When are we leaving, then?"

"If you're willing, you can leave tomorrow."

After some simple preparations, Leiyin and T Bone set off aboard a small warship with several Marine soldiers the next day, just as the sky was beginning to lighten.

Even while the warship was sailing, Leiyin did not forget to cultivate.

Leiyin had now mastered the C-rank ninjutsu Wind Release—Great Breakthrough. A blue vortex of energy had gathered in his hand; it was none other than Rasengan. At that moment, he was trying to inject Wind Release chakra into it, attempting to unleash that S-rank technique...

Bang!

Suddenly, a tremendous crash drew Leiyin's attention away.

"B-Bad news! There's a Sea Beast!"

"Captain T Bone, a Sea Beast is ramming the warship!"

Several soldiers near the bow shouted in panic.

At that, T Bone drew the sword at his waist and immediately charged toward the bow. When he focused his eyes, he saw a huge Tiger Shark roughly twelve meters long ramming into the warship.

"If this keeps up, the ship will capsize!"

The Marine soldiers stared in panic as the Tiger Shark rampaged, but they were completely at a loss.

"What are you panicking for?! Do you look like Marine soldiers to you?!"

T Bone roared, and the soldiers fell even more silent from fear.

In truth, the Marines could hardly be blamed. There were only thirty people aboard the warship, all ordinary soldiers whose combat abilities were no different from those of normal people. How could they possibly stand against a twelve-meter-long shark?

Captain T Bone was another matter. He swung his sword and slashed directly at the Tiger Shark.

"Right-Angle Flash—T Bone's Sky-Cleaving Slash!"

He cut a streak of Sword Qi through the air. The right-angled flash of sword energy shot straight toward the Tiger Shark and struck its body, slicing open a huge wound. The Tiger Shark writhed and wailed in agony on the surface of the sea. Before long, it slowly sank beneath the waves, while the blood it had shed dyed the surrounding seawater crimson.

Having killed the huge Tiger Shark with a single strike, T Bone coolly sheathed his sword. He stood at the bow, his Marine cloak billowing in the wind, looking incredibly impressive.

"He killed the Tiger Shark with one strike..."

"We couldn't handle something like that at all."

"N-No wonder he's Captain T Bone..."

On the deck, the Marine soldiers showered him with praise and exclamations of astonishment.

Leiyin, who had been standing not far away, saw everything. After watching T Bone dispatch the shark with ease, he prepared to return to his cultivation.

But then.

Less than half a minute later, chaos erupted aboard the ship again.

This time, the commotion was even greater than before.

"Bad news!"

"Another huge Tiger Shark?!"

"There's more than one!"

The soldiers all drew their swords, knives, and flintlocks, their hearts pounding into their throats.

Looking out, they saw black fins emerging all around the warship. When the soldiers saw those fins, it was as if they were watching Death come to claim them.

The warship had only two small-caliber cannons. Even if they fired, the weapons' meager power would do nothing except further enrage the sharks and provoke an even more violent counterattack. They were completely useless.

The ship had only been sent to escort Leiyin to Navy Headquarters. It was not carrying out a mission or going to fight pirates. Who could have expected something like this to happen?

"How could there be so many huge Tiger Sharks?"

"We... seem to be surrounded!"

Indeed, the fins around the warship gradually rose higher, revealing one hideous, terrifying shark face after another. When the Marine soldiers saw those faces, they gripped their flintlocks in extreme terror, not daring to fire a single shot.

A somewhat smaller Tiger Shark leaped straight from the right side of the warship onto the deck. It snatched up a soldier in its jaws and jumped back into the sea on the left. Its teeth were incredibly sharp, and they bit straight through the soldier's body. The unfortunate soldier's upper half fell onto the deck, still twitching.