The Village With No Living People

"It seems these people are just one squad of the mountain bandits here." Hearing what the other said, Shirakawa analyzed to the other three.

"Yeah, from this squad alone, you can tell this bandit gang is steeped in evil. I'm just not sure if the few of us can completely take them out." Shanks also spoke up.

"What? You want to make a move on these bandits?" Shirakawa asked doubtfully.

"If we can defeat them, I think I'll make a move."

"Haha, as expected of Shanks." Shirakawa laughed and patted Shanks on the shoulder. Their thoughts aligned perfectly; Shirakawa couldn't stand people like that either.

If he had no strength, that would be one thing, but now that he did, he couldn't just ignore something like this.

It wasn't that Shirakawa was someone who hated evil with a passion—he just wanted to uphold justice.

"Hey, hey, you two aren't seriously thinking of charging in, are we? We don't even know how many of them there are or how many weapons they have."

Buggy, seeing that the two seemed to have already made up their minds, couldn't help but say nervously.

If it were just a few people, he wouldn't be scared, but the key was that their strength was an unknown.

"Relax, just stay in the back. Leave the front to me and Shanks—no problem."

Looking at the broken gun on the ground, Shirakawa felt a bit of regret. He had been a little impulsive just now; he should have kept that gun for Buggy to use, so he could ambush someone if the chance came.

"Besides, you know my ability. Even if I can't win, running away is no issue."

"Fine." Buggy resigned himself, because even if he didn't, he couldn't stop the two of them anyway.

Since the four of them didn't know where the bandits' hideout was, they could only keep moving forward, hoping to run into another group along the way.

As they walked, the view gradually opened up. It seemed they had left the forest behind. Ahead was a narrow path, but there were no crops or people around it.

"No way, what kind of place is this? Not a single person." Buggy looked around, saw no one, and muttered quietly.

"Who knows, maybe everyone moved away."

Shirakawa could tell that the land on both sides of the path had once been farmed, but now it was abandoned.

"Let's keep going. There's a village up ahead; we should ask what happened here."

The four walked forward, staying alert to their surroundings.

"What's that smell?" Suddenly, Kaiser Lynn seemed to catch a foul odor, covering her nose and frowning.

"Yeah." Hearing Kaiser Lynn say that, Shirakawa seemed to smell it too.

"It's the smell of blood." At that moment, Shanks also caught it and answered Kaiser Lynn.

"Right, it's definitely the smell of blood. But unlike the blood scent on Akda, this is genuine blood from fresh wounds. And there's a stench too—if I'm not mistaken, that stench is coming from corpses."

At Shirakawa's words, they all turned their gazes grimly toward the village not far ahead, because those smells were drifting from there.

"Be careful in a bit. Stay behind me."

"Got it." With this situation, they couldn't afford to be careless, especially Buggy, who ducked directly behind Shirakawa, not exposing an inch of himself to the front.

As they neared the village, Shirakawa activated his shield to protect them at all times.

By then, they could also make out the village's general appearance. It was extremely run-down, with most places showing scorched black marks, as if it had been burned by a fire.

The deeper they went, the uglier the four's expressions became. Kaiser Lynn had already started vomiting, and Shirakawa was barely holding back the urge to throw up.

"What happened here?" After vomiting, Kaiser Lynn said with great difficulty. When she lifted her head and saw the village's tragic state, she couldn't help but bend over again.

"A massacre must have taken place here." Shirakawa's tone was equally strained as he said this.

Because they saw corpses everywhere, each one in a miserable state. From their postures alone, you could tell how desperate they were before death.

This was Shirakawa's first time seeing such a scene. In his past life, he had lived in an era of peace, never even experiencing war, let alone a massacre.

In this life, though he had fought several battles with pirates at sea, he had never witnessed such horror.

"People who can do something like this can't even be called human anymore."

At this point, even Buggy couldn't bear it. He felt anger toward the group that had slaughtered the villagers.

"These must have been done by those bandits too." Shanks spoke up.

"Yeah, I think so too."

"In that case, we can't let them live."

As he said this, Shanks's expression was especially fierce, and his whole body radiated killing intent. Buggy, standing beside him, was startled, and even Shirakawa felt a slight shock.

"As expected of the future Four Emperors, Red Hair Shanks—a possessor of overwhelming Conqueror's Haki. Even as a youth, he has such a powerful aura."

Among the future Four Emperors, Shanks was likely the youngest. Though his exact strength was unknown, he probably wasn't the weakest of the four.

"Shanks." Shirakawa gave Shanks a firm slap on the shoulder to make him rein it in. Shanks hadn't awakened his Conqueror's Haki yet, but it probably wasn't far off.

"Yeah."

With that slap, Shanks's aura faded, but his expression remained as grim as before.

"Shanks, what was that just now? You scared me."

Buggy patted his chest. As Shanks's best buddy, he was naturally the first to show concern for him.

"It's nothing."

"His expression just now was really scary." Kaiser Lynn also went up to Shirakawa's ear and whispered.

"Perfectly normal, because he's bound to become a ruler of the New World someday." Shirakawa didn't mind playing the role of a prophet for a moment.

"If you can manage to live another ten or twenty years, I believe you'll hear his name."

Shirakawa smiled confidently, because he had full faith that his prophecy would come true.

"Hey, are you cursing me to die young?"

Kaiser Lynn smacked him hard and asked angrily.

"No, because I'm telling the truth. If you really do live another ten or twenty years, by then he'll be famous across the world. Remember, his name is Shanks. In the future, you'll have bragging rights too—you traveled with Shanks."

"Really?" Since Shirakawa hadn't lowered his voice, Shanks heard everything clearly.

"Of course. Even the Captain and the First Mate think your potential is immeasurable."

"What about me, Shirakawa? Will I be famous across the world someday too?"

"Of course." After all, stealing the spotlight during the Paramount War and serving as a Shichibukai for a while counted as making a name for herself.