The Mountain Bandit Chief

"What do you people want? How did you get here?" The guards spotted Shirakawa and the others as they arrived at the entrance to the bandit camp and challenged them.

"We're here to kill you." Since they'd already come all this way, Shirakawa had no intention of wasting time talking. He would finish this quickly.

"Kill us? Hahahaha! You guys must still be dreaming. Coming here and spouting nonsense... Since I'm in a good mood, I'll let you leave. You'd better get out of here before you can't even make it back down the mountain."

No one took Shirakawa's words seriously.

"I think I'm wide awake. But you'll never wake up again."

As soon as Shirakawa finished speaking, he appeared right in front of the man and slashed his throat. By the time his companions reacted, it was already too late. Shirakawa gave them no chance to speak and killed them all in an instant.

"Whoa, he's just barging right in! That's so badass." Watching Shirakawa's back, Kaiser Lynn spoke with excitement in her voice.

"Who are you, and how did you get in?" When Shirakawa entered the camp, someone else asked him the same question.

But Shirakawa had no desire to answer anymore. He drew his sword and attacked.

"Something's wrong! There's an enemy! An enemy!"

One of the bandits was quick-witted. Seeing Shirakawa holding a bloodied sword, he immediately understood what had happened and shouted out a warning.

"Clever. But even if you know who we are, that won't stop you from going to hell." Shirakawa's voice, as chilling as a devil's, rang in the man's ear.

"No, don't kill me!" The man didn't dare turn around. His voice trembled as he spoke.

But that was destined to be the last thing he ever said.

"Damn it! You dare kill our people? You must be tired of living! Brothers, get them! Tear them apart!"

The bandits who came running after the others saw their companions' corpses and Shirakawa's group standing among them. Enraged, they roared.

"Go ahead, but remember to protect yourselves."

"Got it." Shanks flashed a bloodthirsty grin and charged forward in an instant.

"Buggy, stay back and protect Kaiser Lynn. You don't need to charge into the thick of it."

"No problem." Buggy happily accepted Shirakawa's assignment. Avoiding a direct confrontation was one of his favorite things.

With dozens of bandits suddenly appearing, even Buggy felt a little nervous.

Shirakawa and Shanks tore through the bandits like wolves among sheep. No one could withstand more than three moves from either of them. Buggy also seized a gun amid the chaos and provided support from the rear.

"You're really useless." Kaiser Lynn smacked Buggy on the back of the head in frustration.

"How come you're so different from that kid Shanks? Look, Shanks is helping take on some of the enemies."

"This is called tactics. You wouldn't understand. If they get overwhelmed, I'll still have enough strength to help them escape." Buggy came up with what sounded like a perfectly reasonable excuse for his cowardice.

"Back then, Shanks and I even dared to face Whitebeard, and we said we'd take his head. Do you know who Whitebeard is? He's known as the World's Strongest Man." Buggy began bragging to Kaiser Lynn about his past exploits.

Thinking back to that moment now still made him a little uneasy. He'd only dared to say such a thing because Shanks had egged him on.

Now, whenever Buggy saw Whitebeard, his legs started trembling. Ever since their first encounter, whenever he had to fight the Whitebeard Pirates, he stayed as far away as possible.

"Really? I didn't think you had that much brains." Kaiser Lynn might have actually believed Buggy's nonsense, or maybe she was just flattering him.

"Of course." Buggy was beginning to get carried away.

The focus returned to the fight between Shirakawa and Shanks. The two were growing more and more fired up, and no one could stop them.

"That's enough, you two." An angry voice suddenly reached everyone's ears. A huge, heavily built man, about two meters tall, came into view.

"Boss, you're finally here!" The remaining bandits felt like they could cry with relief when they saw him. They'd just been getting beaten so badly that they were afraid the next slash would land on their necks.

"Oh? You're their boss? You look pretty strong."

"Why are you causing trouble here?" the Mountain Bandit Chief asked, his expression hostile.

"No reason. We just don't like you."

"You don't like me? Heh. That's the kind of excuse I use on other people. I never thought someone would use it on me one day. Fine. You've got me pretty annoyed now, too."

With that, the Mountain Bandit Chief lifted a spiked club half his own height and swung it at Shirakawa.

"Not bad." Shirakawa raised his sword to block, but the immense force of the club sent him flying.

"Shirakawa!" Shanks shouted.

Shirakawa steadied himself in midair, then slowly descended to the ground.

"I didn't expect you to be this strong. I wasn't paying attention for a moment and nearly got sent flying."

Shirakawa shook out his arm, his expression calm. He didn't seem to think much of the attack.

"Oh? Not bad. You actually blocked my first strike." The Mountain Bandit Chief grinned, as if Shirakawa had suddenly piqued his interest.

"Let's see if you can block the second." With that, he attacked Shirakawa again.

Now that he knew he was outmatched in strength, Shirakawa wasn't foolish enough to keep meeting the man's attacks head-on.

Just as the spiked club was about to hit him, Shirakawa leapt backward. It skimmed past the tip of his nose, and he narrowly dodged the blow.

"Shanks, don't worry about me. Take care of the underlings first."

Seeing Shanks move to help, Shirakawa stopped him. It would be a pain to have the underlings harassing him while he fought.

"You'll be all right, Shirakawa?"

"Don't worry. He can't do anything to me." Shirakawa smiled confidently.

"Pretty confident, aren't you, kid?" The Mountain Bandit Chief slammed his spiked club into the ground, leaving a huge crater.

"But real confidence and blind confidence are two different things."

"You'll find out which one I have soon enough."

"Interesting." He gave a scornful smile. "I've lived a long time, but I've never met anyone as arrogant as you."

"Well, now you have."

With that, Shirakawa ran toward him and swung his sword at the man's head.

But the man blocked the strike with ease. Shirakawa didn't get discouraged. The fight had only just begun, and he was only now reaching his peak.

"You're getting sharper, kid." The look in Shirakawa's eyes grew keener.

"Since I'm up against you, I can't keep fighting the way I did just now."

"Good."

They moved at the same time. The sword and the spiked club clashed, scattering sparks in every direction.

A rush of excitement surged through Shirakawa, and a delighted smile crept across his lips.