The Great General Appears

Shirakawa's somewhat slender build stood in stark contrast to his opponent's muscular frame, yet the two seemed evenly matched, trading blows as they attacked and defended in turn.

"If you keep dragging this out with me, all your men will be dead soon." Shirakawa couldn't find an opening, so he could only try to distract his opponent.

But Shirakawa was right. Shanks was having a hard time facing the group alone, and he'd picked up a few cuts, but they were all minor and didn't hinder him.

The bandits, on the other hand, had grown timid, and their attacks had lost their edge. If their leader weren't here, they might have run off already.

"Damn it." Seeing his men fall one after another, the Mountain Bandit Chief's eyes reddened. Without thinking, he charged at Shanks, giving Shirakawa the opening he needed.

"I've been waiting for this." Shirakawa had already wasted a lot of energy. He figured it was time to finish this quickly.

His back was turned to Shirakawa, and to Shirakawa, it was riddled with openings. Any random strike could leave him badly wounded.

Shanks sensed the danger too. When he saw the Mountain Bandit Chief charging at him, his whole body tensed.

Just then, a bang rang out. The sound came from the gun in Buggy's hand. Buggy had found his moment, and the bullet hit the Mountain Bandit Chief's right arm without missing.

"Damn it." He suddenly shot Buggy a vicious look, scaring Buggy into dropping onto his butt.

"Get them!" Buggy realized he'd lost his composure. Desperate to save face, he hurriedly shouted at Shirakawa and Shanks.

"Right!" Shanks instantly dealt with the bandits surrounding him, then charged at their leader. Shirakawa attacked from behind.

Under normal circumstances, the two of them would have been unable to get through his defenses with such straightforward attacks. But now, that wasn't possible.

He'd gone completely berserk, and the arm holding his weapon was injured. Perhaps life as a bandit had been too comfortable, wearing away at his willpower.

Seizing this hard-won opportunity, Shirakawa reached his back before he could react and sliced from his left shoulder down to his buttocks.

Blood sprayed as Shirakawa's blade fell. After landing the blow, Shirakawa quickly retreated. An injury like that would be serious for anyone.

"Ah!" He cried out in pain, completely forgetting that Shanks was about to attack him from the front.

Taking advantage of the opening, Shanks slashed across his stomach. The pain made him clutch his belly and drop to his knees, and Buggy took the chance to fire another shot, hitting him in the thigh.

In that brief instant, he'd suffered three different injuries. The wound on his back was by far the worst. Blood kept pouring out, quickly staining the ground beneath him.

"You're finished." Shirakawa pointed his sword at him.

The three of them had subdued him together, but the Sword of Damocles hadn't appeared above Shirakawa's head. That meant Shirakawa hadn't used all his strength.

Soon, the man was sitting on his knees, no longer making a sound.

"No way. Is he dead already?" When he didn't hear the man make a sound, Buggy stepped out into the open. Surely an injury like that wasn't enough to kill someone right away.

People in this world were exceptionally tough, and this man was a strapping fellow with plenty of vitality.

To make sure he wasn't playing a trick, Shirakawa walked over and used his sword to turn the man over. His eyes had rolled back.

"Looks like he passed out from the pain."

"Passed out from pain? I've never seen anything like that before!" Buggy cried.

"That's fine, too. Let him bleed out here and die slowly. It'll be a fitting punishment."

"Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful." Just as the group was about to take a break, a voice reached all four of their ears, accompanied by unhurried applause, as though someone were congratulating them.

At the sound, Shirakawa immediately tensed. The foreboding feeling that had just faded came rushing back, stronger than before.

All four of them turned toward the house the voice had come from. A figure slowly emerged, and the scene grew so quiet they could hear his footsteps.

"What's wrong with you?" Kaiser Lynn asked Shirakawa, Shanks, and Buggy.

She'd noticed that the moment the figure appeared, the three of them had frozen, as though they'd seen something terrifying.

"Run." Only after a long pause could Shirakawa force the words out.

As soon as he spoke, the Sword of Damocles appeared above Shirakawa's head. White light enveloped Shanks, Buggy, and Kaiser Lynn, lifting them into the air, while Shirakawa prepared to stay behind and hold the man off.

"Run, Shirakawa!" Shanks had snapped out of it and hurriedly shouted to him. "You're no match for him!"

"Oh? You intend to hold me off yourself so your companions can escape. What a noble gesture. But I can't let you have your way."

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure vanished from Shirakawa's sight. Shirakawa couldn't even tell how he'd moved.

"Not good." Shirakawa immediately understood what he was after and looked up. The man appeared beside Shanks and the others, then punched down. They fell to the ground like meteors.

"Oh? He missed?"

Shanks and the others did fall, but they hadn't been knocked down by the man. Shirakawa had increased the gravity on them, making them drop at once.

They'd still be injured, but at least it was better than being knocked down by a blow.

"Who are you?" Shirakawa asked gravely, looking at the man who'd descended from the sky.

"You can call me the Great General. My name is Rogue."

"The Great General? Are you the one who ordered the massacre of the village at the foot of the mountain?"

"Rogue? Are you the man known as the Kingdom's Fierce Tiger?"

Two voices spoke at once. Shirakawa had asked the first question, while Kaiser Lynn had asked the second.

"That's right. It's me." His answer addressed both questions. The answer was the same.

"Kaiser Lynn, who is he?" From what she'd said, she clearly knew this man.

"The strongest person in the Kingdom of Kolun—bar none. He's a man everyone on the island calls the Fierce Tiger. I just don't know why someone like him would show up here."

"Is that so? Then we really are in dire straits." Hearing Kaiser Lynn's explanation, Shirakawa finally understood the source of his unease.

"As expected of a princess. You know quite a lot. But I came here to wait for you." Rogue had naturally heard what Kaiser Lynn said.

"Wait for me? Why?"

"Because we can't just let such an important hostage return home."

"Then why did you order the massacre of the villagers?" Shirakawa asked.

"Of course, it was to draw you here."

"Draw us here?"

"That's right. Since you were willing to escort Kaiser Lynn home, it meant you were meddlesome and had a sense of justice. So when something like this happened, I figured you wouldn't just stand by and do nothing."