Marco the Phoenix

Shirakawa's opponents were a bunch of nobodies, the kind of people whose names weren't even known on the Whitebeard Pirates. They were unimportant enough that Shirakawa had no reason to hold back.

Perhaps because Shirakawa was so ruthless, one of the division commanders stepped in front of him and blocked his attack.

"You look unfamiliar. You're a new member of the Roger Pirates, aren't you?" he asked amid the fighting.

"That's right. My name is Shirakawa. Who are you?"

"I'm Blamenco, commander of the Ninth Division of the Whitebeard Pirates. Remember that." As he finished speaking, a surge of force suddenly traveled through his blade and pushed Shirakawa back a step.

"The Ninth Division Commander, huh? Just the right opponent for me."

Shirakawa wouldn't stand a chance against the commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates' first five divisions. From the sixth division onward, he couldn't say for sure that he would win, but he wouldn't lose so quickly, either.

Shirakawa's eyes narrowed, and a sharp aura emanated from him. The Sword of Damocles appeared above his head in an instant.

"What the hell is that?" The Whitebeard Pirates, seeing the sword for the first time, were startled. If it fell, they would suffer heavy losses.

In an instant, everyone present fixed their eyes on Shirakawa—even Whitebeard.

"Roger, I didn't expect you to have such an interesting kid on your ship." Roger and Whitebeard had also stopped fighting.

"Haha! He's one of the crew members I have the highest hopes for," Roger said with a hearty laugh.

"But right now, he's still just a kid who hasn't grown up."

Hearing Roger say that made Whitebeard take Shirakawa all the more seriously. There were very few people Roger would talk about that way.

"Is that so? Then I'm looking forward to seeing how strong he'll become."

"Don't worry. He'll be every bit as strong as you or me." With that, the two of them clashed again. Seeing their own captain resume fighting, the Whitebeard Pirates had no reason to stand around watching.

Even so, they spared some attention for the sword hanging high above them.

"Devil Fruit User?" Blamenco asked gravely. It was his first time seeing this Devil Fruit ability, so he had to be cautious.

"Something like that. But don't worry about it. It's not much use."

"Is that so?" Blamenco asked, though his tone made it clear he didn't believe him. A sword that enormous couldn't possibly be useless.

The battle between Roger and Whitebeard was incredibly intense. No one went near them, because when Whitebeard went wild with the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, he couldn't tell friend from foe.

Every attack split the ground. The sizable island had even been cleaved in two by the pair: one half was Roger and Whitebeard's personal battlefield, while the other half belonged to everyone else.

"Old Father sure is going all out." Marco was clearly not taking his own fight seriously. Even Gaban, his opponent, was just going through the motions, firing off a few shots.

The same went for Rayleigh and Kozuki Oden. Their attacks were merely probes. In fact, Shirakawa was the only one on the battlefield who was seriously fighting a Whitebeard division commander.

"Not bad, kid." Blamenco was starting to regret his choice. Why had he picked such a troublesome opponent? Anyone else would have been better; then he could've just taken it easy.

But now, if he didn't fight seriously, that kid might slash him somewhere. Even more infuriating, the kid hadn't been hurt at all—or perhaps he had an ability like Marco's and could recover.

After they had fought to a standstill for a while, Blamenco couldn't take it anymore. This kid was practically cheating. As long as he wasn't strong enough to overwhelm his opponent, the kid could drag the fight out indefinitely.

"What? Don't want to fight anymore?" Shirakawa asked in confusion when Blamenco jumped away. He was just getting into it and enjoying himself; he hadn't considered how his opponent felt.

"Marco, let's switch. I'm sure you'll find this kid interesting." Blamenco spoke to Marco, who was lounging around.

Although he couldn't beat Gaban, fighting him wasn't nearly as miserable as fighting Shirakawa.

"Sure." Marco glanced at Shirakawa, his interest piqued.

"You want to take Shirakawa on? Great, I can take a break, then. That kid's ability is a lot like yours." Gaban had naturally heard their conversation too. He pushed up his sunglasses.

"Really?" Gaban's words only made Marco more interested.

"Aren't you worried about him?" Blamenco stood in front of Gaban. Neither of them attacked. Blamenco wasn't Gaban's match, so he naturally didn't want to pick a fight and get beaten up. Gaban not attacking was something he was glad to see. At least this way, he was keeping one of the Roger Pirates' main fighters occupied.

"His ability is much stronger than you think. If this drags on, you really won't be able to beat him." Gaban pulled the flask from his waist, took a sip, and let out a satisfied sigh.

"Is that so?" Blamenco sounded unconvinced. The fight wasn't over yet, so no one could know the outcome.

"Just keep watching."

"I heard your ability is a lot like mine?" Marco came up to Shirakawa with half-lidded, dead-fish eyes. His tone was calm and flat.

"Marco the Phoenix, our abilities are indeed very similar. But I feel like mine is a little stronger than yours."

"Is that so?"

With that, Marco instantly appeared in front of Shirakawa and kicked him, sending him flying dozens of meters back.

"Aren't you worried?" Seeing Shirakawa immediately fall behind, then noticing Gaban leisurely drinking nearby, Blamenco swallowed, looking envious. He regretted not bringing a barrel of booze off the ship.

"No. Nothing's going to happen to him."

Sure enough, when the smoke cleared, Shirakawa reappeared before everyone, completely unharmed.

"Wow, his ability really is like Commander Marco's!" the Whitebeard Pirates' crew exclaimed. An ordinary person would definitely have been hurt by Marco's kick.

"Indeed. It really is a lot like the Phoenix's ability." But when Marco recovered, distinctive flames unique to the Phoenix appeared around his wounds. Shirakawa had no such flames.

Suddenly, Marco felt himself grow heavier. Even the ground beneath him sank lower than the surrounding ground.

"Gravity?" Marco cried out in surprise. He hadn't expected Shirakawa to have the power to control gravity as well, and it was slowing him down.

"Not good!" Marco thought. In the blink of an eye, Shirakawa was in front of him. Now that he knew Marco could recover, Shirakawa no longer needed to hold back.

But just as Shirakawa was about to hit Marco, Marco instantly transformed into his Phoenix form, broke free of gravity's control, and took to the air. Shirakawa's attack missed.