Those Seeing Them Off

Just as Shanks and Shirakawa were about to climb the stairs to the deck, two loud BOOMS rang out from the sea around the ship.

The tremendous noise and the violent rocking of the ship startled Shirakawa.

"What happened?"

After grabbing the railing to steady himself, Shirakawa asked Shanks.

"Someone's probably here to see us off."

Shanks was clearly used to this sort of thing. Not only was he unafraid, but a faint smile even appeared on his lips.

When Shirakawa reached the deck, he heard someone reporting the situation to Roger.

"Captain, those three pirate ships are probably some newcomers this year who don't know their place."

"Is that so? Newcomers daring to challenge me? Their courage is truly commendable."

It was hard to tell whether Roger meant that as praise or sarcasm—whether he was genuinely complimenting them or mocking them for not knowing their place.

But Shirakawa felt it was probably the latter. After all, a New World overlord like Roger had his pride.

They might have thought that, instead of seeking out Golden Lion or Whitebeard, Roger was the weakest of the three.

Shirakawa hurried to the side of the ship and saw three pirate vessels charging toward them without slowing down in the slightest, looking thoroughly aggressive.

Just then, Shirakawa saw a pitch-black cannonball growing larger before his eyes as it hurtled toward him at increasing speed.

He instinctively raised both hands in front of himself, having even forgotten to run. His mind was completely blank.

He had yet to master the King of Silver's powers, and he wasn't sure whether the shield would appear in time. Just when he thought he was about to die, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

The figure drew his sword and swung it. The cannonball instantly split in two and fell to either side.

"Kid, you should stay inside the ship. You're just in the way standing here."

Hearing the voice, Shirakawa opened his eyes. The man standing before him was none other than Silvers Rayleigh.

At that moment, Shanks ran over and dragged him away.

"Shirakawa, you don't have much strength right now. Stop wandering around outside. It's far too dangerous."

"I know, but I couldn't help wanting to watch. It's my first time seeing pirates fight, so I wanted to see what it was like."

"A fight? Don't make me laugh, Shirakawa."

"What? Was I wrong?"

Hearing the mockery in Shanks's voice, Shirakawa asked in confusion.

"Of course you were. Fighting people like them doesn't even deserve to be called a battle. Only when the Roger Pirates run into crews like Whitebeard's or Golden Lion's can it be considered a battle. As for these guys, just watch. You'll soon understand what I mean."

Shanks escorted Shirakawa somewhere safe before heading back out.

Yet Shirakawa unexpectedly ran into Buggy there.

"Yo, Buggy. What a coincidence. You're here too." Shirakawa greeted him.

"Coincidence, my ass. This is the first time I've seen anyone else come here."

Shirakawa also didn't understand why Shanks had brought him here, because it didn't seem like a safe place to him.

Not only could they clearly see everything happening around them, but this was probably also one of the areas most likely to be hit by cannonballs. Though perhaps it was because Buggy was here.

After all, a place with Buggy in it couldn't be called absolutely safe, but it could certainly be called free of danger.

"Though now that I think about it, it makes sense. You're the weakest guy on the ship right now."

A vein popped on Shirakawa's forehead upon hearing that.

"Buggy, did you forget that I won our last duel?"

"Heh heh. That was only because Lord Buggy hadn't used his full strength. Otherwise, you would've been one-shotted."

"Fine. When we get the chance, I'll see who gets one-shotted."

Shirakawa said this in a hostile tone.

After all, aside from his wide network and good luck, Buggy had shown little else of note.

The only thing he had with any real destructive power was the Buggy Ball he would develop later.

After that, Shirakawa stopped talking to Buggy and turned his attention to the battle.

"What's so interesting about that?"

"Aren't you worried the Captain and the others might lose?" Though Shirakawa knew Roger would not lose, he still asked.

"How could that happen? Aside from that mad dog Garp, no one can make the Captain flee without fighting."

"Is Garp that strong?"

"Of course. Although everyone says Whitebeard is the strongest man in the world, Garp is no less formidable than Whitebeard in a bare-handed fight."

"But even so, the Captain wouldn't have to flee without fighting, would he?"

"Heh heh. Although the Captain isn't much weaker than Garp, you haven't seen Garp when he goes crazy. Once you do, you'll understand why the Captain runs. That relentless pursuit of his gives everyone a headache."

"So even if Captain had to face both Golden Lion and Whitebeard at once, he still wouldn't want to face that bastard Garp. Anyone who's never met Garp simply has no idea how terrifyingly strong he is."

As he said this, Buggy shuddered. It was clear just how deep an impression Garp had left on him.

When Shirakawa turned his head again, he discovered that all three pirate ships had already been split in half and were sinking into the sea.

"What... happened?" Shirakawa said, dumbfounded.

"Hehe, shows how little you've seen. Our crew has at least three Great Swordsmen. Ordinary pirates who aren't strong enough don't even qualify to fight us in boarding combat."

Buggy rose to his feet with a cold sneer, then stepped out of the shadows to join the celebration for this "hard-won" victory.

"This is the Roger Pirates? At least three Great Swordsmen?"

Shirakawa was stunned once again. Sure enough, unless one joined the Roger Pirates, one would never know just how many extraordinary people were hidden within this crew.

Speaking of Great Swordsmen, the first person Shirakawa thought of was Hawk Eyes—the world's greatest swordsman of the future, capable of effortlessly cleaving apart meteors.

"Well, Shirakawa? You've seen the strength of our pirate crew now, right?"

Shanks walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

"Yeah. All I can say is, they're worthy of being the Roger Pirates, one of the New World's three great overlords."

"Haha, Captain didn't even make a move this time. Once you see him fight, you'll understand our crew's strength even more clearly. Come on, let's go hold a feast."

"A feast? What feast?"

"To celebrate defeating another pirate crew, of course."

"That needs celebrating?"

"Of course. No matter how weak a pirate crew is, after we defeat them, we have to hold a memorial for them."

Shirakawa's mouth twitched. That really was a twisted sense of humor.

"With feasts this frequent, do we even have enough alcohol? Enough food?"

Just as the thought crossed Shirakawa's mind, someone hauled a small Sea King from the ocean onto the ship.

Shirakawa's mouth twitched again.

"Fine. Pretend I didn't think anything."