Clash

"Yo, Roger, long time no see. I've really missed you."

The moment Shirakawa spotted the Dog-Head Warship, an especially booming voice reached his ears.

"That voice can carry over such a distance? What a loudmouth."

There were at least three or four hundred meters between the two ships, yet Garp's voice drowned out even the waves constantly crashing against the hulls.

"Garp, I don't want to see you. Just looking at your face makes me sick, and we only met two months ago."

Roger's voice was equally imposing as he shot back without yielding an inch.

"Is that so? I forgot."

Garp picked his nose with his pinky, then flicked the result into the sea.

"Garp, you really are my nemesis," Roger said quietly, his face darkening at those words.

He simply couldn't understand it. There were clearly the Golden Lion Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates too, so why did Garp insist on hounding them?

Then Roger stood at the bow, raised his saber high, and shouted, "Partners, prepare for battle!"

"Yeah! Oh!"

The pirate crew immediately grew excited, and even Shirakawa felt his blood begin to boil.

But just as his fighting spirit flared up, someone doused it, as though a bucket of ice water had been poured over him from head to toe.

"You stay in the rear. We haven't reached the point where apprentice crewmates need to fight yet."

At some point, Rayleigh had grabbed Shirakawa by the collar from behind.

"What's wrong with apprentice crewmates? Apprentice crewmates need to contribute to the pirate crew too!"

"No. If you stay here, you'll only get in our way, and we'll have to distract ourselves protecting you."

"I don't need your protection."

"Still no." Rayleigh's attitude was unwavering. In short, Shirakawa was not allowed onto the battlefield.

"Fine, then." Shirakawa looked as though he had accepted his fate.

"Buggy, keep a close eye on Shanks and Shirakawa. If anything happens, you'll answer for it."

"Don't worry, First Mate. I guarantee I'll complete the mission." Buggy puffed out his chest and raised his head.

Rayleigh knew Shanks's personality well. He was the restless type; the moment a fight broke out, he would itch all over and want to jump in.

As for Buggy, everyone on the crew knew that unless something unexpected happened, he would never set foot on the battlefield.

Although Rayleigh wasn't sure whether Buggy could keep Shanks and Shirakawa under control, there was no time to deal with such matters now, because Garp had already attacked.

A sky full of cannonballs flew toward the Roger Pirates. It was obvious at a glance that they had not been fired from ordinary cannons.

"Garp's strength is as terrifying as ever."

The crewmates aboard the ship all showed off their abilities. Some used swords, some used guns, and some used their fists. In any case, not a single cannonball landed on the ship.

"Enough watching. Let's hurry and find somewhere to hide." Buggy hurriedly told the two of them. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to get away from this dangerous place.

Since they were in the middle of the boundless sea, the only place to hide was inside the ship.

Shirakawa and Shanks were dragged, extremely unwillingly, by Buggy into a small room, where they could only observe the battle outside through a tiny pane of glass.

As the distance between the ships shrank, the two sides began a boarding battle.

Garp was the first to charge over, and Roger and Rayleigh were the ones who stopped him. It took both the captain and the First Mate working together to hold back that monster.

Bullet, meanwhile, was held up by a female Marine. Standing together, they looked like Beauty and the Beast; the female Marine did not even reach Bullet's waist.

Yet from Bullet's expression, it was obvious that this female Marine was no easy opponent.

"Who's that female Marine fighting Bullet? She looks pretty strong," Shirakawa asked Shanks.

"Her? Her name's Tsuru. I forget whether she's a rear admiral or a vice admiral."

"So she's Tsuru?"

Shirakawa truly hadn't recognized her. Tsuru at this time looked nothing like the white-haired, skeletal old woman he remembered.

"Don't think Tsuru is weak just because she looks so small and thin. You'd be completely wrong. Her Fruit power is terrifying—Bullet doesn't even dare let her attacks touch him."

Shirakawa watched closely and discovered that Bullet was actually wearing gloves while attacking Tsuru. Whenever he faced one of Tsuru's attacks, Bullet would always dodge.

"Right, who's that crewmate fighting the Marine who uses ice? He's really strong." The ice-using Marine was naturally the future Admiral Aokiji, but Shirakawa truly had no impression of the sword-wielding crewmate.

"Your memory really is terrible. Didn't I introduce him to you before?"

Shanks gave Shirakawa a disdainful look.

"Did you? I completely forgot." Shirakawa gave an embarrassed smile.

"His name is Shikaru. He may look rather fat, but he's not slow at all. His strength ranks among the top five on the ship."

"I really couldn't tell."

"Watch a little longer and you'll see. That ice user is no match for Shikaru."

Sure enough, just as Shanks had said, after only a few exchanges, several wounds had already appeared on Aokiji's body, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He had clearly suffered internal injuries.

In contrast, aside from slightly labored breathing, Shikaru had not sustained a single injury.

Even so, the Marine showed no intention of backing down. Instead, he only fought harder and harder, even as the wounds on his body continued to multiply.

"That Marine's pretty good too."

"Yeah. The captain said he's a true Marine. If nothing unexpected happens, he should become an admiral someday."

"The captain really is amazing. He can casually pick someone and guess that they'll become an admiral."

"It wasn't just some casual guess. We've dealt with that Marine several times already, so both sides understand each other to a certain extent."

The battle on the ship had been going on for quite a while, yet Shirakawa and Shanks could only watch helplessly, which was honestly rather frustrating.

Right now, Shirakawa especially wanted to test just how much progress he had made after two months of hard work.

"Shirakawa." Shanks called softly.

"What is it?"

Shirakawa turned back in confusion. When he saw Shanks glance toward Buggy, he instantly understood what Shanks wanted to do.

"OK."

Then Shanks and Shirakawa turned toward Buggy, both wearing sinister smiles.

"What are you trying to do?" Seeing their expressions, Buggy immediately sensed that something was wrong, but he still spoke toughly.

"I'm telling you, the First Mate put the two of you in my charge. I'm in charge here now."

"You are in charge, but if you can't talk, then we'll be in charge."

"N-no, don't!"

Looking at Buggy, Shirakawa seemed to see himself from two months ago.

But precisely because of that, Shirakawa wanted to do this even more. Perhaps it was to satisfy some twisted little urge in his heart.