Don't worry, I'll take care of it

Near the Sabbath Sea, East Blue.

A large pirate ship drifted across the sea.

The people aboard were either lying down or leaning against something, and they all looked exhausted.

Just then, a man with a round shield strapped to his chest struggled to make his way into the Captain's Room.

He approached a tall man in golden armor and respectfully addressed him in a feeble voice:

"Captain Krieg."

"Hmm?" Krieg slowly raised his head, his face darkening as he asked in a low voice:

"What is it, Paru? Has Akin come back?"

Paru shook his head. "No, Akin still hasn't returned."

"The crew are about to collapse. Everyone's been starving for several days now."

At that, Krieg's expression immediately turned grim.

It wasn't just the crew.

Even he was nearly at the end of his strength from hunger. His whole body felt weak, and even his voice had grown faint.

But faced with that terrifying man who had pursued them all the way from the Grand Line, Krieg hadn't dared send anyone to show themselves in the nearby towns, afraid the man would discover their whereabouts.

On top of that, there wasn't a single island nearby, so they had no chance to hunt for food.

They hadn't seen a single passing ship, either.

That was why the entire crew had gone hungry for several days at sea after exhausting their food supplies.

Krieg still hadn't thought of any good solution.

After considering it for a moment, he tried to reassure Paru. "I've made up my mind. We'll wait one more day."

"If Akin still hasn't come back, we'll head to a nearby town and raid it, so everyone can have a proper meal."

Paru immediately perked up at that and nodded eagerly. "All right, Captain. I'll go tell them the good news!"

But just as he turned to leave, the door to the Captain's Room was suddenly shoved open.

Before Krieg could get angry,

a crewman rushed inside and shouted excitedly:

"Captain Krieg! There's a ship heading this way!"

"What did you say?! A ship is passing by?"

The unexpected good news instantly turned Krieg's anger into delight.

He quickly stood up and gave an order without hesitation:

"Bring our ship alongside theirs!"

"Everyone, get ready for battle! Our food has finally arrived!"

"Yes, Captain Krieg!"

"Captain Will, there's a ship nearby heading our way!"

Carina spotted a large ship suddenly changing course through her telescope. It seemed to be heading toward them, so she quickly called out from the bow.

"Mm, I know."

Will had been standing at the bow with his eyes closed, but after hearing her, he slowly opened them. He didn't seem surprised.

While training his balance and stability at the bow, he had also been using Observation Haki to sense his surroundings.

So he had noticed the nearby ship even before Carina did.

He simply hadn't cared.

As Carina walked over, Will said calmly, "Don't worry. We'll wait for it to come closer."

Carina had no objection. She leaned against the side of the ship and continued watching through her telescope.

Meanwhile, aboard the large ship heading toward them,

Krieg strode over to the side and took the telescope Paru handed him. He raised it and studied the ship ahead.

Seeing only a man and a woman at the bow, with no one on the deck, Krieg burst out laughing and tossed the telescope back to Paru. Then he shouted cruelly to the men around him:

"Listen up! Don't stop the ship! Ram straight into them!"

"Kill everyone aboard! Take all their treasure and food!"

"Oh—!" The crewmen grinned viciously and cheered at his words.

They had been starving at sea for days, and their stomachs were already growling. They couldn't wait to devour the delicious food aboard that ship.

A short while later,

the distance between the two ships continued to shrink until they could see the other ship clearly with the naked eye.

The people aboard it were restless, constantly waving their weapons.

In the middle of the group stood a tall man in golden armor, wearing a vicious grin.

Will and Carina both knew that this had to be one of the most common sights on the sea: a pirate crew.

Watching the other ship approach like a pack of hungry wolves, Carina couldn't help turning to ask:

"Captain Will, are we just going to watch?"

"Don't worry." Will took his hands out of his pockets and said unhurriedly, "I'll take care of it."

As soon as he finished speaking,

Will vanished from the bow.

Carina froze in surprise, then silently marveled at how he really did what he said he would.

Paru, who was holding the telescope, had witnessed the same thing. He quickly turned and shouted:

"Captain Krieg, that man at the other ship's bow disappeared!"

"Disappeared?" Krieg turned in confusion to look at the other ship.

But before he could react,

a sharp-eyed pirate beside him suddenly pointed at the sky in astonishment and yelled:

"Captain, look! That man's flying! He's in the sky!"

"What did you say?!"

Krieg looked up in shock and immediately spotted the man who had vanished from the bow.

A powerful sense of foreboding surged through him.

At that moment, Will was suspended in midair, but he had no intention of heading over to the other ship.

Geppo!

He kicked off the air again, quickly moving higher.

Once he judged that the height and distance were about right, Will raised his right leg and began kicking rapidly toward the other ship!

Rankyaku: Wild Dance!

In the blink of an eye, countless crescent-shaped vacuum slashes shot out from in front of Will and slammed into the other ship at incredible speed.

Bang! Bang—bang, bang, bang!!

The sound of impacts and splintering rang out again and again as the ship's hull gradually broke apart.

The pirates aboard scattered in every direction, covered in blood.

Only Paru, raising his enormous shield, and Krieg, swinging his long weapon, were still barely holding out.

"Damn it! Who the hell is this guy?!"

Krieg was completely panicked.

He couldn't understand how he could have left East Blue for a while and returned only to encounter someone this powerful.

At the same time, he felt utterly indignant and resentful!

The moment his fleet had entered the Grand Line, he had encountered a terrifying powerhouse.

In the end, he had fled back to East Blue in a humiliating state.

And now, in a godforsaken place like this, he had somehow run into another powerhouse.

Was there any justice in the world?!

He couldn't believe that he, the overlord of East Blue, could really be this unlucky.

"Hm? They actually held on."

Will was slightly surprised to see that his opponents hadn't been wiped out in a single strike.

He had thought they were just a bunch of nobodies, but he hadn't expected anyone among them to withstand his attack.

That piqued his interest a little.