Hagoku!

Blood Skull Pirates.

"What!?"

Seeing Mongge leap from the ship and then run across the air towards the small island, the pirates on the Blood Skull Pirates' ship had their eyeballs nearly pop out.

"How can that person fly?"

"That must be White Wolf Mongge, right?"

"This is bad, Captain, White Wolf Mongge is running away!"

"..."

Kicking away the startled pirate, Farrell cursed, "Get lost, I know that without you telling me."

"Full speed ahead!"

In the New World, flying wasn't exactly rare, but being able to learn the "flight" skill was something not everyone could do.

At the very least, Blood Skull Farrell couldn't.

So, he irritably ordered the helmsman on the ship to sail towards the island where Mongge was.

"Captain Farrell, what about that ship?"

Seeing the ship engulfed in flames after being hit by cannonballs, the young pirate who revealed Mongge's whereabouts couldn't help but ask.

"Who cares about that?"

Farrell looked annoyed. At their current speed, it would take about half an hour to reach the small island. By then, Mongge would have already rested on the island for who knows how long.

They had originally intended to wear Mongge down with their cannon fire.

But then a small island suddenly appeared?

"Damn it!"

Mongge with insufficient stamina and Mongge with full stamina were two completely different concepts. Even if he was currently well-rested, he had no confidence in a fair fight against a legend among pirates.

In a bad mood, Farrell's gaze towards the young pirate also turned displeased.

He said with ill intent, "Since you care so much about that ship, why don't you go take a look now? Maybe you can even put out the fire on the ship."

Farrell noticed that on Mongge's ship, besides Mongge himself, there was another person, seemingly Mongge's helmsman. But since Mongge had already run off, it meant he didn't care about the helmsman's life at all.

Farrell wasn't surprised. Weren't pirates like this?

Every man for himself when disaster strikes.

Mongge's actions fit Farrell's stereotype of pirates perfectly.

"Okay!"

However, what Farrell didn't expect was that the young man gritted his teeth and actually jumped off the ship, swimming towards Mongge's ship, which was already ablaze.

Farrell had only one evaluation for this.

Idiot!

Nameless Small Island.

After running over ten kilometers in one go using Moonwalk, even though Mongge's hidden injuries had recovered with the system's help, he couldn't help but pant.

After all, he was old.

"Since I've already run, that bunch of Blood Skull idiots shouldn't keep chasing my ship, right?"

What was a dilapidated old ship worth?

On this sea, pirates killed each other either for fame or for profit. Who would do something with no benefit?

Now, what this group of pirates should be doing was pursuing him with all their might.

Because as time passed, his stamina was recovering every second. Once he fully recovered and hid on the small island, who knew who would be chasing whom.

But just in case.

"Let's just say Rocks got unlucky. That pirate has a bounty of 160 million. Decades later, with inflation, it could even break a billion."

This was also why Mongge didn't rashly charge onto the Blood Skull Pirates' ship.

Come on, he was seventy years old!

If he wanted to go on a rampage, he should have done it twenty or thirty years ago.

Who knew that at this moment, his idiotic system would act up again.

But this time, the information on the system panel made Mongge's already cloudy eyes erupt with an unprecedented brilliance.

[When paths cross, the brave win. Running is the choice of cowards. Facing an old pirate in his twilight years, you should bravely counterattack instead of constantly fleeing.]

[Mission: Defeat Blood Skull Farrell head-on.]

[Reward: Conqueror's Haki potential, slight increase in cell activity!]

Conqueror's Haki potential!

Mongge hadn't expected the system to be so generous for dealing with mere Blood Skulls.

In the New World, the number of people with Conqueror's Haki is as numerous as fish in a river.

But this kind of thing...

You either have it, or you don't.

Without Conqueror's Haki, it signifies losing the ticket to enter the pinnacle of this world. Even if your other two Haki types are outstanding, it's difficult to defeat top-tier Conqueror's Haki users.

Because top-tier Conqueror's Haki possesses the power to nullify Observation Haki, and the entanglement of Conqueror's Haki surpasses that of Armament Haki.

Regrettably, Mongge does not possess Conqueror's Haki.

Therefore, even if Mongge gave his all, he wouldn't be able to reach the apex of pirates.

How much water a barrel can hold depends on its shortest plank.

And now, this short plank has a chance to be mended!

"Blood Skull Farrell?"

The aged pirate licked his lips, gazing at the pirate ship drawing nearer, a ferocious expression appearing on his face for the first time.

"Since the system is so generous, then die for me!"

On the sailing ships of this era, oars had not yet been completely replaced. Under Farrell's urging, a group of pirates rowed desperately, shortening a journey that should have taken half an hour to twenty minutes.

In other words, Mongge had actually arrived at the small island only fifteen minutes before the Blood Skull Pirates.

"In such a short time, I don't believe you can fully recover!"

Farrell stepped onto the ship's bow, his gaze fixed grimly on the small island. His greatest worry now was that Mongge would run onto the island and hide, forcing him to split his forces to search for him.

This completely went against his original plan.

His plan was to have his crew attack Mongge together, wear him down, and then he, the captain, would finish him off.

He had defeated countless opponents stronger than him through this method.

If Mongge hid, they risked being picked off one by one.

"Will you hide? White Wolf Mongge!"

Suddenly, Farrell's pupils contracted to pinpricks, and a smile appeared at the corner of his lips.

He actually saw Mongge standing on the beach!

"Hahahaha, White Wolf Mongge, since you're so eager to die, I'll grant your wish!"

He wanted to kill White Wolf Mongge, to make this legend of the old era his stepping stone!

"Cannons!"

Farrell roared, ready to strike at any moment.

But faster than his roar, Mongge on the beach slowly advanced towards the Blood Skull Pirates.

Until the seawater reached his ankles.

A terrifying aura surged from Mongge. Ever since he set sail at eighteen, he had trained day after day, constantly improving.

Mongge's mastery of techniques had long since reached perfection.

And the Giant Tribe's combat technique—Hagoku—was the pinnacle of the fusion of skill and power.

White fur began to grow.

His lean body began to swell.

A fierce wind kicked up.

The air was compressed.

The space around Mongge seemed to be sucked into a vacuum in that instant.

Unlike the previous time on the ship.

This time, Mongge intended to go all out, to truly replicate this ultimate technique.

"Hagoku!"

With a low growl, Mongge swung his blade.

The shockwave formed by the compressed air shot out like a giant cannon, visible even to Rocks, who was struggling to extinguish fires on his ship in the distance.

Under this strike...

The sea was split in two.

All obstacles in its path were destroyed.

The pirate ship of the Blood Skull Pirates...

Was no exception.

Under this devastating slash, the brand-new Sailing Ship was torn to pieces. The countless pirates on the pirate ship were blasted into dust by the terrifying impact, without even the slightest chance to struggle.

In just one strike.

Mongge destroyed the Blood Skull Pirates' pirate ship, destroying Blood Skull Farrell's life's work of countless years.

In that instant, Rocks even forgot about how Mongge had screwed him over earlier. Beneath his messy black hair, his gaunt face turned completely red.

"I must learn this move!"