"You!"
Shanks, whose Face-Face Fruit had failed to activate, instinctively pressed a hand to the hilt at his waist. It seemed he was also well versed in the art of physical persuasion.
But after locking eyes with Araki for a while, he rationally chose not to use violence to defend his pride.
"Talk?"
"Sure."
Both of them ignored the mangled, bloody Kin'emon on the floor.
O-Kiku had wanted to draw his blade, but his elder brother Izo forcibly dragged him away.
Mm, Shanks contributed to that too, hitting him with a burst of Conqueror's Haki and knocking him out. Otherwise, Izo wouldn't have been able to pull it off so smoothly.
After two ninjas swiftly cleaned the blood from the floor, Shanks still did not take a seat. He simply sat cross-legged on the floor opposite Araki and tossed him a jar of wine.
"Where's Mihawk? I heard he stayed in Wano Country too?"
"Yeah. He's very interested in the swordsmanship here. He spends all day dragging my subordinates into sparring matches. He's been having a pretty good time."
Araki slapped off the clay seal and took a swig. "Good wine!"
"This is a famous wine from our West Blue."
There was a hint of pride in Shanks's tone. "Even Mihawk hasn't had much of it."
After they drank together, Shanks's expression began to turn serious. "What exactly is your goal?"
"Hmm?"
Araki stared at Shanks in some confusion.
"The first time you appeared was on the ship of the former Seven Warlords of the Sea, Moria. Then you caused a huge stir in the Sabaody Archipelago. After that, you defeated Kaido and occupied Wano Country. Most recently, you've been widely inviting swordsmen from the sea here to exchange techniques..."
He counted off Araki's actions during this period one by