The frozen world resumed after one-thousandth of a second.
In the silence, sword qi swept across the ship below. Soundlessly, the vessel collapsed, and everyone fell into the sea at once.
Rumble!
Only then did thunder roll through the sky, and the sounds of the world returned.
Splash...
At the same time, a torrential rain poured down from the heavens. Shanks landed back on his own ship, took the straw hat Benn Beckman handed him, and put it back on.
His longsword slowly slid back into its sheath. Shanks let out a breath as he looked at the people in the water below.
Many of them struggled desperately.
Shanks had now mastered Sword Qi Thunder Sound to perfection. He had finally moved beyond the most basic sword techniques and was capable of using more complex principles of swordsmanship.
Like the move he had just used—it was something he had figured out himself.
The results were pretty good.
"Captain Jozu... Captain Jozu..." The pirates who had fallen into the sea began frantically saving themselves while shouting amid the waves.
Seawater was deadly poison to Devil Fruit users, but it posed no difficulty for ordinary pirates. On the contrary, any pirate who went to sea had swimming skills that were practically inhuman.
After all, the sea was their second home.
"Over here! Captain Jozu sank from here!" Anxious cries rang out as several pirates plunged into the depths of the sea.
"A sword strike powerful enough to split mountains and overturn seas, yet you controlled its strength perfectly. The ship shattered, but not a single person aboard was hurt. Captain, your strength has improved again."
Benn Beckman sighed from the side.
Shanks smiled and turned around. "All right, the trouble's taken care of. Let's head to Marfal Island!"
"Huh?" A chubby little