Blood Skull Pirates

"It's pirates!"

From afar, Rocks saw the pirate flag flying atop the sailboat and widened his eyes.

"I can see that without you telling me."

Magnus glanced at Rocks, thinking, You know they're pirates, but don't you know I'm a pirate too? The pirate flag on my ship hasn't even been taken down yet.

"Rocks, come with me!"

Since Magnus had decided to recruit Rocks, he had no intention of treating him like an outsider.

"Can you sail? Do you know how to read an Eternal Pose? You'll steer the ship later and head in the direction the Eternal Pose points. It records an island, and we'll deal with these enemies there."

Magnus brought Rocks to the helm and tossed him a round device containing a needle. On the seas of this world, one needed a compass called a Log Pose to determine directions.

Some special compasses, however, such as the one Magnus had thrown to Rocks, had needles that pointed permanently toward a single island.

Rocks asked in confusion, "Why don't we deal with them at sea? With your strength, Captain, that shouldn't be difficult, right?"

"Are you an idiot?" Magnus rolled his eyes. "There are only two people on this ship right now. If I go over there to deal with them, what if someone on their side gets the same idea and comes after you? What would you do then?"

This was not the East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, or South Blue, the starting grounds for pirates. This was the most chaotic sea in the entire pirate world—the New World!

What pirate who could survive here lacked a few tricks up his sleeve?

What if he got held up?

With Rocks's current strength, the future overlord of the seas had only just set sail and would probably die young.

Besides.

Even if he could use Nation Splitter to destroy their ship.

They were too far away!

The farther Nation Splitter's attack range, the more stamina it consumed.

Unless they came closer on their own.

Misfortunes never came alone. He had just encountered the future overlord of the seas, and now he had run into a down-and-out pirate crew looking to crush a rookie's dreams.

The Blood Skull Pirates, remnants of an old era long abandoned by the new age.

Don't worry. The captain of the Blood Skull Pirates is merely an elderly old man. With your strength, there is no need to fear him.

Defeat them. Overcome them!

Although Magnus knew his system was idiotic, he still nearly lost his composure when he saw the information on the panel.

Bloody Skull Farrell, bounty: 160 million.

(Equivalent to 1.28 billion Berries in the future.)

In the current pirate world.

That was enough to earn the title of Great Pirate!

Things were not like they would be in later generations, when bounties casually reached one or two billion.

In this era, Berries were still very valuable.

In terms of purchasing power, one Berry now was worth seven or eight times what it would be in the future, so bounties had to be calculated by that multiplier.

If Magnus remembered correctly, the captain of the Blood Skull Pirates was not even fifty yet. In the pirate world, that counted as being in his prime.

And it called him an elderly old man?

Then what was he?

A corpse?

As for why Bloody Skull had appeared here?

He had been sold out.

Magnus was not surprised by that. In the world of pirates, betrayal was an everyday occurrence.

"What a pity. You chose the wrong time."

In the distance.

The Blood Skull Pirates.

"Hahahaha! White Wolf Magnus, I finally found you!"

Wearing a bright red coat, Bloody Skull Farrell looked at the faintly visible ship in the distance and burst into laughter.

"You there, you did well. Once I kill your old captain and get the treasure he hid away, the treasure is mine, and I'll give you that piece-of-junk ship!"

White Wolf Magnus—what an illustrious name!

When Farrell had first gone to sea, he had already heard of Magnus's reputation.

He was a major figure even the Marines could do nothing about!

Unfortunately.

Even heroes grew old.

No matter how powerful a pirate was, he could not withstand the ravages of time.

And now.

He had disbanded his pirate crew and was searching alone for a place to die.

How could such a bargain exist?

He had roamed the seas for decades, yet when he disbanded the crew, each person only received ten million Berries. No wonder someone had been dissatisfied enough to find him and leak Magnus's whereabouts.

He would not have believed it either!

"Full speed ahead!"

Farrell shouted, "Gunners, get ready! Give them two rounds of cannon fire first!"

The moment Farrell said that, the young man beside him grew anxious.

"Captain Farrell, this isn't what we agreed on!" The young man hurried forward. "Didn't we agree that Captain Magnus's treasure would be yours and the ship would be mine?"

Magnus's ship was already old, and Magnus was its only fighter now. If it took another few rounds of cannon fire, what if it sank?

"Hm? You have an objection to my orders?"

As soon as the young man spoke, Farrell narrowed his eyes. A pressure he had only ever felt from his old captain, Magnus, bore down on him, turning his face pale.

The young man hurriedly shook his head. "N-no."

"It had better be that way!"

Farrell snorted.

"Although you said that old man can no longer use Haki, who knows whether that's true? What if we sail right up to him and he still has some strength left, then injures my crew? As captain, I must ensure my crew's safety!"

Farrell declared righteously.

In truth, he did not care in the slightest whether his crew lived or died. But a man's reputation cast a long shadow. When Magnus had been making his name across the seas, Farrell had still been drinking milk.

Who knew what trump cards that old man still had?

Better to keep their distance and fire a few rounds first, wearing down the old man's stamina.

White Wolf Magnus was a Devil Fruit user.

A Devil Fruit was a fruit that granted special abilities and awakened superhuman powers after being eaten. The price was being rejected by the sea and losing the ability to swim.

If Magnus did not block the cannon fire and the ship sank, he could only wait to die!

Farrell's calculations were perfectly sound, but he had no idea this was exactly what Magnus wanted.

"Looks like they won't come over easily."

Effortlessly cleaving apart a cannonball flying in from afar, Magnus watched the Blood Skull Pirates maintain a neither-too-far-nor-too-close distance. They had been tailing them for a long time, yet refused to approach, so he put on a panting act.

"Still, we're almost there."

In the distance, an island was faintly visible. Even if the Blood Skull Pirates suddenly accelerated now, they could reach the island before the enemy came alongside.

"Captain, are you all right?"

Seeing Magnus panting, Rocks could not help asking.

Though he did not want to serve as someone's crewman, he did not dislike Magnus either. Besides, Magnus had said he would teach him that powerful move capable of splitting the sea.

Only now did Rocks remember that Magnus was merely an elderly old man.

No matter how strong an old man was, his stamina could not compare to his younger days. What the Blood Skull Pirates were doing now was exhausting Magnus's stamina.

"Oh? So you know how to care about people, kid?"

Magnus looked at Rocks and nodded approvingly.

"Since you know your captain is tired, how about doing me a favor?"

"What favor?"

"Guard my old partner for me!"

"Huh?"

The moment he finished speaking, Rocks saw Magnus leap from the ship.

Geppo!

Magnus stepped through the air and raced toward the distant island at several times the speed of the ship, leaving Rocks alone at the helm.

Rocks was dumbfounded.

Another round of cannon fire came down.

Without Magnus there to block it this time, the old ship was immediately riddled with holes.

On the ship, Rocks was blasted about by the cannonballs, scrambling in panic.

From afar, Magnus could still hear Rocks cursing loudly.

"You damned old man, I *******"