Golden Merry

"Shakushi" was Kuro's strongest technique, but it was an indiscriminate attack that made no distinction between friend and foe. Once Kuro used it, no one within a certain range could escape unharmed. The principle behind "Shakushi" was to use the speed of Silent Step to slash wildly; even Kuro himself did not know what he was clawing at.

"Though I don't know what's going on here, it seems you can't use those strange techniques, can you?" Kuro swayed his body as he spoke. The next moment, however, he entered an "unconscious" state and unleashed his ultimate move, "Shakushi."

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"Courting death!" Kuro had turned the castle inside William's body into a complete mess, thoroughly provoking William's anger.

Once the damage to his castle exceeded a certain level, William's actual body would suffer damage as well. Although he could instantly repair the damaged castle with his ability and quickly recover from the injuries to his body, the pain remained.

"Castle Swamp!" To stop that bastard Kuro from wreaking havoc inside him, William had no choice but to turn the entire castle floor into a swamp, trapping Kuro's legs and preventing him from continuing his rampage.

"What is this?" After regaining his senses, Kuro found that his legs had sunk into swamp-like ground. Unable to use his prized Silent Step any longer, he began to panic.

"Captain Kuro, this isn't a place where you can run wild!" William's clone emerged from the ground again. At the same time, he aimed a cannon obtained through the Buggy Pirates' abilities at Kuro, clearly intending to blast him out of his body.

When Kuro saw a dark opening suddenly appear before him, with a cannon aimed directly at him, panic immediately filled his heart. In the past, every gun and cannon had been nothing more than a child's toy in his eyes, but now, for the first time in his life, he felt fear toward such weapons.

Once, he had dismissed guns and cannons with contempt. Once, he had killed without a sound. Once, he had been a pirate feared at the mere mention of his name. But three years ago, he had grown tired of being hunted by the Marines, so he slaughtered the Marines aboard a warship. He had Jango, then the first mate, hypnotize Morgan, the only man he had seriously wounded without killing, and also hypnotize someone who looked very much like Kuro to take Captain Kuro's place.

Three years after everyone believed that "Klahadore" Kuro had been executed by the Marines, Kuro had actually planned to seize the wealth of Kaya's family in Syrup Village. If the Straw Hat Pirates had not appeared, Syrup Village would undoubtedly have been massacred by the Black Cat Pirates.

"Who exactly are you?" Kuro asked fearfully. If his legs had not been trapped in the swamp, his cruel and arrogant nature would never have allowed him to fear William. But the "overwhelming" strength William displayed had filled his heart with terror.

In truth, William and Kuro were evenly matched in strength. Kuro was only helpless because William had trapped him within the Castle Domain inside his body.

"Me? Just a pirate passing by!"

"You wanted to know the secret of Silent Step, didn't you?" Left with no other choice, Kuro had to bow his head to William. Whether he truly accepted defeat in his heart, however, was another matter.

"Oh? That? Who knows." Why had William spent so much effort and time letting Kuro run around inside his body? Wasn't it precisely to uncover the secret of Silent Step?

However, William had already roughly discovered Silent Step's secret. As long as he spent some time practicing and comprehending it, he could master the power of Silent Step himself. Why would he need Kuro to tell him? Besides, William did not trust Kuro. Otherwise, how had "Klahadore" Kuro earned that name? Because the man was far too cunning.

"Impossible!" If Kuro's intelligence still had not allowed him to understand why William had trapped him here, then he would not deserve the title of "Klahadore" Kuro.

But he simply could not believe that someone in the world could see through the secret of Silent Step after only a few exchanges. What he did not know was that it was not because William possessed such talent, but because his Devil Fruit ability gave him the power to "monitor" the castle inside his body.

Boom!

A cannonball struck Kuro's body, blasting him out of William's body and onto the Black Cat Pirates' ship. It was only an ordinary cannonball, though. William had wanted to try out the Special Buggy Ball, but he abandoned the idea. What if it exploded inside his body?

At that moment, Luffy came over angrily, dragging Jango, whom he had beaten senseless. Judging by Luffy's appearance, he had suffered quite a bit himself. Although Jango was not particularly strong, a hypnotist's abilities were still "very powerful" against someone as single-minded as Luffy.

"Get the hell out of here!" Enraged, Luffy threw Jango away. The Black Cat Pirates did not dare delay any longer and hurriedly carried the badly injured Jango and the Cat Brothers back onto their ship. As for Kuro, he was still unconscious beneath the collapsed deck.

"This haul isn't bad either!" Nami said with satisfaction as she dragged the treasure she had stolen from the Black Cat Pirates. No one knew when she had slipped aboard their pirate ship. Fortunately, every Black Cat Pirate had disembarked, allowing her theft to succeed without incident.

"You're all incredibly strong!" Usopp said excitedly. In his eyes, Captain Kuro and Captain Jango had already been powerful enough, yet they had been so utterly helpless against the Straw Hat Pirates.

"Usopp, are you willing to be our sniper?" After dealing with the Black Cat Pirates, William invited Usopp, just as Shanks had once invited Usopp's father, Yasopp. Only this time, it was not Captain Luffy making the invitation, but William, the Straw Hat Pirates' strategist.

"Hehe, want to join us?" Luffy also warmly welcomed Usopp. It was not only because Usopp's slingshot skills were as accurate as Yasopp's marksmanship, but also because the "courage" Usopp had shown while protecting the village was truly admirable. He was obviously so timid and weak, yet for the sake of protecting his village and childhood friend, he had dared to "fight" a pirate crew.

"You mean you want to invite me aboard?" Usopp said excitedly. "Since you're asking so sincerely, I suppose I'll reluctantly become your vice-captain!"

"On one condition: you have to ask Kaya for a ship for us." The moment William invited Usopp aboard, he immediately gave him a task.

"Huh? Me?" Usopp panicked. As the Straw Hat Pirates were Kaya's saviors, asking her for a ship would not have been a big deal, but the problem was that he did not have the courage.

"Hurry up and say goodbye to your childhood sweetheart!" Nami teased Usopp. However, she had not realized that her view of the entire Straw Hat Pirates had changed. Though she still hated pirates, she did not dislike the Straw Hat Pirates.

"Take this ship as a gift to thank you for saving Miss Kaya." Kaya's current butler, Merry, presented a small old-fashioned sailing ship he had designed himself. Its figurehead was shaped like a sheep, and it contained ordinary daily facilities capable of meeting the needs of long-distance sailing.

"This is our first ship!" Luffy and the others looked excitedly at the somewhat cute old-fashioned sailboat, feeling that they had taken another step closer to the Grand Line.

"This ship is called the Golden Merry!" As Merry announced the ship's name, his heart swelled with pride. Though he did not know that the ship he designed would become the future Pirate King's first vessel, he could imagine the feeling of seeing his creation carry a group of dream-filled people out to sea on an adventure.

"Golden Merry! So that's your name? Nice to meet you!" Luffy stretched out his arm, grabbed the sheep figurehead, and leaped aboard. From that moment on, that spot became his exclusive "first-class seat."

"I drew the pirate flag!" Usopp said proudly. In truth, Luffy had drawn the first pirate flag himself, but it had looked too terrible to describe. That was why Usopp had drawn a skull wearing a straw hat as the symbol of the Straw Hat Pirates.

"Set sail!" This was Luffy's first order as captain.

When the sail bearing the straw hat skull emblem unfurled, the true Straw Hat Pirates were finally formed. At that moment, they had their own pirate ship and their own symbol.