Guilty Shu

Wuli had not expected this battle against a Sea King to be so difficult.

As someone who could briefly trade blows with Captain Eustass Kid among the Pirate Supernovas, and Roronoa Zoro, the Pirate Hunter,

he had found fighting a single Sea King in the Calm Belt to be this arduous and taxing.

The enormous Sea King possessed not only immense strength but also absurdly high defense. Wuli had used many sword techniques, yet they had only cut through the Sea King's fur. Other than enraging it further, they seemed to have had little effect.

This also made Wuli clearly realize his weakness: his attack power was too weak. Against a colossal creature like this, what he needed was real, tangible strength. Swordsmanship alone, without strength to back it up, made it difficult to bring down a Sea King.

If he had Armament Haki, the boost to his attack power would not be minor—it would increase severalfold.

He had already understood that clearly when he fought people at Marine Headquarters who possessed Armament Haki. Unfortunately, he had yet to awaken Haki, which troubled him greatly.

Boom!

He narrowly dodged the Sea King's attack, stepped on its head, and used the force to launch himself into the air.

Roar!

The shockwave produced by the sound gave Wuli considerable trouble. His body stalled slightly, and his heart sank. This is bad.

Sure enough, he felt a powerful presence closing in from behind. The Sea King had opened its gaping maw and lunged at Wuli.

Its blood-red eyes brimmed with bloodlust and madness. Saliva poured endlessly from its mouth like a torrential downpour, while the tiny waves it stirred on the raging sea were barely worth mentioning.

Wuli's eyes narrowed. Holding his sword in reverse, he spun in place, drawing up seawater to form a highly defensive wall of water.

"Shigure Soen Ryu: Shibuki Ame."

The people watching from the Marine warship tensed at the sight, staring worriedly at Wuli in the sky.

The lone figure battling the Sea King looked somewhat frail, making them break into a cold sweat every time Wuli faced another deadly danger.

"Colonel Shu, the situation is extremely unfavorable for Colonel Wuli. Should we go support him?" a Marine asked Shu. It was not that they lacked faith in Wuli; this Sea King was simply too powerful. The fact that Wuli had fought it for so long was already remarkable.

"No need. Have faith in Colonel Wuli! If we go, we'll only get in his way and distract him," Shu said gravely. His feelings were far more complicated than those of the Marines.

They were both Marine colonels, yet Shu was far weaker than Wuli. Or rather, Wuli was far stronger than an ordinary colonel.

But none of that was an excuse. As Wuli's partner, Shu could only stand by and watch Wuli fight alone because his own strength was too lacking. It did not sit well with him at all.

This was the second time he had felt incomparably ashamed of his own weakness. The first had been when he fought the Straw Hat Pirates at Enies Lobby.

After two years, the Straw Hat Pirates' strength had soared at a breathtaking rate. Though Shu had not remained stagnant, his progress had been far too small—so small that he no longer even qualified to fight them.

Shu clenched his fists. If they made it through this crisis, he would properly improve his strength, at the very least until he could fight shoulder to shoulder with Wuli.

As Shu's gaze wandered and his thoughts drifted elsewhere, a tremendous crash jolted him back to his senses.

Bang!

A figure slammed heavily onto the warship, smashing a human-shaped crater into the deck. Wuli did not remain lying in the crater.

A sharp gleam flashed through his eyes. The instant he caught the Sea King's opening, he sprang to his feet, leaped into the air once more, and charged toward it.