Caris suddenly lunged forward and hugged Randall.
"Oh, you're so sweet!"
Randall instinctively hugged her back.
"Huh? No fair, Caris, you got a head start!
I want a hug too!"
Christa stepped forward and hugged them both.
"Old A, if you dare join this hug... heh."
Seeing that Aequus looked tempted too, Randall fixed him with a half-smile and issued a threat.
Aequus went rigid.
A threat that left the consequences unspoken was the scariest kind.
"Tch, fine, no hug. Why so mean...?"
Aequus grumbled under his breath.
"All right, all right, tell me what happened first.
How strong are the Red Hair Pirates?"
Randall patted the backs of both women's heads.
Caris took the opportunity to nuzzle his shoulder before reluctantly letting go.
Once they got down to business, everyone grew serious.
Aequus spoke first:
"Strong. That Shanks guy is really strong.
He's very skilled with Haki, and his swordsmanship is definitely on the level of a top Swordsman.
His Conqueror's Haki is incredibly powerful too.
It's nowhere near yours, Boss, but even I got dazed by it during the fight.
Most importantly, though, Shanks has mastered a technique that lets him evade Observation Haki.
My Observation Haki couldn't sense his movements at all.
That's deadly!"
As he spoke, Aequus instinctively rubbed his lower back.
Randall nodded thoughtfully.
"Then roughly what level would you put him at?"
Aequus thought for a long while before answering:
"Without that technique, I'm confident I could wear him down and kill him.
But with it, he's really hard to handle.
After all, he's a Swordsman with extremely high offensive power. Against someone fragile, he might settle the fight with a single slash.
He's a serious threat!
That kind of strength definitely puts him among the best on the seas!"
As he spoke, he