"Marine Admirals are strong."
Shane looked into the distance, his heart still aching faintly.
He and Kaido had each just defeated an Admiral Candidate in a quick battle, and now a real Admiral had arrived.
Defeating an opponent of roughly equal strength naturally came at a price.
That meant the captain and Vice Captain, the Dragon Emperor Pirates' strongest fighters, were both injured and had depleted their stamina.
Under normal circumstances, their first move now should have been to get out of there.
But Shane could not run!
At this same Sabaody Archipelago, the Straw Hat Pirates had been beaten and scattered.
Their strength back then had been far below an Admiral's, so naturally, they had suffered a crushing defeat.
Even at this stage, the Dragon Emperor Pirates' Apprentice Crew Members were actually about as strong as the Straw Hat Pirates.
But being Devil Fruit Users gave every one of them another source of confidence in their fighting strength.
Among the full-fledged crew members, Olvia simply filled several roles.
A sniper who had yet to achieve a breakthrough in Two-Color Haki had almost no advantage at sea; what she had was high-tech suppressive firepower.
As Giants, Sanjuan Wolf and Morley had longer lifespans, but their strength also grew relatively slowly. They were already pirates with bounties exceeding a hundred million.
Both could hold their own in a fight, and their vitality was formidable.
Stussy was merely a passenger borrowing their ship to reach the New World, and she was fairly strong.
Even her clone could wound the Black Gold King with a long-range Finger Pistol at Linlin's birthday cake tea party thirty-eight years later.
Her combination of Kami-e and Soru could even leave Rob Lucci dazzled.
But until she became a member of Shane's crew, she could not be counted