"You've finally found your footing, kid. Leave others alone, and they'll leave you alone. Probably only Roger would take a swing at you someday when his hands get itchy."
"No telling whether Shiki will leave the New World, but that guy doesn't like going back over old ground. Victory and defeat are part of battle. He won't die of anger over it."
With that, Whitebeard sat cross-legged.
He raised the pot of liquor. Shane, being bigger, had taken an even larger pot.
He drained a whole pot.
Liquor spilled as the two tipped their heads back and drank deeply.
"Gurararara!"
"Time waits for no one, Shane! Things will probably get pretty dull from here!"
Whitebeard knew what it took to reach this point.
Like him, Shane had already dominated a region before joining Hachinosu.
His forces had grown over the years, and after the pirate crew disbanded, he had fought several more fierce battles.
He had become an overlord before Shane, a little later than Golden Lion.
The main thing was that he didn't care about power or influence at all.
Yet wherever he went, someone always wanted to challenge him. Over time, his followers multiplied, he gained more sons, and his territory expanded.
As his forces grew, his own strength and his crew improved as well, and he naturally came to be seen as a power second only to Golden Lion.
After Shane's rise, Whitebeard had fallen another notch in terms of territory and influence.
With Golden Lion defeated, Shane's forces were bound to grow even stronger.
Whitebeard didn't care how much territory he had. Many places had even deliberately flown his Pirate Flag.
"You're saying that from now on, I'll rule a region, trapped here in the New World, a canary in a cage forever."
"That I can't