"That's a Beasts Pirates warship!"
"Why would a Beasts Pirates ship show up here?!"
As soon as the blue-haired girl Ain recognized the ship the Straw Hats were aboard, her face changed dramatically.
"So what if it's the Beasts Pirates? Watch me sink them!"
Vice Admiral Shuzo sneered coldly.
At his command, their submarine surfaced.
With a single order,
a terrifying barrage of firepower rained down.
However—
Not a single shot landed on the enemy vessel.
"Hmph, now that's some skill. Looks like it's finally worth it for me to step in personally!"
Shuzo's confidence surged.
"Shuzo, wait! Don't act rashly—report to Teacher Zephyr first!"
Ain, wearing her usual black tights, tried to stop him anxiously.
"Hmph, it's just the Beasts Pirates! If you're scared, I'm not! Watch me take them down myself!"
The arrogant Vice Admiral Shuzo launched into action.
It wasn't long before
Shuzo closed in on the ship.
As he swept his gaze across the deck—
his expression froze.
Because his instincts told him—
these people weren't Beasts Pirates at all.
They looked far too familiar.
A straw hat-wearing young man, a red-hedgehog head, green hair, a swordsman with a long blade...
No matter how you looked at it,
they were the spitting image of this generation's Worst Generation.
But why?
Why would the Supernovas be in the New World already?
Their progress shouldn't be this fast!
Especially the Straw Hats—
Weren't they supposedly annihilated just a week ago?
In an instant,
Shuzo's mind was flooded with conflicting thoughts.
In the end, he decided—
Forget figuring it out now.
He'd just capture them first and interrogate them properly later.
Just a bunch of brats who don't even know what Haki is, he laughed to himself.
Thinking that,
Shuzo's expression grew arrogant.
Without hesitation,
he lunged straight at Luffy.
Planning to capture this golden opportunity himself.
"Luffy!"
"Watch out!"
"He's coming right for you!!!"
The cowardly trio—Nami, Usopp, and Chopper—cried out in unison.
Luffy's eyes glinted with a brief flash of red—
A glimpse into the near future.
Top-tier Kenbunshoku Haki: activated.
Even before Shuzo launched his surprise attack,
Luffy had already tracked the path of his assault.
With a light sidestep,
Luffy dodged Shuzo's Armament Haki-coated punch.
"Impossible!"
Shuzo's face twisted in disbelief.
He formed claws with his fingers,
unleashing a flurry of storm-like Shigan attacks.
Yet—
he couldn't even brush Luffy's coat.
"This is Observation Haki?!"
Shuzo's heart sank.
He had assumed this crew didn't even know what Haki was.
But clearly—
his understanding was completely wrong.
These weren't greenhorns at all.
The level of Kenbunshoku displayed by Luffy—
was rarely seen even within the Marines.
Just a week ago, these guys were declared wiped out.
What had happened to Straw Hat Luffy in that time?
How had he changed so drastically?
Wait—
It's not just Luffy.
Everyone on that ship gave off an overwhelming sense of threat.
Including that Fishman helmsman...
Could it be...?
"Straw Hat Captain—finish this quickly!"
Trafalgar Law furrowed his brow and urged.
"I got it!"
Luffy nodded.
Then—
he casually threw a punch.
The moment his fist moved,
lightning crackled in the air.
Shuzo could sense it.
That punch was wrapped in Conqueror's Haki.
His instincts screamed at him.
If that hits, I'm done for!
He tried to dodge—
but there was no escape.
All he could do was harden his Tekkai defense to the limit.
And then—
Luffy's fist struck.
Even before it made contact—
Shuzo's strongest defense shattered.
Whoosh!
A meteor streaked across the sky.
Cutting a graceful arc,
it looked like it would plunge straight into the ocean.
At the last moment—
A tall, burly figure with purple hair shot out like lightning and caught the flying Shuzo.
"Ze—"
Shuzo tried to speak—
but only got one syllable out
before collapsing completely.
Zephyr caught the heavily injured Shuzo
and brought him back to the submarine.
His fierce gaze locked on the Beasts Pirates warship just a few hundred meters away.
Shuzo was one of his most promising students.
He knew Shuzo's strength well.
Though officially a Vice Admiral,
his mastery of the Rokushiki techniques
was already beyond most headquarters Vice Admirals.
Even elite HQ Vice Admiral Momonga had praised him.
Yet such a powerful fighter had been defeated this badly—
Even though Zephyr hadn't witnessed it all,
his experience told him:
Shuzo had likely been one-shotted.
Only someone extraordinary could do that.
There had to be at least three Calamity-level fighters on that ship!
"Teacher Zephyr... Could Shuzo have been... taken down by that Beasts Pirate...?"
Ain's face went pale at the thought.
"No... It wasn't Kaidou."
Zephyr's voice was low.
He had a good guess who was aboard that ship.
The Yonko Kaidou was still under tight Marine surveillance.
There was no way he would appear here.
More importantly—
Four days ago,
the Beasts Pirates' No. 2—King the Conflagration—had set off alone.
No one had heard from him since.
Putting that together with today's events,
there was a strong chance that King was commanding that ship.
"Teacher Zephyr! The Beasts Pirates are clearly trying to link up with the Big Mom Pirates!"
The plant-user Binz cried out.
There was an unspoken rule at sea:
If two pirate crews encountered the Marines—
no matter what grudges they had—
they'd always team up to deal with the Navy first.
But no matter how hard Zephyr and his crew tried to analyze it—
they couldn't imagine the truth.
The Straw Hats weren't heading to form an alliance with Big Mom—
They were simply planning to raid her supply ship for three days' worth of food.
"Listen closely, Straw Hat Captain!
If we reveal our identities now,
the Navy will be on guard against us! And when the time comes...!"
Law nagged like an old lady.
"Yeah yeah, I got it."
Luffy waved him off.
But his nose twitched—
he caught a whiff of something sweet in the air.
His stomach let out a loud growl.
The desire to eat overwhelmed everything else.
Law's warnings?
Totally ignored.
As the distance closed—
when they were about a hundred meters from Big Mom's snack ship—
Luffy moved first.
Armament Haki, black as ink, surged across his arms.
He took a deep breath—
Bit into his arm—
"Gear 4—Boundman!!!"