Up until now, the two of them had only been clashing with the basics—pure fundamentals, Armament Haki, Observation Haki, simple swordplay.
"Not bad, Red-Hair," Jin laughed.
He swung his greatsword in a wide arc.
A twenty-meter-long slash of sword aura flew diagonally toward Shanks.
"Swordmaster, huh?" Shanks raised a brow.
He swung his saber and sent out a matching wave of sword aura.
The two slashes collided in midair.
Boom!
They exploded between the two men.
Hm?
Jin felt it clearly.
His sword aura was just a bit weaker than Shanks'.
He refused to accept that.
He swung again, sending out another slash, and charged in right behind it.
Seeing the incoming sword aura, Shanks quickly met it with his own.
Through his Observation Haki he sensed Jin rushing straight in behind it, gritted his teeth, and chose to meet him head-on.
The base commander had arrived at the harbor with his men.
Watching the back-and-forth clash on the dock, he clenched his jaw.
"Evacuate all civilians. Pull everyone back two hundred meters," he ordered. "A fight like this is beyond us."
The clanging of metal never stopped.
At one point, Shanks' saber skimmed across Jin's face.
A stray slash cut a massive boulder clean in half behind him.
Jin dodged the main blow and refused to back down. His greatsword swept out in a flat, horizontal arc.
Shanks hurriedly blocked, but once again he lost in sheer strength and was knocked back a long distance.
He'd seen enough.
In terms of swordsmanship fundamentals, he was a cut above Jin.
But in raw physical power and close combat, he was weaker.
If this dragged out, he'd be on the losing end.
Looks like I'll have to find a chance to pull back.
Jin read the intent in his eyes instantly.
He launched into a wild offensive and laughed aloud.
"Hahahaha! Don't even think about running, Shanks! Just stand there and fight me properly! Otherwise I'll chase you all the way to the Grand Line!"
Shanks' face darkened.
"You bastard… so we really are going all-out today."
"Hahaha! Come on, Shanks! Having this kind of power and not using it to fight—doesn't that feel like a waste?"
"Brute," Shanks muttered.
But his Haki flared as he met Jin's charge with one of his own.
Sword aura flew everywhere.
The two moved so fast that ordinary eyes couldn't keep up.
"Mm? They're both getting serious now,"Benn Beckman said.
Uta blinked at him in confusion.
"Weren't they already serious this whole time?"
Beckman shook his head.
"You're still too young. You don't get it yet. They were just testing each other, probing for weaknesses. Now this is them fighting seriously."
"Eeeh…?"
Uta's mouth hung open as she watched the two on the shore.
He was right. The fight really had gotten fiercer.
She couldn't even see their bodies clearly anymore.
Sword aura just kept flashing everywhere—one moment a crate was sliced in half, the next a stone was reduced to rubble.
A clear clang rang out.
Jin gripped his greatsword with both hands and came down from above.
Shanks braced himself below, saber held high to block.
Jin pressed down, and the ground under Shanks' feet immediately caved in.
"Shanks!" Uta shouted, panic all over her face.
"Relax,"Yasopp said from beside her. "You have to trust the captain. Shanks has never let us down."
"Kh…"
Shanks suddenly erupted with strength, knocking Jin away.
Then he slid his hands farther down the hilt and pulled back, drawing the saber behind him.
Seeing that posture from midair, Jin's eyes went wide.
No way.
He tightened both hands around his greatsword and came crashing down with everything he had.
Shanks' grip on his saber became iron.
He glared up at Jin and charged forward.
The Armament Haki on his blade shifted, flowing faintly along the steel.
"Divine Departure!"
"Damn it, it really is that move!"
There was no time to change tactics now.
He could only grit his teeth and meet it.
Clang!
A heartbeat later, Jin's scream tore through the air as he was blasted backward.
He smashed through pile after pile of crates.
Boom, boom, boom.
Dust billowed everywhere.
"We won!"
The Red-Haired crew members cheered wildly at the sight.
On the Marine side, jaws dropped.
Every gaze was locked on the battlefield ahead.
"Defeated… Lieutenant Commander Jin is that strong, and he still lost to a pirate?!" A Marine's voice shook.
"Ahhhh… are pirates really this terrifying now?!"
"Shut it!" the commander roared.
"Jin hasn't lost yet!"
He was afraid panic would spread, and then things would get truly out of control.
After shouting them down, he stared at the wall of dust.
Get up, Jin. Show them that same insane determination you had when you fought Vice Admiral Garp.
He knew very well—Garp had come back twice over the years.
Every time, he'd "sparred" with Jin.
Those fights were not for the faint of heart.
Jin would charge Garp again and again.
And again and again, he'd get sent flying.
That kind of relentless will… even remembering it now made the commander break out in a cold sweat.
"Phew…" Shanks kept his eyes on the dust cloud.
He'd planned to bolt immediately after that last clash.
But before he could move, a net of Observation Haki had locked onto him.
"Haah…"
Jin dragged in huge lungfuls of air as he pushed himself up, one hand braced on the ground.
He stared at Shanks.
"Ryuo, huh?" he muttered to himself. "Tch. I thought it was Conqueror's coating for a second. I really scared myself—thought you'd already mastered Conqueror's Haki infusion at this stage."
"Click…"
He touched the bleeding slash across his chest, wiped some blood with his fingers, and licked it.
Metallic, salty.
"Hahahahaha! Not bad, Shanks!"
He grinned.
"I didn't think you'd already mastered Ryuo-style Armament Haki. You held back at first, then pulled it out at the last second and caught me off guard. Hahahahaha!"
The Red-Haired Pirates were no longer in a cheering mood.
Is that scar on his chest fake or what?
Why is he laughing like nothing happened?
Dude, your chest is still bleeding.
Are you sure you wanna keep laughing like that? Aren't you afraid you'll just keel over?
On the Marine side, the shouts came back in full force.
"Lieutenant Commander Jin hasn't lost!"
"Ouoooh!!"
"Shut it, you idiots! Don't distract him!" the commander bellowed.
His heart finally settled.
He focused fully on the fight again.
It wasn't that he didn't want to charge the Red-Haired Pirates with his men.
It was that Jin had told him beforehand:
No matter how many men he took, they'd just be throwing their lives away.
All he could do was stand here, grit his teeth, and hope Jin won.
Shanks stared at Jin and panted.
"I didn't think your body would be that tough."
Jin burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! In a world where the weak are meat and the strong do the eating, if your body's not tough, you don't live long."
His eyes burned as he looked at Shanks.
After fighting for so long, his Armament Haki had clearly gone up a level.
His Observation had too.
If this keeps going… will my body and Haki keep growing stronger?
Shanks saw the look in his eyes and felt his heart sink.
That's… a madman's gaze.
The same as that monster Barrett's—Douglas Bullet.
"I'm coming. Soru!"
Jin blurred forward, sword now replaced by his own body as the weapon.
He swept in with horizontal slashes, vertical chops, lunging thrusts, snapping upward strikes.
"This lunatic!"
Shanks had no choice but to meet him.
The madman's momentum hadn't faded at all—if anything, it was burning hotter.
Was that previous hit just for show?
The clashes came faster and faster.
Clang, clang, clang. Clang, clang, clang.
Jin shouted between blows, "Come on, Shanks! Use that Ryuo again! Don't hold back! Hahahaha!"
Psycho, Shanks cursed in his heart, watching that crazed smile.
"Haah!"
Jin's greatsword came chopping down.
Clang!
"Hm?"
Jin's expression shifted.
He felt a strange Haki from Shanks' blade, flowing in and drilling straight into his body.
The pain was sharp and clear.
But along with it, he could feel his own Haki and body being tempered, bit by bit.
His eyes got even wilder.
A good teacher, huh? Tsk, tsk. I'll just have to make full use of you.
He suddenly poured strength into his arms.
With one powerful heave, he knocked Shanks' saber up and away, then chopped down.
"Mighty Miracle Slash!"
Shanks rolled twice on the ground and sprang sideways.
Boom!
The dock where he'd just been standing turned into a massive crater.
"Tch. That technique…"
Shanks answered with another Divine Departure, his blade glowing.
"Haah!"
Jin didn't dodge.
Instead, he charged straight in, Armament Haki flooding his greatsword. He stripped the defensive Haki from his body and threw everything into the blade.
Sword aura and Ryuo-powered slash collided head-on.
Boom!
Jin's jaw clenched.
Veins stood out on his neck as he roared, "Break!!"
Rumble!
With the surge of his full strength, Shanks' slash finally cracked and exploded apart.
"This maniac…" Shanks' expression turned ugly.
"He… he cut through the captain's attack! He cut through it!! Is he even human?!"
The Red-Haired crew gaped, unable to believe it.
Uta's face was twisted with worry.
Shanks, you'd better win…
At the same time, her eyes drifted back toward the tall, handsome Marine lieutenant commander.
Whatever she was thinking herself, she didn't quite know.
The Marines, on the other hand, completely lost it.
"Ouoooooh! Lieutenant Commander Jin is too strong!"
"He's my idol! Orahhh!"
The commander stared at Jin, respect burning in his chest.
He hadn't expected the kid to have grown this much.
His old face couldn't hide the pride.
"Haah… haah…"
Jin gulped down air and looked at Shanks, lips curling upward.
"Again…"
Shanks breathed heavily too as he stared at the opponent he'd first met years ago.
He hadn't been the only one growing.
Others were catching up.
"Hm?"
"Hm?"
Both of them frowned at the same time.
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