Chapter 57: An Old Friend's Visit
"I'll leave the rest to you," Satoru said, confident his men could handle the mop-up. The remaining pirates had lost the will to fight. His display of power had shattered their spirit. Even if he left, they wouldn't dare resist.
From the very start of the battle, Satoru had sensed a group watching from a distance. He'd been busy fighting, so he ignored them. Now that the fight was over, it was time to see who it was.
In an instant, Satoru vanished from the sky above G-8. He reappeared standing on the figurehead of a massive dragon-prowed ship. Immediately, he felt several intense gazes lock onto him. Each one felt incredibly powerful. If the beasts he'd just fought were lions and tigers, the owners of these gazes were dinosaurs—apex predators like the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
But when they saw who stood on their ship, the pressure faded.
"You really do appear and disappear without warning, Satoru," a man with red hair, three scars over his left eye, and a missing left arm said with a laugh. He looked at the small figure on his ship's railing.
"You dare to show up in the waters under my jurisdiction, Shanks?" Satoru replied, a playful smile on his lips. "You're not taking me seriously."
He glanced around. There were familiar faces from two years ago and new ones he'd never seen. In these two years, he could feel these people had changed. They'd gone through real trials. This kind of powerful aura didn't come from training alone. It came from life-and-death battles. While Satoru trained hard every day, others hadn't fallen behind either.
"Hahaha! We're friends, aren't we?" Shanks laughed. "For a friend's visit, I think Commander Satoru can turn a blind eye."
In a flash, Shanks was beside him, clapping a hand on Satoru's shoulder. Satoru didn't activate Infinity. He felt no ill will from Shanks.
"I watched your fight. It was impressive. Even I might not be your opponent now."
"Liar," Satoru shot back without hesitation. He didn't believe a word. He was strong, but he had self-awareness. He needed to fully master the passive trigger of the Limitless technique, just like the original Gojo Satoru. He needed to master the complete Reversed Cursed Technique, not the unstable version he'd just used. Only then could he truly fight Shanks on equal terms. And that was this Shanks, the future Emperor, not the Emperor he would become.
"Whether you believe me or not," Shanks grinned, "it's true. But you being a Navy commander now... things are complicated."
"But even though you don't have a fixed territory, you shouldn't be here. What's your purpose?"
Despite their friendship, Shanks was a pirate, and Satoru was a Marine. He had to know why Shanks was here.
"My last fight with Kaido... I lost," Shanks said, his tone shifting. "This time, I'm here to even the score."
A sudden, fierce fighting spirit erupted from Shanks.
Many knew of the clash between Shanks and Kaido, but the outcome was a mystery. Shanks had been defeated, so he didn't broadcast it. Kaido, having barely beaten a newcomer to the New World, felt it was no great victory to brag about. So the details of that battle were known only to the higher-ups of both crews.
While the Beast Pirates had technically won, they hadn't crushed the Red-Haired Pirates. It was more of a costly stalemate. The result was Shanks rebuilding his crew, and Kaido's territory being quickly nibbled at by other opportunists. After weighing his options, even knowing Shanks would be a future threat, Kaido had let him go. Kaido cared more about the present than potential future problems.
"Oh? Kaido is that strong?" Satoru was surprised. He'd thought their fight would be even.
"Very strong," Shanks said, his face turning completely serious.
"But I've gotten stronger since then. This time, it'll be me who wins."
Kaido was currently at his physical peak. Shanks was younger; he still had room to grow. After a period of intense training, feeling his newfound power, Shanks was ready to challenge Kaido again. Shanks was still hot-blooded, the type to pick a fight—if the opponent interested him. Otherwise, even if you threw a bottle at his head, he'd just laugh it off. You weren't worth his time.
"Then I'll look forward to the good news," Satoru said. "I hope I don't hear later that 'Red-Haired' Shanks was buried by 'Kaido of the Beasts' and his entire crew wiped out."
"Hahaha! Satoru!" Shanks roared with laughter. "For those Beast Pirate goons to wipe us out? That's wishful thinking!"
"Right! Those guys are just pets to us! We'll take care of them whenever we want!" Jesus Burgess chimed in, far stronger than he'd been two years ago.
One by one, the Red-Haired Pirates started boasting, acting like the Beast Pirates were nothing.
Satoru just smiled, listening to their bravado. He knew this crew. Their confidence wasn't empty. They had the strength to back it up. The New World was about to get a lot more interesting. And his own role in it was just beginning.
(End of Chapter)
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