The next half year, Jin stayed in Shimotsuki Village.
Sword, sword, and more sword.
He practiced on land and in the sea.
He sparred with Koushirou, a genuine great swordmaster.
He tested, failed, adjusted, and grasped more and more.
Time passed.
Kuina's fate quietly shifted.
There was no "falling down the stairs" incident.
One night, Jin sat flipping through a freshly delivered newspaper.
His eyes stopped on a headline.
The second Warlord of the Sea had been announced:
Gecko Moria.
"So Moria lost, huh? Figures," Jin muttered.
"Guess it's about time I went back. Any longer and they really will call me a deserter."
A note on the side caught his eye.
The Red-Haired Pirates had broken through Admiral Akainu's blockade and entered the New World.
Jin smiled faintly.
"Shanks… you've gone farther than me already, huh? No surprise. Fate's main character and all that."
He walked through the village streets, hands in his pockets.
Last time, he'd pressed Shanks down with pure physicality.
Next time… that probably wouldn't work.
He needed to get stronger, fast.
"You're leaving without even saying goodbye?"
Kuina stepped out from behind a corner, arms crossed.
Jin chuckled.
"There's not much to say. It's not like we'll never see each other again. Plenty of time ahead."
Kuina bit her lip and glared at him.
"You could at least take me with you. I could join the Marines."
Jin shook his head.
"No way. You're too small."
"Grow up a bit more first. I'll be waiting at the base."
Kuina nodded once.
"Fine. You said it."
"Yeah."
New World.
"Didn't expect the weather here to be this awful," Benn Beckman said, squinting at the sky.
"Ahahahaha! You get used to it. Then it's normal."
Shanks stood at the bow, laughing into the raging wind.
"I'm back, New World!"
Yasopp watched his captain and shook his head.
"Captain, where to now?"
Shanks thought about it.
"Let's find a place to rest up first. We didn't really take a proper break at Fish-Man Island."
"The New World is packed with monsters. If we rush in half-dead, we're asking for trouble."
They hadn't sailed long when two pirate ships appeared head-on.
On one, the captain of the Battle Axe Pirates cackled.
"Yahaha! Isn't that the 'rookie' with a ten-billion— no, one billion bounty? Red-Haired Shanks! Boys, fire the cannons! Show him the rules of the New World!"
On the other, the captain of the Wolf King Pirates sneered.
"Axe, don't get in my way. This newbie's mine."
"Boys! Fire!"
Axe's face twisted. "Shut up, you mangy mutt! Don't steal my prey or I'll gut you!"
"Heh. With those two weed-cutters you call axes?"
Wolf King snorted.
On the Red-Haired Pirates' ship, everyone cursed.
"Damn it, why are New World pirates so violent?!"
They were forced to raise guns and blades, cutting incoming cannonballs out of the air.
Their timing was just bad.
Ever since Crocodile and Moria had become Warlords, pirates had gotten a new message:
As long as you had fame and strength, you might get a Shichibukai seat.
Legal plunder. Big status.
It was worth risking everything for.
"Damn it!" Shanks growled, drawing his saber.
He was about to fling a Divine Departure forward when—
"Hm? Something's coming."
Both enemy ships surged toward the Red-Haired Pirates, desperate to seize the kill.
None of them noticed the tiny coffin-sized boat drifting silently behind them.
Mihawk raised his head on that little raft.
Two ships in the way.
He slowly drew the massive black blade on his back and cut forward.
Hummm—
A pale blue slash, a hundred meters long, swept out and slammed into both pirate ships.
Wood exploded.
The ships split cleanly before being blown apart by the shockwave.
Shanks swung his saber and cut the tail end of the slash that flew at him, eyes narrowing.
The Axe Captain found himself standing on broken planks, alone.
Wolf King, a Devil Fruit user, had already gone into the sea and drowned.
"Damn it! Who the hell—"
He finally focused on the small black boat and the man standing there.
His eyes bulged.
"W-What?! Hawkeye?! What are you doing here?!"
Mihawk sheathed his blade.
"I simply heard a great swordsman had entered the New World."
"So I came to have a duel."
"You arrogant bastard!"
Axe raised his twin axes and launched himself at Mihawk.
"You die here!"
"Pathetic weakling."
Mihawk swung once.
The fight was over.
He turned his gaze forward.
"Interesting," he murmured. "I might actually get a good fight today."
"Dracule Mihawk, huh?" Beckman muttered. "Rumor says he's a terrifying swordsman."
"He challenges every great swordsman he hears about. Even cuts down Marines. Shanks is in trouble."
Then he turned and saw Shanks' face.
The captain was grinning from ear to ear, eyes burning.
"…Right. I forgot he's that type too," Yasopp sighed, covering his face.
Shanks called out across the waves as Mihawk drew near.
"Oi, Mihawk! Let's find a proper place. This is too cramped."
"Gladly," Mihawk replied.
He maneuvered his little raft to the stern and tied it to the Red-Haired ship.
Then he sat down and closed his eyes, meditating like he was on a pleasure cruise.
Shanks grinned.
"Ben, find a good island to land on."
"This'll be our first real fight in the New World. Hahahaha!"
Half a day later, they reached a barren, rocky island near the New World's entrance.
No trees. Just stone and jagged reefs.
Perfect.
The two men stood facing each other, blades at their sides.
"Dracule Mihawk. Black Blade Yoru."
"One of the twelve Supreme Grade swords. Irregular Heavy Flower T-shaped pattern."
"Soon to be the world's greatest swordsman."
"Shanks. Captain of the Red-Haired Pirates."
"Saber Gryphon. One of the twenty-one Great Grade blades."
"I'll become the greatest adventurer in the world."
They traded introductions as a warrior's courtesy.
Then their auras began to rise.
Hummm—
Shanks was the first to move.
He sent a sword aura slashing out.
Mihawk casually knocked it aside and returned one of his own.
Just from that exchange, both men understood—
The other was no ordinary foe.
Shanks' eyes narrowed.
His feet blurred.
"Good."
Mihawk vanished as well, and they met in the middle.
Clang, clang, clang!
Steel rang over and over, too fast for ordinary eyes to follow.
"Mihawk! Take this next one!"
"Divine Departure!"
"Haah!"
Mihawk put both hands on Yoru and swung without calling any fancy name.
Crack.
The ground between them split open in a long scar.
They leapt apart again.
Mihawk pressed forward, speed increasing.
He refused to give Shanks a moment's rest.
Sword aura shredded the rocks all around them.
Nearby, Yasopp and the others watched from a safer distance.
"This is insane…" one of them breathed. "They're both freaks."
"Thanks to our last few battles, the captain's strength has shot up," Beckman said.
"But that Dracule Mihawk is at least as strong. Maybe stronger."
"We can't say for sure. Not until there's a winner," the ship's monkey-faced crewmate muttered.
"They won't settle this quickly," Beckman added.
They were right.
On the other side of the sea, Totto Land received the same news.
"Ma-ma-ma-ma… Shanks has entered the New World," Big Mom chuckled darkly.
"Find him. Once we track him down, I'll deal with him myself."
"Yes, Mama. I'll make preparations for departure."
At her side stood her "greatest masterpiece," Charlotte Katakuri, user of the Mochi Mochi no Mi—the Mochi-Mochi Fruit.
Bounty: 950 million beli.
In Wano, Kaido downed a huge gourd of sake.
"Shanks is in the New World now too? Hah!"
"He definitely knows the location of the final island!"
"Beasts Pirates! We're sailing!"
"Ohh! Long live the Governor-General!!"
Big Mom, thinking along the same lines, scrambled her forces to hunt for the Red-Haired Pirates.
Only Whitebeard glanced at the newspaper once before tossing it aside.
"Gurararara! Boys! Party time!"
"Yeah! Pops forever!"
Marco rubbed his temples.
"Pops, if we keep partying every day, we'll run out of funds…"
Whitebeard just laughed harder.
"Gurararara! Don't worry, Marco. A big party's only fun with lots of people!"
"These days aren't the same as before. Under my name, you can grow as you like. So don't be such a killjoy."
"Drink up, brats! Today we drink 'til we drop!"
His many "sons" roared with joy.
Only one huge man in the corner stared quietly at the paper.
"Oh. A member of the Pirate King's crew, huh?"
"Still no sign of that Devil Fruit…"
"Tch. If this keeps up, how am I supposed to realize my ambitions…"
"Hey, Teach! What are you mumbling over there for?" someone called. "Look, cherry pie! Your favorite!"
"Ah! Thanks, Thatch!" Blackbeard instantly put on his harmless-doofus face and joined in the party.
In a hidden underground bunker somewhere, Morgans lifted a glass of wine, eyes glued to the live feed from his news birds.
"Yahahaha! Big news, big news!"
"Rookie King Shanks vs Dracule Mihawk! Who will become the world's greatest swordsman?!"
"This headline will fly!"
He was already thinking about placing informants in each of the three great pirate crews.
If something big happened, he'd be first to know.
The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea.
On the rocky island, the fight raged for two days and two nights.
At last—
"Haa… haa…"
They stood apart, breathing hard, staring each other down.
Both were at their limits.
It wouldn't last much longer.
Shanks grinned.
"One last move, Mihawk."
Mihawk's arms trembled slightly, but his voice was steady.
"Come. Show me your limit."
Shanks took a deep breath.
Lightning crackled faintly around Gryphon as he drew back, taking a stance.
If Jin had been here, he would've cursed him out for being a show-off.
Mihawk's eyes narrowed.
He tightened his grip on Yoru.
With his Observation Haki, he felt it clearly—
This… was dangerous.
Dangerous enough to kill him.
His blood boiled with excitement.
This was what a true battle meant.
Shanks flashed forward.
Mihawk charged to meet him.
"Take this! Divine Departure!"
A slash wrapped in crackling Conqueror's Haki roared toward Mihawk.
"Hahahaha! Come on!"
Mihawk poured everything into his counterstrike.
Rumble—!
The nameless rocky island split apart with a deafening crack.
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