Everyone's eyes, including the Kuja Pirates' crew members, turned into heart shapes.
"Shakky is out!"
"Miss Shakky!"
"I brought a flower for you!"
To catch a glimpse of this person's face and win her heart, the Roger Pirates were even willing to come to blows with each other.
"Uh... that's...!" Roger saw Shakky appear. Just as his companions were confessing their love to her and he was about to be the first to step forward and challenge her, the navigator Jabba, who was behind him, struck first.
Jabba, holding dual axes, charged at Shakky for the first time, his legs so weak he could barely stand.
"Oh~ it's Jabba!" Seeing Jabba charge at her first, Shakky gave him a devastatingly beautiful, seductive smile.
Just being called by name caused the momentum Jabba had managed to muster to instantly flame out. He hurriedly replied, "Hearing you call my name makes me..."
Bang! Before Jabba could finish responding, Shakky kicked him to the ground, and he stopped moving.
That rumored playboy was nothing more than this.
"Jabba!" Seeing Jabba injured, Roger raised his saber and charged at Shakky second, cursing, "How dare you strike Jabba!"
Roger followed closely, but in less than two seconds, he was subdued by one of Shakky's moves, falling at her feet without any strength left to resist.
"Damn it, I like you too much!" The fallen Roger shouted loudly, his eyes turned into hearts.
"Phew~" Shakky took a puff of her cigarette, grabbed Roger by the collar, and pinned him against the wall. "You're the same, Roger. You should know I'll never yield to anyone, right?"
Although Roger was very unwilling, he couldn't withstand Shakky's beauty and his affection for her, surrendering on the spot.
In the blink of an eye, the two top combatants of the Roger Pirates had both been defeated, both taken down by the Kuja Pirates.
Rune couldn't bear to watch. This wasn't a battle at all; it was practically delivering their heads on a silver platter.
Both Roger and Jabba had hearts in their eyes, looking like they were dying of happiness even after being knocked down, completely willing.
"Is this what they mean by 'dying under a peony flower and being a romantic ghost'?!" Rune roared at them. "Where is your backbone! Don't be deluded by feminine charms!"
Just as Rune said this, Rayleigh, who was on the deck of the Kuja Pirates' ship, felt extremely surprised, looking completely incredulous.
"Marcus! It seems I must be the one to protect our pirate crew's reputation!" Rune instructed Marcus, then jumped onto the deck and charged toward the Kuja Pirates. "I'll be right back!"
"Rune!"
"Are you coming too, Rune?"
Gloriosa and Shakky both looked at Rune. This guy's combat power was famously high.
He was the man who had once fought Rocks for three days and three nights without a victor in a town called "Walwick" in the New World.
A stalwart posture, a broad chest! That body of indestructible, tight, and solid muscle... About two minutes later—
As expected, even the tiger-strong Rune had hearts in his eyes, completely defeated by the Kuja Pirates' Captain and Vice-Captain, lying motionless on the deck.
Shakky stepped on Rune and said to him:
"If your personality were a bit more mature and steady, maybe I really would fall in love with you, Rune."
"You two are like children who will never grow up..." After evaluating Rune, Gloriosa snuggled into Roger's arms in the corner. "But you know I love you, right, Roger!"
Roger tried to push Gloriosa away with his hand, looking at Shakky. "Move aside, don't block my view of Shakky!"
"Vice-Captain Lu En! Where is your backbone!!!" Seeing Rune's defeat from the ship, Marcus couldn't believe the seriousness he had shown in the kitchen earlier.
Rayleigh covered his face, unable to look. He felt a deep sense of helplessness and weight. "He doesn't have a damn bit of backbone... I've known him for fifteen years; don't I know him? He's just an idiot like Roger!"
"Take all the treasure from their ship as our spoils!" Shakky spoke to her crew with a heroic air, as she did every time.
Since they debuted, defeating these heroes of the sea who were as strong as monsters had been far too easy.
The members of the Roger Pirates, infatuated by Shakky, pleaded for her love:
"Please take our hearts with you too, Shakky!"
But Shakky ignored everyone, her gaze turning toward Rayleigh. "Rayleigh, it looks like you have a hard time, don't you?"
Rayleigh responded calmly to Shakky, "Yeah, I'm surrounded by a bunch of fools."
As Shakky passed by Rayleigh, she even threw him a special wink, carrying an affection completely different from how she treated the others.
During this interaction with their idols...
Two oversized warships were rapidly approaching their location.
One was Garp's dog-headed warship, and the other was the reinforcement Garp had called, Zephyr's warship.
"Come back quickly!" Marcus spotted the two familiar Marine warships approaching and hurriedly shouted to his companions on the Kuja Pirates' ship, "Roger! Rune! Marine ships are approaching us!"
"Elder Gloriosa, we must retreat quickly!" the Kuja Pirates' crew members shouted anxiously.
They had emptied everything from the oro jackson's warehouse, leaving not even food behind, and quickly sailed their ship to flee this area of the sea.
"Damn it, at least leave us a little food!" After a brief exchange, Roger found that everything had been looted and roared at the Kuja Pirates.
Whether it was treasure or food, nothing was left.
Only some food scraps that Rune had just eaten remained uncleaned in the kitchen.
However, the arrival of the Marines quickly calmed Roger down. He ordered the entire crew, "Quickly, stop organizing the photos! We have to set sail now!"
Jabba looked at the distant warships.
He saw two familiar faces: one was holding a cannonball, and the other was taking off the Justice coat behind him, laughing as he watched them.
"Wait! Roger, aren't those Garp and Zephyr!" Jabba reported to Roger.
Roger was startled. Upon hearing Garp's name, he immediately drew his sword to confirm. "What did you say!"
They had just been plundered of all supplies on the ship and had a belly full of anger with nowhere to vent. Now, a pair of old rivals had arrived.
Roger, who had originally planned to retreat, shouted loudly to everyone after seeing Garp and Zephyr:
"Brothers! Change of plans! Take them out!"
The entire Roger Pirates crew picked up their weapons, turned the ship around, and charged toward the two warships.
The sounds of guns and cannons harmonized on the sea. They showed no mercy to their old enemies.
"As usual, leave Zephyr to me! I'm definitely going to beat him until he can't move this time!" Rune was the first to jump off the oro jackson, charging alone toward Zephyr's warship.
On Zephyr's warship, Zephyr, who had long since lost his youthful appearance, had already taken off his Justice coat. Like welcoming an old opponent, he laughed at Rune while wrapping Armament Haki around his fists.
"Those who don't know Rokushiki, go deal with the others! Don't get close to Rune! Otherwise, that guy's fists will put your lives in danger!"
Zephyr instructed his subordinates. Having clashed for many years, he knew Rune's strength best.
Without learning Rokushiki, or having the physical fitness to learn Rokushiki, or Haki, it was impossible to take one of Rune's punches.
Those who could come here were all top-tier Headquarters elite soldiers and geniuses.
"I'm in a very bad mood right now! Zephyr! I'll just use you as a punching bag!"
Zephyr's warship fired at Rune in mid-air. Facing the incoming cannonballs, Rune directly punched and exploded them with his fists.
"Great, we hit him!"
"Is he dead?"
The elites interning under Zephyr saw Rune engulfed by the cannonball flames in the air and began to celebrate early.
However, in the next second, Rune's fist pressure surged from the explosion's flames toward the warship.
"If he were that easy to deal with, we would have locked him in Impel Down long ago!"
The speed of that fist pressure was so fast it instantly pierced through one of the warship's masts, as if Rune had intended it.
Subsequently, Rune turned into a white line, diving from the air toward Zephyr, his right fist clenched and covered in a layer of Armament Haki.
In that instant, he also mobilized all the power in his body, gathering it into his right fist.
This was his consistent fighting style: pursuing ultimate explosive power.
Seeing this, Zephyr also immediately leapt off the warship and met him with a punch.
Armament Haki clashed, and for a moment, they were evenly matched.
As time passed, Zephyr's face became distorted. After withstanding Rune's punch, it was as if even his face was straining, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
In contrast, Rune's expression was relaxed. Finding the right opportunity, he exerted force again, knocking Zephyr from the air down into the warship, smashing a large hole in the deck.
He then jumped onto the warship, the Armament Haki on his hands fading, as he stood firmly before the many Marines.
Most of those led by Zephyr were elites and promising geniuses.
Those elites and geniuses saw Rune laughing in front of them and immediately launched an attack.
"What is a pirate laughing for! Do you not know in your hearts how many lives you've harmed!"
The young Marine charging at Rune unleashed a Tempest Kick at him.
"Oh?" Seeing that he wasn't very old yet had such aptitude, Rune couldn't help but praise:
"Quite the righteous one, aren't you!"
Rune just stood in the middle of the Marine Soldiers, not even taking a defensive stance. Relying on his own aura, he blocked that Tempest Kick.
Then, unscathed, he swung his right fist and punched the youth in the chest.
*Pfft!*
An explosive shock that permeated the entire body erupted from the youth. The youth spat out a large amount of blood,
His body flew out like a cannonball, crashing into the bulwark armor on one side of the warship.
"However, justice can only be discussed with strength, kid."
Zephyr, who had been knocked to the bottom of the ship, also returned to the upper deck at this moment. Seeing the youth motionless, his eyes widened in anger:
"Sakazuki!"
What? Hearing this name, Rune's gaze narrowed sharply as he looked toward the youth who had just been sent flying.
That person was actually a young Sakazuki? No wonder the way he spoke felt a bit familiar.
The next second, a Laser was fired at him from among the crowd of soldiers.
Rune was startled again. He recognized this familiar ability; although he hadn't seen it appear for decades, he remembered it clearly.
Relying on his reflexes to sidestep and avoid it, Rune's gaze swept toward the youth on the deck who had fired the Laser.
A Marine Soldier who looked somewhat lazy and was wearing a headscarf was looking at him in disbelief.
"He actually dodged my Laser too?"
The Laser Rune dodged almost hit the Marines behind him.
Seeing this, Zephyr grew furious and roared at him, "Borsalino, didn't I tell you not to use your ability recklessly when there are many people around!"
The youth who shot the Laser at Rune was a bit annoyed. In that situation, Rune had his back to him; what if the sneak attack with his ability had succeeded?
"Hahaha!" Rune laughed loudly and charged at Zephyr. "In the future, people will say that the students you, Zephyr, taught were taken down one by one by a single punch from yours truly, Lu!"
The two clashed again, evenly matched.
"You are very strong, Rune!" Zephyr had to admit this point and said to him:
"But one day you will also grow old and weaken. At that time, even the arrogant you will be surpassed by the new era, slowly feeling the taste of powerlessness!"
Zephyr's words made Rune frown; he wasn't entirely without reason.
In a few decades, when the new era arrived—the year Luffy first set out to sea—he would be 74 years old.
However, a smile soon appeared on his face. Why care about something that was bound to happen?
Living in the moment is the joy of life! His principle was:
Leave today's matters to today's self, and tomorrow's matters to tomorrow's self!
Even when that time truly came, the only thing that could defeat him would be time itself!
He would only lose to time, not to anyone else.
"I'm very optimistic, Zephyr. Even if I'm old in the future, at least I'll be stronger than you, right? Hahahaha!"
As soon as these words were spoken, a surge of anger instantly accumulated in Zephyr's chest, his blood pressure soared, and his Haki fully erupted!