"Orin..."
Feeling that suffocatingly powerful Conqueror's Haki, Roger froze for a moment, even forgetting to worry about Shanks, who had been kicked away with a single blow.
Not just Roger—
Almost all the powerful figures who were still conscious were now staring at that figure with shocked expressions.
They remembered the evaluation the World Economy News Paper had given Orin during his youth.
A despair-inducing genius, a monster-like physique, an absolute possessor of all three forms of Haki, a Devil Fruit ability that granted absolute dominance over combat,
Suspected to be a new-generation leader personally cultivated by Roger, possessing overwhelming strength,
Judging from the aura and potential he had displayed,
He would likely possess absolute dominion over the world's top-tier powerhouses for at least the next thirty years!
Thirty years?
That number might actually be hard to say...
The entire battlefield fell into silence, with only Orin's footsteps softly treading upon everyone's hearts.
That towering figure, surrounded by black spatial distortions and wrapped in black-and-red thunderbolts filling the sky, walked step by step toward Shanks.
The once imposing Shanks could now only kneel on one knee on the ground, clutching the spot where Orin had kicked him, blood spilling from his mouth, his face twisted in pain.
"Shanks!!!"
Seeing this, the crew of the Red-Haired Pirates instantly grew tense.
Even Beckman, who had been calmly smoking until now, broke into a cold sweat and leapt down from the mast.
But before he could get close,
A sharp flash of cold light blocked his path. It was the back of a man with an aristocratic air, who landed squarely in front of him.
The man slowly turned his head, adjusted his hat, and then suddenly drew from his back the black blade symbolizing the world's strongest swordsman.
"Hawk Eye..."
Beckman's expression immediately turned grim.
But Mihawk only stared at him coldly.
"This is business between them. It's not your place to interfere. As long as I'm here, you won't get past me."
He suddenly raised the long blade in his hand, the pitch-black edge pointing straight at Beckman.
These words were confidence—confidence born from standing at the very pinnacle of swordsmanship.
Meanwhile, aboard the Red Force, several figures were also itching to move,
Yet they too were stopped by several other figures blocking their way.
"You are..."
"Shichibukai!!!"
Walking with a crab-like swagger, Crocodile looked extremely arrogant.
"Fufufufufu... the Yonko Red-Haired Pirates, huh? We can't let you pass~"
"Hmm... even though I don't want to admit it, that man is powerful enough to become our Boss. If we let you go over there and cause trouble, wouldn't that make me look utterly incompetent?"
"I absolutely cannot allow Orin to be insulted by rude people!!!"
"If it's a trip, where do you Red-Haired Pirates want to go?"
At this moment,
The situation grew somewhat tense!!!
But Orin paid little attention to all that. Right now, he was just a bit annoyed. It had been so many years since he last fought Shanks, and this Shanks really thought he had made it.
To think he would step out and block the blade when Orin wanted to kill someone.
Then ask Orin to give him respect,
And just let the matter pass like that.
After brewing it for so long, finally declaring from every angle that Koby was doomed to die, you step in and ask me to give you respect—
If you'd talked it out properly, for the sake of our years of friendship, it wouldn't have been impossible to give you some.
But you came in with Observation Haki killing intent, looking all domineering—anyone who didn't know better would think I was afraid of you.
"Orin..."
Shanks looked at the approaching figure. His eyes gradually grew dangerous.
Right now, he was a Yonko,
A man burdened with a mission...
"..."
"To be honest, Shanks, I'm extremely uninterested in the so-called world balance you're maintaining. But since you've provoked me this far, if this war doesn't begin, wouldn't that make me look pretty spineless?"
Orin slowly lowered his body, the corners of his mouth splitting into a grin.
"Look forward to it. In the near future, there will be a war far beyond the scale of this one!!!"
"Not just pirates and the Marines—this will be a colossal war that drags the entire world, including the World Government, down with it!!!"
Shanks' pupils began to tremble, his gaze turning incomparably dangerous.
But Orin merely patted him on the shoulder and straightened up with a smile.
"Captain Roger is still watching. Let's end today's sparring here. There will be opportunities in the future."
...
With the climax of the Summit War, Orin's earth-shaking kick defeated the Yonko [Red-Haired].
The once-fierce battlefield began to cool down.
The Marines and pirates who had been fighting with bloodshot eyes now seemed as if they had been lulled to sleep.
And the pirate executives and Marine officers who still harbored unwillingness found their murderous rage instantly cleared away by the lingering might of that Conqueror's Haki, their eyes becoming lucid.
"Even watching it on the live broadcast, we knew this war would be incredibly brutal..."
"But I really didn't expect that even hundreds of kilometers away, you could still feel such terrifying Conqueror's Haki."
...
At this moment,
A small boat slowly rowed over from the distance. An old man with a scruffy beard, draped in a white cloak, arrived with a smile.
"Rayleigh!!!"
A Marine Vice Admiral recognized the figure and couldn't help but cry out.
Some Marine officers even trembled, their voices filled with numbness and despair.
"Heh... just how many legendary pirates are going to show up, damn it..."
But there were also those who were delighted to see this figure.
Roger immediately brushed past Garp and sprinted to the shore, waving at Rayleigh.
"Hey!!! Rayleigh!!!"
Sitting on the small boat, Rayleigh had been smiling, but now he suddenly felt dazed.
In a blur, he seemed to see that reckless youth who had once invited him to set sail.
Tears rolled down uncontrollably. Looking at Roger, Rayleigh stood up and shouted,
"So we really do get another day to meet... Roger!!!"
"Hahahahahaha!!!"
The now white-haired Roger gathered his strength and made a huge leap, flying toward the small boat drifting by the shore.
Rayleigh was happy at first, but then his expression gradually turned wrong.
"Hey... hey!!!"
Roger laughed as he flew over, slamming straight into Rayleigh's face and knocking him stumbling.
"Plop—!!!"
Watching the small boat flip over, the two white-haired old men fell into the water, still throwing their arms around each other and laughing loudly.
Orin smiled knowingly as well.
"Well... it doesn't look like a battlefield at all anymore~"