In front of the Jewel Ice Sheet, Chinjao wrapped his Armament Haki around that drill-like pointed head of his, then used his entire strength to crash forward.
With a single strike, the thick layer of ice that had covered the mountain for decades split open, forming a massive rift several kilometers long and dozens of meters deep.
This move was the only way to break open the ice cap of the Jewel Ice Sheet—and the only way to retrieve Chinjao's treasure…
And the crack he created this time was even greater than the one he made all those years ago.
Which meant that over the years, his training—his strength, his Armament Haki—had grown even stronger, despite being suppressed.
Now that he had found a way to unleash it, he instantly surpassed his former peak and reached a new height.
Michael watched Chinjao's move from the side and couldn't help but nod.
Although in the original story Chinjao never got much of a spotlight, just looking at this technique alone, it was no weaker than the "Galaxy Divide" that old man Garp used back then to stop the Golden Lion.
And Garp had actually suffered losses at Chinjao's hands before. To deal with that drill-shaped head, he had flattened eight whole mountains during training before he could finally hammer Chinjao's drill head in during a head-on clash.
That was what Garp in his forties had done.
From this perspective—combined with the fact that Chinjao could take Michael's "Slash" even without being at his full peak—then even Red-Haired Shanks, still fresh on the seas at this point, might not be a match for Chinjao, who had regained and even surpassed his former peak, in a head-on battle.
But this mighty warrior could only cast one last, tearless glance at his treasure before turning away toward the Kano Country without looking back.
He was afraid that if he looked even one more time, he wouldn't be able to hold back his tears.
He never would have thought that after Garp had hammered his treasure into a death sentence years ago, it had finally reached its time limit—only to be taken away by another Marine.
And the worst part!
He couldn't even beat this damn birdman!
Michael, of course, didn't care about Chinjao's feelings at this moment.
But he believed that Chinjao was definitely thrilled to hand over this treasure to him.
After all, that drill-shaped head of his was a priceless treasure that no amount of money could buy back.
"So, besides that old man just now, this was your real goal, wasn't it?" Crocodile crossed his arms and looked at Michael. "Judging roughly, the treasure here can't be less than ten billion Belly…"
"It should be quite a bit more than you estimate." Michael shrugged. "After all, this is the lifelong wealth of a legendary pirate."
While Michael and Crocodile were discussing how much it was worth, Stella had already created a massive Sky Island with Island Clouds as its base.
"Enough talking. It's just the three of us here… Let's hurry and move it! We have to bring it back to Alabasta for Rosinante to put on the books…" Stella said, clicking her tongue as she muttered, "If I had known you were here for money, we should have brought Rosinante along too! With the powers of the Gold-Gold Fruit, hauling all this gold would've been way too easy."
...
News of Chinjao's return to the seas and his appointment as one of the Shichibukai spread across the seas—not long after Red-Haired Shanks and Doflamingo.
The selection of these three left the entire pirate world puzzled.
Who exactly were they?
Relatively speaking, Doflamingo was the most famous among the three.
After all, pirates would more or less be involved with the underworld.
So the "Joker," who had risen to fame in the underworld, was certainly no stranger to them…
But he didn't seem much like a pirate, did he?
As for Red-Haired Shanks, he was even less known.
Apart from rumors that he had once been an apprentice on Roger's ship, there was no other information at all.
And this last one—this old man named Chinjao—he was nothing but a relic of the past.
Over a decade ago, he had a bounty exceeding five hundred million!
But after being defeated by Marine hero Garp, he completely disappeared from the seas!
Now suddenly reappearing—how much strength could he possibly have left?
So after the information about these three Shichibukai came out, the first reaction from all the pirates was…
Free experience!
They're all free experience for us!
The old one's old! The young one's young!
As long as we take them down, we can become the new Shichibukai!
And compared to the hard-to-find Red-Haired Shanks and Doflamingo, Chinjao's location was always fixed…
Just go to the Kano Country, and you could find him.
But unfortunately…
Every pirate who went treasure-hunting met the same fate—they all died in the Kano Country.
Because they realized that what they faced was not some washed-up old man…
But the same Drill Chinjao who had once rivaled Marine hero Garp!
...
"Wa-hahaha! I never thought Michael would actually go find Chinjao and make him one of the Shichibukai!"
Marine Headquarters, in the Fleet Admiral's office.
Garp held the latest World Economic Journal, laughing loudly as he read it.
"Chinjao? The same pointy-headed guy who gave you so much trouble back then?" Sengoku replied without looking up. "But does he still have his old strength? I remember that after you flattened his precious drill head, he completely disappeared from the seas."
"Sengoku, don't forget that besides fighting, Michael's best skill is healing." Garp said as he placed the paper in front of Sengoku. "Look, this photo they took—Chinjao's head is fully restored… And judging by that aura, even though he's aged a dozen years, he seems even stronger than before! Makes my hands itch—I really want to fight him again!"
"Can you stop being insane?" Sengoku picked up the paper but glanced at Garp. "He wasn't your match back then, and he certainly won't be now… And since Michael gave him the title of Shichibukai, in a sense, he's your colleague now."
"Ah-hahaha, colleagues need to spar even more!"
Sengoku looked at his old friend, who was only growing more childish with age, and sighed.
Compared to Chinjao, he was more interested in the other two.
Doflamingo—he was a Celestial Dragon.
Even if he had been cast out of the Holy Land, that status never changed.
And he actually chose to side with the Marines?
Could there really be no conspiracy here?
According to information from Rosinante, Doflamingo had recently been getting very close to the Beasts Pirates in the New World…
As for Red-Haired Shanks.
Sengoku's face grew unusually serious. He even reached out and tapped a few times on Shanks' photo.
From those eyes…
He seemed to see another Roger.
---
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