Time passes incredibly quickly within the confines of Roger's ship, and before anyone even realized it, two whole years have passed since the day the crew first encountered the wild demon known as Douglas Bullet.
Since that specific day, Shamrock has not had a single moment of true peace or total relaxation aboard the Oro Jackson, because ever since Bullet woke up from his initial defeat, he would often annoyingly ask Shamrock for a duel.
Bullet would not stop bothering him until he got at least one serious sparring match in the entire day, treating it like a daily vitamin that he needed to survive.
"You really are an annoying patient, you are like a benign tumor that just does not go away, no matter how much I try to remove it," Shamrock said with a sigh towards Bullet.
Bullet just grinned widely at his statement, not taking offense at all, as he picked himself up from the wooden deck of the Oro Jackson, where he had been knocked down just seconds ago.
"Hahahahaha, a strong opponent is always worthy to fight regardless of the time or place, and despite your harsh words, I could tell that you are actually enjoying our fights just as much as I am," Bullet said confidently towards Shamrock.
Shamrock just rolled his eyes at the accusation, his long red hair fluttering wildly on his head due to the sea breeze, as he was still continuing his entire vow of never cutting it until he faced a true defeat.
"If the Roger Pirates one day disbanded or reached the end of their journey, do you plan on creating your very own pirate crew?" Bullet then stood up and dusted himself off, asking his question casually towards Shamrock.
Without waiting for an answer, he immediately lunged forward, attacking Shamrock with a heavy punch.
Shamrock was still calmly blocking or redirecting Bullet's entire barrage of attacks with fluid motions, as Shamrock was currently in the process of planning to create his very own martial arts style that focused on defense and counterattacks.
"I honestly do not know yet, but how about you? Do you plan on becoming a captain yourself?" Shamrock answered, while also posing a question back about what Bullet's motivation would be once they leave this ship.
"I do not plan on bringing some weaklings along with me if I do; they would just rely on my strength and eventually betray me in the long run.
This is exactly what the weaklings always do, they are like disgusting parasites that would rely on the strong to survive, and they would not hesitate to betray those they leeched upon the moment they no longer see them as useful tools," Bullet said with an intense fury evident in his voice.
Shamrock could see with his medical observation that the heart of Bullet is beating so fast, clearly showing that Bullet is genuinely angry from the memories of betrayal that had followed his life since he was a child soldier.
"You know, I might still be a child physically, and I have not experienced the specific hell that you had experienced in your homeland, but I know for a fact that you would not often meet the same quality of people as Captain Roger and everyone else here on the Roger Pirates.
They are a band of free adventurers who just label themselves as Pirates for the sake of the thrill and freedom.
If I ever decide to become a pirate captain for my own crew in the future, I aspire to find crewmates who are not only people I could count on to protect me, but are also strong enough to protect themselves," Shamrock said calmly towards Bullet, parrying another strike.
"I have never planned on becoming a subordinate under anyone ever again, but if there is someone I would actually consider getting on board with, it would be you," Bullet said seriously towards Shamrock.
Shamrock just smirked, amusedly at the unexpected words of Bullet.
"You are just saying that cause you want to ensure you have someone to spar against me every single day," Shamrock said, deflecting the compliment, which made Bullet laugh out loud heartily.
The two of them continued on their intense sparring for the rest of the morning, as they knew that later in the afternoon, both Shamrock and Bullet would be training under the vice captain Rayleigh once again, and they needed to be warmed up.
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One sunny day on the Grand Line, an unlucky pirate ship bravely and foolishly decided to take on the legendary Roger Pirates, an action which did not even require the mobilization of their core members or even the adult combatants, as the four young interns that they had currently on board were more than happy to fight against them to prove their worth.
"Captain, Ray-san, Gyaban-san, let us deal with this nuisance, as it would surely sully our reputation if someone learned that our great Captain and his wings are required to be mobilized just to fight against a weak pirate crew like this," Bullet confidently said towards Roger and his right and left hand, all while he is forcefully dragging a protesting Buggy by the collar, while Shanks and Shamrock were smilingly following behind him.
"Yes, captain, we got this handled, so please just sit back and relax," Shanks also confidently said, adding to the statement of Bullet, while Shamrock just looked over with a bored expression, as he could tell with his observation haki that there is not a single person on that enemy ship that needed to be concerned about.
"No, let me go! I do not want to fight!" Buggy tried to protest loudly, as there were already tears that are coming out of his eyes, but his pleas fell on deaf ears as suddenly, he was thrown violently by Bullet towards the deck of the ship that had challenged them.
Bullet then jumped forward to follow his projectile, while Shanks and Shamrock were not falling behind and leaped across the gap between ships.
This just made Roger and the others stay back and watch the spectacle, as they all started to watch with amusement at how their terrifying interns destroyed the entire enemy crew.
Shanks, who had become eleven years old now, had started developing his own frightening talent, which, even if it is not as exaggerated or anomalous as Shamrock, does not disappoint in the slightest and would even fall towards the line of a true prodigy more than Shamrock, as Shamrock would be more appropriately called a monster than a prodigy.
Buggy, despite being scared and crying, was also able to fight properly, thanks to Shamrock's intervention and constant reminder to Buggy that, despite not being as talented as Shanks, he could put in more effort than Shanks to bridge the gap between them.
While Shamrock and Bullet's strength does not even need introduction, as this kind of petty fight is just something that they both take casually, Bullet even just knocked out his enemies with brute force, while Shamrock had been putting them to sleep with precision strikes, like what he had done towards Bullet in the past.
After a short while, the entire enemy crew got defeated and tied up, as the Roger Pirates now started hauling their loots that they had won fair and square, while the original attackers, meaning the four kids, got more share of the treasure than the others as it was the rule that they had agreed upon on the ship which is that the main fighters get more.
"What do you think is inside this specific treasure chest?" Buggy asked the three, as they are also looking at their part of the loot pile which included a small, ornate chest.
"Maybe there is a baby in there, as I remember that Shanks and I are found in a treasure chest exactly like this one at God Valley," Shamrock said towards Buggy calmly, as he already revealed that he had remembered everything that had happened in their life from the very beginning, and he had also mentioned it towards Roger, who had learned that Shamrock had seen and remembered their so called father stab their mother in the heart, as well as the figure that had attempted to save him.
"What? I do not want a baby, I am just a child myself," Buggy said with a horrified look, which made Shanks laugh out loud.
"Stupid, if there is a baby inside, it would already be crying since you kept on rocking the chest back and forth earlier," Shanks said logically, which made Buggy a little relieved.
Buggy started lock picking the entire treasure chest, as it is still locked tight.
After trying multiple times and failing to pick the rusted mechanism, Shamrock unsheathed his practice sword, something that is made purely out of wood.
He then sliced through the entire metal lock box using a wooden blade, but making sure that whatever is inside isn't going to be cut by the force of his swing.
"You got to teach me that trick," Shanks said, as he stared at Shamrock with amazement in his eyes, as he had watched Shamrock cut a metal lock with just the use of his wooden sword.
"There is no trick to it, a great swordsman could cut whatever he wanted, even with just a piece of stick, and not cut what he does not want to cut, even with the sharpest blade. It is a state of mind that only you yourself could teach your own body to understand," Shamrock said philosophically, as he stared at what Buggy had been holding.
Despite it already being covered in the treasure box, it was also covered with a protective cloth. Buggy opened it, and what Shamrock saw is the same devil fruit that Buggy had eaten in the original story.
It is an oval shaped orange red fruit composed of small spherical parts with swirls, and a green leafage sprouting on top of it, which is the Bara Bara no Mi, an incredibly strong Devil Fruit if not for Buggy being the one that uses it, as even the great Dracule Mihawk was not able to kill Buggy in the Marineford War because of this fruit.
