A man covered in golden light charged straight out of the storm of Ninjutsu, breaking through head-on with nothing but his body and strength.
"Golden Beetle Form. Solar Blast!"
Golden Beetle Taiichi, one of the Admirals under the Golden Lion, once one of the strongest from that group of people, had eaten nothing more than a normal Zoan fruit—the "Golden Beetle Fruit."
But who said a normal Zoan fruit was really just normal?
"Boom!!"
Twisted golden light burst out from Taiichi's body. In that explosion, his body swelled again. A pair of giant wings spread open in the glow, and feelers grew from his head.
Muscles like steel tore through his skin, shining with golden light.
That terrifying body rushed straight at the nearest Rikudou Sennin clone. The instant his fists clenched, the ground around him cracked. Even Rikudou Sennin was pushed down by that pressure. In his eyes, those fists only grew larger and larger.
"Kagu-tsuchi no Mikoto!"
The Rikudou Sennin clone immediately used Kagu-tsuchi no Mikoto. The power of Susano'o burst out of his body, and a white Susano'o fist smashed forward to meet Taiichi's golden beetle fist.
But the Susano'o, already pushed to the limit of Ninjutsu, only managed to hold the opponent back for a short moment.
Luckily, that short moment was enough for the clone to dodge the strike.
But in that instant, Rikudou Sennin already knew how outrageous this group really was.
"This feeling… the same as Shanks. These juniors…"
"They don't have that much real strength, yet they can fight with power beyond their actual limits."
"And this aura, it's completely different from both ninja and sages."
Even Rikudou Sennin found them troublesome. Here, he couldn't even use Senjutsu.
Not that he couldn't—but if he did, the world's will would notice. So he could only use Ninjutsu.
But relying on Ninjutsu alone, it would be hard to deal with them quickly. And the key point was, Genjutsu didn't work—at least, normal Genjutsu wouldn't.
Most of the people here could even resist Shanks' Conqueror's Haki pressure. To reach that level meant their willpower was completely off the charts.
"I see… by using willpower to drive both spirit and life force higher, they leap beyond themselves. That must mean this group carries the power of the world's will."
From that one brief clash, Rikudou Sennin had already figured out a lot.
Back then, he had only seen Shanks from afar. But now, it was clear this era had already been changed because of Shanks' rise.
The people in front of him weren't weak at all. In fact, they could definitely be called the top powers of this world.
Don't think that Rikudou Sennin was like Kaguya—having great power but not knowing how to use it.
As the man who suppressed the shinobi world for thousands of years, even without Senjutsu or his divine powers, just with Ninjutsu alone, Rikudou Sennin was still among the very top.
And this "top" meant all-around—no weaknesses at all.
Even if he could only use Ninjutsu, even if his strength seemed to fall short of these pirates, Rikudou Sennin was confident he could still suppress thousands of them here—it would just take some time.
On the other side, the wounded Dark got back on his feet. His injuries were already starting to slowly heal.
That small explosion hadn't done too much damage. Even at such close range, Dark could still withstand it.
But the Grail Stone… when enough of them stacked together, the blast and the release of the world's will would be completely insane.
Even so, that wasn't what Dark cared about most right now. What bothered him was that person just now—he looked familiar.
"Dark, are you alright!"
"I'm fine, just… that guy…"
Dark silently watched the battlefield. The fight was total chaos, and the most shocking part was that the enemy was just one man.
"A very strong ninja… looks like some kind of noble, but he doesn't use Senjutsu. He doesn't give me the same feeling as a Sage.
If he's really a ninja, then we should be able to deal with him."
Dark nodded. For now, it looked like they had the upper hand. The enemy's Ninjutsu didn't seem that strong, and everything was still within their ability to handle.
But deep down, Dark felt uneasy.
He didn't know much about ninjas before, but that was in the past. After becoming a pirate, the very first enemies they ran into were ninjas.
In Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and everything else, ninjas crushed them completely. With chakra, ninjas were basically born "Devil Fruit users."
After all these years, this group—the original "gamblers"—finally had the right to fight against top-level ninjas.
But weaker pirates still had no chance against ninjas.
And this enemy…
"They're all clones. Just by relying on clones, he's blocking all of us, even though he's clearly being pushed back."
Dark frowned. His first gut feeling wasn't wrong.
From a distance, the man didn't stand out at all. He didn't even show chakra, except when he used Ninjutsu.
But to make this many clones, and each clone being able to use Ninjutsu… the amount of chakra needed was terrifying.
That was the feeling Rikudou Sennin gave Dark. He was unbelievably strong, yet somehow gave off the impression of not being that strong.
"No way. A man this strong can't just have no record… and be here of all places."
Dark tried to think harder. He was just a small-time guy, never the smartest, so there was no way he could recall everything at once.
The only reason he'd made it this far was because, back when he was just a nobody, he had no choice but to survive. That desperate start turned this "enforcer" into one of the world's top pirates, even being seen as a man of wisdom.
But when it came to brains, Dark was never outstanding.
And there was another thing—most people really didn't know much about Rikudou Sennin.
The world nobles' sages knew Rikudou Sennin well. They even knew what he looked like.
Ninjas also knew him well, but none of them knew his face.
And pirates? They'd heard of him in passing, but had even less of an idea what he looked like.
To them, he was just some strange, incredibly strong old man.
Of course, when fighting someone like that, they used every dirty trick they had. These pirates were even more shameless than ninjas.
Ninjas at least used ambushes and assassinations. But these pirates had no rules at all when fighting.
Even with such cheap tactics, they still couldn't really trouble Rikudou Sennin's clones. It just looked like the clones were struggling to hold out.
The pirates' morale, however, kept rising. Some of them were even breaking through to new levels of strength. But still, they couldn't manage to crush Rikudou Sennin's clones.
As the battle went on, Dark's face suddenly changed.
Others might not know who that strange old man in the distance was, but he knew.
That's right—normal pirates wouldn't know.
Normal ninjas really couldn't know either.
But Dark had worked with Orochimaru before. They were still allies even now, and Dark had seen some of Orochimaru's things.
Like research reports—stuff Dark couldn't understand.
And experiments, secret lab projects—those Dark couldn't make sense of either.
But among all these things, Dark suddenly remembered something.
"This old man is…?"
Dark pointed at the portrait on the scroll. A scientist's notebook having a portrait in it was strange enough.
"They say it's the Sage of Six Paths. Orochimaru-sama heard about it from Mount Myoboku."
Kabuto explained.
It was only then that Dark finally realized what the Sage of Six Paths actually looked like. As expected of a legendary figure—he didn't even look human.
By logic, with a face like that, the moment he stepped outside he'd be recognized right away.
But in this era, there were just too many weird Devil Fruit users, especially in the New World. And it wasn't just Devil Fruit users.
Even normal people started mutating in strange ways, growing into bizarre appearances. That was why Dark didn't recognize the Sage of Six Paths at first.
But at this moment…
"Ryu…"
Dark had just stood up, but before he could finish speaking, a huge force hit the back of his neck. By the time he noticed, it was already too late. The enemy moved too fast.
He barely had time to turn his head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Sage of Six Paths standing behind him. The Sage's black staff was already smashing into Dark's body.
"Crack!!"
The sound of bones breaking echoed. Dark's head tilted to the side, his eyes rolled white, drool dripped from the corner of his mouth, and his whole body went limp.
"I guess I've learned my lesson this time."
The Sage of Six Paths spoke slowly. This time, it was his real body.
The others weren't much of a concern, but when it came to Dark, he had to give special attention.
The Sage said this without the slightest hint of shame.
Even though his strength was unmatched, and he was already so old—basically the ultimate ancestor to everyone here.
But when facing Dark, the Sage of Six Paths showed no mercy at all.
What mattered more was that Dark had made the Sage rethink what being a "pirate" meant. If someone like Dark existed, then could people like Shanks really be good?
"But, since the will of the world is causing such chaos, I should go take a look."
The Sage glanced at Dark lying at his feet. As the ground loosened, Dark's body sank into it.
Then the Sage vanished from the spot, and layers of barriers rose over the battlefield.
When he said suppression, he meant it.
Leaving these people to his clones was more than enough. The real problem was Shanks.
---
You can read 50 advanced chapters at my patreon.com/YeyeQiu