Hearing Rikudou Sennin's words, Shanks sat down straight away, then pointed at his swollen, pig-like face.
"Even if we're going to talk, shouldn't we pick a better time?"
He had just gone through a fierce battle, and this one was nothing like the fight with Orochimaru. This time, he was completely crushed and beaten into the ground by the will of the world itself.
To be honest, as someone known as the strongest man in the world, being rubbed into the dirt like that was really embarrassing—good thing not many people saw it.
"Back then, when you broke into the depths of the world, you didn't bother to pick the right time either."
Rikudou Sennin waved his hand, and a table appeared from the twisted space, with even a pot of wine on it.
Shanks looked at the wine pot, unsure how much wine was inside.
Honestly, Shanks had met many sages of this world before, but aside from their secret arts, they weren't anything that special.
Only this Rikudou Sennin in front of him…
This guy's style was completely different from the Naruto world.
Other sages were just strong fighters who used natural energy and Senjutsu chakra.
But Rikudou Sennin? This guy could forge weapons, send people into reincarnation, and even do things straight out of cultivation novels.
All those tricks you'd expect from immortals in xianxia stories—Rikudou Sennin had them all.
And as Rikudou Sennin looked at Shanks, he felt the same way.
The man before him, no matter his appearance or the type of power he used, just didn't fit the style of this world at all.
"Care to drink with me?"
Rikudou Sennin poured himself a cup of wine without waiting for an answer. The rich smell drifted over, and Shanks poured himself a cup as well without hesitation.
"You're not planning to fight me?"
Shanks looked at Rikudou Sennin. His condition now was terrible—not his body, but his spirit. For the moment, his will couldn't break through the crushing weight of the world's will.
The will of the world pressing down on him right now was insane.
"I can't beat you."
Rikudou Sennin said bluntly. Earlier he had thought about sneaking an attack on Shanks, but the fact that this guy could still sense him even while being crushed so badly by the world's will…
That was what impressed Rikudou Sennin most—not his fighting power, not his terrifying six paths, but his ability to hide himself.
After all, even the will of the world couldn't find him.
So the moment Shanks noticed him, Rikudou Sennin gave up the idea. If he really made a move, this man in front of him might actually break through on the spot.
Because that was exactly what happened with Jigen—he broke through in a desperate situation.
And Shanks? Honestly, up until now, the only person who had ever forced Shanks to fight at full power was Jigen.
Without going all out, Shanks couldn't handle him.
These two were cut from the same cloth—if they fought, it would be a direct clash of strength. Thinking of his own power, Rikudou Sennin decided to drop the idea.
"Just because you can't beat me doesn't mean I can beat you either."
Shanks finally spoke.
The Rikudou Sennin in front of him looked weak, but that was nothing more than an illusion. Even if Shanks' gut told him the old man was weak, he would never believe it.
That was the strange contradiction.
Normally, if someone was too weak, Shanks' instincts wouldn't even notice them. But this Rikudou Sennin was different—he felt oddly off.
Shanks' instincts picked up on him, yet gave back no warning of danger.
That had to mean he was pretending to be harmless while hiding real power. And besides, one look at the old guy and you could tell—he wasn't any good. No doubt he had plenty of tricks.
Hearing Shanks, Rikudou Sennin only smiled kindly, saying nothing.
But even if he couldn't win against Shanks, that didn't mean he would lose to him.
"Let's talk about the New World instead. You may be my junior, but I want to hear it—Shanks, how much do you know about the will of the world?"
Hearing that, Shanks' face turned red. He still cared about his pride—he was a top fighter, after all.
But making up something like that on the spot wasn't easy.
"How should I put it… before I ever came in contact with the will of the world, I always felt like this world wasn't supposed to be this way.
After I trained into Sage Mode, I started sensing faint traces of it. Even then, I stuck to my own beliefs. Eventually, I broke free from the will of the world's hold on my natural instincts.
And… actually, I even cut off the will of the world that had been inside me."
Shanks explained, face still red.
Luckily, his face was already swollen and red like a lump of raw liver, so Rikudou Sennin couldn't tell the difference.
And honestly, what Shanks said wasn't that hard to put into plain words.
It was basically: This is the world of One Piece, right? The will of the world? What's that? Don't know. But if it's getting in the way of my training, then I'll cut it down.
That's Conqueror's Haki for you. Out of a million people, only one might have it. No wonder it's so rare.
But hey, who is Shanks? Look at this hair, this face, these scars running across my eye.
Do you even understand how valuable the strongest Conqueror's Haki is?
I was young back then, didn't know better.
And part of this is Zabuza's fault.
Seriously, boss from early Naruto days—couldn't you at least look a little unique? Instead you had the plain design of a random background character from One Piece. If you don't take the blame, who will?
And back then, what Shanks did wasn't just that. Normally, if you could break free from your survival instinct, that already meant going against the will of the world—that alone was enough to count as awakening Conqueror's Haki.
But what did Shanks do? While awakening, he saw the will of the world still lingering—and cut it down directly.
Take Jigen for example. No matter how low his morals were, at least he waited until the rice bowl was put down before starting trouble.
But Shanks? He didn't even wait for the bowl to hit the table. He slashed the will of the world right then and there.
Of course, when Rikudou Sennin heard this, the way it sounded to him was completely different.
"What a… monster."
Rikudou Sennin sighed. No wonder someone like this could grow so outrageously strong. Just the act of going against the will of the world in training was already insanely dangerous.
Even more dangerous than Sage Mode.
So the real strength wasn't just Conqueror's Haki—it was that these people were crazy enough to fight the will of the world itself. That alone could kill you.
At the same time, Rikudou Sennin couldn't help but admire Shanks' spirit.
Because this world has problems, to change it, even if the will of the world itself appeared, one must still walk their own path with determination.
Although Shanks only spoke a few words, Rikudou Sennin could feel the strong spirit and resolve of the man before him, as well as the hardship of someone who rose up from nothing.
It was hard to imagine just how much this man had been through.
Behind that carefree look and ruler-like presence, the true Shanks was someone even Rikudou Sennin had to respect.
"But since you chose this path, Shanks, it seems you don't know much about the will of the world, do you?"
"Not really. After all, we can't come into contact with the will of the world.
Like the sages of the Earthly Sage Kingdom, being able to use the world's will to forge their own independent will—that's impossible for us."
Shanks nodded. He understood that what Rikudou Sennin was talking about must have been from the previous era.
Or rather, about Rikudou Sennin himself.
"The will of the world isn't as complicated as ours. If you really put it into words, the will of the world is nothing but instinct—instinct for life, the instinct that belongs to the entire world itself.
Life grows, becomes strong, and eventually fades away."
Rikudou Sennin said while looking at Shanks, whose face didn't show the slightest trace of surprise.
"The lifespan of the world is almost endless. But once I understood how the world's will works, I realized that one day, the world will die.
I don't know when that will be, or how it will happen. But I can see how the will of the world keeps growing stronger."
"Just like you, I was the strongest of my era, and one favored by the will of the world."
Rikudou Sennin laughed.
But only he and Shanks could laugh about something like this. To say it out loud would sound ridiculous.
The ninja world ended up with two figures who could suppress an entire era.
One was Rikudou Sennin, who, instead of doing things properly, dug into the secrets of the world's will and then went around stealing and tricking others for power.
As for the other, Shanks, he too was a rebel.
If Rikudou Sennin relied on stealing and trickery, Shanks just went head-on against the will of the world like throwing punches at it.
Both of them were the strongest of their time, yet neither of them could really be called normal.
In a way, the ninja world was really unlucky, ending up with these two "hidden dragons and crouching phoenixes."
But Rikudou Sennin didn't think he had done anything wrong. Look, wasn't Shanks also a rebel? That just meant his own path wasn't wrong—others had done the same.
"But I'm not the same as you. In my time, I built a stronger sage system, breaking the limits and chains of the ninja world's sages.
From history's view, the sages weren't weak. But in truth, they weren't strong either. Compared to me, they were too weak, but compared to my mother, they were still powerful."
Rikudou Sennin explained.
That was the reason.
Back then, the sages could actually fight Kaguya head-on and push her down, even though she had eaten the chakra fruit. Her strength could only extend within the area covered by the Divine Tree.
This wasn't because Kaguya was weak, but because the sages were indeed very strong.
But depending on how you looked at it, the conclusion was different. From Rikudou Sennin's view, both sides were still weak.
And as for the sages of today's ninja world?
Even without saying more, if Kaguya appeared backed by the Divine Tree, sages like the Third Tsuchikage back then could still pin her down.
As for Master Genichi, that's even more obvious. He could steal Kaguya's power through the seal itself. Couldn't Kaguya resist from inside the seal? Of course she could. The problem was, she just wasn't his match.
Kaguya was the type who had high stats, but aside from numbers, had nothing else.
But what Rikudou Sennin wanted to talk about wasn't any of that, but about his own era and the things he had done.
"After I broke through the limits of a sage, by touching the world's will, I was able to explore the source of this world.
During that process, I also founded Ninshu. That was one way I thought of to resist the world's will, but looking at it now, it seems it still hasn't worked."
"As for the other path, it's to completely follow the world's will. Since I'm a sage, I don't conflict with the world's will, so I can use certain methods to enter deep into the world.
That place is where the dragon veins gather."
"There, I also saw the growth of the world's will. The whole world is slowly growing, and the way it grows is by expanding outward from the inside.
The world's will keeps recording everything through the dragon veins, and then feeds it back deep inside the world. By doing this, the world slowly grows stronger.
That means even without strong people like us, the ninja world could still grow over time, using the dragon veins to slowly become stronger."
Hearing this, Shanks rarely nodded. He understood.
The world has two ways of growing. One is through the dragon veins, which were formed by outside invasions like the God Tree. Those invasions triggered the natural instincts of the ninja world's will.
The other way is through "geniuses" like them, who bring huge influence to the world, causing the world's will to become more active and then grow stronger.
"So actually, the true direction of the world's growth lies deep within, through this outward expansion.
And that place is also where I established the Six Paths of Reincarnation."
When Rikudou Sennin said this, Shanks spread out his hands.
"I think I get it. Even though the Six Paths of Reincarnation is close to collapsing, the creation of the New World will make the ninja world grow faster.
So… you want a spot."
"Having five people as the Four Emperors is normal.
As a former world-shaking figure, I already qualify for it. Plus, there's the Earthly Sage Kingdom of the world's original will."
"From how things look now, the ninja world should end up with six major wills."
Rikudou Sennin explained. Whether his share existed or not didn't matter. After all, it was meant for Mount Myoboku. He himself didn't really need it.
And Shanks?
Come on, from the looks of it now, Shanks' influence on this world is so great that the title of "Four Emperors" has already been recognized by the world's will.
There's no way Shanks could take it all for himself.
Shanks could be the strongest, but he couldn't be the only one.
You could tell from how the world's will struck at Shanks this time. The world's will simply wouldn't allow that to happen.
"I shouldn't have acted that way."
Shanks realized what was going on. He had basically dragged the world's will along with him. The world's will was moving, but he was moving too fast.
And the way he was moving was different from how the world's will itself grew. The result was that the New World had become the direction of the ninja world.
But he could forget about becoming the sole leader of the New World.
"That was only a matter of time.
Besides, the second Four Emperor has already appeared. Even though he isn't as strong as you, the will of the New World has already acknowledged him."
"His name is… Golden Lion, right?"
---
You can read 50 advanced chapters at my patreon.com/YeyeQiu