"That technique… I have to learn it!" Rocks muttered, his voice a low growl. He was so consumed by the display of power that he failed to notice a dripping hand grabbing the far railing of the ship.
"The Black Pearl. I won't let anyone else have you."
With a grunt of effort, the young pirate Cassius hauled himself over the side and onto the deck. His eyes burned with a desperate resolve.
"Even without talent, I will become a great pirate just like the captain, maybe even surpass him!"
Cassius finally spotted the only other person on the ship, a young man about his own age, the so-called "helmsman" the captain had hired after they had all parted ways.
"Kid, hand this ship over to me!" Cassius yelled, drawing the sword from his waist and leveling it at the boy.
"What did you say?"
Only then did Rocks seem to notice Cassius's presence. He casually dug a finger into his ear, his expression one of pure, undiluted disdain.
"That damn old geezer told me to look after this ship for him," Rocks said, a wide, predatory grin spreading across his face. It was the unmistakable grin of a "D". "You want it? Then come and take it!"
Seeing that smile, Cassius felt a strange and profound sense of unease, but he quickly shook it off. This was just a helmsman.
"I am a member of the White Wolf Pirates!" he declared, charging forward.
Splash! The waves crashed against the sandy shore of the island.
Unlike the star-struck Rocks, Silas had not let his guard down for a single moment. It was natural for a young man to be so easily impressed, but a great pirate with a bounty of 160 million Belly was not going to be killed so easily by a wide-range attack from hundreds of meters away.
Just as he expected, a blood-curdling roar echoed across the water as the wreckage of the ship scattered across the surface.
"WHITE! WOLF! SILAS!"
Farrell could not fly, but a distance of a few hundred meters was no longer an obstacle for him. He had leaped from the ship just before Silas's Hakoku made impact, but in doing so, he had sacrificed his vessel and his crew.
His heart was bleeding. That was a brand-new ship that had cost him a full fifty million Belly. If he had not been so short on cash, he never would have risked targeting a legend like Silas in the first place. Now, he had not seen a single coin of Silas's treasure, but he had already lost his own ship and most of his men. His entire plan was in ruins.
"Blood Skull Farrell, I don't recall us having any grudges," Silas said, standing with his sword at the ready. He faced the enraged pirate while working to steady the ragged breathing his ultimate technique had cost him.
"Shut up!" Farrell glared at Silas with pure, undiluted hatred. "We didn't have any before, but we certainly do now! If you hand over all of your treasure, I might just grant you a quick death!"
"Treasure?" Silas was taken aback for a moment, then burst into genuine laughter. "Pfft-hahahahaha! I don't remember having any treasure. Didn't you hear from that kid, Cassius? I already divided all my money among the crew when I disbanded my pirates!"
Silas had initially wondered who could have betrayed him, but seeing Cassius on Farrell's ship had made it all clear. He had found the boy in a village massacred by another pirate crew. Silas, already sixty-five and feeling the strain of his age, had taken him in, intending to train him. But Cassius had no talent for combat. His only gift was for shipbuilding, which led him to develop a deep, almost obsessive affection for their ship, the Black Pearl. He had even asked Silas for the ship when the crew disbanded.
Silas had refused. Cassius was too weak to protect such a vessel in the New World. He never imagined the boy's obsession would lead to betrayal.
Farrell, however, refused to believe it. A pirate giving away all his wealth was a fairy tale.
"Since you won't talk…" Two short swords appeared in Farrell's hands as if from nowhere. "Then I'll just have to beat it out of you!"
He took a step, lowering his stance as the fierce sea wind whipped his bright red coat around him.
Bang!
The ground beneath his feet exploded, and in the next instant, two glints of cold steel were lunging for Silas's throat. There was nothing fancy about the attack. It was just pure, unadulterated speed. Farrell was a despicable man, but he was undeniably strong.
However, the man standing before him was White Wolf Silas, a legend who had sailed these seas for fifty years. He was a titan among pirates, and the user of the Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: White Wolf.
People were perhaps more familiar with the fruit's other name. The Dog-Dog Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Okuchi-no-Makami. It was the very same fruit that would one day be eaten by Yamato, child of the Beast King, Kaido.
Forty years ago, after a decade of roaming the seas, Silas had hit his limit. His own talent could only take him so far. At the time, just facing a regular Marine Vice Admiral pushed him to his absolute breaking point. So when he obtained a Devil Fruit in a raid, he ate it without hesitation. He had long since realized that in this world, hard work determined one's lower limits, but only talent could decide one's upper limits. And a Devil Fruit could shatter those limits entirely.
The price of being unable to swim was nothing compared to the promise of greater power.
He had been lucky. The fruit was not some useless Paramecia, but a Mythical Zoan, the rarest and most special type of all.
"Couldn't react in time?" Farrell laughed maniacally as his blades closed in on Silas, who had not moved an inch. "White Wolf Silas, you've finally gotten old!"
Schlick!
The short swords pierced Silas's eyes, but the sensation was wrong. It was too soft, too cold.
"Is that so?"
Silas's deep voice came from the side. Farrell's eyes widened as the image of the man he had just stabbed began to turn pale and brittle, like ice.
Crack!
A bone-chilling cold shot up Farrell's arms from his daggers.
"You little brat!" Silas's voice was now a low growl. A torrent of icy energy coiled around his own sword as he appeared at Farrell's flank. Seeing the longsword about to swing down, Farrell finally remembered that Silas was not just a Devil Fruit user but also one of the world's foremost master swordsmen. "If you want to use me as a stepping stone, you had better be prepared to risk your life!"
A humanoid white wolf, standing nearly three meters tall with fur like snow and eyes like glacial ice, raised the longsword in his hand.
And brought it down.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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