Back at the base, Jin examined the greatsword in his hand.
"So… I'm a swordsman now?"
He walked alone to the training grounds and started swinging according to the basic drills he remembered from home.
In his previous life, no matter the school, all styles of Japanese kendo shared the same core fundamentals.
Chinese double-edged sword techniques, on the other hand, had far more basic movements—draw, carry, lift, parry, strike, thrust, tap, crash, stir, press, chop, cut, wash, cloud, hang, flick, slash, raise, wipe, slice, stab, circle…
Its style was light, fast, elegant, and flowing.
Jin practiced and practiced.
Nothing?
Well, yeah. He'd barely started. How could he expect some profound feeling already?
The days passed.
He trained his sword. He joined battles. He never neglected his physical conditioning.
Time slipped by until he turned sixteen.
Now, Jin stood at 1.9 meters tall. His muscles were perfectly balanced and defined.
The greatsword in his hands moved faster and faster.
At a certain moment, something clicked.
He suddenly hacked forward.
Whoosh!
A ten-meter-long wave of sword aura burst from the blade and slashed through the air.
He let out a long breath.
"Finally stepped into the realm of sword masters, huh?"
His whole body relaxed.
Then he suddenly widened his eyes.
Conqueror's Haki exploded outward.
A black wave roared around him. Wind howled. The sea churned. Countless fish and shrimp floated to the surface upside down.
On his way back to the base, Jin constantly reflected on himself.
Swordmaster.
His Armament Haki and Observation Haki had both awakened in the repeated battles of the past few years.
His Conqueror's Haki was also now something he could release and pull back at will.
He'd mastered the Six Powers. His body was tough and honed.
In low- and mid-tier fights, he was fine.
At higher levels… he knew his experience was still lacking.
For now, all he could do was keep polishing his swordsmanship, his Armament, and his Observation.
As for Conqueror's coating… that was still a long way off. One step at a time. No need to rush.
After all, he didn't have some overpowered cheat system watching over him.
Today was the day Smoker was leaving for Headquarters for special training.
He should at least go see him off.
When he returned to the base gate, the sentries straightened and saluted.
"Good day, Lieutenant Commander!"
Jin nodded. "Mm. Good work, everyone."
Over these years, he'd taken part in countless battles.
His accumulated military merit had earned him the rank of lieutenant commander within the branch.
As he walked past the training grounds, two seamen whispered to each other.
"Hey, that's Lieutenant Commander Jin, right?"
"Yeah, that's him. Every time he goes out on a mission, he's the first to charge in, and the destruction he causes is insane."
"I heard he likes to loot pirate treasure after killing them. Says he'll never become a pirate himself, but if some pirate finds the One Piece, he'll just chop that pirate down and take the treasure for himself."
…Huh.
Jin pretended he hadn't heard anything and kept walking.
He went straight to the office and pushed the door open.
"Commander, you were looking for me?"
The base commander didn't even blink at him barging in without knocking. By now, he was used to it.
He looked at Jin seriously.
"Smoker's about to set sail. He'll be joining a training camp at Headquarters. The ship's leaving any minute now."
"I want to ask you one last time: you're really not going to join this training camp?"
Jin thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"No, Commander. For me, whether I train at Headquarters or here doesn't make that much difference."
Mainly, there were still a few things in the East Blue he needed to deal with before heading for the Grand Line.
Garp had come back twice over the years and tried to drag him to Headquarters both times.
Jin had refused, both times.
The commander sighed as he looked at him.
"All right. It's your decision. Just don't regret it later."
He hesitated, then added, "There's a pirate crew in town today. You'll need to keep an eye on them."
Jin frowned. "What kind of pirates need special attention?"
"The Red-Haired Pirates," the commander replied. "They've been wandering around the four seas these last two years."
"And they're strong. As long as they follow the rules, you're to keep watch on them—nothing more."
Jin smacked his forehead.
"Oh, Red-Haired Shanks. The super rookie tearing up the seas these past two years."
"I'll go meet him later and see how far he's grown."
"Got it, I'll keep an eye on Red-Haired Shanks," Jin said, then turned to leave.
As he walked, he thought about Smoker.
No need to see that guy off. He'd probably already left.
If the original timeline was anything to go by, Smoker wouldn't last long on the Grand Line before getting bounced around anyway.
Jin himself wasn't in any rush to head there.
"Sigh…"
The commander watched Jin's back as he walked away, his feelings a mess.
At first, he'd assumed this kid was just some princeling out to get a shiny Marine record.
But the more he saw, the more he liked him.
This was a monster-level genius.
Amazing learning ability. Incredible talent.
He just refused to follow orders and hated being tied down.
Give him office work and he threw everything at his adjutant, then went off on patrol or back to training.
He wouldn't touch paperwork with a ten-meter pole.
If it was something he didn't want to do, no one could make him.
Thinking of this, the commander let out a deep sigh.
This thorny genius really was the type to make you love and hate him at the same time.
Jin walked through the streets, heading toward the plaza.
Then he thought about it.
Shanks had probably come to pay his respects to Roger.
No need for him to crowd the scene.
He turned and made for the harbor instead.
At the plaza, Shanks stood with his crew in front of the execution platform.
"Captain, I'll carry your will and give it everything I've got. From here, I'm heading for the Grand Line."
"I've already found my own comrades. Can you see us from where you are?"
At his side stood a cute little girl with bright eyes—Uta.
Beside her were Benn Beckman, Yasopp, Lucky Roux with meat in hand, Limejuice, and the others.
After a while, Shanks turned and led them toward the harbor.
As they walked, Benn Beckman said, "Shanks, I hear there's a troublesome guy in Loguetown. We'd better avoid provoking him."
Shanks smiled.
"Maah, we'll see. We're about to set sail anyway."
"I saw that guy back when I stayed in Loguetown years ago. Didn't expect him to have grown this much. Hahahaha."
Uta tugged at his sleeve.
"Shanks, is he really that strong?"
Shanks thought it over.
"Mm… probably pretty strong. Been a few years since I saw him. He shouldn't be weak now. Hahahaha."
When they reached the harbor, Shanks suddenly stopped.
His gaze snapped forward.
There, sitting casually on the ground beside their ship, was a man.
The man held a bottle of booze, chugging it down, a greatsword stuck in the dirt beside him.
He was staring right at them.
Jin rose to his feet and pulled the greatsword free.
He looked at Shanks and grinned.
"Yo. Long time no see, Shanks. Been a while."
Shanks' expression darkened.
All the crew members who'd stayed behind to guard the ship were lying unconscious on the deck.
Benn Beckman and the others grabbed their weapons, ready to fight at a moment's notice.
Uta stared, dazed, at the 1.9-meter-tall man in the shirt with the perfect, streamlined muscles and handsome, sharp features.
Shanks frowned.
"Jin, are you declaring war on the Red-Haired Pirates?"
"War? No." Jin shook his head.
"I just want to see how far the successor of Roger's crew has grown. After all, I was there when he said those words."
As soon as he finished, Jin's eyes snapped open.
Black Conqueror's Haki exploded out, crashing toward them.
Shanks' own black-and-red Conqueror's surged out in response, wrapping protectively around his crew.
Black and black-red waves collided and ground against each other.
Alarms wailed in the Loguetown Marine base.
"Hurry! Assemble to support Lieutenant Commander Jin!"
The commander frowned, looking toward the harbor.
He could clearly sense the two clashing auras there.
The tide of advantage shifted back and forth between them.
That brat. He went alone?
The adjutant ran up.
"Commander, Lieutenant Commander Jin said we're only to evacuate nearby civilians. We are not to go to war with the Red-Haired Pirates, or we'll just suffer pointless casualties."
The commander slammed the table.
"What nonsense! Justice does not bow!"
"Uh…" The adjutant swallowed. "The lieutenant commander also said that while the Red-Haired Pirates don't have many people, every single one of them is an elite. If we go over, we'll just get in the way."
The commander's face darkened.
"…That little bastard."
"Hey, hey, that guy has Conqueror's Haki too!"
The Red-Haired crew all stared, stunned.
"Only one in a million people has that kind of Haki. Since when did Loguetown have someone like this?" Benn Beckman muttered around his cigarette.
Jin felt the Conqueror's colliding with his own and saw that it was about on par.
He wasn't particularly surprised.
The two of them pushed harder at the same time.
At last, the two Conqueror's auras exploded outward and shattered, turning into glittering motes that drifted through the air.
Jin narrowed his eyes.
"Nice Conqueror's, Shanks."
He lifted the greatsword in his hand.
Shanks focused on him.
"You're not bad yourself."
He drew his saber.
"You guys get on the ship," he said to his crew.
Benn Beckman and Yasopp shared a look, then slowly backed toward the ship.
Seeing that Jin didn't try to stop them, they hurried aboard and pushed the ship away from the dock.
"Good. Now that the extras are out of the way, it's just you and me," Jin said, his expression twisting into a feral grin.
Shanks looked at him seriously.
"I didn't want to fight you. But now that the blades are drawn… I can't back down."
They stared at each other, searching for weaknesses.
Duang.
Jin's greatsword turned pitch-black as Armament Haki coated the blade.
He charged.
Shanks' saber darkened with Armament as well as he swung to meet him.
Clang!
Sword and saber collided.
A white shockwave blasted out from the impact point, wind howling as it tore across the harbor.
The two of them gripped their weapons with both hands, teeth gritted, eyes locked on each other.
At this time, Shanks was just beginning his journey, so both arms were still intact.
With a metallic scrape, Jin shoved Shanks' blade aside and brought his greatsword crashing down in a vertical slash.
Shanks hastily raised his saber to block.
He clearly lost out in raw strength.
The two clashed back and forth, exchanging blow after blow.
On the ship, Uta watched them in awe.
"They're both so strong… It's my first time seeing someone fight Shanks to a standstill."
"Of course," Yasopp said. "That guy and Garp are known as 'Guardians of East Blue Peace.' Nobody knows how many people he's killed."
Uta stared at him, then back at Jin, stunned.
Benn Beckman nodded.
"That guy especially loves robbing pirates."
"If they've done a lot of evil, he just kills them and takes all their treasure."
"If they haven't, he robs them clean, kidnaps their crew, and lets the innocent ones go."
Uta's eyes widened even more.
She looked from Benn Beckman to Jin again, unable to believe this was something a Marine would do.
Benn Beckman continued, "Don't be so shocked. His catchphrase is, 'I'm a Marine with no sense of justice. Beating and robbing pirates is only natural.'"
"He's even got a nickname."
"They call him the 'Marine Thug.'"
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