"Brother Jinbei!"
The violent blast of air blew the Sun Pirates' ship away. The Fish-men on board cried out in terror at the horrifying sight.
On the sea surface by the beach, the Fire Tornado collided with the seawater below, and a large amount of white steam spread out.
The spinning flames rotated within the steam, dyeing the white mist orange-red.
The rotating air carried the white mist, spreading it outwards.
Cyrus, wreathed in flames, gripped the similarly flame-wreathed Flame, his eyes fixed on the scene created by Torchlight.
His Observation Haki could clearly see the scene inside.
"As I thought!" Cyrus muttered to himself.
He had already considered that the Flame-Flame Fruit was not particularly advantageous when fighting on the sea.
After all, seawater counters fire.
This wasn't because seawater counters Devil Fruit users, but because water itself counters fire.
Unless, in the future, he could develop his flames to the point where seawater would be evaporated and burned dry before it could get close, or he could ignite the sea itself.
But this planet was a planet of oceans.
To achieve such a feat, his stamina might not be sufficient.
"Water Heart Current Shoulder Throw!"
A furious roar came from within the flames, and then a massive amount of seawater was pulled up as if by an invisible hand.
The pulled-up seawater broke through the Fire Tornado and surged toward Cyrus.
A huge amount of seawater rushed over, its momentum quite astonishing.
Cyrus raised his hand, and the flame-wreathed longsword slashed down fiercely.
A Flame Sword energy shot out, cutting the incoming seawater apart.
The severed seawater split open, its momentum collapsing from the single strike.
It crashed onto the ground on both sides, the seawater shattering into a spray of water.
Jinbei, with the upper half of his body exposed above the water, stared intently at Cyrus, his expression grave.
"A Devil Fruit user?"
Controlling flames like this, Jinbei's first reaction was naturally a Devil Fruit user.
'Most likely a Logia Type.'
Jinbei didn't dare to step ashore now.
In the sea, he could still use the water to fight against the flames.
Once he was on land and away from the sea, he had no confidence in facing a Logia-type user who could control flames like this.
Especially since he had felt during their exchange that his opponent was also a powerful Master Swordsman.
Not far away, cheers erupted from the pirate ship.
Cyrus, who had been in a standoff with Jinbei, turned to look at the cheering pirate ship, his Flame slightly raised.
Jinbei naturally noticed the shift in Cyrus's attention.
His heart tightened, but in the next moment, Cyrus had already acted.
Swish!
A simple, unadorned slash cut through the air, heading for the pirate ship floating on the sea.
Jinbei's expression tightened.
He slapped the sea surface with both hands, his body shooting out across the water to intercept the slash, his arms crossed and wrapped in Armament Haki.
"Shagreen Skin!"
His defensive cross-armed stance collided with Cyrus's slash.
Bang!
Jinbei was sent flying backward by the slash, crashing into the sea next to the pirate ship.
The cheers on the pirate ship came to an abrupt halt.
"You guys leave first!"
Jinbei resurfaced from the sea and immediately gave the order to the Fish-man Pirates on the ship.
"Boss Jinbei."
Hearing this, the Fish-men wanted to say more, but the next slash was already on its way.
Jinbei's expression tightened, and he charged out again.
The result was identical to before. Jinbei was once again struck down, crashing into the sea.
The pirates on the ship finally understood.
This person was clearly using them as a tool to attack Brother Jinbei.
The pirates on the ship were instantly enraged, but there was nothing they could do. They could only follow the order and sail the ship away to avoid being used to attack Jinbei.
As the pirate ship moved away, Cyrus looked at Jinbei in the sea, also feeling a bit troubled.
Go into the water to fight this guy?
That was impossible.
Although he had deliberately trained his swimming ability, and with his current physique, he could stay in the sea for an hour or two without a problem, fighting a Fish-man Shichibukai who had mastered Two Colors Haki in the sea?
Cyrus knew a fair bit about Jinbei.
The current Jinbei was at his peak, or rather, had just entered his peak period.
With Fish-man Karate plus his ability to manipulate water currents, his combat power in the sea was greatly enhanced.
On land, even without activating Indomitable, Cyrus might not necessarily lose against him, relying on his powerful physique and Devil Fruit Ability.
But in the ocean, at least before he gained the ability to burn the ocean, his Devil Fruit Ability would likely lose much of its power upon entering the seawater.
Of course, that was without activating Indomitable.
If he activated Indomitable, with that terrifying power and all-around enhancement, he might be able to one-shot Jinbei.
But Cyrus had no intention of casually activating Indomitable.
Frankly, it wasn't worth it.
And there was a period of weakness after activating Indomitable.
Cyrus on the coast and Jinbei in the sea stared at each other.
Then, Jinbei did a flip, dove into the sea, and disappeared.
'He left?'
Cyrus waited for a while, but Jinbei did not reappear.
This encounter was not a formal battle for either Cyrus or Jinbei; at most, it was a mutual probing.
Cyrus sheathed his sword, retracted the flames into his body, and turned to walk back into the village.
The villagers who had been captured were still there.
They only breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Cyrus.
Cyrus walked over, glanced at them, and then headed in a certain direction.
Everyone's eyes followed Cyrus, watching him walk into the village chief's house.
On the ground was a crushed Den Den Mushi, and an old man with a severed arm and a large diagonal gash across his chest.
He was no longer breathing.
Cyrus lowered his head slightly, stood there for a moment, then turned to look at the tall figure in a Navy uniform at the door.
"Speaking of which, are the Navy always a step behind?"
Looking at this person, Cyrus asked directly, his tone quite unfriendly.
Surprisingly, the straightforward old marine outside the door didn't get angry.
Looking at the dead person in the room, he sighed.
"It can't be helped. The sea is too vast. Even the Navy can't control everything. What's more, some Navy soldiers..."
Garp wanted to say something but stopped himself.
His eyes were on Cyrus.
"You fought with Jinbei?"
"You saw it?"
Cyrus was stunned.
He was certain that Garp had not been there when he fought Jinbei earlier.
Or rather, Garp had been outside the range of his Observation Haki at the time.
"I received news that Jinbei came to the East Blue looking for a group of Fish-men. Are they the ones dead outside? He didn't manage to take their bodies, and there are signs of a battle by the sea, traces of being burned by fire."
Garp looked at Cyrus.
Cyrus lifted Flame and rested it on his shoulder, walking past Garp.
"Yeah, I didn't want to fight that guy in the sea. I'd be at a disadvantage in the sea."
Garp watched the straight back of the man carrying the sword, then looked at the dead person in the room.
"Do you know this person?"
"No, we just exchanged a few words before."
Cyrus's steps paused, and he turned to look at Garp.
"Frankly, I don't like pirates. Of course, I don't like you Navy either. So, don't bother me in the future, okay?"
Garp's expression froze.
He didn't know how to respond to Cyrus's words.
"I'll borrow your ship to go back. Also, help me convert these Fish-man Pirates into bounty money. Give half of it to this village for rebuilding."
Cyrus said, then lifted his foot and walked toward the sea.
On the sea there, Navy warships were docked.
Small boats filled with marines were heading toward the island.
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