Sean's sudden appearance caught Shanks completely off guard.
While Devil Fruit abilities existed and long-distance travel wasn't unheard of—Shanks even knew of soone in the Big Mom Pirates who could manage it—that usually required a dium. Sean, however, had simply opened a spatial portal out of thin air.
What kind of fruit ability was this?
Well, that wasn't the most pressing concern right now. As Sean stepped through the portal, Marine soldiers began erging one after another.
Things were getting troubleso.
It wasn't that Shanks feared the soldiers of the 16th Branch, but if such an ability existed, it ant Sean could potentially transport the elites of Marine Headquarters here in an instant.
We're talking about Admirals, or even veterans like Garp and Sengoku. If they all piled in at once, even the Red Hair Pirates might struggle to retreat unscathed.
This ability... was far too dangerous.
"Rear Admiral Sean..."
"Interrupting you right there—I'm a Vice Admiral now!"
"Right. Vice Admiral Sean. As I said, Luffy isn't a wanted criminal. There's no need for us to go to war over this. How about doing a favor?"
"Shanks, has no one ever told you that you're an idiot?"
An idiot?
Well, he was often teased by his crew for being airheaded... but that was in his downti. When it was ti to be serious, he was plenty serious!
Especially right now!
"Think back. What was the first thing I said when I got here?" Sean asked. "I said that it is only natural for the Marines to capture pirates. Why on earth should I do you a favor?"
"Furthermore, why don't you guess how long it would take to transport every single high-level combatant from Marine Headquarters to this spot?"
"Go to war? Do the Marines actually fear fighting a single pirate crew? You're starting to sound a bit overconfident, don't you think?"
Sean showed him no rcy.
If the Marine truly committed its full strength, they could fight two Emperor crews to a standstill. Unless three or four Emperors tead up, the Marine held the advantage.
Currently, it was just one Emperor crew—and the smallest of the Four Emperors at that.
Sean didn't deny that in terms of top-tier combat power, the Red Hair Pirates were no weaker than other Emperor crews; they might even be stronger. Ben Beckman, for instance, possessed strength on par with a Marine Admiral.
But so what?
Although Sean intended to keep Blueno's current level of fruit developnt a secret and preferred not to call for reinforcents from Headquarters, he would do it if pushed.
From the very beginning, Shanks had no path to victory.
A favor? How much was his "face" even worth?
As Sean spoke, over two hundred Marines stepped through the energy portal, filling the deck behind Sean and Gion, and lining the sides of the warship.
Seeing that Sean was completely unmoved, Shanks began to grow impatient.
Should he gamble?
Maybe this spatial portal took ti to transport people. If he could knock everyone out before the reinforcents arrived, he could rescue Luffy and leave.
Was that possible? It should be. Otherwise, why wouldn't Sean just bring the reinforcents imdiately instead of wasting ti arguing?
Shanks stopped hesitating. Every second he wasted made the situation more precarious.
He would use Conqueror's Haki to flatten the Marines, have Beckman and the others pin down Gion, Sean, and the other threats, and then rescue Luffy and retreat at maximum speed!
His eyes sharpened, and a terrifying wave of Conqueror's Haki erupted once more.
Unlike the previous ti, Shanks exerted his full power. Black lightning crackled within the area covered by his Haki.
Shanks believed that most field-grade officers from Marine Headquarters wouldn't be able to withstand this level of pressure. Even the steel hull of the warship began to emit a grating, screeching sound.
The Marines' expressions turned grim. One by one, soldiers began to collapse.
And then...
And then what?
Shanks was stunned.
By his count, fewer than fifty Marines had fallen. Nearly two hundred were still standing. Though they looked strained, they had actually endured it.
This made no sense...
Were these really soldiers from the 16th Branch? Had Sean gathered all the field-grade officers from Headquarters and dressed them in standard uniforms just to play a joke on him?
But even for Headquarters officers, it was impossible for only twenty percent to fall. This was insane!
At that exact mont, another terrifying surge of energy erupted. It was similar to Conqueror's Haki, yet fundantally different.
This energy relentlessly pressed against the area covered by Shanks' Haki, gradually pushing it away from the Marines. Eventually, the two forces reached a stalemate between Sean and Shanks.
Perhaps Sean's raw physical combat power couldn't match Shanks, but his Reiatsu was certainly not inferior to Shanks' Conqueror's Haki.
In that mont, it wasn't just Shanks who was dazed. On the nearby Red Force, the executives of the Red Hair Pirates were equally shocked.
Just a mont ago, they had been saying that the boss was getting serious and the Marines were finished. But in an instant, their captain's Conqueror's Haki had been pushed back. It was even still being compressed, though the speed had slowed.
Clearly, the opponent's "Haki" was actually stronger than their captain's?
How was that possible? Their captain was known as the most imposing man on the seas...
"Red-Hair Shanks, I'll say it one more ti: retreat, or stay here forever!"
"The choice is yours!"
Because Sean shouted with great force and infused his voice with Reiatsu, the words exploded directly inside everyone's mind. Even the executives on the Red Force heard it with crystalline clarity.
They were all floored.
Good lord, a teenager daring to threaten their captain like this—there probably wasn't another person like him in the entire ocean.
At the bow, Beckman looked worried. Like Shanks, his first thought was the sa: if Sean could bring the 16th Branch here, he could just as easily bring the heavy hitters from Headquarters.
There was essentially no difference.
'Shanks... continuing this stalemate isn't going to end well.'
On the warship's deck, Sean and Shanks stared each other down, neither blinking.
After ten seconds, as if by unspoken agreent, Shanks retracted his Conqueror's Haki, and Sean withdrew his Reiatsu.
The crushing pressure in the air vanished instantly.
"As expected of the Marine's Supernova. It seems everyone has underestimated you," Shanks said with a slight sigh. "Can you tell how the Marine plans to handle Luffy?"
"If we really wanted to get rid of him, why do you think he's being sent to Headquarters? Why go through all the trouble?"
"You an...?"
"Luffy is simply being sent to Garp."
"I see..."
Hearing this, Shanks finally put the pieces together.
Morgans had ntioned in a previous news report that Sean had been rescued from a deserted island by Garp and brought back to Headquarters. In other words, Sean owed Garp a great debt of gratitude.
That explained why, after capturing Luffy, Sean hadn't simply disposed of him like he did most pirates; instead, he had sent him to Headquarters. He was delivering Luffy to Garp.
Suddenly, everything made sense.
Looking at it this way, Shanks realized he had indeed overreacted. Because there was no way Garp would ever do anything to harm Luffy!
"It seems this was all a misunderstanding. Let's call it a day!" Shanks suggested, having filled in the blanks in his mind.
"You decide when we fight and when we stop? I'll ask you again—don't you think you're being a bit too presumptuous?"
Hearing this, Gion whipped her head around to look at Sean, her face filled with confusion.
'The situation was finally resolved, and now what the hell is he playing at? Does he actually intend to start a brawl with the Red Hair Pirates?'
The Marine was nowhere near ready for a full-scale war with one of the Four Emperors!
"Then what is it you want?" Shanks asked.
"These fallen Marines were attacked by you without provocation. dical fees—ten million Belly per person. Pay up!"
"Sean, don't push your luck," Shanks countered. "They were just knocked out by Conqueror's Haki. They'll all wake up in an hour at most. They aren't actually injured, so where are these dical fees coming from?"
"Fair point. Since Conqueror's Haki is a ntal attack and these Marines aren't physically injured, let's change it to a ntal distress fee. Still ten million Belly per person. Any objections?"
...
'This guy is unbelievable. Because it was a ntal attack, it's now a ntal distress fee?'
Shanks did the math. Gion had about two hundred subordinates, and among the n Sean had brought, another fifty had collapsed.
'You're asking for 2.5 billion Belly?! Do you not know that I'm the poorest of the Four Emperors?'
"One million per person, maximum! Otherwise, let's just go back to fighting!"
"Ten million per person. Not a single Belly less, or we fight!"
"Two million! That's my final offer!"
"Nine million! Last chance to concede!"
...
All the Marines stood there, dumbfounded, watching Sean and Shanks. One was hiking up the price on the spot, while the other was haggling like he was at a street market.
It was a complete shock to their system.
Even the officers aboard the Red Force, which had already pulled up alongside the warship, were staring in disbelief. What on earth was happening?
Two minutes later...
Gritting his teeth, Shanks offered three million Belly per person and refused to budge further. He was genuinely out of money. The entire Red Hair Pirates crew had less than a billion Belly in total.
The title of "Poorest Four Emperors Crew" was not just a rumor.
After a mont, Sean realized that three million per person was likely Shanks' limit. He agreed to the price.
A total of 750 million Belly was quickly transported from the Red Force, with the Red Hair Pirates carrying it over box by box.
"Can we leave now?"
"Of course. Be my guest!"
'''
As the Red Force gradually sailed away, the Marines on the warship began carrying their unconscious comrades into the cabins to let them rest.
Gion stood there, blinking blankly at the several large boxes of Belly on the deck.
'Red Hair actually paid?'
It felt surreal. Then, it clicked.
'Wait, this money was for ntal distress fees, right?'
"Sean, thank you for this!" Gion said.
"It was nothing. After all, this all started because you were helping escort Luffy."
"Right, well, let's put that aside. Now, let's talk about how to split this money."
"Split it? Wait!" Sean's heart skipped a beat. "I extorted this from Shanks; it should all be mine, right?"
'This woman... she wants to steal my money? Absolutely not!'
"Now, Sean, that's not right," Gion replied. "What justification did you use to extort him?"
"ntal distress fees, three million per person. What's the problem with that?"
"That's exactly the problem. Three million per person, and two hundred of those people were mine. In other words, out of that 750 million Belly, 600 million belongs to , and you only get 150 million!"
"Uh..."
Sean was completely stunned. He wanted to argue, but he couldn't find a single flaw in her logic.
Two hundred and fifty Marines had fallen, so he extorted 750 million from Shanks. However, since two hundred of those Marines were Gion's subordinates, taking all the money would be equivalent to embezzling the funds ant for her n.
The logic was sound. He really couldn't argue with it.
'If I had known, I should have used a different excuse to extort him.'
"Commodore Leonie, take 150 million Belly from the boxes and give it to Vice Admiral Sean. Secure the rest!"
"Yes, Vice Admiral Gion!"
'Pffft...'
Hearing this, Sean felt like he was about to cough up a mouthful of blood.
User Comments
0 comments from readers