"Pirates?"
Ares stopped in his tracks, his expression flat, gaze shifting slowly toward the old man.
Then, he turned his eyes toward the pirates, as if speaking to himself.
"So... these are pirates?"
There was no change in his voice, no shift in his face. He looked cold, detached emotionless. One could've mistaken him for a machine wearing human skin.
The old man's desperate cry sparked waves of laughter among the pirates.
"Hahaha... you senile old fool! Even if this guy's strong, we're the Rocks Pirates!"
"You think one man can stand up to the Rocks Pirates? That's hilarious!"
"Clearly you don't get it. Just hearing our na makes half the Grand Line piss themselves."
"Wake up, old man. No one defies the will of the Rocks Pirates."
A hundred or more pirates burst into mocking laughter, sneering at the old man groveling in the dust.
Then, Ares did sothing that caught everyone off guard.
He turned to Rocks D. Xebec, the most fearso man present, and asked, dead serious:
"Do you know how to forge a person into the sharpest, strongest blade in the world?"
Silence.
For a few seconds, it was as if the entire world had stopped.
Then ca an eruption of laughter.
"Puhahaha! Did I hear that right? This guy wants to turn himself into a blade?!"
"I can't breathe! What a lunatic!"
"That's a new one. Never heard of soone trying to beco a sword before."
"What kind of idiot thinks human flesh can be harder than steel?!"
"This guy's got screws loose. He must be nuts!"
The crowd of pirates howled with laughter, so even wiping tears from their eyes.
Whitebeard, watching, gave a low chuckle.
"Interesting... he wants to forge himself into a blade?"
His gaze grew more intense.
"The sea's full of lunatics. But the ones who break limits? Those are the ones worth watching."
He was curious now. Could this boy actually do it?
Golden Lion Shiki puffed his cigar and snorted.
"Even if you trained every day of your life, your flesh can't match a Supre Grade blade."
He would know. Both his swords Oto and Kuwagi were Great Grade.
Human bodies weren't ant to rival weapons.
Charlotte Linlin, anwhile, licked her lips.
Her eyes road hungrily over Ares' bronze-skinned chest, muscles chiseled like a statue.
"Screw swords. I just want to bear strong children."
"That body's sothing else. Stronger than any pretty-boy giant I've seen."
Her sultry gaze never left him.
Through it all, Ares didn't flinch.
Not once.
His cold eyes stayed locked on Xebec.
Rocks laughed. Wild, unrestrained.
"Ha... ha... ha!"
Then his voice dropped low, intense, like the clash of steel.
"Battle."
Ares blinked.
"Battle?"
Rocks' tone was resolute.
"Only through relentless combat can you grow stronger."
"Only through battle can you be tempered into an unbreakable blade."
There was approval in his eyes, buried beneath the fury.
Most would call Ares insane.
But madn were often the ones who changed the world.
"Battle..." Ares murmured.
Then he smiled.
A fierce, bright, bone-deep smile.
His voice turned hoarse with excitent.
"Then fight ."
"I challenge you!"
A wild aura exploded from his body, primal and savage, like a beast raised in the wilds.
The pirates reeled.
"Did he just challenge Captain Rocks?!"
"Is this kid insane?! Rocks has a bounty of 3.5 billion! He's the most wanted man alive!"
"He's a dead man walking. This is suicide."
"It's official. He's a lunatic."
"You couldn't even beat one of us, let alone the captain!"
The pirates laughed, jeered, cursed. But even they could feel it.
This wasn't normal.
Whitebeard laughed heartily.
"Gurararara! That kid's got guts!"
He was reminded of himself challenging Rocks in his own reckless youth.
Shiki exhaled a cloud of smoke and chuckled.
"Didn't think this island would have a gem like him. Maybe I'll take him under my wing."
Silver Axe, clad in shining armor, gave a sideways glance to Wang Zhi.
"What do you think? Another monster like Linlin?"
The tension in the air grew thick.
And Ares…
Stood unshaken.
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