Giovanni hit the ground in a crouch, one hand braced against the mangrove root, the other still gripping his saber tightly enough for his knuckles to whiten.
A few feet away, Vice Admiral Gion lay unconscious in a mess of shattered bubble crates and broken railing.
Shanks stood with one hand resting loosely on the hilt of his sheathed saber, looking entirely too pleased with himself.
Giovanni slowly turned his head.
And glared.
Shanks blinked.
"What?"
"What?!" Giovanni snapped, shooting to his feet. "You interrupted my fight!"
Shanks lifted both hands defensively, though the grin on his face made the gesture useless.
"I saved you."
Giovanni pointed his saber accusingly at him.
"I was winning!"
"Maybe."
"Not maybe!" Giovanni shouted. "Definitely!"
Limejuice landed beside them with a frustrated groan, staff over one shoulder and coat fluttering behind him. He took one look at Giovanni's expression and immediately knew what was happening.
"Oh, come on," Limejuice said, throwing both hands up. "You're upset because he ended the fight too fast?"
"Yes!"
Limejuice looked skyward as though begging the heavens for patience.
"There are Marines all over the island! Admirals! Vice Admirals! Rear Admirals! And you're crying because your one-on-one got cut short?!"
"It was a good fight!"
"It was taking too long!"
Giovanni whipped around toward him.
"You too?!"
"Yes, me too!"
Shanks rubbed the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.
"Sorry?"
Giovanni's eye twitched.
"That did not sound sincere."
Shanks immediately straightened and gave him a solemn expression that looked fake from the first second.
"My deepest apologies, Giovanni," he said dramatically. "As captain, I regret that I speed-blitzed the pretty Marine lady before you could finish flirting with her and get stabbed."
Giovanni stared at him.
Limejuice stared at him too.
Then Limejuice barked, "Why are you making it worse?!"
Shanks broke first, doubling over with laughter.
Giovanni ground his teeth. "I'm never forgiving you."
"Sure you will."
"I won't."
"You always do."
"That doesn't mean I forgive you!"
Limejuice slammed the butt of his staff into the ground.
"Can both of you shut up and start moving already?!"
The distant pounding of Marine boots answered for him.
The three pirates turned.
Far down the connecting mangrove paths, Marines were still rushing through the grove in huge numbers. From this angle, they looked almost like a living tide spilling through the roots.
Shanks gave a short whistle.
"Yeah… okay. That's a lot."
Limejuice pointed his staff in the direction of the harbor.
"Ship. Now."
Giovanni clicked his tongue and sheathed his sword with a sharp motion.
"Fine."
Shanks grinned and clapped him on the shoulder as they started moving.
"For what it's worth, your fight was looking good."
Giovanni refused to look at him.
"You're trying to soften me up."
"It's working though, right?"
"…No."
Shanks laughed.
Then all three of them took off.
They moved fast through the archipelago, boots hammering along mangrove paths, leaping broken railings, ducking under drifting bubbles, and cutting through narrow shortcuts between groves.
Every now and then the sounds of battle and Marine commands echoed through the roots around them.
Ahead of them, the ship.
Behind them, the Navy.
And somewhere else nearby—
A clash of monsters.
---
In a grove not far from the port, two blades met with a calm, ringing sound.
Rayleigh's sword rested against Kuzan's ice-forged blade, their clash strangely quiet compared to the scale of the power behind it.
Neither man looked particularly strained.
Kuzan stood with one hand in his pocket, his usual lazy posture somehow still intact even in combat. A thin mist of cold rolled off his body, frosting the shattered path and the broken carnival structures around them. The ground was white with ice, and the air was sharp enough to sting the lungs.
Rayleigh, on the other hand, looked almost amused.
His coat moved lightly in the breeze, his glasses catching the light as he smiled the faint smile of a man who had no business being this comfortable in front of an Admiral.
The two men disengaged almost at the same time.
Neither rushed to follow up.
Kuzan looked at him.
"You really showed up out of nowhere just to make my day worse."
Rayleigh chuckled.
"That's not very polite."
Kuzan sighed.
"I was having a troublesome enough day before the Dark King appeared."
Rayleigh rolled one shoulder.
"Well, I couldn't let you freeze the brat. His journey is just getting started."
Kuzan's lips twitched just slightly.
"Just getting started huh?"
Rayleigh's smile widened a little.
"I want to see where he goes from here."
Kuzan lifted one hand, forming a long, elegant ice saber that glimmered in the air.
"You seem relaxed."
"I'm retired," Rayleigh said.
"That's exactly why this is strange."
Rayleigh tilted his head.
"Is it?"
Kuzan's gaze stayed on him as they slowly circled.
"Most people who retire do quieter things."
Rayleigh nodded as if considering the point seriously.
"I do quiet things."
Kuzan raised an eyebrow.
"Like what?"
Rayleigh answered immediately.
"I gamble."
Kuzan stared.
Rayleigh continued with the same pleasant tone.
"I drink. I wander. Sometimes I sell myself into slavery if I lose too much."
Kuzan's face remained blank.
Then he blinked once.
"…You what?"
Rayleigh smiled.
"It pays debts quickly."
Kuzan looked at him for a long moment.
Then, very quietly, he said, "You're a ridiculous man."
Rayleigh laughed.
"Coming from you, that's rich."
The Admiral exhaled a long stream of frosty air.
"And here I thought retirement would make legends more dignified."
Rayleigh spun his sword once in his hand.
"Dignity is overrated."
Then, without warning, the old man stepped in.
His blade cut low first, simple, direct, and fast.
Kuzan met it with his ice sword.
The second strike came immediately after, angled for the shoulder.
Kuzan caught that too.
The third never came.
Instead, Rayleigh shifted his footing and slammed a Haki-coated kick into Kuzan's guard, blowing the Admiral backward across the frozen path.
Ice cracked beneath Kuzan's heels as he slid.
Rayleigh didn't chase.
Kuzan re-formed his footing on a line of ice and looked back up.
"Still not taking this seriously, huh?"
Rayleigh smiled.
"Neither are you."
Kuzan considered that.
Then nodded once.
"Fair."
He pointed his blade lazily toward Rayleigh.
"Ice Saber."
A second sword of ice formed from the frost around him and rushed forward like a spear.
Rayleigh slashed once.
The ice blade split cleanly in two and melted into glittering shards before reaching him.
Then the old man laughed softly.
"Come on, Kuzan. You can do better than that."
The Admiral clicked his tongue.
"Yeah," he said. "But that'd be a pain."
And the strange, half-serious clash between retired legend and sleepy Admiral continued beneath the roots of Sabaody.
---
Back near the harbor, Shanks, Giovanni, and Limejuice finally broke through the last connecting path and saw the ship.
The sight alone was enough to make Giovanni grin.
"There!"
On deck, Benn Beckman and Building Snake were already there. The ship had been prepared as much as possible in the limited time they had.
Beckman looked up the moment he saw them.
"Took you long enough."
Limejuice pointed behind them while panting only slightly.
"In my defense, your captain likes stopping to ruin other people's fights."
Shanks ignored that completely.
He leapt the last stretch, landed on the dock, and pointed at the ship dramatically.
"Everybody! Move!"
His voice boomed over the harbor.
"Hurl the sails and get ready to sail!"
Giovanni and Limejuice jumped onto the deck while Building Snake moved instantly toward the wheel and the sail rigging.
Beckman didn't waste a second. He was already barking shorter, sharper instructions than Shanks ever would.
"Lines first! Then the main sail! Snake, check the turn angle, if we pull out wrong, we'll clip the port!"
Behind them, the mountain of Marines was growing.
Dozens.
Then more.
A flood of white coats and steel, spilling through the mangrove paths straight toward the harbor.
Some shouted orders.
Others raised rifles.
A few were so desperate they were already stumbling over each other in their rush to close the distance before the pirates could depart.
Giovanni looked over the railing, then back at Shanks.
And laughed.
Shanks laughed too.
Both of them had the same wild, delighted look in their eyes.
"They're really coming in a hurry," Giovanni said.
Shanks grinned. "I'd run faster too if I were chasing me."
Giovanni pointed. "That one tripped."
Shanks looked and barked another laugh as one Marine faceplanted into the dock while trying to keep pace with the line behind him.
Limejuice watched both of them with absolute disbelief.
"Why are you laughing?!"
"Because this is funny!" Shanks and Giovanni answered together.
Limejuice rubbed his forehead. "You people are weird."
Then Shanks' smile changed.
His eyes caught something farther down the dock.
A shape.
Big.
Round.
A man stood there with a thick chicken thigh in one hand, chewing contentedly as if the entire military mobilization around the harbor was none of his concern.
For one heartbeat, Shanks simply stared.
Then his face lit up.
He pointed so hard his whole arm straightened.
"LUCKY ROO!"
---
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