"What did you say?!" The burly man's eyes snapped wide as his mustache flared in fury. He glared at Drake with a look of absolute, unbridled rage.
"I said what I said. Are you seriously with the Red Hair Pirates? Since when did they start taking just anyone? How did a guy like you even manage to get in?" Drake didn't give him a single shred of face, continuing to fire back with venomous words.
This guy was truly insufferable, throwing around that "old man" garbage from the very first syllable. He needed to look in a mirror; could a guy like him really...
But right then, Mitian, who had remained entirely silent until now, suddenly stepped forward and offered the burly man a respectful, elegant bow. "Uncle Daolang."
The words Drake was about to speak froze instantly in his throat, a thoroughly choked expression painting his face.
What on earth is the narrative layout here?!
His brain scrambled into high gear, simulating countless scenarios at lightning speed. Ultimately, every single deduction converged onto one precise point.
But he absolutely refused to admit it. How could a reality-bending plot twist like this actually happen? He was supposed to be an orphan, damn it!
Evidently, with his caliber of intellect, there was no way he couldn't piece together this textbook soap-opera drama. Judging by the parameters of the situation, this incredibly plain-looking man truly possessed a high mathematical probability of being his actual father.
And tracking back to Mitian's persistent, previous comments about "husband" and "wife"...
Good god!
Did that exact breed of absolute clichéd, heaven-sent arranged marriage actually drop right onto his head? And with a breathtaking beauty like her?
No! Absolute denial!
Drake frantically shook his head. He had just declared to the man's face that he was his old man... If this turned out to be factual, he was going to be brutally beaten to death! Even if it was true, it had to be false!
"Hey! He's your uncle?" Drake stated to Mitian, putting on a thoroughly proud, unbothered front. As long as he didn't panic, no one could break him. Besides, if it dissolved into a straight physical clash, he wasn't afraid. Dead men tell no tales—deny everything!
Mitian merely stared at Drake as if analyzing a complete idiot, remaining entirely tight-lipped.
"Mitian, step aside. It appears that if I don't systematically discipline this brat today, he'll never learn who the real old man is!" Daolang barked, ordering Mitian to clear the perimeter as he marched toward Drake with a mask of pure fury. "Today, I'll draw my forty-meter great cleaver to properly educate you, you insolent child!"
Mitian complied with absolute obedience, smoothly stepping away to the side.
Witnessing her retreat, the final sliver of doubt in Drake's mind vanished, his heart executing a violent, sudden tremor. He was genuinely panicking now.
"Hey! Old man, who the hell are you?!"
Right then, Luffy stepped into the gap with an angry scowl, placing himself firmly in front of Drake. "What exactly do you think you're trying to do to Drake?!"
"Hmm?!" Daolang's mouth twitched, casting a thoroughly disgusted glance at Drake before shifting his focus entirely onto the young captain. "You are Monky D. Luffy?!"
"That's right!" Luffy fired back hard.
Concurrently, a wave of confusion was harboring in Luffy's mind; he had never seen this person before. He recognized the vast majority of the core Red Hair Pirates, yet from the moment they hit the coast, not a single familiar face had emerged. It was undeniably a bit bizarre.
Staring at the back of the kid anchoring the line before him, a profound wave of fraternal appreciation washed over Drake. When the chips were down, Luffy was the sibling who truly held the line. Though his own strength was monumental, he couldn't casually unleash his arsenal here—especially since this man's legal identity was still... pending investigation...
"Do you wish to test the edge of my forty-meter great cleaver as well?!" Daolang roared with a terrifyingly savage expression, drawing a short blade from his waist.
The exact microsecond that short blade cleared the sheath, Drake instantly lost his composure, nearly bursting into hysterical laughter. Was that pathetic piece of steel his supposed forty-meter great cleaver?
"Mph..." To preserve his operational safety, Drake frantically clamped a hand over his own mouth.
SHING!
The kitchen cleaver was formally unveiled. As for why it qualified as a kitchen cleaver—the steel precisely mirrored a perfect square, its total length and blade width tracking at an identical metric. It was roughly forty centimeters long. Where on earth was the resemblance to a long sword?
"Pfft!" Drake completely failed to contain his impulse, a violent spray of laughter escaping his lips.
I swear I had zero strategic intent to mock him... unless... I absolutely can't hold it back!
"You dare laugh?!" Daolang's weathered face flushed crimson with intense embarrassment. Without wasting another syllable, he raised his weapon and lunged fiercely into an all-out assault.
Drake blinked in alarm.
But Luffy's combat reflexes were far swifter; launching an immediate counter, he drove a heavy punch saturated with Advanced Armament Haki straight out. Because Luffy's speed was completely overwhelming, his Future Sight had cleanly mapped the trajectory, forcing Daolang to cross his blade before his torso to brace for the impact.
BOOM!
The raw kinetic force blasted Daolang backward, his boots skidding across the stone for a full ten meters before he managed to anchor his frame.
Feeling the violent vibrations rippling through the giant blade in his hands, Daolang's expression turned remarkably solemn. Yet within his eyes, a fierce, blazing passion ignited.
"Again!" Daolang shattered the stone beneath his heel, rocketing through the air straight toward Luffy.
Meanwhile, a trace of utter disbelief flashed within Luffy's eyes. During that initial exchange, his reflexes had instinctively channeled Advanced Armament Haki, yet upon connecting with the blade, a sharp wave of numbness had shot straight up his arm. He had deployed Advanced Armament Haki, damn it!
"Gear 4: Boundman!" Luffy didn't dare maintain his casual posture; this man's raw physical power completely defied his expectations. He could not afford to hold back.
BOOM!
Striking the air currents with his compressed legs, he vaulted into the upper sky. Luffy and Daolang instantly locked into a catastrophic aerial duel.
By this stage, Drake had smoothly drifted over to stand alongside Mitian. Keeping his focus anchored on the high-altitude clash, he murmured, "Who exactly is this Daolang character?"
Mitian raised an elegant brow, a playful smile playing on her lips. "Why don't you guess?"
"Cut the garbage, tell me!" Drake snapped in irritation.
"You've already unraveled the data parameters, haven't you?" Mitian countered calmly.
"I..." Drake was left entirely tongue-tied, dropping into a heavy, brooding silence.
After a long, tense timeline, Drake questioned her once more: "Then... what you claimed previously... was it factual?"
"What exactly?"
"The matter of..." Drake's face flushed crimson. How was he supposed to articulate a sentence like that aloud?
The corners of Mitian's lips curled into a faint smirk, casting a casual glance at him before shifting her focus back to the spectacular clash in the heavens. "Luffy might actually lose this exchange."
The core statement abruptly jolted Drake out of his internal psychological dilemma. He stared at Mitian with absolute, wide-eyed disbelief. "You understand the depth of Luffy's current combat capabilities. Is that man truly that terrifying?"
"If Uncle Daolang unleashes the absolute limit of his power, I am not his match," Mitian stated after a brief, measured silence.
Drake's heart jumped in alarm. He possessed a solid grasp of Mitian's underlying combat metrics—she was easily on par with Luffy's operational tier. If she openly conceded defeat against the man, then Luffy...
KABOOM!!
The compressed form of Gear 4 Boundman and Daolang's colossal cleaver collided with a thunderous detonation. Bolts of black lightning fractured the atmosphere as shockwaves of raw energy rippled continuously across the sky. At a single glance, they appeared to be dead-locked in a state of absolute, perfect equilibrium!
Deep within the sheltered interior of the island, a core assembly of elite pirates kept their eyes pinned tightly onto the two figures clashing across the heavens. Standing at the absolute front of the vanguard was a man with a striking mane of crimson hair—Red Hair Shanks.
Anchoring the coordinate right beside him was his Chief First Officer, Benn Beckman.
"Daolang's current physical output is more than sufficient to match an Admiral in a straight conflict. If Luffy possesses the capability to conquer him today, it will conclusively verify that his vessel has entered that ultimate tier," Beckman murmured softly, taking a slow draw from his cigarette.
"Indeed. Luffy's growth parameters have completely shattered my initial projections," Shanks smiled warmly, before his expression gradually hardened into a mask of supreme gravity. "But what truly catches my focus is the operational reality of these four brothers."
"The current era... has truly and completely transformed into their stage."
With those words, Shanks cast his eyes across the wider layout of the surrounding horizon.
"Let me execute one final assignment to clear the path for this new era. I shall personally test the structural integrity of the fruit they have harvested. As for what manner of future the destiny of this era will birth... it rests entirely upon their shoulders."
"However, it appears Daolang has genuinely lost his temper this time. You might want to step in to lend your nephew a hand in a moment."
Beckman shook his head, letting out a low chuckle. "I imagine he won't be requiring a single shred of my assistance... Bwahahaha..."