“Why are you talking to me like a stranger?
Aren’t we crewmates?” Gavin slapped Shanks hard on the back of the head and sent him flying straight through the ship’s railing and into the sea.
“Ah.
My bad.
Put a bit too much into that one.” Bonk Punch picked up a rope, tossed it out, looped it around Shanks—who was already floating in the water with his eyes rolled back—and slowly hauled him in.
“You… bastard… One of these days… I’m going to kill you…” Shanks was hauled up and dumped onto the deck.
His head lolled to one side, and he went out cold.
“Gavin, your bounty went up again!
Oho, two hundred million Berries now!” “Looks like word got out about us beating that Marine commodore.
Even the three of us rose quite a bit.
Hahaha~!” Hongo excitedly waved the new bounty poster in his hand.
“Two hundred million Berries?” Gavin raised an eyebrow and took the poster, only to discover that the amount was not the only thing that had changed.
The picture was different from before too.
The previous photo of him cutting a ship apart in the dark night had been replaced by one of him splitting a warship with Nozarashi.
The golden spiritual pressure wrapped around him was still there, like some kind of special effect.
‘What a shame.’ Gavin sighed inwardly and casually tossed the bounty poster toward the sea, though his heart was not nearly as calm as he looked.
Tonight was the last day he would have Nozarashi.
Once midnight passed, Nozarashi would be withdrawn, and he would receive a new random Zanpakutō.
Before that happened, Gavin had made up his mind to bathe, burn a little incense, and pray with genuine sincerity!
With any luck, he could nudge the odds toward a next blade that was at least halfway decent.
Even if it fell short of a captain’s sword, a lieutenant’s would do just fine.
“I’m going to wash up.
Shanks is in your hands.” …
That night, close to midnight.
The wind off the water was loud and restless, and the cloudless sky laid bare a thin crescent moon, curved and thin as a drawn blade.
Gavin sat at the front of the deck with his back against the railing.
On the low table in front of him sat a dull blade, a wine cup, and a flask of sake.
The tiny bit of wine left in the cup reflected the thin crescent hanging in the sky.
Inside the cabin, the members of the Red Hair Pirates watched through the glass and exchanged confused looks.
None of them knew what was happening, and none of them knew what to say.
“…Just leave him be.” Shanks rolled over, turning his back to them, and let out a wide yawn.
“Every man gets sentimental now and then.
Sleep, the lot of you.
Come tomorrow morning, that freak’s training noises will be right back to hauling you all out of bed.” The others exchanged looks, but no one dared go outside at a time like this.
Ever the schemer, Hongo’s eyes flicked sideways, and he jumped in at once.
“Well, you heard the captain.
Nothing for it but to obey.
Sleep, everyone, sleep.” “Right, right.
Shanks is the captain, after all!” Shanks cracked one eye open and laughed under his breath while scolding them.
“You bastards only remember I’m the captain when you need somebody to pin the blame on!” Listening to the noisy bickering filtering out of the cabin, Gavin let a slow smile spread across his face.
“You know what?
As long as this lot’s around, I don’t think it much matters which Zanpakutō I end up with.” [First month’s random Zanpakutō is being withdrawn… Drawing new Zanpakutō… locking result… confirmed Zanpakutō: Shinso.
Trial duration: 1/month.] Gavin let out a soft sigh.
The memories of Kenpachi Zaraki’s slaughter and battle instincts faded in his mind at that moment.
In their place came everything Gin Ichimaru had experienced.
His meeting with Rangiku Matsumoto, his encounter with Aizen… All of it flashed through Gavin’s mind like a movie playing at sixty-four times speed.
[Shinso: It appears short, but its true length is under perfect control.] [Shikai command: Shoot to Kill, Shinso!] [Bonus attributes: Strength A, Agility S-, Spiritual Power A-] [Bonus skills: Shunpo, Shunpo Slash, Devotion, Disguise, Dynamic Vision] [Shunpo Slash: While moving with Shunpo, attacks made using Shinso will have no stiffness or recovery delay.] [Devotion: Whether toward a Zanpakutō, battle, or love, Shinso’s owner is absolutely devoted.
Your attacks against the same target will gradually increase in attack speed and slashing force.] [Disguise: Your attacks and movements will become harder to detect.] ‘Shinso?’ Before Gavin even had time to be surprised, a wave of weakness suddenly passed through his body.
Compared to Nozarashi’s S-rank strength, Shinso’s strength attribute was two levels lower, below both A+ and S-.
Gavin had already expected his body to grow weaker.
Fortunately, his intense training over the past month had raised the lower limit of his original body’s strength quite a bit.
Otherwise, the drop in attributes alone would have affected his daily training and fighting.
The decrease in spiritual power did not feel too obvious.
Gin Ichimaru had also been a captain.
His spiritual power and spiritual pressure might not compare to Kenpachi Zaraki’s, but the difference should not be ridiculously huge.
What stood out more was his agility, which was actually one rank higher than Kenpachi’s.
Gavin rose to his feet and studied the Zanpakutō laid out before him.
An S-shaped guard, a short blade.
His right hand closed tight around the silver-white hilt.
‘Shunpo.’ He crossed to the far side of the deck, moving noticeably faster than before, and without so much as a whisper of sound.
Surprised, Gavin moved again.
It was still silent.
Compared to Nozarashi, the ‘king’ of basic attacks, Shinso seemed much more focused on assassination and hidden movement.
When he used Shunpo with Nozarashi, even if the movement was not extremely loud, it still produced enough disturbance to draw an enemy’s attention.
Shinso was different.
Not only did it greatly reduce the sound of Shunpo, even his fastest sword swings produced only the faintest whisper of wind.
Standing beside the railing, Gavin held the blade in his right hand and hid it near his waist.
His gaze locked onto the pitch-black surface of the sea.
“Shoot to Kill, Shinso.” [Shinso, Shikai state: Greatly increases attack speed and slashing force.
The blade can freely extend, retract, and change length, and it can be used like a whip.
Maximum extension limit: one hundred times Shinso’s original length.] Spiritual pressure erupted, and silver-white light instantly covered the short blade.
One second later, the blade flashed with dazzling silver brilliance.
Gavin let out a low grunt and pushed his right hand gently forward.
Whoosh— A brilliant lance of silver shot straight down into the sea.
With a single thought, the light snuffed out, and the Zanpakutō in his grip shrank back to its original stubby length.
“Is that your ability?
Or is it a Devil Fruit?” Not far behind him, outside the cabin, Shanks stood near the helm with a blanket draped around his shoulders, the hot breath from his mouth quickly fading into the night air.
“It’s not a Devil Fruit.
You saw what happened when I fell into the sea before, didn’t you?
This is my own special swordsmanship.” Gavin cut off the flow of spiritual power and sheathed the much shorter Zanpakutō.
“There really is no end to the strange abilities floating around this sea.” Shanks hopped over to Gavin’s side in a few quick steps and curiously squeezed the muscles on his arm.
“My Observation Haki caught your presence dropping off all of a sudden, so I figured you’d been jumped and came running out to check.” “For me, every blade carries a different feel.
My aura swelling and thinning like that is nothing out of the ordinary.” Seeing the open curiosity on Shanks’s face, Gavin drew Shinso and offered him the hilt.
“Mind if I have a go?
A man’s sword is supposed to be his second life, isn’t it?” Even as the words left his mouth, Shanks had already snatched up the short blade and given it an experimental swing.
“Huh.
Weird.
Why doesn’t it do that… whatever-it-was when I use it?” “Shoot to Kill, Shinso.” Watching the utterly inert Zanpakutō refuse to so much as twitch, Gavin let out a quiet, private breath of relief.
Thank the system for being reliable!
If any random dude could pick up his blade and wield it, he could kiss any hope of a peaceful life goodbye.
While taking the Zanpakutō back, Gavin asked, “Now that you mention it, Shanks—how exactly do you mean to reach South Blue?
We’re sitting in East Blue, aren’t we?” “Easy enough.” Shanks fished a sea chart out of the junk barrel and dragged a finger across it.
“Drew this one from memory.
Here, Gavin, take a look.” “When pirates out of the Four Blues want into the Grand Line, there are two ways in.
The first is straight up Reverse Mountain, and you come out at the very start of the Grand Line.” “As for the second…” Shanks’s expression turned abruptly grave.
His finger pressed down hard on the rough chart, right over the broad, empty stretch between the Four Blues and the Grand Line.
“You bank on your ship’s own strength, cut across the Calm Belt, gamble on not getting swallowed by the colossal Sea Kings that live there, and charge headlong into one of the Grand Line’s seas.” “My plan’s to take the Reverse Mountain road into the Grand Line first.
We’ll stop off with Crocus and pick up the things we’ll need for that leg of the sailing.” “Then we cross the Calm Belt near South Blue and drive straight in!” Shanks lifted his head and looked at his vice-captain, his voice dropping low.
“Bonk and the others still aren’t ready for the Grand Line—not at their current strength.
And they’ll never grow if they spend forever tucked safely behind the two of us.” “This run to South Blue is one hell of an adventure, no way around it.
If you hadn’t told me the captain’s bloodline was down there, I’d honestly have figured he sailed back to East Blue to settle down and start a family.” Hearing Shanks all but confirm that he’d been combing East Blue for Roger’s wife and child, Gavin finally understood.
Roger’s hometown lay in East Blue.
Small wonder that, in the story he half-remembered, Shanks had spent so many years drifting around this particular sea after forming his crew.
“I’m putting my faith in you when we cross the Calm Belt this time, Gavin.
Me—I can take any amount of being pushed around or looked down on.
But I’ll be damned before I let anyone lay a rough hand on my friends and family!” Red lightning crackled through Shanks’s eyes as his fist tightened.
“Roger was good to me.
Taught me how to get stronger, taught me like a father would!
There’s no chance in hell I let his bloodline fall into the hands of those World Government bastards!”