A date?!
That struck Tokikake right in the kokoro.
In an instant the playful air he’d been carrying dropped away, replaced by genuine seriousness.
“Hey, Marines,” Shanks said, his voice falling low.
“Aren’t the two of you getting a little ahead of yourselves?” BOOM!!!
The Marines who had trailed in behind Tokikake and Gion rolled their eyes back on the spot and crumpled to the ground, out cold.
If even the Marines dropped that easily, the dockworkers scattered across the harbor never stood a chance.
“Conqueror’s Haki?!” Tokikake’s face shifted hard.
Now, at last, he understood how someone so young had ended up with a bounty of two hundred million Berries.
“And with this kind of power… Hey, hey, you’re joking, right?!” Gavin forced Gion back with a slash, then retreated two steps to Shanks’s side and grinned.
“You thought that was all we had?” BOOM!!
Silver-white spiritual pressure erupted off Gavin in a single beat.
It wound together with Shanks’s Conqueror’s Haki and rolled toward their enemies.
“We’re nothing like those small-time East Blue pirates, Marines.” Both Gion and Tokikake gave half a step back, cold sweat rising on their brows.
Gavin slid his right foot back a half-step, held his left hand loose and forward, and tucked his right hand—Shinso and all—low against his waist.
The instant Shanks read the stance, he stamped his right foot down and hurled himself at Tokikake with tremendous force, a few threads of red lightning curling around his blade.
“Conqueror’s Haki coating?!
You’ve got to be—” Tokikake felt his heart go cold.
“An East Blue pirate, coating his attacks with Conqueror’s Haki?!” “It’s still half-formed, Marine—but you turned up at exactly the right moment.” “Divine Departure!” The Pirate King Roger technique?!
The moment Tokikake heard the name of that attack, his breathing nearly stopped for half a second.
Fortunately his Observation Haki held steady and carried the shape of the incoming strike cleanly back into his mind.
‘No, this move is weaker than it should be…’ That thought flashed through him in a heartbeat.
Then Tokikake sheathed both arms in Armament Haki and set out to test just how much weight was really behind the blow.
But a silver light, bright as a comet falling from the sky, suddenly illuminated half his body.
“Shoot to Kill, Shinso.” Gion, who had been fully prepared for Gavin, froze.
She had never imagined that a pirate carrying the spirit of a conqueror would quietly redirect his aim to her partner instead.
A streak of silver light brushed past her and drove straight into Tokikake’s body.
“Cough!!” Tokikake spat out several mouthfuls of blood.
His defensive posture immediately fell apart, leaving him wide open.
Shanks’s blade, wrapped in Conqueror’s Haki, struck him directly across the chest.
“Nice one, Gavin!” Shanks was not some stubborn fool.
Sacred duels and honorable one-on-one fights were nonsense in his eyes.
Especially after he knew how strong the opponent was.
If they still insisted on a polite little one-on-one after that, they were either stupid or brain-dead.
After seriously injuring the enemy with one slash, Shanks pulled his blade back and shifted without hesitation, aiming straight for Gion, who had just reacted.
“Pirate—aren’t you forgetting something?!” Tokikake, who by all rights should have been down, appeared beside Shanks with a face twisted like a vengeful spirit’s and threw a punch at his head.
“I, Tokikake, am a man of the sea!
If I’m going to die, I’ll die on my feet!” “Then die, Marine.” A ghostly figure materialized behind Tokikake without warning.
It was Gavin, turning Shinso’s Disguise to his full advantage.
Even balanced on the edge of life and death, Tokikake didn’t so much as flinch.
He kept his attacks fixed on Shanks without hesitation.
“Gion!” “…I know.
At least this time, I’ll acknowledge you, Tokikake.” Gion stepped forward, her right hand hovering over the hilt of her sheathed blade.
“One Sword Style…” “Iai Slash!” Her blade flashed.
Every pore on Gavin’s body seemed to snap open at once.
He wrenched his sword back to defend.
Whoosh!
A straight thrust followed hard on its heels.
Silver spiritual pressure gathered around Gavin’s legs, and he leaned on his still-unrefined Observation Haki.
He opened with Shunpo and stepped in.
His whole body dissolved into a silver blur rushing toward Gion.
Red light flickered through Shanks’s eyes.
Just as Gavin was about to close on the enemy, Conqueror’s Haki erupted out of him.
“Shinso.” That soft murmur carried the hush of a death god.
Gion’s pupils shrank.
She knew that with Conqueror’s Haki suddenly slowing her down, completely dodging this strike was no longer possible.
She lowered Konpira’s blade while throwing her body to the side with all her strength, rapidly wrapping Armament Haki around her lower abdomen.
Pfft— A silver-white blade light flashed and vanished.
Blood sprayed out as Gion clutched her abdomen and staggered backward.
Gavin burst with spiritual pressure and charged toward Tokikake, who was attacking Shanks.
At the same time, he reversed his grip with his right hand, the tip of his blade pointing under his armpit toward the owner of the scorching presence in his Observation Haki.
“Shoot to Kill.” “TOKIKAKE!” “I know.
It’s just a little trick.” Tokikake tightened his right fist—first a punch that shoved Shanks back, then his blackened left fist swinging up to knock the reaching silver light aside.
“We’ve found the rhythm now, Gion!
Counterattack!” Tokikake stepped forward, sending a dense storm of punches toward the enemy.
At the same time, Gion began fully using her own advantages.
With both Observation Haki and Armament Haki active, she charged at Gavin.
The situation reversed in an instant.
Even Gavin did not know how their disadvantage had turned around so quickly.
But the moment Tokikake punched away Shinso’s blade, a strange feeling rose in his heart.
The enemy’s presence rode the wind of that punch and surged upward.
A continuous chain of sword strikes came crashing toward him, forcing Gavin to move in the opposite direction from Shanks.
Their current attack rhythm was almost exactly like the teamwork he and Shanks had used only seconds ago.
If Gavin could use Observation Haki as freely as they could, this chaotic battle would still be manageable.
The strange part of Shinso lay in its blade’s sudden extension, but against strong fighters who could skillfully use Observation Haki, its Shikai speed was already within their reaction range.
“Gion, women who cling too tightly won’t win a man’s affection.” Gavin dodged her downward slash, flicked his wrist slightly, and extended Shinso again.
Several strands of black hair drifted down.
Using Observation Haki to dodge the attack, Gion threw a lightning-fast left punch.
As she knocked the silver light aside, her right arm crossed over, and her blade pointed straight at Gavin’s chest and abdomen.
Blood spilled out.
Gavin pulled back and touched the torn cloth over his chest with his left hand.
A streak of bright red appeared on his fingertips.
Looking at the blood sliding down his fingers, Gavin suddenly felt his heart begin to race.
It was the reaction caused by Nozarashi’s Battle Frenzy taking effect, that familiar wave of heat spreading from his spine through his whole body.
The moment that heat appeared, every concern in his heart vanished.
Retreating, winning, planning—everything was thrown to the back of Gavin’s mind.
“This is…?” “That familiar aura.
Gavin, are you okay?!” Shanks suddenly pulled back, unable to hide the surprise in his eyes.
“…I’m better than okay.
So Nozarashi has been here all along.
Kehahahaha.” Gavin tore off his upper clothing and threw it forward.
Gion’s expression sharpened.
In that instant, she suddenly felt like the young man in front of her had turned into someone else entirely!
She slashed horizontally, cutting apart the clothing that blocked her vision, only to find no trace of the enemy behind it.
But her Observation Haki picked up a hidden presence to her right.
Bang!
Their attacks collided head-on.
This time, Gavin did not pull away.
A clear strand of golden spiritual pressure burst from him.
“Let’s slaughter each other!” In the blink of an eye, golden spiritual pressure replaced the silver spiritual pressure from before, and Gavin’s aura shifted from eerie and unpredictable to battle-crazed and ferocious.
The memories in his mind that had gone dim surfaced once more.
Kenpachi Zaraki’s excited laughter rang through his soul.
[A man fights like a man!
You cut me once, I cut you once—that’s the rule!] Pfft!
A blade sank into Gavin’s shoulder.
His shoulder dipped slightly, but in the next instant, a hand wrapped in golden light suddenly rose and grabbed Konpira’s blade.
“The first cut.” Gavin raised his head, and the madness in his eyes made a bad feeling rise in Gion’s heart.
That bad feeling proved right almost immediately.
Shinso swept upward, and brilliant blood sprayed from Gion’s body.
“Gion!!!” Tokikake’s roar echoed across the harbor.
“You bastard!
I’m going to kill you!” Gavin released the blade and allowed Gion to clutch her wound and retreat.
“Come on.
Let’s start the second round!” “I see.
A split personality huh?” Gion did her best to tighten her muscles and control the amount of blood spilling from her wound.
The color in her face faded slightly.
“I underestimated you, Tokikake.
Hold nothing back.
We can’t afford to worry about Headquarters’ orders any longer.” Gavin did not dodge the katana Gion brought down.
He simply exposed the vital point on his chest to her.
Only when her full-power slash truly bit into him, hot blood splashing across her face, did a flicker of astonishment cross Gion’s face.
That slash… had landed?
“Shinso.” Whoosh— The blade pierced straight through the center of Gion’s chest.
If she had not instinctively shifted away, it would have run directly through her heart.
Shinso continued forward, piercing Tokikake, who stood not far behind her, as well.
The corner of Gavin’s mouth lifted, and blood poured through the gaps between his teeth.
“Go die, Marines!” With Shinso still extended, Gavin began moving the blade sideways, about to cut both enemies apart.
At that moment, a blackened hand suddenly grabbed the blade.
“Little man—Big Sis has that kind of resolve in her too.
Third cut’s next, isn’t it?” Looking at the excitement gradually rising on Gion’s face, Gavin froze.
Gion smiled as well, though there was little warmth in it.
“I’ll remember you, little man.”