Shanks did not say the truth he knew out loud.
As a former member of the Roger Pirates, even though he had never reached the final island with them, he had still heard a few rumors.
For example, the truth behind why the Celestial Dragons did not eat Devil Fruits.
The kingdom on the bridge at the end of East Blue, a place that had been under construction for hundreds of years and was still being built even now.
And also… His own identity and origins.
Shanks had hesitated over whether he should be honest with his crewmates about those things, so he had even gone to Gavin privately to talk about it.
‘Secrets?’ ‘Doesn’t everyone have those?
Secrets make a man more charming.’ ‘Dating is like mining.
Girls are the miners, boys are the mine.
If you’ve got nothing worth digging for, how are you supposed to attract girls?’ ‘Besides, everyone has their own secrets.
You guys never asked about my sword either, did you?’ Shanks could not quite describe how he felt about Gavin.
But his instincts told him that Gavin could be trusted, especially when Gavin was a little stronger than him.
Shanks also trusted his own eye for people.
So, on that warm and lively night, all of Shanks’s so-called confusion and hesitation had been strangled to death by Gavin’s nonsense logic.
After that, Shanks stopped worrying about it.
Some things were better left to happen naturally.
“We’re going in!
I’ll explain Haki to you properly after this fight!” Shanks stomped hard on the deck and launched himself straight toward the warship in the middle.
“You guys take your time.
No need to rush.” Golden spiritual pressure wrapped around Gavin as he turned his head and grinned at the three men and one monkey.
“I’m going all out.
Might as well steal some of Shanks’s kills while I’m at it.” BOOM—!!!
Golden spiritual pressure shot into the sky, twisting and warping into a cackling skull.
As the spiritual pressure swelled again, the skull expanded until it burst apart and swallowed Gavin’s entire body.
“Drink, Nozarashi!” “Hell yeah that cleaver again!” Snake shouted excitedly, his two swords in hand.
“I’m going in.” The Red Force rocked slightly as Gavin shot into the air.
Although he had moved later than Shanks, he arrived first, landing on the warship ahead of him.
He opened with a Basic Attack.
With just one ordinary swing, a massive trench was carved straight through the warship’s deck.
“It’s Sword Demon Hickman D.
Gavin!!” “Open fire!
Don’t let him get close!” “We’re Marines of justice!
Don’t be afraid!
Glory is calling us!” Bang, bang, bang— Gunfire rang out in dense bursts, but since Gavin had not fully entered Battle Frenzy yet, there was no need to take those shots head-on.
He stepped into Shunpo.
His body turned into a streak of golden light.
After several flashes, he appeared in the middle of the enemy formation.
Then he raised his blade and spun into a horizontal slash.
There were no fancy sword techniques, no dazzling special effects, but the result was terrifying.
Any Marine “touched” by that huge cleaver-like blade did not even have the luxury of leaving a complete corpse behind.
Wherever the edge made contact, that part of the body was split apart by the slash empowered with overwhelming spiritual pressure.
Bodies were cut in half, and blood and organs spilled across the deck.
“Hah…” Gavin let out a faint breath of heat, crouched down, and dodged the shots fired by the lucky Marines who had survived.
Though it was hard to say whether the Marines had terrible aim or whether Gavin’s luck was bad, a few stray bullets still managed to hit him.
“Tch.
It still activated.
I really didn’t want to fully enter that maniac state!” Gavin sighed softly as his heartbeat suddenly sped up.
An intensely excited feeling surged from the depths of his soul, and countless waves of heat spread from his spine through his entire body.
‘Battle Frenzy, activated!’ Gavin placed the massive blade of Nozarashi’s Shikai in front of him, blocking another round of bullets, then unleashed his spiritual pressure at full force.
“Sword Slash!!” BOOM!!!
The warship was split in two and began sinking into the sea.
Gavin leapt high into the air, his bloodstained face twisted into a savage grin.
“Let’s slaughter each other!” Bang—!!
A sniper round suddenly came from the neighboring warship.
At that life-or-death moment, Gavin felt the world change.
The warship’s sinking slowed down.
The Marines’ movements slowed.
Even the bullet flying toward his right eye seemed to crawl through the air.
‘I can see it…’ In that instant, Gavin tilted his head and twisted his body aside at an almost impossible speed.
A sharp pain cut across the right side of his face.
Blood flowed from the wound and trailed toward the corner of his mouth.
He stuck out his tongue, curled up a line of blood, and pulled it into his mouth.
After a few low, strange laughs, his eyes suddenly locked onto the Marine who had shot at him.
“Caught you.” As his body descended, Gavin touched the tip of his foot against the warship that had not yet fully sunk.
He bent forward, pressed tremendous force into that one point, and kicked off hard.
“Shanks, move!
Don’t blame me if you die!” Like a rising golden sun, Gavin leapt high into the air under the stares of countless Marines, his body lining up perfectly with the nearly-noon sun.
A golden glow spread from the enormous blade in his hand.
‘Sword Slash!’ He brought the blade down.
The golden slash cleaved straight through the warship Shanks had chosen.
Many Marines did not even have the chance to react before their bodies were split in two, falling into the sea along with the two halves of the collapsing ship.
For a moment, an intense stench of blood filled the air.
Intestines and organs flew everywhere.
“Gavin, you bastard, watch where you’re swinging!
You almost hit me!!” Looking at the slash mark half a meter from his feet, Shanks felt his heart pounding wildly.
Cold sweat soaked his back.
“Were you trying to kill me and inherit my pirate crew, you asshole?!” “I told you to move, didn’t I?
Didn’t you say you know Observation Haki?
I trusted you could dodge that slash.” Gavin sounded completely confident as he landed on the left half of the ruined warship.
His eyes scanned the crowd until he finally spotted the man hiding in the back, the one who had fired a cold shot and nearly taken his eye.
“Found you.” He used Shunpo again and again, dodging countless bullets as he arrived behind the man.
“Enjoyed taking potshots at me, did you?
Just a little more, just a little more, and I would’ve had to wear the classic pirate eyepatch, you bastard Marine!” “Major Clive, danger!” “Behind you, Major!
Damn it, open fire!!” Gavin ignored the fresh bursts of blood blooming across his body.
After a half-breath of stiffness, his blade cut into Clive’s body as smoothly as slicing tofu.
Clive, who had instinctively tried to dodge, suddenly felt something strange.
‘Huh?
Why is my body upside down all of a sudden?’ ‘Weird… where did my head go?’ Even in the final moment of his life, Clive still did not realize he had died.
He only thought his body felt strange, and then his soul returned to the sea.
“Clive!
You damn pirate!!” Thompson forced Shanks back with a slash, pulled a short pistol from his waist with his left hand, and fired at Gavin’s back without even aiming properly.
Whoosh— Seeing the enemy vanish like a bubble, Thompson froze, but he reacted quickly and rolled away to the side.
“Gavin!
Move!
This one’s mine!” Shanks kicked without hesitation, only for Gavin to catch his ankle and throw him straight into the sea farther behind them.
“My dear captain, a fight against this little small fry is beneath you.
Leave it to your hardworking vice-captain.” Gavin’s right shoulder dipped as blood sprayed from it.
He glanced at the wound, then burst into wild laughter and charged at Thompson.
“Let’s kill each other, Marine!” Shing— A golden blur flashed past.
After seeing Gavin cut a ship apart, Thompson naturally had no intention of meeting him head-on.
He immediately shifted aside, then stepped forward, driving the sharp tip of his sword straight toward Gavin’s throat.
In Thompson’s mind, the enemy would definitely dodge the fatal thrust.
Then he could follow with a downward slash or a horizontal cut and turn it into a smooth chain of attacks.
But what met the sword tip was not Gavin dodging.
It was a hand covered in golden light.
Pfft!
The blade pierced through Gavin’s palm.
Thompson froze, but as an East Blue Marine commodore, he still had basic combat sense.
He immediately abandoned his sword, rolled away, avoided Gavin’s heavy Basic Attack, then leapt backward several times and landed on a piece of warship wreckage floating on the sea.
“You’re pretty good at rolling around like a donkey, but the next strike won’t be so easy to—glug, glug, glug!!!” Before Gavin could finish speaking, a hand suddenly reached out from the sea beside him and dragged him under!
Shanks burst out of the water, even using Gavin’s shoulder as a stepping stone before rushing excitedly toward Thompson.
“That’s what you get for being careless!
Go drink some seawater, you bastard!!” “You’re the captain!
You should be the one drinking seawater asshole!” Shanks did not even get the chance to swing his sword before another hand dragged him into the sea as well.
Shanks immediately lashed out at Gavin in furious embarrassment.
“We agreed that the Marines on the middle warship were mine!
You lying bastard!
Even pirates have more credibility than you!” Gavin sneered.
“I am a pirate.” After being thrown away again, Shanks could only rage helplessly.
“I’m the captain you bastard!”