I'm A Great Pirate, And You Say I Just Set Sail?

Although Rocks had already expected pirates might attack once Magnus and Lipuri left—after all, he was the only one left on the Black Pearl—he didn't expect the attackers to be a group of boys who looked even younger than him.

"Hey, do you guys even know what you're doing?"

Effortlessly dodging the punch from the boy named Newgate, Rocks turned his head to glance at the others rushing toward the ship's cabin.

"If this ship gets damaged, that old man's definitely going to give me hell."

"So…"

"Let's make this quick!"

As he spoke, Rocks raised his hand—just in time to catch Newgate's punch.

"What!? Impossible!"

Newgate's eyes widened. It was his first time seeing someone around his age stop one of his punches.

The young man in front of him looked a bit older—barely into adulthood—but when it came to physique, Newgate had the upper hand.

At fourteen, Newgate was nearly four meters tall. Compared to the under-two-meter Rocks, he looked like a literal giant.

Yet despite this size advantage, he still lost in a contest of strength.

"Heh, size doesn't mean anything out here on the seas."

Seeing the shock on Newgate's face, Rocks showed a bright, cheerful smile for the first time.

It had been a long time coming.

Since he first set sail, he'd met a monster like Magnus. Most of the past year had been spent in Elbaf, surrounded by giant kids and freaks like Charlotte Linlin with unnatural physiques.

Had it not been for Magnus's approval, he would've doubted if he even had talent for combat.

But now, it was proven.

"Sure, I can't beat that old geezer or Lipuri—but handling a brat like you? Piece of cake."

Rocks grinned.

"Shigan! (Finger Gun)"

Channeling his strength into his finger, Rocks launched a single blow that sent Newgate flying, then turned his gaze to the other boys.

"Didn't your parents teach you that there's a price for doing something wrong?"

Soru! (Shave)

In a flash, he appeared in front of the remaining four or five boys. With a single kick for each, he knocked them all down without breaking a sweat.

"Guido! Pick! Ba—"

Watching his comrades fall, the large-framed Newgate gritted his teeth and pushed himself up again, charging at Rocks.

"Huh? You can still stand?"

Rocks could already tell: the boy had raw strength, but no formal training. He was just like Rocks himself a year ago.

Back then, taking someone like Newgate down might've been tricky.

But now?

Rocks was at least ten times stronger than before.

However—while Rocks was focused on Newgate, he didn't notice someone on a nearby pirate ship raising a flintlock pistol.

Bang!

A round bullet fired straight toward Rocks.

Facing Newgate, he suddenly felt a wave of danger.

"Dodge it!"

Newgate's punch landed squarely on Rocks's face, but Rocks didn't move. Instead, he grabbed Newgate, and the two crashed to the ground together.

Whoosh!

The bullet narrowly grazed Rocks's scalp and scratched Newgate's shoulder, smashing into the deck like a cannonball, leaving a massive dent.

"Damn, that was close!"

Flat on his back, Rocks stared at the crater in the wood, heart pounding. Had he not reacted in time, he'd be either dead or seriously injured.

Only now did Newgate realize—this guy had just saved him.

If Rocks had dodged instead of pulling him down, he'd have taken the full hit.

"Why… did you save me?"

"Tch. Who said I was saving you? I just hate sneaky cowards who attack from the shadows. Now get off me!"

Shoving Newgate aside, Rocks looked toward the source of the gunshot.

Several figures were descending from the air.

"Tch, he actually dodged it?"

The man with the flintlock cursed. He had hoped to deal with Rocks quickly.

When Newgate saw the man's face, his body tensed.

"That's Vulture Vick," he whispered. "His bounty is over 30 million Beli. We don't stand a chance!"

Thirty million?

Rocks had never really grasped what counted as a high bounty in the New World. Magnus always talked about pirates with nine-digit bounties, so anything under that just seemed… unimpressive.

Even though he could sense a hint of danger from Vick, it was nothing compared to Magnus—or even Lipuri.

Totally manageable.

In the town:

Though they were three or four blocks away, Magnus had noticed the moment Rocks and Newgate started fighting.

But when he saw it was just a bunch of kids, he didn't even bother turning around.

It wasn't until Vulture Vick showed up that Magnus's interest was piqued.

"Looks like, thanks to those fakes using our name, our flag's lost some weight. Now even bottom-feeders think they can mess with us."

Among the slightly stronger auras Magnus had sensed before leaving, one of them had belonged to Vick.

Still—"slightly stronger" only applied relative to Rocks.

As long as the bounty wasn't over 100 million, it wasn't worth worrying about.

"Should we go back?" Lipuri asked, noticing the shift in Magnus's attention.

"No need."

Magnus smiled.

"Rocks is close to unlocking Haki. That pirate's about the same level as him—this could be the breakthrough he needs to awaken both Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) and Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki)."

Rocks had long been strong enough to manifest Haki. What he lacked was the trigger. If the enemy had been too strong, Magnus would've stepped in.

But with someone of similar level, he trusted Rocks to handle it.

"You, on the other hand—your Busoshoku Haki is nearly mastered. So why haven't you awakened Kenbunshoku Haki yet?"

"I don't know!" Lipuri puffed her cheeks. "Giants are generally slow when it comes to this stuff. I'm actually ahead of the curve!"

Though she had sneak-attacked a CP0 agent strong enough to rival pirates with bounties over 100 million, Lipuri was definitely still weaker in direct combat.

The biggest gap? Mastery of Haki.

"If you keep slacking, Rocks'll surpass you soon. You don't want to take over his chores on the ship, do you?"

"But I can't help it!"

Her eyes sparkled as she looked up.

"Hey… how about you give me some special training, captain? I just became a crew member—I don't want to get demoted to intern already!"

Lipuri clung to Magnus's arm with puppy-dog eyes.

"Idiot."

Magnus bonked her on the head.

"If there were shortcuts for this kind of thing, why would anyone bother training?"

"Ow!"

Lipuri pouted, clearly displeased.

"Stupid old man—no wonder you're still single!"

"Hmm?"

"Nothing! I didn't say anything!"

She giggled and turned to keep walking—only to find a group of pirates blocking their path.

"You guys with the White Wolf Pirates?"

The pirates eyed Magnus and Lipuri with amused expressions.

"Come with us. Our boss wants to meet you."

(End of Chapter)

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