Free Web NovelChapter 283: 283 One Piece 47
’Oh dear... this isn’t the kind of atmosphere where I should interfere.’
I watched Whitebeard and Garp fight for a moment, then looked toward where Thatch was being held. Sengoku stood there like a last bastion, arms crossed, looking down. His expression wasn’t good — he seemed to realize the situation had turned against them since the Admirals lost to me. freēwebnovel.com
’They definitely have Pacifistas prepared. When is he planning to deploy them?’
I was curious about the Pacifistas’ energy source. For machines that fire lasers like that, their power source couldn’t be ordinary. Moreover, if I took a few and modified them, they could serve as new soldiers for Sky Island. With my [Matter Copy] ability, I could produce an infinite number of troops.
While I was thinking this over, a welcome figure appeared before me.
"Long time no see, Taejin."
"Long time no see, Mihawk."
"I watched your fight. You’re a swordsman, so why did you fight like a fist‑fighter? I don’t understand."
Mihawk seemed curious about why I hadn’t fought with my sword.
"Because that was enough. Besides, unfortunately, there were friends among the people I fought." frёewebηovel.cѳm
"You mean Aokiji?"
"Yes. We ended up on different sides."
"I see."
Taking the opportunity of meeting Mihawk, I tried to recruit him into my faction.
"The Warlord system will be abolished soon."
Mihawk, having already anticipated it to some degree, smirked. "I know. I could tell from the general state of the world."
"Then this will be quick. If things go wrong and you have nowhere to go, come to the Merchant’s Island. I’m not asking you to work under me — I’ll just provide a home. You can do whatever you want there too."
Mihawk thought for a moment. "I’ll consider it."
The reason I made that offer was because Mihawk’s personality isn’t suited to serving under anyone; he prefers to roam freely. If he occasionally stayed on the Merchant’s Island, he might protect the island or — if lucky — find someone he liked and teach them swordsmanship. That alone would be worthwhile. Besides, Mihawk wasn’t the type to talk carelessly about the Merchant’s Island.
With that conversation over, Mihawk drew ’Black Blade Yoru’. As expected, his purpose was obvious.
"I thought you just came to say hello, but of course this was your real aim."
"Since fighting you before, I’ve lost interest in other swordsmanship. My mind keeps going back to your sword style. I was going to visit you, but the Merchant’s Island disappeared somewhere."
"I see."
For someone obsessed with swordsmanship like Mihawk, that made sense. The martial arts swordsmanship from the martial arts world must have felt uniquely fresh to him.
"Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter? I shouldn’t just stand around either."
I took an alloy sword from my inventory.
"That’s not the sword I saw before."
"That one was too conspicuous. It also caused a lot of collateral damage. Well, this isn’t a bad sword either, so don’t worry."
"Understood."
We lightly clashed swords to warm up. The attention that had been focused solely on Whitebeard and Garp began to shift toward us.
CLANG!!! CLASH!!! CLANG!!!
"Look over there! The Merchant King and Hawk‑Eyes are fighting!" "I didn’t know the Merchant King could use a sword..." "Is he okay, though? He just fought the Admirals." "Those guys are monsters in their own right."
People began giving us space. Even when Mihawk and I lightly clashed swords, the area around us wasn’t quiet. The ground around our fight was being cut and gouged.
CRRAAACK—!!! SWOOSH—!!!
Mihawk clashed swords with me, looking puzzled. "How is this possible? To master swordsmanship to such perfection in such a short time... It’s like facing a different person."
"I haven’t been idle. I’ve trained hard."
I had certainly become incomparably stronger than when I first met Mihawk, after enjoying myself in various worlds. But since very little time had passed within the One Piece world, it made sense that Mihawk was bewildered.
"Training alone shouldn’t produce this much growth... I don’t understand. I see no openings at all."
"I had some insights, and I learned something interesting."
"What is that?"
I smirked at Mihawk’s question. "That there are other powers besides Haki."
Mihawk thought for a moment, then sheathed his sword. "I’ll visit you after this war. Now isn’t a good time to hear more."
"Alright."
With that, Mihawk left. I thought he might return to the Warlord seats, but instead he went to the harbor, boarded his ship, and left Navy Headquarters entirely. Whether he had accomplished what he came for or simply lost interest, I couldn’t say. The Navy tried to stop him, but since he was moving toward our formation, they ultimately couldn’t stop him either.
’I suppose that’s just how Mihawk is. But acting like that will only get the Warlord system abolished faster. Well, that’s none of my business.’
I watched Mihawk leave for a moment, then slowly walked toward the execution platform where Thatch was held. This time, Kuma blocked my way. Kuma was covered in wounds from struggling against the Whitebeard Pirates. Unlike the original, he had faced many powerful enemies besides Ivankov, which explained his condition.
I clicked my tongue at the sight of Kuma. This was an opportunity to obtain the Paw-Paw Fruit’s ability.
’What should I do... Kill him? But then Bonney... And I have to consider relations with the Revolutionary Army... This is a headache...’
As I paused to think, Ivankov’s shout came from afar.
"Taejin boy!!! Kuma is now a cyborg who only follows the Government’s orders! Free him!!!"
At that, I asked Kuma, "Is that true?"
Kuma said nothing, simply taking a fighting stance.
’He still seems to have a soul...’
With my [Spectral Eye] ability, I could see that his soul was still in his body, which gave me pause. But since Ivankov, a Revolutionary Army commander, had given permission, I decided to end him quickly and painlessly. To be honest, I was being greedy. And Ivankov had poured fuel on the fire, so to speak.
"Don’t blame me."
I had already observed Kuma with [Spectral Eye] and knew where to strike to disable him. I drew my alloy sword, quickly closed the distance, and swung. But Kuma wasn’t passive — he tried to block my attack with the paw pads on both his palms.
SWOOSH—!!
But his Paw-Paw ability alone couldn’t stop my swordsmanship, which could cut through space itself. The paw pads were sliced clean through, both palms severed. The severed palms revealed various mechanical devices inside — it seemed there was almost no human flesh left in him. As evidence, even after such a severe wound, his expression didn’t change, and he didn’t make a single sound.
I leaped once more, drove into Kuma’s chest, and precisely stabbed the core component in his head with my sword, shutting him down.
THUD!!!
DING~!
[You have seized the ability of the Paw-Paw Fruit (Awakened).]
Kuma collapsed, and the message that I had seized the fruit’s ability appeared — so he was definitely dead. But I didn’t leave Kuma’s body there — I put it straight into my inventory. This was my first time dealing with a case like this, so I didn’t know if I could revive him, but [Spectral Eye] showed his soul still lingering in his body even after death. Thinking it might be possible, I decided to keep him.
Then I strode toward the execution platform. The other Warlords came into view, one by one. Donquixote Doflamingo was staring intently at me, cold sweat on his brow. Having witnessed me take down Kuma, he was clearly tense, though he never lost his characteristic relaxed smile.
"Fufufu, I never imagined the Merchant King would be this strong. Not only did you take on three Admirals at once, you killed Kuma in an instant. Truly worthy of an Emperor."
"Long time no see, Doflamingo. How’s business in Dressrosa?"
"Better than ever. I’m working on something new these days. I’d like to sell it to you too — contact me anytime if you’re interested."
Doflamingo was probably talking about the artificial Devil Fruit ’SMILE’.
"From how you’re talking, it must be no ordinary product."
"Fufufu, you can look forward to it."
"Alright. I’ll visit when I have time."
After finishing that conversation with Doflamingo, I looked at Gecko Moria, who was trembling nearby. He had taken a lot of damage from Jinbe, and his morale seemed badly shaken — he couldn’t even meet my eyes properly.
"You’re Gecko Moria, the one who fought evenly with Kaido, one of the Emperors."
Doflamingo interjected, puzzled. "I’ve heard that story too. They say you fought evenly with Kaido, yet you lost to Luffy and got pushed back by Jinbe... While Kaido became a monster, what have you been doing? In the end, was your capacity just different?"
Moria frowned and glared at Doflamingo, but ultimately said nothing. Doflamingo was probably right — the gap between him and Kaido seemed too vast.
"Well, see you later."
They didn’t even think of stopping me. They simply let me pass quietly — probably wanting to avoid following in Kuma’s footsteps.
I walked past them and arrived right in front of Thatch.
"Taejin!"
"Thatch, I’ll rescue you soon. Just wait a moment."
Sengoku blocked my way. "You can’t go any further, Taejin!"
"Nice to meet you, root of all evil. I came here to rescue Thatch, but I also have something I really want to ask you. Why did you abandon the children who were loyal to the Navy? And from what I’ve heard, you didn’t even protest. I could overlook what happened to me — the Celestial Dragons have no sense of decency, so I could understand it to some extent. But I cannot accept what happened to the children. Why did you do that? Weren’t they your subordinates?"
Sengoku was silent for a moment, then spoke. "I have no excuse for that. I didn’t know they would be tortured so cruelly. I thought they would be interrogated briefly and then released. I only learned the truth later."
I frowned and pressed him. "You say that now!?"
"We have our own circumstances."
"Everyone says that. Kizaru, Kuzan, Sakazuki... all of them. Abandoning countless young subordinates — all because of your ’circumstances.’ Do you really think that’s a justifiable reason? Is that the meaning of the word ’justice’ you carry on your shoulders?"
"..."
Sengoku had no answer.
"You will die here miserably by my hand. When you go to the afterlife, apologize to the subordinates who couldn’t endure the torture and were unjustly sacrificed."
I released Conqueror’s Haki from my entire body and took a fighting stance. The intense pressure drew everyone’s attention toward me.
"Ha... I wish I could turn back time. Neither I nor the Government ever imagined you would be this strong."
"If you could turn back time, what would change?"
"We would have had more time to prepare against you."
"You don’t even say you would save your subordinates. Fine. The more consistent you are, the less I’ll regret taking your life here."
I slowly drew my sword. In that instant, Sengoku’s body began to grow, turning golden. He then swung his massive fist, and a shockwave erupted from the tip of his fist, flying toward me.
"Hah!!!"
I coated my sword with Conqueror’s Haki and cut through space itself, slicing through Sengoku’s shockwave — and straight from his fist to his shoulder.
SWOOOOSH—!!!
"GYAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
Sengoku had made a serious mistake. As long as I had my sword in hand, he shouldn’t have recklessly extended his fist like that. He clearly never imagined that my level would be completely different once I drew my sword. If I wanted, I could split even the planet of the One Piece world in two.
"Ghhhk..."
Sengoku clutched his arm in agony. Nearby Navy soldiers rushed to him.
"Fleet Admiral!!!"
I used the flat side of my sword to create a pressure wave and pushed them all off the execution platform.
"Aaaaaaah!" "Fleet Admiral—!!!"
Then, smirking at them, I said to Sengoku, "Those soldiers are pitiful. Risking their lives to save a superior who abandoned his own subordinates."
"Grr... thank you for showing mercy to my men."
"You won’t get any mercy. Don’t worry."
I swung my sword again, severing both of Sengoku’s legs.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
THUD.
Sengoku collapsed, his Buddha form dissolving, bleeding and writhing in pain.
