"Hey, Bone, you didn't scare these kids unconscious, did you?"
"What are you talking about, Shu? Their eyes are still open!"
"They are open, but clearly, they checked out a while ago."
Shu examined the trio with amusement before giving T-Bone a thumbs-up.
"You never change. The sheer power of that face remains undiminished.
"…If you keep making fun of my face, I'll definitely let you experience my newly developed right-angle sword technique firsthand."
"Alright, alright, consider me scared of you, okay?"
Shu immediately raised his hands in surrender to his longtime comrade.
Meanwhile, Uta and her two companions finally snapped out of their shock.
"My god… There's actually someone in this world who looks more like a zombie than an actual zombie!" Uta patted her chest and muttered, "With just that face alone, he could probably intimidate most pirates, right?"
"Uta, it's rude to comment on someone's appearance like that!" Kaya whispered beside her, her face slightly pale.
"But… this 'zombie' gentleman is probably a vice admiral of the Angel Alliance. We should be safe."
"Safe? We're pirates!" Usopp was practically jumping in panic. "What do we do? We have to run!"
Usopp's natural cowardice had completely overwhelmed his mind, leaving him trembling like a vibrating phone.
The sight made Shu sigh deeply.
Truly, the son of a hero turns out to be a fool…
He had fought Yassop before, but was his son really this…
Pathetic?
Not only was he spineless, but he also refused to listen to reason.
Shu had already repeated it countless times—the Angel Alliance had a complicated relationship with the Red Hair Pirates and wouldn't arrest them just for being pirates…
Yet here he was, still shaking like a leaf.
"Sigh Sometimes, I really hate babysitting jobs."
Just as Shu said this, a knock came from the door.
"Come in," T-Bone said.
The door swung open, and a guard from Enies Lobby saluted them before reporting:
"Vice Admirals, there's an urgent situation… We need your assistance."
"An urgent situation?" Shu and T-Bone exchanged glances. "What could possibly require our personal intervention?"
"It's a group of pirates…" The guard wiped sweat from his forehead, casting a fearful glance at T-Bone.
"They've approached Enies Lobby… on a pirate ship!"
Shu's mouth fell open. Then, as if realizing something, he turned to look at Uta's group.
"Wait, how long have you even been part of this crew? Is this 'Golden Thief' guy really this loyal?!"
"Maybe…?" Uta herself seemed puzzled. "According to him… he's an old acquaintance of my dad's…"
"An old acquaintance?"
Shu froze.
An old acquaintance of Red Hair's? Could it be some veteran from the previous era making a comeback?
But that didn't make sense.
As a former member of the Pirate King Gol D. Roger's crew, Red-Haired Shanks' old acquaintances were either legendary figures or at least recorded in the former Marines' archives…
Why would it be some rookie pirate who just set sail?
Something about this felt off.
With that in mind, Shu gestured to Uta's group.
"Well then, care to join me in meeting this so-called 'Golden Thief'?"
…
By the time Michael docked the pirate ship at Enies Lobby's only external port, every guard and worker on the shore had completely short-circuited.
Not to mention now, even back in the days when Enies Lobby was still under the World Government's control, no pirate would ever approach so directly.
Pirates bold enough to do this were absolutely unheard of in their lifetime.
However... those with better intelligence immediately recognized the flag on this massive pirate ship.
"It's... it's the newly infamous pirate crew on the seas recently, the Old Geezers Pirates!"
"Uh... what kind of terrible name is that?"
"Of course it sounds strange just by the name... but their captain was given a whopping bounty of 350 million Berries by the Angel Alliance on his very first voyage!"
"Three hundred... fifty million Berries!? That must be the highest record for a pirate's debut bounty, right!?"
"The most outrageous part is that this pirate crew has broken too many records... even issuing the first-ever collective bounty poster in history!"
The Angel Alliance members chattered away, their faces showing some shock, but their overall demeanor wasn't particularly excited or fearful.
After all, this was Enies Lobby, the place in Paradise with defensive capabilities second only to Marineford.
Aside from two Vice Admirals from the SWORD Classified Special Forces stationed here, Enies Lobby was also the headquarters of the Sea Train patrol officers.
In other words, thousands of Haki masters stood guard here.
Ordinary pirate crews could do nothing but deliver themselves to their doom.
"I don't want to hurt you. I just want our comrade back."
Standing at the ship's bow, Michael declared loudly.
The moment he spoke, everyone on the shore froze.
There really was someone bold enough to come to Enies Lobby to demand their people back!?
Many immediately turned to gather their forces.
However, they stopped mid-turn.
Because they saw the two Vice Admirals in charge of Enies Lobby's defense—Shu and T-Bone—walking side by side toward them.
Behind them followed three young individuals.
If they weren't mistaken...
These young people must be the "comrades" the so-called Golden Thief was talking about?
But this guy sure had some serious clout to have two Vice Admirals personally confront them.
"So you're... the 'Golden Thief'?"
"That's right, it's me!" Michael laughed heartily, slapping his chest. "I suggest you be smart and return my people to me!"
"Unfortunately, as much as I'd like to agree, I can't do that." Shu continued walking forward as he spoke.
"I'm very curious about your recently infamous pirate crew!"
With each step Shu took, a layer of rust spread across the ground he passed.
Behind his mask, Michael's face showed a hint of surprise...
This rust didn't appear out of thin air—it was transforming the small traces of iron within the soil into rust.
To achieve this without direct contact, just through his boots...
In other words, even after awakening, Shu's Rust-Rust Fruit was still improving.
Michael nodded inwardly, then laughed wildly.
"Hahaha! How interesting!"
"Let me see what you've got!"
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