The red-haired man turned his head, revealing a young and mature face. It was Red Hair Shanks.
Compared to the naivety when Akira had first met him, Shanks now appeared very mature. His entire person was even more sharp and imposing, with unparalleled dominance.
"Haha... there aren't any opponents that are too strong in the Grand Line anymore. We're preparing to directly invade the New World."
A man next to Shanks, who was also wearing a cloak and was a head taller than Shanks, asked Shanks, "Shanks, are you ready? That position you're aiming for?"
The man speaking was the vice-captain of the Red Hair Pirates, Benn Beckman. He was not only the Red Hair Pirates' strategist, but also one of the smartest men in the entire One Piece manga.
The members of the Red Hair Pirates all looked at Shanks. Although they had only been recruiting troops in the East Blue before, they still had some understanding of the situation in the New World. Their goal this time was the New World, but how far they could ultimately go would depend on Shanks' ability.
Shanks' expression became serious. He said in a deep voice, "We've been setting out from the East Blue all along, and we've only ever had one goal: freedom and adventure. But if we want to truly achieve this goal, we must have powerful strength. I haven't thought about the Pirate King position, and I'm not suitable for that position either. But the New World's Four Emperors must have a place for us."
Looking at Shanks' firm and domineering tone, the members of the Red Hair Pirates all revealed expressions of excitement. Only if the captain had confidence would they, the crew members, have confidence.
Beckman said, "According to our information, three Emperors have already been confirmed in the New World: Whitebeard, Kaido of the Beasts, and Charlotte Linlin. Now, all the ambitious and powerful pirates are aiming for that last position. If we want to reach that position, we must walk over everyone's shoulders. So, our enemies will be unimaginably numerous. It will be our most difficult battle."
Yasopp, who was carrying a sniper rifle, laughed, "There's no challenge without difficulties."
This sniper of the Red Hair Pirates abandoned his wife and children to become a pirate. Regardless of his actions, his belief in abandoning everything for his dream was admirable. Not everyone could be as firm and ruthless as him.
Shanks laughed, "Yasopp is right. What dangers have we been afraid of along the way? The New World's Four Emperor position, I, Shanks, have reserved it."
"Eh?"
Suddenly, Yasopp of the Red Hair Pirates let out a surprised cry, and looked towards the sky in front of him.
"What's wrong, Yasopp?"
Hearing Yasopp's voice, the members of the Red Hair Pirates all looked at him curiously.
Yasopp didn't speak. Instead, he quickly took off his sniper rifle, looked through the scope, and aimed the muzzle at the sky in front of him.
The next moment, Yasopp said, "There's an unidentified flying object in the sky about ten nautical miles ahead, and... there seems to be something even stranger."
"Unidentified flying object?"
The members of the Red Hair Pirates didn't doubt Yasopp, because as a sniper, Yasopp's Observation Haki was definitely one of the best in the pirate crew. What everyone was curious about was just the unidentified flying object in his mouth, and the even stranger things.
After another dozen seconds passed, Yasopp said again, "I see it clearly. What's flying in the sky seems to be a monster similar to a manta ray. There seems to be someone on it. Eh? What's going on with the sky over there? Why does it look like it's been dyed red?"
This time, not only Yasopp had discovered the problem, but the other members of the Red Hair Pirates had also discovered the problem. The sky in the direction that Yasopp had mentioned seemed to have been dyed red. It was very strange and dazzling.
"What's the situation?"
Shanks and the others all had blank expressions, because the scene in front of them was really too strange. The sky couldn't turn red for no reason. That was clearly not a red cloud.
Just as Shanks and the others were surprised, Akira and the others, who were riding Minazuki and dodging the Navy's pursuit, also saw the pirate ship coming from afar.
Because Akira and Jeffrey White were both wholeheartedly resisting the magma meteors that could fall from the sky at any time, the first person to discover the Red Hair Pirates' pirate ship was Rambo.
He only heard Rambo shout loudly, "Dad, Akira boss, look, there's a very big pirate ship ahead."
Jeffrey White didn't take it seriously. He didn't even turn his head back, and directly said, "It's just a pirate ship. What do we care about it for?"
During this period of time that they had been escaping, they had encountered many people. However, as soon as those people saw this kind of situation, they would be scared and run away at the first time. So Jeffrey White no longer had any expectations for those people.
However, Rambo said, "But they're coming towards us."
"Oh?"
This time, Akira also became interested. He turned his head to look, and only saw a huge pirate ship was quickly approaching them. Moreover, the distance was already very close. They could definitely see the situation on their side, but they were still approaching. This was a bit interesting.
"Eh? Why does this pirate flag look a bit familiar?"
Akira turned his head and saw the pirate flag of the pirate ship that was quickly approaching. His expression suddenly changed, because that pirate flag gave him a very familiar feeling, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
"A skull, two Western swords, why is it so familiar?"
Hearing Akira's muttering, Jeffrey White asked curiously, "Akira, do you know this pirate crew?"
Akira frowned, and took a closer look. Then, his eyes suddenly widened, and he exclaimed, "That's right, it's him, Shanks."
After thinking carefully for a while, Akira finally remembered. Wasn't this the Red Hair Pirates' pirate flag pattern? Although the skull was missing three scars, wasn't this Shanks' pirate flag from when he was young? The reason why the Red Hair Pirates' pirate flag later had three slashes was because Shanks was injured by Teach when he fought Blackbeard Teach for the Four Emperor position. Now, Shanks hadn't reached the New World yet, so he naturally wouldn't have any scars, and the pirate flag naturally wouldn't have that kind of symbol.
"Akira, what are you talking about?" Jeffrey White asked Akira.
Akira said with a face full of joy, "White, our savior has come."
Jeffrey White asked in confusion, "What savior?"
Akira said, "I know the captain of the pirate crew below. He can save us. I won't say much more. Let's go down."
Saying that, Akira controlled Minazuki to quickly head towards the Red Hair Pirates' pirate ship.
Seeing that the flying monster in the sky was actually heading towards their pirate ship, the pirates of the Red Hair Pirates immediately revealed expressions of vigilance, and asked Shanks, "Captain, that monster is coming towards us. Do we need to attack?"
Shanks frowned slightly, and was just about to open his mouth to order an attack when a loud shout suddenly came from above.
"Shanks, Shanks, it's me."
"Wait."
Shanks quickly shouted softly. The other party had called out his name without seeing him clearly. He obviously knew him.
"Who's calling me? Who are you?"
Seeing that someone below had indeed responded, the joy on Akira's face was even greater. He shouted again, "Shanks, it's me, Akira."
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