"Helping pirates? Twisting the truth and slandering good people!!"
Nami's face flushed red with anger, her teeth grinding audibly. It was the first time she had ever seen someone so shameless—
"If you were just here to catch pirates, who would care?! You clearly didn't give a damn about the civilians! We tried to save people—how is that wrong? You, look down there! Take a good look at the "great deeds" you Marines just committed!"
Her trembling finger pointed furiously toward the collapsed shops and houses on both sides of the plaza.
"Little girl… watch your mouth."
A cold glint flashed in Onigumo's eyes as he stared at Nami. His right hand had already drifted to the hilt of his sword without anyone noticing.
"Those were just accidental casualties, an unavoidable cost of capturing pirates. Didn't the adults at home teach you how to show respect when speaking to your super—"
Swoosh!
Before he could finish, his vision blurred. A fist the size of a sandbag filled his vision and smashed into him, sending him flying!
BOOM!
Onigumo slammed into the ground, his cigar snapping and extinguishing. He clutched his chest and spat a mouthful of blood.
"Sorry,"
Shanu stood above him, one foot planted on Onigumo's chest, looking down at him condescendingly.
"I just recalled—no one ever taught me that."
The huge plaza fell into dead silence except for the sound of rain.
Countless eyes from all directions stared at Onigumo, sprawled on the ground.
Onigumo felt their gazes. His face instantly turned the color of pig liver.
—He had been sent flying in public, with one blow, and a brat was stepping on his chest??
Ever since becoming a Vice Admiral of Marine Headquarters, he was treated with respect and fear everywhere he went—pirates fled at the mere rumor of his arrival.
When had he ever suffered such humiliation?!
"You damn brat!!!"
Onigumo drew his twin swords, slashing horizontally at Shanu's ankle.
Shanu chuckled, pulling his foot back leisurely. Onigumo flipped up to his feet, swords waving rapidly—strike after strike, weaving a deadly crimson web in the rain.
"DIE!!!"
He would show no mercy to someone who dared step on him!
He could already picture this insolent black-haired brat chopped into pieces—
But then—
The sound of rain seemed to grow louder, shattering his delusion.
The opponent barely moved—strolling casually, hands behind his back, letting him slash freely. Yet despite dozens of high-speed strikes, not a single one landed.
Not even a scratch.
How… how is this possible?
Onigumo's pupils shrank.
The other's movements… were precise to the millimeter.
Countless times his blade skimmed the surface of Shanu's skin, missing by the tiniest margin—almost like the boy knew every strike in advance.
Observation Haki?
No—wrong!
That bizarre bodily flexibility—
Kami-e!
Kami-e at a mastered, extreme level!
And earlier… that group displayed Geppo…
"There's a cowardly rat beneath that bravado—can you only dodge?!" Onigumo roared. "The East Blue has someone with such mastery of the Rokushiki?! Who taught you?!"
"Sakazuki."
"…Huh?"
Onigumo froze—just for a moment. But it was long enough. Shanu's right arm had already snaked around his neck like a vice.
"You told me to stop dodging. So here it is."
WHAM!
Shanu's muscles flexed like steel coils, clamping Onigumo's throat, then slamming him into the ground!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Once, twice, three times—Shanu slammed him over and over like a rag doll. The ground around them cracked like spiderwebs.
Onigumo felt like a broken puppet in a giant's grip, unable to regain control.
In his spinning vision, he thought he saw the watching Marines and pirates pointing and laughing at him…
"ENOUGH!!!"
Veins bulged on Onigumo's forehead as he roared.
Hiss!!
His disheveled hair suddenly writhed like living creatures—expanding and splitting into six long tendrils like spider legs.
They wriggled violently, forcing Shanu to release him as they grabbed swords from who-knows-where.
SPLASH!
Onigumo steadied himself, boots splashing rainwater.
With six blade-wielding spider-arms behind him, he stared coldly ahead—an oppressive presence beneath the storm.
"Today has been one surprise after another… far beyond what I expected."
Cracking his neck with rapid popping sounds, he looked down at Shanu expressionlessly.
"I only intended to play with you. But you had some skill… enough to make me lose face. But now—playtime is over."
All eight blades—his two hands and six hair-arms—darkened with jet-black Armament Haki.
"Eight-Sword Style: ANNIHILATION!!"
Eight blackened blades converged on Shanu at once!
CHHH!
Sword aura roared toward Shanu from every angle, sealing all escape.
"Rankyaku: White Thunder!!"
Without hesitation, Shanu spun and kicked, unleashing a vacuum blade.
A crescent of blue energy, meters long, crashed head-on into the converging slashes!
BOOOOM!!
The explosion of force shattered the eight sword auras simultaneously!
Onigumo staggered backward several steps before regaining balance. He stared at Shanu, disbelief filling his eyes.
His eight-fold slash—canceled by a single Rankyaku?!
Shanu just grinned. He expected as much.
The System had judged his mastery of the Rokushiki as "Transcendent."
His Rokushiki wasn't just mastered—
It had reached the pinnacle.
In terms of technique alone—even Rob Lucci during Enies Lobby would fall short!
"You use Eight-Sword Style?"
Shanu laughed loudly.
"What a coincidence—I do too!!"
Hiss!!
His black hair exploded outward like Onigumo's—except more. Far more. Over a dozen hair-tendrils hardened like steel.
"I'm bad at counting—but looks like I have more."
Feeling the hair whipping wildly, Shanu tilted his chin at Onigumo.
"Hope you can handle it."
Before the words finished—
He vanished.
Reappearing above Onigumo, raining down a storm of hair-blades!
He can use it too?!
Onigumo's expression twisted. He forced his own blades up to block.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Hardened, Haki-coated hair-blades clashed with his swords, sparks flying in a blinding storm.
Arms also clashed—one wielding steel blades, the other turning his arms into blade-like extensions of his body through sheer physical strength.
At first, they seemed evenly matched.
But—
As the clashes continued, Onigumo's Armament Haki weakened rapidly.
Shanu's remained unwavering.
Armament Haki—four advanced applications:
Coating, Hardening, Emission, Internal Destruction.
Aside from Internal Destruction (which he learned later and was still refining), Shanu had mastered the other three completely.
And through years of brutal training, his Haki strength had reached an inhuman level!
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!!!
With a final explosive clash, all eight of Onigumo's blades were flung from his grasp, clattering across the ground!
Shanu's overwhelming strength pushed him back, boots gouging two deep trenches through the stone plaza.
"No more swords, huh?"
Shanu advanced step by step, face twisting into a feral grin.
"Good thing—I still have mine."
SLAM!
His blade-like arms plunged into Onigumo's shoulders, then shifted back to normal arms—grabbing his wrists and twisting sharply inward—
"GHURK—!!"
Onigumo coughed blood as agony shot through him. His arms bent at grotesque angles, bones piercing through skin.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. Rain poured harder.
"Strength. Speed. Rokushiki. Haki. Even your precious Life Return…"
Shanu lifted Onigumo by the throat with one hand like a helpless chick.
"I surpass you in every single one."
He stared mockingly into Onigumo's eyes.
"So tell me… Marine Headquarters' so-called 'Vice Admirals'—is this all you amount to?"