One Piece: Reborn and Skypiean

224

Chapter 226

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Reo had never seen such a nonsense fight before.

He knew Kaido was strong, extremely strong, but the strength he was showing at the moment still amazed him. He understood how powerful one was to exert that much strength. But there is something more surprising…

Red Hairy Shanks. The man who was 4 times smaller than Kaido in form clashed with him without any effort. Moreover he only has one arm, yet he fits, no, by concentrating, Reo can see that Shanks defeated Kaido. 

Unfortunately, Reo could not observe the battle any longer as he dodged another bullet shot from Yassop. 

Meanwhile, the,

"Vororo!! Shanks, you little boy! Why don't you use all your strength!?"

Kaido's thunderous roar caused the clouds to split apart as they were just below the sky. His heavy stick struck Shanks' sword but the latter only blocked it. 

"I have absolutely no reason to, you know, I'm just here to stop you from reaching Marineford." 

Shanks said while blocking the other Kaido attacks, that was when Kaido noticed it as well. So he's here to stop it? He should have expected it from this pacifist.

However, there is no other choice. He must reach Marineford, to reach Whitebeard, so that he can prove who is strong, and if not, because of an honorable death.

"Well! You mentioned it at the right time, stay away from me, boy! I have to go there right now!!"

Kaido swung his wand at Shanks again, which was blocked by Shanks again, however, Kaido did not continue his attack.

"Do you have any other ideas?"

"I'm ready." Shanks smiled. "If you're looking for a fight, I'm here. I'll give you a fight-"

"Closed." Kaido. "You are strong, I accept, perhaps stronger than that old Whitebeard at his peak even, however, he is a legend, he is a conqueror, he is a man. You're not."

Shanks just smiled hearing that. He was not entirely wrong, so he saw no reason to be angry.

"I can catch you at any time, but I have a hunch that old Whitebeard will be out of my reach after this War."

Shanks' smile did not fade. He's right again. From what the world around him counted, and from what he heard from their 'Voice', Whitebeard would most likely die here, but that's more of a reason why Kaido shouldn't go there. Whitebeard's death meant a Marine victory, but if Kaido went there, and Whitebeard somehow still died, then it meant that neither side won.

The loss of the Marines would cause the pirates to become more active, and the grandline was flooded with new insects. And since the two Emperors would be out by then, Big Mom and Whitebeard, along with the weakened Marines, the chaos in the world would be too much for Shanks to handle alone.

He couldn't let something like that happen. He wasn't a fan of destruction, so he had to stop the cause getting to its roots. 

"Then I think you'll have to go through me, Kaido." Shanks' smile widened. "After that, do whatever you want to do."

Kaido grumbled right as Shanks started again, his gaze fixed on Kaido's left eye. "Although I'm curious, the last time we met .. you don't have a scar in your eye. Are you trying to match me, eh?"

Kaido's left eye has a scar, his eyeball is missing. Shanks didn't know about this before, and he didn't want to ask 'Everything' about it now. But it seemed that he did not get an answer as Kaido merely raised his staff, black lightning crackling on top of his weapon. 

Shanks' statement made him nervous as Kaido was about to start his attack again, however, the figure, who was also on his murder list, appeared before the two of them.

With a slow silent movement, the two of them turned to the left where a man wearing a simple jacket and black pants waved towards them.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important, but Mr. Shanks, I'd like if you let go of Kaido-"

The new face, Amon, could not finish his dialogue and Shanks had no chance to reply as Kaido rushed over and slammed his wand into Amon.

But by the time the club hit him, he just disappeared.

"Ah, Mr. Kaido, what is this?" The man chuckled. "Did you just say you don't have time for Shanks? Isn't that because of Whitebeard? But you have time for me? Geez, I didn't know that I was more important than Edward Newgate?"

Kaido turned behind him, where the voice had just spoken, but he did not find anyone, and yet, he swung his staff behind him, he knew where the boy was going.

However, a moment later, the same voice came from above him.

"Ah, scary, I'm sure I'm immune to Haki's Observation, but you still know I'll appear behind you? Really scary." 

Kaido wanted to attack again, but Amon kept blinking his eyes from one place to another.

"Let me finish what I have to say. Let me make a deal." She said. "I keep Shanks busy, you reach Marineford, and then, a month later, I'll go see you myself. You can attack me, tear me apart, or do whatever you want. How about this?"

"Why should I agree?" Kaido grumbling.

"Well, you have no other choice if you don't want to miss the war... I heard the war has already begun, and now if you waste your time on me and Shanks, by the time you get there, men may have kicked the bucket."

A pouting expression appeared on Kaido's face before he growled and turned to King and Reo.

"You two, finish them off and follow me as soon as possible, we don't have time."

Amon smiled and nodded and immediately blinked from one place to another just as much, not all, but still many Red Hair Pirates members fell to the ground, especially against Reo and King.

"You two, please follow your master immediately."

King's eyes glared at Amon while Reo only glared at him at a glance, making sure not to look suspicious. Then, the two of them jumped up as well, leaving Amon and Shanks on the battlefield.

Shanks' eyes turned to his eliminated comrades, Yassop, Beckman, and a few more. 

"They're fine."

amon said with a smile. 

"I don't want to antagonize you for such a small reason."

Shanks understood that he would still be hostile to her if the reason was great. 

Shanks laughed softly.

"It's amazing, however, that you let Kaido go, how about you do the same for me?"

Amon shook his head hearing it. 

"Unfortunately, I can't do that. You'll cause trouble in the war."

"Huh." Shanks sighed. "Why are you doing this?"

That's mostly a rhetorical question. He knew Amon was benefiting from the war, he knew he was doing this for his own benefit.

"There's actually more than one benefit."

He can also read his mind. Shanks immediately used a trick he learned from Roger that day to block the reading of Amon's mind. The technique was: The user rampaged the Conqueror Haki inside his head, blocking any kind of Devil fruit, and even the Observation Haki, from reading his mind. Normally one would die from the aggressive nature of the Conqueror Haki, but Shanks' mastery of this black lightning was not something to be taken lightly, he could easily control it to make sure nothing was broken.

Shanks tapped his finger on his sword as he made up his mind.

"OK, I don't think there's any other choice.I haven't wanted to clash with you yet.but, I guess I should do it for two reasons. One, I have to beat you to reach Marineford, and two. I need to make sure you don't get there by yourself."

Amon blinked, as if surprised. "God…"

"You don't mind if my crew leaves, do you?"

After his 'surprise' disappeared in thin air, Amon grinned. "I'm not suggesting they go to Marineford, they will be destroyed."

"I guess you sent your crew there, yeah, but don't worry, they won't leave without me."

Amon shrugged his shoulders. "Well, whatever, they can go. Not like they're dangerous, right from the start."

Shanks nodded to hear it. He turned to his crew and gestured for them to pick up those who had fainted and take them to the ship that was thousands of feet below the red line, at sea. 

Slowly, but surely, after hesitating for a moment, the crew left while Amon and Shanks waited, and finally, after a long sigh, Shanks sheathed his sword.

"You shall not demand your sword"

Amon stopped talking as he acted up. He tried to teleport, then he tried to get away from his place, sensing the attack, however, he could not do both. 

Something has gone wrong.

Shanks disappeared from his place and appeared behind Amon, one fist coated in the crackling Conqueror's Haki. Amon's eyes widened for the first time in a while, he felt his jaw almost tear as if a truck had hit his face.

The fist did not touch his face, no, that was not how Advanced Conqueror Haki worked, however, the black lightning struck his now-sick jaw.

Amon was thrown forward, almost rolling on the ground before he teleported, this time successfully, and appeared a few meters in front of Shanks while wiping his lips.

"What's that?"

Amon's greatest strength was his speed, yet, at that moment, he felt there was an invisible wall surrounding him. The wall that had even cut him off from the outside electromagnetic field, caused his teleportation to malfunction and blocked his attempt to escape by blocking him from all sides, as if a coffin.

Shanks stood on it, his face expressionless. "You are by far the strongest person in several centuries, but that is only taking into account your basic strength. Haki is wise.You are just a teenager."

Haki's world is wider than Amon ever imagined, however…

"I'll make sure to teach you why you can't stop me."

...It would be foolish for Shanks to think that that alone was enough to defeat, or even stop, the Kings of Ammon.

Because Amon is at his peak right now.