"Captain, there's an enemy ship ahead! It's the Whitebeard Pirates!" Golon, the lookout, stood on the mast with a monocular telescope and shouted down to the deck below.
"Oho~ Is it Whitebeard? Guys... Get ready for battle!" Roger tilted his head slightly, looked ahead, and said with a big laugh.
Five years had passed since the battle at God Valley.
During these five years, the situation on the sea had changed greatly. The situation had shifted from the dominance of the Rocks Pirates to the division of the New World by big - time pirates.
The Whitebeard Pirates was a pirate crew founded by Whitebeard Edward Newgate, a senior cadre of the former Rocks Pirates.
Thanks to Whitebeard's extraordinary strength, the Whitebeard Pirates had developed quite rapidly in recent years and was now a powerful pirate crew.
As for the Roger Pirates, due to the personality of Captain Roger, they hadn't actively recruited a large number of crew members. So, in terms of scale, it was not much different from five years ago.
However, the strength of the crew members was very different from before.
Especially Fang Yi, who had changed a lot compared to five years ago. The most obvious change was his height, perhaps due to those inheritance powers like chocolate beans that had well - developed his body. So, even though he was about the same age as Shanks and Bucky, he was already a head taller than them.
"Ha~ Shanks, we can't let that brat Marco we met last time get away this time!" Hearing that an enemy ship was approaching, Fang Yi, who was carrying a bow and arrows, jumped directly onto the netting rope, looked into the distance, and said with a big laugh.
"Brother Yi, he's older than us!" Shanks said with a helpless smile.
Since they found out that there was an intern on the Whitebeard Pirates, Fang Yi seemed to have set his eyes on the guy. Every time the two sides met, Fang Yi would chase after him and fight, which was really a bit of a pain.
"Humph! What does age matter? We're all interns. He's definitely going to be our future rival. Let's beat him into submission first!" Fang Yi grinned and said with a smile.
Facing Fang Yi's argument, Shanks was a bit embarrassed. What was this? Crushing the future rival in the cradle?
Soon, the Whitebeard Pirates also seemed to have spotted them and immediately changed their course, heading straight towards them.
"Whitebeard..."
"Roger..."
Captain Roger and Whitebeard stood at the bow of their respective ships and then burst into laughter at the same time.
"Wowahaha... Guys... Steal their treasures!" Roger waved his sword and said with a big laugh.
"Gurararara... My dear sons, show them who the real powerhouse on this sea is!" Whitebeard also waved his naginata (a traditional Japanese halberd - like weapon) and roared with a laugh.
"Whitebeard... Take this arrow!"
Just as Roger gave the order to attack, Fang Yi drew his bow and shot an arrow straight at Whitebeard.
"How could I let you disturb Dad!" Although Fang Yi's arrow was flying at a high speed, a figure blocked in front of Whitebeard before it could hit him. It was Marco.
"Bang!"
Marco kicked Fang Yi's arrow. But while kicking the arrow away, he was also shaken back by the powerful force attached to the arrow.
"Creak... creak..."
"Hmm? Humph!"
Looking at his left leg that had kicked the arrow away, Marco let out a cold snort, and blue flames began to emerge all over his body.
"Damn it! Pineapple Marco, what's wrong with you? Did you suddenly go crazy?" Seeing the blue flames on Marco, Fang Yi deliberately teased.
Marco's hairstyle was very similar to a pineapple, and his favorite food was also pineapple. That's why Fang Yi gave Marco the nickname "Pineapple Marco".
"Stinky kid! I'm not the same as before! This time, let me show you my strength!" Marco was quite dissatisfied with Fang Yi. They were both interns, but Fang Yi was a bit stronger. So in previous battles, Fang Yi always overpowered Marco, which made Marco, who was older than Fang Yi, extremely unhappy.
But this time, he got a Devil Fruit. After eating it, he gained the ability to transform into a Phoenix. So in the face of Fang Yi's provocation, Marco didn't say a word and directly transformed into the Phoenix form and flew into the sky.
"Hey... Why did you turn into a phoenix guy?" Fang Yi slowly drew out an arrow, aimed at Marco, and asked with a smile.
He naturally knew what it was, the Zoan-type Bird-Bird Fruit, Mythical Model: Phoenix Form, a Devil Fruit rarer than the Logia-type, with the ability to emit regenerative flames. It could be said to be quite powerful.
Moreover, the Zoan-type usually had a high bonus to physical constitution. Coupled with the recovery ability of the regenerative flames, Marco's strength had definitely improved a lot.
But Fang Yi wasn't panicked at all. In the past five years, his strength improvement was definitely amazing. So even if Marco had the Devil Fruit of the Phoenix form, he was still confident that he could easily defeat the other party.
"Frost Arrow... Hit!" Seeing Marco approaching him, Fang Yi let out a soft laugh and released the arrow in his hand.
The arrow, carrying a trace of cold air, flew straight towards Marco.
Frost Arrow (LV.2) 156/300: Shoot an arrow at the enemy, causing frost damage!
This was one of Fang Yi's newly acquired skills, which could turn an ordinary arrow into an arrow with ice attributes. The arrow he shot at Whitebeard before was a Frost Arrow, but it was blocked by Marco.
"Humph! It's useless. No matter how you attack, my regenerative flames can restore my body again! Moreover, your arrow can't hit me at all!" Marco didn't dodge at all. Instead, he quite confidently chose to take Fang Yi's arrow head-on.
"Idiot... Don't you know there's an ability called Haki?" Fang Yi smiled slightly and said.
Marco was stunned, but it was too late to dodge.
The arrow with ice attributes directly pierced through his wing. But the wound didn't heal as he expected. Instead, a sharp pain came. Then, before the blood could flow from the wound, ice emerged. This ice directly froze the entire wing.
"Ah~~"
"Bang!"
"Marco... Are you okay?"
Due to his injured wings, Marco fell directly from the air. Fortunately, he wasn't flying very high and he fell on Whitebeard's ship, so he wasn't in danger of losing his life.
"I'm fine!" Marco gritted his teeth and said, "Armament Haki!"
Marco, who had transformed back into his human form, looked at the frostbite on his arm. He simply wiped it with his other hand, and the wound actually healed right away.
However, the pain from the injury remained. The only thing that could hurt him was Armament Haki. Fang Yi, using a bow and arrow from a distance, could still keep Armament Haki on the arrow, which proved that his Armament Haki wasn't newly awakened. At such a young age, to have such an accomplishment in Armament Haki made Marco more wary of Fang Yi.
Looking at the injured Marco, Fang Yi smiled slightly. Armament Haki was his greatest gain in the past five years.
He also had to thank Whitebeard himself because the last fragment of Armament Haki was obtained after he [Check - in] on Whitebeard (a special in - story interaction where he gets rewards). At that time, the Rocks Pirates disbanded. The big - time pirate Edward Newgate formed his own pirate group and named it the Whitebeard Pirates.
By chance, the Roger Pirates searching for the historical text on a small island met the Whitebeard Pirates. Fang Yi took the opportunity to get the lottery ticket for the first [Check - in] on Whitebeard. It was exactly that lottery ticket that allowed him to draw the last fragment of Armament Haki, enabling Fang Yi to successfully awaken Armament Haki.
At that time, not only Shanks and Buggy, but even Roger and Rayleigh were shocked. The main reason was that Fang Yi was too young. Awakening Armament Haki at such a young age proved that as long as he didn't die prematurely, his achievements would definitely not be low.
Moreover, as an archer, Fang Yi's sensory ability was very strong. With the assistance of the skill Eagle Eye, Roger and Rayleigh even thought it was a sign that Fang Yi was about to awaken Observation Haki. So their evaluation of Fang Yi's potential immediately rose several notches.
"Gurarara... The little archer's pretty good! How about it? Are you interested in coming to my ship?" Regarding the confrontation between Fang Yi and Marco, the others on the two ships didn't intervene. Even after Marco was defeated, Whitebeard didn't say anything about avenging Marco. Instead, he asked Fang Yi if he wanted to go to his side.
"Hehehe... Why not!" Fang Yi nodded with a big smile and replied.
His answer not only stunned Whitebeard, who asked the question, but also Marco, Shanks and others. They thought Fang Yi would refuse, but unexpectedly he agreed so readily.
"Gurarara... You little brat, tell me, what are your conditions?" Whitebeard looked at Fang Yi and asked.
"Your entire Whitebeard Pirates join our side. Then I'll apply to the captain to lead a team to your side and guide you on your voyages!" Fang Yi replied in an arrogant manner.
"Gurararara... What a sassy little brat. Well then, don't say I'm not giving you a chance. Defeat me... and I'll join your pirates!" Whitebeard was tickled by Fang Yi and burst into laughter, shouting.
"Damn brat, what are you talking nonsense about? You think you can lead our pirates? You're just an intern!" Marco was almost furious. Whitebeard was the man who gave him a second life, and he would never allow anyone to stand above the old man.
Fang Yi picked his nose and said with a scornful look, "I wonder who was shot down from the air by me just now. And... aren't you an intern too?"
"Asshole! I'm a full-fledged member now. You think everyone is like you, still an intern? Humph, a grown-up brat!" Marco finally got the upper hand and sneered at Fang Yi.
Sure enough, upon hearing Marco's words, Fang Yi's face darkened.
He couldn't understand why he had been on the ship for quite some time. He thought he was no less capable, but Captain Roger had never mentioned making him a full-fledged crew member.
Not only him, but Shanks and Bucky were also the same. They still carried the label of interns.
"So what if I'm an intern? You can't even beat an intern! Pfft... nah nah" Fang Yi made a face at Marco and then went straight behind Captain Roger, ignoring him.
Although he didn't understand what Captain Roger meant, since Captain Roger didn't bring it up, there must be a reason. So Fang Yi never mentioned it on his own initiative.
As the distance between the two sides grew closer, a great battle was imminent. The crew members on both sides were making their final preparations for the battle.