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Chapter 303: Blake Returns! Shiki: Boss, Kaido Was the One Planning a Rebellion!
"Since the battle at God Valley..."
"This is the first time, isn't it?"
"If we don't count that unlucky ghost, Captain Rocks... the 'Rocks Pirates' are more than halfway assembled today!"
God Valley. Rocks.
Those two words were like deep-sea depth charges, detonating instantly within the tavern.
The hand Edward Newgate used to grip his wine bottle paused for a fraction of a second. Within those eyes, which usually held a peerless, world-dominating arrogance, a faint, imperceptible flash of complexity flickered.
"Gurararara!"
"Shiki, you old lion... is the atmosphere not chaotic enough for you?"
Whitebeard set his bottle down. The base struck the bar with a dull thud, the vibration causing the peanuts on the table to jump.
"Why bring up those old, rotting stories? That era is over."
"Worororo!"
Kaido let out his signature, eerie laugh. He gave a drunken belch, exhaling a gust of alcohol strong enough to knock out an elephant. His eyes were hazy, yet they burned with a bestial ferocity.
"God Valley..."
"That truly was a nostalgic hell. I still remember to this day..."
"The taste of Roger's blade as it cut into me. And the fists of that bastard Garp!"
At this, Kaido instinctively touched his abdomen. The area seemed to throb with a phantom ache.
"That was the greatest humiliation of my life!"
Suddenly, Kaido's gaze sharpened, locking onto Shiki with predatory intensity.
"Shiki, you've had quite the streak of luck. Tell me... are you trying to reform the Rocks Pirates? Because if that's the case..."
Kaido slammed his massive mace, the [Hassaikai], onto the floor.
Boom!
The tavern floor gave an agonizing groan under the unbearable weight.
"I'll be the first to crush you into mincemeat! I'm not that brat who could only serve as an apprentice anymore!"
Terrifying Conqueror's Haki erupted from Kaido. Arcs of dark red lightning, solid as physical matter, ravaged the narrow tavern.
Crackle! Pop!
Glassware on the shelves shattered into a spray of jagged shards.
"Do you want to fight?"
Golden Lion Shiki didn't even blink. He swirled his empty cup, a cruel arc curling at the corner of his mouth.
"This isn't a place where you're allowed to act out."
"Wait, wait, wait..."
"Give me some face! Everyone, calm down!"
Shanks stood up, drenched in sweat, attempting to step between the two titans. But his voice was instantly swallowed by the roar of the two terrifying auras.
Whitebeard sat nearby, watching with a cold, detached eye. He held his wine bowl steadily, having no intention of intervening.
Beneath his thick scarf, sweat rolled down Katakuri's cheek. I've stumbled into a high-stakes game beyond my league.
Just as the tension reached the breaking point—
⌁ Hummm— ⌁
An extremely faint yet crystal-clear resonance rang out behind the bar.
The sound wasn't loud, but it felt like a command from a higher dimension. It instantly smothered Kaido's roar and suppressed the thunder of the Conqueror's Haki.
Then, before everyone's horrified eyes, the void behind the bar rippled violently like the surface of a disturbed pond. A pitch-black spatial rift tore open out of nowhere!
A gust of fresh air—never before seen and seemingly not of this world—poured from the crack. Along with it came a faint aroma... of coffee and sandwiches?
In the next second, a hand wearing a modern, casual suit sleeve reached out from the rift.
Then, a tall, slender figure stepped through the terrifying spatial tear as casually as someone walking through their own bedroom door.
Silver-white hair shimmered with a cold luster under the lights. His handsome face carried a hint of lethargic, post-nap drowsiness. In one hand, he held a steaming cup of takeout coffee. In the other, a paper bag bearing the logo of "Café Poirot."
Blake.
The man who made the World Government tremble, forced the Marine Headquarters to relocate, and caused the world's power structure to collapse, had returned!
Silence.
A silence so absolute it felt as though the air itself had frozen. In Makino's little tavern, time seemed to stop.
The atmosphere that had been at a dagger's point just a second ago—ready to sink Foosha Village into the seabed—vanished like a popped balloon the moment the silver-haired youth in the casual suit stepped out of the rift!
Every eye was fixed on the figure who now looked completely out of place.
"Phew..."
Blake gently blew on the steam rising from his coffee and took a sip. His brow smoothed over.
"As expected, the hand-poured coffee over there tastes a bit more authentic."
He sighed to himself, seemingly oblivious to the crowd. Then, as if only just noticing the room was full of people, his eyes—deep as the starry sky—slowly scanned the scene.
Wherever his gaze fell, even the Four Emperors felt their muscles tighten instinctively. Shanks tensed, and Katakuri found himself unable to even breathe as cold sweat soaked his clothes.
This was an instinctive suppression from a higher level of existence!
Finally, Blake's gaze landed at the center of the bar. There, the remnants of the two clashing Conqueror's Haki still flickered with electric arcs. Kaido's mace was still planted in the floor, surrounded by spiderweb cracks. Golden Lion Shiki's legs were still propped on the bar, his face full of rebellion.
"Quite lively, isn't it?"
Blake set his coffee cup down. The base met the bar with a soft click. It wasn't loud, but it felt like a heavy hammer striking the hearts of everyone present.
Blake's lips curled upward into a smile as warm as a spring breeze. He looked at the posturing Kaido and Shiki, his tone as gentle as if he were greeting old friends.
"What's this? Have the two Great Pirates not had enough of fighting? Do you find my little shop too spacious and want to help me 'redecorate'? Or perhaps..."
Blake tilted his head slightly, the smile in his eyes deepening, though it brought a bone-chilling coldness.
"Do you think the 'No Combat' rule I set is just for show?"
The moment the words fell, there was no earth-shattering eruption of aura. No terrifying pressure descended. Blake remained the same lazy, seemingly harmless shopkeeper.
But!
Golden Lion Shiki, sitting on the bar, suddenly froze! It was a terror that originated from the depths of his soul!
Gulp!
Shiki swallowed hard with great difficulty. Beaded sweat broke out on his forehead, trickling down his arrogant sideburns.
What was the dignity of the Four Emperors? What was the 'prestige' of a legendary pirate? In the face of this man's smile, it was all garbage! Survival was the only thing that mattered!
In the next second, before the stunned gazes of everyone in the room, the once-unrivaled Golden Lion—who had just been shouting about teaching Kaido a lesson—sprang from his chair like he'd been electrocuted. His posture was so straight and standard he looked like a raw recruit being inspected!
"A misunderstanding! A massive misunderstanding, Boss!"
Shiki's arrogance collapsed at a visible rate, replaced by a smile more fawning and "sincere" than a lapdog's. He wiped his sweat while bowing at a perfect ninety-degree angle. He spoke so loudly it was as if he feared Blake wouldn't hear him.
"How could I ever dare to act out on your territory? Even if you gave me a hundred times the courage, I wouldn't dare break your rules! It was all Kaido!"
Shiki spun around, the finger that had been pointing at the world now aiming straight at a dumbfounded Kaido. His tone was filled with grief and righteous indignation.
"It was all this wine-guzzling barbarian! Boss, you have no idea! This bastard had a few drops of horse piss and started a drunken rampage! He actually said your shop was too small and beneath his status! He even said he was going to level Foosha Village! As your loyal customer and a defender of your rules, could I stand for that? Of course not! That's why I stood up—to stop this fool who doesn't know the height of the heavens! Boss, my loyalty to you is as clear as the sun and the moon!"
Silence.
Deathly silence.
Only Shiki's impassioned "declaration of loyalty" echoed through the tavern. The glass in Shanks' hand fell to the floor and shattered into a million pieces, but he didn't care.
At this moment, Shanks' mouth was open wide enough to fit a fist, and his eyes were nearly bulging out of his head.
Is this actually the Golden Lion?
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