Starting as a Roger Pirates Apprentice-Chapter 438: A Terrifying Phantom

All along, Sadgeo had never truly taken things seriously. After all, he couldn’t see the other side having any hope of winning at all.

He was even disdainful of using his second Devil Fruit ability, the [Dark-Dark Fruit], to specifically counter ability users.

But now...

What is going on here?!!

Facing this swordsman whose entire body was wreathed in ghostly aura, who had even grown three heads and six arms, Sadgeo felt his whole body trembling. Even his mind felt like it was about to be torn apart, his pupils shaking nonstop.

He instinctively prepared to use his full strength.

But against non–Devil Fruit Haki attacks, even the [Dark-Dark Fruit] didn’t have any particularly effective methods.

But how was this possible?!!!

During their earlier exchange, he had been able to roughly sense the level of the swordsman in front of him.

Going all out would give him some trouble—he did admit that much.

But...

Looking at the massive spray of blood bursting from his chest, cold sweat poured uncontrollably down Sadgeo’s face.

This was absolutely not power that the swordsman before him should have been able to unleash.

Not only that jet-black, unknown, immensely powerful ghostly aura, but within this strike, there was even the power of Conqueror’s Haki!!!

This was a power even he himself had yet to fully master!!!

"You bastard..."

"You also have ambitions of becoming a king?!!!"

The strike landed cleanly, and even Zoro himself felt there was something exquisitely strange about it.

Originally, he had intended to use Armament Haki combined with his ghostly Nine-Sword Style.

But just now, a powerful force had been added into it, allowing him to unleash a blow that surpassed his limits, heavily wounding Sadgeo, who had just stepped into the realm of a Yonko!!!

"This is..."

The ghostly aura and Asura phantom around Zoro slowly dissipated. His face was filled with utter exhaustion.

He removed Yami Karasu from his mouth, gripped it in his hand, and stared uncertainly at the pitch-black blade.

"Zoro!!!"

The rest of the Straw Hat crew, as well as the fish-men of Fish-Man Island, stared at this horrifying scene in shock, mouths agape, cold sweat pouring out.

Only Orin, far off in the distance, pinched his chin with interest and raised an eyebrow.

Interesting...

So that’s how he seized a sliver of survival.

Sadgeo had never felt Orin’s Conqueror’s Haki. His fear and wariness toward it were written into his lineage factor—or rather, rooted deep in the bones of Luffy, Teach, and Shanks.

It was the same logic as how, in the original story, [Seraphim·S-Snake] would like Luffy.

And back when the Straw Hat crew had been "trained" by him, the gap in level was far too great. There was no need, and they wouldn’t have lasted long enough anyway, for him to use Conqueror’s Haki.

So among everyone present, only Orin himself felt it most clearly.

The sword Yami Karasu contained Haki accumulated from countless battles during his youth.

Beyond that, it also held the ghostly aura he had cultivated through relentless combat, breaking through limits, and slaying innumerable enemies in his younger years.

"Haki really can be stored..."

Whether it was the Haki stored within the giant robot Emeth—the Haki of Joy Boy from eight hundred years ago—or the Haki left behind by Kozuki Oden within Enma, all of these were forms of Haki power entrusted to objects.

And Yami Karasu, to a certain extent, still contained Orin’s Conqueror’s Haki Infusion and ghostly aura from when he was young.

That was why, when Sadgeo faced Zoro’s ultimate move just now, he faintly saw the phantom of a young man whose eyes burst with crimson light—like a god of slaughter, like an Asura.

Sadgeo’s cold sweat had nothing to do with Zoro himself.

It was because of that phantom—the black-clad young man wreathed in pitch-black ghostly aura, with Conqueror’s Haki Infusion coiling along the blade, his eyes blazing crimson.

The instant Sadgeo met that phantom’s gaze, he truly felt like he was going to be killed!!!

But that wasn’t the real Orin, after all. What remained on Yami Karasu wasn’t even a fraction of his power at his peak.

Zoro slowly turned back, only to see Sadgeo clutching the massive wound in his abdomen, staring at him in disbelief.

"How could this be..."

"Even with the power within [Yami Karasu], it’s still not enough..."

At this moment, Sadgeo showed no signs of collapsing. On the contrary, he looked vigorous and full of vitality, clearly tough to an extreme degree.

"It’s over..."

Looking at the giant figure wearing a straw hat slowly approaching, Zoro’s eyes began to roll back as his consciousness gradually faded.

Just as he had said before drawing his blade, this was his limit.

At that moment,

Countless pale arms suddenly sprouted from the ground, interfering with Sadgeo’s line of sight.

At the same time, a pair of enormous, feet appeared, lifting Zoro’s body and kicking him straight into the safe zone.

Zoro had bought them time.

And that small amount of time was enough for all of them to retreat to the safe half of Fish-Man Island.

Sanji, stepping through the air with Geppo while carrying Luffy, caught Zoro’s unconscious body midair and finally landed safely.

"Thank goodness..."

"That moss-head really pulled his weight this time."

A battered Sanji sat down on the ground, set the two of them down, and lit a cigarette for himself.

Then his gaze turned cold as he looked toward Sadgeo in the distance.

In theory, this half of Fish-Man Island’s territory was under Orin’s Black Flag protection, where no outsiders were allowed to cause destruction.

But if the other side decided to throw caution to the wind, then the Straw Hat Pirates’ only remaining combatant capable of standing against such a monster would be him.

Fortunately, the giant figure did not continue forward. Instead, he looked at the Straw Hat crew with a regretful expression.

"You really do have some tricks..."

Sadgeo indeed wouldn’t cross this dividing line to fight, because that would involve the underlying rules.

However...

His face was cast in shadow by the enormous straw hat. Then he slowly raised his head, the face so similar to Luffy now looking somewhat grim.

"You don’t really think that hiding over there means you’re completely safe, do you?"

Sadgeo stepped forward until he reached the boundary line.

His eyes locked straight onto Shirahoshi, who was only as tall as his thigh, and a smile appeared on his face.

"You can summon Sea Kings, right? Come out to sea with me!!!"

"No~!!!" 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Shirahoshi shrank back, timidly hiding behind Neptune.

"Leave at once, giant!!! I will never hand Shirahoshi over to anyone!!!"

Neptune glared angrily as well, fists clenched tightly as he stared at Sadgeo.

"Is that so..."

Sadgeo bared his teeth in a grin. Though he looked the same, he was no righteous Joy Boy.

"Then King Neptune, are you prepared to abandon all the residents on the other half of Fish-Man Island?"

On the other half of Fish-Man Island, there still lived quite a few fish-men and merfolk. Some were reluctant to leave their homes; others were fish-man delinquents who lived there.

But in the end, they were all citizens of Fish-Man Island.

"Hee hee hee... then let me repeat myself once more,"

Sadgeo grinned, showing his gleaming white teeth.

"In the name of a king who opposes the World Government, I promise you this—I will grant you protection. Lend me the power of the fish-men!!!"