Chapter 238: Shanks: Temporarily Hidden in Darkness

"Sorry, I thought Mr. Shanks knew 【Ashura】 very well."

At first, Fang Yi had indeed intended to warn him,

but was interrupted by the 【Emperor of Knowing】's remark, so he stayed quiet.

However,

just by drinking ten bottles of Xinyan Potion, he discovered the details of Mind's Eye and Wave Power, and successfully changed class to Ashura.

Shanks wasn't bragging—he really did know it well.

"I really have a foul mouth."

Shanks clutched his chest, his face twisted in anguish,

usually aboard the Red Force he spoke without restraint, used to bragging and horsing around with the crew—never expected that failing to hold back his bragging would cost him twenty thousand Reward Points.

But very soon,

a smile returned to Shanks's face—that was just his carefree nature; no matter how great the loss, he'd only feel the sting for two minutes.

Then he'd throw himself into a new adventure.

"Wave Engrave!"

Shanks suddenly drew Griffin, the chipped blade shimmering with Wave Breath, continuously gathering above his head.

The dense Wave Breath finally condensed into an intricate spell rune, circling endlessly above his head.

Sensing the power Reinforced by Wave Breath, Shanks curled his lip and said, "Mr. Fang Yi, you don't mind if I try out my new ability, do you?"

"Of course not—want me to sell you a target?"

Fang Yi raised his hand,

and a ferocious small Sea King appeared in the center of the Game House, swaying a tail fin bristling with spikes.

【Near-Shore King (Reinforced Version)】: A small Sea King with the same defense stats as Kaido. Price: 300 Reward Points.

"Mr. Fang Yi, you really do have a wicked sense of humor!"

Looking at the familiar Near-Shore King, Shanks's lip twitched involuntarily,

from the game merchant's tone, the target for testing game abilities could be any creature, yet it had to be the very Near-Shore King that bit off his arm.

"Fine then—farewell to the fate of the past, starting from this moment!"

Shanks raised his arm, gripping Griffin tightly,

closed his eyes,

and a Jiangji wrapped in Haki and Wave descended.

Though it looked like a Near-Shore King, its defense was actually comparable to the strongest creature in the Pirate World—yet this Jiangji tore through it, shredding flesh like splitting bamboo, snapping the spine, and cutting it clean in two.

"With the Fish-Fish Fruit and Armament Haki, my full-strength slash back then could at best—like Yueguang Yutian—inflict some less-than-troublesome wounds on Kaido…"

Shanks opened his eyes, slightly shocked—he had still underestimated the power of Wave.

And now, if that Jiangji just now had landed on Kaido, it could have split open the opponent's proud undying body directly.

"Still can't master Mind's Eye skillfully—need to put on an eye covering first."

The real world seen with the eyes interferes with the Bodong Shijie presented by Mind's Eye.

To gather Wave, one must temporarily close the eyes,

which is very troublesome—better to just blindfold both eyes and gradually get used to the Bodong Shijie.

From this moment on, I am 【Shura Hidden in Darkness · Shanks】!

Shanks vainly flipped his hair, wrapping two strips of cloth tightly around his eyes.

Fang Yi asked, "Still want to keep buying Fate Goods?"

"Of course!"

Shanks couldn't wait to look at the shelf,

his vision pitch-black—he hurriedly gathered his focus, activating Mind's Eye to draw out the Bodong Shijie.

The two Fate Goods already purchased had brought him tremendous improvement—the current him could defeat his past self, who hadn't exchanged for game abilities, within two moves.

He smiled bitterly inside,

no wonder Smoger had ignored him—the gap between an ordinary person without game abilities and a top-tier player was vast as a chasm.

The remaining Fate Goods,

one was 【Blood of the Overlord】, which could enhance the four-dimensional attributes, with a chance to Awaken Overlord Power.

Shanks had already Awakened Mind's Eye and mastered Wave Power,

and after a brief comparison found the two powers weren't very compatible, so he果断 gave up.

The other two were equipment that could enhance spiritual power—he took them all for himself.

"Random Key, can refresh the goods shelf."

"Buy!"

Looking at his assets being frantically exchanged away, Shanks lamented, "If I'd known it would be like this, I should have occupied a few more islands back then, like the other Four Emperors."

"Who could have thought that one day, assets would also become a factor in determining strength."

If someone had suddenly run up to him and said the more assets you had the stronger you'd be, he would have surely scoffed.

But now, he really was short on assets.

It was the first time he'd tasted the pain of lacking money, and he understood why those ambitious men all frantically amassed wealth and usurped kingdoms.

"If assets are tight, you can wait seven days for the goods shelf to auto-refresh."

"Or go hunt Pollution Monsters on Death Island."

Fang Yi considerately offered solutions.

But Shanks rejected them, waving his hand grandly and gritting his teeth: "A great battle is imminent—even if I no longer cling to the old fate, the Navy's rise is still a massive hidden threat that must be dealt a heavy blow!"

He wanted to establish his own Adventurer Guild,

Even if the surface threat wasn't as great as that of Pirates, it was inevitable that the Navy would take notice. Only by dealing the Navy heavy losses so they had no time to cast their gaze toward Si Hai could he rapidly build the embryonic form of an Adventurer Guild during that window.

"As you wish."

Fang Yi wore a face full of smiles and no longer tried to stop him.

The first Random Key — the merchandise shelf refreshed.

Five brand-new game items appeared,

Shanks's gaze was drawn to a Paopao radiating an aura of freezing cold,

"Ice Blade Wave Sword."

Fang Yi, very timely, explained: "An exclusive technique of the Ashura Swordsman, a sword art imbued with freezing-cold waves. When pushed to its extreme, even the world itself would be sealed in ice by the freezing waves!"

Buy!

Shanks's eyes lit up as he laughed: "I didn't expect my luck to be this good — a Wave-series skill appearing on the very first pull."

Since luck was at its peak, if not now, when?

The Red Hair Pirates had an unproven saying, but one accepted by most of the crew.

It was that luck rose and fell like ocean waves — when luck was good, even the lowest-probability gamble had to be charged head-on.

"Congratulations."

Fang Yi kept the smile on his face,

The Random Key's refresh of the merchandise shelf — he wasn't black-hearted enough to manipulate it on purpose; everything was guided by the Fate Rune.

But sometimes, the Fate Rune seemed awfully scheming,

Always able to refresh relatively high-quality items for the player in the first few pulls, like scattered fish bait.

To date, it had already swindled Reward Points accumulated by hundreds of players, led by Smoker.

This time for Shanks, it was probably no exception,

"Wave Burst?"

"It can even fuse with Conqueror's Haki — even Whitebeard couldn't withstand that trembling force. Buy!"

Several consecutive Random Keys, and again a high-quality Wave-series skill appeared.

Shanks was overjoyed, unconsciously sinking into it.

……

East Blue, the chaotic battlefield on the edge of Death Island.

The battle between Hawkeye and Smoker had already ended — both sides wounded,

Severely burned by the poisonous mist imbued with the Fire Poison Technique, Hawkeye's entire sword-wielding arm was covered in scar tissue as if seared by flames, and his HP had already reached the brink of death.

Leaning against the deck of the Red Force, he tilted his head back and downed a Recovery Potion.

On the other side,

Smoker was likewise seriously injured — the defense of his giant Poison General had been torn apart by sword Qi, his chest sliced open, and through the ribs his beating heart could even be seen.

Smoker endured the pain and asked: "How many Life Recovery Potions are left?"

A Navy Colonel reported: "Admiral Akainu's side is locked in a grinding battle and took most of the Life Recovery Potions. Nineteen bottles remain for the eastern battlefield."

"Very good."

The Navy had the advantage in player numbers, so naturally they also had more Life and Energy Recovery Potions.

The fighting had already lasted half a day,

Smoker didn't believe that the lone-wolf Hawkeye and the Red Hair Pirates with only a handful of players could scrape together that many potions.

Those scattered Pirates manipulated by Doflamingo would absolutely not hand over their own potions,

If nothing unexpected happened, this war of attrition was the Navy's victory!

(End of this chapter)