Chapter 243

Sakazuki charged like a T-Rex; he wanted to see where Sima Di's limit lay!

Usopp instinctively tried to run, but Brook raised his sword to block him.

"Usopp, stop running." The soul-fire in Brook's eyes flared brighter: "Such a rare chance to have an Admiral as a sparring partner—don't miss it, yo-ho-ho-ho—"

He raised his sword first to meet Sakazuki...

Then was smashed away by a single punch.

The gap was obvious!

But Brook got up immediately upon landing; stepping on the damage-sharing aura, he was unharmed and continued charging at Sakazuki 930!

This calmed Usopp a little, and finally allowed him to calm down slightly and think about what to do.

Run?

Since death isn't an option, why run at all?

Just as Brook said...

An Admiral as a sparring partner is a rare opportunity!

Watching the group get utterly dominated by Sakazuki, Sima Di couldn't help but nod.

And he condensed Armament Haki to its extreme.

He could be immune to magma flames, but this physical attack of the martial arts style had to be endured for real.

Fortunately, Sakazuki wasn't a martial arts Admiral, so for the time being he couldn't break through the defense.

Sima Di, enduring the attacks that erupted from time to time, descended toward Kuzan.

Seeing Kuzan's wary gaze, Sima Di waved his hand.

"I'm not here to fight you; shall we sit and talk?"

Kuzan looked at him strangely.

He is an Admiral of the Navy, and you are a pirate; what is there to talk about between the two of you?

Who knew Kuzan's first sentence would break his defense!

"I am preparing to support you as the Fleet Admiral; how about it?"

Kuzan stared oddly at Sima Di.

Before he could open his mouth,

Sakazuki in the distance flew into a rage!

"Damn it! Is the position of Fleet Admiral something you can decide just by opening your mouth?"

"Isn't that simple?" Sima Di smiled: "Just kill you, and this Fleet Admiral position..."

"Swish—"

"Crack—"

Sima Di caught the ice blade Kuzan had slashed down; the collision of Armament Haki produced a grating friction sound.

"I will never cooperate with a pirate to harm a comrade just for the sake of the Fleet Admiral position!" Kuzan said sternly.

"I was just making a metaphor; don't get angry." Sima Di raised Ice Wheel Blade, gesturing: "Are you really not prepared to sit and talk?"

The implied meaning...

If all else fails, you can talk while kneeling.

One hundred percent bare-handed catch of the white blade as a "control skill" is still very BUG-like.

Kuzan thought for half a second...

Silently dissipated the ice blade—Sengoku and Borsalino both knelt steadily; he didn't think he would be the exception.

Thus,

Kuzan and Sima Di were left in peace on their side.

On Sakazuki's side, he was "slaughtering" the group.

Don't look at how Sima Di can usually fight them evenly, but for Brook and the others, facing an enraged Navy Admiral, there was no way to last even a single move.

It was purely one-sided bloodshed.

"What exactly are you planning to do? Training your subordinates?" Kuzan asked.

"That is just a side effect." Sima Di said: "I am serious; I want to support you as the Fleet Admiral."

"The method you mentioned just now?"

"That was a joke; although Sakazuki is a bit ruthless, that is only toward pirates." Sima Di shook his head: "Actually, compared to pirates, I prefer to call myself an explorer."

"An explorer?" Kuzan's eyes flickered.

Counting the things the Straw Hat Pirates have done, it seems they are either saving the nation or on the way to saving the nation.

Rarely do they have direct conflicts with the Navy.

At the Summit War,

To be honest, with the configuration of the Luo Jie Pirates, the Whitebeard Pirates, and the Straw Hat Pirates, they had more than enough to crush the Navy head-on.

But the Navy's casualties were within an acceptable range.

It seems...

"The layout of the Summit War was your doing, wasn't it?" Kuzan asked: "You seem to be deliberately avoiding large-scale casualties?"

"Oh? Were you discovered?" Sima Di said in surprise: "I thought no one would find out."

"Actually, I didn't care much..."

Kuzan glanced at Sima Di,

He was almost enduring all of Sakazuki's attacks, yet could chat with him here...

It has only been a few days!

During the Summit War,

Sima Di's combat power back then shouldn't differ much from now.

But he was "going easy" the entire time — even more skilled at slacking off than Borsalino.

The only two times he got serious,

although the commotion was huge, a closer look revealed there were hardly any casualties at all.

One must know......

Under Sima Di's arrangement, all the high-end combat power on both sides at the time had been neatly allocated!

And Sima Di, for a long stretch, was in a state of "no one watching over him."

If he had wanted to go on a killing spree back then......

At least half of the currently surviving Marines would have to be crossed off!

Of course,

the Marines wouldn't just sit and wait for death at that point either; the pirates' casualties wouldn't be few either.

So......

"If you say you're an explorer, then I can understand why you showed mercy to the Marines." Kuzan said oddly: "It's just...... compared to pirates, the World Government is even more iron-fisted toward explorers!"

"Of course." Sima Di scoffed: "Even a great pirate like Whitebeard is, at most, a headache for the Fleet Admiral; the Celestial Dragons sit up high and remain unaffected. But an explorer like Luo Jie is the kind who shakes the very foundations of the World Government."

"You have a big grudge against the World Government?" Kuzan's question was sharp.

"Would you be willing to be the World Government's dog?" Sima Di said in surprise.

"......"

After a brief silence, Sima Di continued—

"Although the Marines are the World Government's running dogs, and have all sorts of problems like corruption, they are, after all, barely maintaining order on the seas."

"The Whitebeard Pirates call themselves pirates, but they haven't dared to do any plundering for a long time now — more like an autonomous state."

"Once the pirates are left without restraint, the ones who ultimately suffer will still be the commoners at the bottom."

"Although I don't have a compassionate heart that embraces peace under heaven, I also wouldn't knowingly do such a thing on purpose."

This explanation made Kuzan sigh.

"It's a pity that the ones who ran into you first were the Straw Hat Pirates, not the Marines." Kuzan said regretfully.

"In fact, it was I myself who actively chose to join the Straw Hat Pirates."

"Why?"

"Because they, like me, are explorers, not pirates."

Is that so?

Kuzan couldn't help but furrow his brow, thinking about something.