One Piece: Mandala Swordsman

Chapter 53: One jaw-dropping piece of news every day

The calm of the sea is like the mouth of a liar, especially deceptive; if you're not careful, they can spout outrageous things.

At least today's World Economic Herald has served as a wake-up call for the Navy.

The Red-Haired Pirates's Famous Battle!!!

The Unparalleled Swordsman Shanks!!!

An epic battle against the Whitebeard Pirates!!!

In short, as soon as today's economic newspaper was published, it immediately caused a stir, just like water being poured into a frying pan.

As an authoritative, even official, world economic newspaper, its readers are almost all over the world, which has made its president, Morgans, very wealthy.

The contents of this document are announcing the emergence of another powerful force on the sea, which is definitely not a good thing for the navy.

Roman certainly read it too. You know, habits are a powerful thing. In this world without cell phones, newspapers are one of the few sources of information, and subscribing to a newspaper every day is just too common.

However, when she saw the headline again, she could sense the newspaper publisher's exaggeration.

As a world newspaper that is neither for pirates nor for the navy, its stance should be absolutely neutral, devoid of emotion or bias. To be more precise, exclamation marks containing emotional words should not appear in the headlines. What a newspaper needs to do is state the facts, not emotions.

But the newspaper article read like a novel, especially the description of their fight, which was incredibly elaborate. She seriously doubted that the fight scene was the author's imagination rather than fact.

Roman read the entire piece with a furrowed brow, extracting the key passages.

Shanks has lost his mind and wants to go find Whitebeard.

Shanks met Whitebeard and announced that he wanted to hold a banquet.

Shanks and Whitebeard got drunk together.

Shanks and Whitebeard started fighting.

Shanks eventually escaped successfully.

That's roughly how it went.

Roman knew all along that Shanks was no pushover, and he wasn't even surprised when Shanks went to see Whitebeard.

The reason they didn't fight immediately was probably because they saw his straw hat and remembered that he used to be Roger's crew member.

Of course, Roman doesn't know whether Shanks' own reputation played a part in this.

The direct consequence of this was that Shanks' bounty increased to 3 million.

After all, the battle didn't take place inside a closed cake, but rather in the open sea with excellent visibility.

Anyone with eyes could see that Shanks was at a disadvantage, but the fact that he could withstand Whitebeard's attack and escape successfully speaks volumes.

If left unchecked, it will eventually become a major problem.

The solution is actually quite simple. If Garp joins the fray, their entire crew will be wiped out. After all, Shanks is only 20 years old, still too young. Becoming a Yonko at 19 is not something everyone can achieve.

As an aside, Hawkeye has become a name in the World Economic Herald now, because he slashed down another pirate ship. However, he doesn't deserve any praise, because he also slashed down a warship, and this isn't the first time he's done it.

However, the bounty on his head has been delayed because there is still controversy surrounding it.

After all, Hawkeye isn't a pirate. He doesn't have a pirate flag or any subordinates. He's just a lone wolf. He doesn't seem to engage in any arson, murder, or looting. He just spends his days carrying that big sword around looking for swordsmen to duel with.

Of course, the process was brutal; anything that stood in his way would be slashed down with a single blow.

The Navy high command even held a special meeting regarding the pirates, and the issue of Hawkeye's fate was also mentioned.

As a representative of the hawks, Sakazuki insisted on issuing a bounty on Hawkeye, while the doves believed that they should not make any more enemies and should consider recruiting him. In short, they argued fiercely.

Meetings always seem to be a competition of who can shout the loudest.

"Shouldn't you be working at this time, Lieutenant General Kuzan?" Roman was quite surprised to see Kuzan, who looked like he hadn't woken up yet, standing next to him.

"After all, Professor Zephyr always speaks highly of you, so I came to check on you. It seems you're doing... alright." Ignoring the bruises and welts on Roman's body, Kuzan knew, of course, that they were Professor Zephyr's handiwork, so he lied and said the above statement.

"Are you really not looking for a place to sleep?" Roman asked, looking at the pillow he always had with him.

"Oh dear, have I been found out? After all, my adjutant has been blocking my house for days, so I had to find a quiet place and come see you while I was at it."

This may sound insincere, but it's actually full of sincerity.

Kuzan can even fall asleep standing up, so whether it's quiet or not really doesn't matter. Besides, the training camp is filled with Zeff's scolding, so it's hardly a quiet place. Therefore, Kuzan really came to see if he was doing well.

This made Roman somewhat relieved. It seemed that he truly considered her his subordinate, and she no longer needed to worry about her allegiance after graduating from the training camp.

"Speaking of which, don't you really need to check out the promising students there? The hawks come to check on the trainees every few days."

Factions are about strength, influence, and numbers.

Trainees who haven't fully embraced political leanings are good targets for recruitment; those who make it to the Zefa training camp are generally quite talented.

“They are too young. If they rashly establish their own sense of justice, they might hurt themselves.” Kuzan shook his head.

Although he is currently confused, he still believes that people need to uphold the justice in their hearts, a justice that originates from their own thoughts rather than being instilled by external forces. At least he shouldn't become like himself. Sometimes he even envies Sakazuki, who can always maintain his original intentions. However, Kuzan has always opposed his view of justice.

"But you know quite a lot. Have you already figured out the factional struggles within the Navy?" Kuzan couldn't help but look at Roman with newfound respect.

"Don't underestimate a child's survival wisdom. For us, being perceptive is very important." Roman made a playful face.

Kuzan gave a faint smile: "I hope she has the same awareness as you, otherwise it will be difficult for her to survive."

"she?"

"It's nothing. I'm relieved to know you're doing well. If you encounter any difficulties, you can come to me. Ah, but you might not be able to find me. Here, take this Den Den Mushi. With it, you should be able to contact me." Kuzan took out the Den Den Mushi from his pocket, then yawned and left.

Well, is he surprisingly a good boss?

"If you see him, you could also consider Lieutenant General Kuzan. After all, he's a decent guy, isn't he?" Roman smiled as he looked at the corner and made the suggestion.