One Piece: Mandala Swordsman

Chapter 257 I've given you all the face, what about my face?

"Excuse me, could you please do me the honor of not causing trouble here? If possible, please leave as soon as possible, please?"

While Roman was dealing with the pirates on the other side, Shanks also took action, and Red-Haired Shanks activated his "Face Fruit" once again.

Although it was just a simple sentence, it deterred the pirates who were still running rampant.

Matthew Mills' Howling Pirates also operated in the pirate world, so they naturally recognized outstanding peers.

Moreover, Shanks himself is quite famous even in the New World.

Mills also sensed the significance of Snow's unusual actions.

So even knowing there were considerable risks involved, he still faced the challenge head-on.

Therefore, he didn't want to give up easily.

This time, he chose to confront it directly.

"Red-Haired Shanks, I know your abilities, but we're both pirates, so give me some face. Let's keep to ourselves. You do your thing, I'll do mine, and we won't interfere with each other."

"I'm sorry, under normal circumstances I would probably agree, but not now. I have my reasons..."

“You…” Mills hadn’t expected the redhead to be so disrespectful. He had already been polite and willing to back down, so why was the redhead going to push his luck? It seemed those newspapers had made him out of his mind.

"Captain, although he is indeed famous, he's all alone now. Let's just take his head. If people find out that so many of us are afraid of one man, our Roaring Pirates will lose all face." One of the subordinates brandished his broadsword and began to complain indignantly.

His words struck a chord with Mills.

"Redhead, you need to think this through. You may be powerful, but my men and I are not to be trifled with. Are you sure you want to clash with us at this time?" Mills' voice grew gruff, carrying a veiled warning.

“If that’s the case, I’d be happy to oblige.” Shanks drew his Griffin.

……

"Bulu Bulu Bulu..."

"Well, Sly, has fighting broken out in the east?"

"Although it's not clear, the commotion in the east is quite significant. It seems Shanks has already clashed with the Howling Pirates."

"That's good."

Roman was initially worried that if Shanks said he would give them face, everyone else would actually do so, but now it seems that even Shanks' own face isn't everything.

That's true. Shanks isn't one of the Four Emperors yet, so he doesn't have that much influence.

I've already given you face, so why shouldn't I take my face?

Sometimes, living is all about fighting for your pride.

"What about the other two sides?"

"They've already started fighting," Sly continued her report.

"That's good, everything is going smoothly..." Roman was very satisfied with the current situation.

"So what are you going to do next? And although it's a good thing that the two groups of pirates are fighting, there will always be a winner eventually. Will you be able to handle it then?"

"It's alright, let's take it slow. The plan regarding the Red-Haired Pirates isn't completely finished yet. Let's see how things unfold next."

"Are you already certain that Shanks and his crew will win in the end? Are you that confident in them?"

"To be honest, I would prefer someone else to win, but from a rational perspective, that would be wishful thinking," Roman said, rationally stating the outcome he did not want.

"Have you thought it through? Those guys seem to be pretty good at running away, and didn't they say that redhead has some important clue?" Sly reminded him.

"My judgment is that there is a misunderstanding here. Although we can't ignore it, there is no need to wipe them out completely. What matters to us is the form, not the substance. At least on the surface, we can't let them get away with it. We have to skin them alive."

"So you're planning to abandon the arrest of the Red-Haired Pirates..."

"Well, not necessarily. I actually want to take this opportunity to teach him a lesson, but it depends on whether luck will be on my side this time."

……

"This is really bad, my physical condition doesn't seem to be very good." Beckman said after dodging a pirate's sneak attack with great agility.

The side effects of the medication had clearly not completely subsided. His body was much sluggish than before, and he felt very uncomfortable.

The most likely explanation is that the other party deliberately didn't give them enough antidote.

"Hey, have you made any progress?"

Even amidst the chaos, Beckman didn't forget to exchange a few words with the ship's doctor, Hongo.

Even the ship's doctor in the Red-Haired Pirates is a formidable fighter.

Hongo is a skilled ship's doctor who can prepare medicine while dodging enemy swords.

He remained perfectly steady throughout the entire process, not letting a single drop of the medicine spill, and he could even respond to Beckman's words.

The person who gave them the antidote may have been negligent, causing the medicine to drip onto their clothes.

Once the source is identified, the ship's doctor can analyze the components and even formulate an antidote.

"The ingredients are simpler than expected, and it seems to be just an experimental product, so give me a few more days and I should be able to complete the decomposition of the original drug."

It must be said that there are also extremely skilled ship doctors among pirates.

The naval science department's pharmaceutical experts and the pirates' ship doctors constantly challenged each other through real combat, promoting the research and development of drugs.

Therefore, research on related toxic substances and anesthetics must be conducted with utmost caution.

It must be determined that it is difficult to crack before it can be mass-produced as a killer technique.

Otherwise, if a pirate ship's doctor were to crack it and it were to spread widely, then all mass-produced biological weapons would become nothing more than scrap metal.

As for why they didn't use highly corrosive substances, it's because they're not easy to conceal.

As a tool for fighting the enemy, the more colorless and odorless the potion is, the harder it is to detect, and the easier it is for people to fall victim to it.

The highest level was that he experienced a reaction, but unexpectedly it turned out to be poisoning.

Of course, this is under the condition that there is no antidote.

After all, people in this world with combat abilities generally have strong physical attributes, and with one dose of the antidote, there are no side effects.

Therefore, Roman only used an unfinished product for the Red-Haired Pirates.

What if the finished product gets hacked...

I'm sorry, she really can't afford to compensate for this loss. She'll probably have to become a test subject in the science department before the scientists can forgive her.

"So that means we have to take down these guys now, even with our stiff bodies?" Beckman said with a hint of helplessness.

"It's alright, Beckman. We've been through plenty of these kinds of situations before, haven't we?"

That's right, such things happen quite often, and in the past, it wouldn't have been a big deal.

But Beckman felt inexplicably uneasy.

I can't get away from this for a while, I hope that idiot Shanks is alright.

Please wait until we arrive, and absolutely do not act rashly.