Why would a Saint Seiya become a pirate?

Red Nose looked at the familiar straw hat in his hand, his heart filled with mixed emotions, his face contorted with rage.

"Ah, Shanks gave it to me."

Luffy picked his nose and said self-satisfiedly.

"Ah, Shanks, it's alright now. I thought it was... What?! Shanks?! You're dead!"

With that, Bucky's face contorted with rage, and he plunged the dagger in his hand deep into his straw hat...

……

East China Sea, Windmill Village

"I'm back. How's my farming going?"

Looking at Sieg, who was lying drunk in the tavern,

"You brat, you've only come back once every few months, and all you're thinking about is your little piece of land? I almost died at Sabo's hands! Can't you even care about me?"

"I don't care about that at all. The great bandit king, Sig, is someone who killed the king of the near seas. How could he possibly lose?"

"Thanks to you, I've got a bounty of 58 million. How about you settle the tavern's accounts first? Makino said that if I don't pay back the money, she'll take your land to pay off the debt."

"Don't listen to his nonsense, I never said that."

Makino, resting her chin on her hand at the bar, gave the two of them a disdainful look.

“It’s alright. When Shanks comes back next time, we’ll have him pay for it too. After all, he’s one of the Four Emperors. If all else fails, he can exchange himself for the bounty.”

"You agree, right, Sister Makino?"

"Money doesn't matter, but do you have any other way to get that guy to stay longer?"

Upon hearing news of Shanks, Makino immediately perked up.

"Of course, don't say it was me who said it."

"Okay, this meal is on me."

"First do it like this, then do it like this, and then take it down."

"Oh, you think that works?"

"Ah."

Thus, when Shanks returned to the East Blue to leave, he was held back for a long time by Makino's defenses.

This is all a story for later.

……

Chapter 10: Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world, and Phoenix Ace

"I'm so hungry! I really want to eat meat! Give me some meat!"

Luffy's face was full of wrinkles, and he was leaning against the railing of the Going Merry.

Its hands hung limply, causing several carnivorous fish below to leap up in a frenzy.

Unfortunately, Luffy was completely exhausted and could only watch the fish leave.

After easily defeating Buggy the Clown and his crew, Nami repaired Luffy's straw hat.

Then Luffy, in his familiar manner, tied his arm around him and pulled him onto the ship.

"Fanny, when are you coming back?"

"Shut up. If you hadn't asked Zoro to give us directions, would we have been running around aimlessly for so many days?"

Nami was truly speechless at Luffy's brain-dead captain.

Zoro, who seems the most reliable and is known as the "Pirate Hunter," turns out to be a complete idiot with no sense of direction.

God knows how this guy managed to make it all these years.

"That's it."

Usopp chimed in from the side.

"And you, saying you should trust a swordsman's intuition? I don't believe you for a second!"

"Smimasai!"

"Alright, I'll take the navigator's directions from now on. The price is tentatively set at 10 Berries per day!"

Nami clapped her hands, pulled Luffy up, and offered herself a price.

"I have no objection, anyway I don't have any money."

Usopp spread his hands.

"I have no objection, since it doesn't cost me any money anyway."

Zoro blushed slightly and turned his head away.

I'm hungry~

All that could be heard from below was Luffy's groan.

"Okay, unanimously approved. Now let's address the captain's stomach problem first."

"I know there's a famous floating restaurant nearby called 'Barati,' so let's eat there first."

"Have a meal?!"

"it is good!"

"Set off."

……

"Air shock!"

"Is this really the end?"

Ace felt as if all the bones in his body were shattered. He lay on the broken ground, panting heavily.

The once blazing flames on his body had dwindled to just a few scattered sparks.

The red gemstone hanging around her neck kept flashing, as if it were telling a story.

Sure enough, the old saying is right: even dogs won't eat roasted fruit.

"Not bad, kid. You actually managed to hurt me. Too bad, you've run into me, Whitebeard!"

A large, white-bearded man was seen holding a naginata, his charred chest exposed.

And burnt chest hair.

Just like that, a hand was stretched out.

Standing so proudly in the sunlight is none other than Edward Newgate, the captain of the Whitebeard Pirates.

Do you want to win?

Suddenly, a voice came from beside my ear.

Who are you?

"Who I am is not important, what's important is that you just lay there like that?"

"How did that guy choose this year's Saints? What happened to that damned inheritance of will?"

A disdainful voice came from the valiant man inside the Saint Cloth Stone.

"The other party is Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world."

Ace gave a bitter smile. He had really tried his best, and this was the second time he had fallen.

"Who cares about white beard or black beard? Saint Seiya is someone even gods have to punch twice before they leave."

"Moreover, what you have inherited is the strongest Phoenix Cloth in history."

"Really? I don't believe it."

"Fine, I'll only demonstrate once. Once you've learned it, that's enough."

As he spoke, he transformed into flames and poured them into the gems on Ace's necklace.

The gemstone emitted bursts of flames and burned fiercely.

Then it quickly wrapped around Ace, transforming into a magnificent suit of armor with phoenix tail wings.

"Oh? He seems like a different person. The strange armor... it looks a bit like Marco's."

"However, the color is different. I've never heard of this kind of fruit ability before?"

Looking at Ace, who had transformed into a miniature sun, Whitebeard, who had been relaxed and carefree, became serious.

"Take this! Phoenix Wings Soaring Through the Sky!"

Ace slowly compressed the fist intent formed by the flames in his hand.

He pressed his fist against his body, creating a powerful hurricane-like whirlwind that resembled the flapping wings of a phoenix, which gradually formed a fire phoenix.

Then the immense wind and the fiery phoenix crashed down on Whitebeard.

"Air shock!"

Even Whitebeard was taken aback by the pressure of that fist, which was covered in flames.

He subconsciously wrapped his hands in domineering energy and slammed his fists into the space in front of him.

With a series of sounds of space shattering, the smoke and dust dissipated.

Whitebeard truly lived up to his reputation as the strongest man of his time, remaining unscathed from such a fierce attack, though he was slightly out of breath.

"You were careless. A Saint Seiya cannot use the same move twice. Phoenix Illusion Demon Fist!"

Ace, who should have been sent flying backward, suddenly appeared in front of Whitebeard thanks to the detection of his Observation Haki.

He was punched in the head.

"Shock Punch!"

The moment Ace threw a punch, Whitebeard instinctively threw a punch as well, giving Ace no chance to transform into his elemental form.

Ace flew out like a rag doll, his Phoenix Cloth turning into flames and returning to its Cloth Stone form, which then went back to the necklace.