Starting as a pirate, he rose to become the strongest Shinigami in Soul Society.

Chapter 236 Star Explosion Fist! One strike shatters Weevil!

As the World Conference drew ever closer, the navy was bustling with activity, dispatching numerous warships to various countries to ferry royals who were heading to Mary Geoise to attend the conference.

This is happening in a sea area somewhere in the New World.

A fleet of several warships is sailing here.

The warships formed an encircling formation, surrounding several magnificent three-masted sailing ships and protecting them as they moved forward.

The flagship was the warship where Bane was located. At this moment, on the deck, Bane was enjoying his meal while feeling the sea breeze. Several men dressed in noble attire sat at the same table with Bane, their expressions showing some fear.

Bane ate with his usual rudeness, his mouth smeared with oil, and he held a grilled fish that was emitting a light purple smoke in his hand, eating with great relish.

After quickly devouring the obviously odd-looking grilled fish, he glared fiercely at the other nobles at the table and said, "Eat? Why aren't you eating? Do you think my hospitality isn't lavish enough?"

The nobles stared at the strange ingredients on the table with grim expressions. "Is this even fit for human consumption? It looks poisonous!"

"General, we are truly unfortunate to be unable to enjoy your hospitality. King Riddle has been bedridden for seven days now, and he still hasn't been able to get out of bed because of this meal you provided," a nobleman said, forcing himself to speak.

"Oh? It seems King Riddle's stomach isn't very good. Ain, remember to keep an eye on him for me," Bane casually instructed.

Standing behind Bane, Ain immediately replied, "I understand, General."

Hearing the threatening tone in Bane's words, the nobles exchanged glances, and finally mustered up their courage to pick up a piece of raw fish slices that looked normal on the table and take a bite.

The strong smell of the sea instantly made their taste buds explode, and they almost vomited.

When a young nobleman finally couldn't hold it in any longer and vomited into the trash can, his father hurriedly said in a flustered manner, "I'm so sorry, General, my son has been feeling seasick lately and can't eat such greasy food. Do you have anything lighter?"

"Light?" Bane chuckled and beckoned, "Someone, feed the young master some cakes."

As soon as he finished speaking, Weber walked up with a sneer, grabbed a few flatbreads from the table, pried open the struggling young nobleman's mouth, and stuffed them into his mouth, almost choking him to death.

"You lot have no skills, but you make a lot of demands." Bane sneered disdainfully. Then, seeing that Webber was really about to torture the young nobleman to death, he slowly waved his hand and said, "Since you don't have the luck, then forget it. Remember, I'm not here to serve you. For the rest of the voyage, I hope you'll all be quiet and not make any more strange requests, lest I get in a bad mood and treat you to dinner. Alright, you can all leave now."

Having received Bane's "pardon," the nobles excitedly expressed their gratitude and then quickly fled the warship, returning to their own ships.

"Young Master, there's no point in you tormenting them like this," Ain couldn't help but remind him with a smile.

"I was just bored on the journey." Bane wiped his mouth with a tissue and stopped eating.

After the janitors had cleared the table, Bane sipped his tea and casually asked, "Any interesting things have happened these past few days?"

"Nothing interesting is happening; everything is proceeding as planned," Ain replied after a moment's thought.

Just as Bane was feeling bored and unsure of what to do, Ain suddenly seemed to remember something and said, "Oh right, there really is something. Mr. Garp went to Fishman Island to escort the Neptune royal family from Ryugu Palace to Mary Geoise to participate in the World Conference, and it seems he caused quite a stir there."

"Hmm?" Bane asked, slightly intrigued. "What's going on?"

"It seems there's a fishman over there plotting a rebellion. He gathered tens of thousands of thugs from Fishman Island, intending to violently overthrow the rule of Ryugu Castle. But he ran right into Mr. Garp's hands, and Mr. Garp spent two days helping Ryugu Castle quell the rebellion," Ain said.

After a moment's thought, Bane roughly understood what was going on.

I reckon that when Garp went over there, he ran into that guy, what was his name again, Hawking? Anyway, some fishman named Hawking was about to rebel on drugs, so he just took care of him.

After listening to Ain's account, Bane confirmed that it was indeed true, and that the fishman's name was Hody Jones.

Not being a particularly important character, Bane quickly lost interest in Garp's little adventures.

"What a boring voyage. Wasn't the New World supposed to be in chaos lately? How come we haven't encountered a single pirate along the way?" Bane couldn't help but complain.

"Perhaps it's because the Big Mom Pirates and the Beasts Pirates jointly extended an invitation to a tea party, inviting many pirate captains from the New World to go to Whole Cake Island to discuss important matters. I suppose that most of the pirates with any standing in the New World are heading to Whole Cake Island right now?" Ain pondered for a moment and said.

"Such a thing exists?" Bane exclaimed in surprise. "How come I've never heard of it?"

"Perhaps it's because you haven't been reading the newspaper lately?" Ain tilted her head and said.

Kaido and Charlotte Linlin invited so many pirates from the New World to discuss something important. What could it be? It must be about dealing with the Navy later.

"Has no one from the intelligence department gone to spy on us?" Bane asked.

"Rear Admiral Drake of the Blade Force recently joined the Beasts Pirates and became one of the Flying Six. If nothing unexpected happens, he should be with Kaido on Whole Cake Island now, and he will try to send back information from inside later," Ain said immediately.

"Drake?" Bane muttered.

To be honest, if Ain hadn't mentioned this guy's name, Bane would have completely forgotten about him. Come to think of it, he was one of the more outstanding talents among the young admirals in the Navy Headquarters.

So after thinking about it for a moment, Bane said, "Make a note of this. After we wipe out the pirates in the New World, transfer Drake to our side."

"Okay." Ain immediately took out her notebook and wrote it down.

Just as Bane was about to say something more, a warship about 500 or 600 meters away from the flagship on the left fired a signal flare. The warship then quickly broke away from the formation and chased after it on the other side.

Bane jumped up from his chair and asked, "What did Vice Admiral Zoro discover?"

In less than two minutes, a naval captain arrived at Bane's side and reported, "Report, the third warship on the left has spotted a pirate ship approaching from the edge of our field of vision."

"Pirates!?" Bane asked in surprise. "Weren't they all at a meeting? Who has the guts to attack our navy's main fleet? Have they decided on their flag?"

"We are visually assessing the situation, but we haven't received accurate information yet," the naval captain reported.

Bane wasn't in a hurry. He took a telescope from Ain, walked a few steps to the bow of the ship, and began to look in that direction.

However, before he could find his target, suddenly, a burst of Conqueror's Haki erupted from the distant sea.

The Conqueror's Haki rapidly spread from the sea surface, instantly knocking several ordinary marines around Bane unconscious. However, judging from the fact that several officers of the rank of colonel were still able to withstand the force, the intensity of this Conqueror's Haki was actually not very high.

"Conqueror's Haki?" Bane didn't move, continuing to observe with his binoculars in hand.

Then, he saw the blurry pirate ship and the warship that had arrived in front of the pirate ship and was firing its cannons.

"Admiral, the other side is flying the Whitebeard Pirates' flag!" The naval captain had received accurate information and immediately reported it to Bane.

Bane?

Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!

"Huh? Whitebeard?" Bane was dumbfounded when he heard this.

What's going on? A passageway filled with ghostly soldiers?

What era are we living in? There are still people wearing white-bearded flags?

For a moment, Ben thought he had returned to 1520.

Just then, on the watchtower at the top of the mast, Nami opened the window and said, "We've confirmed the other party's identity. It's Edward Weevil, known as the Second Whitebeard, with a bounty of 480 million Berries. He's currently fighting Zoro."

"Edward Weevil!?" Upon hearing this name, Ian's expression instantly turned irrational, his eyes blazing with intense hatred. "He hasn't been on the high seas for a long time! Damn it, we've been looking for him for ages!"

"That scumbag, right?" Bane's eyes darkened as he asked.

"Yes, back then, when our teacher led us, we encountered him. That guy seemed to have some mental issues. Pirates usually don't attack warships, but he did. However, he was indeed very strong. Before our teacher's asthma flared up, he could suppress him, but as soon as his condition deteriorated, he was immediately severely injured by him," Ain said excitedly.

Over the years, Ain and his team have been searching for this guy, but after that attack, he seemed to have disappeared and never caused any major incidents again. Several sighting reports were also delayed.

After all, he has no crew, not even a fixed pirate ship, and he does have some mental issues, like a mentally challenged person. He follows his mother around like a ghost, and is even harder to find than the Red-Haired Pirates.

Soon, a relevant intelligence report was delivered to Bane.

Bane opened it, glanced at it, and then said, "Paramecia-type Devil Fruit user, specifically the Impact Fruit. The simpler and more direct the Paramecia-type, the more powerful it is."

The moment he finished speaking, dark clouds gathered over the distant sea, and then a pillar of lightning, like a dragon, descended from the sky and struck the pirate ship.

But the next second, an extremely powerful shockwave erupted from the pirate ship, shooting into the sky and smashing the pillar of lightning.

"He is highly regarded within headquarters. Although the intelligence staff cannot confirm whether he possesses Whitebeard's bloodline, he certainly has the formidable strength that Whitebeard possessed in his youth," Ain added.

"Not at all." Bane rejected the intelligence report without hesitation: "The white-bearded old man isn't someone you can just scam anyone."

As soon as he finished speaking, Bane pushed off with his feet, and his figure flew off the warship like a cannonball.

At the same time, an aura of Haki far stronger than the Conqueror's Haki from before suddenly erupted from Bane's body, transforming into a dazzling red light that, like the sun in the sky, converged on his fist.

The burly figure who was fighting Zoro suddenly sensed a sense of danger and looked up at the sky. At the same time, as a Devil Fruit user, he seemed to feel an irresistible attraction pulling him up from the deck and towards the figure in the sky.

At the same moment, Zoro shouted angrily, "Damn it, don't try to take it from me!"

However, it was too late. Even Zoro felt the powerful attraction and was unable to resist it. Fortunately, the main target of the attraction was Edward Weevil. Just like that, Zoro watched helplessly as Weevil struggled and was forcibly pulled into the air.

Then, Bane's iron fist, imbued with domineering power and dark energy, struck down from a distance, and his roar quickly spread throughout the entire sea.

"Bloom, Star Explosion!!!"

"Weebull!!!" Bakkin Stussy stood at the bow of the ship, watching this scene in horror.

The next second, a dazzling red light, like a sun exploding, radiated across the entire sea and sky. Then, the red light and domineering aura instantly transformed into boundless darkness. This darkness did not continue to expand with the powerful fist force; instead, it gathered all the power and collapsed rapidly. Almost in the blink of an eye, all movement and momentum seemed to stop.

The sound ceased; the entire ocean, though turbulent, was as silent as a dead zone.

Under everyone's gaze, Edward Weevil collided with Bane's fist. It was an ordinary scene, without any exaggerated visual effects, just like an ordinary marine soldier punching an ordinary pirate.

Then, Weevil's bulky body exploded into a bloody firework in the sky, leaving no trace of his remains.

Before the rotting flesh could even fall, it was completely absorbed and devoured by the dark aura emanating from Bane's fist, which seemed capable of attracting everything.

(End of this chapter)