Just when the Roger Pirates encountered the young Barrett, their old-time rivals, the Whitebeard Pirates, were in a rather miserable situation.
They first encountered Sengoku, who was officially on an operation with Borsalino. After a fierce battle between the two sides, the Whitebeard Pirates paid a heavy price before they managed to escape successfully.
But before they could breathe a sigh of relief, they found themselves in an unfamiliar sea area. Moreover, the ocean currents here were quite strange, even making Whitebeard, who had years of sailing experience, unable to figure them out for a while.
They also discovered that there were carp in the seawater, which usually only appear in Tansui (freshwater). Even more peculiarly, these carp were leaping up a waterfall against the current towards the mountain.
Finally, they were carried by the ocean current up the waterfall. If it weren't for Marco, a fruit-ability user with flight ability, they might really have suffered a shipwreck and lost their lives.
Fortunately, they were lucky. Although the ship had suffered a great deal of damage, they finally managed to reach the shore safely. However, before they could figure out their current situation, they met a powerful man named Kozuki Oden and found out that they were now in the legendary Wano Country.
Subsequently, Kozuki Oden proposed to follow Whitebeard out to sea, but Whitebeard mercilessly rejected him because Kozuki Oden reminded him of his experience on the Rocks' ship.
The crew on the ship were indeed very strong. To outsiders, they were an invincible pirate group, but only they knew that with a ship full of overbearing individuals who refused to yield to each other, the ultimate result would be the defeat and dissolution of the entire pirate group.
So he didn't want to follow that old path again. All he wanted was a family-like collective, not a seemingly extremely powerful pirate group.
It was only when they were leaving that Kozuki Oden, the heir to the lord of Wano Country, noticed them and forcibly boarded the ship.
After a few days of contact, Whitebeard had also understood Oden's personality, so he decided to give him a chance. As long as he could pass the test, he would let him join the crew.
In the end, Kozuki Oden failed the test because he saved a woman, but Whitebeard also saw from this incident that Kozuki Oden was really a guy who was to his liking. So he took the crew back and told Kozuki Oden that he had passed the test.
On the other hand, the Roger Pirates, who were still searching for historical texts across the sea, had been very lively recently.
"Bang!"
"You lost... Barrett!" Roger said with a smile as he watched Barrett, who had been punched flying by him and stopped after hitting the ship's railing.
"I will definitely defeat you!" Barrett struggled to get up slowly and looked at Roger, saying.
Since he was defeated by Roger last time and was inspired by Fang Yi, Barrett officially joined the Roger Pirates.
The reason for him to join the ship was also very strong, which was to defeat Roger.
So from then on, Barrett challenged Roger once every few days, and the crew members just regarded it as a spectacle. After all, the two were not really fighting to the death, but just having a spar.
Moreover, apart from occasionally challenging Captain Roger, Barrett didn't give constant orders or do willfully reckless actions.
Coupled with his formidable combat power, apart from Roger, who could surely defeat him, even Rayleigh could only draw with him. With such a precious combat - capable crew member, the crew naturally had no objections to him joining the ship.
As for Fang Yi, he was even more welcoming. After all... he'd get one more lottery ticket every day.
"That guy... is truly a terrifying Monster! He's even more freakish than Brother Yi!" Buggy exclaimed in amazement as he watched Barrett, who went to train right after his defeat.
"I still think Brother Yi is more powerful!" Shanks beside him firmly stated.
"Brother Yi is indeed very strong, but... compared to this Monster, he might not be a match, right? Didn't they fight last time? Brother Yi's most powerful charged arrow could only wound him!" Buggy hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said.
To be honest, after being dominated by Fang Yi for so long, they had a deep understanding of Fang Yi's strength. However, facing the incredibly powerful Barrett, Buggy still thought Barrett was stronger.
But Shanks knew Fang Yi still had a trump card he hadn't used. During the previous Navy encirclement, Fang Yi used a move of extremely great power, but he seemed not to have fully mastered it yet, leaving him completely exhausted after use.
He believed that if Fang Yi used that move, even Barrett would definitely get injured.
Moreover, Fang Yi's growth was visible to the naked eye. He was constantly getting stronger. That's why Shanks thought Fang Yi's future would definitely be brighter than Barrett's.
"Whew~ Wangzai, we've got to work hard. Otherwise, it'd be really embarrassing if we can't even break through their defenses!" Fang Yi patted Wangzai's head and said with a smile as he watched Barrett training.
"Woof! Woof!" Wangzai seemed to be telling Fang Yi that their combination was the strongest.
Actually, Fang Yi was somewhat grateful for Barrett's appearance. On the ship, before Barrett came, the only one he could spar with was Shanks.
But as his skill levels kept increasing, the frequency of accurately triggering skills was getting higher and higher. So even with Shanks, Fang Yi didn't spar with him very often now, for fear of accidentally hurting him.
But Barrett was different. The opponent's powerful Armament Haki was the best natural defense.
So sparring with Barrett, Fang Yi could freely use his moves, which could increase his skill levels faster.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh..." A series of arrows were shot at Barrett from various angles. Barrett, whose whole body was covered in Armament Haki, blocked Fang Yi's arrows while looking for an opportunity to get closer to him.
But after Fang Yi's first accurate [skill trigger], Barrett found that he seemed to be able to do nothing but take the hits.
Arrows kept shooting at him, constantly making him feel like he was being hit. Occasionally, there was even a sense of dizziness mixed in, which made Barrett unable to organize an effective attack at all.
"Xiaoyi's attacks are getting sharper and sharper. Although Barrett is powerful, if he defends for too long, he will surely lose. If he can't break through Xiaoyi's arrow formation, he'll never be able to truly defeat Fang Yi!" Rayleigh, who was watching the fight, said with emotion as he watched Fang Yi still constantly drawing his bow and shooting arrows.
"That's right. The best way to deal with this kid is to kill him before he makes a move!" Peterum, the sniper beside him, said hatefully.
Because the position of the ship's number one sniper had long belonged to Fang Yi. Except for ultra - long - range sniping, Peterum had been completely outmatched and couldn't pose a threat to Fang Yi at all.
"Buggy, do you feel it? Brother Yi seems to be shooting even faster!" Shanks, who was watching the fight, frowned and said to Buggy beside him.
Buggy rolled his eyes and retorted, "Do you think I can notice how fast his arrows are each time? Anyway, every time I haven't even reacted, I've already been hit by him! So whether it's fast or not doesn't mean anything to me!"
Just like when Barrett challenged Roger, Fang Yi almost sparred with Barrett every day, and this kind of sparring was very beneficial for both of them. Barrett could use Fang Yi's arrows to exercise his physical strength. When he got used to them, that would be the time when he completely defeated Fang Yi.
As for Fang Yi, he used Barrett to practice his skills and improve his cooperation with Wangzai. By the way, he also looked for Barrett's weaknesses.
Actually, Shanks' discovery that Fang Yi's shooting speed had increased was not an illusion. It was a new skill he obtained from the lottery ticket after sparring with Barrett.
"Rapid Fire (Non - upgradable): When you use a ranged weapon, your attack speed increases by 20%!"
This was the reason for his increased shooting speed.
However, even though Fang Yi kept shooting, after Barrett came to his senses, he still withstood Fang Yi's attacks and began to approach him.
This was the benefit of his daily sparring with Fang Yi. After getting used to Fang Yi's attacks, the strong - built Barrett could withstand Fang Yi's attacks and move. As long as Fang Yi didn't knock him out, he wasn't afraid of anything.
Of course, Fang Yi's attacks weren't completely ineffective. In the sparring between the crew, Fang Yi couldn't aim at the other person's vital points. So he focused his attacks on the joints. After being hit multiple times, even Barrett felt a bit clumsy.
The two of them chased and fled, making the fight extremely exciting.
Moreover, Fang Yi had Wangzai to carry him. It was very sensitive to danger and could even predict Barrett's attack direction in advance and avoid it. Sometimes Fang Yi even suspected that Wangzai had awakened Observation Haki.
However, the fight usually ended with Fang Yi's defeat. Because the space on the deck was limited, as long as Fang Yi was blocked by Barrett, he basically had nowhere to run. Facing the powerful Barrett, Fang Yi often found it difficult to hold out.
However, both Barrett and Fang Yi knew that, if it were a real life - and - death battle, the situation between them would be different. At least, if Fang Yi wanted to take off, Barrett couldn't hold him back, unless he could disable Wangzai from the start.
Of course, since cooperating with Wangzai, everyone had gradually forgotten that Fang Yi himself also had a very fast movement speed. In fact, he had long mastered Shave (Soru) and Moonwalk (Geppo) of the Navy Six Styles.
This was also Fang Yi's deliberate behavior. Every time he was cornered by Barrett, he would admit defeat instead of revealing all his true strength.
At least, there was another move he used in cooperation with Wangzai that had never been revealed in front of Barrett.
This wasn't because Fang Yi was guarding against Barrett, but because he was used to keeping a trump card up his sleeve, which could give him a sense of security.