"For two of Kaido's All-Stars to gang up on me at once…"
"I should feel honored."
Renji spoke calmly.
The power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit began gathering along the Baxia Han sword in his hand.
Crack-like fractures spread through the surrounding air.
"Tremor… Break!"
As Renji shouted the Baxia Han sword in his hand slashed outward.
Countless cracks spread in all directions.
A massive barrier instantly formed between Renji and King, blocking the incoming fireballs.
"Hm?"
At that moment Renji frowned slightly.
Looking at the flames, he sensed something unusual.
King's fire was extremely special.
Even separated by the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, some of the heat still managed to break through.
"Die!"
Before Renji could think further about King's abilities Jack's foot had already arrived right before his face.
The gigantic stomp was large enough to completely cover Renji's body.
If that attack landed cleanly there was no doubt Renji's body would be crushed into paste.
"You two really do work well together."
The Glint-Glint Fruit's elemental transformation activated.
Renji instantly bypassed Jack and appeared directly before King.
Golden light spread from his hand in every direction.
Under the clear blue sky Renji's power still shone with dazzling brilliance.
"Not good."
Sensing Renji appear behind him a trace of tension appeared on King's face.
He knew Renji was strong.
So strong that he had already reached the level of a Yonko.
That was why he had even brought Jack along to fight together.
Even then his goal had only been to stall Renji.
But now even after overestimating Renji as much as possible he had still underestimated him.
"Glint…"
"Yasakani Sacred Jewel."
The moment Renji's words fell countless beams of light pierced through King's body.
Finger-sized lasers poured endlessly from Renji's hand, penetrating King over and over again.
In the blink of an eye King had been struck over a thousand times.
His eyes rolled back.
His body fell stiffly from the sky.
Life or death unknown.
"How is this possible?!"
Seeing this scene everyone around was stunned.
"King is the vice-captain of our Beasts Pirates! How could he be taken down so easily?!"
King's defeat left the surrounding Beasts Pirates completely dumbfounded.
At the same time it greatly boosted the morale of the Whitebeard Pirates.
"Beautifully done!"
At that moment Marco, who was organizing forces to resist Kaido's Artificial Devil Fruit Army, took the chance to shout excitedly.
"See that?!"
"That's the Seventeenth Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, the Pirate Instructor Renji! Afraid now?!"
"This Renji… seems to have become even stronger?"
"It was already unbelievable for someone in his twenties to reach this level. How is he still growing stronger so quickly?"
"You have to understand, at this level, even improving a tiny bit is shocking. But Renji clearly improved by far more than that."
Watching the battlefield shock filled Sengoku's face.
He had already classified Renji as a fighter on the same level as himself.
"Hm."
On the other side Garp also frowned with disbelief.
"It looks like…"
After thinking for a moment Garp's gaze once again landed on the Tremor-Tremor Fruit defensive wall Renji had created.
Even now that defensive wall formed from tremor energy still had not disappeared.
"The Tremor-Tremor Fruit awakened?"
"Could it be that Whitebeard taught him everything he knew during this past month?"
Devil Fruit awakening depended partly on luck and partly on strength.
Previously, nobody had ever heard of someone being able to teach another person how to awaken their fruit.
But now the possibility that Whitebeard had personally guided Renji in mastering the Tremor-Tremor Fruit seemed extremely likely.
After all no matter how smart Sengoku and Garp were there was no way they could know about Renji's cheat-like system.
"That should be the case."
Sengoku's expression became extremely serious.
Whitebeard alone was already troublesome enough.
Now the Whitebeard Pirates had gained another Renji.
Even if Renji was still slightly weaker than the older generation when going all out like Sengoku had said earlier, once someone reached this level, the difference in strength no longer mattered much.
Their generation of old monsters was already nearing the grave.
But Renji was only in his twenties.
"I'm afraid…"
"From now on, the balance between Marines and pirates will completely shift from Marine initiative to pirate initiative."
A hesitant expression appeared on Sengoku's face.
Garp, meanwhile, looked completely unconcerned.
"As long as he doesn't do evil, it doesn't matter if he acts arrogantly."
"At worst, the World Government just gets suppressed for another hundred years."
"Back when Rocks was around, the World Government acted like cowards too."
"..."
Hearing Garp's almost carefree response Sengoku shrugged slightly.
"That's true enough."
"And by the time Renji completely takes control of the Whitebeard Pirates…"
"I'll already be fully retired."
"The affairs of the next generation should naturally be handled by the next generation."
As he spoke Sengoku turned toward Momousagi.
"Send word back to Marine Headquarters that Renji's strength has increased yet again."
On the Big Mom Pirates' ship Big Mom narrowed her eyes toward the direction where Renji stood.
Disbelief was written all over her face as well.
Unlike the calmness of the Marines she could not remain composed at all.
The Marines could still rely on the Red Line to keep Renji and the Whitebeard Pirates trapped within the New World.
But she couldn't.
She herself lived in the New World.
The stronger Renji became the less secure her own position would be.
"This brat…"
Big Mom narrowed her eyes slightly.
She was thinking.
Thinking whether she should eliminate Renji before he fully matured or completely change her strategy toward the Whitebeard Pirates.
"Where exactly did that old man Newgate find a successor with this kind of potential?"
On the Red Hair Pirates' ship Mihawk glanced sideways at Shanks.
"If I'm being honest…"
"Isn't this kid far more suited to becoming the future than that rubber brat you picked?"
Was Renji stronger than Luffy?
The moment that question appeared in Shanks' mind he quickly reached an answer.
Of course Renji was stronger.
And not just a little stronger the gap was so massive that Luffy couldn't even see Renji's back.
Even so Shanks did not abandon his belief.
"Strength is only one aspect."
"Luffy possesses something no one else could ever obtain."
Hearing Shanks' words Mihawk raised an eyebrow slightly.
At that moment he suddenly remembered Shanks' true reason for going to the East Blue back then.
----------
Advance Chapters: patreon .com/StrawFic