Chapter 325: The Clash of Legends: A Pirate’s Ambition
by xennovel“Their weapons never even touched.”
“How is that possible?”
Kozuki Oden drove his blade into the ground, steadying himself so the shockwave wouldn’t toss him aside.
He stared in shock at the two fighters. He’d never witnessed this kind of duel before.
Oden had mastered Conqueror’s Haki too, but he hadn’t reached the level where he could infuse it into his strikes.
So he had no idea this was the true might of Conqueror’s Haki Infusion.
Whitebeard Newgate and Roger both poured even more of their Haki into their swords.
In an instant, that crimson energy swept across the entire island, surging skyward and blasting a hole in the clouds.
Whitebeard Newgate smashed Cloud Cutter into the ground and said, “Not bad at all, Roger.”
“How many years has it been, Newgate?”
Roger grinned at him.
It had already been years since they last crossed paths after parting ways.
“Gurararara!”
“Ahahahahaha!”
The two of them burst out laughing right where they stood. Behind them, their pirate crews assembled, weapons at the ready.
After a long bout of laughter, the pair stopped and, in unison, declared, “Leave all your loot behind!”
“Let’s go!”
The moment those words dropped, Marco leapt into the air, his blue wings unfurling as he charged forward.
Jozu, Vista, and Whitey Bay followed, raising their weapons and surging ahead.
“Get them!”
Jabba pointed his axe forward and, with Noston, Sunbell, Buggy, and Shanks at his side, stormed into battle.
In the blink of an eye, Roger and Whitebeard Newgate clashed once more.
Their epic duel raged on for three days and three nights.
On the first night, rain poured from the sky.
“Don’t get too cocky!”
Rayleigh had just downed a Whitebeard Pirate when a shout rang out behind him.
A massive claw came hurtling toward Rayleigh.
“Ugh!”
But to his surprise, a finger wrapped in flowing Haki caught it and held it back.
“I’ve been serious this whole time, boy.”
Meanwhile, Shanks was dodging a huge spiked mace.
The island quaked non-stop. Before long, three days had passed.
Battered and bruised, Whitebeard and Roger collided once again.
Kozuki Oden now faced a new opponent—Jabba from the Roger Pirates.
Every clash between Whitebeard Newgate and Roger exploded with overwhelming Conqueror’s Haki.
Not once did their blades make true contact.
By the next morning, the mood had completely shifted.
“Then pack the boxes too! I’ll take three crates of jerky.”
“Deal. That’s settled.”
“Nice outfit! Where’d you get it?”
“Let me go grab some more.”
“Hold up, you’re taking way too much.”
“…”
Rayleigh lounged atop a giant mushroom, watching the scene unfold beneath him.
“So they went from stealing each other’s stuff to just trading for it.”
“Are all of them just rookie pirates or what?”
A stocky, dark-skinned kid turned and said to Marco,
“Hm?”
Marco cracked open his right eye and replied, “Yeah!”
“They’ve been around since way back, though.”
Blackbeard eyed Shanks and Buggy across the way. “They don’t look like much.”
“Still, they act like they’ve got it all figured out.”
Noticing their stares, Buggy nudged Shanks.
“Hey, Shanks, you know something?”
“What is it?”
“See the guy in the hat standing across from us?”
Shanks glanced over. A stocky kid wearing a bright orange hat stood with arms crossed, watching them.
“Yeah, so?”
“That guy—rumor is he didn’t sleep at all last night or the night before when we anchored.”
“Why? He proud of that or something?” Shanks asked.
Buggy shot back, “Not even! Supposedly he’s never slept his entire life!”
“Really? There’s someone like that?” Shanks looked genuinely surprised. “Man, is his life twice as fun or what?”
“Idiot, it’s not that simple.”
“That guy’s a monster, if you ask me.”
“A monster?”
But honestly, if you think about it, wasn’t Buggy watching Blackbeard for those same three days, too?
Doesn’t that mean Buggy didn’t sleep either—he was just staring at Blackbeard the whole time.
“Hey, Oden, can you really read this?”
On a massive mushroom platform, Roger, Newgate, and Kozuki Oden huddled around a black rubbing, deep in study.
Oden nodded. “Yeah, I can.”
“I mean, I can understand it, but why do you have this document?”
“This script is a code passed down through the Kozuki family of Wano for generations.”
He really couldn’t figure out how Roger had managed to get his hands on their family’s code.
After Wano fell, he’d heard nothing from his clan in ages.
But this writing wasn’t any sort of distress call from his family, either.
Seeing that Oden could really read the script, Roger raised a beer and drank deep.
“It’s already been thirteen years.”
“We finally reached the end marked by the Log Pose, a place no one else ever has.”
“Water Guide Star Island!”
“But the moment we landed, we realized—”
“That wasn’t the final island.”
“The Log Pose’s needle just spun in circles.”
“It couldn’t take us any further.”
“That’s when I knew: there’s still one more island. Only by reaching it could we claim a true, unbroken voyage around the world.”
Roger held the black rubbing with both hands. “The key to its location is hidden within four red stones engraved in this script.”
“Those are the Poneglyphs—texts the World Government stopped reading eons ago!”
“At first, I thought they were just historical relics.”
“Turns out, these are exactly what we need—the map to the final island.”
“Rumor has it that island’s stuffed with treasure. The fact that the World Government warns everyone to stay away only makes it feel more real.”
“If we can reach it, we’ll truly be the greatest pirate crew.”
“Number one in the world?”
“Hahaha—bet you didn’t expect that, Newgate!”
“If that’s true, then I’ll be… the Pirate King!”
After that, Roger poured his heart out, asking Newgate and Oden to join him.
“I mean it, Newgate! Please, just for a year—let Oden travel with me. This is my one and only lifetime request. With him, I know I’ll find the final island.”
Whitebeard Newgate was dead set against it, but Oden was already moved.
“Please, Whitebeard, I want to see what the final island is like with my own eyes.”
Seeing how determined Oden was, Whitebeard Newgate could only grit his teeth and agree.
Sitting on the mushroom, watching as the Roger Pirates set sail into the distance, Whitebeard Newgate called out, “Oden—make sure you return safely!”
And that would be the Roger Pirates’ final voyage.
Step one: collect all four Red Poneglyphs, make rubbings of their texts, and have Kozuki Oden translate them.
At last, they’d set sail for the ultimate island—Laugh Tale!
To accomplish the greatest feat in the world of pirates: circling the globe and becoming Pirate King!