Sure enough, when Shirakawa and Jora turned to look, the group approaching them was indeed made up of Marines. There were quite a lot of them too, as if every Marine stationed on this island had been called over.
The man leading them looked especially aggressive. Judging by the coat draped over his shoulders, his rank was fairly high. He might very well be the base commander of this Marine branch, that colonel.
"So you're the one who injured my son?"
The leading Marine spoke, and the moment he did, it confirmed Shirakawa's guess.
So it really was that Marine colonel.
Looks like he was abusing his authority too, ordering around this many Marines at once.
"If you're talking about that idiot, then yes, I did it."
As a real man, Shirakawa naturally had the backbone to own up to what he had done.
"Good. Good. Since we've found the right person, that's all that matters. Didn't you know he was my son?"
"I knew. That's exactly why I figured you couldn't be a good person either. Otherwise, how could you have raised such a disobedient son?"
"Good. Very good."
The Marine colonel laughed in anger, as if mocking Shirakawa for still failing to understand the situation he was in.
Then his gaze shifted toward Jora.
"And is the one beside you your companion too?"
"That's right."
Shirakawa admitted it openly.
If he did not use Conqueror's Haki, these Marines would still be a little troublesome for him. So if someone could share the burden, that would naturally be even better.
And Jora happened to be just the right person.
His strength was not weak either. Dealing with a bunch of Marines would be no problem for him.
Hearing Shirakawa's words, Jora shot him a startled glance, as if asking, Since when did I become your companion?
"Don't worry about it. You delayed me for this long, so shouldn't you compensate me a little? These Marines are just right for you to sharpen your skills on."
At Shirakawa's words, Jora gave him a sidelong look.
He had not yet decided whether he really wanted to make an enemy of the Marines.
"Good. Very good. Then neither of you is leaving this place."
Just as he was about to issue the order, his adjutant leaned close and whispered something into the colonel's ear.
Then the colonel carefully sized Shirakawa up a few more times.
"So you're actually a pirate. Good. Now I have a proper reason to throw you into prison."
"You're a pirate?"
Hearing the colonel's words, Jora asked in surprise.
Shirakawa really did not look like one. He lacked the vicious aura pirates usually had.
"That's right. A great pirate with a bounty of 150 million Beli."
When Shirakawa said the last part, there was even a trace of melancholy in his voice, as if he truly did not want his bounty to keep rising.
Hearing that, Jora took a step back.
He was someone who hated trouble, and he had no desire to get involved in conflicts between pirates and the Marines.
Unfortunately, that was obviously no longer possible.
These Marines had already decided Jora was Shirakawa's companion.
"Get them. Take them alive."
The Marine colonel gave the order to his soldiers, and at once, some of the Marines who had been preparing to fire their guns lowered them again. Since the order was to capture them alive, weapons as lethal as guns naturally could not be used.
Dozens of Marines rushed toward Shirakawa.
Looking at the incoming Marines, Jora took several more steps back, but the Marines had no intention of letting him off.
More than a dozen of them charged toward him as well.
At this point, he was already starting to regret whether coming to find Shirakawa had been the right decision.
Not only had he gotten injured, now he was being besieged by the Marines.
Other than taking first place, everything today had gone wrong.
Ordinary Marine soldiers were no match for either of them.
Even an injured Jora was more than enough to handle them, and besides, his wound was only minor. For an excellent swordsman, an injury of this level was hardly worth mentioning.
No matter how many ants there were, in the end, they were still just ants.
They could never shake the place of an elephant.
Watching the Marines rush at him, Shirakawa sidestepped left, then right, his blade flicking out from time to time.
Every Marine who managed to get close to him ended up on the ground.
But none of them had suffered any fatal injuries.
After all, Shirakawa did not have any life-and-death hatred with them, even if the two sides stood on opposite sides.
Besides, even if Shirakawa were captured, he would not be sentenced to death. At most, he would be tortured a little, then thrown into Impel Down.
That should count as a fair exchange... probably.
By the time that thought reached the end, even Shirakawa himself felt it sounded a little ridiculous.
Even so, he still did not strike the Marines too harshly.
After all, they were only following orders, and Shirakawa was not some bloodthirsty fiend.
The Marines attacking Jora, however, were not nearly so lucky.
Jora had no idea what holding back meant.
Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that if he held back, he might end up getting hurt himself.
After all, these Marines trained regularly, so they were somewhat stronger than ordinary people.
If someone wanted to show mercy, their strikes would naturally become less sharp, their attacks less decisive.
And the problem was, the enemy would not show them the same mercy.
For ordinary people, holding back often meant getting injured in return.
But none of that mattered to Shirakawa.
No one here was worth worrying about.
If Shirakawa wanted to, he could put all of them down in an instant.
Still, he had already been trying to reduce how often he used Conqueror's Haki.
Even without deliberate training, his Conqueror's Haki would continue growing stronger over time.
Rather than relying on it, he might as well use these people to practice his hand.
Bit by bit, it still counted as experience.
Before long, every Marine was sprawled on the ground groaning, completely incapable of fighting any further.
As for the Marine colonel, he had already been scared stupid.
Just from the look on his face, Shirakawa could tell this Marine colonel had probably gotten his position through the back door.
Otherwise, he would never have performed so pathetically.
"You... you can't come over here! I'm warning you, my older brother is a Rear Admiral at Marine Headquarters! If you lay a hand on me, he definitely won't let you off!"
The moment he saw Shirakawa walking toward him, he fell back onto the ground in terror.
Tears streamed from his eyes, snot ran from his nose, and he looked utterly miserable.
But even in such a state, he still remembered to drag out his backing and try to threaten Shirakawa.
"A Rear Admiral from Marine Headquarters, huh? No wonder a person like you could become a Marine colonel here. So it was all because of your brother. Still, it seems your brother must have paid quite a heavy price for you."
After all, above the rank of colonel came Rear Admiral.
For trash like this to become a colonel, even at a branch base, a great price must have been paid to secure him such a stable position.
"But it seems you've really let your brother down. If he knew you were throwing your weight around here like this, how disappointed would he be? Or could it be that your brother is the same kind of person you are?"
Shirakawa spoke to the colonel as if teaching him a lesson.
"I'm sorry! I won't do it again, ever!"
The colonel cried as he begged Shirakawa for mercy.
"Sorry? The people you owe an apology to aren't me. It should be all those people you've persecuted before."
"Yes, yes, I wronged them!"
At this point, in his eyes, everything Shirakawa said was right.
"Good. Then go down to hell and apologize to them. I'm sure they've been waiting for you."
"No! Please, don't! Spare me!"
The Marine colonel begged desperately, but it was doomed to be useless.
Shirakawa would never let a scumbag like this go.
Or rather, he had always possessed a nature that punished evil and upheld good.
You could even say it was simply a fine traditional virtue.
/-\
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