At this moment, Crocodile raised his head to look at Gawain, and there seemed to be a flame burning in his eyes.
It's just because Gawain and Whitebeard, who were twenty years apart, said the same thing in almost the same situation.
But it made him even more unwilling.
"You have never experienced what I have experienced, so how can you understand that kind of despair?"
"You have never experienced that era, so how can you understand what those monsters are like..."
"Even if it's you, there's no way you could survive in the hands of that monster!"
The next moment.
Crocodile's voice suddenly stopped, and he stared blankly at the sky in the distance.
A fleet emerged from the clouds, casting a huge shadow and plunging the entire Nanohana city into darkness.
Then, a golden figure came flying from the distant sky.
"That is..."
Shocked, surprise... All kinds of complicated emotions converged before his eyes and finally turned into excitement that was difficult to conceal, so much so that Crocodile's expression was almost distorted: "Shiki the Golden Lion!"
"This monster is still alive?!"
As pirates who truly experienced the previous era, Crocodile and his generation have a deep respect for the three legends.
This was especially true after he had experienced such a devastating defeat at the hands of Whitebeard and felt the despair of trying his best but still being unable to defeat his opponent.
He turned to look at Gawain with a hideous smile on his face.
Don't you talk a lot about principles? Now... it's time for you to prove it!
"White Knight Gawain!"
"Then you can try and see how desperate you will be when facing these monsters!"
"I don't believe you'd be any different than me!"
Gawain glanced at Crocodile, his disdain in his eyes no longer concealed: "I won't prove anything to you, but if that guy really wants to fight me... Then I'll try to see how much power this old guy, who already has one foot in the ground, still has."
The moment Gawain's voice fell.
A sharp, overbearing, and violent Conqueror Haki erupted at this moment.
The seawater in the entire harbor became turbulent, and red lightning flashed in the air.
And this is just the prelude to the Conqueror Haki's appearance!
"Good fighting spirit!"
The voice is heard before the person arrives.
As a voice of praise fell into Gawain's air, the figure in the distance rapidly approached.
Golden Lion hovered quietly in the air, letting the strong wind make his clothes rustle.
The half rudder on his head that looked like a rooster's comb should have made him look extremely funny, but no one could laugh at this moment.
Including Gawain.
If Crocodile's heart is old, then Shiki's body is old, but his heart is still young, and his desire to reach the top is still no less than anyone else's.
The Conqueror Haki, built by faith, has not aged at all at this moment and is still so strong that it is outrageous.
At this moment, Gawain felt the heavy pressure all over his body, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.
He thought about it over and over again but couldn't figure out how the Straw Hat guys, with their combat power at the time, could have kicked this thing into the sea.
The gap between the two is so big that it cannot be reversed by so-called willpower.
Gawain could not find any possibility other than Nika showing his awakening in that battle.
... ... ...
Far away, Jabra and others stared at the huge fleet in the sky and the proud figure flying in the air, and for a moment, they felt their scalps tingling.
"A fleet floating in the air?!"
Vivi murmured, and her heart, which had just been filled with excitement, suddenly cooled down.
The mental shock was so strong that she even felt dizzy, and it took a lot of effort for her to stand still.
When they looked back, the pirates on the ship had lost consciousness, foaming at the mouth, and fell to the ground.
"Conqueror Haki!"
Jabra muttered, and when his eyes fell on the figure in the sky, he stumbled and fell directly from the mast.
At this moment, his voice was trembling: "Golden Lion!"
"That guy is a Golden Lion!"
"How did this monster appear in Alabasta?"
The countless materials he had seen inside the CP organization took on a concrete form at this moment that he would never forget.
The fleet covering the sky is the Golden Lion Pirate, who is capable of competing with Roger!
When the unreal photo fell into reality, Jabra realized how big the gap was.
That was a natural barrier that countless powerful men could not cross!
Fukurou, Kumadori, and the others were so shocked that they were speechless. It was not until Kalifa shouted to retreat that they turned around and desperately drove the pirate ship and sped away.
If they were at this distance just now, they could have barely survived.
But when Golden Lion appeared, this distance alone could no longer bring them any sense of security.
Kalifa stood at the bow, looking back at the harbor in the distance, her eyes beneath the lenses flushed red at this moment.
She was trying hard to resist the instinct to return to the harbor.
This was because she knew that facing an opponent like Golden Lion, her presence would not only be of no help to Gawain but would even become that man's Achilles' heel.
After all... she's in Gawain's heart!
Facing Crocodile, Kalifa has 100% confidence in Gawain.
But when the opponent becomes Golden Lion, who once dominated an era and competed with Gol D. Roger, all this confidence turns into uneasiness.
"Kalifa..."
Vivi took a step forward and wanted to comfort Kalifa, but she saw that the latter's eyes were red, and her body was shaking uncontrollably.
Vivi was stunned for a moment.
The next moment, she heard Kalifa's voice. The voice that had given her confidence just now made her feel suffocated: "Captain... can he win?!"
"I..."
Vivi opened her mouth and was about to speak when her movements were interrupted by several incoming shells.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Red flames rose up around the pirate ship.
If Jabra had not come to his senses and kicked several shells into the sea, the small pirate ship would have disintegrated on the spot due to the bombardment.
Seeing this, Kalifa closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then regained her original calm attitude and said with a firm look in her eyes: "The captain... can win!"
"Our mission is to do everything possible to survive!"
... ... ...
High in the sky, Golden Lion glanced at the pirate ship that was sailing away. After using his Observation Haki to sense that there were only a few weak auras on the ship, he no longer had any interest in it.
He turned to look at Crocodile, with unspeakable disappointment in his eyes: "That kid who shouted that he wanted to challenge Whitebeard back then, has he only reached this level after 20 years?"
"You're really going backward as you grow older."
"I still like your rebellious look back then, just like this guy."
"Ambition, arrogance..."
"These are the core qualities of a pirate!!"
Shiki's gaze fell on Gawain, and the admiration in his eyes was not concealed at all: "Although you were not my original target, the surprise you brought me is no less than that thing. Would you like to consider becoming my deputy captain?"
Twenty years later, Golden Lion made a comeback, and he assembled a flying fleet consisting of dozens of pirate ships, which still had the momentum of the time when he dominated the world.
However, only he knew that this fleet was far from comparable to the fleet that forced Roger's Pirate crew into a desperate situation during the Battle of Edd War.
Because apart from himself, there is not even one capable fighter in this fleet!
Crocodile, who suffered two disastrous defeats and whose faith almost collapsed, was not in the eyes of Golden Lion, but Gawain, who was in full swing and whose combat power was close to that of an admiral, was enough for him to look at him differently!
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