Earlier, when Wood took the Seastone pistol, he only thought that it must be valuable; little did he expect it would prove useful at such a critical moment.
Most of the items he stole from Saint Charlmos had been lost at sea when he escaped, but this pistol remained because it was secured at his waist at the time.
Under normal circumstances, hitting someone of Shiki's caliber with a Seastone bullet shouldn't have been an easy task.
However, Shiki had been too arrogant. Although he saw Wood aiming the pistol at him, he neither used Armament Haki for defense nor chose to dodge, relying instead on his "Float-Float Fruit" ability to try and suspend the bullet in mid-air.
The result was predictable—the Devil Fruit ability had no effect on Seastone. By the time Shiki realized something was wrong, the bullet had already lodged in his shoulder.
Seastone has the ability to nullify Devil Fruit powers, and no matter how strong Shiki was, he wasn't an exception.
With his powers nullified, Shiki could no longer maintain his airborne state. However, just before falling into the sea, he endured the pain and managed to extract the Seastone bullet from his shoulder.
Once the bullet was removed, his powers returned, but by the time Shiki recovered his senses, Wood was nowhere to be seen.
Shiki had wanted to continue chasing Wood, but his current condition was simply too poor.
He had already been injured when he escaped from Impel Down, and the battle with Wood had further drained him.
Wood's strength was considerable, and combined with the troublesome Seastone bullet and the ever-present threat of the Marines pursuing him, Shiki hesitated and ultimately decided to retreat.
However, he made a mental note of Wood's name. In all his years dominating the seas, this was the first time he had suffered a loss at the hands of a mere youngster.
Wood had indeed run away because he knew he was still too weak to take on Shiki head-on.
He had only managed to injure Shiki because of the latter's arrogance and his own possession of the Seastone bullet, something Shiki hadn't anticipated.
If a similar situation were to occur again, it wouldn't be easy for the Seastone bullet to achieve the same effect.
Not to mention that Armament Haki could block the bullet, but even without it, for someone like Shiki, a pistol was little more than a toy.
Wood had seen Shiki nearly fall into the sea but chose not to pursue him.
He didn't believe that a pirate of Shiki's caliber, who rivaled the Pirate King, would die from something as simple as a Seastone bullet.
After fighting for so long, Rus and the others had sailed far away. Fortunately, Wood knew the ship's course, and he had enough knowledge of navigation to find them again without much difficulty.
As for Shiki, he might be powerful, but his navigation skills were questionable—otherwise, he wouldn't have targeted Nami.
But that wasn't surprising, considering most pirates lacked proper navigation skills; competent navigators were rare treasures.
Using the sun and wind direction as guides, Wood quickly identified the direction and used Moonwalk to head towards it.
However, when Wood finally found Rus and the others, he was stunned by the sight in front of him.
There wasn't just one Navy warship; there were two!
One of them was undoubtedly the one they had stolen from Impel Down, but as for the other...
The moment Wood caught sight of a certain figure on the ship, he turned and fled without a second thought.
Unfortunately, just as Wood spotted the person on the ship, that person also noticed him.
Seeing Wood turn to flee, the person immediately jumped off the warship and used Moonwalk to pursue him.
There was no need to guess; the second warship naturally belonged to Gion, who had come from Navy Headquarters.
With Wood's Vivre Card in her possession, Gion had no need to take detours. She simply followed the direction it indicated, and before even encountering Wood, she had spotted Rus and his ship.
Although Gion had only brought a dozen or so Marines with her, which was similar to Rus's crew in number, the disparity in combat power was undeniable.
In fact, when Rus's crew saw Gion's rank, they practically lost the will to fight.
She was a Rear Admiral, one of the highest-ranking officers in Marine Headquarters, and she looked so young—clearly a formidable figure.
With such a mismatch in strength, it didn't take long for Gion to gain control of Rus's ship.
Just as she was about to interrogate them about Wood's whereabouts, Wood happened to stumble right into her path, leading to the scene that had just unfolded.
"Wood, you can't escape. Don't forget, I have your Vivre Card!
Keep running if you want, but even if you escape today, I'll be back every day with a warship to chase you down. I refuse to believe you can use Moonwalk to cross the entire ocean."
Both of them knew how to use Moonwalk, and in terms of physical abilities, Wood was superior to Gion, so there was no way Gion could catch up to him.
Seeing his figure getting further and further away, Gion called out in frustration, threatening him.
Hearing Gion's threats behind him, Wood felt a headache coming on. He had indeed forgotten about the Vivre Card.
The Vivre Card was a special item from the New World, made from parts of a person's body like their nails and blood, and it could predict the owner's life and location.
Not only did Gion have Wood's Vivre Card, but Wood also had Gion's.
They had made them back when they were on a mission to Mary Geoise, so they could keep track of each other's status and location.
Wood had known Gion for several years, and he was well aware of her stubborn nature. Her words weren't just idle threats; she would definitely follow through.
No pirate would want a Marine Rear Admiral on their tail forever, so Wood eventually stopped running.
"Now, can you explain why you left the Marines? Don't tell me it's because you think the Marine salary is too low!"
Gion looked at Wood and voiced what she thought might be the most plausible reason for his defection. However, even as she said it, she found the idea laughable.
"Well, that's part of it, but the bigger reason is that after the events at Mary Geoise, I realized the truth."
Note: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 200+ at patreon.com/Betek.