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Chapter 232 - Chapter 232: The Red-Haired Pirates Appear!

The Dark Maru had been wandering around the entrance to the New World for two whole days, and the number of captives aboard had grown from a few to dozens.

Over these two days, many pirate crews had come after them, but since the Dark Maru wasn't a large ship and could only hold so many people, Wood had thrown anyone without a high bounty overboard to feed the Sea Kings.

In addition to the bounty heads, Wood had also looted about 300 million berries' worth of treasure from the pirate crews' ships.

No wonder people say that looting and killing can quickly make you rich—this line of work certainly provides fast returns.

Because of the large number of people and treasure aboard, the Dark Maru was beginning to reach its weight limit, so Wood and his crew were considering calling it quits.

However, just as they were about to leave the New World and head back to the first half of the Grand Line to lay low and plan the company they wanted to start, something unexpected happened.

This time, the pirate crew that appeared in front of them didn't consist of just one or two ships—there were five large pirate ships, each one carrying a large number of pirates.

Judging by the size of the ships, the number of pirates was likely in the thousands!

"It looks like this time we've got a big one. From the looks of things, this definitely isn't some small fry," Wood said as he observed the pirate fleet in front of him. He relaxed a bit when he saw that the flag flying on their ships wasn't from any pirate crew he recognized.

"Judging by their flag, they must be from the official pirate forces of the Land of Flowers.

"And judging by their number, they're probably from the Happo Navy. I've heard their leader, Chinjao, is quite strong, with a bounty of over 500 million berries."

Ruth, who had spent many years working in a clerical position at Impel Down, was familiar with the world's criminals like the back of his hand. When he saw the flag of the Happo Navy, he immediately identified them and shared some basic information about Chinjao.

"So, it's the Happo Navy, huh? Interesting. Chinjao's real grudge should be with Garp, not me. Why is this guy after me?"

The only impression Wood had of Chinjao, the 12th leader of the Happo Navy, was of him spinning like a top on the ground, disco dancing with his pointy head.

Based on Chinjao's performance in the series, Wood felt that the pirate's 500-million-berry bounty was inflated.

Of course, it was possible that the high bounty was due to his connections with the official government of the Land of Flowers.

Considering that two years later, Luffy could defeat Chinjao with Second Gear, Wood didn't think Chinjao posed as much of a threat as Doflamingo had.

However, just as Wood was cracking his knuckles and getting ready to test the strength of the Happo Navy's leader, another pirate ship suddenly sailed between the Dark Maru and the Happo Navy fleet.

When Ruth saw the newly arrived pirate ship and the flag it was flying, he searched his memory but came up empty.

In the end, Ruth shook his head and said, "I don't recognize that flag. It's probably just a small-time pirate crew."

When Ruth said this, Wood glanced at the black pirate flag with a skull marked by claw scars and gave Ruth a strange look.

Ruth was clearly out of his depth. The pirate crew flying that flag was none other than the Red-Haired Pirates, future Emperors of the Sea, and Ruth had dismissed them as small fry...

However, after thinking it over, Wood realized it made sense that Ruth wouldn't recognize the Red-Haired Pirates.

Roger's crew had disbanded not too long ago, and Shanks hadn't been on his own for very many years.

When Ruth and the others had joined Wood's crew, Shanks and the Red-Haired Pirates had yet to make a name for themselves, so it wasn't surprising they didn't know of him.

"A real troublesome guy has shown up. When the fighting starts, you guys sail back to the first half of the Grand Line.

"Don't worry about me. I'll use Moonwalk. Even without a ship, with my stamina, I'll have no problem making it to the next island.

"As for my Vivre Card, Robin has it. We can regroup later using that."

If it were just Chinjao of the Happo Navy, Wood was confident he could take him down.

But the sudden appearance of Red-Haired Shanks made things a lot more uncertain for Wood.

At this point, Shanks wasn't at the level of Whitebeard, Kaido, or Big Mom yet.

However, there was no denying that Shanks was a rising star, one of the most promising figures of his generation, whose strength would skyrocket over the next ten years.

In fact, having inherited Roger's straw hat, Shanks' strength might already be increasing rapidly after Roger's death.

All in all, the threat Shanks posed to Wood was far greater than Doflamingo's. Wood even put Shanks on the same level as Garp in terms of danger.

Garp had gone easy on Wood during their fight, deliberately holding back.

But Wood had no relationship with Shanks and didn't expect him to show any mercy.

Given Shanks' personality, he wouldn't harm Robin and the others if they fled, so as long as they weren't a concern, even if Wood couldn't defeat Shanks, he was confident he could escape unharmed.

"The Happo Navy is certainly the strongest pirate force from the Land of Flowers, but I don't think someone as strong as you should be afraid of Chinjao.

"Rumor has it that Chinjao was seriously injured during his fight with Vice Admiral Garp, and his strength has since dropped to less than half of what it was."

Ruth was referring, of course, to the time Garp had crushed Chinjao's drill-shaped head, turning it into a flat, bun-like shape.

Everyone aboard the ship assumed the troublesome presence Wood had mentioned was Chinjao, the leader of the Happo Navy.

"You fool. Who said the troublesome guy is Chinjao? I was talking about the guy you called a small-time pirate!"

Seeing the serious expression on Wood's face, Ruth looked back at the pirate flag, trying to recall if he had forgotten some big shot.

But no matter how hard Ruth tried to think, he couldn't come up with anything. The Red-Haired Pirates and Shanks were names he had never heard before.

Just to be sure, Ruth looked around at the others on the ship, but his former colleagues and subordinates all shook their heads, indicating they had never heard of this pirate crew either.

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P/S: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 370+ at p@treon.com/Betek and change @ to a