At the same time, as soon as Hawkeye, who had just returned from the East Blue to the Grand Line, heard his own name, memories of the young brat he had just seen came rushing back.
Could that brat defeat him in the future?... Hawkeye wasn't interested in that. If the brat was a strong opponent, then let the battle commence.
What interested him more was the young man who had just claimed that he would surpass Hawkeye and become the world's greatest swordsman. If it was that young man, Hawkeye was quite looking forward to seeing how far he would grow in the future.
...
At Marine Headquarters, Sengoku heard two names mentioned among the Seven Warlords that didn't belong to the current lineup.
Edward Weevil and Buggy?
Could this be the pirate who was locked up in Impel Down that was mentioned earlier?
This guy actually became one of the Warlords of the Sea?
Sengoku wasn't surprised by the addition of new members to the Seven Warlords, considering that Crocodile had clearly betrayed the Marines and couldn't be left as one of them after the Battle of Marineford.
And Kuma, it seemed, had undergone a transformation as a pacifist, to the point where he could no longer be called human. So it was only natural that he would be replaced.
Therefore, the appearance of two new Warlords didn't surprise him.
However, these two choices did catch him off guard.
Sengoku turned to Brannew and asked, "How strong is this Buggy you mentioned?"
"Um..." Brannew scratched his head awkwardly, "This Buggy had a bounty of 150 million berries before he was captured, and he used to operate in the East Blue. In terms of strength, it seems he's not that great. I would say he's probably not even as strong as a Marine Captain, at best maybe a Lieutenant Colonel."
Sengoku felt somewhat speechless. How did someone like that become a Warlord of the Sea?
Could it be that there were no suitable candidates left?
As for the other character, Edward Weevil, it was a painful subject for everyone in Marine Headquarters. This guy had attacked the training ship led by Zephyr, killing the trainees and being the culprit behind severing Zephyr's right arm.
It was because of this incident that Zephyr, who had already suffered the pain of losing his family to pirates, experienced a second devastating blow. This had caused the former Marine Admiral, who was once known for his refusal to kill, to undergo a drastic change in his personality.
Afterward, he formed the organization known as the Pirate Hunter, targeting and hunting down pirates.
And now, this guy had actually become one of the Warlords of the Sea?!
Upon hearing this news, Sengoku clearly sensed that something was wrong, and it was a big problem.
The higher-ups in the Marines were well aware of the enmity between Edward Weevil and Zephyr. It was highly likely that Zephyr would be the first one to be discontented with someone like him becoming a Warlord.
Moreover, Zephyr was currently in a semi-independent stage, and the Pirate Hunter organization was only nominally affiliated with Marine Headquarters. In reality, Zephyr was acting independently. Could it be... Sengoku's expression darkened slightly as he started to form some unfavorable speculations.
In a certain sea area of the Grand Line, on a military ship, a man with purple hair was watching a live broadcast. This person was none other than Zephyr, still dressed in a Marine uniform and not yet wearing his flashy sunglasses.
However, at this moment, his face turned livid, and his eyes were filled with anger.
That guy had actually become one of the Warlords of the Sea?!
What kind of joke was this?!
...
At the Arlong Park, the options presented by Luo ke left everyone present feeling somewhat bewildered.
There were hardly any options they were familiar with.
Luffy raised a question, puzzled, "could it be the same Buggy we defeated before?"
"Seems like it," Usopp nodded. "He's the only Buggy we know."
"That guy became a great pirate too?" Luffy's jaw dropped in astonishment, and not only him, but even Usopp and the others were secretly amazed. "Clearly, he's weaker than even me. How did he become a Warlord of the Sea? Could it be that all the Warlords are at this level?"
"Let's not underestimate the Warlords," Zoro calmly said. "That Hawkeye, the man we encountered before, is very strong. The title of Warlord of the Sea is just a label. There are strong and weak individuals among them. We shouldn't judge their strength based on that alone." He could still feel the pain and helplessness inflicted upon him by the overwhelming power during their recent challenge. That was the world's greatest swordsman for you.
"Besides those two, do you know who the other two are?" Luffy tilted his head and asked.
"I've heard of Doflamingo, also known as 'Heavenly Demon.' He is said to be a powerful man. Before becoming a Warlord of the Sea, Doflamingo had a bounty of 340 million berries," Zoro replied. He had spent some time as a bounty hunter before and was quite familiar with the situation of pirates.
"As for Edward Weevil, there's not much information about him, but his bounty is 480 million berries," Zoro added casually. "By the way, your brother Ace had a bounty of 550 million berries."
Upon hearing that Ace had a higher bounty than the others, Luffy burst into laughter. "These guys don't sound that great after all. Their bounties are not higher than Ace's. No wonder Ace, within just three years of setting sail, had already achieved such a bounty. I have to work hard too and not let Ace leave me too far behind."
"In that case, it seems that Buggy is the easiest for Luffy to defeat, followed by Doflamingo, then Edward Weevil, and finally, Hawkeye Mihawk," Usopp summarized.
"Now, who should we choose?" Luffy looked at the others.
"Although Luffy has learned Haki and developed immense power through his Devil Fruit ability after the war at Marineford, it should still be very difficult to defeat Hawkeye, the world's greatest swordsman. Besides, isn't that green-haired guy his target? Why would Luffy go and defeat him?" Sanji turned his head and glanced at Zoro.
"Who are you calling a green-haired guy?" Zoro's temple throbbed as he confronted Sanji.
"Are there any other green-haired guys here?" Sanji replied nonchalantly.
"Do you want to die, bastard?" Zoro placed his hand on his sword and glared at Sanji.
"Who's afraid of who?" Sanji rolled up his sleeves.
Why did they suddenly want to fight each other?
Usopp quickly ran between the two to defuse the situation, while Luffy watched their interaction with a grin on his face.
Usopp quickly shifted their attention, saying, "In that case, we should choose from the remaining three. I think it's better to go with the weaker ones, like Buggy and that Doflamingo guy."
Weaker?
Weaker...
Weaker!
...
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