章 97: A Warm Welcome

The curvy bearded man only stopped a few meters away from us.

Looking at him a little bit more. I began to notice that his hair was just like his beard: curved. Two strands of hair fell on both sides of his temples. He looked about middle-aged, but he was handsome all the same.

It was only after I had finished analyzing the man that I noticed Stussy shaking. She wasn't shaking much, but it was more than enough to notice almost immediately. There weren't many people who could make her shake like that. So this guy had to be important, somehow.

"Trespassing in the Holy Land is an unforgivable offense that warrants death. Surrender, and perhaps we might just spare you and make you slaves," the man declared confidently.

"Gurararara!! The last person to order me is now dead! I'll be damned if I let some brat do so now!" Whitebeard chuckled coldly.

Another one of the nine members snickered quietly at our interaction.

"Sounds like you heard something funny, mind telling us the joke?" Thatch asked coldly. He had in his hands a long kitchen knife, and he looked ready for a battle.

"You scoundrel pirates, are the joke. Who do you think you are? Walking into sacred grounds like you own the damn place. Know your place!" The member snorted coldly.

Thatch was about to respond when Whitebeard slammed the butt of his naginata down on the ground.

"Gurararara!!! We do what we want because we're pirates! Remember that brat!!" Whitebeard retorted coldly.

It was then the man standing in front of us released a suffocating amount of Conqurer's haki. Whitebeard wasted no time retaliating and sending his own wave of Conqurer's haki to oppose it, it was a devastating clash of wills. However, the baffling part was the fact that the rest of the people who were with the man were standing about like nothing was happening. It was a clear indication that they were strong as well, but I didn't know how they would compete against Thatch and Stussy though.

Right as the clash of wills had reach its peak. The leader of the group wasted no time drawing out his one handed sabre and making a swipe at Whitebeard. Whitebeard simply blocked the attack with the stem of his naginata. The impact resounded throughout our entire surroundings.

It was just like that, our battle with these nine people had begun.

Four of the remaining eight made a bee-line right at me. The other four split into two and began attacking Stussy and Thatch. Its important to note that it was only Whitebeard, Thatch, Stussy and I who were currently on the scene.

The four people each had the same article of clothing. All of them wore white battle armor with open collars and golden armor gear, however, they wore masks to differenciate each one from the other. Each one had a different weapon in their possession, varying from spears, swords, lances to twin axes.

I simply drew out Labrys and coated it with Advanced Armament haki. My Observation haki had already predicted where they would be moving. So it was a simple matter to duck, sidestep and block every attack that they had sent my way. I had to admit that their strength was formidable, if anything, they were at the peak of your average Vice-Admiral; just at the cusp of reaching the proper strength of an Admiral. However, they weren't strong enough.

"What the hell! This guy is blocking our moves like they aren't shit!?" One of the members, a man with an Asura mask commented.

"It's to be expected, he is The Storm Dragon of the Whitebeard Pirates. Lowly birth or not, his strength speaks for himself," Another member, a woman with a snake like mask commented.

"Let's all go at him at once, he won't be able to defend all of us simultaneously," Another one, a man with a lion mask commented.

They all immediately stopped talking and circled me in order to surround me from all sides. It was during their brief conversation that I had taken the time to observe Stussy and Thatch's fights. Stussy was doing relatively well, it appeared that she had also somehow managed to awaken her ryuo along with Advanced Armament haki. The ones who were facing her were having a hard time dealing and blocking damage from her.

As for Thatch, he was....doing better than I thought he'd be doing. He was just barely holding them off. He had learned Observation and Armament Haki during his time in Whitebeard's ship, though it wasn't strong. It was more than enough to cause major problems towards the people attacking him. However, I could tell that he wouldn't be able to last long, he'd need to finish this battle quickly if he wanted to live.

I didn't need to check on Whitebeard because.....he's Whitebeard. By the corner of my eye I could already see the leader being pushed back rather frequently, and I could tell that Whitebeard had been holding back the entire fight.

As my four opponents were getting closer and closer to me. I could only sigh before twirling my trusty axe. I was thankful for the warm welcome, but I didn't need a welcome from these four nitwits.

I swung my axe ruthlessly, the axe flowed like a river, cutting down the two attacks that were coming right in the front and to my right; and cutting down the other two attacks coming from my back and left respectively. All four of my assailants were quickly sent far back as a result, and since I didn't bother holding back, the damage that I had dealt them had damn near split their bodies in two. The four of them laid on the ground severely bleeding, pained groans could be heard from one of the assailants on the ground. I really couldn't help but think, 'Is this all the guardians of Mary Geoise have to offer?'

Anyway, I turned to look into the distance, I could sense several presences observing our fight; six to be exact. While five of them were already familiar to me, one of them was not. Matter of fact, if it wasn't for the fact that I had been so intuned with my Observation haki, I wouldn't have been able to detect it at all. It was as if this presence had killed its presence, it sounded absurd, but it was the only way I could describe it.

Ignoring the six presences that were leering at us. I turned to look at Thatch and Stussy. Stussy was just about finished with her battle, one of them was already down for the count. While the other one was given a combination of punches to the gut, along with a round house kick right to the jaw. Her limbs were coated with Armament and Ryuo, as a result, the opponent's mask immediately broke revealing an uncouncious face that had spewed out a concerning amount of blood.

Thatch, on the other hand, was just getting by. He somehow managed to catch one of the assailants by surprise and stab them right through the chest. The other opponent had immediately taken that opportunity to deal an equally fatal attack on Thatch as well. As a result, Thatch was bloody and tired, but I could tell that he wasn't done just yet. Thatch was currently standing, though his back wasn't straight, he was still standing. The opponent on the other hand looked like he wanted to finish the battle immediately.

The opponent immediately raised his sword and lunged at Thatch. Thatch remained still as if he had given up. Stussy looked like she wanted to help, but I immediately stopped her. I could tell that Thatch was upto something. Right as the man's blade reached the Thatch's nape, Thatch immediately ducked and raised his enlarged kitchen knife ruthlessly. The knife was already coated with Armament Haki, It went right up from his abdomen to the crown of his head. The assailant immediately stopped, and blood began bursting from him like a fountain, he dropped his sword and fell to the ground. It was there that he took his final breaths.

Whitebeard was just about finished with his fight as well.