Three days later.

The sun was shining brightly over the sea. The weather on the Grand Line is always unpredictable; just half a day ago it was pouring rain, and now it's sunny and hot enough to make you sweat.

Kuro lay leisurely on a deck chair on the deck, with a sun umbrella set up next to him by a navy officer, and several cold drinks on a table near the chair.

Boom boom boom!

The sound of cannons rang out from the ships, and cannonballs exploded near a pirate ship in the water ahead. After several rounds of firing, the mast of the pirate ship was hit by a cannonball and broke off.

"Alright, stop now."

Kuro, who was standing nearby, ordered the captain to stop firing the cannons, stepped onto the edge of the ship, kicked off with one foot, and used 'Moonwalk' to walk across the air towards the pirate ship.

Bang bang bang!

Sparks flew from the pirate ship as lead bullets hurtled towards Kuro in the sky.

"Iron block".

Just then, Kuro arrived above the pirate ship. Without even looking, he slightly froze, and the lead bullets sparked a few times on his body before letting Kuro descend.

Then came a chorus of screams.

Then the pirate ship fell silent, and Kuro took flight again and walked back, this time carrying two pirates in his hands.

*Smack*

He threw the pirates onto the deck, and several marines pounced on them, binding the two wounded pirates.

"Two wanted criminals."

Kro pulled a clean hand towel from his pocket, wiped the bloodstains from his hands, and said calmly.

"You've worked hard, have a drink."

Kuro pointed to the cold drinks on the table and said.

"How can it be repaired!"

Suddenly, the man with a three-bearded hat, who was being tied up by the Navy, shoved the Navy aside, drew the knife from the Navy's waist, and headed straight for Kuro, who was on the recliner.

Lida, who was lying next to Kuro, raised her head slightly. Just as she was about to make a move, Kuro waved to her, sat up, slowly took out a cigar from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it with a lighter.

"call..."

He took a deep breath, let the smoke linger in his mouth, and then exhaled. The cigar smoke formed a straight line, blowing into the face of the charging pirate, as if it had come alive, and entered his eyes and nose.

"Cough cough cough!"

The sudden choking sensation made the pirate bend over and cough. The marines, who had just reacted, quickly pinned the pirate to the ground.

"Let me go! Let me go!"

The pirate struggled, but a navy officer hit him on the back of the head with the butt of his gun, which calmed him down considerably.

"Why..."

Kuro shook his head at him and asked, "Which one is it?"

“Eight,” Kloe replied.

Kuro looked at the three long beards on the pirate's face and said, "Is that some kind of beard too?"

“‘Trident’ Augustin, bounty of 16 million, and his combat captain, ‘Madman’ Kelfin, bounty of 7 million, were also captured,” Kro continued.

"Eight ships, eight ships in three days..."

Kuro stood up, walked over to the pirate who had been pinned down by the Marines, kicked him in the chin, sending him flying and crashing into the edge of the ship.

"Add one more, and eight ships make five bandits, five! My warship is practically a bandit stronghold. People who know the area call them pirates, but those who don't think they're all bandits!"

Kuro gritted his teeth: "You guys like beards so much, why don't you just be bandits and mountain brigands? So what if you look down on mountain brigands? The Mountain Brigand King is pretty amazing! He could take down fifty-six Yonko! Why bother being a pirate..."

In three days, including the 'Flame Sword' he had encountered before, he had run into eight pirate crews.

On average, you might run into someone once in half a day, and this frequency annoyed Kuro, especially since these eight pirate crews had all sorts of nicknames like "Bearded One".

In his current ship's cabin prison, there are 'Blue Beard', 'Red Beard', 'Chrysanthemum Beard', 'Mountain Beard', plus 'Three-pronged Beard', that makes five bearded men.

Only a few days after Whitebeard's death, a lot of whiskers inexplicably sprouted, leaving Kuro completely bewildered.

If he can encounter so many beards just by going out on patrol, then there must be a lot of beards in the whole world.

Do these people want to become the Pirate King or just want to play the Beard Wars?

"Shave his beard off later, and let him go down and keep those dead bearded men company." Kuro waved his hand, ordering the Navy to take the two pirates away.

Then, he flew up and floated onto the pirate ship. With a touch, the pirate ship floated up and then tipped over, dumping all the seriously injured pirates inside into the sea. Only then did the ship float up and disappear into the sky.

Kuro reached out and made a clenching motion, causing a huge wave to rise and submerge all the pirates who had fallen into the sea. Only after doing all this did he return to the ship.

"Lieutenant Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel!"

Suddenly, the captain ran over carrying a Den Den Mushi (snail phone), saying, "We've received a distress message; it's from our Navy!"

The Den Den Mushi looked terrified, its voice broken and intermittent, as if it had been seriously injured.

"Help, help! I'm a Marine! I'm in Tadak Town! Help me... No, no, don't come any closer! Aaaaaaah!!"

From the other end of the Den Den Mushi came a few muffled roars, followed by the navy's screams, and faintly the sounds of sharp weapons cutting into flesh, before silence.

Kuro narrowed his eyes, a hint of coldness in them. "What's going on?"

The captain said with some reluctance, "We just received a distress signal from Tada town. Our colleague... seems to have perished."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!