Chapter 272: C-Class Random Mission [Red-Haired]

Late at night, in the lower deck of the Abyss.

Shanks, covered in whip marks, lay sprawled on the cabin floor, resembling a lifeless corpse that had been tortured to death.

Yet the faint rise and fall of his chest indicated that he still clung to life.

"Ugh…"

Shanks exhaled with difficulty, his eyes slightly widened and pupils dilated as he stared at the ceiling, his mind racing with thoughts, flashing by like a revolving lantern before disappearing.

"It was me, I was the one who invited first…"

"For the first time, I found a crew member I wanted to invite, someone who could be a lifelong companion…"

"But why, why am I always the one getting beaten?"

"Why has it come to this…"

With a light "ka-cha" sound, the wooden door of the hold was pushed open from the outside.

Love, the little fox, walked in briskly with a tray of food, piled high with delicious dishes. The intense aroma instantly snapped Shanks out of his melancholic state.

Springing to life, Shanks sat up from the floor, his eyes gleaming as he stared hungrily at the food in Love's hands.

"Smells good!"

Love walked over to the table in the cabin, slammed the tray down, and then put her hands on her hips, her chin slightly raised, saying quite unhappily.

"Humph! You creep who wants to steal Adrian-sama from me! If Adrian-sama hadn't been worried that you'd starve to death and specially asked me to bring you some food, I wouldn't bother with you, you annoying creep!"

Shanks turned a deaf ear to her.

He took three steps at a time, like a starving ghost, and pounced in front of the table. Without even looking at what was in front of him, he grabbed something and stuffed it whole into his mouth.

The continuous battles with Adrian had greatly consumed Shanks' energy and stamina, and he was severely physically and mentally injured. He urgently needed to replenish a large amount of food.

Yes, he just needed a lot of food.

Such was the straightforward recovery method for someone with his monstrous physique.

In the blink of an eye, Shanks had devoured half of the food on the tray, finally sating his empty stomach, enough to regain some composure.

Only then did he turn his attention to the little fox who had brought the food, and with a hint of surprise, he said, "Wow! A Mink! It's a Mink tribe member!"

Upon hearing this, Love's initially annoyed expression softened slightly, her ears twitching and her fluffy tail swaying gently behind her.

"You… have you seen Minks before?" Love asked, looking uncertainly at Shanks.

"Oh yeah, Love, Shanks and I both used to be members of the Roger Pirates," Rumi said, passing through the cabin wall and into the room. Recognizing Love's voice, she quickly explained.

Then, the little ship spirit raised his arm, and with a ripple of energy, a pile of medical supplies materialized from the castle, placing them on the table.

Shanks continued to shove food into his mouth with his right hand but managed to free his left hand to pick up a bottle and inspect it.

"These… are medicine?" he mumbled, his speech garbled by the food in his mouth.

"Oh my, yes, indeed!" Rumi nodded happily. The small misunderstanding that had occurred between Shanks and her earlier in the day had long been forgotten by the super ship spirit.

"Although I'm not a professional doctor, these are all medications for treating common injuries! They've been stored in the castle for some time, and you probably need them now, right?"

Shanks stuffed the last bit of food into his mouth, clasped his hands together, and sincerely expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you so much, Rumi!"

"It's no problem at all," Rumi replied bashfully, doing a little twirl in the air. "Go ahead and see which ones you need."

After more than ten years with the Roger Pirates, while Shanks wasn't a ship's doctor, he knew some basic emergency treatment techniques.

His bandaging skills, while not professional, but was capable to patch himself and others.

As Shanks selected medications and treated himself, Love called out to Rumi, "Rumi! Rumi! Come here!"

Rumi flew over to Love and asked curiously, "What's up?"

Love pointed to the medications. "Did Adrian-sama ask you to bring these?"

Rumi nodded. "Oh my, yes he did!"

"Why would Adrian-sama give this guy medicine?" Love asked, puzzled. "This guy wants to take Adrian-sama away from me!"

Rumi, feeling a bit awkward, reminded Love to mind her manners and simply explained, "Shanks only extended an invitation."

Love wrinkled her nose. "So is this guy coming with us to Skypiea Weatheria too?"

Rumi nodded. "It seems like that's what Adrian wants."

Adrian's intentions immediately silenced Love. She glanced at Shanks and quickly changed her tune.

"Well, at least this redhead looks more normal than that guy with the long earlobes."

She then asked, "Rumi, who do you think is stronger, the redhead or the long-eared guy?"

"Shanks or Enel?" Rumi pondered for a moment before replying, "Shanks is definitely stronger!"

Rumi then explained, "It's just that Adrian is so powerful that it makes Shanks seem weaker. But compared to some of the Marine's Rear Admirals or even Vice Admirals, Shanks could easily handle them."

Love nodded, agreeing, "That's right! Adrian-sama is the strongest!"

The little fox and the ship spirit continued whispering to each other for a long time.

Finally, Shanks finished treating his wounds. His upper body was wrapped in white bandages, and a long strip of gauze covered the scar on his right cheek.

Feeling much better after the meal, Shanks remembered a question he hadn't had the chance to ask.

"Rumi, can I ask you something?"

Rumi paused her conversation with Love and turned her head. "What is it, Shanks?"

"It's about what Adrian said before. He mentioned Captain Roger had a wife. What's that all about?"

Shanks had always thought he might be Roger's son—

No, he always thought Captain Roger was single!

Love perked up, having been curious about this herself.

"Oh my!" Rumi looked around and found all parties interested.

"I don't know much about that either. I only woke up in Water 7. Adrian occasionally mentions things from before then." Rumi immediately told Shanks everything she knew about Roger's wife and child.

"So Captain Roger not only had a wife, but he also had a child?" Shanks felt a strange sensation in his heart, as if another identity had been taken away. The personal feeling and identity created were stripped by the physical one.

"That seems to be the case!" Rumi nodded. "But I haven't met Lady Rouge! I'm really curious about her!"

"By the way, Rumi, have you ever met that guy Bullet?" Shanks remembered something else.

"Didn't Adrian say that guy went to the East Blue? To some village?" Rumi shook his head. "I'm not sure about that. When I met Bullet, I mostly stayed hidden in the castle and didn't go out."

"Alright then." Shanks shook his head with a bit of regret, but he didn't dwell on it.

Although he had lived with Bullet for several years on Roger's ship, Bullet was too cold and always had a "I'm the strongest" arrogant expression. They never got along well.

Rumi thought Shanks just wanted to see a former companion from Roger's crew and comforted him.

"According to Adrian, we're heading to Reverse Mountain next, through Twin Capes, and then we'll reach Paradise. You'll get to see Crocus there."

Shanks' expression turned bitter. He didn't want to go to the Grand Line now! He wanted to gather his own crew and form a new pirate group!

"Rumi, is there any way I can get off the ship early?"

Rumi, unsure, replied, "Beat Adrian?"

Shanks twitched. If he could beat White Ghost, would he be in this situation?

At that moment, Love suddenly said in a sinister tone, "You could just die."

"Don't say such scary things!" Shanks yelled.

Rumi consoled him, "Oh, actually, Adrian is really nice."

Shanks knew this well. Most conflicts between pirates at sea didn't end until one side was completely wiped out. Someone like Adrian, who kept giving him chances to challenge again, was rare. He had only seen this kind of attitude in Roger's crew before.

Douglas Bullet was subdued by Captain Roger after repeatedly failing in his challenges.

But I don't want to be subdued! Shanks thought tearfully. He felt that the identity and dream of being a captain were slipping further away from him.

...

The next morning, Abyss sailed on the shimmering, rippling sea.

On deck, the challenges continued.

"Ha!" Shanks shouted, leaping up, his cutlass coated in Haki, slashing down.

Facing the thunderous strike, Adrian didn't even lift an eyelid. His hand flipped the snow-white blade, and he swung with his right hand.

Clang—

A crisp sound echoed as the twin blades clashed, sending a shower of dazzling sparks.

Shanks' powerful strike was completely deflected to the side. The snow-white blade smoothly followed his momentum, causing his body to tilt slightly to the right.

Unfazed, Shanks used his right foot as a pivot, and as his body tilted towards the ground, he immediately slashed horizontally with his sailor's cutlass.

Adrian exerted force with his right arm, pressing the snow-white blade down to deflect Shanks' attack, then swiftly raised the blade again and slashed downward at lightning speed.

In a hurry, Shanks retracted his cutlass, pushed off with his right foot, and awkwardly rolled to the side.

Snap!

Adrian stood his ground and casually snapped his fingers.

Ahead of Shanks' rolling path, a mini-ghost materialized out of thin air. It emitted a faint black aura, its face twisted into a cruel grin.

Bad Luck Ghost: Curse of Misfortune.

When dealing with such a protagonist-like figure, simply overpowering them physically is far from sufficient.

You must also toughen their spirit.

Fortunately, Adrian possessed a vast array of emotional manipulation abilities that could strengthen one's nerves, and also, his new collection.

Unable to dodge, Shanks closed his eyes tightly and collided face-first with the black aura-emitting ghost.

He directly encountered Adrian's most notorious ghostly ability.

Shanks braced himself for something terrifying, waiting for a while with his eyes shut tight, only to find that nothing had happened.

"Hah!"

Shanks suddenly opened his eyes and stood up from the ground, leaning on his sailor's cutlass, ready to laugh.

At that moment, a crystal-clear, transparent bubble suddenly rose from under his feet.

The bubble, secreted by the Yarukiman Mangrove, was incredibly tough yet slick and slippery on the outside, causing Shanks, who was just getting his footing, to slip.

Simultaneously, the sailor's cutlass, previously planted on the deck, fell backward due to its owner's loss of control, with the blade pointing straight up.

A moment later, Shanks landed butt-first on the blade, his pants instantly soaked with blood.

"Oww—"

Shanks let out a cry of pain, quickly rolling to his feet and clutching his bleeding rear, trying to distance himself from the treacherous cutlass.

In his haste, he stepped on the now flat blade of the cutlass again.

Lubricated by his own blood, the cutlass acted like a banana peel.

Swoosh—

A second slip!

Ouch—

It was painful just to watch!

Adrian couldn't bear to look directly, feeling a pang of sympathy for the dreadful effects of the Bad Luck Ghost.

Compared to the previous embarrassing exposure of Kozuki Sukiyaki's waifus, Shanks, under the interference of the Bad Luck Ghost, was enduring what could only be described as a physical ordeal.

Truly, a pain in the ass!

As Adrian patiently stood by, waiting for Shanks to rise again like an indomitable cockroach, a notification suddenly appeared on his panel.

[You have defeated Shanks for the forty-ninth time!]

[You have triggered C-rank random mission "Red-Haired"!]

[Mission Brief: This is just a kid who's just set out to sea!]

[Mission Tip: Don't let him off!]

[Mission Requirement: Defeat Shanks for the fiftieth time.]

[Mission Reward: Randomly acquire one of Shanks' skills or Expertise.]