113 Display of Will

Everyone was surprised by the sound of a fight. When they looked over they were even more surprised by the 2 fighting.

"Isn't that man Captain Smoker of the Navy's Empyrean Trinity?"

"I think it is… And if I'm not mistaken, in front of him should be the King of the Rookies, the Heavenly Demon!"

"Are they about to start a fight right here and now?!"

Just as Smoker was about to attack again someone spoke out to stop him.

"Captain Smoker that's enough! Now's not the time to start a fight."

The man who stopped Smoker was a handsome man, looking to be in his early 30's. He stood at 6" and had long black hair tied in a top knot like a samurai. He was wearing a white suit and had a katana and Wakizashi sheathed on his hip on the right.

Ori looked at the man thinking he was quite familiar but couldn't seem to put a name to the face. Thinking Ori didn't recognise him, Benji said quietly.

"That's Vice-Admiral Kurogane Sengoku. The Marine's sword prodigy, 2nd in talent only to Dracule Mihawk. He holds the record as the youngest ever marine to make it to Vice-Admiral accomplishing it at 28 which was 7 years ago."

When he heard Benjiro's description he nodded figuring out why he looked so familiar.

[No wonder he looks so familiar, that should be Iori's older brother. Tsunade said that he once lost to Hawky in a duel and now Iori's dream is defeating Mihawk to avenge his brother's loss.]

Kurogane looked at the now blinded Benjiro and said.

"I didn't think you would actually be brave enough to show your face after just deserting the marines…

You Heavenly Demons sure are ballsy, do you think that with your little bit of strength you're unparalleled on these seas?"

Ori smiled and shrugged as he replied.

"I don't think we're unparalleled, but at the very least you're definitely incapable of catching us."

The Vice-Admiral was shocked by his confidence momentarily but then shook his head regretfully as he said.

"I was expecting more from the rookie king, but who would've guessed that he was just another 2nd rate captain who overestimates his own abilities."

Ori shrugged as he smiled and replied.

"Well I guess you truly would know best about overestimating your abilities, I mean you challenged Hawky and lost. I'm guessing that after your battle with Hawky, your inner demons slowed your progression which is why you're only as strong as you currently are."

When everyone in the crowd heard a rookie refer to one of the world's most prominent swordsmen as "Hawky" they were shocked speechless by his brazenness, but then they remembered that 9 years ago before his disappearance, Mihawk was the one who saved them from Kizaru's hands. Everyone who remembered that thought the same thing.

"His relationship with Mihawk was not your average one!"

Kurogane didn't even register how Ori had referred to his rival due to his anger. His battle with Mihawk was his sore spot. He had been called an unparalleled sword genius his whole life, but when the world called Mihawk the number one sword genius of their generation he had to challenge him. In the end he lost and ever since, that loss had been eating away at him. Hearing Ori bring it up now was a massive slap in the face.

He subconsciously raised his hand to his sword as if he was preparing to attack.

"You're courting death."

Ori shrugged as he said indifferently.

"I don't know about that, but I do know that if you want a fight, I'm more than willing to accompany you."

As Ori spoke his war intent sored. Ori could feel from his aura that other than Akainu, this Vice-Admiral was the strongest man he'd ever been up against to date, but after his recent breakthroughs he was still dying for a battle where he could really let loose.

Seeing his desire to battle, Kurogane could tell that this rookie king wasn't just talking a good game, he really was ready to fight with him and from the indifferent faces of the rest of his crew he could tell he was confident.

[From the most recent reports, he's just broken through to the Grandmaster Swordsman boundary. Even if his strength has seen an increase it's still lower than mine, he should know that…

So where does his confidence stem from?]

How could the Vice-Admiral know that not only had he experienced a breakthrough with his swordsmanship, but also his Heavenly Demon Sacred Art had broken through to the A rank and most importantly his Devil Fruit had evolved.

Since his battle with Akainu his strength had skyrocketed, but as the last time he fought with the marines they were too weak to force him to go all out they had no way of knowing how strong he really was.

In the end he didn't dare to bet, as he too was here for a certain item under the orders of his superiors and couldn't afford to get injured beforehand. He took a deep breath and lowered his hands looking icily at the young rookie.

"You're lucky I don't have time to deal with you. Smoker, come back here!"

Ori's war intent dissipated as he realised that the Vice-Admiral wasn't willing to bite.

When he heard his superior's words, despite his reluctance Smoker lowered his jutte and walked away.

Seeing his reluctance Ori shook his head helplessly before leading his crew towards Yasopp and Jozu.

When Katakuri and Daifuku saw Ori and the other Heavenly Demons, both of their eyes flashed with killing intent. Daifuku was just about to attack when he felt Katakuri stop him once again.

"Big brother, why are you stopping me? They're the ones who killed Oven."

Katakuri shook his head as he explained.

"We can't get into a fight right now, nothing's more important than getting our hands on that. If Momma gets her hands on that than Momma will be able to pull ahead of the other Yonko and becoming Queen of the Pirates will be within reach.

After we get it then we can go and slaughter those Heavenly Demon's!"

"But brother, killing a few rookies won't take more than a minute max. It won't hinder our plans at all!"

Katakuri glanced at his little brother and said lightly.

"From their aura's I can tell that both the Heavenly Demon and the Demonic Dragon are equal in strength to Oven, and the others in their crew aren't pushovers either. If we were to start a fight with them now then although we'd win, we'd have to pay a price and with the other Yonko executives and Kurogane's party here we wouldn't be able to secure the goal."

He knew that his older brother's observation haki was far stronger than his, so he didn't doubt his words. But he still couldn't help but look up at his older brother in shock. Although he was stronger than Oven, it wasn't by much, if they're equal in strength to Oven it means they're not much weaker than him.

Seeing that he seemed to understand Katakuri nodded and continued.

"Plus Momma said she wanted us to capture that mixed blood and the Heavenly Demon's most recent member. So when we attack we need to make sure not to kill them all, so we can't just go all out."

Daifuku looked at his brother confused as he asked.

"With Momma's obsession with new races, I understand wanting to capture that Silk, but what does Momma want with Akainu's son?"

"I have no idea, I just know what she told me."

Daifuku nodded and took one more cold glance in Ori's direction before facing his front and waiting for the gates to open.

Ori could feel the icy stares coming from Katakuri and Daifuku and he could understand why they wanted to kill them, after all Roman killed Oven. And as Oven, Katakuri and Daifuku were triplets, naturally they wanted to kill the men who killed their brother, but Ori didn't have time to care, he had to speak to Yasopp now.

Just before they arrived they were stopped by some of the lower ranking members of the Red Haired and Whitebeard Pirates. It wasn't till Ori felt their auras did he appreciate the power of the Yonko's. Not only were the captains and the executives strong, even their lowest ranking members were stronger than Silk.

They looked cautiously at the group who approached them. They were all New World Pirates, so they weren't idiots, they knew that they were no match for the man in front of them, but they didn't feel scared in the slightest. Even if they weren't his match, with Yasopp and Jozu just behind them there was no reason to feel scared.

"What do you rookies want?!"

Ori ignored their arrogance and said.

"I want to speak to Yasopp."

When they heard that, there was a temporary silence before everyone burst out laughing. One of the more senior members of the Red Haired Pirates said.

"Run along brat, the executives of the Yonko's aren't people you can just speak to as and when you wish."

Roman felt slightly angered by their words but before he could say or do anything, he heard Ori's sarcastic voice.

"Ooh is that so?"

The man from before heard the sarcasm in his voice and saw that he was looking at him as if he were looking at an idiot. Even though he didn't know where he was getting his confidence from which made him cautious, he was still confident that "Rookie King" or not there, was nothing he could do to him.

"Yes that's ri…"

Before he could finish his sentence he felt a ridiculously heavy pressure slamming down on him eroding away at his will. He couldn't help but feel his knees about to give way. He felt as if he was a peasant stood before a king.

Just as he was about to fall to his knees he felt someone's hands on his shoulders instantly relieving him of the pressure. He slowly stood up and wiped the sweat from his face and looked around at the rest of his crewmates. Other than Jozu and a few of the others, all of them that was just laughing at Ori were now laying on the cold hard concrete unconscious. He turned over his other shoulder and saw Yasopp looking at Ori in surprise.

"Boss…"

It wasn't just him, everyone present including the parties of the other Yonko executives and marines were staring at Ori as if he was a monster.

"Was that…"

"Conqueror's haki!"

Jack looked at Ori with a weird glint in his eye.

Daifuku and Katakuri's eyes were cold when they saw that.

"He can't be allowed to live!"

Smoker looked indifferently at Ori as if he expected it.

"So he really does have it."

Vice-Admiral Kurogane Sengoku was still staring at Ori's back as he said.

"It wasn't weak either…"

After getting over his surprise Yasopp sighed and asked.

"Was there any need to do that to my men?"

Ori smiled and said lightly.

"I had to do something to get your attention."