After retiring from the Navy, I became a doting husband.

Shanks didn't activate his Haki at the time.

As we all know, Haki is an extremely powerful skill in One Piece. The three types of Haki are versatile, offering both offense and defense, and are abilities commonly possessed by strong pirates. This leads some to wonder why the Lord of the Coast didn't use Haki when he bit Shanks. Did he not have time to activate it?

Actually, that's not the case. Shanks is renowned for his powerful Haki, which is so strong that it can even cause substantial damage. When he boarded Whitebeard's ship before the Marineford War, he cracked the ship's planks with just his Haki. Moreover, after the Lord of the Coast bit off his arm, Shanks scared him away with just a glance.

Therefore, rather than saying Shanks didn't use Haki at the time, it's more accurate to say that Oda hadn't yet incorporated Haki into his work. Not only was Haki absent, but the focus was entirely on Luffy, which might explain why the Emperor of the Sea lost his left arm to the sea monster!

The Lord of the Coast doesn't recognize Shanks; the Face Fruit is useless.

Those familiar with One Piece know that Shanks has a unique ability: the "Face Fruit." Since Shanks is one of the Four Emperors, the strongest pirates, many people give him face. Over time, Shanks has been dubbed the "Face Fruit user" by fans.

During the Marineford War, Shanks's simple phrase, "Give me some face," prevented further fighting between the pirates and the Marines, making that "face" incredibly valuable. However, because the Lord of the Coast was merely a small sea monster, he didn't recognize Shanks, the possessor of the "Face Fruit," leading to him accidentally biting off a Yonko's arm. Of course, this is highly unlikely, as the "Face Fruit" is mostly a joke among fans; the real reason others give him face is due to his immense strength.

To motivate Luffy to become stronger

Shanks was Luffy's mentor. Seeing similarities between Luffy and Roger in him, he guided Luffy onto the path of piracy. Of course, a few words alone couldn't make Luffy take "becoming the Pirate King" as his lifelong goal; he needed guidance in his actions. On Whitebeard's ship, Shanks once said, "He pressed his left arm into the new era," which refers to the era of Luffy and his crew.

Therefore, it is highly likely that Shanks' arm being bitten off by the King of Close Combat was a self-inflicted injury to inspire Luffy to embark on the path of pirates and to become stronger in the future.

Redheads was careless and didn't dodge.

Another possibility that netizens are discussing is that Shanks, like Master Ma, was "careless and failed to dodge"! Perhaps in that situation, Shanks' entire attention was focused on Luffy, so he overlooked the presence of the Lord of the Coast, and thus was ambushed by this unscrupulous Lord of the Coast, losing his left arm. As the saying goes, "Even the best can make mistakes," and although Shanks, as one of the Four Emperors, is extremely powerful, he is not immune to slip-ups. It's understandable that he might have his left arm bitten off by a sea monster without warning.

The Lord of the Coast is actually very strong, but he deliberately lost to Luffy because of his inner guilt.

In fact, there are many powerful creatures unknown to people in the ocean, and the Lord of the Coast is not the ruler of the entire ocean. Back then, he just wanted to jump out for some fresh air, and accidentally swallowed the left arm of Shanks, one of the Four Emperors. At that time, Shanks did not punish him. The Lord of the Coast felt very ashamed and, in order to make up for his mistake, deliberately lost to Luffy, who had just set sail.

It's quite unexpected that Shanks, one of the Four Emperors, had his right arm bitten off by the Lord of the Coast. But since the plot has developed this way, Oda must have his reasons. Which of the above analyses is the truth is left for the readers to judge!

Author's Note on the Launch of Chapter 51

Thanks to editor Yi Suo for her help; this book is finally available. [Thank you so much! I've never really known what kind of stories I'm good at, but now I feel like I've found my direction.]

Preview: This book will feature all the popular beauties from One Piece... *cough* [You know what I mean, it's a harem novel.]

The pace will speed up a bit after it's released, so no one will say I'm padding the story. Marriage stories need a good plot, and the plot can't progress too quickly, otherwise it's easy for it to fall apart.

It will be available for purchase starting at noon on Saturday [tomorrow]. There will be a small surge in sales at that time, so please subscribe and support the book if you like it.

Subscriptions are extremely important; they directly determine the fate of this book and the author's own situation.

The author is not currently working full-time, but rather part-time, spending the rest of the time doing odd jobs.

The author is now at the age where even getting a job to tighten screws in a factory is impossible; everyone knows what that means.

If the subscription fees are enough to support myself, then I'll live entirely off the fees.

Updates will be made after 12 noon and at 5 pm.

After publication, I will update with at least 6000 words daily [barring any unforeseen circumstances].

If I can get a featured status after my book is published, I can write 8000 words a day, which will allow me to make a living entirely from writing.

Now, writing for several hours a day, even 15 hours a day, is possible.

If you enjoy this book, please subscribe to support it. It all depends on you!

Thank you so much for your support!

Chapter 52 Come on, follow me!

The King of the Near Seas is an ordinary sea king.

At this point, Shanks was already quite strong, and killing an ordinary Sea King should have been no problem for him.

However, Shanks had an arm bitten off by this sea king, causing his strength to drop to an unbelievable level.

This unreasonable phenomenon was eventually ridiculed by later generations as being caused by the consumption of face-saving fruits.

You know, people who eat Devil Fruits are supposed to be abandoned by the sea and become unable to swim. So why didn't Shanks become unable to swim?

The best explanation is that he ate the "Face Fruit," and even the sea gave him face, so he wasn't abandoned by the sea and didn't become a landlubber.

Of course, this was just a joke.

Whoosh!

After Shanks captured Luffy, the giant sea king burst out of the water, creating towering waves and opening its massive, fanged mouth.

Sea Kings are Sea Kings after all. Martin had never seen a real, living Sea King before. Although he was mentally prepared, he was still taken aback when he saw this huge creature.

The Sea King's body was enormous. After breaking out of the water, it resembled a whale three or four stories high, with a body the size of a ship. As it splashed up a huge spray of water, it lunged at Shanks.

This monster doesn't look like it bit off Shanks' arm; it looks like it could swallow two people and still be enough to fill its teeth.

Martin, who was originally prepared to watch the show, still opened his mouth:

"Sharpshooter, shoot him!"

Whoosh!

The king of the near seas leaped out of the water, its gaping maw agape as it charged forward.

Shanks, who had just rescued Luffy, clearly had no idea that a huge creature was lurking beneath the surface of the sea.

Just as the sea monster was about to bite down, a cold white light flashed, piercing through the eyeball of the near-sea king and shooting straight through the sea monster's skull.

The colossal king of the near sea lost consciousness the moment its eyeballs burst, crashing heavily onto the sea surface, splashing up towering waves and staining the sea red with blood before slowly sinking to the bottom.

Amidst the churning waves, Shanks stared at the Lord of the Near Sea, whose eyeballs and head had been pierced, then turned to look at Martin, who had just come to his rescue, his eyes filled with utter shock.

He hadn't seen how Martin killed Alvida while they were on the ship; he only saw a flash of white light.

The opponent instantly killed a sea king, and he didn't even see how the opponent did it. He never expected that this seemingly ordinary swordsmith was actually a hidden master.

He could kill this sea king, but not so cleanly and efficiently.

The fact that the opponent killed Aquaman without even leaving a trace of their attack is truly astonishing.

A moment later, Shanks and Martin met again at the restaurant. Shanks had changed his clothes and was respectfully pouring a drink for his savior.

"Mr. Martin, thank you so much for saving me and Luffy. You really gave me a lot of face, and I don't know how to repay you."

Shanks expressed his gratitude.

He had a feeling that if it hadn't been for Martin, he would have lost at least one arm.

Martin held up two fingers: "Captain Shanks, you don't need to thank me. I always ask for something in return for saving people. Saving you and Luffy counts as two lives."

"How about this..."

"You owe me a Devil Fruit, and you also owe me an extra favor, so we can be even. I don't have a Devil Fruit right now, but you can owe me one for now."

Shanks watched Martin meticulously calculating the accounts and nodded in agreement.

She did indeed save him and Luffy, so she could be considered their savior. As for the matter of killing Alvida in front of him, he would let it go. Anyway, he didn't have much of a relationship with Alvida, and his words of help were just out of a sense of chivalry.

"Mr. Martin, I have high hopes for your abilities. Would you like to join my pirate crew? You can become a high-ranking officer right away."

Shanks directly extended an invitation to join the group.

Seeing this, Yasopp and Lazio looked at each other in bewilderment.

Shanks' actions clearly surprised the two of them.

Inviting this swordsmith to join the group was one thing, but Shanks actually made him a high-ranking officer, which left the two of them somewhat bewildered.

They didn't question Shanks' decision. Having spent time with Shanks, they all knew that his intuition was incredibly accurate.

It seems this knifemaker named Martin truly has the potential to become a high-ranking official; the way the two men looked at Martin immediately changed.

"I'm sorry, I'm already married. I love my wife and don't want to travel around with her. Besides, I used to be a marine, and I don't have any fondness for pirates. I have absolutely no interest in being a pirate."

Martin answered truthfully: "Pirates are mostly homeless bachelors, not married men or men with children."

After saying that, he glared at Yasopp, which made the sniper feel uneasy, thinking of his wife and children back home.

To be honest, Yasopp was a real scoundrel. He abandoned his duties as a husband, left his wife and children to go out and make his way in the world. After his wife died of illness, his son Usopp became a braggart with no parents, and a good young man turned into a street urchin.

Shanks chuckled awkwardly, "You can't say that entirely. Family is important, but a man's dreams..."

Martin sneered: "Shanks, you have a daughter, so you're not exactly a good father."

Shanks...

Jesus cloth...

Lazio...

Everyone was speechless with astonishment. They never expected that this swordsmith would know so much about Shanks' private affairs. Did he know about Uta's existence?

What a master of concealment!

Is he really a knife maker?

"Okay, I should go home now."

Seeing Shanks speechless, Martin coldly glanced at Alvida, who looked like a dead pig: "Any pirate who dares to run wild in Orange Town is doomed."

These words were meant for pirates like Shanks.

After returning to the ship, Martin instructed Jason to drive the pirates on board to Red-Haired Shanks' ship, and then let Jason and the others sail away.

Redhead stood at the bow of the ship and watched the other party leave.

"Shanks, this swordsmith doesn't seem very intimidating. Are you really planning to make him a member of the Red-Haired Pirates?"

Watching Yasopp sail away, he couldn't help but ask, "Could he really kill the King of the Near Sea?"

"Yes, just because he was able to kill the Lord of the Coast and Alvida."

Shanks nodded and asked, "What do you think of his swordsmanship?"

Yasopp stroked his chin and said, "I think it's alright, but it can't compare to you."

Lazio nodded, took a bite of meat, and agreed.

In the previous battle, the opponent showed average strength, but his courage was terrifying, and his methods of killing were very strange.

"On the surface, yes, but that man is very cunning. His attack that killed the King of the Near Sea was too fast. If I hadn't been on guard, or if I had been too close, I wouldn't have been able to dodge it at all."

As he spoke, he looked at the gradually disappearing corpse of the near-sea king, then took a step forward and said in a deep voice, "Come, I'll show you something."

Yasopp and Rachel followed closely behind, arriving at Alvida's body, where Shanks personally undressed her...