I've Already Become An Admiral And Now The System Shows Up?

The system's rewards are directly linked to the difficulty of the task.

The reward given by the system this time can be said to be quite generous: 3 Assignable upgrade opportunities.

However, the specific task content 'merely' required Kenji to escape from Golden Lion Shiki unscathed.

It should be noted that the previous system side quest involving the Roger Pirates, in addition to surviving, had the extra condition of leading nearly half of the troops to survive.

Compared to the Roger task, this side quest concerning Shiki is undoubtedly much easier.

But the more this was the case, the more abnormal it felt. Kenji didn't think this system would change its nature and offer a 'more rewards, no increase in difficulty' task.

Rather than hoping the system had changed, a normal deduction seemed more reliable.

"Judging from the specific circumstances of the two tasks... does it mean the system judged it would be very difficult for me to survive this time?" Kenji compared the difficulties in the two tasks.

"The real difficulty of the last 'Roger task' was probably in keeping half of the troops alive."

"But this time, it only requires me to survive?"

"This system is talking nonsense! If I die, how can I claim the reward?!"

The fact that rewards are only given if one is alive, a seemingly nonsensical task requirement, seemed to hide another meaning.

Kenji thought carefully and realized that this might be a subtle reminder from the system. This wasn't a high-level game, it was a life-or-death situation.

"It's a bit strange, Roger and Shiki are both Legendary Pirates, so why is there such a big difference in task difficulty between them?"

"Does the system judge the target's personality and include it in the task difficulty?"

He recalled this question he had considered last time.

It seemed that this was the only explanation. The system would judge the task target's personality and comprehensively determine the task difficulty.

Although both were Legendary Pirates, with someone like Roger, if you didn't provoke him, he generally wouldn't deliberately target you, and even if you met him head-on, he might let you off.

But Shiki was different. Kenji knew that once he targeted someone, he wouldn't give up until achieving his goal.

Just as Kenji frowned and pondered in silence—

Above, Shiki stood on his Flying Pirates ship, seemingly level with the dark clouds.

Seeing that Kenji remained silent, he grew slightly annoyed and drew his sharp sword with a 'clang'.

However, at this moment, Kenji finished his thoughts and looked up again.

Then, he looked at Shiki under the storm curtain, suddenly sighed, and said with a serious expression, "Stop, Shiki!"

"Sengoku is on his way, and soon, you'll be surrounded by Admirals!"

"Hmph!" Shiki snorted coldly upon hearing this, a sneer on his face.

He didn't bother to retort, only raised his hand and waved.

The next moment, a fleet of Flying Pirates ships, hidden within the dark clouds, slowly appeared.

These pirate ships, affected by Shiki's Float-Float Fruit ability, sailed rapidly through the air.

In a blink of an eye, more than ten pirate ships landed on the sea, surrounding Kenji's warship.

Additionally, dozens of other pirate ships remained suspended in mid-air, with more than ten of them gathered in one spot, seemingly besieging a floating ship.

The other twenty or so pirate ships aimed their cannons at the warship below, targeting it from the sky.

"Gurararara! I came today with the determination to win!" Shiki sneered.

Kenji looked up and scanned, surprisingly finding a familiar face among the pirate ships in the air: Vice Admiral Tsuru of Marineford.

To be precise, Tsuru's warship was being besieged by Shiki's pirate ships.

"Is that... Tsuru's warship being floated by the Float-Float Fruit ability?" Kenji was surprised after understanding the situation.

"Shik is quite clever!"

Shiki, who hadn't yet entered his 'elderly dementia' phase and was at his peak, was indeed sharp-witted. Even Kenji had to admit that his move was brilliant.

By directly controlling the warship, even if the attack wasn't smooth, Shiki could easily move the warship to his headquarters and slowly deal with it.

"Speaking of which, he has been staying in the sky above the battlefield... is he planning to wipe out all the Marines who come to support him?"

Thinking of this, Kenji's lips curved into a smile. "Quite an appetite!"

"But, aren't you a bit overconfident, kid?"

High in the sky, Shiki left the ship's bow and looked down from above, still arrogant.

"Kenji, oh, I should call you Admiral Shirojishi now." Shiki's lips curved, but his eyes held a cold sneer and chilling killing intent.

"It seems you've been deliberately avoiding me all these years, hehe, that's not very friendly!"

Kenji felt a bit exasperated listening to him, so he simply went along with it and said, "Since we're meeting again after so many years, give me some face... Kubo Island, I'll take it!"

"Give you face?"

Shiki's eyes widened abruptly, and in his agitated state, veins bulged on his neck, his long golden hair behind his head danced wildly in the wind, like an enraged Golden Lion.

"I came here today to settle old scores with you!"

"We're going to meticulously settle all those past accounts!"

As he spoke, Shiki reached out and drew his swords, immediately entering a dual-wielding state.

Seeing this, the Flying Pirates crew members on the battlefield immediately understood: Shiki was going all out!

The pirates instinctively maneuvered their pirate ships, quietly retreating a bit to prevent being caught in the crossfire to some extent.

As the tightly packed pirate fleet retreated slightly, Kenji's warship suddenly stood out prominently.

At this moment, Kenji stood on the warship, looking up at Shiki's enraged appearance with his wild golden hair, and couldn't help but smile.

"It seems that Shiki is very determined this time!"

Kenji clenched his right fist, and traces of Armament Haki swirled around it.

As Kenji's clenched hand exerted force, the air around his right fist stirred, and under the effect of light refraction, from a distance, it looked as if space itself was distorted.

The next moment, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes, and he punched out fiercely with his right fist.

Under the enhancement of [Armament Haki (Super Gold)], Kenji unleashed a heavy punch at Shiki from a distance.

There were no specific technique involved. It was purely the raw power of the strongest Armament Haki and a primitive heavy punch.

An invisible force of Armament Haki, carrying the energy of the punch, shot straight upwards, and all the wind and rain in its path dispersed.

"Gurararara! Are you still attacking with your fists?" In mid-air, Shiki had already used Observation Haki to predict the attack.

So he was not flustered at all, his cold sneer tinged with disdain.

Did he really think his fists were powerful? Did he think he was 'Marine Hero' Garp?

Amidst the cold sneer, Shiki gripped his sharp swords tightly.

Then, he used only his right hand to swing his famous sword, Kogarashi, unleashing a visible, sharp slash to meet the attack.

Whoosh!

The sharp sword tore through the air, and in an instant, a white, silk-like slash formed, slashing downwards at an extremely high speed.

Immediately after, the slash collided with the punch entwined with Armament Haki.

A violent, visible shockwave erupted in the air.

This fierce shockwave actually swept away the storm within the battlefield, and it wasn't until dozens of seconds later that a new storm rushed into the battlefield.

Bang!

In mid-air, the slash was quickly shattered by the punch, and the remaining punch force, with powerful momentum, shot straight towards Shiki.

"Damn it, what kind of power is this?" Shiki crossed his two swords in front of him, and with a burst of Haki, he barely managed to block it.

At this moment, his eyes cleared somewhat, unable to believe that such power could be unleashed by an old Marine who hadn't been promoted for many years, with his fists.

Kenji met Shiki's shocked gaze, raised his hand, and shook his fist, while an incredibly dense Armament Haki surged around his fist, like flowing black mist.

"This is the strongest Armament Haki, kid!"