Konoha Yellow Monkey: The salary is in place, and Wukage is useless!

Hashirama stood on the somewhat quiet deck, the sound of the waves crashing constantly in his ears.

The sea breeze was blowing, but he wasn't careless at all. Knowing Deidara's personality, he was worried that the kid was secretly planning a big surprise for him.

Although Hashirama was an undercover agent sent by the Land of Light to the Navy, and the two sides were considered to be on opposing sides, he still developed some affection for the soldiers within the Navy during his time there.

In his view, although there is darkness and oppression within the Navy, compared to other forces, whether nobles or pirates, it is already a force of justice.

They were like the ninjas of various villages before the establishment of the Land of Light, still bound by tradition and the mental constraints imposed on them by their superiors; all they lacked was enlightenment.

Therefore, Hashirama did not want too many Marines to die at Deidara's hands under his leadership; these soldiers were all people who could be reformed in the future.

With this in mind, Hashirama maintained a cautious attitude throughout his journey, and even activated his increasingly refined Observation Haki as he approached the Alabasta Kingdom.

Standing at the very front of the deck, guarding the surroundings, several fragmented images suddenly flashed through his mind: an enormous white clay dragon, a burst of hearty laughter, and a massive explosion that nearly destroyed the entire fleet.

Hashirama felt a chill run down his spine. He vaguely realized that his Observation Haki seemed to have advanced further, but what made him even more wary was the scene he had just witnessed.

As he gradually sensed it, a powerful aura rushed towards him. He looked up at the sky and saw a huge white bird. His expression changed slightly. Without wasting any time, he used the Moonwalk technique he had learned from the Navy and soared into the sky.

A wooden spear about two meters long grew from Hashirama's palm and he grasped it. Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki wrapped around the spear, and black-purple lightning flashed at its tip.

"Stop!" Hashirama, seeing Deidara approaching, already knew what this "madman" junior was about to do. He hurled the wooden spear in his hand at Deidara with all his might.

With Hashirama unleashing his full power, the wooden spear sent a shockwave hurtling toward Deidara. Deidara, on his flying bird, had no idea that the First Hokage would react so quickly. He hastily steered the bird away, trying to dodge the spear's attack.

However, the attack from this wooden spear imbued with Conqueror's Haki was not as simple as a physical attack. The moment Deidara dodged, the Conqueror's Haki on the wooden spear exploded instantly, and the resulting shockwave sent Deidara flying into the distance.

Deidara, caught off guard, nearly fell off the flying bird.

Hashirama, having landed a successful blow, did not stop. The massive explosion in his mind had left a deep scar on him, and he dared not give Deidara any time to unleash his ninjutsu.

Hashirama used Moonwalk, leaving several afterimages in the air. Taking advantage of Deidara being affected by the shockwave and Conqueror's Haki, he arrived behind him, on a flying bird.

"You brat, you've got some nerve!" Hashirama said in a low voice, standing atop the flying bird.

Facing the former God of Shinobi, the First Hokage, it would be a lie to say that Deidara was completely unafraid. However, he showed no sign of backing down or being afraid. Instead, he seemed eager to try, saying, "You are a Marine, and I am a pirate. What I do is only natural!"

After saying that, Deidara ignored Hashirama's reply, a confident smile on his face, and leaned back, falling off the flying bird as Hashirama's expression changed slightly.

Immediately afterwards, Deidara disregarded the distance between himself and Asuka, and directly formed a hand seal with one hand to detonate the clay Asuka.

The impressively sized clay bird exploded instantly, and blazing flames rose up, transforming into a giant fireball that spread outwards with the shockwave.

Deidara spun around in mid-air. His back, protected by Armament Haki, was still partially burned by the high-temperature shockwave from the explosion, and he was falling rapidly downwards under the force of the shockwave.

If Deidara, who had already created some distance, was in such a state, then Hashirama, standing on the bird's back, was even more severely injured.

Although Hashirama became alert the moment Deidara deliberately left Asuka, and not only used Armament Haki to protect his body, but also jumped to the side and upward in time, he still could not escape the impact of the explosion.

Hashirama, engulfed by the giant fireball, only had time to create half a shield with his Wood Release to block the core impact of the explosion. However, he still suffered many burns around his body, especially his legs, which were exposed. Not only were most of his pants burned, but his feet and calves were also severely burned.

Fortunately, his naturally strong physique allowed his body to begin visibly healing itself, with granulation tissue continuously growing from the burned areas.

Hashirama, who withstood the massive explosion, paid no attention to his injuries. Instead, he looked down with a serious expression and saw that Deidara had summoned a new mount, a giant clay dragon with outstretched wings.

Hashirama kicked off the ground with both legs in quick succession, plunging downwards at breakneck speed, leaving only a blurry afterimage in the air.

Standing atop the dragon, Deidara looked up at the sky and noticed Hashirama rapidly approaching him. He knew that even if he used his Devil Fruit ability to amplify his speed, he wouldn't be able to escape Hashirama's clutches. So, he quickly pulled out a dozen miniature clay birds from the clay pouch at his waist, activated them with ninjutsu, and simultaneously amplified their speed with his Devil Fruit ability.

The birds, whose size and speed had increased a hundredfold, soared into the sky under Deidara's control, their size now indistinguishable from the bird mounts Deidara had ridden before.

The birds exploded one after another above Deidara, blocking Hashirama's approach. At the same time, Deidara increased the speed of the clay dragon he was riding by a hundredfold, and moved towards the sky above the naval fleet ahead.

As Hashirama plummeted downwards, he was forced to change direction and slow down due to the swarms of clay birds that kept approaching the explosion. But when he saw Deidara's dragon flying towards the fleet, he could no longer care about the entangled clay birds.

With the help of chakra, Hashirama's legs, which had already healed themselves, unleashed a series of kicks in mid-air, increasing his speed once again as he charged directly into the flames of the explosion blocking his path.

Ignoring the intense heat and shockwaves of the explosion, Hashirama unleashed Armament Haki to protect himself, bursting forth at his maximum speed. He broke through the center of three waves of explosions and appeared ahead of Deidara.

At this moment, Hashirama's appearance was terrible. Not only was his general's uniform burned to tatters, but most of his hair had also been burned away, and his body was covered with numerous wounds.

On the high seas, facing Deidara, who excels in aerial combat and has the added advantage of the Momo-Momo Fruit, and also needing to protect the fleet on the surface below, Hashirama's response was quite timely.

Hashirama landed on the dragon's head, his expression serious, and said, "You have achieved your goal. The fact that you injured a Marine Admiral is enough to prove that you did not flee in a sorry state while being captured by the Marines."

Facing Hashirama's extremely serious gaze, Deidara felt a bit of pressure. He also knew that he had just managed to make the First Hokage suffer a setback partly because the First Hokage wasn't completely serious, and partly because he had to protect the fleet below, forcing the First Hokage to take the brunt of several explosions.

"Are you prepared to use yourself as a stepping stone for the sake of the Navy below?" Deidara didn't quite understand, or perhaps he agreed with Hashirama's actions. He had never regarded these Navy members, or even the various forces in this world, as his allies. In his view, the Navy, pirates, kings, and nobles were all just gifts for him to collect medals.

"In any case, most of them are soldiers who pursue justice and want to protect civilians. They can sacrifice themselves on the battlefield, but certainly not in this way of being slaughtered in a one-sided manner," Hashirama replied solemnly.

"Tch!" Deidara curled his lip in disapproval, then pulled out a scroll and said under Hashirama's wary gaze, "Since you're so eager to protect them, then take my final attack."

Hashirama stared at the scroll in Deidara's hand, then a smile appeared on his serious face. "These kids these days are really a headache!"

Before Deidara could even react, Hashirama had already teleported to his side and unleashed a whip kick imbued with Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki.

Caught off guard, Deidara raised his hands to block in front of his chest, but a smile appeared on his face as the whip kick came at him; this was exactly the opportunity he had been waiting for.

But what happened next was beyond his expectations. According to Deidara's plan, he should have been kicked away by Hashirama's attack, and then he would have used his Devil Fruit ability to enhance the clay dragon on his body the moment he was kicked away, and then controlled it to dive downwards and detonate it.

This was Deidara's plan to use his own serious injury to achieve his tactical objective.

However, the moment Hashirama kicked him, more than a dozen vine-like wooden tendrils sprouted from the back of the clay dragon Deidara was riding. These tendrils, as flexible as pythons, wrapped around and bound him, fixing him firmly to the clay dragon.

"When?" At this moment, Deidara disregarded the fractured forearms from the kicks and struggled to get rid of the sticky wood, only to find that the wood was not only extremely tough, but also suppressed the flow of chakra within his body.

Having landed a successful blow and pinned Deidara atop his own dragon, Hashirama stood before Deidara, arms crossed, and said, "Kid, I admit your strength and tactics are formidable, but some of your ideas are far too extreme. We came to this world to liberate and rule it, not to destroy it. Now, ride your dragon away, and I will declare afterwards that you wounded me and escaped."

Deidara looked at Hashirama with some resentment, but he also understood that he had completely lost in his battle against the First Hokage.

In this battle, he had the advantage of timing and location, and he also took advantage of the First Hokage's weakness of wanting to retaliate against the fleet. Despite having the upper hand, he was still careless and was restrained by the First Hokage. For Deidara, this was a complete defeat.

He raised his head and said defiantly, "I don't need your acknowledgment. A loss is a loss. But don't even think about arresting me. Even if I die, I won't be..."

Before Deidara could finish speaking, Hashirama, having already sensed something, knocked him unconscious as he was about to detonate the clay dragon.

"This madman!" Even Hashirama was breaking out in a cold sweat at Deidara's madness! (End of Chapter)