Chapter 230: Zephyr and Whitebeard
The soldiers of the Pirate Hunter Unit were all personally trained by Zephyr, so they deeply respected him. When Zephyr leaped onto the ship, they followed his lead and began boarding to attack.
As soon as Ace saw Zephyr, he felt a wave of dread wash over him.
Since he was a Logia user, ordinary soldiers' attacks couldn't harm him at all. Even alone, Ace could easily beat countless soldiers to a pulp. But facing Zephyr, he had a headache. He didn't want a repeat of the time Zephyr grabbed his fist and drained all his strength.
Fortunately, he wasn't alone on the ship this time. Someone else was there too: Baby-5! Similar to how Ace had captured Binz, Baby-5 had captured Ain, intending to bring her back to Doflamingo to see if this woman with her peculiar abilities could be recruited into the Donquixote Pirates.
Although Baby-5's personality made her easily swayed by requests, which Doflamingo exploited well, she had still been part of Doflamingo's family for a long time. Her loyalty remained with her young master, Doflamingo. She wouldn't just join the Dragon Hunter Pirates on a whim from Ian.
Ace had captured Binz, and Baby-5 had captured Ain. Both were now on this warship. Ace guarded the deck, while Baby-5 stood watch at the cabin door.
Though they didn't know each other, they cooperated tacitly, driving off all the Marines on the ship and seizing it.
When Ace saw Zephyr jump aboard, he instinctively looked toward Baby-5 and waved, saying, "Come help me! We'll take him on together!"
Ace had learned his lesson about Seastone. Ian had shown him what it was like. The helplessness of losing all combat ability when a Devil Fruit user touched Seastone made Ace very cautious, so he wanted Baby-5 as an ally.
However, Baby-5 heard it differently. In her mind, only one word stood out: "Together."
"This..." Baby-5 clutched her flushed face. "Is... is he proposing to me?"
Just as Baby-5 was about to agree, a figure suddenly dropped from the sky onto the deck. Ace turned and saw Marco arriving!
"Oh, Marco, what are you doing here?" Ace said happily. "Perfect! Let's team up!"
Marco recognized Zephyr too, his face turning serious. He knew this former Marine Admiral well, so he didn't say much, only replying, "The Old Man is almost here!"
"Phoenix Marco! And Fire Fist Ace!" Zephyr looked at them, grinning and baring his teeth. "More and more Devil Fruit users are becoming pirates. Devil Fruits are truly like demons!"
His massive mechanical arm, the Crusher, clenched its fist under Zephyr's control. It was hard to tell his mood behind his sunglasses. He simply asked, "Where are my students?"
Ace looked confused. He didn't know who Zephyr meant by his students, so he couldn't answer.
To Zephyr, this seemed like Ace was deliberately hiding them, using his students as hostages. His anger flared, and with a roar, he charged at Marco and Ace.
Marco and Ace immediately tensed, ready to fight. But just as the three were about to clash, a cannonball suddenly flew in from behind!
All three sensed the incoming shell and jumped back to dodge. The cannonball hit the spot where they had been standing, exploding. Fortunately, the warship's deck was sturdy and didn't blow a hole through it.
After landing, they looked back and saw that the one who fired was Baby-5! She was smoking a cigarette, her arm transformed into a mortar, the barrel still smoking.
But strangely, Baby-5's eyes were full of tears, and she was glaring at Ace with gritted teeth.
"What are you doing?" Ace asked her, puzzled.
"You... you heartless man!" Baby-5 said, aggrieved. "I was so wrong about you!"
Hearing this, not only Ace but even Marco was stunned. What? Heartless man?
Baby-5 shouted at Ace, "You proposed to me, and now you're abandoning me?"
She pointed at Marco and said, "And you want to be with this man instead!? Am I not as attractive as a man!?"
The expressions on Ace and Marco's faces were priceless. They exchanged a glance, shuddered, and quickly moved apart.
Marco asked Ace, "Ace, is she your girlfriend?"
"No, no!" Ace shook his head frantically. "I just met her for the first time!"
"Then how..." Marco was confused too.
"Hey, when did I propose to you? Don't talk nonsense!" Ace said, bewildered, to Baby-5.
"You told me to be with you—isn't that a proposal?" Baby-5 yelled at Ace, then tearfully pointed at Marco. "But then you turn around and want to be with him! Did you ever think about my feelings? Were you just playing with me?"
Marco was covered in black lines. He finally understood what was going on. It was because Ace had said "team up" earlier...
This woman's brain was on a completely different track from normal people...
Baby-5 bit her handkerchief, her eyes welling up with a pitiful expression that made Ace want to jump into the sea. He had never had much concept of women. The only women he had known were Dadan, who raised him, and Makino, the bar owner in Windmill Village who had taken care of him and Luffy. Baby-5's appearance showed him a whole new side of women...
Ace, Marco, and Zephyr stared at each other, dumbfounded. Thanks to Baby-5's interruption, their fighting spirit seemed to have evaporated.
In that sense, Baby-5 might have been the most formidable person on the scene...
With this delay, everyone suddenly felt a powerful pressure bearing down on the warship. Ace, Marco, Zephyr, Baby-5, and all the Pirate Hunter soldiers on board turned to look behind the ship.
A massive ship with a whale-like appearance had arrived at the harbor. It was even larger than the Marine warship. On its flat bow stood an incredibly tall man, leaning on a naginata. The sunlight shone from behind him, clearly revealing the long, curved mustache on his lips, shaped like crescent blades.
The strongest man in the world, Edward Newgate—Whitebeard—had finally appeared!
With his arrival, an immense presence washed over everyone. Baby-5, who had been crying in sorrow, now stared at Whitebeard's figure in fear, not daring to make a sound.
"Gurararara!" Whitebeard laughed from the Moby Dick, shouting, "Zephyr, are you trying to bully my sons?"
"Whitebeard!" Zephyr grinned back. "You old monster, still not dead?"
"I can live a long time yet!" Whitebeard said. "And you, retired, and still working for the Marines?"
"I've always been a Marine!" Zephyr replied. "As long as monsters like you are still pirates, I'll keep being a Marine!"
Neither backed down in their exchange. In fact, Zephyr had been a Marine Admiral in the era of Pirate King Roger. It was natural that he knew Whitebeard, and he might have even pursued Whitebeard or Roger. Their grudges and grievances had spanned many years.
As they spoke, the Moby Dick drew closer. Whitebeard leaped from his ship and landed on the warship, his immense weight causing the entire vessel to rock.
He was extraordinarily tall. When he stood upright, everyone had to look up at him. He glanced down at Zephyr and immediately noticed the mechanical arm on his right side.
"What happened? Where's your hand?" Whitebeard asked curiously. "I don't remember you, Zephyr, being a cripple!"
"Hahahaha!" Zephyr burst into laughter at Whitebeard's question, but his laughter carried a hint of sorrow and hatred!
After laughing for a while, Zephyr stopped and said to Whitebeard, "You really want to know?"
Whitebeard remained silent, just looking down at him.
Zephyr gently touched his mechanical arm with his left hand and said, "This hand was cut off... along with my students on that ship at the time..."
Whitebeard was surprised. "You were a Marine Admiral. Who could cut off your arm?"
"I'll never forget that day!" Zephyr chuckled twice. "And I'll never forget that man. He was a Devil Fruit user... and Edward Newgate, do you know? That man had a mustache just like yours!"
Marco and Ace were startled. Could it be that the one who cut off Zephyr's arm was the Old Man? No, if that were the case, Zephyr would have said so directly.
They looked at Whitebeard, only to find him unusually silent.
In fact, when he heard Zephyr's description, Whitebeard immediately knew who had cut off his arm.
"It was him... When did this happen?" Whitebeard sighed and asked Zephyr.
"What's the point of dwelling on that now?" Zephyr shook his head. "I'm just telling you since we met here. I've been searching for that man. When I find him, don't expect me to show any mercy..."
Whitebeard didn't respond to that. Instead, he asked, "Kizaru has already retreated. Why are you still here?"