Chapter 322: Blackbeard's Departure
In the cabin, inside Thatch's room, the sky had already darkened by now.
Looking at Thatch slumped over the table, Teach couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He had been drinking with Thatch since this afternoon until now, finally managing to get him drunk enough to pass out.
Teach had a decent tolerance for alcohol, and while drinking with Thatch, he had been slyly trying to drink as little as possible. So, although he was a bit tipsy, Teach could still move. Upon hearing Thatch's snoring, he immediately sprang into action.
He began searching Thatch's room and easily found the Devil Fruit that Thatch had stored away.
Holding this fruit in his hands, the honest facade Teach had always worn finally vanished. Staring at the Devil Fruit, he let out a triumphant laugh: "The Dark-Dark Fruit! I've finally waited for you!"
After waiting patiently for over twenty years on the Whitebeard Pirates, the fruit he had dreamed of finally fell into Teach's hands.
Glancing back at Thatch, Teach couldn't help but reveal a mocking smile: "This fool, getting a Devil Fruit and not knowing to eat it right away. It seems even heaven is favoring me!"
Learning from Thatch's mistake, Teach took a bite of the fruit as soon as he got it!
A strange, indescribable taste filled his mouth, causing Teach to frown. He forced himself to chew the bite he had taken a couple of times before swallowing it, then casually tossed the remaining fruit aside.
He knew well that only the first bite of a Devil Fruit was necessary; eating more would just be asking for trouble. Ace had been tricked into eating the entire Flame-Flame Fruit, and that incident had made many laugh on the Whitebeard Pirates. Teach didn't want to be as foolish as Ace.
"Zehahaha!" Teach laughed, looking at his clenched fist, revealing his gap-toothed gums. "Power! Power is surging up! This feeling is amazing!"
In his excitement, Teach didn't think too much and began to test and experience his power right there in Thatch's room.
Spreading his five fingers, a dark, pitch-black hole formed in the center of his palm. Then, everything in Thatch's room began to shake, and with a whoosh, they were all sucked in, flying toward Teach's hand.
"So strong! Such a strong ability!" Teach laughed heartily, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
But in his excitement, he forgot that there was still someone else in the room! Thatch had already passed out drunk, but when Teach tested his ability in the room, the table Thatch was lying on was sucked away, causing Thatch to fall to the floor with a thud.
The fall jolted Thatch awake, and through his drunken, blurry eyes, he saw the room in chaos. This sobered him up a bit. Lying on the ground, he saw Teach laughing loudly from the side.
"Teach! What... what are you doing?" Thatch, still confused, couldn't help but ask.
Hearing the voice, Teach was startled and turned to look. At the same time, something rolled past Thatch's eyes—it was none other than the Devil Fruit that Teach had bitten into!
Both Thatch and Teach froze.
"What... what's going on?" Thatch was still trying to make sense of the situation.
But Teach reacted instantly. His expression turned savage, and he quickly pulled out his claw weapon, putting it on his fist. Then, from above, he struck a blow straight into Thatch's back!
The attack came so suddenly that Thatch never expected his comrade Teach to strike him! Caught completely off guard, Teach's claws pierced straight through his chest!
He didn't even have time to defend with Haki...
*Pfft!* Thatch spat out a mouthful of blood, turning his head in disbelief to look at Teach.
The look in Teach's eyes was one he had never seen before. What kind of eyes were those? Mad, savage, filled with ambition and greed! Was this the Teach he had known for so many years? Why did he seem like a completely different person!?
With a *crackling* sound, Teach slowly pulled out his claws. As he did, a torrent of blood gushed from Thatch's wound, quickly forming a large pool on the floor. Thatch glared at Teach with furious eyes, but his body gradually grew cold, and he eventually lost consciousness.
In truth, if someone had noticed in time and tried to save Thatch, he might not have died. But after severely wounding Thatch, Teach steadied his breathing, walked out of the cabin, and casually closed the door behind him. Once on the deck, he said to the members of the Fourth Division, "Thatch captain drank too much and is resting now. Don't disturb him."
Teach had often drunk with Thatch before, so the Fourth Division members didn't suspect anything and nodded in acknowledgment.
Teach then boarded a small boat and left the Fourth Division's ship. Others thought he was heading back to the Moby Dick, but instead, under the cover of night, Teach took a sharp turn and quietly sailed away from the harbor, moving farther and farther from the Moby Dick.
"Zehahaha! Finally, I can leave this damn Whitebeard Pirates!" Teach laughed loudly once he had sailed far enough.
Teach had been a son to Whitebeard Old Man on the Whitebeard Pirates for over twenty years. The other division commanders had long seen him as family and a brother, but what no one knew was that Teach had never considered them family or brothers. He had no attachment to the Whitebeard Pirates whatsoever.
The term "wolf's ambition" perfectly described someone like Teach. Though he had endured on the Whitebeard Pirates for so long, once he got what he wanted, the ambition hidden beneath his honest exterior exploded.
Not only did he feel no attachment to the Whitebeard Pirates, but he also showed no mercy when he attacked Thatch, a friend he had known for so many years!
"If you have to blame someone, blame yourself for waking up at that moment!" That was Teach's final words to Thatch.
After obtaining the Dark-Dark Fruit he desired, Teach could no longer stay on the Whitebeard Pirates. He knew that under Whitebeard's shadow, he would never achieve his dreams.
"From today on, I'll call myself Blackbeard!" Teach laughed arrogantly, giving himself a nickname that indirectly revealed his ambition to reach and surpass Whitebeard's fame.
…………………………
The members of the Fourth Division didn't notice anything wrong with Thatch until the next morning, when a pirate knocked on the door to call Thatch for breakfast and realized something was amiss.
No matter how much they knocked, there was no response, and a faint smell of blood wafted through. Sensing something was wrong, the Fourth Division members broke down the door and rushed in.
When they entered, they found Captain Thatch's body already cold.
Captain Thatch was dead! The Fourth Division members were horrified. They quickly called for the ship's doctor while sending someone to the Moby Dick to inform Old Man of the incident!
Within minutes, the entire Whitebeard Pirates was alerted. All the division commanders immediately rushed to the Fourth Division's ship, and Whitebeard Old Man soon arrived as well.
"What the hell happened!?"
Seeing Thatch's body, Old Man trembled with rage. His powerful Conqueror's Haki, accompanied by his overwhelming presence, burst forth uncontrollably, darkening the entire sky.
As the Fourth Division members recounted the events, Old Man and the other division commanders gradually pieced together what had happened, quickly narrowing down the suspect: Teach!
"Bring Teach to me!" Old Man roared, stomping his guandao onto the deck. The force of the stomp pushed half the ship into the sea, and when it bounced back, it sent up a massive wave.
Old Man was furious. He hadn't expected that within just a few months, two of his sons would meet with misfortune.
First, Teach had been stabbed by Ian in a duel. Fortunately, Teach had a special constitution and survived. But what Old Man never expected was that this son, who had nearly died, would turn around and kill another of his sons!
Old Man was truly enraged this time. If Teach were caught, he would face nothing but death.
When Ian had severely wounded Teach before, Old Man had personally punished him, beating him severely as well. He had even said that if Teach died, he would move against Ian's Dragon Hunter Pirates.
The crime of killing a comrade could not be easily forgiven. Teach had committed the same mistake this time, and on top of that, he had directly killed Thatch!
The ship's doctor's examination results came back: Thatch had been struck from behind in the back, completely defenseless, and had died from excessive blood loss. Based on the Fourth Division's account, Teach was undoubtedly the murderer!
Killing a comrade—this was true murder of a comrade! Whitebeard had to punish Teach.
However, the news that followed stunned Whitebeard and the division commanders: Teach was gone! He hadn't returned to the Moby Dick last night; he had escaped!
Upon hearing this, Whitebeard's anger surged, and he stumbled, nearly falling.
Marco and Vista quickly steadied him.
"That beast! He dares to flee in guilt!" Whitebeard, already in poor health, felt his heart pounding violently from the shock of this incident.
"Old Man, don't get worked up!" Marco said to Whitebeard. "We'll find Teach and get the truth out of him."
That was easier said than done, though. Marco and the others knew that catching Teach would be difficult. He had left under the cover of night, and no one knew which direction he had gone. Alone, if he found a place to hide, he would be hard to track down.
Everyone was trying to calm Old Man's temper, but only Ace stood to the side, his expression shifting.
Teach killing Thatch and fleeing was unexpected, but it reminded Ace of what Ian had warned him about.
"Teach is a dangerous man..."
Because of his trust in Ian, Ace had never grown close to Teach. Their relationship wasn't particularly good. So, while Teach's betrayal didn't cause Ace much pain, Thatch had been a good friend of his, and Ace was still filled with immense anger...