Chapter 416: Kuina and Blackbeard
Over the past two years, no one in the entire Grand Line had shone brighter than Ian!
Not only had he set fire to the Holy Land Mary Geoise, sparked the second slave liberation, and fought against Marine Admiral Kizaru, but he had also directly ascended to the position of a Seven Warlord of the Sea.
In just two short years, going from an unknown bounty hunter to a renowned Seven Warlord was nothing short of a miracle.
Not to mention that recently, he had even toppled the veteran Seven Warlord, the Heavenly Yaksha Doflamingo, and it was said that even Jack the Drought, one of the infamous Three Calamities of the Beast Pirates, had fallen into his hands.
The various abilities Ian displayed also drew the world's attention to his special Pay-to-Win Devil Fruit ability!
Of course, the whole "Pay-to-Win Fruit" thing was something Ian himself claimed, and the world simply believed it...
Teach was one of those who believed it. After escaping from the Whitebeard Pirates and spending time in the North Blue, he had been studying Ian's abilities.
And you know what? After some research, he actually found some clues.
He discovered that ever since Ian set sail, he had been constantly trying to make money. In fact, in the East Blue, there were even rumors about Ian being a money-grubber. When he was a bounty hunter, Ian specifically targeted high-bounty pirates. The money he earned from capturing them was considerable, but he was never seen squandering it.
And when he caused chaos in Mary Geoise, it was said that the Celestial Dragons' treasury lost a huge sum of money. After the battle on Salamis Island, he even extorted a massive 10 billion Berries from the World Government!
These weren't huge secrets; as time passed, some people gradually learned about them. Yet, with all that money in Ian's hands, he didn't seem to have any major expenses.
Combined with Ian's increasingly powerful strength and the constant emergence of new abilities, Teach began to understand the meaning of the term "pay-to-win." Gradually, the comparison in Teach's mind between the Pay-to-Win Fruit and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit began to tilt.
That's right, the Tremor-Tremor Fruit was said to be a power capable of destroying the world—a Devil Fruit ability that could cause disasters. It was indeed very powerful, but Teach believed that Ian's Pay-to-Win Fruit might be even more formidable!
It was simple: the Pay-to-Win Fruit seemed to make you stronger the more money you had!
For a pirate, this fruit's ability was practically a gift from heaven, because theoretically, after obtaining this fruit, Teach could rob the entire world!
If all the money in the world were concentrated in his hands, Teach couldn't imagine how strong he would become.
Although Teach didn't yet know how the Pay-to-Win Fruit converted money into power—only the Devil Fruit user themselves would know—that didn't stop him from coveting it.
Especially since Ian was still young; his power probably hadn't reached its peak. He was currently just a Seven Warlord, which made him much easier to deal with compared to Whitebeard, the veteran Four Emperor who shook the seas!
Killing Ian and killing Whitebeard were two completely different levels of difficulty.
Moreover, there was an irreconcilable hatred between Ian and Teach, because Ian had killed him once. Logically and emotionally, Teach wanted to get his revenge.
"Decided!" After thinking it over, Teach finally made his decision. "First, figure out how to seize the Pay-to-Win Fruit. I must get this fruit's ability!"
As for Whitebeard Old Man's Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Teach glanced at Jesus Burgess, who was steering the ship, and suddenly burst out laughing.
"Zehahaha! Burgess, do you want to become Edward Newgate the Second!?"
"Captain, I don't want to be that old Whitebeard's godson!" Burgess said with a pout.
"I mean, I want you to gain the power of his Tremor-Tremor Fruit!" Teach sneered. "You're strong, but imagine what it would be like to shatter the atmosphere with your fists!"
"With all due respect, Captain!" Burgess also laughed. "Your theory hasn't been proven yet. Everything is still just speculation. If it doesn't work, we might have to disband..."
"Don't worry!" Teach wasn't annoyed. "Our Blackbeard Pirates will one day shake the entire world!"
Just as Teach and Burgess were talking, Van Augur, perched at the top of the mast, suddenly shouted to Teach, "Captain, I see a ship ahead!"
"Oh!?" Teach looked up and asked, "Is it pirates? If you can see the flag, check which crew it is. If it's a famous pirate crew, close in and destroy them!"
But Van Augur said expressionlessly, "Captain, I understand your eagerness to make a name for yourself, but attacking a Marine ship doesn't seem like a good choice!"
"Marines?" Teach was taken aback. "Which Marine base?"
"I don't know!" Van Augur glanced into the distance again. "Judging by the size of the warship, it doesn't seem to be from Marine Headquarters. It's smaller!"
"Not from Marine Headquarters? Could it be a warship from one of the Four Seas?" Teach thought for a moment and said, "Ignore them. Stick to the original course!"
Although they had formed a pirate crew, Teach didn't plan to engage the Marines too much for now. While fighting the Marines would be the fastest way to gain fame—since it was the quickest way to raise your bounty—there was another consideration.
Now that Doflamingo's Seven Warlord seat had suddenly become vacant, Teach was thinking about how to scheme his way into that position. If he fought the Marines and caused too many casualties, it might lower their opinion of him and hinder his chances of becoming a Seven Warlord.
So, he decided to ignore the Marine warship—or rather, let them off.
Unfortunately, even though he didn't want to provoke the warship, the warship had spotted the Blackbeard Pirates' ship and began to turn, heading toward them.
"Captain, it looks like they don't want to let us go!" Van Augur said from the mast, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Can you see who's leading them?" Teach asked.
"It's a woman! Black hair, wearing a Marine uniform, with a sword at her waist!" Van Augur's eyesight was exceptional, and he could clearly see the situation on the Marine warship.
"A female Marine?" Teach sneered. "Teach her a lesson. Don't let her keep following us!"
"Understood!" Van Augur said expressionlessly, raising his long-barreled flintlock rifle and aiming at the pursuing warship.
Bang! Van Augur fired. The bullet left the barrel, crossed the vast sea, and flew toward the female Marine standing with her arms crossed on the warship's bow.
This sudden shot, fired from such a great distance, surpassed the speed of sound.
The bullet grazed past the female Marine's face, leaving a bloody scratch before hitting the cabin behind her.
Only when the distant sound of the gunshot reached them did the Marines on the warship realize what had happened. A group of Marines immediately surrounded the female Marine, asking with concern, "Lieutenant Commander Kuina, are you... are you alright?"
That's right, the person on this warship was Kuina!
How did she end up here? It's a long story.
Although she had followed Smog into the Grand Line to pursue the Straw Hat Pirates, there were seven different routes after crossing Reverse Mountain. Smog and the others didn't know which route the Straw Hats had taken. At that time, the Straw Hats had just entered the Grand Line, and the Marines' intelligence network hadn't been able to track them down. Reluctantly, Smog ordered Tashigi and Kuina to each take a patrol ship, splitting into three routes to search the nearby islands for the Straw Hats. If they found them, they were to contact each other via Den Den Mushi and regroup.
Kuina was ordered to search ahead, but she didn't realize she had accidentally gotten ahead of the Straw Hats. Because the islands in the Grand Line had magnetic fields that required stopping to charge the Log Pose, when the Straw Hats stopped on an island, Kuina and the Marines continued searching forward, causing this situation.
If Kuina had searched a bit further without finding any trace of the Straw Hats, she would have turned back. But unfortunately, she happened to encounter the Blackbeard Pirates here!
Wiping the blood from her face, Kuina looked at the pirate ship ahead with some surprise. She hadn't expected that from such a distance, their sniper could still hit her, and the bullet's speed was beyond imagination.
"I'm fine!" Kuina said to the Marines. "Has the information been confirmed?"
"Yes, confirmed!" A Marine soldier raised his hand to report. "That pirate ship ahead is the Blackbeard Pirates. According to Marine Headquarters' orders, if we encounter this crew, it's best to capture them first. They're worried that letting the Seven Warlord Black Dragon Ian handle it might cause unexpected trouble..."
"Hmm!" Kuina nodded. "Then, return fire! Since we've run into them, let's capture them!"
The Marines immediately sprang into action, while Kuina stared at the Blackbeard Pirates' ship ahead, lost in thought.
"It seems Ian-senpai is hunting down this Blackbeard Pirates?" Kuina thought. "Then, I should be careful. If Ian-senpai is so serious about chasing them, they can't be ordinary people..."
The Dark Old Demon says:
Just read the newly released Chapter 867, and I feel like I've been screwed over!
Right after Children's Day, they come up with a child trafficker? Is this really okay? This is the biggest twist in One Piece history, showcasing the darkness of the World Government once again...
PS: Normal update today. I have something to do tomorrow. As for the make-up chapters, I owe 32 now. I'm keeping track.