Chapter 425: Teach on Drum Island
Hawk-Eye met Red-Haired Shanks about half a month later. For now, let's rewind time a bit and return to the moment when Hawk-Eye left Ian's ship.
At that time, on the surface of the Grand Line, a large ship was sailing.
Onboard were the five members of the Blackbeard Pirates, who had just shaken off the Marine patrol ship and Kuina.
After several days of sailing, the Blackbeard Pirates' vessel entered a chilly sea area. Snowflakes began to fall from the sky, and the north wind chilled their hands and feet.
"Captain Teach, there's an island ahead!" Burgess, who was at the helm, called out to Blackbeard Teach and asked, "Should we dock?"
"No need, right? Wouldn't it be better to head straight to Alabasta?" Teach replied.
"But our drinking water supply is running low!" Lafitte interjected from the side.
Teach thought it over and reluctantly told Burgess to prepare to dock and go ashore.
After escaping Kuina's pursuit, Teach and his crew had been sailing along according to the Log Pose. When they realized that their chosen route was actually on the Alabasta line, Teach began to have some ideas.
Since the Celestial Demon Doflamingo had been defeated by Ian and his crimes exposed, Doflamingo's position as a Warlord of the Sea had become vacant. Teach had long been eyeing a Warlord position to carry out his subsequent plans, as mentioned earlier.
Teach's original plan was to find some famous pirates, kill them, and quickly make a name for himself to attract the Marines' attention. Once he proved his strength, he could send Lafitte to Marine Headquarters to lobby, possibly convincing the Marines and the World Government to consider recruiting him as a Warlord.
However, along the way, Teach hadn't encountered any suitable targets. Most of the pirates he met had bounties of a few million or ten to twenty million Berry—nothing impressive. So, his plan to gain fame had yet to be implemented.
But when he discovered that this route passed through Alabasta, Teach came up with a new idea. He remembered that Crocodile, one of the Warlords, was in the Alabasta Kingdom!
Although he had heard that Crocodile had recently appeared with Ian in Dressrosa, he had probably returned by now.
If he could take down a Warlord, Teach could prove his strength to the Marines, and the effect might be even better.
Teach thought: Crocodile had appeared with Ian in Dressrosa, meaning they knew each other, and Ian had likely invited him for help. Since Teach had a grudge against Ian, targeting Crocodile was perfect. It would allow him to seize the Warlord position by defeating Crocodile and also collect some interest from Ian's friend first.
Moreover, another reason Teach wanted to target Crocodile was that he had met him before...
After setting his goal, Teach had been heading toward Alabasta. But as a sailor, some things were unavoidable—running out of drinking water was one of them, and he had no choice.
So, they docked and landed on an island called Drum Island.
"Achoo!"
As soon as they stepped ashore, Teach sneezed from the cold. This winter island was freezing.
"Damn it, let's finish up and get out of here quickly!" Teach couldn't help but say to the others. "I don't want to stay in this godforsaken place any longer."
However, at that moment, Van Augur, who had a strange long gun on his shoulder, suddenly said to Teach, "Captain, something doesn't seem right. I see a black pirate flag hanging in the village ahead..."
Teach was stunned. "A pirate flag? Which pirate crew's territory is this island?"
"A sword piercing a dragon's head—that's the flag of the Dragon Hunter Pirates!" Van Augur replied.
Hearing this, Teach felt as disgusted as if he had swallowed a fly. Wherever he went, he kept hearing the name Dragon Hunter Pirates!
But at the same time, he also felt something was off. He had a bad feeling that seeing the Dragon Hunter Pirates' flag here was an omen of something.
At this point, Teach didn't know that Ace and Ian had already set sail to hunt him down.
After fleeing the Whitebeard Pirates, he had expected that Whitebeard Old Man would send someone after him. After all, he had killed a comrade to escape—a grave crime in the Whitebeard Pirates. Even when Ian had tried to assassinate Teach before, if Teach hadn't survived, Whitebeard Old Man might have gone after Ian.
He knew this, but he didn't know who among the Whitebeard Pirates was chasing him, because after escaping, Teach had little access to information.
He had only guessed that Fire Fist Ace might be the one to pursue him, since Ace was the commander of the Second Division, and it made sense for a division commander to handle the pursuit.
However, just recently, Teach had unexpectedly seen in the newspaper that the Celestial Demon Doflamingo had been brought down. The news subtly mentioned Ace and Ian's names, leading Teach to believe that Ace and Ian were still in Dressrosa.
In other words, he was misled by this news and had no idea that Ace and Ian had quietly left Dressrosa and were now right on his tail.
Now, seeing the Dragon Hunter Pirates' flag here, Teach's first thought was that this was an island under Ian's protection.
His expression turned dark and sinister.
"Let's go, head up the island and take a look!" Teach said to Lafitte, Burgess, Van Augur, and Doc Q.
The five of them landed and entered the village at the foot of the mountain.
However, what they didn't know was that the Drum Island Kingdom was not actually under Ian's protection. In fact, Ian himself had no idea that someone on this island was flying his flag!
The Drum Island Kingdom had done this because, back when Ian had killed their king, Wapol, the island's doctors were freed. From then on, people on the island no longer had to worry about medical care. Grateful for Ian's kindness, the islanders, upon learning his pirate crew's name and flag, spontaneously raised his flag!
To the people of Drum Island, Ian was a hero like Crocodile had once been. Raising his flag was just a way to commemorate the great pirate who had once landed on their island.
Because of Ian's pirate identity, the people of Drum Island not only didn't dislike pirates but actually welcomed them. So when Teach and his crew landed, they received a warm welcome.
But unfortunately, Teach had ill intentions, and the villagers ended up suffering.
The ripple effects of Ian's actions appeared again. In the original history, the Blackbeard Pirates had indeed landed on Drum Island, but back then, under Wapol's rule, the port was guarded by soldiers. Those arrogant soldiers, seeing that Blackbeard and his crew were pirates, tried to extort them. Enraged, Blackbeard destroyed most of the country.
After witnessing Blackbeard's terrifying power, the cowardly Wapol realized he was no match and abandoned his people, fleeing.
After wreaking havoc, Blackbeard left, leaving the country's people to suffer the pain of their destroyed homes. While drifting at sea, Wapol heard that the Blackbeard Pirates had left and wanted to return, but he got lost at sea, which later led to him encountering Luffy and the others.
Now, Wapol had been killed directly by Ian. When Blackbeard and his crew landed, they faced no harassment. Logically, the Blackbeard Pirates should have resupplied and left the country quickly, with no conflict. But unfortunately, someone had hung the Dragon Hunter Pirates' flag here.
Everything in the world has its causes and effects. Even Ian hadn't expected such a thing to happen.
Teach went berserk in the village. He used his Dark-Dark Fruit ability to destroy the village. Although many villagers were quick-witted and escaped, avoiding heavy casualties, their homes were still ruined.
Not satisfied with destroying just one village, Teach went on to destroy several neighboring ones.
In an instant, the entire Drum Island Kingdom was filled with wounded people...