Chapter 437: African Teach
The next day, as the sun slowly rose above the horizon, a battered and broken ship appeared off the coast of Saint Island.
Flying from this ship was a black pirate flag, its distinctive three skulls side by side marking it as the vessel of the Blackbeard Pirates.
However, at this moment, the crew of the Blackbeard Pirates were sprawled out across the deck of the ship.
Teach, Van Augur, Lafitte, Burgess, and Doc Q—all five of them had sickly complexions, their bodies limp and weak, looking as if they were on the verge of death.
This was a stark contrast to the spirited and confident appearance the Blackbeard Pirates had when they first set out on the Grand Line.
Why were the Blackbeard Pirates in such a state? This story begins after they left Drum Island.
Although they had indeed set off ahead of Ian and his group, missing them on Drum Island, starting from the fourth day after leaving Drum Island, the Blackbeard Pirates encountered a peculiar storm on the sea.
Talk about bad luck—in the sea area they were passing through, the Blackbeard Pirates ran into a sea storm. If it had just been a storm, that would have been one thing, but at that very moment, a volcanic eruption suddenly burst forth from beneath the sea!
A massive amount of submarine volcanic ash surged up from the seabed along with the erupting volcano, mixed with countless volcanic rocks of all sizes. When these rocks and ash shot into the sky, they combined perfectly with the storm.
A mudslide rain from the sky—could you believe it!?
In that storm of heavy rain, not only was there a strong smell of sulfur, but large amounts of mud also fell from the sky, directly slamming into the Blackbeard Pirates' ship!
The Blackbeard Pirates' ship was nearly buried. If Teach hadn't used his Dark-Dark Fruit ability to desperately absorb the mud and rocks falling from the sky, this major villain of the pirate world might have met his end early...
The Blackbeard Pirates, in such harsh weather, were crying tears and snot from the intense sulfur smell while desperately maneuvering their ship to find land to take shelter from this bizarre mudslide storm.
Perhaps heaven never seals off all exits—the Blackbeard Pirates eventually found the nearest piece of land. When this land appeared, Teach and his crew were so excited they couldn't recognize their own parents. Without caring what the land was, they sailed over to it.
After stepping onto this land, Teach and his crew realized it was a barren, uninhabited island with nothing on it. Although they found it a bit strange, they still hurried ashore.
This was the instinctive behavior of sailors in a storm. Even though this land had nothing to shield them from the mudslide storm, they still did it. After all, the sense of security from solid ground was incomparable to being on a ship. Teach, being a Devil Fruit user, was also afraid that if the ship was destroyed by the mudslide, he would fall into the sea and die.
Once ashore, Teach and his crew found a spot that could barely hide them and spent over two hours there, enduring the rocks and mud falling from the sky.
When this bizarre mudslide storm finally subsided, the five members of the Blackbeard Pirates emerged, trembling like pigs that had fallen into a mud pit.
Under such a storm, people's stamina was greatly drained. They were exhausted and hungry, wanting to return to the shore to see if the ship was still intact, so they could wash up and find food.
But when they reached the shore, Teach and his crew were dumbfounded!
Their ship was gone!
It hadn't been destroyed by the mudslide storm—it was... simply gone!
When they had left the ship, they had dropped the anchor. If the ship had been destroyed by the storm, there should have been debris like planks floating on the sea nearby, right? But what lay before Teach and his crew was nothing but a smooth, empty sea surface...
"Where the hell is my ship!?" Teach stared wide-eyed at the sea. Could someone have stolen their ship in the middle of such a mudslide storm?
Just then, Lafitte suddenly sensed something was wrong and said to Teach, "Captain, have you noticed... this island we're standing on seems to be moving?..."
The group was startled by this. They looked down at their feet, then at the sea, and compared the surrounding landmarks. They realized Lafitte might be right—this island was indeed slowly moving.
Teach was shocked. Had they accidentally climbed onto the back of a Sea King?
The five of them stayed put cautiously for a while, but they didn't notice any signs of movement from the "Sea King" beneath them. The island's movement seemed to be merely drifting with the current.
Van Augur suddenly remembered something and said to Teach, "Captain, remember the rumors we heard on this route before? They say there's a giant monster called the 'Island-Eater' in some part of this route. Its body is so huge it can swallow a small island in one bite, and when it digests and excretes, its droppings are also enormous, forming floating islands that drift far away with the currents..."
Hearing this, Teach snapped back to reality and said in disbelief, "You mean... this island we're standing on is the Island-Eater's..."
Van Augur nodded and said, "If there's no other explanation, then that's probably it. Our ship didn't drift away—we 'drifted away'!"
Yes, this explained why their ship was gone. The ship had dropped anchor and should still be at the same spot. Instead, because they were on this island, they had drifted along with it, leaving their location from two hours ago.
Two hours—not a long time—but the problem was that on the vast sea, they had no idea which direction the island had drifted, so naturally, they didn't know where the ship was. Swimming back to find it was impossible...
After learning this, Teach almost vomited blood. They had rushed off the ship without bringing any food or water. Now, trapped on this drifting "poop," they felt doomed.
What sailors feared most was encountering such a situation, and it had happened to Teach and his crew.
Left with no choice, they had to wait for a passing ship, hoping someone would rescue them.
And so they waited—for over ten days!
This was why the Blackbeard Pirates, who had left Drum Island before Ian and his group, ended up falling behind them.
During those ten-plus days, the Blackbeard Pirates experienced their most miserable time. This "poop" island had no plants or animals at all, so they had to survive by catching fish from the sea and having Van Augur shoot down birds flying overhead with his gun to get food.
Food was secondary—the most critical issue was drinking water. They dug many holes on the poop island, hoping for rain to collect some fresh water to drink.
Fortunately, the Blackbeard Pirates weren't destined to die. After enduring over ten days, they hadn't seen any passing ships, but perhaps due to a change in wind direction, this poop island coincidentally drifted back. When Teach and his crew saw the silhouette of a ship on the distant sea, they were so excited they almost jumped for joy.
However, when they got closer, they realized that ship was their own!
Their ship hadn't been destroyed by the mudslide storm. Although it was battered and broken, it could still sail. Because the anchor had been dropped, it had stayed in place, and in the end, the Blackbeard Pirates managed to reclaim it!
But... Teach wished they hadn't found it!
Why? Because over ten days had passed, and the food and water stored on the ship had all rotted and gone bad. The entire ship was filled with a foul stench.
It would have been better not to find it...
Back on the poop island, Teach and his crew had only gotten food intermittently. Now, even though they had reclaimed their ship, there was no food or water on board. At that moment, despair filled the hearts of everyone in the Blackbeard Pirates.
The already sickly Doc Q now felt like he was truly about to die...
But there was no choice. Teach and his crew could only steer the ship, leave that sea area, and head toward Alabasta.
"Damn it, the first thing we do when we reach Alabasta is eat a huge meal!"
Starving and gaunt, the five members of the Blackbeard Pirates all shared the same thought.
In this state of near collapse, the Blackbeard Pirates finally approached Saint Island. When they saw real land in the distance, Teach and his crew mustered their last bit of strength, stood up, and looked toward the island ahead.
As they reached the port, Teach couldn't hold back any longer and shouted, "Hurry! Get off the ship! I'm going to steal all the food in this city!"
But just as Teach and his crew joyfully jumped off the ship and prepared to charge into the city, a jingling sound of bells rang out, and a group of figures suddenly appeared, blocking their path.
"Yo, Teach, long time no see!"
Ian stood there as usual, one hand resting on the hilt of his Thousand Cherry Blossoms sword, standing upright, a smile spreading across his face as he looked at Teach, who resembled an African refugee, and said, "What happened to you? Going for a non-mainstream look?"
Teach swore to the heavens above that this was the most unwelcome greeting he had ever heard in his life...