Chapter 439: The Battle Begins
Ever since Teach obtained the Dark-Dark Fruit, he had always wanted to seize Ian's Pay-to-Win Fruit.
If it were any other time, running into Ian like this might have delighted him, but... why did it have to be now!?
At this moment, Teach felt like he wanted to die...
Teach wasn't a fool. When he saw Ian, and then saw the stern-faced Ace behind Ian, he immediately understood—the Whitebeard Pirates had sent someone to hunt him down, and that pursuer was none other than Ace!
As for Ian, he had definitely come along with Ace willingly. Teach knew very well that not only did he want to kill Ian, but Ian also wanted to kill him. There was no room for negotiation between them; Ian would never miss this chance to hunt him down.
It wasn't just Teach—even Lafitte and Van Augur were dumbfounded.
The Blackbeard Pirates had only just fled to Saint Ding Island, exhausted and hungry, weak in body, only to run headfirst into Ian, a Warlord of the Sea. This was a huge problem!
Silence hung in the air for a moment, with no one able to answer Ian's question.
However, Teach was, after all, an ambitious and cunning man. Pulling himself together, he suddenly burst into wild laughter: "Zehahaha! Ian! Ace! I never expected to see you both here—what a pleasant surprise!"
Ian and Ace exchanged puzzled glances, wondering what Teach was up to, why he was laughing instead.
Then Teach spread his arms and said, "Ian, Ace, my pirate crew has been formed! Why don't you both join my crew? With powerful people like you on board, our crew's fame will spread far and wide! Let's conquer the world together!"
Hearing this, Ian and Ace frowned and looked at each other.
They never expected Teach to say such things upon their first meeting. Knowing full well that Ian and Ace were there to capture him, he still said this—was he trying to play tricks, or was he genuinely that open-minded?
With this doubt, Ian snorted coldly and said, "Join your crew? Teach, don't forget, I've tried to assassinate you before. Are you really comfortable letting me join your crew?"
"Of course!" Teach laughed loudly, his eyes wide as he stared at Ian. But his gaze was always like that—when he glared, it looked fierce instead. He shouted, "Ian, the grudges between us were just a misunderstanding! As long as you join my crew, we'll be comrades, and everything from the past will be water under the bridge!"
Behind Teach, Lafitte and the others watched his performance expressionlessly, but their hearts were tense.
Ian stared straight into Teach's eyes, but found no evasion—Teach stared back just as intently. Clearly, he meant what he said!
Indeed, a man who could endure so many years on Whitebeard's ship couldn't be someone easy to deal with. Ian believed that Teach was telling the truth, but that only made Teach more terrifying!
"Teach, save your breath!" Ian shook his head and said, "I know what you're thinking. Judging by your state, you must have run into a storm or shipwreck at sea, right? You're all weak right now, so you're trying to lull us with these words. But don't delude yourselves—you won't escape this time!"
"That's right, Teach!" Ace stepped forward, standing shoulder to shoulder with Ian, and said to Teach, "Since you dared to kill Thatch, you should be prepared for the consequences! I must uphold the dignity of the Whitebeard Pirates!"
"Commander Ace!" Teach looked at Ace and said, "Are you really willing to be a 'son' to someone with no blood relation? Is such a ridiculous 'family' really worth so much sacrifice?"
Ace's expression was more serious than ever before. He shouted back at Teach, "Shut up! You have no right to speak ill of the Old Man! Don't forget, all those years on the ship, it was the Old Man who gave you shelter, who gave you a place to belong! You don't even show gratitude, and yet you dare to mock the Old Man's dream!?"
"Yes, that's the Old Man's dream!" Teach roared back, "But it's his own wishful thinking! Did he ever ask about my dream!? I don't have to bind my entire life to the Whitebeard Pirates for his sake!"
"Then you could have just left on your own!" Ace was furious now. "But why did you kill Thatch!? Were all those years of comradeship with him fake!?"
Their argument marked a complete breakdown in negotiations.
Van Augur and the others had never expected Teach to reach an agreement with Ian from the start, so when they saw this, Van Augur struck first!
Several bullets shot out from his strange long gun, "Senriku," heading straight for Ace.
However, these bullets passed right through Ace's body, flying off behind him, leaving only a trail of flames in their wake on his fire-based form.
Van Augur's attack made Ace hesitate no longer. He acted immediately, grabbing a handful of blazing flames in his right hand and lunging toward Teach.
This was what he and Ian had agreed on earlier—he would handle Teach.
So when Ian made his move, he directly targeted Van Augur, who had just launched a sneak attack.
But Van Augur was also agile. As soon as he fired, he saw Ian charging at him and quickly retreated.
Van Augur tried to dodge, but Ian wasn't about to give him the chance. He locked onto him with his aura, gripping the blade of Senbonzakura, and closed in, swinging a powerful slash aimed at his head!
Yet, facing Ian's incoming slash, Van Augur showed no panic.
As expected, just as Ian was about to strike him, a slender rapier suddenly appeared from the side, its blade blocking the path of Ian's slash, deflecting the blow.
Ian glanced over and saw that it was Lafitte who had intervened, holding a Western-style fencing sword hidden inside his cane.
But Ian's slash wasn't so easily blocked! His strength was considerable, and Lafitte's thin sword blade nearly snapped under the force of Ian's strike!
Van Augur, meanwhile, had to urgently lean back, falling to the ground, then rolling several times before scrambling to his feet.
Lafitte's hand went numb from the impact, almost losing his grip on the sword. Just one exchange, and he understood how troublesome Ian was.
"Get out of the way!" Ian growled at Lafitte's effeminate face, swinging his blade horizontally toward him.
Lafitte initially tried to block with his sword again, but when he saw the tip of Ian's blade, he sensed danger and quickly crouched down!
Ian's blade sliced just above his top hat, cutting off half of it, and then a massive sword aura flew from the blade.
Whoosh! A tall building behind Lafitte was cleaved in two by the sword aura!
The building collapsed, causing the people below to scatter in panic. Lafitte turned to look at the scene, cold sweat pouring down his face. If he had crouched even a moment later, it might have been his neck that was severed!
Ian wanted to press the attack and kill Lafitte, one of the Blackbeard Pirates' executives, but Van Augur came to Lafitte's rescue, firing several more bullets at Ian with bizarre trajectories.
In Ian's Psychic Field perception, he detected these bullets and realized that if he didn't block them, he would be injured. Reluctantly, he had to swing his blade to cut down the incoming bullets one by one.
Lafitte seized this opportunity to escape Ian's attack range.
Unfortunately for them, they didn't know that Ian wasn't just a simple swordsman—his true attack range wasn't limited to the length of his blade!
Seeing Lafitte retreating, Ian didn't hesitate. With his right hand wielding the sword to deflect bullets, he suddenly swung his empty left hand, launching a Dark Hook Hand strike toward the direction Lafitte was retreating!