Chapter 170: A Moment Of Clash
Marshall D. Teach.
He is an unknown grunt in the Whitebeard Pirates······ Hmm, that’s not quite right. As one of the few veteran members of the Whitebeard Pirates, he followed Whitebeard around the same time as Marco and has had multiple clashes with the Roger Pirates.
Compared to the famously renowned ‘Immortal Phoenix,’ he remains just a member of the Whitebeard Pirates to this day, not even managing to become a captain, merely a long-time veteran member of the Second Division. Everyone calls him ‘Teach’ directly, without even a nickname of his own.
At first glance,
he probably gives the impression of an ordinary crew member with no particular talent but enough seniority. In many people’s eyes, he’s just a guy with a bit of a strange temper but straightforward, not like Ace who quickly becomes friends with everyone, yet no one on the ship dislikes him either.
By the way, the members of the Whitebeard Pirates do not know his hidden name, that is, the so-called ‘D.’
Marshall Teach—this is the name known to the members of the Whitebeard Pirates.
“Captain Jozu, it looks like Captain Ace won’t win for a while. When do we step in to help?” Teach’s right hand reached into his pants, scratching his butt hard. After scratching, he even put his finger under his nose to sniff it. Jozu’s expression stiffened at the crude actions.
This guy Teach is really······ simply don’t know how to describe him.
Pirates are synonymous with rudeness and barbarity, but scratching your butt and then sniffing— that move is a bit flamboyant.
“Our mission isn’t to defeat the Black Prince. That’s not something we can do. Entangle the Black Prince and keep them from escaping until Old Man arrives—that’s our task. As long as the Black Prince doesn’t intend to leave and Ace shows no signs of defeat, we don’t need to do anything.”
Jozu spoke very bluntly.
He is the thoughtful type, not eloquent with words. He could never do that vague way of speaking. He always makes commands crystal clear to his subordinates.
Teach, Deuce, and others are not members of his Third Division, but as one of the captains of the Whitebeard Pirates, when Ace, the direct captain, is occupied, he naturally takes over command of the team.
“I see!”
The finger that had just scratched his butt dug into that large nostril again. Blackbeard looked at the booger he dug out and asked casually: “What about that unlucky bastard captured by the Black Prince? Grabbing people on Old Man’s turf—should we deal with it?” Teach’s question made Jozu silent for a moment. The Whitebeard Pirates have rules, rules set personally by Whitebeard.
Pirates are not allowed to plunder on his turf, drug dealers are not allowed to appear on his turf, pirates are not allowed to abduct people······ The rules aren’t too many, but not too few either. Compared to the World Government’s laws, the rules set by Whitebeard are pitifully few.
However,
unlike those laws that are basically used as toilet paper but deemed too stiff, on Whitebeard’s turf, as long as you’re not too stupid or a clueless newcomer, no one dares to violate the rules set by Whitebeard.
Prohibiting pirates from abducting people is one of them.
Outside, you can fight to the death, but on Whitebeard’s turf, even the greatest grudges must be put aside until you leave and settle them slowly—especially since the Whitebeard Pirates once wiped out over twenty pirate crews and nearly ten thousand pirates in one go, either killing them or selling them to slave traders.
Whitebeard doesn’t allow pirates to abduct civilians, yet he himself is keen on selling pirates—this is one of the Whitebeard Pirates’ major sources of income. After all, compared to tyrants like BIG·MOM and Beasts who scrape the land bare, Whitebeard, who only charges appropriate protection fees, is already more merciful and kind than the World Government and over seventy percent of the world’s kingdoms.
Without special businesses like selling pirates, operating a pirate crew of over a thousand people isn’t easy at all.
“The Black Prince isn’t a pirate.”
Jozu gave a dry excuse, but then shook his head. “This kind of thing—we can ask when Old Man arrives. No need for us to make too many speculative decisions now.” The steady and prudent Jozu remained unmoved.
Teach glanced at the distant port, where the Eckmond Kingdom’s fleet was docked. That idiot Burgess was on the flagship, his arm broken, guarded by several not-weak auras······
Unable to goad Jozu into action, and with everyone watching, he couldn’t make any obvious moves. This made Teach realize that the unlucky bastard Burgess was probably not coming back. What a pity for such a good talent—Jesus Burgess, one of the partners he had selected for the future.
Of course, that future was based on him obtaining the coveted Devil Fruit in the Whitebeard Pirates. If he never encountered that Devil Fruit, he would probably grow old and die in the Whitebeard Pirates.
“Black Prince······”
Teach no longer looked at those warships belonging to the Eckmond Kingdom.
His gaze shifted to nearby Elus. Unexpectedly, Elus was also looking his way. Their eyes met, gazes locking in an instant. Elus smiled strangely, making Teach, who quickly looked away, furrow his brow imperceptibly.
The Black Prince’s gaze······ feels a bit distant!
But he firmly believed no one could see through his disguise; otherwise, Whitebeard would have cleaned him out long ago. Over the years, the Whitebeard Pirates have had traitors—some couldn’t stand the constraints and acted recklessly, incurring Whitebeard’s thunderous wrath.
Whitebeard is protective, but when disciplining disobedient sons, he is swift and merciless.
So he didn’t think the Black Prince had seen through his secret. It was just Teach’s intuition telling him the Black Prince was an extremely dangerous enemy······ Opposing such a monster to save Burgess wasn’t wise; it might even break his disguise······ Is that why his intuition is warning him?
This gradually firmed his decision to abandon Burgess.
Anyway, whether there’s a chance to escape Old Man Whitebeard’s protection in the future is uncertain. Once he gets his hands on the coveted treasure, he can just find others to be partners.
······
“Your Highness, did you notice something interesting?”
“What’s wrong? Why do you say that?”
“You were smiling happily just now.”
“That obvious?” Elus said puzzledly, subconsciously controlling his facial muscles to smooth down the corners of his mouth that had unconsciously curled up. “I really was smiling····· I was just looking at a guy who might shake the world’s balance and found it interesting.”
“Shake the world’s balance?”
Fran rolled her eyes. His Highness was saying strange things again. Fortunately, over the years, she had gradually gotten used to Elus’s odd remarks. She subconsciously pondered: shaking the world’s balance—could it be Fire Fist? Does this guy have that much influence?
She looked at Fire Fist Ace, who was fighting hotly with Isca—literally physically hot—and tried to see how this guy would shake the world’s balance.
Unfortunately, no matter how she looked, she saw nothing. She raised her head, her gaze turning to Elus’s profile.
“Don’t ask, I won’t say. Some things lose their meaning if spoken.” Elus stopped his personal maid before she could speak, leaving Fran pouting sulkily. She hated this kind of teasing the most.
Elus noticed Fran’s frustration from the corner of his eye.
But he truly didn’t plan to share this with anyone. Teach is a venomous snake with rebellion brewing······ This secret he wouldn’t tell anyone, neither his own people nor the Whitebeard Pirates.
The future has already been twisted beyond recognition by him.
But with Teach, he wanted to see where the Whitebeard Pirates’ future would go. No matter the changes, his one hope was that Whitebeard dying in the near future remains unchanged.
Yes,
In Elus’s view, it’s better if Whitebeard dies.
As long as Whitebeard lives another day, this Pirate Era will continue simmering lukewarmly. Only by removing Whitebeard, the great mountain suppressing countless demons and monsters, will the era run wild, allowing Elus to muddle through.
Don’t think that using his maritime transport network to collect various precious medicinal herbs for the Whitebeard Pirates stops him from cursing Whitebeard to die. After all, even without him, with the Whitebeard Pirates’ strength, they wouldn’t fail to gather medicine for Whitebeard’s illness.
Waiting for Whitebeard to die of illness or old age—Elus had no confidence. Who knows how long Whitebeard, looking like he’s on daily IV drips, can hold out? If he keeps hanging on······ it’ll give many people headaches.
Best if Whitebeard dies in battle after all.
So,
It’s better to keep this venomous snake Teach, with rebellion in his mind and disloyalty in his heart, in the Whitebeard Pirates. Of course, if Teach gets the Dark-Dark Fruit and Tremor-Tremor Fruit, there might be new troubles in the future······ but what needs to be done must still be done.
Always hesitating leads to no results.
Besides, Whitebeard can die, but the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit might not necessarily fall into Teach’s hands.
“Alright, after waiting so long, the main man has finally arrived.”
Elus suddenly looked into the distance.
Soon, Fran, Jozu, and others also sensed the domineering, unparalleled powerful aura appearing on the sea, like a typhoon sweeping sea and sky. Whitebeard hadn’t even shown up, yet his top-tier Conqueror’s Haki alone made many weaker fighters on the warship faint.
Even Ace and Isca in combat were affected.
Isca, at a disadvantage, drew her sword and retreated swiftly. Ace didn’t pursue relentlessly; he also took the chance to retreat, opening distance from Isca and returning to Jozu’s side.
————
The skull flag with crescent-shaped whiskers flies high at the top of the mast.
The massive fleet led by the whale-like Moby Dick surged into the port, occupying two-thirds of the berths. Luckily, Elus brought few warships this time, and Water Wheel Island’s port is large enough to accommodate the Whitebeard Pirates’ huge fleet without clashing over berths.
“Yo, Whitebeard Old Man, you don’t look so good!”
Elus boarded the deck of the Moby Dick.
No matter what, the Whitebeard Pirates once provided protection to the Eckmond Kingdom. Without that flag deterring many enemies, he might not have had a peaceful childhood or grown up smoothly. Truth be told, it’s thanks to the Whitebeard Pirates.
Plus, Whitebeard is an elder.
Compared to making Whitebeard come to him, Elus felt it was fine for a young guy like him to stretch his legs. Of course, this didn’t stop him from wishing Whitebeard an early departure from this bitter sea. His era is over; the world should be left to youngsters like him to toy with.
“Gurarara! Brat, I ain’t dead yet!” Whitebeard laughed heartily.
“Tch!”
Elus clicked his tongue. He looked up at Whitebeard in the huge chair, raising his hand in surrender. “This time I was rude. That fighting champion is strong—even in the Whitebeard Pirates, only about half the captains could beat him. Worried about the target slipping away if delayed too long, I had to use such a petty trick.”
“Aside from that, I have no intentions against the Whitebeard Pirates.”
The raised hand looked a bit cowardly, but he was facing Whitebeard!
“You think saying that makes it okay, brat!!!”
Whitebeard’s face still held a smile, but intense killing intent was already surging forth.
He suddenly rose from the chair, drawing the massive naginata beside it with a backhand swing. Wielding this polearm said to be ‘Moyagarare’ of the Supreme Grade Twelve Great Swords, he cleaved down at Elus’s head.
“Clang————！！！！！!”
The high-pitched metallic tremor shattered the consciousness of many experts on the ship.
They were the ones who could withstand Old Man Whitebeard’s Conqueror’s Haki assault, reliable mid-tier forces in the crew, yet now fainted from the piercing noise of clashing blades. Marco kicked a fainted comrade into the corner, eyes fixed deadly on Elus.
The bluish-white lightsaber blocked the massive naginata that could split Elus in half.
Elus stood firm on the deck without retreating a step.
“Your sword is good.”
Whitebeard casually withdrew the naginata and sat back in the chair.
“Not as impressive as a Supreme Great Grade Sword.” Elus also dispelled his Moonlight Sword without issue, retracting the terrifying spiritual pressure he had unleashed freely, chatting casually with Whitebeard. From their conversation, the earlier blade clash seemed like an illusion.
However.
The fainted pirates in the corners of the Moby Dick’s deck proved it was no illusion.
The monsters had exchanged pure, direct communication with swords in that instant, acknowledged each other’s power, then returned to the negotiation table to continue with words.
“I heard Ace and your subordinate had quite the fun fight?” Whitebeard raised an interesting question.
“Well!”
Elus deliberately dragged out the tone, smiling: “Whitebeard Old Man, better ask the man himself.”
“······ Fair point.”
Whitebeard nodded lightly.
The conversation atmosphere unknowingly relaxed.
