Raijin Island, Dungeon.
"Blackbeard" Marshall D. Teach walked in with practiced ease.
These past few days, his favorite pastime was coming to this cell to visit the man who had chased him all the way here—"Whitebeard Jr." Edward Weevil.
Strolling all the way to the deepest part, he once again saw Weevil, completely restrained.
With Weevil's physique, even though he had received no treatment after being gravely injured, he had still recovered quite a bit by now.
But…
It was nowhere near enough to break out of this cage.
Besides having both hands hung high above his head, several chains pierced through his shoulder blades and collarbones, pinning Weevil immovably in place.
The normally blank-faced, dim-witted Weevil suddenly burst with murderous intent the instant he saw Blackbeard. For a brief moment, that killing intent washed away all the stupidity and confusion in his eyes.
Blackbeard had seen this look many times over the past few days…
But every time he saw it, every hair on his body stood up.
The aura hidden inside that gaze—there was truly a hint of Whitebeard's spirit in it!
If the chains weren't drilled through his scapula and clavicles, Weevil would probably tear his flesh apart just to attack him.
"Tsk, tsk… Weevil, you really work hard, don't you? That look of yours really scares me—zehahaha!"
"I… I'm going to kill you…" Weevil said, then immediately shook his head. "No… I should catch you alive, bring you back, and let Pops ask you himself why you killed Thatch!"
"I've told you many times, Weevil—killing Thatch wasn't my intention. He was my best friend." Blackbeard even wiped the corners of his eyes theatrically.
"Blame his luck… he happened to get the Dark-Dark Fruit I dreamed of. At that point, not killing him simply wasn't an option."
"You'd kill your best friend for a Devil Fruit?" The killing intent in Weevil's eyes faded, replaced by confusion.
"Then why didn't Pops kill his best friend? And Michael didn't kill his best friend either!"
"Because they're hypocritical scum!" Blackbeard shamelessly spewed nonsense. "If I had their strength, I would've conquered the entire sea by now!"
"I can't argue with you… but I know you're lying!" Weevil suddenly jerked his head up. "If Michael were here, he'd beat your mouth into pieces!"
"But too bad—before we hand you over to Michael as a bargaining chip, he's not going to find you."
"Hmph…" Weevil's tiny eyes rolled, and he suddenly shouted, "Your breath stinks! I'm not talking to someone with bad breath!"
After yelling that, he shut his eyes tight and even stopped breathing.
This sudden elementary-school quarrel tactic stunned Blackbeard.
But seeing Weevil's smug little smile behind his closed eyes, Blackbeard felt a nameless fire surge through him.
He barely kept his last shred of sanity.
He knew exactly what Weevil was trying to do—drag him down to the same IQ level, then beat him with experience!
He absolutely must not fall for it!
"Fine… keep your eyes shut."
"You're destined to be my stepping stone."
With that, Blackbeard walked out of the dungeon.
Before long, he returned to Kaido's castle.
"You went to see that dumb Whitebeard Jr. again?" Kaido sat at the table with his eyes closed, and before him was a Bomb Rock no bigger than a thumb.
"So you're just sitting here staring at Dyna Stone?"
"I'm not staring. I'm thinking about how to use them." Kaido opened his eyes, ambition filling his gaze. "To be honest, the Dyna Stone… they could sink the entire Wano Country into the sea. But doing that just feels wasteful."
"No need to think about it—it is wasteful." Blackbeard sat across from him. "We're going to occupy it, to conquer it, not sink the whole nation. We need most of the people alive… otherwise conquering Wano becomes meaningless."
Kaido eyed Blackbeard coldly.
Of course he knew Blackbeard's ambition. Blackbeard might seem like he was leeching off him, but…
Kaido would never truly consider him one of his own.
Impossible.
He didn't even fully trust his own daughter, Yamato—she still had a bomb collar around her neck.
Let alone Blackbeard.
Even so, their cooperation had been growing more synchronized lately.
And though Blackbeard looked like a crude idiot… in truth, there wasn't a second person in the entire Beasts Pirates who was smarter than him.
Sometimes fate really was bizarre.
And regardless of Blackbeard's true goals, what he said now was exactly what Kaido wanted to hear.
He wanted invasion and conquest…
If everyone was dead, who would he conquer?
Just then, the Den Den Mushi on the table suddenly rang.
Kaido froze for a moment, then picked it up.
"Buru buru buru… buru buru buru… click."
"Oi, Kurozumi Higurashi, did you finish gathering intel?"
"Hello? Moshi moshi? Can the person on the other side hear me?"
Before Kaido could finish his sentence, a completely different man's voice rang out from the other end.
The Den Den Mushi's face shifted into a playful smirk.
Kaido froze—then immediately understood.
Kurozumi Higurashi had been exposed!
He moved to hang up at once.
But the other man instantly anticipated his thoughts.
"You're trying to hang up? But if you do… you'll miss some valuable information, Kaido."
Kaido stopped.
Something instinctive held his hand back.
He and Michael had many clashes, but had never spoken directly.
And his intuition screamed that the one who had seen through Higurashi's infiltration… was none other than Michael.
That busybody who loved running around the seas sticking his nose into things!
But Kaido himself didn't even notice that, the moment he believed the voice belonged to Michael, the corners of his lips lifted—
into a bloodthirsty, manic smile.
"What should I say, then, Michael?"
"Is this our first meeting?"
On the other end, Michael also smiled wickedly.
"If you don't know what to say…"
"You can call me Dad."
"That way, you and Yamato can be siblings. No—brother and sister. You're the later one."
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Fanfic is finished. 583 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg