White Ghost's face darkened.
His eyes narrowed, and a faint dragon's pressure spread from his body.
The pirates immediately shuddered, as if some savage beast had fixed its gaze on them.
Kuro walked over.
"The Slaughter Calamity Pirates. From the North Blue. They like killing, burning, and gutting people alive. Their captain's alias is Ripper Jack. Bounty: forty million Beli."
Just as White Ghost was about to deal with them, a bolt of lightning shot over first.
"Ahhh—!"
Screams rang out instantly.
Before the pirates even had time to fire their guns, they were reduced to charred black corpses.
Little Nami puffed out her cheeks angrily. "Anyone who stares at us like that doesn't deserve to exist."
Stella rubbed Nami's puffed-up cheeks, finding this version of her unbearably cute.
White Ghost flicked a ball of golden flame toward the ship, giving them a proper pirate-world funeral.
"A sea burial."
The burning pirate ship slowly drifted away across the sea.
White Ghost turned to Crocus and said, "Your Captain Roger was a real menace. Look at what he started. Every idiot on the sea keeps screaming about becoming Pirate King."
Crocus scratched his head. "Can't be helped. That was Roger's choice. And you know some of the truth yourself, so… that's how it is."
After the banquet ended, everyone returned to rest.
Brook and a few others set up tents on the shore so they could stay with Laboon. White Ghost glanced over and saw that even Franky, that macho bastard, had gone along.
Señor Pink looked like he wanted to go too, but the moment Lucianne narrowed her eyes, he behaved himself.
As for White Ghost, he got dragged off by the little squirrel to "study medicine."
She claimed her medical skills had improved recently.
White Ghost didn't believe her, so she pulled him away to test them out personally.
In the end, her medical skills really had improved.
When she massaged him, her hands were unbelievably skilled, to the point that White Ghost narrowed his eyes in satisfaction.
The two of them "researched" deep into the night in their room, and only when the little squirrel was completely exhausted did White Ghost finally wrap an arm around her and go to sleep in contentment.
The next day, White Ghost took Kuro and Akin with him and flew toward Drum Island.
He was in such a good mood along the way that he even hummed a tune under his breath.
Kuro wore the kind of expression only one man would understand from another.
Akin, meanwhile, was full of question marks.
He couldn't understand why the captain was so happy today. Was there some incredible treasure at their next destination?
By noon, the little squirrel still hadn't gotten up.
Ilena was a little worried. She was the gentlest woman on the ship—at least when it came to her own sisters.
When she arrived outside the little squirrel's room, Ilena knocked on the door.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Hm? No answer?"
After thinking for a moment, Ilena used her ability. The doorknob instantly became smooth and slippery.
Click.
The door opened on its own.
Ilena stepped inside and looked at the little squirrel sleeping soundly in bed. It was obvious she had simply exhausted herself.
"Sigh…"
Ilena let out a soft sigh, walked over, and tucked the blanket more carefully around her.
It really was hard on the little squirrel. That man's stamina was anything but normal.
After Ilena quietly left the room, she ran into Ain and Stella. The three women walked outside together.
Ilena looked a little downcast as she touched her lower abdomen.
"It's been so long… why is there still nothing?"
Stella touched her own stomach and shook her head.
"Same here. Logically, that shouldn't be possible. The little squirrel already checked White Ghost and said there's nothing wrong with him."
Ilena was startled. "Could the problem be with us? That shouldn't be possible, right? If it were just one or two of us, maybe. But Ain and the little squirrel haven't had any sign either. I wonder what it's like over at Fishman Island?"
Ain blushed. "Actually… I think I heard White Ghost talk about this before."
Ilena and Stella immediately stopped walking and stared at her, their eyes full of questions.
Ain looked around awkwardly under their gaze, then grabbed both of them and hurried back into a room.
The moment they got inside, Ilena asked impatiently, "Quick, tell us!"
She was the most anxious of the three, because she had always wanted a child.
Ain thought for a moment, then said, "It's because of his bloodline."
The other two froze.
"Bloodline? What bloodline? Isn't he human?" Ilena asked. "Could he be some special race? That can't be right. We know his family background."
Stella nodded as well.
Back when they were in Loguetown, they had looked into White Ghost's family situation and even visited them once.
Although the family had fallen on hard times, they could still keep themselves going through a little business.
They also knew White Ghost's reputation outside. When he returned to Loguetown back then, his whole family had come to visit him.
They had begged him to come back and take charge of the household again, saying everything in the past had been their fault.
They had even planned to marry off their daughter—White Ghost's cousin—to him.
That cousin looked average at best, but for some reason, whenever she looked at Ilena and the others, there was a trace of disdain in her eyes, as if she already saw herself as the first wife.
That family had sweet-talked him endlessly, hoping White Ghost would return home, marry his cousin, and make the family soar to new heights.
White Ghost had only looked at them and said one thing:
"I don't hate you for what you did to me before. If anything, I should thank you.
"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have what I have today.
"I'm not going back. Just keep doing business as usual.
"But don't use my name. I've got too many enemies. If they can't find me, they might come looking for you instead."
The family had nodded again and again.
Ever since White Ghost had become famous in Loguetown, their business had mysteriously started getting worse and worse.
When White Ghost was about to leave, that cousin had stayed behind and strutted around the ship like she was already the lady of the house, ordering people around arrogantly.
Whenever she saw something good, she wanted to drag it back to her family.
Before long, White Ghost had had enough. He glared at her once and told her to get lost.
She ran off in disgrace.
She had thought White Ghost had forgotten what happened in childhood.
He hadn't.
When she returned home, her parents could only sigh in frustration.
Back then, they had looked down on White Ghost as nothing more than a brute who only knew how to fight and kill.
Who would have thought that just a few years later, he would kill the great pirate Golden Lion and make his name resound across the seas?
And then their business had gotten even worse.
Later, they had even gone to the Marine base to ask White Ghost to come home, but by then he had already departed for Headquarters.
Smoker despised that whole family of opportunists and couldn't be bothered with them.
Old Granny Tang had already looked into White Ghost's family background, so she still collected "protection money" from them as usual.
White Ghost himself had said that he was alone, and as long as things were handled by the rules, it wasn't a bad thing. Just don't use his name.
So Old Granny Tang had felt no pressure at all.
Back to the point—
Ain shook her head. Under Ilena and Stella's questioning gazes, she said, "White Ghost told me that ever since he ate his Devil Fruit, his body started becoming abnormal.
"And after his awakening, he no longer belongs to the human category at all. His bloodline was completely transformed.
"To put it simply… he belongs to the dragon race now."
"The dragon race!"
The moment Ilena and Stella heard those words, they felt an inexplicable weight press down on their hearts, and their breathing grew hurried.
Ain nodded.
"Since White Ghost's ability awakened, his bloodline has been completely remade. You both know how heaven-defying his power is. He can even go into the sea."
The two women nodded.
At present, White Ghost was the only person in the entire world who could do that.
If news of it ever got out, the whole sea would explode.
As she continued, Ain's expression turned serious.
"White Ghost also said this ability gave him a huge boost, but it came with one flaw.
"Dragons are the hardest of all races to reproduce.
"It's like asking an ordinary person to climb to heaven.
"And White Ghost's dragon bloodline is one of the highest-grade kinds, so that makes it even harder."
All three women's expressions turned unpleasant.
But after a moment, they thought of something else.
Such a powerful bloodline…
If they really had a child, wouldn't that child inherit it too?
The three women lowered their voices and began whispering among themselves, discussing who knew what.
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