The Whitebeard Pirates at this time were not yet a massive fleet, and couldn't compare to Shiki's Flying Pirates.
In reality, when Wang Zhi, Charlotte Linlin, and others were aggressively expanding their influence in the New World, Whitebeard had never considered doing the same thing. How much territory to occupy, how many followers to gather—his ambitions had never lain in that direction.
Let alone the fact that he hadn't even started spending money to support his homeland of Sphinx yet; that would come later. The current Edward Newgate was still a good captain who treated money like dirt, unlike in the past when he was so poor he had to mooch drinks off his crew.
At this stage, the struggle for dominance in the New World seemed to have nothing to do with him. However, given his personality, getting dragged into that vortex was only a matter of time. As the number of his "sons" continued to increase, conflicts with other pirate crews would inevitably arise.
Ren had never considered the Whitebeard Pirates as enemies, not only because his knowledge of the original story gave him some affinity for them, but more importantly because there was absolutely no conflict of interest between the two sides.
That would be a different story if Whitebeard suddenly got the urge to rob his cargo ships.
Now, Kozuki Oden had set sail several years earlier than in the original story. Whether the two sides would even meet was unknown, and it was basically impossible for Oden to join the Whitebeard Pirates anymore.
What Ren was considering now was whether or not to let Oden encounter Roger at sea.
Without Oden, Roger might never decipher the secrets of the Poneglyphs before his death, which would mean he couldn't become the Pirate King. And whether Oden could meet Roger was entirely within Ren's control.
—Because the navigator on the Oden was his person.
Whether to avoid Roger or actively seek him out was all in Ren's hands. Although Oden could nominally order the navigator on which direction to sail, the six people on that ship were all navigation idiots. Even with nautical charts and Log Poses right in front of them, they couldn't read them.
Ren decided to let nature take its course on this matter. After all, whether this world had a Pirate King or not didn't matter much to him, and he had no desire to become one himself. On the contrary, if Roger did become the Pirate King, he might even be able to help Ren with certain matters.
As for the World Government's spies, Ren wasn't particularly concerned. The Mark of Orochi was far more insidious than they could imagine. Over time, their loyalty would shift, and by the time they realized something was wrong, it would be too late.
For now, he would simply enjoy the show.
The captain selection battle in three days would be interesting to watch. How would these spies perform? Would they reveal their true abilities in their quest for power?
Ren smiled faintly as he considered the possibilities.
Whatever happened, he would be the ultimate victor in this game.
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