Black had not originally thought of recruiting Lafitte.
It wasn't because he hadn't thought of it, nor was it because the other party wasn't qualified.
As Imu's enemy and a descendant of the D. family, Teach was destined to play an important role in opposing the World Government.
And the most important people in the Blackbeard Pirates were Lafitte, Van Auger, and Shiliew.
Among them, Lafitte was the navigator.
If Black had poached him, Teach might have suffered a shipwreck and died mysteriously before becoming one of the Four Emperors.
That would have been hilarious.
Moreover, without Lafitte's masterful infiltration skills, Teach's negotiations with Sengoku to become a Shichibukai might not have gone so smoothly.
But since they met in the West Blue, it meant this was fate's arrangement.
If Black didn't recruit him now, it would be a bit too unreasonable.
Of course, Black had never imagined that with his tendency to visit almost every island, he would eventually encounter Lafitte... Upon hearing Black's words, Lafitte's smile remained unchanged, but he began to mutter to himself.
This guy looked like he was here to cause trouble, and yet not quite.
This made Lafitte, who always prided himself on his intelligence, somewhat hesitant.
However, Mandy had already taken action after Black gave the order.
She gripped her sword with one hand and lunged forward, thrusting directly at Lafitte's face.
Lafitte had no time for other thoughts and raised his cane to meet the attack.
The first clash between the cane and the rapier produced a crisp clang.
However, Lafitte spun to avoid the direct thrust, and the tip of his cane precisely jabbed at Mandy's sword-wielding wrist.
As Mandy retreated, Lafitte did not pursue; instead, he retreated repeatedly, widening the distance between them.
He looked down and saw that the tip of his cane had been sliced off.
In the previous exchange, Lafitte felt that the opponent's sword had breached his cane's defense with almost no resistance.
If it weren't for his relatively rich combat experience, he would have been defeated in one move.
Lafitte looked up at the longsword in Mandy's hand, which was coated with a faint Black substance.
"It seems this young lady possesses an extraordinary ability~"
As a strong individual in the chaotic seas of the West Blue, Lafitte knew of Haki's existence but had never fought against a Haki-user.
Now it seemed that Haki's boost to strength was indeed considerable.
Before he could think further, Mandy attacked again.
As Lafitte dodged the slash, he swung his cane fiercely.
Mandy slightly twisted her wrist, preparing to block the blow with her sword's edge.
Lafitte, however, retreated three steps, not daring to clash with Mandy's longsword again.
The two thus fought, one displaying all her skills, the other constrained.
Black watched from the side, shaking his head.
Mandy hadn't fully utilized her strength.
With her Observation Haki proficiency, facing Lafitte, who lacked Observation Haki, she should have been able to land hits steadily, no matter how rich his combat experience was.
The current situation, however, was that Lafitte was avoiding Mandy's attacks as much as possible through dodging, and even managing to seize opportunities for counterattacks.
"Did this girl forget that she's a swordswoman?"
Black couldn't help but complain.
A swordswoman's basic abilities, besides cutting steel, also included flying slashes.
While a swordswoman's flying slashes might not be very useful in duels between masters, they were perfectly sufficient against Lafitte.
As Black pondered, Mandy had already knocked Lafitte's top hat away with a sword strike, the tip of her sword pointing at his throat.
Lafitte leaned back, performing a perfect backbend.
Bang!
While dodging backward, his pistol fired.
The bullet was split in half before hitting the faceguard.
Lafitte, however, seized this opportunity to suddenly scatter gunpowder into the air, tapping his cane heavily on the ground.
In the explosive blast, the cane's tip, like a venomous snake, pierced through the smoke, aiming directly for Mandy's left shoulder.
At this moment, Mandy seemed to finally remember the existence of Observation Haki, and her longsword, arriving later, stopped at Lafitte's chest.
"Splendid~"
Lafitte released his cane and pistol, letting them fall to the ground.
He raised both hands above his head, his tone still cynical:
"It seems my waltz... still needs more practice~~"
Mandy silently sheathed her sword and turned to return behind Black.
Black clapped again:
"To be able to contend with a swordswoman possessing two types of Haki for so long, relying on combat experience, your performance is quite good."
These words made Mandy, behind Black, blush.
Her current state was like someone who had argued with another person, returned home, and grew increasingly angry the more she thought about it, always feeling she hadn't performed well.
Mandy reviewed the recent battle and had already found several elementary mistakes.
Although Black's words weren't directed at her, she still felt a sense of ridicule.
Lafitte picked up his fallen top hat, dusted it off, pressed it to his chest, and bowed, saying:
"I am merely a defeated man; to receive your approval truly makes me feel overwhelmed by favor~"
Seeing that Lafitte remained composed, Black felt even more satisfied with him:
"My name is Hilbert Black; you may call me Saint Black."
The tone of this sentence was less like an introduction of his name and more like the pronouncement of an imperial edict.
"Saint~"
Lafitte murmured softly.
Then he bowed even lower:
"So it is Celestial Dragon Saint Black-sama~"
"It seems I was somewhat impolite~"
"Please allow me to introduce myself~"
"I am Lafitte, Captain of the Moonlight Circus Kingdom's Guard; it is truly a blessing of three lifetimes to be able to perform for a World Nobles~"
No, I haven't met anyone more polite than you in this world.
You are more polite than Doflamingo.
Black grumbled inwardly, but his expression remained unchanged:
"Your title can now have an additional prefix from this moment on."
"Vassal of the Hilbert family."
Lafitte picked up his cane.
His movements were slow, clearly buying himself time to think.
Black was not in a hurry and just watched him.
After a long while, Lafitte finally stood up, held his cane to his chest, and bowed again:
"Oh my~ This honor truly makes one's heart race~"
"Very good!"
Black was very pleased with Lafitte's tact; it seemed he was a capable man.
For those who could not possibly submit to him, Black never even considered asking them to join.
Like Moriah.
But since he had already made the offer, it meant he judged this person to be capable of being recruited.
At this point, the other party could not refuse.
Otherwise, Black would feel offended.
This was the change brought about by nearly twenty years of living as a Celestial Dragon.
Don't let Black's usually good attitude towards the female slaves deceive you; that's because he's a hypocrite. Try bringing someone unattractive to him?
Black turned to Stella and instructed:
"Have someone fetch a Haki manual from the ship; our Sheriff also needs to improve his strength."
Saying that, he took out a white transponder snail from his Huai and tossed it to Lafitte:
"Someone will contact you through this transponder snail; listen to his orders then."
"Of course, if one day your strength surpasses his, you can also have him listen to your orders."
[Please give five-star reviews, big shots. I've even added extra chapters to ask for them. How sincere is that?]