"You really are smart, but I don't have anything I want you to do."
Seeing the confusion in Teach's eyes, Roy continued, "Ten years. You will serve the Thunder God Pirates for ten years, and you will render three great services to the Thunder God Pirates. Once you fulfill those conditions, I'll give you the Dark-Dark Fruit and stop restricting your freedom to come and go."
"Ten years? No problem, Captain! Ten years isn't long at all! Zehahahahaha!"
He was only in his thirties right now. Waiting another ten years was something he could absolutely afford.
More importantly, he was no longer chasing some vague, distant goal. There was now an extremely clear path to obtaining the Dark-Dark Fruit, and he was determined to have it.
As for whether Roy might lie to him?
Blackbeard did not care at all. It was not like he had any other choice. Was he supposed to ambush Roy and seize the Dark-Dark Fruit from him?
He still wanted to live a little longer.
Besides, Roy had no reason to deceive him, nor would there be any value in doing so.
Watching Blackbeard leave with great enthusiasm, a red light flashed in Roy's eyes.
This was the advanced realm of Observation Haki: Future Sight.
Over the past three years, aside from training his Super Saiyan form, Roy had not relaxed his Haki training in the slightest.
On top of that, with the electromagnetism of the Goro Goro no Mi and the Time-Time Fruit's control over future timelines, Roy's Future Sight had long since reached a terrifying realm that no one before him had ever attained, and perhaps no one after him ever would.
The current Roy could already clearly see scenes from ten years into the future.
"Teach, even if I let you obtain the Dark-Dark Fruit, so what? In the end, it will still fall into my hands."
...
Time always slipped by quietly when people least noticed it.
Over the next few years, the Thunder God Pirates entered a rare period of calm.
Aside from a certain fellow eager to earn merit, who frequently led his own squad out on expeditions.
After the meeting ended, Roy also began selectively discussing the Sulong transformation under the full moon with Pekoms and the other Minks.
For this purpose, Roy even specially recruited a group of outstanding scientists, intending for them to build a device capable of simulating the wavelength frequencies emitted by the full moon.
Among the scientists he recruited was Caesar Clown.
Roy already had Dr. Gero's scientific technology inside his mind. He only needed a few qualified scientist-operators to satisfy his needs.
Therefore, Roy had no interest whatsoever in Vegapunk, the man supposedly five hundred years ahead of humanity in science.
Roy could already use Life Return to freely control the growth of his tail.
His current goal was to push with all his strength toward Super Saiyan 4.
However, the process of transforming into Super Saiyan 4 never went quite as smoothly as he wanted.
Perhaps it was because Roy's body did not possess completely pure Saiyan blood. Transforming into a Great Ape was still very easy for him, but going from Great Ape into Super Saiyan 4 was especially difficult.
In Dragon Ball GT, only Son Goku and Vegeta, two pure-blooded Saiyans, successfully transformed into Super Saiyan 4. Trunks, Son Gohan, Son Goten, and the other Earthling-Saiyan hybrids could only watch from the side and cheer them on.
Still, although it was difficult, it was not impossible to continue. It would simply require more time—more time than it had taken to become Super Saiyan 3.
But in this manga world, the one thing Roy lacked least was time.
Thus, Roy once again chose to enter seclusion.
In the second year of Roy's seclusion, Red-Haired Shanks, who had lost an arm in the East Blue and no longer had the straw hat on his head, officially returned to the Grand Line, causing a stir throughout the world.
However, perhaps because someone wanted Red-Haired Shanks to challenge the Thunder Emperor's dominance, or perhaps for some other reason, the Red Hair Pirates encountered no obstruction at all in the first half of the Grand Line, where the Marines held the strongest control. Just like that, they sailed straight into the New World.
"If you want a toll, then have your captain come collect it personally."
His supreme Haki and swordsmanship shook everyone present.
However, that impressive display did not last.
Roy suddenly appeared and struck him so hard that he vomited blood and flew backward.
To be precise, it was one of the clones Roy had left outside as a precaution against accidents, created through the Four Bodies Technique.
"Even if Whitebeard passed through here, he'd still have to pay the toll. Never mind an apprentice pirate from Roger's crew."
Of course, in the end, the Red Hair Pirates were still stripped clean before heading bare-handed into the New World.
In truth, they had not had much wealth to begin with. Whether they were robbed or not, they were still practically bare-handed.
"Hahaha! Captain, that was pathetic. You got smacked so hard you coughed up blood in one move."
"Shut up. I was just careless, that's all. That said, the Thunder Emperor really does deserve to be called the world's strongest. That guy who looked exactly like the Thunder Emperor was probably a clone he created with a Devil Fruit ability, right?"
"He is an aberrant, after all. He can eat multiple Devil Fruits. By the way, Boss, what should we do next?"
"First, we'll pay Whitebeard a visit. We'll discuss the rest after that."
...
With Shanks entering the New World, no small amount of turbulence rose across the seas.
Although he had lost to the Thunder Emperor, no one dared to underestimate his Haki or swordsmanship.
Furthermore, the sea overlords each reacted differently to Shanks's arrival.
The Thunder God Pirates and the Whitebeard Pirates basically looked down on him or simply did not care.
Just as the clone had said, Shanks was only an apprentice pirate on Roger's ship, while Whitebeard was an existence who had stood on equal footing with Roger.
As for the Thunder God Pirates, they did not take someone who had been beaten until he vomited blood by their captain's clone seriously at all.
Even if he possessed powerful strength, was he not still inferior to their captain?
The most surprising reaction came from Charlotte Linlin, who was especially happy about Red-Haired Shanks's arrival.
Because over the past few years, the one who had suffered the most from the Thunder God Pirates' expansion was the Big Mom Pirates.
Whitebeard basically did not care about territory. The only things he truly cared about were his sons and family.
Charlotte Linlin was different. Her dream was to build Totto Land, where every race could live together.
That would inevitably require many islands.
Therefore, it was only natural that the expanding Thunder God Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates came into conflict.
Unfortunately, the Big Mom Pirates were no match for the Thunder God Pirates at all.
(End of Chapter)
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