Chapter 17: Oh Crap, I'm Dead
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden:
"@RawrSoFierce @Edward Newgate — found him~! One very lively Blackbeard Teach, captured alive! [Image]"
RawrSoFierce:
"Yep, that's a 99% facial match."
Edward Newgate:
"That's him! That's Teach! He was on my ship for years — I could never mistake that face!"
Edward Newgate:
"@The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden — Yukari-senpai, can you share your coordinates?!"
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden:
"Mm~ I'm on the eastern side of Fish-Man Island. Head to the main shopping district on the east end, then keep going east for another two or three kilometers. You can't miss it."
Edward Newgate:
"Thank you, Yukari-senpai. I'm on my way!"
Reading the chat messages aboard the Moby Dick, Ryū took a leisurely sip of orange juice, propped his chin on one hand, and let out a bored yawn.
He was here in a purely ornamental capacity. With his current strength, he wasn't helping anyone.
Unless Blackbeard Teach agreed to stand perfectly still and not fight back, in which case Ryū wouldn't mind using the Decompose-Decompose Fruit to separate some important body part from the rest of him. Might even be a one-hit kill.
But that was a fantasy. Nobody was going to just stand there.
In truth, both he and Yukari were essentially spectators on this mission. Yukari had only stumbled upon Teach because she'd been out shopping.
Ryū watched as Whitebeard launched himself off the ship at a speed almost too fast for the eye to follow, vanishing in an instant. The deck where the old man's feet had been now sported a fresh, shallow crater.
He took another sip of juice. "Whitebeard's getting up there in age, and his body's not in perfect shape. But Teach at his current level is barely a notch above Ace."
"Under those circumstances, Whitebeard demolishing Blackbeard is a foregone conclusion. And with Yukari as backup? That purple granny is even stronger than Whitebeard."
The moment he'd learned Teach was on Fish-Man Island, all of Ryū's worries about the quest had evaporated.
Just as he'd said days ago in the chat group: the One Piece world's power system had a ceiling. And the man known as the Strongest in the World stood at the very top of it.
Even a reincarnated Blackbeard couldn't inflict anything close to fatal damage on Whitebeard at this stage.
What was about to unfold would be a one-sided beatdown. No suspense whatsoever.
A large-scale, domestic-violence-level thrashing was imminent.
Wait — Whitebeard had already disowned Teach. So this wasn't domestic violence anymore.
"I got a free trip to the One Piece world and I'm about to collect 3,000 Points' worth of rewards for doing nothing. Is this what it means to be the Admin?"
Ryū felt a twinge of shamelessness. But hey — who told him to be the one with the permissions?
Could someone with admin privileges do whatever they wanted?
Yes. Yes they could.
He opened Yukari's camera feed in the chat group. The livestream popped up beside the chat interface — and there was Yukari, floating above Blackbeard Teach.
Cold sweat was already streaming down Teach's forehead. His dark, predatory eyes were locked onto the girl hovering in the air above him.
Her words had made one thing clear: she was an enemy.
This strange, impossibly dangerous girl — what was she? He'd never encountered her in his previous life. Never even heard rumors of someone like her.
The pressure she radiated had him on the highest possible alert.
Teach retreated several steps, unable to stop himself from demanding: "Who the hell are you?! I've never done anything to you!"
Yukari smiled pleasantly. "You're right — you've never wronged me personally. But unfortunately… I happen to know Edward Newgate. And that young fellow very much wants you dead~"
The name "Edward Newgate" hit Teach like a physical blow. His pupils shrank.
He knew that name. Of course he knew that name.
It was Whitebeard's name.
This girl knew Whitebeard?!
Before Teach could respond, Yukari continued. "And this one is also somewhat interested in taking your life. But Whitebeard wants to do it himself, so all I need to do is make sure you can't run~"
Teach's expression turned rigid. He forced out the question burning in his mind: "Whitebeard… that old fossil is here? On Fish-Man Island?!"
Yukari tilted her head with an innocent smile. "What do you think?"
The instant her words landed, Blackbeard Teach spun on his heel and bolted.
Whatever thoughts he'd had about fighting this bizarre girl — they were gone. Incinerated.
He could hear it in her voice. Whitebeard was here. On this island.
He didn't know why. He didn't know how. None of this had happened in his previous life. But Blackbeard Teach understood one thing with crystal clarity:
If he didn't run right now, he was going to die. Badly.
He hadn't made it a hundred meters before a jet-black crack in space materialized at his side — and kept pace with him effortlessly.
Inside the crack, countless crimson eyes stared at him.
A bone-deep chill crawled across his skin.
"What kind of insane Devil Fruit power is this?!"
He was still trying to categorize Yukari's abilities within his world's framework. It never occurred to him — never could have occurred to him — that she wasn't from the One Piece world at all.
Her power wasn't a Devil Fruit.
A familiar, lilting voice drifted out from the gap: "Ara ara~ Blackbeard, you can't outrun me. No matter how fast you are, you'll never be faster than my gaps."
That girl's voice again! Damn it — should he try to kill her first?!
But the pressure Yukari exerted was somehow no less than Whitebeard's own, and he had no idea why. Teach wasn't about to gamble his life testing those waters.
Just as his expression twisted with desperation, a staggering wave of fury-laden presence crashed into him from behind.
And then came the roar.
A voice he knew better than almost any other — a voice that was practically branded into his memory — thundered across Fish-Man Island.
"MARSHALL D. TEACH!!!"
Cold sweat instantly soaked through the back of his shirt.
Because he recognized that voice.
The Strongest Man in the World — Edward Newgate.
The captain of the Whitebeard Pirates.
Whitebeard.
That man was actually here.
How was this possible?
Something had gone wrong. Something had gone catastrophically, inexplicably wrong.
None of this had happened in his previous life.