Pirates: How Many Divisions Do the Five Elders Have? Ace, You're Nothing but Dead Weight. You're Cut!

Some island in the New World.

It was dusk.

As the sun sets, weary birds return to their nests.

Between the sea and the sky, wisps of smoke rise densely from the islands.

Hidden among the pines and cypresses, one can vaguely discern many buildings, built against the mountainside.

In the distance, a pirate fleet slowly sailed toward the island.

"Lord Gamokras, the brothers haven't had meat in a long time. After we conquer this island, please allow us to have some fun!"

"Of course, no problem!"

The one-eyed giant, surrounded by a group of pirate henchmen, laughed heartily.

"It's been a long time since we've encountered a decent town. Men, full speed ahead, let's finish this before dinner!"

"Hehehe, as expected of Lord Gamorax with a bounty of 78 million Beli!"

"Lord Gamorax is invincible!"

As Gamorax listened to his subordinates' constant flattery, he stroked his greasy, grime-covered beard and revealed a smug smile.

He took the telescope handed to him by the navigator and prepared to choose a residence for himself to stay in for the next few days.

Gamorax looked through his binoculars at the prosperous town at the foot of the mountain with great satisfaction.

The town also had a rather spacious dock, which indicated that the town must have abundant resources.

Gamorax licked his lips.

There aren't many drinks left on the ship.

However, I don't know what kind of wine that town has. I've gotten used to the fine wines from the East Blue lately, and I find it a bit hard to swallow other wines.

Gamorax was planning his Devour when suddenly, as if he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world, he dropped his binoculars onto the deck.

He didn't bother to pick up the binoculars; instead, he roared like a madman:

"Return to base! Full speed ahead! Turn around right now!"

"Captain, what happened?"

The navigator asked, puzzled.

Snap!

A large, sharp punch landed squarely on his face, sending him flying.

"You blind idiot, didn't you see the flag flying over that island?!"

The pirate henchmen craned their necks and reached out to look into the distance.

Those pirates with better eyesight, upon seeing the flag the captain had mentioned, immediately trembled and their teeth chattered.

Some were even worse off, collapsing to the ground and wetting their pants on the spot.

"The banner of Edward Newgate, the Whitebeard!"

The children screamed in terror and rushed to adjust the sails and turn the rudder.

The island where Edward Newgate, one of the legendary Four Emperors, flies his flag is so powerful that even the other Four Emperors or the Navy's warships dare not trespass on it, let alone a small pirate crew with a bounty of less than 100 million.

Galamox commanded his henchmen, and they fled in panic.

Fortunately, their pirate ship wasn't particularly large; a small ship is easier to turn around.

Just when the pirates thought they had escaped, a small sampan ablaze came chugging along the waves ahead.

There was only one person standing on the small sampan.

A young man wearing a cowboy hat and with a face full of freckles.

He was carrying a huge sack, his hands resting on the rudder, standing up, but his head was nodding off, and bubbles were blowing from his nose; he was clearly fast asleep.

Driving while fatigued is not advisable.

The small sampan rammed straight into the One-Eyed Pirates' ship.

"Where did this brat come from? Captain, should we give him a wide berth?"

"Dodge? What a joke! He's just a brat who doesn't know his own strength. I'll show you how to chop this kid in half with a knife!"

With that, Galamox shouldered his famous greatsword and leaped off the bow of the ship...

Five minutes later.

"Captain Ace! Captain Ace! My Pops asked me to pass on a message to you!"

Ace's old friend from the East Blue, Deuce, dressed in a manner resembling the dark version of Tong Dawei, arrived quickly in a small boat.

Captain Ace, whom he spoke of, slowly withdrew his Fire Fist and jumped back onto his personal little boat.

The One-Eyed Pirates, who were invincible just minutes ago, have become fish and turtles in the ocean.

Their pirate ship slowly sank amidst the raging flames.

"Look what I've found! This is our East Blue's finest wine!"

Ace grinned as he pointed to the spoils of war he had loaded onto the small sampan.

This is an oak Gragas with the inscription "[Short-Lived Ghost Sauce-flavored Wine - Produced by Cocoyasi Winery, Big Bird Consortium, East Blue]".

Ace opened the package he was carrying on his shoulder, which was filled to the brim with meat.

He put his arm around Deuce's shoulder. "Do you remember that wine-soaked minced meat we had in the East Blue? It was truly a delicacy, but I've never been able to replicate that perfect taste. Now that I think about it, it must be because I didn't use the fine wine from the East Blue!"

"Deuce, you make the minced meat, and I'll make the liquor. Let's recreate that dish together and present it to Pops, okay?"

"Only you would think that kind of food tastes good!"

Deuce struggled to break free from Captain Ace's arm. "Pops's looking for you. Come back with me!"

"Is Pops looking for me?"

Ace nodded, secured the spoils, and added flames to the small boat's engine.

The small sampan started chugging along again.

If Garp were here, he would surely shed tears of both sadness and joy.

What saddens him is that he is Ace's grandfather.

But this kid never listens to what I say.

If you tell him to go east, he'll go west; if you tell him to chase a dog, he'll chase a chicken; if you tell him to be a navy officer, he'll be a pirate.

Whitebeard only needed to say one word to make him obediently go home.

It's absolutely infuriating!

On the other hand, the joy also stemmed from the fact that he was Ace's grandfather.

Whitebeard was Ace's father.

Garp's seniority has increased again.

"What does Pops want from me?"

Ace's small sampan and Deuce's small boat sailed side by side.

In response to Captain Ace's question, Lost silently pulled out a newspaper from behind his back.

"Captain Ace, you're on the news."

"News?"

Ace asked excitedly, "Is it on the front page?"

"Yes, but not entirely..."

Deuce's expression was strange.

"Haha, I'm finally on the front page? This is amazing!"

Ace burst into hearty laughter.

However, he then thought about it. His previous act of risking his life to challenge Whitebeard, Four Emperors, hadn't made the front page or even caused much of a stir. He hadn't done anything recently, so why was he making the front page news?

That can't be!

Seeing the confusion on Captain Ace's face, Deuce's expression grew even stranger.

He tossed the newspaper over, "Captain Ace, whatever you do, don't fire anything—no, I mean, don't set fires indiscriminately. We're all on the same side..."

[A seemingly strongest pirate crew in the world has formed an alliance with the world's most heinous criminal organization, and a mysterious powerful figure has become the mastermind behind it all.]

[The government's spring conscription livestream unexpectedly became the highlight of the pirate world's most filial son.]

[A ten-year-old cold case has finally been solved; the Shanks man lost an arm, all because he angered someone he shouldn't have.]

[The identity of the mysterious powerful Marshall D. Teach has been revealed. He protected the Whitebeard Pirates for thirty years, a testament to his filial piety that moves heaven and earth.]

[Facing Marine Admiral without flinching, Marshall D. Teach proclaimed that the dream of man never ends.]

To save the four key members of the Revolutionary Army and ensure the formation of the White-Revolutionary Alliance, Teach, with his mortal body, withstood a full-force attack from Akainu Hell Hound, leaving three claw marks on Admiral chest, becoming the only man in thirty years to bear such a scar.

[Marshall D. Teach is strong enough to rival Admiral, but while covering his friends' retreat, he was ambushed and his left leg was bitten off by "Hell Hound." Teach, however, still laughed heartily, saying that he had lost a leg to Shanks years ago, and now Red Dog had taken his leg—it was Destiny!]

[Marshall D. Teach exclaimed: "This era is called Whitebeard. Shanks is nothing to him. As for Red-Nosed Red Nose of the East Blue, although his potential is limitless, it's too early to consider him on par with Pops."]

[Marshall D. Teach said: "I've staked this left leg on the new era; I'm going to use it to get my Pops a ticket to the new era!"]

[...]

Ace stared, dumbfounded, at the shocking news report in the newspaper.

"Teach is actually that strong?"

He simply couldn't reconcile the image of Teach, the kind-hearted man who always wore a humble smile, served him hand and foot, and never felt remorse even when he suffered losses in missions, with the righteous and powerful hero in the newspapers.

Although Teach was ultimately defeated and fled, losing a leg in the process, he was facing Akainu Kasagis, one of the Three Admirals of the Marine Headquarters!

Ace felt a flush rise to his face as he recalled Pops embarrassing moments challenging Whitebeard.

I've been behaving like a lackey, ordering that powerful guy around all this time.

Ace wasn't afraid of Teach; he was a fearless person who only felt excited when he encountered a strong opponent and only thought about defeating them.

Apart from his Pops Whitebeard, and his ridiculously powerful grandfather, Ace never submitted to anyone.

But Teach was different. It wasn't a matter of whether he was strong or not; it was that Ace felt like a Shaco had been humiliated by his boasting, a frog hopping around in a well.

There's no way around it, Teach's record is just too dazzling.

In terms of strength, the Marine Headquarters Admirals are no less powerful than the Four Emperors.

Akainu, in particular, is one of the strongest Admirals in history.

In reality, Akainu's strength was severely weakened by the animation team during the Paramount War.

In the original manga, Akainu's Hell Hound blasted off half of Whitebeard's face with a single shot, demonstrating its formidable power.

The fact that Blackbeard was able to escape from such a top-tier fighter was something neither Ace nor even Ma Qiao could have imagined, let alone Ace.

He had already prepared the band and funeral couplets for Teach brother Teach.

We're just waiting to invite Brother Edward to the feast.

As it turned out, Teach, just like Kuzan, escaped from Akainu with only one leg broken.

However, upon closer analysis, this ending isn't entirely outrageous.

Blackbeard has been biding his time for thirty years, never revealing his true strength.

However, he was able to leave a scar on Red-Haired Shanks' left eye, and Shanks remained wary of him, even going so far as to bring fine wine onto Whitebeard's ship to offer advice to this senior who was both an enemy and a friend.

Based on this, Teach's strength is definitely no weaker than that of Emperor's Deputy or a high-ranking Sweet Commander.

This is evidenced by his ability to kill Thatch, the fourth division captain of the Whitebeard Pirates, and steal the Dark-Dark Fruit.

While it's highly likely that Blackbeard will use a sneak attack, Thatch is at least Sweet Commander level, and if Teach's strength is significantly inferior, even a sneak attack would likely be difficult to succeed.

Of course, Teach's true strength remains a mystery.

After all, after obtaining the Dark-Dark Fruit, he was once knocked to the ground by Ace, Impel Down Magellan, the warden of Impel Down, with a single Poison Dragon attack, and also knocked to the ground by Pops Whitebeard in a severely injured state.

In short, this guy's strength fluctuates quite a bit.

It is highly likely that he, as the dark side of the D. Clan, and King Luffy share a dual relationship.

It's like Naruto and What's Gay, two cheaters who are always trying to outdo each other by using cheats.

In short, Teach also has a bit of a protagonist's halo.

In life-or-death situations, his strength will be inexplicably boosted by a whole host of buffs, increasing dramatically.

In conclusion, at the cost of a leg, Marshall D. Teach created a miracle, and his name will surely spread far and wide after a period of time.

It took Ace a long time to finally accept the fact that his little brother was an extremely strong person.

But...

"I understand the logic, but what does that have to do with me being on the front page?"

Ace pointed to the front page of the newspaper, puzzled. "Aren't these all news stories about the Teach brothers?"

Deuce glanced at the captain's expression.

Then he timidly pointed to a short editorial, no bigger than a piece of tofu, in a corner of the front page of the newspaper.

[The dimmest of the East Blue Supernovas: Just how shameless must Fire Fist Ace be to dare parachute in and steal the fruits of a thirty-year veteran's labor?]

[Fire Fist Ace, his reputation is undeserved, is 100 million Beli an overestimation?]

[After remaining silent for more than half a year, Urpo D. Kuro, Roger's son, the leader of the Worst Generation, has spoken out again. He said that Fire Fist Ace alone has dragged down the level of the Worst Generation, and he called on all parties to remove him from the list, proposing that Gangplank, the Shigure of the East Blue Gangplank, replace him.]

[This initiative received unanimous support from the Supernovas, including the Six-Sword Style master Kenpachi Zaraki.]

[...]

"Captain Ace, Captain Ace, are you alright?"

Deuce looked at his friend with some concern.

"I'm fine... The most important thing in life is to be happy. The rumors and gossip outside are just life experiences for me. Look up at the sky and watch the clouds drift by, and you'll understand how beautiful the world is..."

"Reputation or headlines, I've never cared. They're all just dust, all meaningless..."

Ace maintained a calm and composed expression.

If it weren't for the flames emanating from his hands that burned the newspaper to ashes, Deuce felt it might have been a little more convincing.