Blackbeard's Public Humiliation

The image was crystal clear.

In a dark corridor, Thatch stood with his back to Teach, holding a Devil Fruit that radiated an eerie light.

Teach drew a knife from behind his back.

His face wore its trademark guileless smile, but his eyes held cold calculation.

One stab.

It plunged into Thatch's defenseless back.

Thatch's expression changed from shock to disbelief. He turned to look at the face of the man he had called a brother for decades.

"Teach, you..."

"Sorry, Thatch. For the Dark-Dark Fruit, you'll have to die. Zehahahaha!"

The image froze amid Teach's laughter.

The whole world saw it.

Someone aboard the Moby Dick was crying.

"Thatch."

Vista the Flower Sword's voice trembled, and veins bulged on the hand gripping his sword.

"That bastard... So that's how he killed him. A sneak attack from behind."

"I'll kill him."

Jozu's resolve was as hard as his diamond skin.

But the sky screen had not stopped.

The scene changed, showing how Teach fled in the dead of night after murdering Thatch, as well as the entire course of Ace's pursuit of Teach alone.

Their battle on Banaro Island was shown in full. Teach used the Dark-Dark Fruit to seal off Ace's flames, then defeated him.

"The outcome of this battle set the stage for the Marines to execute Ace."

A cold explanatory text appeared on the sky screen.

"Teach handed the defeated Ace over to the World Government, using him as a bargaining chip to become one of the Shichibukai."

"In other words, he sold out his own brother."

Everyone in the Whitebeard Pirates fell silent. That silence was more terrifying than any roar of anger.

Elsewhere in the New World, the seas were no calmer.

Aboard the Red Hair Pirates' ship, Shanks set down his cup.

"Lucky Roux, what do you think?"

"Captain, Teach is even more dangerous than we expected. You went to warn Whitebeard back then, but the old man didn't listen."

Shanks touched the three scars over his left eye. Teach had given them to him.

"Whitebeard didn't understand Teach's true nature back then. Now, I'm afraid the whole world knows him."

"But the problem is, option C says he'll break into Impel Down. That place is full of world-class criminals."

Benn Beckman exhaled a cloud of smoke, his voice steady.

"If he really lets those monsters out, we'll have a serious problem."

Shanks stood and walked to the bow.

"Beckman, contact the Marines for me."

"Contact the Marines?"

"Yeah. Contact Magellan at Impel Down. Tell him someone's coming to take his prison."

Far away, in the undersea prison of Impel Down, Warden Magellan was in the bathroom.

As he endured the chronic diarrhea caused by the Venom-Venom Fruit, he looked up at the images on the sky screen.

"Break into Impel Down?"

His expression turned ugly.

"Someone dares to break into my Impel Down?"

Outside the door, Vice Warden Hannyabal was pacing anxiously.

"Warden, that Blackbeard's ship really does seem to be heading our way!"

"I saw."

Magellan emerged from the bathroom, issuing orders as he fastened his belt.

"All guards, go to the highest state of alert! Reinforce the lockdown on every level. Put every prisoner on Level 6 in double Seastone shackles."

"Yes, sir!"

"And call Sherry here. Have her get the Awakening Beasts ready. Anyone who dares set foot in Impel Down won't leave alive."

Out on the dark sea, Teach could no longer laugh.

The second recording playing on the sky screen showed the complete route he planned to take into Impel Down, as well as the list of prisoners he intended to release.

"Damn it!"

Teach's face darkened to the extreme. He hurled the half-eaten cherry pie in his hand to the ground.

"How does this damn livestream know everything?"

"Captain, the whole world has seen our plan. Impel Down will definitely prepare in advance."

Lafitte folded his fan. His tone was as elegant as ever, but his meaning was clear.

That route was no longer an option.

"And it's not just Impel Down."

Van Augur added in a low voice.

"Whitebeard's side also knows you have designs on his fruit. I'm afraid they'll send people specifically to hunt us down."

Teach's expression changed again and again. At last, he forced out another smile, though it looked uglier than a grimace.

"Zehahahaha! It's fine. If our plan's been discovered, we'll just come up with another one. The great Teach has plenty of ideas."

"Such as?"

Lafitte asked.

Teach opened his mouth, but not a word came out.

Just then, the sky screen blazed with a dazzling light, and the system's voice rang out across the world.

[The countdown has ended. The correct answers will now be revealed.]

[Correct answers: C and D]

[Both options describe Marshall D. Teach's actual actions before and after the Paramount War.]

[In view of this man's exceptionally heinous crimes, supplementary footage will now be played.]

Teach's face turned completely green.

"There's more footage?"

New images appeared on the sky screen, showing the entire timeline of Teach's decades of infiltration in the Whitebeard Pirates, from the day he joined to the whole process of his secret search for the Dark-Dark Fruit.

Thirty years of biding his time.

Thirty years of deception.

The sky screen mercilessly annotated every false smile, every time he called someone a brother, with the true thoughts in his heart.

Whitebeard watched the images in silence for a long, long time.

"Thirty years."

His voice sounded much older.

"I treated you like a son, but you'd been plotting against me since the very first day."