After a long while,
Teach finally stopped his heartfelt wailing.
Having vented his overwhelming emotions, he had also completely accepted this cruel reality.
In the end, Teach shot Garen a resentful glance, unwilling to look even once more at the man who had completely shoved him into the abyss of being a good person.
"Ace, let's go."
Teach shook his head and sighed weakly.
"We should head back."
With that, Teach prepared to leave Wano Country with Ace, putting as much distance as possible between himself and that detestable Garen.
"Wait."
Garen suddenly called out to them, then said without preamble,
"Brother Teach, Brother Ace."
"Since you're both here, I have something I'd like you to pass on to Senior Whitebeard."
Teach's eyes were vacant and his expression dejected, like a soulless walking corpse.
He had no desire whatsoever to pay Garen any attention, nor did he react to Garen's words.
Ace still could not make sense of the tangled grudge between Teach and Garen. He merely suppressed his confusion for the moment and earnestly asked along with Garen's words,
"For Pops Whitebeard?"
"Brother Garen, what do you want us to tell him?"
"It's like this."
Garen straightened his expression and solemnly said to Ace,
"Ace, I trust you know that the League of Heroes has officially been established."
"The purpose of the League is to overthrow the three great mountains crushing the people of the world: pirates, nobles, and the World Government."
"We will not only oppose the World Government; our tolerance for pirate activity is absolutely zero."
"So, your Whitebeard Pirates—"
"What?!"
Ace vaguely sensed that something was wrong and could not help turning pale in alarm.
"Brother Garen, you aren't planning to move against the Whitebeard Pirates, are you?"
Big Mom and Kaido's successive falls had left