"So that means you ran into a troublesome guy, right?"
On the Den Den Mushi, a domineering face resembling Blackbeard's, with streaked hair, slowly spoke.
"Yeah... that's right."
Whitebeard had nothing to hide. He had always recognized true strength.
Just as he was about to say something else, the Den Den Mushi suddenly flashed, and then...
It vanished from where it was.
"What?!!!"
Whitebeard's eyes widened, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.
But he quickly noticed Austin.
Wasn't the Den Den Mushi in the other's hand his?
Meanwhile, Rocks, who was holding a banquet on Hachinosu Island, also noticed the Den Den Mushi acting strangely.
The face that had originally sported a white crescent-shaped beard suddenly changed.
It became a smiling face with scarlet light bursting from its eyes.
"You... are the troublesome enemy Newgate mentioned, aren't you?"
Rocks grinned and asked domineeringly, seemingly untroubled by Whitebeard's final description of Austin as "troublesome."
"Nice to meet you. My name is Austin."
Austin spoke calmly.
"Austin, huh? Want to join my pirate crew? My name is Rocks!!!"
"No matter what kind of ambition you have, the Rocks Pirates can accommodate it!!!"
Since he had already decided to join the Rocks Pirates for a while, he had nothing to hesitate over.
"The Rocks Pirates?"
"Well... sure."
Hearing that, a smile appeared on Rocks' domineering face, and he burst into laughter.
"That was unexpectedly easy, but whatever. This is a pirate crew made up of monsters, after all!!!"
Austin smiled as well.
Rocks, huh?
He really was a domineering man...
In terms of strength, Rocks might have been somewhat inferior to Imu, because the latter had plotted too deeply and fought too dirty, a monster built around broken mechanics.
Rocks, on the other hand, was truly the man Austin had seen with the