"Hey, hey! Don't just stay silent, all right?" Blackbeard said to Kuzan with a vicious grin. "With fighting power as strong as yours, as long as you're willing to join me, I'm willing to make you my right-hand man—second only to me, above everyone else. Compared to all that damn bureaucracy in the Marines, we freedom-loving Pirates are far more unrestrained!"
Kuzan glanced at Blackbeard and the band of savage, vicious Pirates behind him. "Freedom? What you have is lawlessness."
"Ha ha ha!" Blackbeard burst out laughing. "Don't put it like that! You're not a Marine anymore, so why are you still talking about laws? If we followed the law, would we still have the nerve to call ourselves Pirates?"
"A world without rules and restraints will only descend into chaos and darkness." Kuzan looked at Blackbeard. "If the direction of the new era is controlled by people like you, it will only mark the beginning of even greater chaos and darkness in the New World."
Blackbeard looked at Kuzan slyly, spinning the gun in his hand as he smiled. "You don't have to view us so pessimistically. In truth, we're just a group of people pursuing freedom."
"Your freedom is built upon stripping others of the rights they are entitled to." Kuzan narrowed his eyes slightly. "No matter how you whitewash it, you can't hide your true crimes."
Blackbeard's smile grew increasingly sinister. "Hey, hey! Kuzan, don't tell me you came all this way just to condemn us?"
Kuzan shook his head. "I suddenly changed my mind."
Blackbeard's expression darkened, and his smile stiffened slightly. "You're leaving? Even after I offered you the position of second-in-command of the Blackbeard Pirates, such generous treatment, you still want to leave?"
Kuzan snorted disdainfully. His position as a Marine Admiral had been