Blackbeard's expression changed several times, and his smile gradually turned cold. "Old Sand, you need to understand—there can only be one Pirate King!"
"So what?"
Blackbeard said, "Ronglin won't give you that chance!"
Crocodile could not be bothered to argue with Blackbeard and turned to leave.
"Hold it!" Blackbeard called out to stop Crocodile. "Hand over the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. I don't trust people like you. Without the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, none of you are leaving."
Crocodile sneered. "You think you can keep us here? Let me tell you, I had someone wait a hundred nautical miles away with the fruit. If the time comes and he receives no message from me, he'll throw the Tremor-Tremor Fruit into the sea and shatter your dream forever!"
Blackbeard and the others' expressions changed. They had not expected Crocodile to pull something like this.
"Fine! You win!" Blackbeard glared at Crocodile, then laughed loudly. "How am I supposed to know you're telling the truth? If I let you go and still don't get the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, wouldn't I be taking a huge loss?"
Crocodile snorted. "Ronglin is a man of his word. If I meant to deceive you, I wouldn't have stupidly brought the Poneglyph back and walked into certain death. I don't care about the Tremor-Tremor Fruit either. Whether you want it is up to you."
With that, Crocodile turned and left. Old Cai and Chinjao exchanged glances, then immediately followed Crocodile back to the ship.
Blackbeard's hidden ambition had now been exposed. He was not afraid of the Star Alliance; he had even shown hostility toward it and wanted to strike the Eight Treasures Navy here.
However, Crocodile had used the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to threaten Blackbeard. Naturally, the fruit Blackbeard had long dreamed of was far more important than their lives.
Blackbeard watched