"Haha, if Rayleigh knew you were talking about him like that, he'd definitely fight you to the death, Newgate."
Gawain responded with a smile, the two clinked glasses, drank a glass of wine, and Gawain thoughtfully replied.
"However, what you said... is indeed true. My strength has really become the weakness of my entire force."
This weakness never shows when dealing with ordinary opponents, because not everyone can charge at me like you, overpowering Rayleigh, Gion, and Issho.
But when I meet you, or when I meet other Emperors of the Sea in the future.
Or what if someone like Ryu tried to assassinate me...?
No matter how many people protect me, if I can't protect myself, I'll almost certainly die.
Killing me is something that only you top-tier powerhouses would consider a possibility.
It's simply a decision.
"A decision of whether or not to die together with me!"
As he spoke, Gawain frowned slightly and asked the Whitebeard earnestly.
"Before, all the top experts around me were experts without any Devil Fruit."
Yixiao came to lend a hand, and I hadn't had a chance to chat with him yet, so I didn't have the opportunity to ask him about the difference between Devil Fruit and no Devil Fruit.
But it just so happens that you're here, and you're even willing to talk to me about these things.
"So, Newgate, let's talk about the difference between Devil Fruit and no Devil Fruit."
"Gulalalala, what difference could there be? It's just a matter of preference!"
The Whitebeard waved his hand magnanimously.
"If you ask what the difference is between eating the Devil Fruit, then I must tell you something as the number one expert in the world."
Eating the Devil Fruit or not makes no difference!
The Whitebeard pointed to his heart and continued speaking to Gawain.
"The Devil Fruit this kind of fruit is called Devil Fruit is because from the very beginning, it represents a deal with a devil."
What transaction?
A lifelong weakness exchanged for a lifelong miracle!
But if you think about it carefully, Gawain, no matter how many weaknesses a person has in their life, they are not going to be able to bring about any miracles anyway.
As for Devil Fruit, if you're willing to accept the price of being rejected by the sea, you can save decades of training time and transform yourself from an ordinary person into a powerful individual.
I read in the newspaper a few days ago that a young man ate Mera Mera no Mi.
When I saw him, I laughed and thought, "This is such a lucky kid!"
I don't know what that kid was like before.
But after he eats the Mera Mera no Mi, I can almost say that as long as he doesn't become complacent and arrogant about his current strength, he will at least reach Marco's level.
It's ridiculous, isn't it? But that's the essence of the world. The heights that countless people can't reach even with a lifetime of effort can be completely made up for by a single Devil Fruit!
Imagine there's a wall in front of you, thirty meters high, and you have to jump to the other side.
At first, you could only jump one or two meters high, so you kept trying and trying.
In the end, many people, through hard work, trained themselves to the point where they could jump five or six meters.
Even so, they could never jump over this wall in their lifetime.
Some people tried even harder, so they jumped and jumped until they reached a height of seven or eight meters.
Even if they still can't jump over the wall, at least they've jumped over someone else.
There are also some people who are so talented that others can only jump seven or eight meters high even after a lifetime of training, but they can train for a lifetime and reach the level of jumping thirty meters, landing on the other side of the wall in one go.
These kinds of people are Garp, Roger, Zephyr, Sora, and even more so Rayleigh and that hot-tempered female Marine.
Besides those who scaled the wall, another type of person, while hopping along, came across a ladder.
So they brought over a ladder.
But everyone's luck is different. Some people bring ladders that are more than ten meters high, while others bring ladders that are not even as high as they can jump.
Some lucky ones managed to bring over a ladder that was more than twenty meters long.
So they stood on the ladder and jumped!
Although they could only jump seven or eight meters originally, they still managed to jump over the wall!
Now you're probably wondering, what if someone who could normally jump over a wall on their own stood on a ladder and jumped instead?
The result is that no matter how strong a person is, if they choose the ladder, the only achievement they can attain is simply jumping over that wall!
We're only concerned with whether we can jump over this wall, not who can jump higher, gurgle gurgle!
Standing on the other side of that wall are the old man, Linlin, Kaido and Shanks that brat), Garp, Kong and Sengoku, and some juniors like Red Dog and Aokiji.
This is what I wanted to tell you: whether you eat the Devil Fruit or not makes no difference in the world of the strong!
We only consider whether the other side can fight us; who cares about such a trivial question as why they can fight us!
At our level, it's meaningless who jumps higher; only the weak fixate on their own and others' heights!
I've been fighting Linlin and her group for decades, and I've been fighting Zhan Guo and his Sengoku for decades. We are indeed evenly matched in strength, but what use is it to us who can jump the highest?
If we're talking about height, then I and Garp are probably the highest jumpers of the past thirty years.
Garp relied on talent and hard work, while I relied on a ladder and hard work.
But what can we do? Even if we are as strong as the two of us, I, an old man, would still die fighting two Admiral, Garp would still have to flee when surrounded by two Emperors of the Sea.
Even Rocks back then...
Wow, that guy is really strong! His strength is almost on par with that Red Count!
But when Rocks was attacked by Roger and Garp, he was easily defeated.
As for Red Count, he was once known as someone who could fight against an entire crew of the Emperors of the Sea like me and Linlin all by himself.
But to be honest, whether it's me, Linlin, or Kaido...
Even without my crew, even if we were all alone, we could still fight against an entire Four Emperors pirate crew.
After all, apart from the few of us, those other so-called All-Stars or Sweet Commanders are just brats; we could easily knock them down with two punches, right?
So when the Red Count encountered Kong, and the two fought to the death, the Red Count won.
But then, the Red Count was captured by Garp, who had just arrived.
Is he definitely inferior to Garp?
Not necessarily. That guy and Garp could fight for days and nights before a winner is decided.
But he was easily taken down, because even though we who jumped over the wall jumped much higher than others, we couldn't withstand the combined attack of two guys who had jumped over the wall!
"I see."
Gawain nodded in understanding at Whitebeard's explanation, then smiled and said to Whitebeard.
"Actually, I've always had this idea: to first train myself to reach my own limit."
"Devil Fruit no way to improve will I choose to eat the Devil Fruit."
"Gurala la la!"
Gawain's words made the Whitebeard burst into laughter, and he patted Gawain on the shoulder as he laughed.
"You idiot, how could you have such childish and passionate ideas!"
Gawain, you've really cracked me up!
I can guess that Rayleigh and that female navy woman would definitely support your idea!
Since they themselves achieved their current level through training, they will naturally support your decision; they might not even want you to reap the Devil Fruit.
After all, they are all guys who succeeded without Devil Fruit trying, so none of them would think their choices were wrong, and they are willing to tell you what they believe to be the right choices!
But let me ask you, Gawain, is your goal simply to become the world's number one without consuming the Devil Fruit?
Your goal is clearly to unify the entire world!
As someone determined to unify the world, you've even used me as a tool. Shouldn't your own strength also be nothing more than a tool to you?
Since it's just a tool, of course we should choose the fastest, best, and most efficient one!
You're such a smart little rascal, how can you not even figure this out?
"Haha, that makes sense, Newgate!"
Whitebeard's words truly enlightened Gawain. He nodded thoughtfully and then spoke emphatically.
"Your suggestion... I will think about it carefully over the next few days!"
But that's all for the future. For now, let's enjoy the hot springs.
"And tell me more about your past, I'm really interested!"
Time flies, and two hours have passed in a flash.
On the Sabaody Archipelago...
Because the Dark Bird Ship hadn't made a sound for so long, the television broadcast had already ended.
By now, news of the clashes between the Whitebeard Pirates and the Gawain Pirates had already spread to Sabaody and the Four Blues.
Morgans' newspaper is now working overtime to print this news.
And near Sabaody Pier...
Looking at the calm sea in the distance, Aokiji and Borsalino stared at each other.
Unable to resist any longer, Aokiji quietly woke up Garp, who was standing there fast asleep.
"Mr. Garp, your Observation Haki is much stronger than mine, so... how are they now?"
"Snort?"
Suddenly woken up, Garp's morning grumpiness surged, but looking at his admired junior and remembering that he had beaten him up a few days ago, he calmed down.
Garp responded with a curt reply.
"All I can see is that the two groups of guys are sitting together drinking."
As for Newgate and Gawain, hmph, they're inside that big ship; I can't see them anymore!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Garp reached up and rubbed his head.
"Everything is so strange. Momousagi, Rayleigh, and now even Whitebeard is acting strangely."
Those are Celestial Dragon, how come these old devils don't care about their Celestial Dragon status?
Even I, an old man, am too lazy to talk to those Celestial Dragons. What's wrong with them all, rushing to get closer!
Is something wrong with you?!
After saying that, Garp shook his head dejectedly.
Borsalino curled his lip in disapproval of Garp's words.
"Hey, old man, didn't you see that mesmerizing clash of Conqueror's Haki just now?"
Tsk tsk, even I'm captivated by that kind of Conqueror's Haki. It's no wonder Saint Gawain is admired for possessing such a Conqueror's Haki.
At this point, Kizaru raised his hand to check his watch; it was only 4:30...
So, out of boredom, he looked up at the sun in the sky.
Regarding the issue of the Navy's late shifts, which prevent them from getting adequate rest and thus hinder their ability to fully combat pirates, I should take the time to bring this up with Fleet Admiral Sengoku!
Ignoring the perpetually listless Kizaru, Aokiji spoke thoughtfully to Garp.
"Mr. Garp, why don't we... go closer and take a look?"
Saint Gawain is Celestial Dragon. Even if he goes to sea and builds his own power, he is still Celestial Dragon!
I'm really uneasy about someone like that disappearing along with Whitebeard!
If any problems arise...
"Oh?"
Hearing Aokiji's words, Garp glanced at Aokiji curiously.
"Kuzan, why are you suddenly getting nervous about a Celestial Dragon?"
If it were you in the past, you would have run away on your bicycle in this situation, right?
Something's not right, something's really not right!
With that, Garp strode forward, waving his hand as he went.
"But you're right. Hmph, no matter how much I despise those Celestial Dragons, I still have to take a look at them."
And then there are the legendary pirates Rayleigh and Whitebeard!
Haha, I should go and see them too, and then explain the rules of the navy to them again!
"Tsk tsk, Vice Admiral Garp, you just wanted to catch up with old friends, didn't you?"
Kizaru grinned, and as he laughed, he boarded their warship together with Garp Aokiji.
Meanwhile, on the Dark Bird Ship, Little Uta was standing in the middle of everyone, hopping and dancing joyfully, while also singing a song with an exceptionally upbeat rhythm.
Meanwhile, around Uta, members of the Whitebeard Pirates and the Gawain Pirates applauded Uta in clear distinctions.
She clapped with particular Shirahoshi, her little hands turning red from the effort. As she watched, her resolve to become a songstress grew stronger.
If I could sing such a beautiful song, I could help relieve Gawain's stress.
Unlike now, I can only be raised like a little child, chubby and pampered by adults, boohoo~.
In the break between Uta's song ending and preparations for the next song.
Not far from Shirahoshi, Rayleigh placed his sword on his lap and turned to look at the trembling reporters in the distance.
"Hey, you guys, are you sure you didn't film us all together, right?"
"Old Master Rayleigh!"
No sooner had Rayleigh finished speaking than Shiryu, who was smoking a cigar, revealed an extremely vicious smile.
"If the master doesn't want the news of our peaceful coexistence with Whitebeard to get out, then... killing them is the best way!"
At this point, Shiryu glared fiercely at the reporter.
"Hehe, if you gentlemen don't want to dirty your hands, then I'm willing to draw my sword for you, sir!"
Thump!
As soon Shiryu speaking, the reporters all collapsed to the ground, kneeling there, looking at the crowd with boundless sorrow.
"No way! I have elderly parents to care for, young children to raise, and a whole bunch of hungry snails to look after!"
Spare me... Waaah, spare me!!!
Amidst the reporter's cries, the three leaders of the Whitebeard Pirates—Marco Joz, Thatch, and the others—looked at each other in bewilderment.
After a while, Marco lazily rubbed his pineapple-shaped hair.
"Why do they seem more like a pirate crew than us?"
"Uh, Grandpa Rayleigh is indeed a legendary pirate, but who is that guy? Which pirate is he from?"
Jozu looked at Shiryu expression.
In the distance, Shiryu's brow twitched. "From which eye did you figure out I'm a pirate?!"
You are the pirates, your whole family are pirates!!!
With a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice, Shiryu spoke to Marco, his veins throbbing.
"Hmph, you've misunderstood. After gaining the master's approval, Grandpa Rayleigh is no longer a pirate being hunted by the Navy!"
As for me, I'm not a pirate like you. I'm the deputy warden of Impel Down!
"Why?"
"What?"
Impel Down?!
As soon as Shiryu finished speaking, the Whitebeard Pirates members looked at Shiryu with fear, then huddled together and whispered among themselves...
"Impel Down really is a terrifying place. Their deputy warden is quite menacing!"
For a moment, Shiryu took a deep breath.
Don't get angry; they're practically the BOSS's guests, so don't get angry.
Enraged, Shiryu glared at the reporter kneeling there, trembling uncontrollably.
Then, Shiryu to Rayleigh.
"Old Master Rayleigh, even if we don't need to kill the witness..."
"Shouldn't we at least take out all the Camera Den Den Mushi they're carrying?"
The Den Den Den Mushi) on the reporters nearby, which had gone to sleep because they were switched off, all raised their heads and looked at Shiryu in alarm.
If you bring this up, the men won't pretend to be asleep anymore!
Are you a devil?!