Across the endless blue sea, a warship made of logs, like a wooden raft, parted the waves as it sailed slowly beneath the cloudless sky.
Brring, brring~
Click.
"Zehahaha! What is it, Pizarro? We're almost back at Hachinosu."
In the dim cabin, Teach picked up the Den Den Mushi. He leaned back on the sofa, draped an arm over its back, and laughed.
As soon as he finished speaking, the Den Den Mushi's expression changed, as if it had become a different person, and glared angrily at him.
Teach frowned. Pizarro wouldn't look at him like that.
What was going on? Had he mistaken someone else for Pizarro?
Just then, an angry voice came through the Den Den Mushi.
"Hey, Teach! Hancock's with you, right? Let her go, now!"
"Who are you? No, that voice..."
Teach froze, then immediately sat up. A figure wearing a straw hat flashed through his mind.
He suddenly remembered their chance encounter in a bar on Jaya Island two years ago. Listening closely, he realized that the voice on the other end matched the memory in his mind.
Teach slowly grinned, baring a row of jagged, gleaming teeth.
"Zehahaha! So it's you, Straw Hat Kid."
"I see. You know this woman, then?"
Teach's tone was teasing. He turned and stared at the ice sculpture in the corner.
It had been several days since Aokiji froze her. An ordinary person would have been dead by now.
But Hancock was a rare empress. Her powerful vitality and Haki allowed her to resist, forcing Aokiji to use his power from time to time to keep her frozen.
"Come to think of it, she hasn't moved in quite a while. Maybe she's about to freeze to death. Zehahaha."
Teach's gaze turned vicious, and his laughter carried a hint of