"Hahaha! I can see an island!" The sailors, glad to have survived the disaster, cheered and jumped excitedly, feeling strength flood back into their bodies.
"Everyone, get ready! Full speed ahead! Our destination is the island up ahead!" Seeing the island, the old captain finally breathed a sigh of relief. That enormous tornado had been far too dangerous, and he had spent the whole time directing the merchant ship, his nerves taut. Now he smiled and shouted, rallying the entire crew.
With everyone working together, the island soon drew closer. Trees stood more than ten meters tall, and lush forests stretched everywhere, still untouched by civilization. The fresh air and the smell of rich soil helped everyone relax.
After disembarking, they planted their feet on solid ground. Mobius couldn't help hopping in place a couple of times, his face bright with excitement. They had been at sea for so many days, but nothing felt as comfortable as standing firmly on land.
Looking toward the depths of the forest, he felt eager to explore, and his heart began to beat faster. This was the first island he had encountered on his first voyage.
He couldn't help thinking of the stories he had read in adventure books. So this is what an adventure is like? Mobius wondered, feeling a faint sense of anticipation.
"Everyone can look around the island as you please. The merchant ship will need about a day to restock and make repairs, but remember to come back early. Don't get lost on the island, hahaha!" The old captain was excited to have reached land. He called out to the sailors and guards who had already disembarked, including Teach and the other travelers.
"Teach, let's go!" Mobius was bursting with excitement. He wanted to explore the island and grinned at Teach.
The group entered the forest and spread out, with some forming small clusters. Teach and Mobius walked together. Mobius's steps were so light that he seemed ready to run straight to the other side of the mountain. He kept hoping Teach would walk faster, and Teach understood how he felt.
Hearing Mobius, Teach looked deep into the island, then turned to him. "Mobius, calm down and stay close to me. Don't run off. This island is extremely dangerous."
"What?" Mobius asked, confused. He edged closer to Teach. Seeing the serious look on Teach's face, he knew Teach wouldn't joke around with him.
Suddenly, a hissing sound came from the grass. A purple shape sprang from the nearby bushes, shooting straight at Mobius. He hadn't seen it coming; when he heard the sound, his eyes caught only a flash of purple.
It startled him badly. Teach darted in front of Mobius and grabbed the purple blur with one large hand. Looking closely, he saw it was a snake with purple scales—clearly venomous.
The snake was a full two meters long. Teach gripped it by the head while its body writhed and coiled around his arm, apparently trying to make him let go and free itself.
But its strength was nowhere near enough to make Teach loosen his grip. He tightened his arm, and the snake opened its mouth, flicking its tongue. Under Teach's strength, it couldn't even close its jaws. Drops of dark green venom dripped from its mouth onto the ground and grass. The grass withered and corroded at once, turning from vivid green to a dull yellow. The venom seemed capable of devouring life itself.
Mobius felt a chill at the sight of its toxicity. "That's incredibly corrosive!" Teach frowned, then squeezed hard and crushed the snake's head.
"This is a genuine Beast Island," Teach said.
On the shore of the nameless island, aboard the merchant ship, the old captain was stunned. "What? This is a Beast Island?" A sailor beside him had just reported the news. "That's the Devil's Island!"
"That's right, Captain. I've checked several times, and the calculations are accurate. The tornado blew us off course, and we ended up at this island—the legendary Devil's Island." The sailor looked worried and spoke urgently. "We have to call back the people who went into the forest."
The old captain had sailed these waters for decades. He knew the rumors about a Devil's Island beside this route, and knowing them made him understand just how terrifying the island was.
An old, yellowed sea chart lay on the table in front of him. It was the result of decades of the captain's work, recording the islands throughout these waters. It was worth several million beli.
On the right side of one route—the route the merchant ship had been following—there was an island marked with a blood-red skull, indicating extreme danger. Beside it, the words "Devil's Island" had been written prominently.
"Damn it, how did we get so unlucky?" The old captain slammed his fist on the table. "How could I have forgotten about it?" It had been years since he'd heard anything about the island. He sailed this route often and knew it well, so he rarely looked at the map anymore. He hadn't expected to make such a serious mistake.
The old captain looked up at the sailor beside him. "Hurry! Send people in. They probably haven't gone far and should still be near the edge of the island. Find them all as quickly as you can. Save whoever you can. We've been comrades for so many years—we can't let them die for nothing." The old captain was resolute.
"No, that's out of the question! This is a Beast Island. It's far too dangerous." After hearing the news from the old captain, the man in charge of the cargo flatly refused. "We should leave immediately."
The old captain was furious. How could he abandon the sailors? "How are we supposed to leave? Without them, we can't even sail the ship. If we don't find them, we're as good as dead!" he roared, his face flushed. He thought the man in charge of the cargo was a complete fool.
In the end, the man in charge of the cargo was persuaded. He sent the remaining guards and sailors into the forest to bring back those who had already gone in.
"Beast Island!" Mobius's eyes widened. He knew what a Beast Island was: an island teeming with savage beasts. Some islands still had primitive habitats, where terrifying dinosaurs lived.
"Mm. A little guy like you couldn't survive on this island. That snake was near the bottom of the food chain here. You should hurry back to the ship," Teach said with a smile.
"Then what about you, Teach?" Mobius was reluctant, but he knew his own limits. That snake could have killed him easily. If Teach hadn't intervened, he would already be dead.
"Of course I'm going to explore the island. I can sense some interesting opponents," Teach replied with a grin, excitement showing on his face as he looked toward the depths of the island.
Teach's clothes fluttered as Conqueror's Haki spread outward from his body. The forest around them fell silent.
"All right, I've dealt with the dangers nearby. You should run back now. Some presences on the island are even stronger than I am." Teach turned to Mobius.
"Okay, I'll go first, Teach. Be careful." Mobius understood how precious life was, so he didn't hesitate. He ran back along the path they had taken, but deep down he yearned even more for strength. An idea had suddenly taken shape in his mind. He had a goal: he would train hard and grow stronger, so that one day he could return to this island, to the Beast Island where he couldn't even survive, and conquer it.
Teach continued forward. He sensed a faint trace of blood in the air—not just in this area, but across the whole island. It meant the creatures here were locked in fierce competition. Killing and fighting were happening at every moment.
The climate was also favorable, helping them breed and grow.
He kept his Observation Haki active. Not far away, he sensed someone screaming. A moment later, that person's life force vanished. They were dead.
Teach had no intention of saving them. They were strangers, after all. Besides, what else could people who ran into such a dangerous forest expect but death?
He had already sensed a powerful presence on the island, one of its overlords. He could feel it, but compared to the other overlords, its presence was far more aggressive, murderous, and violent. Its body was also much smaller than theirs—about two or three meters tall. Teach was curious. The others were all gigantic beasts, dozens of meters tall. What was this one?
Deep inside the island, in a huge mine hundreds of meters across, giant ants with metallic-looking bodies crowded together. Some held hard ore in their jaws and swallowed it. Their teeth made short work of the rock. They stood one meter tall and were two meters long—absolute giants among ants.
Their six limbs were covered in sharp, spiny blades. With a hiss, one of them easily ripped open the belly of a four-meter-long cheetah. The corpses of beasts were scattered all around, their bodies marked by the giant ants' claw wounds and bite marks. The largest was a ten-meter-tall giant ape.
At the very back, on a raised platform of gold that looked like a throne, sat a golden figure. Unlike the other ants, which moved on all fours, he walked on two legs.
He held a huge animal bone in one claw and gnawed at it. "Crack, crunch!" The hard bone crumbled like foam beneath his sharp teeth. Soon, he had crushed and swallowed the whole thing.
Suddenly, he lifted his head and rose from his throne. He stood nearly three meters tall, his body covered in a hard exoskeleton like golden armor.
His scarlet eyes seemed to contain endless bloodlust. He was an ant with a humanoid form. The moment he stood, a vicious presence radiated from him, like Conqueror's Haki, intimidating everything throughout the surrounding area. The giant ants were startled by his movement. They stopped what they were doing and knelt with their heads bowed, as if paying homage to a king—because that was exactly what he was.
His movement stirred the island's other overlords, as if he were challenging them. Enraged, they each let out earth-shaking roars, throwing the island's interior into an uproar.
Terrifying presences spread through the island. The weaker beasts in its interior were so frightened that they fled toward the outskirts, running as fast as they could.
"Zehahaha! Is he showing off?" Teach laughed, as if he could sense it. His Observation Haki seemed to connect with the other creature, silently conveying their intentions back and forth. Neither of them knew what the other was saying, but they could clearly sense each other's emotions.
Teach stopped holding back. With every step, his Conqueror's Haki erupted more fiercely, until it reached its peak. His presence grew more and more terrifying. The creatures around him fled in fear, and some of the weaker ones collapsed, unable to withstand the mental pressure.
Teach's Observation Haki covered more than half the island. In his mind, he steadily formed an image of his powerful opponent. It was a monster that could stand upright. In the air between them, it seemed to face off against Teach.
At the mine, the golden monster let out a series of shrill cries, somewhere between a roar and a howl. It felt Teach's response and the powerful aura coming from far away. Its golden antennae twitched as if communicating with the other giant ants.
As if obeying its command, the giant ants raised their heads one by one and let out a chorus of cries. They moved their six limbs swiftly across the ground, turned, and headed toward Teach.
"Oh, do you want me to warm up first? Zehahaha." Teach clearly sensed figures heading his way from that direction. Each had a strong presence, and they were moving very fast—but they were still far slower than he was.
Teach was already prepared to fight, but his steps didn't falter. This was a test, a way for the creature to see whether Teach could reach it. How could Teach possibly let it down? He was growing more and more interested in the monster, too.
This was the first time he had seen a creature like it. In the world of pirates, most powerful beasts possessed intelligence not much weaker than a human's—or at least close to it. They could understand human speech and grasp the meaning of words, but overall, they still thought like wild animals.
This monster's intelligence was almost beyond anything Teach could imagine. He had already sensed it through their silent exchange.
Before you continue