Exclusive Interview

"What kind of island is this? The creatures on it are a bit strange." Five pirate ships approached their target island. This was Enel's first time visiting an island in the Blue Sea. The soil that was extremely precious on Sky Island was nothing in the Blue Sea.

Looking at the creatures appearing on the island from afar, he asked with curiosity and some doubt.

After all, the animals on the island have a very different style from ordinary creatures; I don't know how to describe it, they just look "long".

"This should be Long Ring Long Land," a member who had studied sea charts chuckled. "It's very close to Water Seven."

Long Ring Long Land is a ring of ten small islands, named for its overall shape resembling a long chain. The island is home to many strange creatures.

Due to the influence of the moon's tides, the animals on Long Ring Long Land are abnormally long. Long Ring Long Land experiences high tides for three-quarters of the year, so the low tides for a quarter of the year trigger tsunamis, and the receding seawater reaches Water Seven.

Reaching Long Ring Long Land means that the Night Pirates' next destination, Water Seven, is not far away.

When they arrived at the archipelago, Teach knew their location. Due to the high tides year-round, the soil of Long Ring Long Land was fertile, and as far as the eye could see, it was mostly green grassland, where strange creatures could also be seen.

There are residents on the island, but the place the Night Pirates arrived at is somewhat remote and not in a populated area.

This was also Teach deliberately avoided that area; he didn't intend to stay on Long Ring Long Land for long. He planned to rest briefly before leaving to head to Water Seven.

When you arrive at a new island, it's essential to enjoy its unique scenery. This is especially important when sailing at sea, as different islands have different characteristics and even different customs.

On Long Ring Long Land, due to the island's unique environment, the inhabitants, much like nomadic people, have a habit of migrating, with each cycle lasting more than ten years.

Some crew members disembarked and set foot on the land of Long Ring Long Land, with Enel jumping around excitedly on the ground.

Unlike Birka, this has a completely different texture; one is earth, the other is clouds—there's a huge difference.

Most of the members of the Night Pirates came from the four seas, and this was the first time they had encountered an island like this. Those who were interested had already gone to Hunting Island, wanting to taste the meat of these somewhat "long" creatures.

These are crew members who consider themselves gourmets.

Others just want to observe them, or plan to catch a few to keep as pets.

Teach had no interest in Long Ring Long Land and simply stayed on the ship. Although he wasn't training now, he was actually still developing and training his Dark-Dark Fruit.

He sat on his throne, in front of him on an open space, on an empty deck, surrounded by crew members who had not yet disembarked, watching from the sidelines.

Two dark spheres, or Dark Jade, floated in front of Teach.

Although the Dark Jade can change its form in response to other people's attacks during battle, a single Dark Jade can envelop Teach's entire body, providing all-around defense.

However, the speed at which the Dark Jade transforms has a limit. In other words, as long as the speed exceeds the speed at which the Dark Jade transforms, it is possible to bypass the Dark Jade's defense and thus preemptively attack Teach.

This actually tests Teach's speed of reflexes and reaction time.

Teach was actually quite confident about this, and his Observation Haki had reached the level of Future Sight. As long as he could foresee it in advance, he could take the initiative to make changes.

However, in battles between the strong, seeing the future may not be very useful, because the future is constantly changing.

Blindly believing in and relying on the future doesn't actually benefit you much. To see the potential of the future, you need strong capabilities to support it.

When the speed exceeds your body's reaction speed, even if you see the future, your body can't react in time, and you naturally can't avoid it.

To deal with such a situation, Teach is not afraid of a one-on-one fight, but if he faces several equally powerful opponents, his Dark Jade might not be able to react in time.

Therefore, Teach has more than one Dark Jade. He is training to multitask and control multiple Dark Jade simultaneously. This way, he can not only deal with attacks from others more easily, but also provide double defense when necessary.

The defensive power of the Dark Jade is undeniable, and its defensive power can be continuously improved as Teach's strength increases and his abilities are further developed.

Double the defense, double the fun.

This is just the beginning; these two are just the foundation. Teach is still training.

In reality, Teach was also training his ability to precisely control his power, to change it at will, and to have complete control without losing control.

This is actually very difficult, after all, it requires perfect control of these Dark Jade during the battle and the ability to control their arbitrary changes. Each additional Dark Jade increases the difficulty by a level.

Multitasking requires time and effort; practice makes perfect, plus a little bit of talent.

A shadowy area appeared on the entire deck, in everyone's sight.

Suddenly, sharp, shadowy spears emerged from the shadows and lunged at Teach.

Before Teach floated two Dark Jade. As the shadow spear thrust forward, they swiftly transformed, precisely blocking Teach's attack by turning into an incomplete black sphere that deflected the spear.

There wasn't just one shadow spear; the changing Dark Jade simultaneously blocked several shadow spears. Two Dark Jade changed at the same time, their shapes also changing, as they faced the constantly attacking shadow spears.

If he were simply trying to block these shadow spears, all he would need would be a Dark Jade, which would envelop his body, but that wouldn't achieve the desired training effect.

Therefore, this black sphere is incomplete, with empty spaces on it, and the remaining parts are connected like the patterns on a soccer ball.

Teach was to control these interconnected positions and precisely block the Shadow Spear, which undoubtedly required precise control.

Both Dark Jade were like this, and Teach's Observation Haki was constantly observing them.

The one who made the move was Rediat. These shadow spears that kept emerging from the shadows were all creations of his abilities, made to complement Teach's training.

Each shadow spear is terrifying, possessing powerful penetrating force, seemingly capable of piercing through your body at any moment.

This was how the other members saw it, but for Teach and Rediat, it was just a minor skirmish, not even a warm-up. They were just playing around, and their attacks weren't strong, but their speed had reached the limit that Rediat could control. This was partly due to the powerful defense of the Dark Jade, which prevented the Shadow Spear from leaving a mark on the barrier formed by the Dark Jade.

However, some officials felt that this seemingly small duel was actually extremely dangerous. Rediat did not hold back, and the speed at which the Shadow Spear pierced through was such that only the shadow could be seen.

With its sharp and powerful strike, it can pierce your body into a die in the next moment.

Nevertheless, Teach's reflexes were incredibly fast, perfectly blocking the attacks; without such an effect, how could the training be effective?

Training is mutual. Rediat is also conducting in-depth development of the Shadow Power. The Shadow Dragon, a giant dragon born in the realm of shadow, can also be said to be the master of shadow.

Besides direct combat, the multi-layered application of Shadow Power is extremely important, whether in attack or defense.

Now, Rediat doesn't need to transform into a shadow to move quickly; he has an even faster way of moving: Shadow Leap.

He expands his shadow domain, and with his Shadow Space, he can appear freely within this domain. Because he can appear in the air and take a leaping stance, it is called Shadow Leap.

Leaping in the shadows.

Compared to before, although the Shadow Transformation is faster, it is still detectable.

Now, it's completely unnecessary. This is the speed of space, coupled with the stealth of Shadow Power, making it truly difficult to detect. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the master of shadows.

These days, Rediat's progress has been terrifying. He possesses the bloodline of a world-class monster and has perfectly inherited the talent of "The Lone Red," especially during this period of rapid improvement in strength.

The peak period in this world is roughly between thirty-five and fifty years old. The reason for this is that some people, like Red-Haired Shanks and Teach, can reach their peak much earlier if they develop well.

However, there are also many people who achieve great things later in life. They may be ordinary people before the age of thirty, but after that, due to certain opportunities and experiences, their strength grows rapidly, and they reach their peak at the age of fifty.

After all, in this world, secondary or even tertiary puberty is quite normal.

Developing potential takes time; some people do it sooner, some later. Therefore, there is no fixed period for rapid improvement in strength; this only applies to people like Teach.

Rediat was born with the Awakening Observation Haki and possesses world-class Observation Haki and talent, has made rapid progress in Observation Haki, not only due to his own innate talent but also due to his deep development of Observation Haki.

Future Sight is the ability Rediat is developing next, and he has already gotten a feel for it. With Teach's experience, all that's needed is one or two battles.

At this moment, Teach and Rediat stopped what they were doing in perfect unison, and the two Dark Jade returned to Teach's side, disappearing into his body like water.

The shadow returned to Rediat's feet.

He turned his head slightly and looked into the distance, sensing a strange and weak aura rapidly approaching. At first, he didn't pay attention, but as it drew closer and got closer, Teach noticed it too.

Teach's actions undoubtedly attracted the attention of others. "I'll go check it out," Nelson said, guessing that someone must be approaching.

As soon as he finished speaking, Nelson vanished from his spot, using his abilities to rapidly reappear in the distance.

On the other side, a young man wearing glasses, his face etched with sorrow, rode a sea motorcycle, braving the waves and forging ahead.

He never expected that his boss would entrust him with such an important, and dangerous, task.

The enormous bonus and Morgans' promises left him dizzy, and his sense of honor as a journalist and his passion for Big News Morgans made him readily agree.

But now, he's scared. He wants to slap himself. How could he have agreed to that? He acted impulsively, without thinking it through properly, and just agreed.

My heart was filled with bitterness, as if I were witnessing the desolation of a hero's journey, a journey from which he would never return.

Keep in mind, this is the Night Pirates! Filming from afar is one thing, but to go and interview "Dark Emperor" Teach? Has he lost his mind?

Now, he has no choice but to go.

He had made a promise to the President, Morgans, so there was no room for him to go back on his word.

Moreover, the allure of profit is undeniable. Morgans' promise to him included a truly astonishing bonus. While it might not seem like much to Morgans, it was enough for an ordinary person like him to live a worry-free life for the rest of his days, or even a life of luxury.

Journalism is a high-risk profession nowadays. Every year, journalists die—on the battlefield, caught in the crossfire of battles between powerful individuals, or having their secrets discovered and silenced. Others simply refuse to be filmed and lose their lives as a result.

That's why he impulsively agreed. After finishing this job, he could not only get a bonus but also a promotion, and he could do those mentally demanding and safe jobs.

Nelson's figure appeared high in the sky, simultaneously using Geppo to propel himself into the air.

Looking at the person rapidly approaching the Night Pirates below, their identity was revealed.

This is a reporter, not very strong, and poses no threat to the Night Pirates. Since he's here, he must have something to say.

Only Morgans has the ability to know the current location of the Night Pirates. Nelson also knows that Morgans is still in contact with his captain. This kind of thing should be left to Teach to handle. He doesn't know why Morgans sent this reporter.

He had originally planned to deal with any ungrateful scoundrels directly.

Since that's the case, there's no need for him to stop it.

"It's a journalist, possibly connected to Morgans," Nelson explained briefly, returning to the captain.

"Okay, then let him come over." Teach nodded, smiled, and wondered what Morgans was up to.

My name is Yazhe, a reporter for the World Economic News. Right now, I'm very nervous because I'm about to face the Night Pirates.

He, on the other hand, was to conduct an exclusive interview with the captain of the Night Pirates.

Right now, my body and my legs are shaking.

The reporter, named Yazhe, drove his jet ski to a spot 100 meters away from the Night Pirates' ship and stopped.

Then, carrying his tools— Den Den Mushi, a camera, paper and pen—and a heart ready to die, he nervously walked toward the Night Pirates' ship.