Stussy: Old Men Are Great!

Black Pearl.

Apart from the Heart Pirates' captain, whose head was worth thirty million Beli, Mongge knocked out the rest of the pirates and tossed them into the sea to feed the fish.

If they woke up in time, they could consider themselves lucky.

If they died, that was their bad luck.

After all, Mongge wasn't the kind of villain who went around picking fights and killing people. If you didn't mess with him, he wouldn't mess with you. They still had a chance to survive, didn't they?

"That'll be two hundred thousand Beli!"

"What? You rotten goat, why don't you just rob me?"

Though he grumbled and cursed, Mongge still paid up without hesitation for Rocks and the others' medical expenses. They were old acquaintances, after all.

Now, besides Mongge and his crew, the Black Pearl also carried Newgate and his companions, along with the doctor Mongge had found in town.

The doctor looked just like a goat and wasn't even half Mongge's height.

Mongge remembered that the Straw Hat Pirates would meet a doctor with a similar appearance in the future. He was probably a member of the goat's species, or one of his descendants.

"How about joining my crew? We happen to be short a doctor."

"Forget it."

The Goat Doctor turned him down without a shred of politeness.

"I don't want Kureha to skin me alive. That woman said the White Wolf Pirates could only have one doctor, and that was her."

"Hmph. When I said we were disbanding, that old hag was the first to run off."

Mongge pursed his lips, though a look of nostalgia crept into his eyes.

"Everyone's getting old, after all."

"What about you?"

The Goat Doctor tilted his head as he looked at Mongge.

"You're not much younger than Kureha. Even if you can still fight now, how many more years can you keep it up?"

"Hahaha, I might last longer than you think."

Mongge pointed to his face.

"Look at me now. Do I seem like a seventy-year-old man?"

"..."

The Goat Doctor studied Mongge carefully, then suddenly produced a syringe.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Taking your blood!"

A burning thirst for knowledge shone in the Goat Doctor's eyes.

"The way you look now is completely unlike what's normal for someone your age. If I remember correctly, you look younger now than you did fifteen years ago!"

"As far as I know, you're just an ordinary human, and Devil Fruits don't extend your lifespan. So I want to know what happened to you."

"If I can uncover your secret, perhaps I could greatly increase the lifespan of all humanity!"

The Goat Doctor spoke without the slightest hesitation.

"That's why I'm saying, it's a miracle nobody's beaten you to death. Those pirates must be too kind."

"If they killed me, there'd be no one to treat their injuries."

The Goat Doctor said this seriously.

"Pfft—hahaha! I almost forgot. You're the genius who annoyed Kureha so much that she kept urging me to leave Sphinx as soon as possible."

When Mongge had come here fifteen years ago, the Goat Doctor had been a quack who treated people with the medical knowledge he'd taught himself. Fifteen years later, he was infamous across the island, and plenty of injured pirates came to him for treatment.

"Are you planning to take over Sphinx again now that you're back?"

"What, you don't like the idea?"

"Even if you do a terrible job, you'll still do better than those bastards."

The Goat Doctor shut his medicine case.

"Come on. Let's not leave little Stussy alone at the clinic. This island is about to descend into chaos."

The Goat Doctor called for the nurse from his clinic to leave with him.

Little Stussy?

The name the Goat Doctor mentioned sounded familiar, but the system didn't react. Mongge didn't dwell on it. After seventy years, there was no way he could remember every name from the original story.

Without giving it much thought, Mongge turned to Newgate and the others, seated at one side of the deck.

"Well? Have you made up your mind?"

Mongge's invitation to Newgate was sincere. Newgate was still weak, and his age meant he wasn't even as strong as Rocks had been a year ago.

But Mongge was confident he could bring Newgate up to roughly Rocks's level within a year. After all, Newgate's talent was no worse than Rocks's.

A crew member who could wield Haki proficiently was no weakling, wherever he went. And Mongge believed that as time went on, both Rocks and Newgate would grow stronger and stronger.

They'd already endured all these years. Spending a few more to raise Rocks and Newgate to at least the level of Great Pirates was nothing to Mongge.

"I... need to think about it."

Deep down, Newgate wanted to accept Mongge's offer. The White Wolf Pirates were the crew he'd dreamed of joining since childhood.

But when he saw his injured companions beside him, he fell silent again.

He couldn't abandon them and leave alone.

"If you're worried about your companions, then keep your eyes open and watch."

Mongge smiled at Newgate's refusal, not taking it to heart.

"Fifteen years ago, I changed Sphinx. But my strength was limited back then, so I had no choice but to compromise with some of the pirates."

"But things are different now."

"Starting today, no one will ever force me to compromise."

Mongge stood up. The sea breeze whipped his shirt, and though he wasn't particularly tall, Newgate couldn't look away from the sheer force of his presence.

One pirate flag!

Two pirate flags!

Three pirate flags!

Newgate saw the pirate ships around the Black Pearl gradually clear out. A huge crowd of pirates sailed away, as though afraid of getting caught in the crossfire. But they didn't want to miss the coming clash, either, so they stopped a short distance away.

Then three pirate ships, each twice the size of the Black Pearl, sailed into view and approached the harbor where it was anchored.

"The Undead Pirates!"

"The Black Merchant Pirates!"

"The Giant Monster Pirates!"

The pirates watching from the harbor swallowed hard at the sight of the three crews bearing down on them. Their eyes, however, gleamed with excitement.

"C-Captain, we're this close. What if we get caught in the crossfire later?"

"Shut up!"

The captain of the pirate crew with a mohawk shouted excitedly, "This is a clash between the White Wolf Pirates and three Great Pirate crews! You don't get many chances to watch something like this. If they start fighting, even dying would be worth it!"

In a corner.

A girl with short blond hair and a white sun hat slipped out on her own, a disgruntled look on her face.

"Hmph! Uncle Goat won't take me with him, so I'll just go by myself. That's the White Wolf Pirates! If their captain takes a liking to me, I'll be able to make tons of money without even trying. Then I won't have to work so hard bandaging people and treating their illnesses."

So what if he was an old man?

Old men were the best!

Once White Wolf Mongge died, she could inherit his fortune. She'd have more money than she could ever spend!

The girl thought innocently.

(Stussy)