After taking Edward Newgate aboard, the crew of Mongge's ship officially numbered four. From now on, Rocks wouldn't have to clean the deck by himself every day. He'd have Edward Newgate to keep him company.
That's right.
Even with another crew member aboard, Rocks's status as an apprentice hadn't changed. Now, not only was he an apprentice, but Edward Newgate was one too.
Two future legends of the seas, working as apprentices?
Mongge smacked his lips.
Things were looking brighter by the day.
After he took Whitebeard on, the system that had been sitting unnoticed before his eyes popped up again, displaying several lines.
["Become my son!"]
[Accept / Reject?]
[Ding~ Congratulations! You have become the... father!? of Edward Newgate, also known as Whitebeard.]
The characters that appeared on the system panel seemed to glitch. After a long pause, it continued as though nothing had happened.
[You have achieved an impossible accomplishment.]
[You have awakened an advanced application of Observation Haki: Future Sight—1 second. Since you have already mastered an advanced application of Observation Haki, the rewards have been stacked.]
[You have mastered Observation Haki: Future Sight—3 seconds.]
The system's rewards could stack!?
Thinking back to the reward he'd received after "defeating" Rocks, it had been something like mastery of the Six Powers. His proficiency with the Six Powers had already been maxed out, so stacking the system reward hadn't made much difference.
Observation Haki was different.
Although Mongge's Observation Haki was already at the top level, allowing him to foresee the future, seeing one second ahead counted as Future Sight, and so did seeing ten seconds ahead.
Mongge could only see two seconds into the future.
Now, after the system had stacked the reward, he could see three seconds into the future, increasing his Future Sight by half.
What about Armament Haki?
Mongge thought of the affinity task involving Charlotte Linlin, which would reward him with an advanced application of Armament Haki. He hadn't paid much attention to it before, since he already knew how to use Armament Haki at an advanced level.
But if he could further strengthen his Armament Haki, then even if he still couldn't use Conqueror's Haki coating, he'd have an easier time winning the next time he ran into Rona or Harald.
At his level, improving either Armament Haki or Observation Haki had become extremely difficult. His Fruit abilities, physique, swordsmanship, and Haki had all been developed close to their limits. Even the slightest improvement in any area could bring about a qualitative change in his strength.
And the system's rewards weren't over yet.
Aside from the Haki-related reward, there was also the usual increase in Cellular Activity, as well as a Devil Fruit with an unusual pattern.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit!
This was a much more generous reward than the one Mongge had received when he first defeated Rocks.
"I was just wondering where I could find that kid a Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Now I don't have to—the system has given me one directly."
Mongge was in a great mood.
Even without the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Whitebeard had the Three Types of Haki at the highest level. But there was no denying that having the fruit was better than not having it.
Still, Mongge didn't plan to hand the Tremor-Tremor Fruit directly to Edward Newgate. He intended to train him first, just as he had trained Rocks.
Besides, he had to take Rocks's feelings into account.
Mongge knew what Rocks would achieve in the future.
But Rocks didn't!
No matter how much Mongge talked about Haki having a higher ceiling than Devil Fruit powers, the boost to one's strength that a Devil Fruit gave in the early stages was undeniable.
Mongge drew up a training plan.
From then on, Mongge would regularly teach Lipri, Rocks, and Newgate. After each lesson, Mongge would train Lipri, Lipri would train Rocks, and Rocks would train Newgate.
Every so often, they'd hold a ranking match.
The gap between the three of them might be huge now, but the stronger they became, the harder it would be to improve. Their differences in strength would gradually shrink.
Lipri and Rocks both aimed to further master Armament Haki and Observation Haki.
Newgate's goal was to learn the Six Powers.
They'd set the deadline at one year.
Meanwhile, in Sphinx, another piece of news was spreading.
The White Wolf Pirates had stolen the Celestial Gold!
There was no way to keep news like that quiet, especially since there had been many workers aboard when Mongge and the others drove off the Marines escorting the cargo ship.
With so many people involved, how could the news possibly be contained?
The only reason it had taken this long to get out was that the World Government and the Marines had applied pressure. The incident was a blow to the prestige of the World Government—and the Celestial Dragons.
But the one-month deadline had long since passed. The World Government had repeatedly ordered the Marines to find Mongge's White Wolf Pirates as soon as possible.
But the sea was vast. If they couldn't find them, they couldn't find them!
And so the news finally reached Sphinx.
"My God! No wonder they're the White Wolf Pirates. They actually dared to steal the Celestial Gold that an Affiliated Nation had paid to the Celestial Dragons!"
"That was Celestial Gold! No wonder the black market's been full of treasures you never see these days. They must've stolen them from the Celestial Dragons."
"Ha! Good! Good for them! Those damned Celestial Dragons finally got what was coming to them!"
"..."
The pirates were all shocked by the White Wolf Pirates' audacity. What they'd done was a direct slap in the face to the World Government.
If this had happened earlier, they might have had their eyes on the treasure. No matter how strong White Wolf Moger was, could he really stand against all of them rushing him at once?
The facts proved that he could.
The three Great Pirate crews that had once been entrenched in Sphinx had all been wiped out. Even if these smaller crews banded together, they wouldn't be enough to take on Mongge with one hand.
A legendary Great Pirate!
In the eyes of some pirates, Mongge already had the bearing of the legendary pirates who'd once ruled the seas. All he lacked was a battle that would make his name.
Beating two or three ordinary Great Pirates wouldn't prove anything.
The only thing that could prove his strength was—
A Marine Admiral!
"Ah-choo!"
Kizaru, one of the Three Admirals, was sprawled out on a deck chair. After working himself to the bone for half a month, he was nearly exhausted, and even the two beautiful slave women beside him couldn't stir his interest.
"Admiral Kizaru, please take it easy. What if we run into the White Wolf Pirates..."
"Aren't you here with me?"
Jiangma Sebas curled his lip, unconcerned. "I know exactly how strong that old geezer White Wolf Moger is. Without a few dirty tricks, he's not even as strong as you. Even if he's improved a little, there's no way he can beat the two of us working together."
"Poor old me. I'm almost ready to retire, and they still drag me out to work overtime."
Before you continue