"Whitebeard! I, Baster, am not one to be slaughtered. You... I can join Whitebeard's Grand Fleet. After drinking the sake of becoming his adopted son, we'll be brothers from now on..."
Even though Baster was surrounded by the Whitebeard Pirates, he still had the dream of calling out to Whitebeard.
This creature Baster, had large hands and feet, was over five meters tall, and had a slightly bloated build. It had a large mouth and looked quite fierce.
Sig also vaguely remembered this man; he was known as the King of Three Islands —he once ruled over three islands in the New World.
He managed to carve out his own territory amidst the chaos of pirate lords... Although two of them were tiny islands without magnetic fields, and the other was a small island with a harsh climate and only a few thousand people, he could still be considered Great Pirate!
His territory was originally near the World Government's control area, so he frequently raided New World countries under the World Government.
King Elizabello II of the Kingdom of Prodence possesses the power known as the "King Punch," while Baster calls himself the "King's Shield." The island he occupies is not far from the Kingdom of Prodence.
Before the start of the New World, the World Government's military forces withdrew from the New World, and Baster even expanded its territory, staging a "Conflict of Contradictions" in the Kingdom of Prodence.
At Oldest One, things went smoothly, but he was soon given a severe beating by BigMom.
All the islands that had been expanded were returned, and Whitebeard also seized a number of the power vacuums left by the Navy, which are now adjacent to Big Mom's territory. Baster temporarily hides in the gap.
Now that the Four Emperors have ceased hostilities, the real task is to deal with these former opportunistic pirates...
Baster is now over fifty years old and still dreams of becoming Whitebeard's brother, but what he gets in return is... the scorn of the Whitebeard Pirates.
"Brother? Pshaw... Who do you think I am? You piece of trash?" the Whitebeard said disdainfully, taking a few more gulps of wine.
At this moment, Whitebeard sat on the throne on the deck of the Moby Dick, showing no intention of getting up.
Baster's reputation was already bad; not only were his methods brutal during raids, disregarding pirate rules and readily killing hostages, but he had also once murdered his own first Captain over a power struggle...
Whitebeard never intended for someone like that to join his "family"!
"You... you've gone too far! If you've got the guts, fight me one-on-one!" Baster shouted, sounding somewhat threatening but actually weak.
He didn't think he could defeat Whitebeard, but he did think that if he could defeat one or two of Whitebeard's sons, Whitebeard might realize his worth.
If all else fails...
Being a son is fine too!
In Baster's eyes, Whitebeard taking in a son was nothing more than a means of expanding his power. After all... he was the type who didn't really trust "comrades," let alone "family ties," which were completely foreign to pirates.
Whitebeard looked around, and all his sons stood tall and proud— Baster... was the last one. The other Great Pirate in Whitebeard's territory had either fled, surrendered, or been fed to the fish.
This is their last chance to shine in the short term.
Especially Jozu, because Baster is also known for his defense, so Jozu wanted to show him who the strongest shield was!
However, just as his gaze swept across half of the scene, Whitebeard noticed Sieg whispering Sig to Whitey Bay in the corner. Judging from Whitey Bay's expression of both disgust and suppressed laughter, the kid was definitely saying something joking!
Whitebeard was immediately furious...
"You brat, are you planning to keep freeloading? Hurry up and go over there, you handle that guy," Whitebeard shouted to Sig beside him.
"Huh? Lately I've been on the Whitey Bay ship..." Sig wanted to get to the bottom of this issue of freeloading.
I don't think I ate on the Moby Dick, and as for eating in Whitey Bay... could that be considered freeloading?
Whitey Bay stepped on Sig's foot and gestured with his lip—"Old Man tells you to go, just go. Why all the nonsense?"
It's just a "Great Pirate," isn't it? You can handle him.
"Alright, alright." Sig stepped forward a few paces.
Sig understood that Whitebeard wasn't using him as a pretext to gain anything or test him...
It's not that his good sons can't handle this kind of opponent; at least the captains of the top four teams could easily defeat this Baster in a one-on-one fight...
Whitebeard was mainly annoyed that Sig had given him a grandson, yet Sieg was still someone else's crew member, so he was just venting his anger by ordering him around.
When Baster saw a Fish-Man emerge, and it wasn't Nami, the captain of the 8th Division, nor Jinbe, who had frequent dealings with the Whitebeard Pirates, he was initially taken aback... but then immediately realized what was happening.
Isn't that Sea King from the Red-Hair Pirates?
How did they end up with Whitebeard?
Could it be... that you two emperors have joined forces to annihilate me?
"Siegfried? Why...?" Baster felt a chill run down his spine.
Compared to Marco and Jozu, who were among the earlier commanders of the Whitebeard Pirates, Beckman and Siegfried of the Red-Hair Pirates were far more intimidating!
After all... the bounties are on a completely different level!
"I heard you're good at defense? What a coincidence..." Sig said, drawing a short, single-edged sword from his left hand with his right.
Watching Sig pull the sword out of the flesh and blood of his arm, Baster was puzzled but not too frightened—there were plenty of special abilities on this sea.
"Skillful?"
"I'm good at dealing with defenses," Sig said as he walked toward the ship's side, which was closer to Baster's King's Shield.
Jozu, standing to the side, had already glanced at Sig, feeling that this guy hadn't had enough of a fight last time!
"Want to give it a try? If you can withstand three sword strikes, I'll give you an island," Sig said calmly.
"You... don't regret this!" Baster was also a little nervous when he saw this, but thinking about his own abilities, he forced himself to calm down.
Marco and Jozu were unhappy that Sig agreed to the conditions so readily, but since Sig Old Man had sent him out, it wasn't appropriate for them to say anything about him in front of outsiders.
"Here it comes." Sig stepped onto the side of the boat, as if he was about to jump over.
The "sword" in his hand showed no trace of domineering Haki, nor did it appear to have any special characteristics.
At this moment, shields materialized all over Baster's body, especially the large shields on his arms, which, when brought together in front of him, resembled a wall...
And the instant Sig jumped up, the entire King's Shield was affected by Baster's Shield-Shield Devil Fruit ability, and the deck suddenly tilted up to the left and right, forming a large "shield" that enveloped Baster.
Sig's short sword merely grazed the massive "shield" in an unremarkable manner.
Considering that no slashing motion was used, and given its length, it was impossible to reach Baster inside, however... the sword did indeed slice into the "shield" like a hot knife through oil.
"It's too short! What's he doing?" Jozu said, annoyed.
Whitey Bay glanced at Jozu, wanting to remind him that it wasn't short, but she held back.
The next moment...
Sig had already used his power in mid-air to leap back using Geppo, and was facing away from the King's Shield, looking as if "it's over."
Immediately...
Not only did the outer shield wall completely crack open, revealing Baster inside, but everyone also noticed that he was completely motionless...
As the ship rocked slightly, the seemingly sturdy shield in front of him slid down the clean cut, and his body was ripped open, bleeding profusely. He fell straight down...