Believing him to be Magnus is not as good as believing I am a Marine Admiral!

Not a fake, but the real deal!

Upon feeling the terrifying aura emanating from Magnus, an aura like that of a ferocious beast, Iron Hand Jod harbored no further doubts about Magnus's identity.

After all, Jod had never experienced such a terrifying aura even from his captain, Undead Jason.

There were disparities among pirates.

Even among Great Pirates, there were hierarchies.

In that moment, Jod gained a deeper understanding of this saying.

"W-White Wolf Magnus!?"

"Yes, it's me."

Magnus looked at Jod calmly. Though they were of similar height, in Jod's perception, Magnus's gaze was like that of an ant.

"Do you want to die or live?"

Hearing Magnus's voice, Jod's throat felt parched. The sliver of hope he had vanished completely, and he could only whisper, "I-I want to live."

"Good. Take your arm and have your captain come see me."

Magnus hadn't made any discernible movement, yet Jod felt a gust of wind blow past. Immediately after, he saw the other pirates still standing around him looking at him with terror.

My arm?

It was then that Jod suddenly realized his arm had gone numb.

He turned his head and saw only an empty shoulder.

His arm, which he took pride in, had been severed!

"Aaaaaah—"

Seeing a pirate with a bounty of 50 Million Beli have his arm cut off in a single encounter, the surrounding pirates looked at Magnus with immense dread.

What terrified them even more was that Magnus's strike not only severed Jod's arm but also split three streets of the entire town in two.

A massive chasm stretched across half the port town.

"Right, not just your captain. Have the other two factions come over as well. There are too many flags flying in this town."

Magnus continued speaking as he looked at Jod, who was clutching his severed arm, kneeling on the ground, gritting his teeth and gasping for air.

This island was conquered by Magnus with great effort over a decade ago. After neglecting it for so many years, others had taken over.

It would have been one thing if Magnus had retired.

Now that he was preparing to make a comeback, he naturally intended to reclaim his former territory piece by piece!

Magnus hadn't intended to trouble these local powers so soon, but since they had come to him first, he couldn't be blamed.

Magnus: "Shall we go back?"

Ripley asked, "Aren't we going to the underground black market?"

Magnus: "Among the three pirate crews occupying this town, there's bound to be one running the underground black market. We can just talk to them then."

Although Magnus had spent half a year in Elbaf, that half-year was not enough to bring about significant changes in this sea.

For instance, Magnus recognized the flags currently flying in the town.

Undead Jason.

Black Heart Merchant Dukemon.

Gargantua Moz.

Their bounties were 120 Million, 115 Million, and 138 Million, respectively.

Of course, that was a year ago.

Now that a year had passed, Magnus didn't know if the bounties of the other two had changed, aside from Jason.

Great Pirates with bounties exceeding 100 Million Beli were well-known figures throughout the New World. A year ago, Magnus himself might not have been able to easily defeat even one of them in a one-on-one fight.

But things were different now.

"Perfect, Rocks should be dealt with by now too."

Magnus's gaze shifted towards the Black Pearl.

A little earlier.

While Magnus and Ripley were entangled with those pirate thugs, Rocks and Newgate had fallen into a difficult battle.

"Hey, hey, are you guys planning to keep hiding forever?"

Casually firing a shot that created a large hole in the deck of the Black Pearl, several pirates from the Heart Pirates moved across the deck like cats playing with mice.

"Heh, our target is just the things on this ship. As for your lives, we don't really care."

Bennet, the captain of the Heart Pirates, said as he signaled for the ship to move closer. If time was running out, he wouldn't mind dragging the entire ship away.

"Tsk, only old geezers would sail such a worn-out old ship."

Thinking of Magnus and Ripley, who had left ahead, Bennet felt a pang of regret.

If he had known there were only three people on this ship, he would have boarded directly. There would have been no need to let a group of children test the waters before he swooped in to reap the benefits.

As for the flag flying on the pirate ship?

He'd sooner believe the old man was the Marines' new Admiral than believe he was White Wolf Magnus!

"I hope you don't disappoint me too much."

Inside the ship's cabin.

Rocks' expression darkened as he watched the pirates approaching the cabin.

If it were just the captain, he would have already taken the opponent down.

But besides the pirate with the gun, there were several other enemies with decent strength. If he couldn't defeat them all at once, he would surely be surrounded.

Pirates wouldn't play fair with him.

"Hey, kid, can you still move?"

Rocks patted Newgate, who was twice his size and curled up tightly beside him.

"Yes."

Newgate nodded sullenly, then looked worriedly towards the deck. His companions, after being defeated, were still lying there.

"Distract them for me later, and I'll take care of those guys!"

Those pirates saw them as mere children and didn't take them seriously.

And this was precisely their opportunity.

"Why should I help you?"

Hearing Newgate's words, Rocks grinned.

"Because I just saved you, and now your life belongs to me!"

Although he was just a child, Rocks had sensed Newgate's potential during their brief interaction. He would be more than enough to serve as a human shield.

"Follow me!"

Rocks let out a low growl and charged headfirst towards the pirates of the Heart Pirates.

At this moment, the pirates of the Heart Pirates were already blinded by the piles of gold and silver treasures filling the cabin.

Even though Ripley had used her ability to shrink these treasures, their sheer quantity was overwhelming. Even shrunk dozens of times over, they still filled a corner of the cabin.

"Boss, we're rich!"

A pirate exclaimed excitedly, clutching a handful of jewels.

He didn't know why the jewels were as small as mosquito legs, but the sheer number of these mosquito-leg-sized gold and silver treasures was incredible!

This was without even mentioning the luxury goods piled on the other side, all high-end items only Celestial Dragons could afford. Even a small amount leaked out would be fought over by the ordinary nobles of this world.

However, even if they saw them, with their limited knowledge, they probably wouldn't understand the use of these rice-grain-sized luxury goods.

At this moment, Rocks had silently appeared behind a Heart Pirates pirate.

He drew his waist knife from behind him.

A swift slash.

A pirate fell to the ground.

(Young Whitebeard)