The White Wolf Returned to His Loyal Sphinx!

There were no surprises.

In less than ten minutes, Magnus destroyed the three major pirate crews entrenched on Sphinx and captured all three of their leaders in one sweep.

The gap between ordinary Great Pirates and those with Four Emperor commander-level power was simply too vast.

Even though Magnus had only just stepped into that realm.

Without a similarly powerful expert to hold him back, he was a disaster to ordinary pirates.

If all three Great Pirates had attacked together, they might have lasted one or two moves against Magnus.

But Gargantua Moz had charged in alone.

His fate had already been decided.

When only Black Heart Merchant Dukemon remained, the Great Pirate dressed like a middle-aged gentleman hurriedly raised his hands in surrender, terrified of following in the other two's footsteps.

"Mr. Magnus, they forced me into this. I'm only a merchant. I have no reason to be in conflict with the White Wolf Pirates!"

"Oh?"

Magnus walked onto Black Heart Merchant Dukemon's pirate ship, sat on the bow, and looked down at Dukemon.

"But that wasn't what you were saying just now."

"A misunderstanding! It was all a misunderstanding!"

Black Heart Merchant Dukemon was drenched in cold sweat. Even Gargantua Moz, the strongest of them, and Undead Jason, the hardest to kill, had failed to withstand a single blow from Magnus. He had no wish to keep fighting Magnus.

"Letting you go would be simple enough."

Magnus pointed his blade at Black Heart Merchant Dukemon's brow.

"What can you offer me?"

Others might not have known, but Magnus understood perfectly well that within the White Wolf Pirates, he was practically a commander without an army. Ripley and Rocks had yet to grow strong. They could run rampant in the first half of the Grand Line, but in the second half, they were still far too green.

"I can continue managing Sphinx for you—"

Seeing Magnus's expression turn cold, Black Heart Merchant Dukemon cried out, "And I guarantee that from now on, Sphinx will fly only the flag of the White Wolf Pirates! We won't take a single cent of the profits, and the Black Merchant Pirates are willing to join the White Wolf Pirates as an affiliated fleet!"

After saying that, Black Heart Merchant Dukemon felt deeply uneasy, afraid that Magnus would refuse.

After all, many rumors claimed that the White Wolf Pirates had little interest in expanding their influence. Compared to other ambitious pirate crews, the White Wolf Pirates resembled a pure adventure crew more—a group of adventurers striving for their ideals.

Otherwise, if Magnus had wanted to, even if powerful pirates were unwilling to join him, weaker pirates could be found everywhere across the seas.

Yet the pirates did not know that the White Wolf Pirates had been entangled with the government's CP Organization at the time and had no capacity to develop their own power.

Once their influence became too great, it might have drawn a Marine siege.

Back then, Magnus did not possess the strength to repel a Fleet Admiral.

But things were different now.

"Interesting."

To Black Heart Merchant Dukemon, Magnus's laughter sounded like heavenly music.

"You should know what I hate most. In the years I've been gone, Sphinx seems to have become rather foul. If you can clean up Sphinx's underground forces, I don't mind sparing you."

"I understand!"

Black Heart Merchant Dukemon nodded hurriedly. "At most one month—no, two weeks! I will shut down every underground slave market on Sphinx and clean up Pleasure Street. I won't let any of that filth offend your eyes!"

Dukemon lowered his head and spoke humbly.

As for the Great Pirates behind those slave trades, Dukemon did not mention them. Judging from Magnus's attitude, he simply did not care.

Could it be...

He thought of Magnus effortlessly crushing Gargantua Moz and Undead Jason, then of that face that was clearly much younger than the rumors described.

Was the Magnus before him actually the successor cultivated by the real White Wolf Magnus?

It was no wonder Dukemon had such thoughts.

Magnus looked far too young now. He did not resemble a man in his seventies at all, but rather a middle-aged man barely past fifty.

Younger, stronger, and more ambitious!

Dukemon was certain that while the White Wolf Magnus of legend was powerful, he did not possess the strength to defeat a Great Pirate with a bounty over a hundred million in a single slash.

This was power that only a true legendary Great Pirate could possess!

If the one displaying this strength had been an old man in his seventies, then even if Dukemon had bowed under the tyranny of that power, he could never have served Magnus wholeheartedly.

But if the wielder of that strength was younger and possessed greater ambitions, what was so bad about lowering his head? At the end of the day, he was merely a merchant. He did not possess Conqueror's Haki like Gargantua Moz, nor did he share Undead Jason's pride as a Great Pirate and refuse to bow to Magnus so easily.

As long as there was profit to be made, even selling himself and his pirate crew was not beyond consideration.

"I hope you won't disappoint me."

Magnus still did not know that, in Dukemon's eyes, he had changed from White Wolf Magnus into White Wolf Magnus's secretly cultivated successor.

Quite a few pirates were even beginning to doubt Magnus's identity.

But he did not care what Dukemon thought, much less what anyone else thought. Even if Dukemon betrayed him in the future, for now, he still had to obediently do his job properly before Magnus.

Training the newcomers would still take time.

If Dukemon obediently handled his duties, Magnus could let bygones be bygones. But if he harbored divided loyalties...

Then Magnus could not be blamed for showing no mercy!

"There are still too few capable people."

Magnus sighed and looked toward the Black Pearl.

After Magnus defeated Gargantua Moz and Undead Jason, the pirates who had gone to attack the Black Pearl lost all will to fight.

Their captains' lives and deaths were unknown. What meaning was there in continuing the battle?

The trusted subordinates were all beside their captains.

Those sent to attack the Black Pearl were mostly peripheral members or cannon fodder.

A few fairly capable pirates had briefly suppressed Ripley and Rocks through teamwork, but Gargantua Moz and Undead Jason had lost so quickly that halfway through the fight, they saw Magnus looking their way.

They did not dare fight anymore. They really did not dare.

Seeing Rocks, who was weaker than them, looking smug before them, several pirates felt resentful. Was a captain being strong enough to let his crew do whatever they wanted?

Rocks & Ripley: Sorry, but a strong captain really could do whatever he wanted.

Even Edward Newgate and the others remained safe under Rocks and Ripley's protection.

Thus.

In Sea Circle Calendar 1461, Magnus returned to his loyal Sphinx.

However, the battle between the White Wolf Pirates and the three major pirate crews could not possibly be hidden from the intelligence organizations lurking on the island.

That very night, news that the White Wolf Pirates had appeared on Sphinx spread outward.

A storm was coming.