Whitebeard

Night. The moon shone bright amid sparse stars.

Outside the window, clear moonlight streamed into the room through the wide floor-to-ceiling windows.

Men's and women's clothes lay scattered around the large bed. Leaning against the headboard, Rody wrapped one arm around Robin's flawless, creamy shoulder and gently caressed it as he opened the system in his mind to inspect the treasure chest Robin had dropped.

[Host has obtained the achievement: History Experiencer]

[Obtained one random treasure chest]

Rody was somewhat puzzled by the system's treasure chest drop mechanism. Of his three women, only Vivi had not dropped a treasure chest. Vivi had quite a lot of screen time in One Piece and was no less important than the others. Aside from Robin and Nami, no other female character had more screen time or importance than her.

With a thought, Rody opened the random treasure chest. The chest vanished, replaced by a card depicting ten expressionless women with blonde hair dressed in red leather outfits.

"These ten women should be artificial humans, or perhaps clones," Rody mused.

"Mmm~"

"Don't... I really can't take any more. Next time, okay? Call Nami or Vivi next time."

Robin, exhausted in Rody's arms, opened her hazy eyes and looked at him weakly. While Rody had been lost in thought, the hand resting on her fragrant shoulder had unconsciously drifted downward and climbed onto her full, rounded breast. Robin's head rested in the crook of Rody's arm, while her long, shapely legs lay across him, though her knees were faintly bruised.

"Alright, you said it." Rody nodded happily. Robin was completely different from Nami and Vivi. The harder he went, the crazier she became, without caring whether she could endure it. Fortunately, Rody knew the Reverse Technique.

"Sleep..."

New World, aboard the Moby Dick.

"Pops, Crocodile is dead. The Seven Warlords seat has been taken over by the man who killed him—the Slayer, Rody." Phoenix Marco, commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' First Division, held out a newspaper he had just bought from a News Coo to a huge, burly man. This man was Edward Newgate, captain of the Whitebeard Pirates and known as the Strongest Man in the World.

"Is that so? That brat died?"

Taking the newspaper from Marco, Whitebeard looked it over. The first thing he saw was a photograph of Crocodile's corpse, split into two. He frowned and continued reading. The rest contained brief information about Rody becoming one of the Seven Warlords. Finally, he glanced at Rody's photograph and sighed with emotion. "He really died... That brat had been quiet for so many years. I thought he would come challenge me again. Never expected that the next news I heard of him would be that he'd been killed by a rookie."

"Pops, you think too highly of Crocodile."

"That guy challenged you beyond his means, then became one of the Seven Warlords after losing and turned into a government lapdog. He must have fallen long ago. Now he was actually defeated by a rookie. A man like that isn't worth remembering." Diamond Jozu, commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' Third Division, spoke disdainfully.

Jozu had always been very displeased with Crocodile. Challenging Pops was one thing—after all, plenty of people had challenged him, and Crocodile had been effortlessly defeated by Pops just like all the other challengers.

But after defeating Crocodile, Pops had personally invited him to join the crew, and he had actually refused. Even after losing, he had shouted things about one day taking Whitebeard's head.

Pops had not held it against Crocodile afterward and had generously allowed him to leave. Back then, Pops had even told them that Crocodile would definitely return to challenge him again.

If that had been all, then even though Crocodile had never returned to challenge Pops as he had said, Jozu would not have minded. After witnessing Pops's overwhelming strength, it was only natural for him to despair and no longer dare challenge him.

But after being defeated by Pops, Crocodile had directly accepted the World Government's offer and become their lapdog, disappointing Pops.

In Jozu's eyes, aside from their good brother Jinbe, the Knight of the Sea, who had no choice but to join the Seven Warlords because of his race, everyone else who joined them was a government lapdog he looked down on.

"Pops, Jozu is right. After Crocodile joined the Seven Warlords, he completely fell apart. He spent all day hiding in the first half of the Grand Line, where there was no Haki, relying on a Logia's elemental body to bully rookies who had not even learned Haki yet. And now he was even beaten to death by a rookie." Flower Sword Vista, commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' Fifth Division, echoed Jozu.

"Gurararara... Crocodile may indeed have been killed by a rookie, but he was still quite strong. And the brat who killed him is no simple matter either," Whitebeard said with a booming laugh before sighing thoughtfully.

"No way, Pops. That Slayer is just a rookie who hasn't even reached the New World yet. At most, he has a powerful Devil Fruit. He doesn't deserve such praise from you, does he?" Marco asked in confusion.

"Yeah, Pops, Marco's right. He's only a rookie." The Whitebeard Pirates all looked at Whitebeard in confusion, wanting to hear why Pops thought so highly of a rookie.

"Look at the battlefield in the photograph where the Slayer fought Crocodile. Wasn't the ground scorched by intense heat? Crocodile is a Sand-Sand Fruit user. He couldn't have caused a scene like that, so it could only have been the Slayer."

"Whether it's his Devil Fruit power, his race, or some innate talent, it proves that he possesses fire abilities at least comparable to Ace's."

"He definitely isn't as strong as Ace. Ace is the commander of our Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division." Jozu smiled confidently.

"Yeah! Captain Ace is definitely stronger! The captain is a Flame-Flame Fruit user—no one has stronger fire abilities than him!" The pirates aboard the Moby Dick shouted in agreement.

"Hmph. Don't mention him to me. I don't have such a disobedient son." Whitebeard spoke angrily to everyone on the ship.

"Pops, don't be angry. Ace only did it to uphold the rules of the Whitebeard Pirates. He didn't mean to disobey you," Marco consoled him.

"That's right, Pops. Teach actually killed Thatch over a Devil Fruit and trampled on the Whitebeard Pirates' rules. It's utterly unforgivable."

"And don't you know Ace's strength? Teach may have been on the ship for many years, but his strength was only so-so. Even if he has eaten a Logia Devil Fruit now, he can't possibly be a match for Ace. Just wait for Ace's good news," Jozu urged.

"Sigh!"

"Let's hope so."

Whitebeard sighed. Although Marco and Jozu both had a point, ever since Ace had gone after Teach, he had been unable to shake the faint unease in his heart.