Aftermath

Whitebeard was dead. The news spread like wildfire.

Fire could not be wrapped in paper, especially when someone was deliberately fanning the flames.

The next day, the front-page headlines were all replaced with reports about the Whitebeard Pirates.

Even the uproar caused by nations openly declaring their withdrawal from the World Government was overshadowed by this bombshell.

Only two of the Four Emperors remained, and pirates everywhere began to panic.

Even behemoths like Kaido and Whitebeard had fallen. What chance did small fry like them have?

Once that massive force of dark-skinned Marines rolled over them, they would probably be devoured without even bones left behind.

So what were they supposed to do?

"Listen to me. Lower the flag!"

A fierce argument was unfolding on the deck of a small pirate crew.

His eyes wide as a bull's and his hat sitting crookedly on his head, the pirate captain grimly reached for the black flag hanging from the sail, determined to tear it down.

Naturally, his crew refused.

A pirate flag was the spiritual faith of a pirate crew. What did lowering it for no reason mean? Were they supposed to disband?

"Idiots! You'll drag us all to our deaths sooner or later!"

Seeing his men hesitate and make excuses, the crooked-hatted captain's temper flared. These fools could not see the situation clearly. If they did not lower the flag, were they supposed to wait for those dark-skinned Marines to gun them down?

Even Kaido had fallen at Yatogami Long Yi's hands. People like them were not even enough to fill his teeth.

"Captain, we can hide for a while, but not forever. Are we really going to stop being pirates?"

A flag was their backbone!

Once that backbone broke, could it ever be put back together?

"Haah..."

How could