"I've lived this long, fought from Rocks's ship all the way to the New World, and seen every kind of storm there is. And now some brat is going to lecture me, calling me a remnant who should be swept into the trash heap!"
Mu Chen did not back down. He met Whitebeard's gaze and continued, "I'm not lecturing you. I'm stating the facts."
"You're keeping yourself alive with medicine and intimidating petty fools with your reputation. But it's all an illusion. The moment you fall, the forces suppressed by Whitebeard's name will swarm in at once. Your sons will only die even more miserably."
"What do you know?!"
Whitebeard suddenly roared, shaking dust loose from the ceiling.
"My Whitebeard Pirates weren't built on reputation. We fought for it, blade by blade and gun by gun!"
"Marco's Phoenix can rise from the flames, Jozu's diamond body can withstand cannon fire, and all those boys who have fought through life and death beside me—they're all fine men! So what?"
"Without your deterrence, can they withstand the Navy's encirclement?"
"Or do you think they can survive in the cracks between Red-Hair, Kaido, and Charlotte Linlin?"
Mu Chen's voice remained calm, yet his words were as sharp as a blade.
Whitebeard's roar came to an abrupt stop, as though someone had seized him by the throat.
He opened his mouth, only to find that he could not say a single word.
Every word Mu Chen had spoken struck at what worried him most.
How could he not know that he was the anchor holding the Whitebeard Pirates steady?
But he would eventually grow old and die. When that time came, what would happen to these children?
He slowly unclenched his fist and looked at the deep marks left in his palm. The fury