Plan

The clash of Conqueror's Haki had left cracks in the ground. Luckily, both Garp and Rune were powerful enough to concentrate their Conqueror's Haki. Otherwise, with their strength, the aftershocks of their battle could have sunk the entire island.

But because both of them had concentrated the power of their Conqueror's Haki entirely on each other, the damage to the surrounding environment was actually not that severe.

Less than ten seconds into the stalemate, Rune's Conqueror's Haki was nearly exhausted. Garp's Fist Bone then sent Rune flying.

Fortunately, Yamato reacted quickly enough to intercept him in midair and catch him, preventing Rune from crashing into the buildings behind him.

"Leave now."

Garp did not attack again. He had merely wanted to test Rune's current level. But judging from their exchange, Rune had tremendous potential, though his present strength still fell short of that of a true powerhouse.

Rune rubbed his forehead, struggling to stay conscious. After glancing at Teach's severed corpse, he nodded at Garp again.

The group returned to the Thousand Sunny. Luffy was still clutching his head, and that punch had clearly hurt him badly.

Still, perhaps that punch would help Luffy grow stronger. But he was still far too far from Gear Fifth's Nika state.

If he still could not manage it after another year, Rune planned to toss Luffy over to Kaido's side and let him try there. Maybe Luffy needed a teacher like Kaido to grow enough to unlock Gear Fifth.

But that was a matter for later. Now that Teach had been dealt with, Rune was in an excellent mood.

He planned to head to Fish-Man Island and see if he could recruit Jinbe into the crew.

But to go to Fish-Man Island, they needed to get their ship coated at the Sabaody Archipelago.

That was not particularly difficult. With the strength of Rune's current crew, they could protect themselves even if they encountered a Marine admiral.

"Rune..."

As Rune slumped in a chair to rest, Tashigi walked up to him.

"God Valley... the place you and Vice Admiral Garp mentioned..."

"God Valley? I don't think you'd want to know about it."

Rune smiled faintly. "It might be a huge blow to the justice you hold in your heart."

"I want to know."

"Simply put, it was the Celestial Dragons' oppression of ordinary people."

Rune smiled. "Back then, Garp received orders from the Marines to protect the Celestial Dragons on that island. But in the end, both he and his son chose someone other than the Celestial Dragons.

"If that hadn't been the case, I wouldn't have come here to see him."

Tashigi was still somewhat confused. Seeing the uncertainty in her eyes, Rune let out a soft sigh.

"The Marines obey the World Government, and the World Government belongs to the Celestial Dragons. To those Celestial Dragons, even hunting down civilians can be a form of entertainment."

Rune looked at Tashigi. "Back then, the Celestial Dragons on God Valley held a hunting game."

"Hunting..."

"It may have been even worse than you imagine. In the eyes of the Celestial Dragons, you're not much different from livestock."

Rune smiled faintly. "Whom is the justice you uphold truly for... Think about it yourself."

Hearing Rune's words, Tashigi found it hard to believe. She knew that most Celestial Dragons were no good, but treating other people as prey and hunting them like livestock...

That was still far too much.

Tashigi pressed her lips together and gripped the coat she wore.

For some reason, at that moment, Tashigi felt that the word justice on this uniform...

Was filled with bitter irony.

With Kuma around, once Rune had recovered his stamina, he had Kuma paw the Thousand Sunny to the vicinity of the Sabaody Archipelago. Coating craftsmen were not hard to find there, and Luffy went straight to Rayleigh.

"Uncle Rayleigh!"

This was Rune's first time meeting the former legend, the Pirate King's right-hand man, Dark King Rayleigh. Just as Rune remembered, Rayleigh now looked like an utterly ordinary old man.

But knowing his identity, Rune still showed the former legend due respect.

Yet when he saw Rayleigh, Rune could not help feeling a little smug.

Rayleigh had taught Luffy for two years before Luffy mastered the basic applications of the Three Types of Haki and Gear Fourth. Yet Luffy had spent less than a year with the Whitebeard Pirates and was already stronger than he had been at that point.

Rune felt that Luffy might be able to learn Conqueror's Coating before reuniting with his companions in a little over a year.

"The new brat making waves on Whitebeard's ship... Want a drink?"

Rayleigh had noticed Rune as well. Mainly because the brat had indeed been rather active lately. Of course, Rayleigh did not know everything. If he knew Rune had exchanged several moves with both Kizaru and Akainu, he might have paid him even more attention.

"Since it's an invitation from the Dark King, I can only gratefully accept."

Rune smiled faintly, picked up his glass, and clinked it against Rayleigh's. Inside the bar, Rune spotted another familiar figure.

Shakky.

The legendary supreme seductress...

But perhaps because of her age, Shakky did not seem all that alluring to Rune.

She was not even as attractive to him as Bonney. At least Rune thought Bonney was rather cute.

Nothing particularly eventful happened at the Sabaody Archipelago. After Ace promised Rune that he would stop throwing his life away, the Whitebeard Pirates no longer had any reason to go to war with the Marines. Although Whitebeard was growing older every day, and his strength was slowly declining.

Rune felt that perhaps he could take over Whitebeard's position as one of the Four Emperors before Whitebeard retired.

Of course, having Ace become one of the Four Emperors would not be a problem either. After all, Rune cared more about his own strength and the strength of his small team. Becoming one of the Four Emperors would probably bring quite a few more troublesome matters.

Maybe then he would not be able to focus wholeheartedly on growing stronger.

Compared to his ultimate goal, the title of Four Emperor did not seem all that important.

The coating would still take a few days, so Rune could stroll around the Sabaody Archipelago with Bonney. While waiting there, Rune came across an interesting piece of news in the newspaper.

The Kid Pirates challenged Kaido, one of the Four Emperors, and were defeated by Jack the Drought, their entire crew wiped out!

Rune could not help but laugh. This Kid truly had no idea of his own strength.

With his strength, he could not even get past Doflamingo, yet he went to challenge Kaido...

Did he think Kaido was some cabbage he could fight whenever he wanted?

"Kid..."

Rune had no favorable impression of Kid. If Rune ran into Kid's group, he might even kill them for the bounty. After all, the reason Kid's bounty was higher than Luffy's was not because he was stronger than Luffy.

It was because of his brutality.