Crocodile's Blow

"R-Ride Impel Down over there?"

Bullet's words left Shiryu and the others in a brief state of confusion and bewilderment.

Bullet offered no explanation.

He pointed at Impel Down's gates and said to Shiryu and the others,

"Stand guard at the entrance. Don't let anyone inside escape."

"Also, Shiryu, try contacting Marine Headquarters and have them open the Gate of Justice."

After saying that, he sat directly down on the pitch-black deck in full view of everyone and closed his eyes.

He needed to bring himself into peak condition as quickly as possible for what came next.

"Impel Down can move?"

Shot blinked, scratched his head, and asked Teach beside him.

"I don't talk to traitors."

Teach shot him a glance, lifted his chin, and followed Shiryu back into the first-floor hall above the sea.

The moment they entered, they discovered that Crocodile, whom Bullet had knocked unconscious, and the severely wounded Jinbe had somehow awakened again.

Teach's heart skipped a beat, and only then did he realize why Bullet had suddenly ordered them inside to guard Impel Down's entrance.

Seeing them enter, Crocodile remained seated against the wall without getting up.

He merely watched them with a pair of gloomy eyes.

"Zehahaha! Sand Crocodile, and Jinbe too. Look at you. You were famous pirates of the New World, yet you've ended up so pathetic."

Teach grinned, exposing a sleazy laugh as he strode over to stand before them, speaking in a mocking tone.

Crocodile gave him an indifferent glance, then lowered his head without saying a word.

Jinbe, however, bared his sharp teeth and said angrily,

"Blackbeard! Pops treated you well. Why did you betray him? You not only killed a crewmate, but even sold out Ace! You beast, do you have even a shred of humanity left?!"

"Humanity?"

Teach was taken aback by his words, then laughed even louder.

"Zehahaha! Zehahahaha!"

"No, quite the opposite. It was precisely because I have humanity that I did such things!"

"Utter nonsense!" Jinbe was so enraged by his shameless words that his blood surged, aggravating his internal injuries. Crimson blood trickled from the corner of his mouth again.

Teach's laughter stopped. He looked at him coldly and said,

"To be honest, I admire Pops more than any of you!"

"Ridiculous!" Jinbe growled, his eyes bloodshot. "If Pops truly mattered to you, you could have simply told Thatch that you wanted the Dark-Dark Fruit!"

"I didn't dare gamble. That was the opportunity I'd waited half my life for!"

Ignoring Jinbe's furious glare, Teach continued.

"Why did I choose to join the Whitebeard Pirates back then? Why was I willing to become someone else's son and spend most of my life on a ship no bigger than the palm of a hand?"

"Other than the fact that this was where I had the greatest chance of obtaining the Dark-Dark Fruit."

"The biggest reason was that Edward Newgate's name resounded across the seas. He was one of the legendary figures standing at the pinnacle of the old era!"

"No one starts out with a rotten heart."

At that, Teach gave a self-mocking smile. He seemed to recall some distant memory, and a trace of nostalgia appeared in his eyes.

"That era was the most magnificent era of all!"

"Roger, Whitebeard, Golden Lion, Red Count—one peerless figure after another shook the world as they raced across the seas of the New World and fought for supremacy."

"Their grandeur was something the later rulers of the seas could never compare to."

Teach sounded somewhat wistful.

"At that time, I simply wanted to follow Pops, help him claim the One Piece, and help him become the unrivaled Pirate King!"

At that, Teach's eyes darkened. He clenched his fists, and his voice became low and hoarse as he said something that even Jinbe found startling.

"I once firmly believed that only a man like Pops was worthy of becoming the Pirate King!"

"Humans are all children of the sea."

"That was something he often said."

"And that was how he acted."

"No matter what grave mistakes his sons made, he could forgive them. He could never bear to kill them."

"Roger didn't have that kind of broad-mindedness. Golden Lion didn't either. Nor did the lone wolf, Red Count!"

"Edward Newgate was a man who stood tall between heaven and earth, broad-minded and as vast-hearted as the sea."

"The decades I spent aboard Pops's ship were the most relaxed and enjoyable days of my life as Marshall D. Teach."

"Pops was so powerful. In my heart, he was invincible! With his protection, no one on these seas could make us feel fear!"

Jinbe stood frozen, seemingly unable to believe that such heartfelt words could come from a traitor like Blackbeard.

Even Crocodile could not help raising his head again to look at Blackbeard.

Teach's words stirred up some memories in Jinbe's heart, making his eyes redden.

His voice was hoarse as he demanded, "Then why..."

"Because he got old!" Teach suddenly clenched his fist.

"Pops got old. He no longer had the power to clash head-on with Roger, nor the invincible strength to intimidate the entire sea by himself, making Kaido and Big Mom not even dare contend with him!"

"If Pops could have remained invincible, remained that powerful forever, then I, Marshall D. Teach, would have been willing to abandon my ambitions and quietly remain on the Moby Dick as Whitebeard's son!"

"Do you know what I did the first time I saw Pops covered in IV drips aboard the Moby Dick?"

Teach gave a self-mocking smile.

"I returned to my room alone, locked the door, and then... cried my heart out!"

"Zehahaha! That day, I cried in sorrow, in pain, and in grief."

"But from that day on, I knew that the title of the world's strongest man was gradually slipping away from Pops."

"Without Pops's protection, foolish sons like us, living beneath his wings, had no ability to face the raging storms of the New World!"

"We would fall apart under the encroachment of Kaido, Big Mom, Shanks, even Doflamingo and the others. Our territories would be divided, and our people would be killed."

"If that was the case..."

Dense black energy appeared across Teach's face, and his aura became deep and wildly domineering.

"Then why not let me inherit everything Pops had!"

"The Whitebeard Pirates' territories, industries, and population in the New World, as well as... the Tremor-Tremor Fruit on Pops's body, capable of destroying the world!"

"At that time, my Blackbeard Pirates would continue the Whitebeard Pirates' legacy and occupy half of the New World!"

"And I! I would become the new world's strongest man!"

As he spoke that final sentence, Teach seemed to undergo a spiritual ascension.

Even that ugly old face of his now displayed a grandeur it had never shown before.

Jinbe's lips moved, but he suddenly did not know what to say.

He could tell that some of what Teach had just said was indeed true.

But Teach claimed that he was the one who respected Whitebeard the most.

Jinbe would never acknowledge that.

What a joke!

The one who had hurt Pops the most was this bastard!

And now, because of Ace, Pops and the Whitebeard Pirates were about to go to war with Marine Headquarters.

The entire Whitebeard Pirates faced the danger of annihilation!

Suddenly, Crocodile, who had remained silent the whole time, looked at the empty space behind Teach and said flatly,

"Where are your companions?"

An ordinary question, yet it instantly shattered the expression on Teach's face, which had been brimming with the aura of a great schemer.

His head suddenly drooped, as though all spirit had left him.

A trace of undisguised mockery appeared on Crocodile's face.

"More than twenty years ago, there was an arrogant bastard who also went mad just like you because the captain he worshipped fell from his invincible throne."

His voice was like a series of sharp blades stabbing viciously into Teach's heart.

"But compared to his madness, yours is not worth mentioning at all."