Am I No Longer Alone?

"Hehehehe..."

Hearing Gaban's words, Ron finally lowered his head and laughed.

"Hehehahahahaha..."

Ron's laughter suddenly grew louder.

"Hahahaha..."

"Hahahaha..."

In the end, Ron threw back his head and laughed wildly.

Rayleigh frowned and said in a deep voice, "Hey, what are you laughing at? What's so funny?"

Ron's laughter gradually died down. His gaze fell on the three of them as he spoke unhurriedly. "Isn't it funny? Listen to what you were saying earlier—how righteous, how high-minded."

"But in the end? You yourselves realized that you're pirates."

Without giving him a chance to interrupt, Ron continued, "As pirates, can you guarantee that your hands aren't stained with innocent blood? Can you? When it benefits you, you never mention morality. But when it doesn't benefit you, you turn around and come preach loyalty and honor to me?"

"To put it bluntly, you're just a bunch of hypocritical scumbags."

Roger and the other two were stunned speechless by Ron's retort.

"You bastard!" Gaban was the first to react. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Shut up." Ron roared, "Did I not insult you enough? And who the hell are you people? It was our Rocks Pirates who worked with the Kuja Pirates. What does that have to do with your Roger Pirates? What are you yelling about?"

"Have you been lapdogs so long that your brains stopped working? Or have I given you people too much face, letting you yap on and on?"

"Whoosh~~~!"

The instant the blade flashed, Roger had already drawn his sword and leaped into the air with a savage expression.

Conqueror's Haki wrapped around the blade, compressing the air until it let out a piercing wail.

His figure carved an arc through the sky as he descended from above.

Ron's expression darkened. Then he snorted coldly. Unable to win an argument, so he resorted to violence? So this was the caliber of the future "Pirate King," the man people claimed could never be hated.

"To be honest, I'm really grateful you refused to let me join your crew." The moment Ron muttered those words, Nine-Tails Mode activated instantly. Golden, flame-like chakra covered his entire body. He immediately drew the long sword at his waist, Conqueror's Haki winding around it as well.

"Boom!!!"

A deep, deafening impact erupted, and terrifying shockwaves poured out in every direction.

The ground shook violently. Spiderweb-like cracks instantly appeared beneath Ron and rapidly spread outward as the earth crumbled.

Between the two weapons, Conqueror's Haki compressed the air into a visibly distorted sphere that kept expanding, contracting, then expanding again.

At the same time, in a tavern in town.

Whitebeard held an unfinished bowl of wine in his hand, still complaining about why Ron had not woken up yet, when his movements suddenly froze.

His gaze snapped westward, his pupils narrowing slightly.

Kaido, seated across from him, belatedly raised his head as well, his expression abruptly turning serious.

"Such... such powerful Conqueror's Haki." Kaido's voice was lower than usual. "Who is it? Did Rocks return?"

"No..." Whitebeard slowly rose to his feet, lifting his naginata from beside the table. "It's not Rocks. That guy's Haki is far more domineering than this."

With that, Whitebeard headed outside.

"Where are you going?" Kaido stood up as well, grabbed his spiked club, and chased after him.

"To take a look. I don't know what happened."

"Wait for me, I'm coming too!" Kaido hurried after him.

"Hey!" The bartender leaned halfway over the counter and shouted, "You two haven't paid yet!"

"Put it on Rocks' tab." Whitebeard's voice drifted over from afar, growing more distant.

"Oh." The bartender nodded obediently.

"Hey, why aren't you chasing them?" The owner rushed to the counter and punched him on the head.

"But he said to put it on Rocks' tab..." The bartender covered his head and said pitifully.

"Idiot!" The owner smacked him on the head again and scolded furiously, "Those two are obviously trying to skip out on the bill!"

Back on Ron's side.

At present, there was still quite a gap between Ron's Conqueror's Haki and Roger's.

However, with the support of the Sage Body and Nine-Tails Mode, Roger did not gain much of an advantage either.

"Crackle, crackle."

The two streams of Conqueror's Haki continued clashing. The air between them warped and twisted, letting out a hiss like an electric current.

At the same time, Rayleigh and Gaban had already moved to Ron's flanks.

Then the two figures leaped high into the air, one to the left and one to the right.

"Hey, kid." Gaban swung his twin axes, coordinating perfectly with Rayleigh's sword as they attacked together. "How are you going to handle this?"

At that critical moment, golden chakra hands instantly extended from Ron's left and right arms.

"Boom! Boom!!!"

The chakra hands instantly caught Rayleigh's sword and Gaban's twin axes.

But the cost was enormous. Under the dual impact, the ground beneath Ron collapsed once more. Rocks and dirt sank like quicksand, and half his body fell into the crater, leaving only everything above his waist exposed.

"What the hell?" Gaban was clearly startled by Ron's suddenly extending arms. His eyebrows shot upward. "You can grow arms anytime, anywhere?"

"It certainly wasn't expected." Rayleigh echoed from the side, but the strength in his hands did not lessen in the slightest.

"Ha!"

Seeing Ron distracted by Rayleigh and Gaban, Roger seized the chance and exerted force. The Conqueror's Haki on his blade suddenly surged, soaring into the sky like black flames.

That power pressed Ron's blade into a slight bend, making it groan under the strain.

At the same time, Rayleigh and Gaban pulled back their weapons and retreated, adjusting their postures in midair before launching a second round of attacks.

This round was far faster and fiercer than the last.

The three coordinated flawlessly. Roger suppressed Ron head-on while Rayleigh and Gaban closed in from both wings, cutting off every route of escape.

Ron frowned without the slightest hesitation.

Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, descend.

"Boom!"

A gigantic golden fox rose directly from the crater. As its body expanded, it tore several enormous cracks through the surrounding ground.

Nine massive tails spread behind it, while seven or eight chakra hands extended from both sides of its body.

Roger, Gaban, and Rayleigh visibly hesitated. Their offensive stalled slightly. They had not expected Ron to be able to transform into a "beast form."

Ron, transformed into the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon, did not hesitate in the slightest. He swung a fist straight at the three of them.

This sudden change forced Roger and the other two to shift from offense to defense.

But the instant they blocked, Ron's chakra hands suddenly opened their palms, their five fingers snapping shut as they tried to seize them.

Roger and Rayleigh reacted more quickly. A second before being caught, both dodged at the same time and slipped free through the gaps between the chakra fingers.

But Gaban was a step too slow. A chakra hand tightly gripped his waist and dragged him before Ron.

"Fuck you. Here, have three."

Ron cursed. With a thought, the chakra arms extending in front of him each condensed a Tailed Beast Bomb.

They were not large, but they were not small either. The three chakra arms moved simultaneously, shoving them at Gaban from the left, right, and above.

"Gaban!!"

Roger and Rayleigh's pupils contracted sharply at the same time. Both realized the danger and launched even fiercer attacks simultaneously.

"Ron, stop it!!!" Roger roared himself hoarse.

"Boom!!!"

A dazzling beam of light illuminated the entire world like the sun, followed by a deafening explosion.

Violent shockwaves spread in every direction. The earth rose layer upon layer like a crumpled piece of cloth, hurling everything into the air.

Thick smoke surged into the sky, forming a massive mushroom cloud.

Amid the smoke and dust, a golden figure shot out at high speed.

Ron had already returned to human form, though he remained in Nine-Tails Mode.

"Pfft."

The moment he landed, he spat out a mouthful of blood. Earlier, he had focused entirely on stuffing Tailed Beast Bombs into Gaban and had not defended at all, taking one hit each from Rayleigh and Roger.

But... it did not matter.

With his Sage Body, his wounds were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Ron!!!"

From the center of the smoke, an explosive roar rang out. The dust around them was instantly scattered by a powerful blast of air, revealing three figures within.

Roger stood at the front, several bloody cuts across his face. The killing intent in his eyes was more than ten times stronger than before.

Rayleigh stood beside Gaban, looking much the same as he had earlier.

Gaban's upper body was stained red with blood, but he could still stand, meaning he was merely injured and had not lost his ability to fight.

"Damn." Ron cursed under his breath, not yet having wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "If I'd had a little more time, I would've given you something bigger."

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Two figures descended from the sky and landed heavily beside Ron.

Whitebeard looked Ron over first before raising his head to look ahead.

When his gaze landed on Roger, he was clearly taken aback.

"Roger?" Whitebeard muttered. Then he looked at Ron and asked, "What happened? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Ron replied.

"What happened?" Kaido gripped his spiked club and stared warily at the three men ahead, anger in his voice. "Why are Roger and his lot attacking you, Ron?"

"Hehehe..." Ron sneered and wiped away the remaining blood at the corner of his mouth. "They came running over to question me for no reason. As Shakky's lapdogs, they've already succeeded admirably."

Whitebeard's brows furrowed slightly. He did not press further, merely turning his gaze back to Roger with a grave expression. "Roger, you bastard, what are you trying to do?"

Roger looked at Whitebeard in silence for two seconds before slowly speaking. "Newgate... you and I are old friends, both rivals and comrades, aren't we? For my sake, I hope you won't interfere. This is a grievance between us and Ron."

Ron instinctively looked at Whitebeard. He did not know whom Whitebeard would help.

After all, he had known Whitebeard for too short a time. What friendship could they possibly have?

Meanwhile, Whitebeard and Roger had fought on the seas for years. They respected each other and shared mutual admiration.

One had known him only for days; the other had known him for years.

The choice seemed to require no hesitation.

Ron lowered his gaze, already calculating how he could slip away.

Then a large hand suddenly landed on Ron's head.

To be honest, Ron had a bit of a stress reaction. If Whitebeard had used even a little more strength, he would have transformed into the Nine-Tailed Fox Demon on the spot.

Then Whitebeard's voice came from above Ron's head. "What are you talking about, Roger? I treat this kid as my little brother."

"Exactly, exactly! Roger, you bastard, we're all members of the Rocks Pirates. We're the real companions here. You're just an outsider." Kaido shouted as well.