Marine HQ's Apprehension

"999,1000!"

Loud shouts came from a pirate ship as the raging waves lapped at its hull, making it creak and groan.

"Fuckyou, get up! Today's training isn't over yet!" On the pirate ship, Shit and Fuckyou were training until they were drenched in sweat. In front of them lay two enormous dumbbells.

"Big Brother, I really can't go on anymore. Let me rest for a while!" Fuckyou looked bitterly at Shit. The dumbbells were so massive that even after exerting all his strength, he could barely lift them. Yet Teach had assigned the two of them a training task: carrying the dumbbells while doing ten thousand consecutive squats.

"No! Do you still want to remain a weakling? Don't you want to become stronger? Get up! Show some backbone!" Shit's clothes were already soaked through with sweat. Panting heavily, he continued training with sheer perseverance.

"Zehahaha! What? A mere ten thousand weighted squats have already worn you two out?" Teach looked at the exhausted pair and began mocking them mercilessly. "If you can't even endure this level of training, you might as well go home and farm! My ship has no need for useless trash!"

Teach was merciless with his words, but he was secretly astonished inside.

Given their physical abilities, they should have been gasping for breath after just five hundred weighted squats. Yet even the weaker Fuckyou had already endured a thousand! Perhaps, in their hearts, their desire to become stronger had surpassed everything else.

"Argh! Don't underestimate me! How could a mere ten thousand weighted squats defeat me?" Fuckyou sprang to his feet as if injected with stimulants. He hoisted the dumbbell onto his shoulders and resumed his frenzied training.

"I promised my crewmates! I can't give up just like this!" Shit reminded himself, then his trembling legs bent and straightened once more!

"Promising seedlings!"

Teach thought to himself that, given enough time, the two of them might even make a name for themselves.

But naturally, he would never say that aloud. "So slow! Were you snails in your past lives? Pick up the pace! If you can't finish by noon, you don't get to eat!"

Teach stood to the side like a strict teacher.

Meanwhile

Marine HQ, Marineford

Sengoku's office

"What?! Teach actually escaped from under your command?" Sengoku shouted in shock. The braided beard on his chin trembled involuntarily.

"Gahahaha! Sengoku, you old fool! The look on your face is absolutely priceless!" Sitting beside Sengoku was a tall, broad-chested, muscular old man. A scar ran across his left eye, which was blue, and his short hair was gray-white. At that moment, he held a bag of senbei and was devouring them without a shred of dignity.

Marine HQ Vice Admiral, Garp the Fist! The world hailed him as the Hero of the Marines!

"Shut up! You bastard, Garp! Do you even know what happened?" Sengoku angrily snatched the senbei from Garp's hands. "That fellow Aokiji encountered Blackbeard, Teach! After they exchanged blows, it was Aokiji who ended up injured! That fellow Teach didn't have a single wound on him! Do you know what this means?!"

With that, Sengoku angrily tipped all the senbei in his hand into his mouth. Under Garp's anguished gaze, the entire bag disappeared down Sengoku's throat.

"You bastard, Sengoku! Those were my limited-edition senbei!" Garp charged at Sengoku with fists as large as cooking pots. Sengoku showed no mercy and fought back with all his might! The Marine HQ admiral and the Hero of the Marines were brawling over a bag of senbei. If anyone found out, they would surely laugh themselves senseless.

"Garp! Sengoku! Are the two of you ever going to stop?" an elegant old woman sitting nearby said.

"Little Tsuru, don't try to stop me! Today, I'm going to teach Sengoku a proper lesson!"

"Hmph, we don't even know who will be teaching whom! Take this!"

The clanging sounds made veins bulge on Vice Admiral Tsuru's forehead. The next second, she vanished from her seat.

"Bang!" "Bang!"

After two crisp impacts, Sengoku and Garp sat obediently in their chairs, clutching their heads like six-year-old children.

"You two have been at this for decades. Haven't you had enough?" Vice Admiral Tsuru said with a headache.

"That bastard Sengoku stole my senbei!" Garp grumbled.

"What was wrong with me eating some of your senbei? Besides, you were the one who took those three packets of fine tea from my cabinet, weren't you?" Sengoku shot back without backing down.

"All right, stop fighting!" In the end, Vice Admiral Tsuru stepped in and quelled their argument. "Sengoku, from what you said, that seven-hundred-million-Beli Blackbeard not only escaped unscathed from Aokiji, but also injured him?"

Sengoku immediately turned serious and said gravely, "That's right! Somehow, that Blackbeard obtained Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit ability. Not only that, he also ate a Logia Devil Fruit called the Dark-Dark Fruit! Those two top-tier fruits are truly troublesome!"

Garp's expression immediately turned strange when he heard Sengoku. "Impossible! Can't each person only eat one Devil Fruit? Besides, Whitebeard isn't dead yet! How could his fruit ability have ended up in someone else's hands?"

Vice Admiral Tsuru fell into deep thought. Then her tone became grave in a way it had never been before. "I saw the Dark-Dark Fruit in a Devil Fruit encyclopedia. It was called the most vicious ability in the world! That fruit alone is enough to make us wary of him. Yet he also possesses the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, which has the greatest destructive power! If we let him grow, there may be another Whitebeard!"

Tsuru's words plunged Sengoku and Garp into thought. Blackbeard was in the prime of his life and would probably fully mature within a few years! By then, they would not be facing an old and feeble Whitebeard.

"Could we possibly recruit someone like him for our own use?" Sengoku's words made their eyes light up. "I think we could use the position of Shichibukai to win him over. That would give us much more time."

Tsuru pondered for a moment before voicing her slight concern. "If it succeeds, that would naturally be excellent. But Blackbeard is Whitebeard's son! He most likely won't agree, will he?"

"We should try first," Sengoku said wearily. "If that doesn't work, we'll have no choice but to kill him in the cradle." Then he looked toward Garp.

"Garp, he's very strong now. Akainu and the others will probably have great difficulty killing Blackbeard! So when the time comes, you'll have to act personally!"

Garp nodded. "Don't worry. If that time truly comes, leave it to me!"

The office suddenly fell silent.

"His bounty..." Tsuru slowly began.

"Raise it to 1.3 billion Beli. Kuzan said there are also two young pirates beside him, so raise their bounties a little as well!"

Sengoku looked up at the spotless ceiling.

"Why do people with such extraordinary talent always choose to become pirates...?"