Setting Sail

Whitebeard's mastery of his Devil Fruit was far beyond Teach's! That single Airquake was enough to prove it! The very space around them turned violent, and Teach's expression grew extremely grave.

"Gurararara! You want to defeat me? Brat, you're a hundred years too early!" Whitebeard planted his legs and charged at Teach! The muscles in his right arm bulged as he viciously swung his fist at Teach!

I absolutely can't let him hit me!

Alarm bells rang in Teach's mind. If Whitebeard's fist landed on him, he would probably be finished on the spot.

"Kami-e!" In the blink of an eye, Teach's body flickered like a sheet of paper. Before Whitebeard's surprised eyes, he narrowly evaded the punch.

"The Six Powers of the Marines?" Whitebeard thought to himself. What an impressive brat!

"Black Vortex!" Teach shouted. Darkness slowly spread beneath his feet, and in the next instant, he sank into it.

Seeing this, Whitebeard gripped Murakumogiri tightly with both hands. He had to admit that Teach's Devil Fruit ability was troublesome!

Crack!

Teach suddenly appeared behind Whitebeard. His right fist activated the Tremor-Tremor Fruit's power and drove straight toward Whitebeard's back!

Bang! Something no one had expected happened—Whitebeard failed to react in time and was actually sent flying by Teach's punch!

"I am Whitebeard!" Whitebeard roared as he rose to his feet! His immensely powerful Conqueror's Haki crashed down upon Teach like an overwhelming tide!

"Urgh!" Under that immense pressure, Teach instinctively wanted to drop to his knees!

"You think this is enough to make me submit? Don't underestimate me!" Teach's eyes turned bloodshot. With sheer, unyielding willpower, he slowly straightened up! In the next second, another massive wave of Conqueror's Haki erupted!

"The disposition of a king?" Whitebeard said calmly. In truth, he had expected it. If someone like Teach did not possess Conqueror's Haki, that would have been the strange thing!

"Gurararara! My son, you've given me far too many surprises! But this spar should end here! If you can withstand my final move, then this old man will grant your request!" With that, Whitebeard drove Murakumogiri straight into the ground. He bent forward and exerted force through both fists!

Crack!

A sharp sound pierced everyone's hearts. Before the stunned eyes of all present, two enormous tsunamis surged toward Teach from both sides, closing in on him!

"Seaquake!"

Whitebeard's calm voice rang out, but Teach, caught at the center of the attack, did not dare let his guard down in the slightest. This was one of the signature moves of the man known as the strongest in the world! If he failed to block it, the sea would likely smash him into dust!

"Six Powers Secret Technique! Rokuogan!" Teach brought his hands together and clenched his fists. A massive shockwave slammed into one of the tsunamis! With a deafening boom, a huge hole opened in the wave!

"Brat, don't underestimate the power of the sea!" As soon as Whitebeard finished speaking, the massive hole was filled by the surrounding seawater!

Damn it! Teach sensed that things were going badly. His mastery of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit was far inferior to Whitebeard's. Trying to fight him with the same ability would be useless! And there was no time to escape with Geppo!

It seemed there was only one move left!

"Black Hole!"

Those two icy words reached everyone's ears. A sphere the size of a basketball appeared in Teach's left hand, wisps of black mist curling from its surface.

Teach stepped forward and slowly pushed the Black Hole toward the tsunami. In the next instant, the enormous wave shrank by half!

"What a terrifying ability!" On the Moby Dick, Ace stared blankly at the Black Hole Blackbeard had unleashed. Before this, he had only thought Teach was strong, perhaps about equal to himself. But now, it seemed that even as the commander of the Second Division, he might not be a match for his own vice commander.

"Teach's strength has probably surpassed mine..." Marco said from the side, his tone both gratified and bitter. He was unquestionably the Whitebeard Pirates' number two! A true Emperor's right-hand man! Because of that, he understood even more clearly just how terrifying that strike from his old man had been! It could destroy an entire island outright! Even though his old man had held back, there was no way he himself could have dealt with an attack of that level as Teach had!

"Come to think of it, if I hadn't always made cherry pie for Teach, would he have beaten the hell out of me?" Thatch knew all too well about Teach's obsession with cherry pie. He had once believed his own strength was definitely above Teach's, but now it seemed he was fortunate that Teach had such a good temper! "Right, I need to get all my supplies out!" As though he had suddenly remembered something, Thatch hurried back into the cabin.

"I never expected Teach to fight Old Man to this extent!" "Vice Commander Teach can probably compete with Captain Marco and the other commanders now, right?" "As expected of one of the crew's old guard!" ...

Everyone talked at once, their words filled with recognition for Teach's strength.

But no one noticed that Teach's face on the island had turned bright red. Thank goodness Old Man's Seaquake wasn't that large in scale! Otherwise, the Black Hole probably couldn't have swallowed it!

Black Hole was a new technique Teach had developed. It used the Dark-Dark Fruit's ability to devour everything! It could also be considered an advanced version of Dark Water! However, he had created it too recently and had yet to develop it to its limit. Otherwise, this Black Hole might have completely swallowed the tsunami Whitebeard had unleashed!

"Not bad! As expected of my son, Whitebeard's son!" Whitebeard was in an excellent mood. To him, seeing his children grow was undoubtedly a joyous thing.

"Thank you, Old Man!" Teach said respectfully.

The two then returned to the Moby Dick.

"Teach, you're something else! You actually lasted that long against Old Man!" The moment he boarded, Ace shouted excitedly.

"Not at all! Old Man showed mercy! Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have lasted even one move!" Teach still looked as honest as ever.

"Why are you being so modest, Teach?" Marco laughed. "I never expected you to awaken Conqueror's Haki! All these years, I thought you'd been stuck in place! You really hid it well!"

"Alright, children! Teach plans to head out tomorrow to train! Tonight, let's hold a grand feast to see Teach off!" Whitebeard's words plunged everyone into silence.

Marco was the first to speak. "Teach, why are you leaving when things are perfectly fine?"

Teach smiled faintly. "Simply staying under Old Man's protection can never make me a true powerhouse! A true powerhouse must go through countless battles! To protect those I cherish, I have to become even stronger!"

Everyone sighed softly after hearing that, but they said nothing more. Then Teach spoke again. "Why are you all acting so sad? It's not like I'm never coming back! We'll always be family!"

Only then did everyone come to their senses. "That's right! We're family!" "Exactly! Teach, if you run into any trouble, make sure to tell us!" "The Whitebeard Pirates will always be your strongest support!"

Because of Teach's words, the atmosphere became lively once more. Everyone cheerfully began preparing ingredients for the feast. Teach was still the same as always, hugging a huge pile of cherry pies and devouring them nonstop. The entire pirate crew was filled with joy!

The next day

Teach set off in a small boat beneath the reluctant gazes of his companions. A large bundle lay behind him. Aside from the essentials for sailing, it was filled with cherry pies Thatch had made for him overnight...

Teach's face was full of excitement. His voyage had begun!