Whitebeard's Expectations; Bringing Rono Back

After hearing Whitebeard's assessment, the corners of Rocks's mouth curled into a subtle smile.

Who was Rocks? He was the king of this era. Even someone as powerful as Whitebeard could hardly hide anything from him.

Rocks, of course, understood what Whitebeard had left unsaid.

Rono was stronger than he had been at the same age, and might very well surpass him someday!

But Rocks didn't mind. Instead, he said with interest, "How interesting. It's rare for you to give someone such high praise."

Whitebeard was usually quite arrogant.

After all, he was the strongest person in the Rocks Pirates besides Rocks himself.

There weren't many people in the entire Rocks Pirates whom Whitebeard thought highly of. Yet now he had given such high praise to a kid who had only just set out. It seemed Rocks's guess had been right.

Rono was a promising talent, and would also be a great help when Rocks overthrew the Celestial Dragons' rule in the future!

Then Rocks tossed a file to Whitebeard. "Here's another file. Take a look."

Like the Marines, Rocks had investigated Rono's background.

As the only king in the New World, Rocks was a powerful figure with connections in both the underworld and the legitimate world. His intelligence network spanned the globe, so getting information on Rono had been easy.

"He watched the Celestial Dragons kill his parents. No wonder he targeted the Heavenly Tribute as soon as he went out to sea."

After reading the file, Whitebeard understood. It seemed there was yet another person with the Celestial Dragons in his sights.

At the same time, Whitebeard felt a great deal of empathy for Rono.

After all, family was what Whitebeard valued most. If he had watched his own parents die right before his eyes, he would have gone berserk!

At this, Rocks nodded. "I like this guy. A genius like him shouldn't be left out there. He belongs in the Rocks Pirates."

Although Rocks had a somewhat brutal personality, he greatly admired talented people with strength.

Otherwise, the Rocks Pirates wouldn't have gathered so many powerful figures as Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and Charlotte Linlin.

It could be said that nearly half of the powerful people on the seas were in the Rocks Pirates.

Whitebeard immediately understood what Rocks meant, but he was still a little unhappy. "Why are you asking me to do this?"

"You know you're the person I trust most on this ship. You're the only one I can count on to handle things."

Hearing the displeasure in Whitebeard's voice, Rocks didn't get angry.

That was Rocks's way. As long as someone was strong, he could tolerate their little flaws-even their major ones.

Of course, that approach also meant the Rocks Pirates were little more than a disorganized mob.

While Rocks was around, he could use his overwhelming strength to suppress these monsters' ambitions.

But once Rocks died, the Rocks Pirates would immediately fall apart. In that regard, they were the complete opposite of the Roger Pirates.

After hearing Rocks's explanation, Whitebeard's expression softened a little.

It was true. There were too many unreliable people on this ship.

Golden Lion Shiki, that Charlotte Linlin bus, and guys like Ochoku, John, and Silver Axe were all ambitious. None of them obeyed the others, and none of them could be trusted.

"What if he doesn't want to join?" Whitebeard asked again.

"Pirates have their own rules." Rocks smiled coldly, making his meaning all too clear.

The original members of the Rocks Pirates had all been beaten into joining by Rocks, one by one.

Whitebeard, Shiki, and Charlotte Linlin had all joined the crew after losing to Rocks.

"Fine, I understand. I'll set out right away." Whitebeard didn't waste any time and prepared to leave.

In fact, Whitebeard was very interested in Rono himself.

After his parents were killed, Rono had retaliated against the Celestial Dragons. That was enough to show that, like Whitebeard, he was someone who deeply valued family.

It wasn't easy to find someone like that. After all, there wasn't a single person like him in the Rocks Pirates.

Watching Whitebeard walk away, Rocks suddenly felt a little sad.

In such a huge pirate crew, this was the only reliable member.

If Whitebeard weren't around, who else could he send to handle this?

He would probably have to go himself.

"But it doesn't matter. As long as I can bring down those Celestial Dragons in Mary Geoise, I'll do whatever it takes!"

Rocks's sadness quickly vanished, replaced by a terrifying murderous aura.

It was hard to have an aura like that without having killed tens of thousands, or even a hundred thousand people.

"A bounty of 500 million. That really is unexpected."

In the East Blue, Rono smiled when he saw his Wanted Poster.

He was surprised to get a bounty of 500 million right off the bat.

Even forty years later, a 500-million bounty was enough to cross the threshold into the ranks of the Great Pirates.

"Roger must be pretty depressed right now."

As Rono continued reading the newspaper, he saw that the Government had mistaken Roger for one of his crew members and given him a bounty of 300 million Beli. Rono almost laughed out loud.

The future Pirate King had once been his crew member. That felt pretty good.

In fact, Rono had said goodbye to Roger just a few days after the Heavenly Tribute incident.

Roger had his own travels to pursue. Besides, he had money now, so he didn't need to keep bumming rides on Rono's ship.

It was worth mentioning that the World Government had deliberately revealed news of the Flame-Flame Fruit in the newspaper. That way, pirates coveting the Flame-Flame Fruit would come after Rono.

The World Government had originally hoped to cause Rono some trouble with this tactic. But they didn't know that Rono was eager for more powerful opponents so he could pick up some abilities.

Unfortunately, for several days in a row, the groups Rono encountered were all low-level pirates from the East Blue.

As for truly powerful people, the Flame-Flame Fruit wasn't worth their interest in the first place. And the powerful people who were interested in it understood the significance of a 500-million bounty.

These low-level pirates didn't even dare enter the Grand Line, yet they clamored about killing Rono and taking the Flame-Flame Fruit.

Having spent so long throwing their weight around in the East Blue, these low-level pirates had no accurate understanding of how powerful big shots were. Rono had no choice but to take care of all these pests who preyed on civilians.

After all, even though he had become a pirate, Rono had been born a civilian and wouldn't do anything to harm ordinary people.

"I wonder how long ago the Celestial Dragons left. At this pace, I should be able to catch up."

After dealing with these underlings, Rono looked out at the distant sea, killing intent glinting in his eyes.

Ever since he had acquired Roger's Observation Haki, the Voice of All Things, Rono had been searching for the Celestial Dragons.

The Voice of All Things belonged to the realm of god-tier Observation Haki. It allowed one to communicate mentally with different kinds of living beings, and even non-living things.

In other words, Rono could communicate mentally with nearby sea creatures to find out the Celestial Dragons' exact location.