Before Uchiha Hikaru could finish speaking, the Blackbeard Pirates erupted in an uproar. They had never expected Uchiha Hikaru to be so utterly oblivious to his own limits. Though Blackbeard had been battered and left in an extremely passive position in this war, he was still far from a crushing defeat. If they truly risked their lives and fought to the death, the outcome would still be uncertain. Yet this man was now spouting such nonsense without restraint.
Blackbeard laughed in fury. "Good, good, good! I truly underestimated you before. Not only do you have ambition, you have guts too. And you've got a delusion of grandeur beyond anyone else's. To be forced into this state by trash like you—I'm truly pathetic!"
Not only did the Blackbeard Pirates burst into thunderous laughter, even the Red-Haired Pirates farther away wore expressions of disbelief. If anyone had truly played Blackbeard today, it had been the Red-Haired Pirates, Marco's men, and the Buggy Pirates. The Uchiha Alliance had merely played a supporting role at most. Could it be that Uchiha Hikaru had been blinded by a few insignificant victories and become so arrogant?
Shanks's face darkened. He said nothing, one hand resting on his sword hilt. He too disdained Uchiha Hikaru's words, but he felt a faint unease in his heart. He even wondered whether Uchiha Hikaru had some deeper scheme in store.
"What do you think?" Red-Hair asked Beckman beside him.
"Fall back a little farther," Beckman said. "It looks like Uchiha Hikaru is about to make some major move. My earlier guess was probably only the tip of the iceberg. This guy has merely shown us how terrifying his intelligence can be. We still don't know what he plans to do, but I think we should put some more distance between