A Baffled Sengoku

Watching Whitebeard throw back his head and laugh in apparent delight, Jozu and the others had no idea what had happened. Every face was blank with confusion. Marco, the only one who knew what was going on, was beside himself with excitement. It looked like it had worked. Pops really was back in his prime!

A little while later, Whitebeard finally settled back into his usual frame of mind, shaking off the giddiness of his newly restored prime.

He turned to look at his sons, then spotted Marco among them, gazing at him excitedly.

Once that initial burst of excitement passed, Whitebeard finally remembered why his body had suddenly returned to its peak. It was all because of the apple Marco had asked him to eat!

No matter how he looked at it, that apple had seemed perfectly ordinary. But judging by the results, it clearly was anything but.

Marco surely knew what was going on.

Just as he was about to ask Marco, his head suddenly felt a little itchy. He instinctively raised a hand to scratch it, but the moment he did, Whitebeard realized something felt wrong...

After a moment of hesitation, he untied the bandanna wrapped around his entire head. Rather than a cool breeze against his scalp, he felt a sense of release. Then something spilled down from the top of his head, and a silky sensation suddenly brushed his face. He shifted his eyes until he finally saw what it was-a lock of golden hair!

Whitebeard was suddenly a little bewildered. He hurriedly reached up and felt his head. Instead of his formerly smooth scalp, his fingers met the long-missed sensation of hair! His hair had grown back!

That brilliant, flowing mane of golden hair gleamed in the sunlight, nearly blinding Marco and the rest of his sons.

What were they seeing? Their Pops had actually grown his hair back?! Only then did they notice that the scars on Whitebeard's chest had vanished too! It was as though he had never been injured.

Not only that, but even the wrinkles at the corners of Whitebeard's eyes seemed to have diminished. His entire presence felt different. Before, Whitebeard had been like an aging lion. Though still imposing, he had grown so old that he could only remain within his territory. Now, however, he was like a male lion that had just reached adulthood, his vitality at its peak. An astonishing aura of dominance radiated from his entire body, making others afraid to meet his eyes.

How could such an astonishing transformation fail to shock them? Even Whitebeard himself was stunned.

Coming back to his senses, Whitebeard turned his attention to Marco again. By then, Jozu and the others had also realized that every one of these changes had come from the apple Marco had given Pops. They all turned to Marco as well, making him the center of everyone's attention.

"Tell me, Marco. What exactly is going on?" Whitebeard asked calmly.

Marco then told Whitebeard about Su Yu. After hearing him out, Whitebeard fell into a brief silence.

Thinking of Su Yu finally dispelled the last of Whitebeard's earlier feeling that he was now invincible. Yes, even with his prime restored, he was probably only a cut above the likes of Kaido. Though he had never actually met Su Yu, he knew perfectly well that he was no match for him.

Su Yu had used nothing more than an apple, enhanced through some unknown means, to bring Whitebeard back from his declining years to his prime. That alone told Whitebeard he would have no chance of fighting back against Su Yu.

And if he faced Su Yu, he might end up even worse off than Kaido. Kaido's body was simply too powerful. His ability to recover had practically reached the limits of an awakened Zoan user. It was only thanks to that extraordinary recovery that Kaido had lasted until the end against Su Yu.

Although Whitebeard's offensive power was high and his physical defenses were decent, his recovery was only at the level of an ordinary monster. If he took a barrage of damage from Su Yu, he might fail to hold out halfway through and be beaten to death.

Besides, although this had all been a transaction, with him paying ten Devil Fruits for that apple, even a hundred Devil Fruits could not have brought about such a miracle without Su Yu. In that sense, he still owed Su Yu a debt of gratitude. He certainly would not attack him.

If Whitebeard had known beforehand that Marco was going to seek out Su Yu, and on his behalf at that, he would never have agreed to let him go. It was not that Whitebeard did not want to return to his prime. It was simply the pride of a powerful man. Even if he had to grit his teeth and endure, he would rather do that than ask someone else for help.

But since Marco had acted first and told him afterward, secretly seeking out Su Yu and obtaining a solution, Whitebeard would not sulk over it. After all, Marco had done it for him.

Jozu and the others did not think about it so deeply. They simply marveled at how incredible Su Yu was while rejoicing over Pops's recovery.

Whitebeard remained silent for a while, then said, "In that case, let's find two Logia Devil Fruits as soon as possible! Boys! We've got a new mission!"

Whitebeard directed that last sentence at everyone. They did have a few Devil Fruits stored in their warehouse, but none were Logia. Logia fruits were rare, after all, and anyone who ate one could at least become a big shot in the Four Blues. As long as they did not encounter someone who could use Armament Haki, they were practically invincible. That was why people who found one generally ate it themselves rather than selling it.

Finding something like that was mostly down to luck.

"Yeah!"

The pirates responded enthusiastically to Whitebeard's words. For Pops, they would willingly do anything.

Whitebeard suddenly "going berserk" was a fairly serious matter. After all, he was one of the Four Emperors and a key part of the world's balance. Even the slightest disturbance could trigger an enormous chain reaction. So, although the surveillance agents were still floating in the water, they called on a Den Den Mushi to report to Fleet Admiral Sengoku as soon as they recovered a little strength.

The call connected quickly, and the surveillance agent immediately told Fleet Admiral Sengoku what had happened.

After hanging up, Sengoku pondered the matter with a grave expression. He did not understand. Whitebeard was not a volatile man by nature; he would not go berserk for no reason. And to be honest, Sengoku had his own suspicions about Whitebeard's condition. After all, Whitebeard had not fought in recent years. It was hard not to suspect that he was in poor shape.

But if that was the case, should Whitebeard not have been even more restrained? Why had he suddenly thrown a punch at the sea?

Had Whitebeard discovered the people watching him and gotten angry?

But to avoid discovery, the surveillance agents had stayed several kilometers away from the Moby Dick!

Had he really just acted on a whim?

Sengoku was utterly baffled. Even with his reputation as a brilliant strategist, he could not figure out why...