After Vic's revenge, the Five Elders focused on selecting the remaining two members of the Knights and raised Vic's bounty by another two hundred million.
Many people witnessed Vic's attack on the World Government's stronghold, so it couldn't be kept secret. This gave them a legitimate reason to raise Vic's bounty. However, they also had a headache. Vic was the most troublesome enemy. If you offended him, he would dare to retaliate directly, and his strength would increase after each escape.
It was several days later when Vic returned to Mantis's hometown. He saw his new bounty poster, which was the same as before except that the amount had changed to 1.7 billion Beli.
Rebecca and the others also learned about what Vic had been doing during his absence. The newspapers had already published photos of the ruins of those outposts. Since many people had seen them, the news would inevitably spread everywhere sooner or later, so the World Government simply released the news directly, which was somewhat like throwing caution to the wind.
Meanwhile, Rebecca had already used her Float-Float Fruit powers to transport an island to the vicinity. The people on the island were reluctant to leave, but knowing that Mantis wanted to become a pirate, they did not try to dissuade or persuade him to stay.
They all knew why Mantis had stayed there, and they knew how much Mantis had sacrificed for them. They didn't want to be a burden to Mantis anymore, so moving to a safer place was the best solution.
Rebecca was deeply moved by the bond between the two, so she used her powers to move all the houses on the island to a new island, with the layout almost identical to the original. She then controlled the land and water on the island to change the terrain, until the island was almost identical to Mantis's homeland.
This made their departure less sad, since their living environment was almost the same as before. Vic and Mantis were also very satisfied and praised Rebecca, making Rebecca feel quite pleased.
Afterwards, Vic had Rebecca transport the pirate ship to the lake in the middle of the new island, so that Rebecca could control the island to fly into the sky and head towards the New World.
The original island became an uninhabited island. However, such a habitable island on the shipping route would soon be inhabited by other people. At the very least, business people would come and set up shop there. But for Mantis, he achieved spiritual liberation and from then on had new goals and new pursuits!
Even with Rebecca's Float-Float Fruit ability, it wouldn't be possible to reach the New World in a short time. In fact, the island's floating speed couldn't even keep up with that of a ship. So, Vic and the others weren't idle; they were all cultivating on this floating island.
Mantis also picked up his training, which he hadn't done for many years. The goal that Vic had described to him was too ambitious, requiring great strength to support it. Since he had agreed to become Vic's partner, he also wanted to contribute to that goal.
Mantis was very talented. He was spotted by Rocks when he was a teenager, and mastered both types of Haki and learned Ryuo in his early twenties. If he hadn't returned to his hometown and wasted nearly twenty years, he would definitely have had a place in the New World.
Fortunately, he often had to fight pirates while protecting the island. Although his strength didn't improve much, it didn't regress either. At Mantis's current age, starting training again isn't too late; in fact, it's a very good starting point.
A month later, the island flew over the Red Line and arrived over the New World. At Vic's instruction, Rebecca bypassed Mary Geoise and flew over the Red Line, where the Calm Belt is located.
It took another half month to finally arrive at the seas ruled by Whitebeard. The Whitebeard Pirates had quite a few pirate forces under their command, and most of the pirate ships in this sea area belonged to the Whitebeard Pirates.
So after visiting several pirate crews, Vic, along with Mantis and Rebecca, contacted Edward Newgate, the Newgate, on the Moby Dick Whitebeard Den Den Den Mushi. However, Mantis didn't say anything specific in the Den Den Mushi, only that he wanted to see Whitebeard.
Whitebeard was overjoyed when his former admirer, with whom he had gotten along well many years ago, suddenly contacted him. Roger, his friend and foe, had been dead for many years, and he had few old friends left, so he readily gave the name of an island.
This island is quite famous in Whitebeard's territory and also a well-known place in the New World, so it was very easy to find. Vic and his crew arrived at the sea area where the island was located in just three days.
Marco the Phoenix, Vista the Flower Sword, Diamond Jozu, Marshall D. Teach the Blackbeard, Blackbeard and Jinbe captains and crew members of Whitebeard who were carrying food and drinks onto the Moby Dick all felt as if the sky had suddenly darkened.
The Moby Dick, docked in the harbor, was gradually shrouded in shadow. When they looked up at the sky, they discovered that a huge shadow was blocking the sun and was gradually growing larger.
If it weren't for the fact that the shadowy mass wasn't edged with flames, they would have suspected it was a meteorite hurtling towards the pirate ship. Even so, they were still startled by the sight. Even if it wasn't a meteorite and was just an ordinary rock, it couldn't be any bigger! If it crashed down, the pirate ship would be gone!
" Pops! Everyone! There's danger in the sky!"
Marco put down what he was holding and shouted towards the Moby Dick. They were happily preparing food and drinks for their Pops's Pops friend's upcoming banquet, and once that friend arrived, the Moby Dick would leave the island to hold the banquet at sea where no one would disturb them.
The sudden appearance of such a large object in the sky startled him, but he wasn't too worried about it crashing into the pirate ship. His Pops's Tremor-Tremor Fruit could shatter that object in no time.
However, some necessary reminders are still needed. His Pops was overjoyed to hear that his old friend was coming to visit him, and he drank quite a bit of alcohol every day. He didn't know if his Pops was confused or not.
"Silly boy! Don't worry, it's my old friend! Gulala lala lala!"
Whitebeard's voice was deafening. He was a man of immense capacity who could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, so how could he possibly become confused by a little alcohol? As the shadows loomed over the Moby Dick, he spotted the growing unidentified object in the sky.
He quickly recognized what it was. Having spent many years with Golden Lion in the Rocks Pirates, they knew each other well and were aware of each other's abilities. Looking at the outline of the unidentified object, wasn't it just a small island?
Golden Lion Shiki's favorite thing to do was to lift islands into the sky. However, Golden Lion is dead, so his Devil Fruit power has definitely changed hands. Whitebeard wasn't sure who the Float-Float Devil Fruit User was, and the Navy hasn't revealed any details about Rebecca's abilities either.
When Rebecca was a Marine, it was to protect her. When she became a pirate, the Marines were afraid that others would know she possessed Golden Lion's abilities and would be afraid of her. Also, Rebecca's use of her abilities and Golden Lion's were in completely different directions, so the more familiar someone was with Golden Lion, the less likely they were to recognize her.
But who is Whitebeard? He was hailed by Sengoku as the strongest man in the world, the emperor of the New World, and possessed top-tier abilities in all Three Types of Haki. Naturally, he sensed the familiar presence on the floating island, so he wasn't worried about any danger at all. Only his heartfelt laughter echoed throughout the entire Moby Dick.