Bege glanced at Jeffries in the corner. Over these three days, he had noticed Jeffries' condition. Initially, he had thought it was a normal reaction; after all, any teenager who witnessed their mother and sister being brutally tortured and killed would be devastated.
For these three days, he and his men had been very considerate of Jeffries, hoping to help him emerge from the shadows of his trauma.
Now, it seemed Jeffries' condition was even more severe than he had imagined.
"Jeffries, come here," Bege called him over, his expression unreadable.
Jeffries numbly stood up and walked over to Bege. Bege looked at Jeffries' vacant eyes, his brow furrowed. Without warning, he slapped Jeffries hard, sending him flying across the deck.
"Bege, what are you doing?!" Taylor cried out, startled. She quickly ran over and helped Jeffries up. The other crewmen were also taken aback by Bege's sudden action, stopping their work to look over.
After being slapped, a flicker of emotion appeared in Jeffries' lifeless eyes. He didn't speak, merely lowered his head in silence.
Bege walked over. Taylor, afraid Bege might hit Jeffries again, held the boy protectively.
"Jeffries, I know you're in immense pain from losing your parents, but that's no reason for you to wallow in despair. Your mother and sister wouldn't want to see you like this," Bege said gravely.
Tears streamed down Jeffries' face as he began to weep silently.
Bege opened his internal castle and threw out Taku, who was now completely disfigured and barely recognizable as human.
The moment Jeffries saw Taku, his eyes instantly turned savage, his expression frenzied. He struggled in Taylor's arms.
"I know you want to kill Taku. I'll give you the chance now. Kill him, and then leave my ship. I'll act as if I never took you in as one of my men," Bege said, drawing a longsword and tossing it onto the deck.
"Bege, don't do this!" Taylor's face changed, and she said in a low, firm voice, already sensing that Bege had made up his mind.
"Instead of letting him suffer endlessly, it's better to grant him his wish and let him have his revenge," Bege said, waving his hand for Taylor to be silent.
Taylor said no more, closing her eyes in pain.
Jeffries picked up the Fire Cloud Sword from the deck, his hands trembling as he pointed it at Taku.
"You little brat! Kill me! Kill me and get your revenge! Haha…" Taku's hoarse voice roared with all his remaining strength. All he wanted now was to die.
Jeffries gripped the Fire Cloud Sword tightly with both hands, his expression growing even fiercer.
"Make your choice, Jeffries," Bege said, his face devoid of emotion, awaiting Jeffries' answer.
Jeffries roared and lunged, thrusting the sword downwards. Taylor and Viola closed their eyes.
"Very good, Jeffries. You are still one of my men," Bege suddenly burst into hearty laughter. Taylor and Viola opened their eyes to see that Jeffries' sword had only cut off Taku's ear; he hadn't killed him.
"Jeffries, I want you to remember this: although your mother and sister are dead, you are not without family now. You are one of my men, which makes you my family. Me, Taylor, everyone here, and all the men under my command—we are all your family. You won't be alone. We will take good care of you, so your mother and sister can depart in peace."
Jeffries dropped the longsword and collapsed to the deck, wailing loudly. His cries were wretched, heartbreaking enough to make one's soul tremble.
Bege knew that the pent-up pain in Jeffries' heart was finally being released with those tears.
Afterward, Jeffries remained taciturn, but he was no longer lifeless as before. It was a positive change.
Half a month later, news of the incident on Cliton Island finally spread.
In the latter half of the Grand Line, on Fear Island, the main stronghold of the Fear Pirates.
An eerie, terrifying aura enveloped Fear Island. Horrifying roars from the central Fear Royal Palace swept across the entire island, causing the very land to tremble in response.
Pirates under the Fear Pirates' banner quickly returned, rushing straight to the Fear Royal Palace without any delay.
At the Fear Royal Palace, the chillingly terrifying aura was even more violent. All the pirates outside were pressed to their knees by this power, trembling uncontrollably. Only a few exceptionally strong pirates could manage to remain standing.
In the grand hall of the palace, there were two rows totaling thirteen black metal thrones. Ten of these thrones were occupied by imposing, powerful pirates—the captains of the ten subordinate crews of the Demon Lord of Fear. Each one was a figure who struck terror into the hearts of those on the seas.
The other three captains were responsible for guarding the Fear Pirates' territories.
And at the very head of these thirteen black metal thrones, the point to which all thirteen looked up, was a two-meter-high skull throne. It represented the supreme authority of the Fear Pirates. And at this moment, the only one qualified to sit upon it was in a thundering rage.
"Capone Bege! A wet-behind-the-ears rookie dares to provoke me?!" The Demon Lord of Fear, Farian Andrew, was consumed by fury, his face contorted in an extreme grimace. His nearly seven-meter-tall, powerful body trembled, every muscle seemingly vibrating with anger. His sword-like white beard bristled, and the string of skulls around his neck seemed to emit ominous sounds.
"My King, Taku is dead! Let Capone Bege pay with his life! I will wring Capone Bege's neck off and use it as a wine pot! I'll skin him and make a coat for Taku! And all his crew members must die! They'll all be skinned and made into dried corpses to accompany Taku in death!" a gaunt old man seated in the first row of black metal thrones shrieked, his words as sickening as his savage face.
"Not just Capone Bege. Everyone on Cliton Island must accompany Taku to the grave," declared Demon General Alletha coldly from the third seat.
"Notify Bellia, who is on her way back. Tell her not to return; she is to turn around and hunt down Capone Bege!" Andrew's face was dark, and a terrifying roar echoed across the entirety of Fear Island. "The entire Fear Pirates will mobilize! I want everyone on these seas to know—no one touches my son! Whoever touches him dies!"
The Fear Pirates, with the exception of their main flagship, the Demon Lord of Fear, mobilized all their subordinate crews. The sheer scale of the deployment immediately put the Marines on high alert.
"Big Sis, those Marine flies are tailing us again. And there's an extra ship, a Vice Admiral's flagship," a crewman reported aboard the Black Widow. The woman he addressed was corpulent as a pig, exceedingly ugly, and tall.
She had a name that resounded throughout the New World: Black Widow Bellia, one of the Demon Lord's Three Demon Generals, ranked second, with a bounty as high as 1.03 billion. She was a vicious woman who killed without batting an eye.
A ferocious glint appeared in Bellia's eyes, her savage visage enough to turn one's stomach. "Turn about! Blast them to bits! The Demon Lord is furious! We will make the world feel the Demon Lord's wrath!"
The Black Widow immediately changed course, charging straight for the surveillance ships. Half an hour later, the two surveillance vessels, including the Vice Admiral's flagship, were silenced and sunk into the sea.
The Fear Pirates, almost their entire force deployed, rampaged across the seas. Most other pirate crews, unsure of what had happened, quickly consolidated their forces, not daring to cross paths with the Fear Pirates at such a time.