The Nine Tails stood there, wild and unrestrained. With its master absent, its true nature bled through: arrogant, brazen, domineering, utterly unafraid.
"You dare threaten Pops? Pops, grab it and ransom Marco back!"
"Yeah, Pops! Since when has the Whitebeard Pirates been threatened?"
"Seize it and save Marco!"
Several division commanders ground their teeth, eyes blazing, ready to start a fight at the drop of a hat.
"Idiots." The Nine Tails grinned, fangs bared. "Who wants to die first? Step up and I'll let you taste a Tailed Beast Bomb."
"Quiet, all of you."
Whitebeard pushed himself to his full height with a sweep of his naginata, cutting off the shouting. His gaze dropped to the arm on the deck.
"Marco."
One glance and he knew whose arm that was.
"What did that brat do to Marco?" Whitebeard's voice rumbled, anger barely checked, as he faced the fox.
"That kid is a step from death," the Nine Tails said, repeating Rakuya's instructions word for word. "My Master punched through his chest. If you don't ransom him quickly, he won't make it."
"Whitebeard, here's a friendly warning. Hand over twenty Devil Fruits right now, or my Master will tear up the ticket. And this twenty only covers half. If you want Marco whole and breathing, the price is forty."
"Gu-ra-ra-ra. Forty Devil Fruits?" Whitebeard's eyes hardened. "Your Master thinks he can jack up the price with me? That I'm easy to squeeze?"
He drew his blade in a slow arc. A tidal wave of white sword aura ripped skyward and scythed the clouds clean in two.
"Intimidation? A challenge?" The Nine Tails snorted. A super-sized Tailed Beast Bomb swelled in front of its maw.
All around, Whitebeard's men stared, dumbstruck.
"What power is that?"
"It reeks of malice."
"I've never felt anything like this energy."
Before their eyes, the fox launched the orb into the sky.
Boom.
The Tailed Beast Bomb punched into the clouds. A thunderous detonation rolled across heaven and sea, scattering the bisected stormbank to nothing.
The sky burned crimson.
Whitebeard looked up, face grave. He did not fear the monster. But this was his domain. If the Nine Tails went mad and fired indiscriminately a few more times, how many sons would he lose?
Unacceptable.
"Bring me the Den Den Mushi."
Shadows gathered on Whitebeard's brow. The fox's display had done its job.
Brru-brru. Brru-brru.
Far away, Rakuya's Den Den Mushi rang.
"Yo, Whitebeard. Got the arm?" Rakuya asked, lazily.
"Brat, you're the first to threaten Whitebeard," the old man growled. "How is Marco?"
"He won't die yet."
"Let me speak to him."
"Fine."
Rakuya held the receiver beside the Phoenix, whose body was still slowly knitting itself together.
"Pops…"
The moment Marco heard the line connect, his voice cracked in a hoarse wail. "Pops, don't come. I've shamed the Whitebeard Pirates. I deserve this. I'm not worth forty Devil Fruits. With forty Fruits, you could build a force stronger than me."
He shouted until his throat bled, trying to stop Whitebeard.
"Marco. Stay put. Pops will come for you."
"Pops, don't save me. I'm not worth it. Let me live or die on my own."
"Foolish son. How could Pops ever abandon you?"
Marco choked up, sobbing outright. "Pops…"
Watching it all, even Rakuya felt a stir. This world's charm was its heat. Whitebeard's love for his sons ran from first page to last. He wanted no treasure and no throne, only a family.
Marco's plea had the opposite effect. It only set Whitebeard's resolve in stone.
"Pops, don't..."
"Shut up."
Rakuya drove a kick into Marco's chest. The force sent his insides tumbling and blood geysering.
Too sappy by half.
Hearing his son's pained cry over the line, Whitebeard's temper flared. "Brat, I'll give you forty Devil Fruits. But you do not lay another hand on my son. Until I see him, you keep away from him."
"Deal. You hand over the Fruits and we can talk about anything. Pass them to my pet," Rakuya said, smiling. As expected, when it came to his sons, the old man never hesitated.
"Forty all at once won't happen," Whitebeard said coldly. "I need to see Marco safe with my own eyes. You get twenty now. A few days from now, we trade in person. One hand for the man, one hand for the goods."
"Works for me."
He wasn't stupid. He was wary of a double cross.
"Good. Brat, you just wait for me."
"Relax. Until I get the Fruits, I'm right here. And by the way, stop calling me brat. Name's 'Flowing Cloud'."
"I don't care if you're Flowing Cloud or Floating Cloud. Cross Whitebeard and you'd better be ready for"
Click.
Rakuya hung up. He had no patience for the old man's speeches.
On the Moby Dick, the entire crew stood frozen.
"He… hung up on Pops?"
Whitebeard tossed the Den Den Mushi aside with a scowl and turned to Jozu. "Go to the storeroom. Bring twenty Devil Fruits. Give them to the Nine Tails."
"Pops… really? Twenty?" Jozu gaped. Since when did Pops compromise this easily?
"Go."
Whitebeard rubbed his temple and spoke in a flat tone.
"Yes, Pops."
Jozu bolted for the hold to haul up the chests packed with Devil Fruits.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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