"Pops, we have to keep Satan!"
Marco and the others came to Whitebeard.
"That's right. The guy's a monster. I've never seen talent that strong."
"Pops, we have to make him one of ours."
Jozu was solemn.
"Kurararara. Didn't you think Marco was overestimating Satan?" Whitebeard laughed, his presence filling the room. "And now you agree?"
Days ago, Jozu had claimed Marco was coddling Satan. Now he shared Marco's view. Whitebeard had spoken with Satan a few times and admitted he was unusual. But to win unanimous recognition from his division commanders meant he was more than that. This child was extraordinary.
"I underestimated him," Jozu said. "Only today did I realize how frightening his aptitude is. Observation Haki and Armament Haki, he grasped both at once. I'm starting to suspect he could awaken Conqueror's Haki too."
Remembering what he'd seen, Jozu still looked shocked. He admitted he had looked down on Satan before, but now he understood. Satan's aptitude was truly monstrous.
"Instantly mastering two colors of Haki? Such a freak?" Whitebeard was taken aback. Even he had needed time to train those two. Even Roger, the man called Pirate King, had spent a day each to learn Observation and Armament. And now Satan had done it in a heartbeat. Did that mean his talent surpassed Roger's? Whitebeard had known Satan was odd, but this level was hard to believe.
"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it either. That kid's talent is terrifying," Marco said. He was still shaken. He also remembered Satan's words: Whitebeard would die, and the Whitebeard Pirates would disband. If Satan stayed, perhaps he could uphold Whitebeard's prestige in the future.
"You're sure he didn't know Haki before?" Whitebeard asked, stunned.
"He didn't," Jozu said. "I didn't believe it either, until I taught him Armament myself. The brat is a freak. He may surpass Pops one day. If we can make him ours, it will be a great blessing for the Whitebeard Pirates."
"Someone who could surpass me?" Whitebeard laughed again. "Kurararara. Interesting. Satan, be my son!"
His shout echoed across the Moby Dick.
"No." Satan stepped up to Whitebeard and refused again.
"Rejected again."
"So blunt."
The pirates cried out.
"Satan, think it over. Aren't you happy with the Whitebeard Pirates?" Marco hugged him, hope on his face.
"I'm happy. But everyone has their own path. Whitebeard, if I told you to recall Ace and stop pursuing Blackbeard, could you do it?"
"The nature of those things is completely different," Jozu said coldly. "Blackbeard killed our comrade. He must pay for it."
"Will," Satan said. "I have my will too. When we reach the next island, I'll be leaving."
The Whitebeard Pirates were a big family. They just weren't his fit. The pirates here were like flowers nurtured in Whitebeard's greenhouse. As repayment for the time he'd lived among them, he had told Whitebeard how to break the impasse. But if Whitebeard wouldn't listen, there was nothing else he could do. He wasn't a saint. He couldn't give up his own dream for Whitebeard alone. This pirate world was a grand, surging sea. Since he had come to this world, how could he not be willful at least once? Besides, there were the Seven Deadly Sins.
Clang, clang, clang.
"Pirate ship spotted ahead!"
"Red-Hair!"
The alarms sounded. Out on the sea, a ship was heading toward the Moby Dick. Its flag snapped in the wind, the skull marked by two crossed sabers.
It was the Red-Haired Pirates, one of the Four Emperors of the New World.
At this moment, what business did the Red-Haired Pirates have with Whitebeard?