New World, Unknown Sea.
"It's impossible, Lafitte, he...!!!"
Teach looked at the Vivre Card in his hand with shock, his expression mirroring what Katakuri had looked like when he saw Oven's Vivre Card, perhaps even more terrified.
"Has Soryu (Azure Dragon) intervened?!"
"No, the Zipper Thunder generated when the Soryu (Azure Dragon) moves is almost impossible to hide. With just a ship, it's impossible to reach The Drifter in such a short time."
Van Augur's expression remained aloof and sacred, but his slightly hurried speech betrayed his inner turmoil.
"Bastard!"
His Iron Hook struck heavily against a protruding rock, shattering it! Van Augur's pupils constricted, and he sighed inwardly, "The Captain's strength is becoming more and more terrifying!"
Teach hadn't revealed his Devil Fruit ability to them.
One rather awkward fact was that even without the Dark-Dark Fruit, the immense power brought by the Sacrifice-Sacrifice Fruit still attracted the crew members from the original story to Teach.
However, the price was very severe!
Teach could feel that he was growing stronger every moment, with his strength now completely different from when he left Whitebeard.
But every day he woke up feeling a sense of confusion in his memories, and his body began to experience numbness and stiffness that only appeared in old age, heading towards a state of living death.
Based on the current progress, in at most two years, he would become a living sacrifice! A vessel for the Sacrifice-Sacrifice Fruit, rather than its user.
So Teach dared not tell them about his Devil Fruit ability. He had gathered this group of people with ambition and fame, and if they knew that his days were numbered, they would scatter like nails on a loose board.
Ignoring what Van Augur was thinking, Teach's expression turned gloomy as he carefully considered the next step in his plan.
Even before the Soryu (Azure Dragon) intervened, they had lost an Admiral!
Lafitte was the most valued member of Teach's crew because he was versatile and perfect, much like Dante by Rowen's side, capable of handling many problems.
"Captain... cough cough... do you think Burgess has betrayed us?"
Doc Q raised his hand weakly, holding Burgess's Vivre Card, which was still intact.
When Lafitte's Vivre Card began burning, Doc Q had taken out Burgess's Vivre Card. However, up until now, Burgess hadn't encountered any trouble.
This couldn't help but raise suspicions.
"Don't casually suspect my crew members, Doc Q!"
Teach's gaze swept over them coldly, sending shivers down Doc Q's spine. Van Augur remained calm, seemingly indifferent.
Taking note of their reactions, Teach continued, "If something happened to Lafitte, it means the pirate League is finished, and the Soryu (Azure Dragon), now with free time on their hands, will come looking for trouble."
"Can we contact Burgess?"
"No, after all, Lafitte is usually the one in charge of the Den Den Mushi."
Van Augur had anticipated this question and shook his head, holding the Den Den Mushi, which remained idle due to lack of signal.
"He will come to meet us, but we need to make sure he hasn't turned traitor!"
Teach quickly adjusted his mindset and began issuing orders.
Van Augur shrugged, indicating that he had already forgotten who had said that earlier.
New World, Empty Sea.
"Bastard... Bastard... Bastard, who can understand this control panel!"
Burgess cursed as he kept a rhythm with his mouth, sitting on the armored surface of the submarine, using a fish bone as an oar and rowing vigorously.
There was a big hole in the submarine's hatch, and after being locked inside, Burgess quickly regained his senses, wanting to break out... but then, looking at the birds flying alongside the white clouds outside, he chose to stay put.
Coward!
He wasn't Kaido; even a fall from a thousand meters would probably kill him.
Upon landing, Burgess prepared for combat, only to find himself in a desolate sea. Rayleigh could swim through the Calm Belt alone, but that didn't mean he could spend his entire life in the sea.
So, Burgess decisively started rowing, intending to meet up with Captain Teach and the others first.
Looking through the large hole in the hatch at the blinking lights of various devices on the control panel, Burgess felt helpless.
He might be illiterate, but he wasn't stupid. Moreover, he was the helmsman of the Blackbeard Pirate Ship, so naturally, he knew that using the submarine was the fastest way.
But one rather despairing fact was that despite his skill in steering, he couldn't understand what the buttons on the control panel, which didn't even have any instructions, were for.
The lever for vertical control was there, but he didn't even know how to start the submarine. He could only resort to the dumbest method: rowing.
At that moment, Burgess felt something, looking at the approaching dark clouds in the sky, he sighed sadly.
"It's another tempest! This damn weather..."
It was foreseeable that even if he rowed, it wouldn't be easy to row back.
"I need to find a real ship!"
Half a month later, after great effort, Burgess finally made it back to the meeting point.
It was a nameless uninhabited island, completely desolate, and even if a passing ship accidentally discovered it, they wouldn't be interested in docking there.
In the center of the island stood an active volcano, with semi-solidified magma giving the land a black-red hue and emitting a sulfuric, Bastard stench.
Burgess jumped off the pirate ship he had commandeered halfway, taking out his Vivre Card to locate Teach. When he and Lafitte went out together on a quest, they exchanged Vivre Cards between themselves and also carried one of Teach's Vivre Cards for easy rendezvous.
Before long, in a cave deep within the island, Burgess saw his "long-awaited" Captain.
Marshall D. Teach!
"Captain, I'm back!"
Burgess walked in, standing not far away, and greeted him.
Teach's expression was grim, but Burgess knew why.
He had intended to rendezvous with Lafitte first and then return together. However, when he went to fetch Lafitte's Vivre Card, all he found was a pile of ash.
"Burgess, how did Lafitte die?"
After a moment of silence, Teach raised his head, staring straight at him.
Gū lū...
Burgess felt uneasy, but he could only answer reluctantly, "Sorry, Captain, I was tricked by the enemy and had no idea what happened afterward."
Bang!
Suddenly, a wave of Haoshoku Haki pressed down on him, making Burgess's scalp tingle.
At that moment, Van Augur walked into the cave, shaking his head at Teach.
Burgess had checked both the ship he had returned on and the sea surface. With the eyes of a sniper, he could guarantee that there were no pursuers behind them.
Seeing this, Teach's Haoshoku Haki retracted instantly, and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Tell me everything you saw that day, don't leave anything out."
"Yes, sir!"
Burgess knew he was being suspected, but being suspected was normal. Two people went out, one died mysteriously, and the other returned unharmed. It looked suspicious no matter how you sliced it.
Knowing Teach's temper, he dared not say more and honestly recounted everything that had happened during their journey.
When he mentioned being trapped in the bullet-head submarine and sent into the sky, then rowing back, Teach suddenly interrupted him, "Wait, you mean you voluntarily found the culprit and brought the submarine back?"
"Yes."
Burgess nodded, then gritted his teeth and said, "Damn Marines, I didn't expect them to set traps even on escape submarines! Is it a bomb or a submarine, after all?"
Half a month was enough time for the news of The Drifter's incident to make headlines. After that intense explosion, less than 1 percent of the people on The Drifter survived.
The Pirate League, which had attracted the attention of many forces, didn't even have a chance to show its potential and was directly blown into ashes!
Combining the Dyna Stone, a specialty of the New World, with Vegapunk's weapon manufacturing technology, along with the Goro Goro no Mi (Thunder-Thunder Fruit) ability extracted through the study of Lineage Factor, this type of high-explosive bomb had destructive power comparable to a nuclear warhead in Rowen's understanding, with power more than a hundred times greater than Neptune's jewel box in the original story!!
However, it lacked the radioactive threat of a nuclear bomb, and most of its destructive power was concentrated within the blast radius, causing relatively limited damage overall.
But within its effective killing range, its power was terrifying to the extreme!
Just the thought of carrying such a dangerous thing back, and even sleeping inside it later, made Burgess shudder with fear.
But Teach's focus was not on this. At this moment, a light flashed in his mind, like Conan hitting a light switch, and his pupils suddenly contracted.
"Oh no, we've been tricked!"
Van Augur and Burgess widened their eyes instantly, Burgess pointing at himself in disbelief.
"What?! Could it be..."
At that moment, a faint call rang outside the cave.
"Ship... Captain... cough cough!"
"Weren't you supposed to stay outside to continue monitoring the sea, Doc Q?"
Van Augur took off his sniper gun, asking cautiously.
Then they heard Doc Q's voice, which had never sounded so confident, shouting, "Run away!!!"
Creak!
The crisp sound of breaking came, and Doc Q's shout abruptly ceased.
"It's easy to find you here, Teach. I didn't expect you to hide here."
A familiar voice echoed in the quiet cave, and Teach suddenly widened his eyes, killing intent overflowing from him.
"Attack!!!"
(End of this chapter)