"Thank you, thank you~~ sob sob~~"
"You are the great benefactor of our Whitebeard Pirates—"
"If you need anything in the future, just say the word! We'll cut down whoever you want..."
"Let go, let go!!"
With creaking sounds, The White Knight broke free from the enthusiastic embrace of the crowd, his armor dented by these burly guys.
"Good thing my real body didn't come, or I'd be killed by your 'hug attack'?"
In response to The White Knight's joke, a few teary-eyed men awkwardly scratched their heads. Meanwhile, a few careful captains, after thoroughly checking Ace's body, also nodded their thanks to The White Knight.
"No need to thank me, I said, I didn't do this for the Whitebeard Pirates."
No matter how grateful the captains were, The White Knight just calmly waved his hand. He still had 'instructions' to give to Ace:
"Because Ace has already died once, he definitely doesn't have the 'Flame-Flame Fruit' ability anymore. Also:"
"First, about Ace's soul; since I'm using a 'low-quality' version of the Devil Fruit ability, your soul still needs some time to merge with your body."
"In other words, you should avoid Haki attacks for a while. Otherwise, it could easily cause your soul to get hurt or even leave your body."
"No problem, from now on, no one is allowed to use Haki!!"
Kingdew, the captain of the 11th division, pounded his chest loudly, making The White Knight rub his forehead. — These guys' intelligence... Luffy, I misjudged you, it's not just you who has a simple mind.
Most pirates are like this!
"As long as it's not a strong Haki attack aimed at Ace, it's fine. Do you plan to stop fighting altogether?"
After saying this, The White Knight continued.
"Second, about Ace's body; I used the Imitation Fruit to fill in your heart and wounds, but this is still my creation, — which means your life is completely in my hands."
Facing The White Knight's cold words, Ace just nodded politely.
"Yes, thank you."
...
"Alright, another issue is that if I die or fall unconscious, your heart will stop beating. So:"
The White Knight pointed a finger at Ace's chest.
"You must strengthen your Haki training, use Haki to wear down my 'mark' and reinforce it. Make this 'heart' completely yours! Even if something happens to me, it won't affect you."
"Okay, thank you again."
Facing Ace, who nodded with a smile, Roman, controlling The White Knight, didn't know what to say for a moment.
The current Ace gave him a feeling of being truly calm and composed, unlike before when he hid a burning rage under his polite exterior.
Well, it's normal to change after dying once. So:
"Third, it's about the future of the Whitebeard Pirates."
The White Knight's words made the happy captains quiet down, and Roman continued to control The White Knight to speak.
"I believe that right now, the territories under the Whitebeard Pirates are being attacked by various pirates from the New World. And most importantly, — the Blackbeard Pirates are also about to attack!"
The White Knight looked around at the captains present. Although they all had the combat power of Marine officers, the only real experts were 'Phoenix' Marco, 'Diamond' Jozu, and 'Flower Sword' Vista. The others, well...
Not worth mentioning.
"First, about Blackbeard: even without the Devil Fruit ability, he once killed your 4th division captain Thatch in a sneak attack. Then he ate the 'Dark-Dark Fruit' which can counter other Devil Fruits, and then took the 'Quake-Quake Fruit', the strongest Paramecia attack. I don't need to say how strong he is."
"And then there are the members he originally recruited. I can tell you clearly, there isn't a single weak one among them."
"As for the prisoners he brought out from the sixth level of Impel Down..." The White Knight touched his chin, "Let's put it this way, if you were all locked up in Impel Down, only Ace, Marco, Jozu, and Vista would qualify for the sixth level."
"And those guys Blackbeard recruited, they are the top fighters who survived after killing the other prisoners in their cells!"
Their strength is definitely not weaker than the top captains of the Whitebeard Pirates.
"Got it," Ace nodded.
"You mean we don't stand a chance, right?"
Not only do we not stand a chance, but we were also beaten badly without even taking down one of their officers! Of course, Roman wouldn't say that out loud. But what he wanted to say was written all over his face... or rather, his helmet.
"Hey, even if you're our benefactor, you're underestimating us too much—"
With short brown hair, blue eyes, and a short but cute stature, the twelfth division captain Haruta, dressed in white and green medieval-style clothes and white tights, spoke up in dissatisfaction, but was immediately stopped by Ace.
"I believe you. Maybe you see the strength on this sea more clearly than anyone else."
"Ace, why do you say that?"
Facing Haruta's question, Ace looked at The White Knight.
"Can you reveal your identity?"
The White Knight shrugged at Ace's question. "Doesn't matter, everyone here has felt the aura of my puppet. I was in such a noticeable position at the top, you should have guessed it by now."
"Mm-hmm~~"
Facing the captains who were nodding repeatedly, Ace introduced The White Knight.
"Alright, this is Roman, the 'advisor' on my brother Straw Hat Luffy's ship."
Only now did the captains of the Whitebeard Pirates learn Roman's name. They finally understood why he kept saying he had nothing to do with the Whitebeard Pirates but kept helping them.
It was all because he was a crew member of Ace's brother!
"Also, his real body is the Celestial Dragon who was sitting on the execution platform next to me."
∑っX12
????
"What's with your expressions! Didn't you notice that your Observation Haki was fake?" Facing The White Knight's teasing, Marco smiled awkwardly and waved his hand.
"How could I not notice, I noticed it a long time ago!"
'Flower Sword' Vista smoothed his mustache.
"I see, no wonder I always found that Celestial Dragon... no, Roman's aura so familiar."
"Yeah, I noticed it too..."
"Me too."
...
So only Marco and Vista noticed?
"Anyway, just don't spread my identity around."
"Got it!" X14
This time the captains all nodded at the same time. The fact that Roman was a Celestial Dragon explained his clear understanding of everyone's strength and the source of the information he provided earlier... but:
If it got out that Roman was secretly helping these pirates, even as a Celestial Dragon... no, especially because he was a Celestial Dragon, the consequences would be even worse.
"Don't worry, we won't tell anyone!" X15
The White Knight nodded. The captains of the Whitebeard Pirates were undoubtedly men of their word. There was no need to worry about them 'betraying' him. So:
"Back to the point, Ace."
The White Knight looked at the resurrected Ace, "What are you going to do about the upcoming Blackbeard?"
"I..."
Ace looked around at the injured captains. Especially Jozu, whose arm was wrapped in bandages from being cut off by Aokiji in the battle.
"We'll go back, gather our people..."
Just as Roman, controlling The White Knight, sighed inwardly, Ace changed his tone.
"Then retreat to the west of 'Storm Island' and defend!"
?
"What's Storm Island?"
In response to The White Knight's question, Marco explained, "It's a sea area with constant level ten gales, and the only place nearby to rest is Storm Island. It's very easy to defend but hard to attack. But if we retreat there..."
"We'll have to give up two-thirds of our territory."
Faced with this painful suggestion, Ace looked around at the captains, "Everyone, I also want to avenge Pops! I want to personally take down that scumbag Blackbeard! But:"
Pops, I won't be reckless anymore.
"We are not their match. Revenge can't be achieved by acting on impulse. We must endure until we have enough strength."
His firm words left the captains in silent agreement. Roman, controlling The White Knight, nodded:
Ace, you're finally acting like a leader.
"Although I'm an outsider, I agree with Ace."
The White Knight stepped forward to break the tension in the cabin.
"Frankly, the current Whitebeard Pirates can't defeat the Blackbeard Pirates. Retreating for now isn't cowardly. It's like in a fight, you need to pull back your fist to gather strength for a powerful punch! And also:"
The White Knight looked at the confused captains of the Whitebeard Pirates, who had lost their leader.
"It won't be long before our Straw Hat crew enters the New World!"
"By then, the Blackbeard Pirates will also be our enemies. Because our captain is going to be the 'Pirate King'!"
All the great pirates aiming for the 'One Piece' will be enemies of the Straw Hat crew!
"How about we join forces to take down the Blackbeard Pirates then?"
Faced with Roman's proposal, the captains looked at each other, then focused on Ace and Marco.
"Ace, what do you think?"
Marco handed the decision to Ace, also signaling that Ace would lead the Whitebeard Pirates from now on!
Marco was calm and loyal, a great second-in-command. But:
He lacked 'ambition'!
And a person without ambition isn't fit to lead a pirate crew.
"Alright! But I have one condition:"
Ace looked at Roman, who, as the 'strategist' of the Straw Hat crew, had the right and ability to negotiate on their behalf. And Luffy would surely support both Roman and Ace 100%.
"I want Blackbeard's head!!"
"No problem."
The Straw Hat crew never cared about 'heads' anyway.
---
"Since that's settled, let's talk about something happy."
Ace had completely changed, and Roman could consider 'strengthening' him.
"Losing the 'Flame-Flame Fruit' isn't necessarily a bad thing for you."
?
"Ace, you were so focused on developing your fruit power that you forgot to train your Haki. Actually, you have a natural advantage! You have a great potential for Conqueror's Haki."
Ace had Conqueror's Haki and used it when he was very young to save Luffy.
"Even though you don't like it, the bloodline of Pirate King Roger gave you great potential for all three types of Haki. Conqueror's Haki isn't just about presence; once you train it to the 'coating' level, you can become a top fighter."
In the entire Whitebeard Pirates, only Ace had this potential. You could even say he was meant to take this path. — Roger, without any fruit power, could dominate an era! His bloodline is just as strong.
"Roger's power...?"
Clenching his fist, Ace looked up, his face now serious.
"I understand! I won't reject the power of this body anymore. Because:"
"My life belongs to Pops and my friends!"
...
"One last thing."
Roman took out a white mask and threw it to Ace. — This wasn't created by his power, but a normal masquerade mask.
This was Roman's convenience as a Celestial Dragon, and this thing had only one feature:
It was strong!
"Ace, you can't go out with this face, or the Marines will go crazy."
They just announced they killed the Pirate King's son, and the next second he's alive and well on the sea. The Marines' reputation? The World Government's reputation? Believe it or not, the three Admirals will come down from the sky immediately!
"Thank you."
Putting on the mask to cover his freckles, Ace took the white suit Vista handed him and put it on to cover his tattoos. A mature, slender man appeared in the cabin.
"From today on, I am no longer Ace, but:"
"Essa!"
I will protect the Whitebeard Pirates!
---
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