"Could you stop acting on your own? I'm the captain here!" Ace was complaining to Linton, clearly frustrated because he hadn't done anything yet. Ace had wanted to show off, but Linton had taken care of the entire Lightning Pirates in just a minute, leaving Ace, the captain, feeling pretty useless.
"I had no choice. Since Whitebeard can't find us, we'll have to make him come to us," Linton replied. They had been looking for Whitebeard for a while now. It had been over ten days since they had run into Jinbei. As expected of a Fishman, Jinbei's body recovered quickly, and after a few days of rest, his injuries healed.
Jinbei had honored his agreement with Linton, sparring with Ace for ten days. The two of them mostly fought in the ship's training area, carefully controlling their strength. Their main focus was on mastering Armament Haki. Ace had made some progress—he could now use the basics of Armament Haki. Though Ace had already awakened this ability, he hadn't known how to properly use it until Jinbei taught him.
When the time came, Jinbei left. He had his own matters to attend to and couldn't stay forever. Before he left, he tried to persuade Ace one last time, but Ace, who was still set on finding Whitebeard, didn't listen.
During these days of training, the crew had been searching for Whitebeard. They were already within his territory, but it was so vast that finding him wasn't easy. Originally, they had planned to stop at an island to gather information about Whitebeard's location. But now, thanks to Linton, they had crossed paths with some members of Whitebeard's crew.
Although this had happened by chance, Linton was quite pleased with the outcome. He had been tracking things for thirty days, and with over twenty days passed, he was getting impatient. The appearance of one of Whitebeard's "sons" was a blessing. Knowing Whitebeard, he would never stand by if his "son" was in danger. He was probably on his way right now.
All Linton and the crew had to do was wait. Linton gave them three days. He wasn't sure which sea Whitebeard was in or how long it would take him to arrive, but he was confident Whitebeard would come flying.
As for Marcugie, he wasn't dead, just badly injured. Linton didn't care either way, though. After all, with his Rinnegan, even a corpse could be brought back to life.
Linton was currently testing one of his Rinnegan abilities—the black rods. While the ability's name didn't sound pleasant, it was actually quite useful. The rods could be used as weapons, and in the Naruto world, they could seal an opponent's chakra. He wasn't sure if they had any special effects here, though.
"So, you can't move, right?" Linton asked Marcugie, who was pinned to the floor by several black rods. Whether it was from his injuries or the effect of the rods, Marcugie was completely immobilized.
"Damn you!" Marcugie shouted. "If you have the guts, kill me! Don't think you can use me to threaten Dad!"
"Hey, are you really going to kill him?" Ace, who wasn't aware that Linton was testing his abilities, asked, unable to bear the sight of Marcugie's suffering.
"No, if Whitebeard shows up in time, I'll let him go," Linton said. "I doubt Whitebeard will be late. He's way too attached to his sons."
"He doesn't sound like a bad guy..." Ace remarked.
"You're not wrong," Linton replied. "He's actually a decent person."
As they talked, Deuce suddenly appeared with the rest of the Spade Pirates. Ace was surprised to see that each of them was carrying a large chest, resembling treasure chests.
"Captain, we're back," Deuce said. "We've hit the jackpot!"
"Huh? Where did you all go?" Ace asked, confused. "And where did all this come from?"
"Didn't you tell us to grab all the Lightning Pirates' treasure?" Deuce responded, glancing at Linton.
Ace immediately realized what had happened. Linton had used his name to give fake orders: "Hey! You..."
"What's the problem? I saw you forgot, so I had them handle it," Linton said.
"Well..." Ace was a bit flustered. On one hand, they were pirates, and it wasn't wrong to take the defeated crew's treasure. On the other hand, Linton was constantly making decisions on his behalf, making Ace feel like his position as captain was in jeopardy.
"Wait!" Suddenly, Linton stood up, startling everyone.
"What's wrong? Why the sudden move?" Ace asked.
Linton didn't respond to Ace. Instead, he walked over to one of the crewmembers carrying a chest. "What's inside this?"
"I don't know," the crew member replied.
"Open it," Linton ordered.
Without hesitation, the crew member opened the chest, and what they found shocked everyone. Inside was a strange fruit, resembling a banana but with odd red patterns on it.
"Devil Fruit!" The Spade Pirates, having seen such things before, instantly recognized it.
"A Devil Fruit, huh? That makes sense," Linton nodded, understanding the situation now. The reason he had suddenly acted was that his system had alerted him to the presence of a valuable item that could be uploaded.
Linton had initially been puzzled because, in the Naruto world, he had been able to upload valuable items to earn points. However, he hadn't found any such items since arriving in this world. Even after defeating Ace and Jinbei, there had been no alerts. But just now, he had received one. It seemed that valuable items in this world weren't tied to people, but to objects like this Devil Fruit.
"This is great, Captain! We can get another Devil Fruit user in our crew!" Deuce said excitedly.
"Sorry, but I'm taking this," Linton said.
"Huh?" Ace looked at Linton in surprise. "But you're already a Devil Fruit user, right? You know you can't eat two of them."
Though Ace still wasn't sure what kind of Devil Fruit Linton had, everyone assumed he had one due to his strange abilities.
"I don't need it to eat," Linton replied.
Ace scratched his head, thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. After all, Linton had basically taken down the Lightning Pirates by himself. There was nothing wrong with him getting first pick of the loot.
With that, the Devil Fruit was now in Linton's possession. Finding a quiet spot, Linton quickly uploaded it.
"Valuable item successfully uploaded. You have earned 160,000 points."
"Oh?" Linton was pleasantly surprised by the high score. This was worth more than a Sharingan. He wondered if the points varied based on the type of fruit. Logia-type fruits might be worth even more. Based on its appearance, this one was probably a Zoan-type fruit, though it could be one of the rarer Ancient or Mythical Zoan types. He wasn't sure yet.
In any case, collecting Devil Fruits seemed like a good way to farm points. There were a lot of things Linton wanted to buy, and the points were precious. If he could gather more Devil Fruits, he'd be in great shape.
Thinking of Devil Fruits made Linton think of the Whitebeard Pirates. As one of the Four Emperors, Whitebeard's crew likely had access to some powerful fruits. The Lightning Pirates were probably planning to hand this one over to Whitebeard, but Linton had intercepted it. He might be able to profit even more from this situation.
With that realization, Linton became even more excited about Whitebeard's impending arrival. If he had known that Devil Fruits could be uploaded earlier, he would have had the messenger demand more of them as ransom. Unfortunately, the messenger had already left to deliver the news.
As for his newly earned points, Linton decided to spend them on Mokuton (Wood Release). He had always planned to learn it eventually, and although he didn't have enough points to fully master it yet, he started making progress. Before long, his points were depleted again, leaving him eager to gather more.
The next few days weren't easy for the Spade Pirates. The island's residents harbored a strong hostility toward them. While no one dared to confront them directly, the locals avoided them and refused to interact. It turned out that the Lightning Pirates had treated the islanders well, ensuring their safety. The residents admired Marcugie and Whitebeard, so they saw the Spade Pirates as enemies for capturing Marcugie.
Hearing this left Ace feeling conflicted. The idea that they were seen as villains didn't sit right with him. But before he could fully process his thoughts, the person they had been waiting for arrived.
On the morning of the third day, a massive pirate ship appeared near Yasmat Island. The sheer size of the ship left the Spade Pirates stunned. And then, from the ship, came a booming voice: "Marcugie! My son! I've come to get you!"
(End of the Chapter)