The two men confronted each other.
"I repeat, all the treasure here belongs to me!" Scarface shouted fiercely.
The one-eyed pirate sneered in response. "Just because you say it's yours doesn't make it so. I could just as easily claim I'm the Pirate King!"
Scarface's face twisted in anger. "You're looking for trouble!"
Without warning, he raised his sword and swung it down.
"Men, cut down those motherfuckers on the other side!" Scarface ordered, rallying his crew.
Cyclops, undaunted, blocked the attack and shouted, rallying his own crew.
The two pirate factions, with dozens of men on each side, clashed in a brutal fight. Blood soon soaked the ground as the sounds of clashing swords and cries of pain filled the air, causing birds and beasts to flee in panic. Such scenes were all too common in the New World.
The noise also woke a tall young man who had been dozing in a tree nearby.
"Ahhh..."
The young man stretched, yawning as he looked toward the fight below. A smirk played on his lips.
"More fish taking the bait. And two at once this time? There are plenty of fools who fall for such a simple trap."
Alastor jumped down from the tree, moving lazily toward the two groups of fighting pirates.
Scarface and Cyclops were engrossed in their duel when a calm voice interrupted:
"You two, stop fighting. I placed the treasure on this island."
Both Scarface and Cyclops paused mid-swing, turning in surprise toward the voice. A stranger—a young man—had appeared nearby without them noticing.
"Who are you?" Scarface demanded, eyeing him warily.
Despite their gruff exteriors, both pirate captains felt a flicker of unease. The young man just smiled.
"I told you—I'm the owner of the treasure."
Scarface and Cyclops exchanged glances.
This newcomer claimed he'd placed the treasure here. Even if it were true, so what? In this world, treasure belonged to the strongest.
Scarface's eyes narrowed as he carefully asked, "Owner of the treasure, are you here alone on this island?"
When Alastor nodded, a bloodthirsty glint sparked in Scarface's gaze. He looked at Cyclops, and for a moment, the two captains understood each other perfectly.
Without a word, they decided to work together—first, they would kill Alastor and take his treasure.
"Now!" Scarface shouted, charging first.
Cyclops grinned wickedly, close behind. "Kid, you should've stayed in the woods if you wanted to live. Now, die!"
Both their swords flashed toward Alastor's neck, aiming to decapitate him.
Alastor stood still, appearing stunned, as if too frightened to move.
Scarface and Cyclops grinned cruelly, already picturing his head rolling to the ground, a fountain of red spilling from his neck.
Unfortunately, it was impossible for them to witness such a scene in their next lives.
The two blades struck precisely at Alastor's neck, but instead of decapitation, it felt as if they had hit a piece of fine iron. Both Scarface and Cyclops were momentarily stunned.
"What... what's going on?" the two pirate captains exclaimed in shock.
They withdrew their sword and examined them, wondering if they had chosen the wrong weapons.
A quick touch of their palms revealed that blood flowed freely from their wounds.
They hadn't chosen the wrong weapons, nor were their blades rusted.
So how could they have failed to cut off the man's head just moments ago?!
Alastor's lazy voice broke the silence again. "You two are ship captains, so your strength can't possibly be this weak, right? If this is all you've got, then I'm sorry to inform you that you're worthless to me."
Even the dimmest of pirates would realize at that moment that they were facing an extraordinary individual—likely a notorious pirate with a bounty of hundreds of millions!
But a pirate with such a high bounty would be well-known in the New World. Why had they never seen the wanted poster of the young man before them?
For the time being, Scarface and Cyclops decided not to dwell on that question. They quickly plastered flattering expressions on their faces.
"My lord, we were blind to interrupt your rest. We'll take our leave now!"
With that, they turned to go.
"If you think you can leave like this, you're underestimating me," Alastor replied flatly. "You just saw my treasure, and in turn, you must surrender yours."
Scarface and Cyclops' faces turned grim.
Treasure was their lifeblood as pirates.
Yet Alastor was clearly formidable; it was unheard of for someone to withstand their attacks without injury.
Gritting their teeth, Scarface and Cyclops decided not to provoke him further and opted to buy their way out of trouble.
They ordered their crew to bring out all the treasures from their ship, presenting them with careful words: "This is all our treasure. Please accept it graciously."
Alastor nodded, satisfied. "You two are sensible. For that, I'll let you die quickly."
"What? My lord, do you mean...?"
The expressions on Scarface's and Cyclops' faces shifted in shock.
"I never said I wouldn't kill you just because you offered your treasure."
In an instant, Alastor drew his sword, Sandai Kitetsu, and black mist erupted, forming a dark line that slashed across their necks.
Scarface and Cyclops didn't possess Alastor's exceptional defensive abilities, and their heads fell to the ground in an instant.
When their crew saw this, their faces drained of color. They screamed for their mothers and fled in panic.
Alastor ignored the fleeing pirates, allowing them to escape without a second thought.
A normal person's defense level is typically below 10, though it can exceed that with training. Generally, if someone hasn't consumed a Devil Fruit or possesses no special constitution, it's impossible for their defense to go beyond 20.
Take Garp, for instance—he's immensely strong, yet even without using Armament Haki, a relatively weak person like Morgan could still injure him. Thus, even the strongest individuals may not necessarily have high physical defense alone.
However, true powerhouses are all proficient in Armament Haki, making raw physical defense less significant.
For those who've eaten Zoan-type Devil Fruits, defense can exceed 100, and with Ancient Zoan types, it can surpass 1,000.
But what about the most powerful Mythical Zoan species? So far, Alastor has only encountered one: Yamato, with a defense power of up to 20,000. Yamato's defense is due not only to her Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Okuchi no Makami, but also her inheritance of Kaido's abnormal physique.
"The outside world is vast, but it seems to be filled with violence and conflict, no different from Onigashima," Alastor remarked as he stood on deck, speaking to Yamato over the video-transmitting Den Den Mushi. Everything he saw was relayed back to her on Onigashima.
Over the past two weeks, Yamato had finally glimpsed the world beyond her island, but it wasn't as idyllic as she'd imagined.
Alastor continued:
"Yamato, most of your knowledge comes from Kozuki Oden's journal, but Oden himself was a rare, powerful individual, always surrounded by people like Whitebeard or Roger, the strongest in the world. Of course, he didn't find the world dangerous.
"In this era of pirates, ordinary people suffer—their lives threatened by pirates, their freedoms oppressed by royalty and even the Celestial Dragons.
"There is no paradise. Pirates are evil, and the Navy does not stand for justice. The so-called World Government is made up of some truly despicable people.
"Weak people have no right to choose, no voice. Often, they don't even control their own fate."
Yamato fell into a long silence.
During this time, her worldview had been profoundly shaken, one belief after another. The near-religious admiration she once held for Kozuki Oden had gradually faded away without her noticing.
"Alright, Yamato, I'm heading to a new island soon. We'll talk about this when I get back. Goodbye."
"See you."
She hung up the call.
Alastor put away the Transponder Snail and steered the ship toward the shore.
"This island… according to the map, we're approaching Whitebeard's territory."
Alastor jumped off the ship onto the island and looked around. The jungle was dense, with no sign of other pirate ships along the shore—it seemed to be an uninhabited island.
However, using his keen senses, Alastor detected more than a dozen auras hiding in the woods.
"An ambush? Interesting."
He hoped these ambushers would be strong enough to challenge him—an opportunity to sharpen his defenses.
Unfazed, he walked slowly into the forest.
As soon as he entered, more than a dozen shadowy figures surrounded him.
"Kid, you've got guts traveling alone in the New World! Hand over all your treasure, and if I'm in a good mood, I might just spare your life!"
The speaker was a large man with three bushy brown beards, nicknamed Tea Beard. He was the captain of this group, with a bounty of 80.06 million berries. Known throughout the nearby waters, he was notorious for his cruelty and arrogance, even daring to set his sights on Whitebeard's territory.
Alastor's eyes narrowed. He knew exactly who Tea Beard was.