Free Web NovelChapter 288: 288 One Piece 52
When the next day came, the Whitebeard Pirates gathered again.
Just by looking at how they were gathered, I could roughly tell. The side with the most people was gathered around Marco, and the other side was gathered around Ace. And the side with the smallest number seemed to be those who had chosen to retire.
The commanders on Ace’s side were Jozu, Blamenco, Blenheim, Atmos, and Fossa. About one‑third of the allied crews had also joined them. The interesting thing was that Squard, who in the original had betrayed Whitebeard, was also here.
"So you’re the side that wants to maintain the Whitebeard Pirates."
At my question, Ace answered.
"Yeah. But that doesn’t mean we’ll operate separately right away. We’ve agreed to start activities after protecting Father’s territories."
"I see. Got it."
I stood on a platform so that everyone could hear and shouted loudly.
"The new Whitebeard Pirates may stay anywhere within the Merchant’s Island’s sphere of influence and will receive supplies. And the Merchant’s Island recognizes the Whitebeard Pirates as an independent faction and will not interfere with them whatsoever. Likewise, the Whitebeard Pirates may not interfere with matters concerning the Merchant’s Island. This agreement takes effect as soon as the territory protection is finished."
When I finished speaking, the Whitebeard Pirates on Ace’s side looked very pleased.
"All right!"
We gave the retiring members a small share of the wealth the Whitebeard Pirates had accumulated, said our goodbyes, and then split the existing Whitebeard territories into three parts, dividing into three teams to tour the territories.
One team, with me piloting the Maxim, would go to the most dangerous areas. Another team, the new Whitebeard Pirates led by Jozu, would go — since they were continuing the Whitebeard Pirates’ name, as a courtesy, they would operate the last remaining Moby Dick sister ship. The final team, led by Marco with the remaining crew, would move using allied ships.
Each team took a large number of flags bearing the Merchant’s Island symbol and planned to put up Merchant’s Island flags in each territory. I knew they wouldn’t like having the Merchant’s Island flag instead of the Whitebeard Pirates’ Jolly Roger, but to quickly quell the situation and reorganize the forces, it was an unavoidable choice. And I told each team to contact me anytime via Den Den Mushi if anything happened.
Ace decided to come with us for training. As we traveled, I showed Ace, Elody, and Zala Ryuo, supervising their training.
"So the important thing is to feel the flow. You need to feel how your Haki flows."
"It sounds easy when you just say it, but it’s not working well."
I also advised Elody.
"Elody, it seems like you understand Observation Haki by feeling, but you need to understand it properly and use it correctly."
"Yes, sir!"
As I was training them like that, Izo, who had come with us, came over and told us that we had arrived at our destination.
"Taejin! We’ve arrived at Foodvalten. From the smoke, it looks like it’s already under attack."
"Everyone heard that? This is real combat now. Get ready. And Ace, for the time being, don’t use your Devil Fruit ability — use Haki in real combat so you can feel the flow."
"Got it."
We landed at Foodvalten and dealt with the miscellaneous pirates invading the island. Of course, I didn’t step in and gave the trainees priority. Since they were training in Haki, rather than dealing with them quickly, they took some time to feel the flow of Haki and apply it in real combat, but everyone was able to safely defeat the miscellaneous pirates without any injuries.
But Foodvalten had already been attacked before we arrived, so the damage was severe. In the case of Foodvalten, being at the edge of Whitebeard’s territories, it seemed that other pirates had invaded sooner. The Whitebeard Pirates who had come with me, as well as Elody, Ace, and Zala, all went down to distribute food to the people and treat them.
Even while they were doing this, pirates kept invading, and each time, Elody, Ace, and Zala stepped up to face them. The Whitebeard Pirates who had come with me keenly felt the absence of their father.
"Damn it — to attack so quickly just because Father died!"
Izo frowned and spoke, and all the Whitebeard Pirates who had come with me looked bitter.
"Hmm... I think it would be best to relocate the people of this island. Not only is it too far from the territory, but the village is already heavily damaged. If they’re attacked again, the damage will be too severe."
"Yeah, I suppose it can’t be helped."
Izo, seeing the situation, quickly understood and agreed.
With that decision made, Izo and I discussed with the island’s representatives and decided to relocate the residents. After everyone packed their belongings, we boarded them onto the Maxim. The Maxim was a very large ship‑island, so even carrying all of them, there was plenty of room.
After that, we continued moving, and on islands or villages that hadn’t been damaged yet, we put up Merchant’s Island flags to let the residents know that this was now our territory. Then the residents seemed a bit relieved. Because they had already heard rumors that pirates might attack at any time, they had been uneasy.
And on islands that had been attacked, we stopped the pirates, and on islands with severe damage, we repeatedly loaded the residents onto the Maxim to relocate them.
"But where are you planning to relocate all these people?"
"Don’t worry about that. I’m planning to relocate them to the Merchant’s Island. I’ve already contacted them, so the Merchant’s Island should be preparing too. And once the territories stabilize again, we’ll gradually restore them."
Actually, this was a lie. Once they were relocated to the Merchant’s Island, I had no intention of sending them back down. But that was still a secret, and I couldn’t tell them honestly now.
While we were doing this, we were confronting pirates on one island when Ace suddenly shouted.
"I can do it now!!! I can use it too!!!"
When Ace, with the enemy right in front of him, was crazily happy, both the Whitebeard Pirates and even the enemies were staring at him as if he had lost his mind.
Excited with joy, Ace smirked evilly at the enemies, then slammed his fists together and spoke.
"Hehe, you’d better be prepared!"
Puk! Pak! Puk puk!!
"Waaah, save me!!" freeweɓnovel.cøm
"Guhk!!"
"Mommy!!"
That day, before Elody and Zala’s group could even do anything, Ace’s performance quickly took out most of the pirates. Izo smirked.
"That Ace is excited, isn’t he?"
"I know, right."
After that, Zala’s group and Elody seemed to be motivated and trained even harder from the next day.
"From now on, Ace, use your Devil Fruit ability to fight and create techniques."
"Got it."
"You’ll need to control it well. The [Flare‑Flare Fruit]’s ability can, if used carelessly, even harm your allies."
"Don’t worry about that. I got a feel for it at Impel Down."
We finally arrived at Hand Island. This place had already suffered a lot of damage from the Blackbeard Pirates’ attack, so we quickly provided food supplies and treated the injured.
"This place won’t work either. I’ll have to relocate them."
"Haa... I suppose it can’t be helped. I understand."
For them, it was a difficult decision to leave their homeland, but for me, it was a stroke of luck. Because Hand Island, as I mentioned before, was an island of craftsmen. If I brought them to Sky Island, it seemed that the variety of products that could be made on the Merchant’s Island would become even more diverse.
The people living on Hand Island were quite numerous, and loading them onto the Maxim, even that large Maxim was now reaching its limit. So I first moved back to Sphinx Island, dropped off the Whitebeard Pirates, Elody, Ace, and Zala, gave them training directions so they could continue training even without me, and then moved the refugees to Sky Island.
"You’re here. I prepared everything in advance."
"Thanks."
Sky Island, having been contacted in advance, was already ready to receive the refugees. Robin and Vivi had handled all of this — they were indeed meticulous. They had also arranged lodgings for the refugees so they could live well, and prepared all the supplies as well. The refugees, arriving at Sky Island which they had believed existed only in legend, were extremely surprised, but with the help of the people already living on the Merchant’s Island, they began to adapt quickly.
The people from Hand Island settled on the Merchant’s Island, and the people from Foodvalten, having a similar culture and way of life to the Shandian tribe, decided to build a village nearby on Skypiea with the help of the Shandians. The remaining people also stayed on the Merchant’s Island and prepared to build new villages on Skypiea, which was connected to the Merchant’s Island. Because the Merchant’s Island was now almost at capacity.
I spent about a week on the Merchant’s Island like that, then took the Maxim again and returned to Sphinx Island. Then Izo and the Whitebeard Pirates gathered around and asked me.
"How are the refugees? Are they doing well?"
"The people who were already living there helped them, so I don’t think there will be any problems."
"That’s a relief."
"Let’s set off again and tour the territories we’re responsible for. We’re not at the stage where we can relax yet."
"Got it."
We continued touring the territories, delivering necessary supplies to the Whitebeard Pirates who were in charge of the other areas, and operated like that for about a month. Then, whether the news had spread properly or not, miscellaneous pirates no longer invaded the territories, and things gradually began to stabilize. The refugees were continuously being sent up to Sky Island little by little.
But the difference from the original was that Blackbeard was quiet. According to rumors heard from other merchants, he was busy making money by selling ’Teach Metal’. I had also been thinking about waging war with Blackbeard, but I didn’t know whether this was a good thing.
Now that the territories were beginning to stabilize, Ace started packing to go to the area Jozu was in charge of. They were the side that wanted to maintain the Whitebeard Pirates.
"Ace, you’re leaving now?"
"Yeah. It’s time to start operating outside the territories. We need to show that the Whitebeard Pirates are still alive."
"Then, before you go, I’ll tell you about the stages you’ll need to overcome in the future, so listen carefully."
"There’s still something like that?"
"Yeah. First, Devil Fruit awakening. It’s said to be possible when the user’s mind and body catch up to the fruit’s ability, but that’s just a basic requirement — you also need to understand the fruit you ate."
As I explained about Devil Fruits, Ace began to listen intently.
"What happens when you awaken?"
"The power increases, but also, you can use it on objects as well. Instead, using the awakening ability consumes a lot of stamina."
"I see. So what else?"
"The other thing is that you can use [Conqueror’s Haki] as an offensive tool, like Armament Haki. If you coat it together with [Armament Haki], the destructive power is beyond imagination."
"Oh~ I’ve never heard of that before."
"The Emperors all use [Conqueror’s Haki] as a basic skill. In that regard, you’re lucky. Because there are only a few people in the New World who have [Conqueror’s Haki]."
"That’s fortunate."
"And finally, don’t become arrogant just because you’ve grown stronger. There are plenty of opponents stronger than you. A single wrong judgment on your part could put even your comrades in danger."
I spoke to Ace with sincerity.
"I know. I understand what you’re saying, Taejin. Having gone through the war and learned Haki, I’ve come to understand it to some extent."
Ace seemed to take my words well, but given Ace’s personality, I didn’t know if he could really do that, so I was a bit worried.
"I’m glad you understand. Come here — I have something to give you."
I went to the shore with Ace and, similarly to the original, took out Ace’s ship, the ’Striker’, which I had made, from my inventory. The Striker uses Ace’s ability to store firepower in Fire Dials, using that as propulsion to move quickly.
I haven’t seen the original Striker from the original, but I thought that in terms of technology, strength, speed, and safety, mine would be much better. Plus, I had prepared for emergencies by making it so that it could carry one more person, and the space was arranged so that it could carry quite a bit of cargo as well.
"Oh~! This is awesome?!"
"Your personal ship. I made it. Take it for a spin."
"Thanks! Taejin."
When I showed Ace how to operate the Striker, Ace, excited, spent the whole day sailing around the waters of Sphinx Island on the Striker. He must have really liked it.
Then, when the next day came, Ace said goodbye to Elody and Zala’s group, who had been training with the crew, and left on the Striker. Elody and Zala’s group had also grown quite fond of Ace, it seemed, as they waved until Ace disappeared from sight.
After Ace left, I focused fully on training Elody and Zala’s group.
For Elody, based on the ’Spearmanship of Cú Chulainn’ obtained from the Fate worldview, I modified the techniques to suit her and taught her.
For Zala and Mikita, since they had the characteristic that their abilities grew stronger with stronger physical skills, I focused their training on physical reinforcement.
Gem had already awakened her Devil Fruit, so I trained her to create and throw explosive cards, like the way I use abilities from the Marvel worldview. Because cards are convenient to carry in large quantities.
Marianne, I asked the Whitebeard Pirates to play tag with her all day long. She trained to never be caught using [Observation Haki] and her Trip ability. But she always got caught by Izo. As expected of a Whitebeard Pirates’ commander.
"You still have a long way to go, little lady."
"I’m so frustrated! I could have escaped today..."
While that was happening, Marco’s team also returned to Sphinx Island as their territories stabilized, and all the allied crews returned as well. They gathered on Sphinx Island to relieve their accumulated fatigue, and some of them, seeing Zala’s group training, were motivated and started training themselves. So I supervised their training as well, together with Marco.
I didn’t just supervise training — I also found time to build ships. I needed to build separate ships for Marco’s team to operate on their own. You might say, ’Why not just use the existing merchant ships?’, but those merchant ships were, as the name suggests, cargo ships, with little armament, and they were built for quick escape from dangerous waters, so they were a bit lacking for them, who focus on combat.
Another week passed like that, and finally, the new ships were completed. With the [Material Creation] ability, they were built faster than I expected. The color scheme was harmoniously sky blue and gold, similar to the previous merchant ships, and they were built very sturdy with Adam Wood, befitting warships. And I actively used Dial technology to add a booster function, allowing them to escape dangerous waters quickly — not as fast as the existing merchant ships, but still.
I duplicated the ship thus made with [Material Copy] to increase it to five ships, then stored one in my inventory.
"Magnificent, yoi! So this is the ship we’ll be riding from now on."
"Yes, I made it quite sturdy. Starting tomorrow, I’ll teach you how to operate it, so for a few days, you’ll need to train your crew in ship operation."
"Got it, yoi."
Marco gathered the people and held a meeting.
The results: freewёbnoνel.com
Ship 1: Captain Marco, First Mate Thatch
Ship 2: Captain Vista, First Mate Haruta
Ship 3: Captain Rakuyo, First Mates Kingdew and Speed Jil
Ship 4: Captain Izo, First Mates Namur and Curiel
It was decided like this. The crew sizes ranged from about 250 on the largest team to about 200 on the smallest. Even with that many people boarding, the ships were built large enough to have room.
They boarded their designated ships and did various training for several days, including sailing and gunnery. Since they were crew members who had been operating pirate ships for a long time, they adapted very quickly.
They decided to operate two ships at a time, patrolling the territories and watching for other pirates and the Navy. One ship would be on standby, and the last ship would rest for resupply and maintenance. The ships would be rotated according to schedule. The allied crews would operate on their own, but for some reason, Whitey Bay volunteered to take charge of supply transport, and Little Oz decided to stay on Sphinx Island.
"Haa... now I can finally relax and operate with my old crew. I don’t know why, but Whitebeard was oddly harsh on women."
Whitey Bay, lying on a sunbed in a bikini, chatted with me about various things.
"Really?"
"Yes, really! I don’t know the reason, but he only let women aboard for nursing duties, never as crew members."
"Why didn’t you ask him the reason when he was alive?"
"I did ask, but he said it was because of something that happened in the past? He wouldn’t give me the details."
"I see."
I was curious about that too. Why Whitebeard never used women as crew members.
’Could it be that he found out Shakky had feelings for Rayleigh and was shocked?’
I thought that was a possibility. During the Rocks era, there were many pirates who had feelings for Shakky, and Whitebeard might have been one of them. Then, after finding out that Shakky liked Rayleigh, maybe he lost trust in women, or perhaps he came to see women as only causing trouble.
