"Hehe, I've also heard your name for a long time."
Link looked at Teach and smiled meaningfully, "Teach, you've obtained quite a good ability."
"Zehahaha... Just say it, Impaler. Did the Whitebeard Pirates hire you at a price?" Teach had clearly misunderstood.
"No, the Whitebeard Pirates didn't hire me to catch you. I came looking for you on my own."
Link's smile made Teach feel uneasy, and his next words made a cold sweat run down his back. "From the moment you killed the Fourth Division Commander, Thatch, and stole that Devil Fruit, I've been searching the whole world for you, Teach."
"..."
Teach tried to play dumb, forcing a smile. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"It seems you don't fully understand the ability of your fruit. Let me tell you about it!"
Link didn't expose Teach's act, smiling as he explained, "The Devil Fruit you ate, the Logia-type Dark-Dark Fruit, is also the most evil ability in the history of Devil Fruits."
"This Devil Fruit has only one ability, and that is the gravity of a black hole!"
"The gravity is extremely powerful. It prevents the user from becoming elemental because even if they do, any attack will be drawn by the gravity towards their physical body."
"Similarly, just by touching another ability user, the gravity can temporarily absorb their Devil Fruit ability."
"As a price, the user of the Dark-Dark Fruit will experience double the pain."
"At first glance, this ability doesn't seem to deserve the title of 'most evil in history,' since despite its power, it also has a significant drawback."
"But..."
Pausing slightly, Link looked at Teach, who had a dry mouth and was involuntarily swallowing his saliva, and continued, "This ability has a little-known use. It can turn a rumor with an extremely small probability into a 100% reality. And that is... Devil Fruit rebirth!"
As Link's words fell, Teach's face was instantly stunned.
A few seconds later, his cold sweat was gone, replaced by a look of ecstasy as he laughed loudly, "Zehahaha... I really didn't expect this. I didn't think you, Impaler, would know so much about the Logia-type Dark-Dark Fruit."
"That's right! Only I know just how powerful this Devil Fruit's ability truly is. It possesses the power to change the balance of the world!"
If he weren't tied up like a dumpling, Teach would definitely be spreading his arms wide, showing off wantonly right now.
An extremely evil smile appeared on Teach's face again as he extended an invitation to Link, "Impaler, no... Link, join my pirate crew!"
Teach had originally thought that Link had discovered his special lineage.
But no, it was actually because of the Devil Fruit rebirth.
Teach had a similar guess, but he hadn't started to verify it.
Even so, in this world, probably only he and Link knew that the Dark-Dark Fruit could make that rumor of the sea—one with a minuscule probability that few people knew—a reality!
Therefore, Teach greatly admired Link's foresight.
Coupled with the fact that the other party was also a top-tier Logia user, Teach felt an even greater desire to recruit such a talent.
If Link joined, he would have a second-in-command no weaker than the right-hand man of any of the Four Emperors.
Unfortunately, the fantasy was beautiful, but reality was cruel.
"I'm not interested in joining a loser's pirate crew. But..."
Link, of course, knew why Teach was ecstatic. If he wasn't afraid of scaring him, he would have revealed Teach's biggest secret long ago.
If he did that, it would definitely scare the current Teach, who was not yet at full strength.
Link first shook his head, then the corners of his mouth lifted. "We can join forces to do something big, Teach."
"Something big?" Teach looked at Link.
Link's next words once again made a cold sweat run down Teach's back.
"How about we invade Impel Down?"
Link said with a smile, "Inside Level Six's Infinite Hell, there are a few Devil Fruits that I have my eye on."
"Zehahaha... What a bold idea."
Teach said with a forced laugh, "But you probably don't know, Impel Down is located in the Calm Belt, one of the three great strongholds of the World Government. They are all connected by a massive, distorted whirlpool. No matter which one is attacked, Marine Headquarters can provide support at the fastest speed."
"If we were to invade Impel Down, the Marines would probably dispatch an Admiral the moment we stepped through the door."
Teach thought that killing Thatch and stealing the Devil Fruit was crazy enough, but he never imagined Link was the real madman.
Seeing that Teach didn't seem to be lying, Link had a slight realization in his heart. It seemed he had overestimated this schemer.
The Teach from the original story was able to realize his ambitions so smoothly, it was indeed largely due to luck.
Just like Luffy's protagonist plot armor, the Teach of that time had fate on his side; it was hard for him to fail.
So, Link took the initiative to guide Teach, suddenly saying, "I have two of the Seven Warlords in my hands."
"?"
Teach was slightly stunned, not understanding.
Just as Link thought, the current Teach indeed hadn't thought that far ahead.
The reason he was in the first half of the Grand Line was, one, the New World was almost entirely his old man's territory, and he simply couldn't stay there.
Two, he had seen the Encyclopedia of Devil Fruits and was very knowledgeable about powerful Devil Fruits.
Two years ago, he had unintentionally read a news article and remembered a person.
That was Wapol, who had driven the doctors off his island, causing the Drum Kingdom to drop out of the top fifty nations and lose its qualification to participate in the World Conference.
The other party was the user of the Paramecia-type Munch-Munch Fruit.
This Devil Fruit possessed an ability similar to his special lineage: it could devour other ability users and gain their Devil Fruit powers.
Teach had a bold idea: to seize Wapol's Devil Fruit, then recruit powerful ability users, gain their abilities by devouring his comrades, and then hunt other powerful ability users to quickly accumulate capital.
He had planned to do so in the original story, but unfortunately, the cowardly Wapol had abandoned his country and fled first.
Having lost his target, Teach then set his sights on a position among the Seven Warlords, planning to first obtain a legal pirate status and develop discreetly.
At first, he planned to use Luffy as a stepping stone, but the other party, like him, had fate on his side and escaped that calamity.
It wasn't until Ace came looking for him that Teach came up with an even crazier idea.
So, hearing Link's words, he was very confused.
Link didn't keep him in suspense any longer, saying meaningfully, "The person hunting you is the commander of your former division, 'Fire Fist' Portgas D. Ace."
"Zehahaha... That's right. I had to flee the New World to avoid Captain Ace's pursuit."
Teach laughed loudly, feeling no shame at all.
But Link's next words made Teach's smile freeze, and then his ambition swelled to the extreme once again.
Link smiled as he told a story that was enough to shake the world: "He is from the East Blue, lives in Foosha Village in the Goa Kingdom, his grandfather is the 'Marine Hero' Monkey D. Garp, yet his name is Portgas D. Ace."
"Monkey D. Garp has only one son, named Monkey D. Dragon, who is now the infamous Revolutionary."
"The Revolutionary Dragon has a son named Monkey D. Luffy, who is now a rookie pirate from the East Blue."
"Portgas D. Ace is not Monkey D. Luffy's biological brother; they are sworn brothers."
"What's more interesting is that, according to my investigation, many years ago in the Goa Kingdom, there was often a freckle-faced kid at the scrap heap asking villains, 'What would happen if the Pirate King had a son?'"
"If those people spoke ill of Roger, they would be brutally beaten by that freckle-faced kid!"
After finishing, Link looked at the stunned Teach and smiled, "According to what I've heard, back then, Roger turned himself in to Garp."
With that said, as long as Teach wasn't an idiot, he could understand the meaning behind Link's words.
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