After taking in Edward Newgate, the number of crew members on Silas's ship officially reached four. From now on, Rocks would not have to clean the deck alone every day. He would have Edward Newgate accompany him in the mundane chores.
That was right.
Although they had gained another crew member, Rocks's status as an intern had not changed. Not only was he still an intern, but Edward Newgate was also an intern now.
Two future legends of the seas working as interns?
Silas smacked his lips with satisfaction.
He felt like his days were becoming more and more promising.
And after he took in Whitebeard, the system that had barely shown any presence suddenly displayed several lines of glitched text.
Sea Calendar 1481, February. You have encountered the future Sea Emperor, Whitebeard Edward Newgate. He greatly admires your crew member Rocks and solemnly extends an invitation to you.
"Become my son!"
Accept/Decline?
Ding! Congratulations on becoming Whitebeard Edward Newgate's father!?
The characters that popped up on the system panel seemed to glitch erratically, and after a while, they continued appearing as if nothing had happened.
You have achieved an impossible accomplishment.
You have awakened advanced Observation Haki application: Foresight of the Future: 1s. Confirming you have already mastered advanced Observation Haki application, the reward has been stacked.
You have mastered Observation Haki: Foresight of the Future: 3s.
System rewards could stack!?
Recalling the reward he had received for initially "defeating" Rocks, something about mastering the Marine Six Powers, his proficiency with the Six Powers had long been maxed out, so even stacking system rewards would not provide much improvement.
Observation Haki was different.
Although Silas's Observation Haki had already reached the top-tier level of foreseeing the future, foreseeing one second into the future was still foresight, and so was foreseeing ten seconds.
Silas could only foresee two seconds into the future.
Now, after the system stacked rewards, he could foresee three seconds into the future, essentially directly improving his Observation Haki's foresight time by half.
What about Armament Haki?
Silas thought about Charlotte Linlin's favorability mission that rewarded advanced Armament Haki application. He had not paid much attention to it before since he already knew advanced Armament Haki applications.
But if he could further enhance his Armament Haki's strength, then even if he could not yet use Conqueror's Haki coating, the next time he encountered Rona or Harald, winning would definitely be easier.
Because at his level, improvements in both Armament and Observation Haki became extremely difficult. Devil Fruit abilities, physique, swordsmanship, and Haki had all been developed nearly to their limits. Any slight improvement could cause a qualitative change in his strength.
And the system's rewards were not finished yet.
Besides the Haki enhancement reward, there was also the usual cellular activity improvement reward and a Devil Fruit with strange patterns.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit!
This was much more generous than the reward Silas had initially received for defeating Rocks.
"I was wondering where to find the Tremor-Tremor Fruit for that kid. Now the system has directly provided one."
Silas was in an excellent mood.
Although Whitebeard without the Tremor-Tremor Fruit still possessed top-tier three-color Haki, having it and not having it were definitely different.
However, Silas did not plan to directly give the Tremor-Tremor Fruit to Edward Newgate. Instead, he planned to train him first, just like he had with Rocks.
Moreover, he had to consider Rocks's feelings somewhat.
Silas knew about Rocks's future achievements.
But Rocks did not!
No matter how much he boasted that Haki's future potential exceeded Devil Fruit abilities, the strength increase that Devil Fruit abilities provided in the early stages was real and substantial.
Silas formulated a comprehensive training plan.
From now on, Silas would regularly give lectures to Ripley, Rocks, and Newgate. After the lectures, he would train Ripley, Ripley would train Rocks, and Rocks would train Newgate.
Occasionally, they would have ranking matches.
The gap between the three might still be large now, but the further along they went, the more difficult strength improvements became, and the gap between the three would gradually narrow.
Both Ripley and Rocks's goals were to further master Armament and Observation Haki.
Newgate's goal was to learn the Six Powers.
The deadline was tentatively set for one year.
Meanwhile, on Sphinx, another piece of explosive news was fermenting.
The White Wolf Pirates had robbed Heavenly Tribute!
This kind of news could not be hidden, especially since when Silas and crew repelled the Marines guarding the cargo ship, there had been many accompanying workers aboard.
With so many people, how could the news possibly be concealed?
The reason the news was only emerging now was because the World Government and Marines had applied tremendous pressure, since this was a blow to both the World Government's and the Celestial Dragons' prestige.
But the one-month deadline had long passed. Even though the World Government repeatedly ordered the Marines to quickly find Silas's White Wolf Pirates, the sea was so vast. If you could not find them, you could not find them!
So the news finally reached Sphinx.
"Good heavens, worthy of being the White Wolf Pirates! They even dared to rob the Heavenly Tribute that member nations contribute to the Celestial Dragons!"
"That was Heavenly Tribute! No wonder the black market has had so many precious treasures lately that we normally never see. They were all robbed from the Celestial Dragons."
"Hahahaha, good robbery! Excellent robbery! Those damned Celestial Dragons have finally met their match!"
A group of pirates were all shocked by the White Wolf Pirates' audacity. After all, what the White Wolf Pirates had done was essentially slapping the World Government in the face.
If it were before, they might have had some ideas about these treasures. No matter how strong White Wolf Silas was, could he really withstand them all rushing him at once?
Then reality proved he really could!
The three great pirate crews originally entrenched in Sphinx had all fallen. These smaller pirate crews, even if they banded together, would not be enough for Silas to defeat with one hand.
Legendary great pirate!
In some pirates' eyes, Silas already had the bearing of those legendary pirates who had once dominated the seas. All he lacked was a famous battle.
Ordinary great pirates, even defeating two or three, would not prove anything.
The only thing that could prove strength was a Marine Admiral!
"Achoo!"
One of the three Marine Admirals, Crimson Horse, lay on a beach chair on his warship. Half a month of continuous toil had nearly drained his body, making even the two beautiful female slaves beside him seem uninteresting.
"Admiral Crimson Horse, please show some restraint. If we encounter the White Wolf Pirates..."
"Do I not still have you?"
Crimson Horse Sebastes curled his lips dismissively. "I know that old geezer White Wolf Silas's strength best. Without some tricks, his strength is inferior to yours. Even if he has improved somewhat, he could not possibly defeat our combined forces."
"Poor old me. I am almost retired, yet I am still being dragged out to work overtime."
[Chapter Complete]
***
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