There was more than one person approaching.
The heavy footsteps belonged to Marine-issue boots striking the iron deck, while the one being dragged along had a weak, unsteady gait.
The thick smell of blood, sweat, and salty seawater mixed together in the air.
When the sea wind blew, it pushed the scent straight into Zaraki's nose.
Gion, Yamakaji, and the others instinctively frowned and took half a step back.
A pirate, drenched from head to toe with both hands locked in Seastone cuffs, was dragged over by two Marine soldiers.
His body was covered in small wounds, and several strands of seaweed clung to his messy hair as water kept dripping from him in a miserable state.
"Special Envoy Zaraki!"
One soldier saluted.
"We captured this prisoner while cleaning up the outer waters. He approached in a small boat after the battle ended, probably sent to check why Commander Atmos's signal cut off. His mouth is tight. He refuses to say anything."
The pirate raised his head, his bloodshot eyes glaring fiercely at Zaraki as if they were about to spit fire.
His lips moved as though he were cursing something, but because his jaw had been dislocated, he could only make muffled, unclear sounds.
"According to protocol, we need to interrogate him," Yamakaji said, his brows tightly furrowed. "If he's from Whitebeard's side, he may know something about their current movements."
"Information?"
Zaraki glanced at him, the corner of his mouth curving upward.
"You think interrogation will get anything useful out of him? Or are you hoping to find out what meat they're eating at their next banquet?"
His tone was light, but it blocked everything Yamakaji had been about to say.
Indeed, for a pirate crew at the level of an Emperor, the information known by an ordinary crew member was nearly worthless.
Their movements had never depended on meticulous planning in the first place.
"Put his jaw back."
Zaraki suddenly changed his mind. He walked over to the pirate, crouched down, and studied the man's twisted face with interest.
"I happen to be a little bored. Let's hear him tell a story."
A Marine soldier immediately stepped forward, grabbed the pirate's jaw, and forced it back into place.
Click.
"Ah!"
The pirate let out a scream, followed by violent panting.
He greedily sucked in air, and the way he looked at Zaraki was filled with hatred, as if he wanted to tear him apart and swallow him alive.
"You Marine dog... you... you'll die horribly!"
He spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and roared hoarsely.
"If you've got the guts, kill me! Pops will definitely avenge us!"
"Pops? Whitebeard?"
Zaraki picked at his ear.
"He'll come, of course. But before that, I heard things have been lively on your ship lately. Some brat who doesn't know his place has been shouting every day about taking Whitebeard's head, hasn't he?"
The pirate's expression froze instantly.
He stared at Zaraki as if he had seen a ghost, seemingly unable to understand how this Marine knew about something that had only spread aboard the Moby Dick.
Zaraki smiled.
Of course, he did not know. He had simply thrown out a guess.
Judging from the time since Ace left the East Blue, and knowing that guy's personality, after charging into the New World, the person he was most likely to provoke could only be Whitebeard.
Seeing the pirate's reaction, Zaraki knew he had guessed correctly.
"So it's true."
The smile on Zaraki's face deepened.
"Tell me, then. How's that brat doing now? How many bones did he get broken? Or has he already sunk to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish?"
"You...!"
Zaraki's mocking tone made the pirate's chest heave violently.
Judging from the way he kept calling Ace "Boss," he was probably one of the Spade Pirates who had followed Ace onto Whitebeard's ship, and that loyalty had become the one place he could not endure being mocked.
He had been ready to die in silence, but Zaraki's casual insult toward Ace struck that place like a blade.
"What do you know?! Boss Ace, he..."
As if throwing caution to the wind, he shouted.
"He isn't some brat who doesn't know his place! He was carrying out his own will!"
As though the floodgates had opened, or perhaps because he wanted to vent everything before death, the pirate began roaring out the events that had happened aboard the Moby Dick in broken bursts.
"...The ninety-eighth time! Do you understand? Ninety-eight times!"
The pirate's voice carried a strange excitement.
"Every day, Boss Ace charged at Pops! With a dagger, with fire, with every method he could think of! Every single time, Pops pinned him to the ground with one finger, and the blood he coughed up could stain half the deck red!"
The Marines around them exchanged glances.
That was Whitebeard.
Challenging him ninety-eight times?
What kind of perseverance was that?
Or perhaps, what kind of madness?
"Everyone told him to give up. Even that Warlord fish-man, Jinbe, couldn't stand watching anymore. He asked him whether he wanted to die, or whether he wanted to live carrying Pops's name."
"This morning, after failing for the ninety-eighth time, Boss Ace... finally fell silent."
The pirate's voice lowered, as if he had sunk into the memory.
"He didn't struggle to stand like usual. He just lay there, staring at the sky. No one knew what he was thinking."
"Then he said to Pops that he was willing to join us. He was willing to become Pops's son."
"But—"
The pirate's voice suddenly rose.
"He had one request. Pops had to allow him to keep getting stronger, until the day he could defeat the opponent he absolutely had to defeat!"
Zaraki's brow lifted almost imperceptibly.
An opponent he absolutely had to defeat?
"The whole ship went wild! Everyone was cheering! Pops laughed so hard the whole ship shook!"
A look of pride appeared on the pirate's face.
"Pops agreed on the spot. He even laughed and said that if Boss Ace ever managed to beat him, then maybe he could take the captain's seat too!"
"Pops told us to inform all the division commanders and have Commander Atmos hurry back... He said we were going to hold an unprecedented banquet to welcome our new family!"
At that point, the light on his face instantly dimmed. When he looked at Zaraki again, only blood-red hatred remained in his eyes.
"But right then... Commander Marco received a call saying Commander Atmos had encountered you at sea, the Marine they call War Demon... and then the call cut off."
"Boss Ace panicked right away. He rushed over to ask what happened, but... the signal was already gone. Then I was sent over."
The pirate's story ended.
The deck fell into silence, leaving only the sound of wind and waves striking the hull.
Yamakaji and Gion looked at each other, their eyes complicated.
They were shaken by Ace's persistence, but even more by Whitebeard's overwhelming capacity to accept everything.
As for Zaraki, he simply listened quietly, the expression on his face unchanged.
So that was how it was.
That boy from the East Blue, the one who had fought him until the sky and earth seemed to turn over, the one whose heart had been filled with unwillingness, had ultimately chosen another path.
He had become the "son" of the world's strongest man.
Did that count as... admitting defeat?
In Zaraki's mind, he could not help but see Ace's eyes again, burning with flame and refusing to yield.
No.
That guy had only chosen a shortcut that would let him become stronger.
"Heh."
A very faint scoff escaped Zaraki's nose.
The pirate glared at him, seeming to use the last of his strength as he forced out a sentence through clenched teeth.
"You beat our commander... You're strong! But one man was cut down by you in one strike. The other challenged the strongest man in the world nearly a hundred times, failed again and again, but finally earned everyone's respect and recognition..."
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