Chapter 272: Who Is the Lucky One

Facing Ma Ma Ma Erke's confusion, Whitebeard drained the wine in his bowl in one gulp, wiped his mouth, and said.

"You think everyone is Saint Saint Saiwen."

In terms of top-tier popularity in the pirate world, no one in nearly a hundred years could match the sensational news Saint Saint Saiwen caused within five years.

Almost every few months, Saint Saint Saiwen and the Morning Star Crew would make a huge scene.

Whether it was bravely storming the Marines' Buster Call, kidnapping Celestial Dragons to extort the World Government, or sinking Marineford.

"That's true," Ma Ma Ma Erke said with an awkward smile.

The Whitebeard Pirates finally produced a fierce man, Blackbeard Teach, but he suddenly went silent.

It made people's hearts itch, urgently wanting to know what kind of huge scene Teach would cause next.

Or perhaps he has simply faded into obscurity.

Having sailed the seas for many years, Ma Ma Ma Erke naturally knew: the sea lacked nothing but super rookies; what was lacking was the lucky ones who could rise from super rookies to super powers.

For all these years, only Saint Saint Saiwen has succeeded.

All other great pirates took many years at sea to achieve their current status, such as Xia Luote, Charlotte Lingling, Kaido, and the Golden Lion.

Or those who became Warlords of the Sea: Moria, Crocodile, and Frazza.

Teach counts as one of the fiercest super rookies in the last two years; the other is the Revolutionary Army's super rookie: Sangoma Habai, the Old Man.

Apart from them, super rookies with memorable traits rarely appear on the Grand Line.

Whitebeard seemed to recall something: "The Red-Haired rookie from the Luo Jie Crew is actually quite good too."

"Indeed," Ma Ma Ma Erke agreed wholeheartedly.

Before Saint Saint Saiwen became famous across the seas, the most promising junior from the Luo Jie Crew and the Whitebeard Pirates was actually not Saint Saint Saiwen, but Red-Haired Shanks.

Shanks possessed top-tier talent and willpower, but Saint Saint Saiwen rose to power forcefully a step ahead.

Ma Ma Ma Erke felt regret for Shanks; just how hard must one strive to catch up step by step to a former good brother.

The reason the Nose Buggy was not counted was that Buggy did not follow the usual path; he not only had the Emperor Golden Lion as his guardian, but also the protection of his good brother Saint Saint Saiwen.

Who on the seas does not give Buggy face?

Even the World Government and the Marines, when encountering Buggy, the Vice-Captain of the Flying Crew, now pretend not to see him.

If the Marines were to arrest Buggy again, would the New Marineford, the new headquarters, still be wanted?

Looking at the surging sea, Ma Ma Ma Erke sighed, "I really want to see what Teach is doing."

What is Teach doing?

The first half of the Grand Line, Drum Island.

Within the borders of the Drum Kingdom.

Drum Island is an island where snow falls all year round; within its borders, centered on the castle atop Drum Mountain, which exceeds 5,000 meters in altitude,

several small towns gather at the foot of the mountain.

Drifting all the way from the South Blue, Blackbeard arrived at Drum Island on a small raft, confused and disoriented.

After carefully shaving his beard clean with a dagger, Blackbeard, after layers of disguise, dared to enter the tavern at the foot of Drum Mountain.

Having been a rookie in the Whitebeard Pirates for many years, Blackbeard knew well that taverns were the best places to gather information.

He needed to find out: whether the Arlong brothers and Lafitte had been imprisoned in Impel Down.

If they were indeed imprisoned in Impel Down, he would have to abandon these two crew members and proceed to recruit new ones.

Blackbeard understood that with his current strength, it was impossible for him to cause a scene in Impel Down like the Revolutionary Army's Sangoma Habai, the Old Man, and then withdraw safely.

Rather than risk everything to rescue Arlong, it was better to recruit new crew members more steadily.

The Four Seas are so vast; Blackbeard firmly believed that one day, he would recruit a group of suitable crew members.

At the front desk of the Drum Tavern, Blackbeard handed the wrinkled Berries to the bar owner.

"Three glasses of rum."

"And refill my flask for me."

After spending so many days sleeping under the open sky and eating by the sea, the wine bottle at Blackbeard's waist had long been empty; now, of course, he must reward himself properly.

"Did you hear? A lucky one found a Devil Fruit on the mountainside."

"Really? That kid has struck it rich."

"Of course; it is said the current market price is at least 300 million Berries."

"Yes, yes, yes; my second great-uncle's cousin's grandson's older cousin said: the Emperors of the New World are aggressively buying up Devil Fruits."

Hearing this, Blackbeard quickly covered his upturned mouth to prevent his laughter from being too unrestrained and alerting the snake.

Indeed, those who survive a great disaster are sure to have good fortune afterwards.

Just arriving at Drum Island and encountering such an unexpected surprise; regardless of the type of Devil Fruit, Blackbeard was determined to get it.

Although the Dark-Dark Fruit was the first choice, there were actually other choices, though the other choices were somewhat psychologically uncomfortable.

For example, the Paramecia-type Swallow-Swallow Fruit could also achieve the Dark-Dark Fruit's effect of hunting Devil Fruit users.

However, it could not extract Devil Fruits.

Instead, one must swallow the user to obtain the user's ability.

Blackbeard considered himself to still possess some humanity; he was not perverted enough to the extent of obtaining a second Devil Fruit ability by eating people.

He waited specifically until the chatting guests left.

Blackbeard secretly followed them; with his strength, dealing with these ordinary people, unless he revealed himself, it was impossible for them to discover he was following.

After snapping the necks of two guests in succession, Blackbeard finally found out where Wapol lived.

"Zehahaha~"

How could a child of only ten years obtain such an opportunity? He was destined to become something within Blackbeard's grasp.

Following the information he had gathered, Blackbeard finally found the target's residence at the mouth of the alley.

Lucky one, Uncle Blackbeard is here.

Inside the room, Wapol was holding a purple Devil Fruit with spiral patterns, its center shaped like a fang.

Wapol was deeply conflicted, wanting to sell the Devil Fruit yet reluctant to part with its power.

Though unclear exactly what this fruit was, Wapol had a strange feeling, as if this were the one destined for him.

Just as Wapol prepared to take a bite, the door was kicked open.

A burly man with a fat upper body and slender lower legs burst in, kicked Wapol unconscious without a word, and snatched the Devil Fruit.

Blackbeard grinned and stared intently; surprise, astonishment, and conflict flashed across his face in succession, making his expression extraordinarily dramatic.

"The Paramecia-type Swallow-Swallow Fruit!"

Blackbeard, who knew the Devil Fruit encyclopedia by heart, recognized it as the Swallow-Swallow Fruit at a glance.

Upon eating it, one can swallow anything, turning it into part of one's body, or synthesizing new things.

One can even swallow one's own body to alter one's shape, and has even been able to swallow a user to acquire their power.

By all rights, this was precisely the Devil Fruit Blackbeard urgently needed.

However, compared to the Dark-Dark Fruit, which extracts a Devil Fruit from a user, the Swallow-Swallow Fruit requires swallowing the user to obtain the power.

Blackbeard fell into turmoil.

Without eating it, he could not leverage the Davy family bloodline advantage to consume three Devil Fruits.

If the first Devil Fruit chosen was the Swallow-Swallow Fruit, then for the next two... he would have to capture users alive and eat them.

Just imagining that scene was somewhat horrifying.

"Ugh~" Blackbeard vomited until the sky and earth spun.

After a long while, Blackbeard looked at the unconscious Wapol, did not strike a killing blow, but left with the Swallow-Swallow Fruit.

Whether to eat it or not was truly a big problem.

It was worth considering carefully.