Chapter 433

"Captain, have you forgotten your dream?"

"You’re the man destined to become King of the World—how can you waste your energy on women?"

Blackbeard pulled up his pants, opened the door, and looked at Lafitte with a helpless expression.

"Brother."

"I need to leave an heir for the Davis clan!"

These words instantly disrupted Lafitte’s spellcasting rhythm, leaving him frozen in place: perhaps he really should leave an heir.

After all, in a certain sense, Blackbeard was the last surviving descendant of the Davis clan—not counting the clone created by the Science Defense Department.

Blackbeard sighed.

"Lafitte, we’ve spent eight full years sailing the seas under the guise of merchants—eight years! Even a Peacekeeper needs a factory overhaul!"

"And after all these years of hard work, shouldn’t we enjoy ourselves a little?"

At these words, Lafitte quickly changed the subject.

"Captain, Brother A Long is about to be released from prison."

As long as Blackbeard wasn’t giving up, fine—he’d rest for a few days, then come back to push him back to sea.

"A Long?"

Blackbeard’s memories were instantly dragged back years—to the scenes of A Long embracing him and leaping into the sea to escape, as if it had happened yesterday.

Among all the crew of the Blackbeard Pirates, A Long’s loyalty ranked second only to Lafitte’s.

"Exactly when?"

"In seven days," Lafitte explained:

"His original sentence was two and a half years left—I bribed the Deputy Warden of Impel Down, Fuzi Fu, with five hundred million Berries to get A Long released early."

In truth, Lafitte had done nothing at all.

He’d merely called Fuzi Fu, invited him to play along in a little drama, to inspire Blackbeard to regain his confidence.

Hearing this, Blackbeard’s interest was instantly piqued.

"Fuzi Fu? I thought he was from the Morning Star Clan. Wouldn’t he have money?"

"Heh," Lafitte chuckled lightly:

"Captain, who ever has too much money? Besides, Fuzi Fu’s just a marginal figure in the Morning Star Clan—that’s why he got exiled to Impel Down."

Blackbeard’s eyes lit up: "Tell me more."

"It’s said that around the time the United Kingdom was founded, Fuzi Fu offended Saint Seven, and since then, he’s been pushed out to Impel Down."

Hearing this, Blackbeard paused.

"Lafitte, quickly prepare a ship—I’m going with you to Impel Down to pick up Brother A Long. Also, arrange a meeting with Fuzi Fu. I have questions for him."

"Captain," Lafitte rubbed his hands: "Fuzi Fu’s asking for a high price. Can you lend some funds?"

"Is two billion enough?"

"More than enough."

The reason he was willing to spend so heavily was that Blackbeard had too many unanswered questions.

For instance, had the man behind the Five Elders—the true ruler of the World Government—been completely eradicated by Little White Hair?

During the Battle of God Valley.

As a child, Blackbeard had witnessed Imu possess Saint Satan and unleash overwhelming power, and had seen Imu control the entire process of Lox’s domination.

After that battle, Blackbeard knew: that shadow was the true ruler of the World Government, a god above the Five Elders.

Yet the United Kingdom had executed only the Five Elders, saying nothing at all about the shadow behind them.

Blackbeard realized: this was his opportunity.

If the shadow still lived, perhaps he could temporarily set aside his hatred and unite against their common enemy: the King of the World, Little White Hair.

After toppling the United Kingdom, he could then find a way to kill the shadow and avenge the Davis clan.

After all, nine years had passed—the United Kingdom’s rule was now deeply entrenched, far beyond what a single pirate crew could overthrow.

Across the entire sea, besides that mysterious shadow, who else could Blackbeard possibly ally with?

The Marines? Little White Hair’s people.

The Army? Little White Hair’s people.

The Air Force? Little White Hair’s people.

The Four Emperors? Blackbeard suddenly stopped Lafitte: "Contact Stussy as soon as possible—find out where Big Mom is."

Among the Four Emperors of the New World, Whitebeard and Gold Lion are both Little White Hair’s men, and Kaido is about to become his father-in-law—only Big Mom has vanished without a trace.

This gave Blackbeard another glimmer of hope for alliance.

"Understood, Captain."

The latter half of the Grand Line, the New World.

On the deck of the Red-Headed Red Fox, with its dragon-headed white sails, Shanks gazed far off at the towering Red Line, his crew behind him.

"Captain, you’re already thirty-one. Saint Seven is getting married—when are you going to marry Miss Machino?"

Facing his crew’s teasing, Shanks laughed twice, masking the faint blush creeping up his ear.

"Don’t go saying things like that—I’ve always been perfectly innocent with Machino. If Seven finds out, he’ll take her straight to the Holy Land."

With that, Shanks turned to Buggy.

"Keep a close eye on that thing—don’t let it slip away again. This is our wedding gift to Seven."

Compared to Blackbeard’s eight-year search that yielded no Dark-Dark Fruit, Shanks’ crew had clearly been lucky—they’d actually found the fruit known as the Gum-Gum Fruit, which was in truth the Mythical Zoan form of Nika.

"Don’t worry," Buggy muttered, smoking a cigarette.

"I sleep with it every night now."

During these past eight years of traveling the Four Seas, Buggy had finally gained some experience: both the Gum-Gum Fruit and the Dark-Dark Fruit possessed self-awareness—and were extremely skilled at avoiding danger.

The Red-Haired Pirates had tracked both fruits multiple times, only to miss them every time—until recently, when they finally secured the Gum-Gum Fruit.

As for the Dark-Dark Fruit—better not mention it.

The Dark-Dark Fruit was even sneakier than the Gum-Gum Fruit.

As they drew closer to the Sky City, Shanks suddenly muttered under his breath.

"I wonder if Little Uta still remembers me."

In these eight years, Shanks and his crew had traveled every corner of the Four Seas, returning only a few times to visit Uta and her brother Shamrock when passing near the Sky City.

Buggy picked up the thread: "I heard from Mihawk that Uta really likes playing with Karp’s grandson, Luffy."

This was one reason Shanks was eager to return to the Holy Land—even without finding the Gum-Gum Fruit, even if Seven hadn’t married, Shanks still had to come back: mainly because he feared his precious daughter was falling for someone too early.

Shanks didn’t understand.

Uta had plenty of girls around her—older ones like Hancock, Robin, Yamato, Perona; younger ones like Whitebeard’s daughter Istaru, Gold Lion’s adopted daughter Nami, and Nokigao.

So what was so special about that brat Monkey D. Luffy?

He wasn’t even half as good as the Captain’s son, Ace.

Yet for some reason, Uta loved playing with Luffy—according to Mihawk’s words, the two kids were childhood friends, innocent and pure.

Shanks simply couldn’t accept it.

Even though Uta was only thirteen and Luffy eleven—far from romance—Shanks guarded against Luffy like a thief.

This time, returning to the Holy Land’s Sky City, Shanks had no plans to leave anytime soon.

One reason was his own marriage to Machino; the other was to prevent Luffy from sneaking into his home.