Chapter 451: The Price of Wanting to Become a King

Blackbeard clearly had not given up hope entirely, preferring to believe Lafitte had gotten lost and could not find him rather than accept that Lafitte would leave with the Dark-Dark Fruit.

What if, what if he really got lost?

Perhaps right now, Lafitte was waiting for him to return at the port of Jiayadao, carrying the Dark-Dark Fruit.

Besides, Lafitte had absolutely no motive.

The secrets of the Dark-Dark Fruit, Blackbeard believed only he knew; everyone else on the seas cared more about the Mythical Zoan types.

Moreover, given Lafitte's hatred for the United Kingdom, betrayal was simply impossible.

Across the entire sea, only he, Blackbeard, was willing to shoulder the burden of overthrowing the United Kingdom.

Apart from him, who else could Lafitte follow?

Go join Little Bai Mao?

Thus, with a conflicted mind torn between expectation and regret, Blackbeard returned to Jiayadao.

However, he found neither Lafitte nor Lu Bianyi, and even Arlong and the Kikiji brothers seemed to have vanished completely.

Blackbeard felt a malice unlike any he had ever experienced before.

Whether it was those around him, or Little Bai Mao, Whitebeard, Charlotte Lingling... even this entire world held intense malice toward him.

Is this the price one must pay to become a King?

To end up as a lonely, isolated figure?

Yet why did Little Bai Mao, starting with nothing, become the King of the World, Saint Seven, in just seven years?!

And why were there so many powerful and utterly loyal subordinates by Little Bai Mao's side?

How utterly unfair fate is!

Suffering such a devastating blow so rashly.

Made Blackbeard suddenly feel a delusion: as if his life was under someone else's control, and he had been living in an Illusory Realm carefully woven for him by someone.

Otherwise, why would Lafitte have vanished?

The rain kept falling; Blackbeard stared at the empty port and let out a voiceless laugh.

"Could you also be Little Bai Mao's man?"

The moment the suspicion arose, Lafitte's previously unreasonable reactions now all seemed perfectly reasonable.

For instance, why did Lafitte hate Morgans' various acts of flattery toward Little Bai Mao?

Probably because he hated that the person being flattered wasn't himself.

Blackbeard couldn't understand: Lafitte was physically in the Blackbeard Pirates, yet his heart was clearly with Little Bai Mao.

Besides, nine years... nine years of friendship, weren't they worth more than your loyalty to Little Bai Mao?

A surge of rage and the humiliation of betrayal by a good brother rushed to his head; especially thinking of Little Bai Mao's triumphant expression, Blackbeard, overwhelmed by anger, went blind in his eyes and fainted on the spot.

Seeing this, the other crew members hurriedly helped Blackbeard onto the ship, then looked at each other, and each other looked back.

The captain was unconscious, the officers were all absent, and not a single person dared to make a decision on what to do next.

After all, doing nothing would never be wrong.

Doing something carried a fifty percent chance of error.

Only Koby, seeing Blackbeard fall into unconsciousness, suddenly felt a burning desire for freedom in his eyes.

Koby had to treat this heaven-sent opportunity as the only chance of his life; once missed, he would never be able to leave the Blackbeard Pirates, this den of demons, in his entire life.

In fact, there likely wouldn't even be an entire life left.

He had to remember that not long ago, Blackbeard had almost strangled him to death.

Had Koby not already adapted to the intensity of Blackbeard's abuse during this recent period, he might truly have been strangled to death.

As night fell, the Queen's ship lit up its lamps, and Koby dragged his exhausted body into a makeshift shelter built on the deck.

Even though he was starving, since the crew members hadn't finished eating yet, Koby had no source of food.

And compared to hunger.

Koby desired freedom even more.

As long as he could leave the Queen's ship and reach the Marine port on Jiayadao before the crew members discovered him, he could completely escape this sea of bitterness.

Regarding the World Noble identity Blackbeard had spoken of, Koby had heard a little; the World Nobles seemed to be the world's aristocrats from the previous era.

Even the high-and-mighty Marine Admirals had to obey the World Nobles' orders.

Koby wanted to become a World Noble.

Then order a Marine Admiral to capture Blackbeard alive and return Blackbeard's torment to him a hundred times, a thousand times over.

But the immediate priority was to escape this den of demons before Blackbeard woke up.

"Kid." Several burly crew members carried a bucket of leftovers and placed it before Koby: "Tonight you get an extra meal; you must finish it."

In ordinary times, Koby was already at everyone's mercy.

Now that Blackbeard had collapsed from anger, the other crew members were in chaos, fearing that Blackbeard's rage upon waking would spill over onto them.

With nowhere to vent their inner fear, the crew members dumped all their irritability and suppressed grievances onto Koby, who had the lowest status, was the weakest, and easiest to bully.

Koby, at the very bottom of the Blackbeard Pirates' ecological chain, became the punching bag for everyone to vent their violence.

Facing a whole large bucket of leftovers, with crew members surrounding him to supervise, Koby had no choice but to start eating.

Even when he found a smelly sock and a cigar butt in the leftovers, Koby still gritted his teeth and ignored them, after all, only a full stomach would give him the strength to escape.

"Koby kid... looks just like a dog."

"Don't insult dogs."

"Dogs know to bark at least twice; this kid has no manliness at all."

Mocking and abusive words continued to ring in his ears, but Koby seemed not to hear them, still devouring the leftovers on his own.

Such a scene actually made the crew members lose interest in torturing Koby; after each kicking him once, they left one by one.

Night had deepened, and a torrential rain poured down.

The Queen's Ship, docked at the port of Jiayadao, remained brightly lit, yet the crew on night watch had long since retreated into the cabins to shelter from the rain.

Kobi first stuffed straw into his sodden bedding, then used both hands and feet to slowly crawl from the shack toward the railing of the Queen's Ship.

One step, one step, and another step.

As he drew closer to the railing, Kobi's heartbeat quickened, as if it would burst from his chest, just as Kobi was about to flee this den of demons.

Finally, Kobi climbed onto the railing.

In that moment, Kobi's longing for freedom in his eyes completely overcame his fear of Blackbeard in his heart.

Being discovered by the crew would mean nothing more than death; could it be worse than it is now?

But if he escaped, he would be completely free.

Just then, lightning flashed and thunder rolled; Kobi leaped into the sea, and taking advantage of the rain striking the deck and the sound of thunder, he swam frantically toward the shore.

After an unknown duration, Kobi, soaked like a drowned rat, ran panting to the entrance of the Marine Branch, his face mixed with tears and rainwater.

"Help! Help!"

"Save me, save me!"

The Marine soldier on duty at the branch entrance had never seen such a wretched boy; not only was his face bruised and swollen, but every inch of his body was injured.

"Child, do not fear."

"Tell uncle, what exactly happened."

Recalling the miserable ordeal of being tortured by Blackbeard during this time, Kobi hurriedly poured out the grievances in his heart.

"Marine uncle, there are human traffickers."

"Uncle, I am from the East Blue; half a year ago, I was kidnapped by a gang of human traffickers who called themselves the Blackbeard Club... their ship is currently in the port."

"Blackbeard?"

The Marine soldier's expression turned Serious; Blackbeard was, after all, a pirate with a bounty of one billion, so they must deploy the Pacifistas guarding the branch.

"Go quickly and request the Base Commander, my lord."