Chapter 451: The Cost of Becoming a King

Blackbeard clearly hadn’t given up yet; he preferred to believe Lafitte had gotten lost and couldn’t find him, rather than accept that Lafitte had left with the Dark-Dark Fruit.

What if he really got lost?

Maybe right now, Lafitte is waiting for him at the port of Jiayadao with the Dark-Dark Fruit.

Besides, Lafitte had no motive at all.

Blackbeard believed the secret of the Dark-Dark Fruit was known only to him; everyone else on the sea cared more about the Mythical Zoan types.

Moreover, given Lafitte’s hatred for the United Kingdom, he could never betray it.

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

Who else could Lafitte possibly follow?

Go join Whitehair?

Thus, Blackbeard returned to Jiayadao, torn between hope and regret.

Yet he found neither Lafitte nor Lu Bianyi, and even A Long and the Kidd-Kira brothers seemed to have vanished completely.

Blackbeard felt an unprecedented malice.

Whether it was those around him, or Whitehair, Whitebeard, Liling… even the world itself seemed filled with deep hostility toward him.

Is this the price of becoming a king?

Will he ultimately be left utterly alone?

Yet why had Whitehair become the World King, Barzab Seven, in just seven years, starting from nothing?

And why did Whitehair have so many powerful, fiercely loyal subordinates?

How unjust fate was!

Suffering such a crushing blow all at once.

It made Blackbeard suddenly feel as if his life were being controlled by someone else, as if he had been living all along in a carefully woven illusion crafted by another.

Otherwise, why would Lafitte disappear?

The rain kept falling; Blackbeard stared at the empty port and burst into bitter laughter.

“Are you also Whitehair’s man?”

The moment suspicion arose, Lafitte’s past irrational reactions now made perfect sense.

For instance, why had Lafitte despised Morgens’ sycophantic behavior toward Whitehair?

Probably because he hated that it wasn’t himself being fawned over.

Blackbeard didn’t understand: Lafitte was in the Black Crew, yet his heart belonged to Whitehair.

And nine years… nine years of friendship—couldn’t that outweigh your loyalty to Whitehair?

Rage and the humiliation of betrayal by a close brother surged to his head; imagining Whitehair’s smug expression, Blackbeard’s fury overwhelmed him, his vision went black, and he collapsed on the spot.

The other crew members rushed to carry Blackbeard aboard, then looked at each other, uncertain.

The captain was unconscious, the officers were all gone—no one dared make a decision on what to do next.

After all, doing nothing was always safe.

Doing something carried a fifty percent chance of error.

Only Kobi, seeing Blackbeard unconscious, felt his eyes ignite with longing for freedom.

Kobi had to treat this divine opportunity as his one and only chance—if he missed it, he would never escape this hellhole of the Black Crew.

He might not even have a next lifetime.

Recall that not long ago, Blackbeard had nearly strangled him to death.

If not for having grown accustomed to Blackbeard’s abuse over recent months, he might truly have been killed.

As night fell, the Queen’s Ship lit its lanterns; Kobi, exhausted, lay in a makeshift shelter on deck.

Even though he was starving, the crew hadn’t finished eating, so Kobi had no access to food.

And compared to hunger,

Kobi longed more for freedom.

If he could escape the Queen’s Ship and reach the Marine outpost on Jiayadao before the crew noticed, he could break free forever.

Kobi had heard rumors of Blackbeard’s claim to be a Celestial Dragon; they were the noble class of the previous era.

Even the mighty Marine Admirals had to obey the Celestial Dragons’ commands.

Kobi wanted to become a Celestial Dragon.

Then command the Admirals to capture Blackbeard and repay his torment a hundredfold, a thousandfold.

But right now, his urgent task was to flee this hellhole before Blackbeard woke up.

“Kid.” Several burly crewmen dumped a bucket of leftover food before Kobi: “Tonight’s bonus meal. Finish it all.”

Normally, Kobi was always at their mercy.

Now that Blackbeard had collapsed in rage, the crew was in chaos, terrified his wrath might fall on them when he woke.

With nowhere to vent their fear, they dumped all their frustration and resentment onto Kobi—the lowest, weakest, most easily bullied member.

Kobi, at the bottom of the Black Crew’s food chain, became everyone’s punching bag.

Facing a whole bucket of scraps, surrounded by watching crewmen, Kobi had no choice but to eat.

Even when he found stinking socks and cigar butts in the leftovers, he gritted his teeth and ignored them—only by eating could he gather strength to escape.

“That kid Kobi… looks like a dog.”

“Don’t insult dogs.”

“Dogs at least bark twice. This kid has zero manhood.”

Insults and jeers rang in his ears, but Kobi acted as if he heard nothing, devouring the scraps relentlessly.

This sight robbed the crew of their interest in tormenting him; each kicked Kobi once before leaving one by one.

Deep into the night, the rain poured down in torrents.

The Queen’s Ship, moored at Jiayadao’s port, still glowed with lights, but the night watch crew had all retreated inside to escape the storm.

Kobi first stuffed straw into his soaked blanket, then crawled slowly toward the ship’s railing, using all four limbs.

One step, another step, then another.

As the railing drew nearer, his heartbeat quickened, pounding as if it would burst from his chest—just as he was about to escape this hellhole.

Finally, Kobi climbed onto the railing.

In that moment, his longing for freedom completely overpowered his fear of Blackbeard.

If caught, he’d die—could it be worse than this?

But if he escaped, he’d be truly free.

Just then, lightning cracked and thunder roared; Kobi leapt into the sea, using the pounding rain and thunder to mask his frantic swim toward shore.

After what felt like an eternity, Kobi, drenched and gasping, reached the Marine outpost, his face streaked with tears and rain.

“Help! Help me!”

“Save me, please, save me!”

The Marine sentry at the gate had never seen such a pitiful boy—his face bruised and swollen, his whole body covered in wounds.

“Kid, don’t be afraid.”

“Tell Uncle what happened.”

Remembering the horrors he’d endured under Blackbeard, Kobi poured out his suffering.

“Marine uncle, there are human traffickers.”

“Uncle, I’m from the East Blue. Six months ago, I was kidnapped by a gang calling themselves the Blackbeard Club… their ship is still moored at the port.”

“Blackbeard?”

The Marine soldier’s face darkened; Blackbeard had once been a pirate with a bounty of one billion—only a Peacekeeper stationed at the outpost could handle this.

“Go get the base commander at once.”