Chapter 6 We Pirates
After struggling for a while about why Dazai Osamu didn't bring him any food, Mori Ogai finally helped him "remember" that he had some leftovers from the free meal he had eaten yesterday and packed them up.
When he thought about the free meal incident, Sen Ouwai's mood became a little twisted. Oh, forget it, face is not worth much, as long as nothing happens.
After Ace finished his lunch, he burped in an ungraceful manner, which made Sen Ouwai couldn't help but sigh again.
In less than one day, he sighed almost as many times as he had in the past year.
Because he had slept for so long due to a fever, Ace couldn't stay idle and wanted to go out for a walk after lunch. Sen Ou stopped him and said that he had the habit of taking a nap, so he asked him to lie on the bed for a while and digest the food before going out for a walk.
He felt that the "strolling" that Ace mentioned was different from the "strolling" that he understood. He didn't want to suffer from unnecessary stomach cramps again.
Ace thought about Mr. Ouwai's frail body and had to patiently take a nap.
So Mori Ogai took the opportunity to find out his information under the pretext of chatting.
[Ace, how old are you? I guess you must be very young? ]
[Haha, I am considered young. I am 20 years old and most of my partners are older than me.]
Well...it's true, she is younger than he thought, and it seems like she has never experienced hardship.
[Partners... Ace-kun, what do you and your partners do? 】
[Pirates. We are pirates.] He smiled and said proudly, [Our Whitebeard Pirate Group is the strongest!]
Mori Ogai: [……]
My mind suddenly went blank.
So, in this day and age, there are still people who openly work as pirates? Moreover, he has never heard of the Whitebeard Pirates. And since they are said to be the strongest, he should have heard of them before.
Pirates, as the name suggests, are active on the sea, not in a place with no information. Excluding the possibility of bragging, if they are the strongest, then at least they are in conflict with a relatively powerful force. In this case, it is impossible that they have no reputation at all, unless this pirate group was not in this world before. Otherwise, if the information is blocked to this extent, they must have been wiped out and forcibly blocked and the relevant information was erased.
Mori Ogai thought for a while and asked directly: [Who is your captain? ]
Ace said proudly: [Of course it’s Whitebeard! ]
Mori Ogai: […I was asking for your name, your full name.]
Ace realized belatedly: [Eh? You don't even know Whitebeard, our dad, Whitebeard Edward Newgate, the strongest man in the world!]
...I haven't heard of it.
But according to Ace, such a powerful person should not be unknown.
He saw it clearly yesterday. Although he didn't really fight, the way Ace jumped up and down when he was evading the fast food restaurant clerk's pursuit was not something that ordinary people could do. Moreover, he had said before that he was a fire ability user, and he would complain about his weakness from time to time during the day... From this point of view, Ace must be strong, even very strong. If he were to evaluate, such strength would be enough to be the leader of an underground force.
But such a person sincerely regards someone as the strongest, which means that the person has overwhelming power compared to Ace.
But for such a powerful person, many people in the underground forces should have relevant intelligence. Because of his identity as a pirate, it might even be reported in the newspapers. It is completely impossible that there is no intelligence at all.
So, this Ace-kun is really a visitor from another world?
In order to confirm his guess, Mori Ogai continued to ask: "Then Ace-kun, where are your captain and companions now? Maybe we can find your body first and try to send you back. 】
He noticed that Ace used the term "our dad". Is Ace the captain's son? Not necessarily. If the "we" refers to too many people, he might be an adopted son. Or do all the crew members call the captain dad? If so, does this captain have a habit of being someone's father?
Ace didn't know what he was thinking about that was disrespectful to his father. After hearing his question, his expression suddenly froze and then fell.
[…I don’t know. I am…In my memory, the Navy wanted to execute me, and my father and everyone else launched a war against the Navy Headquarters to save me. But…but, this is a conspiracy of the Navy against my father, and they want to execute me and my father together. I…I had already broken free from the chains that bound me, but…the ability of Admiral Akainu just happened to restrain me, and I…I…]
[You died at his hands.] Sen Ou continued with a clear understanding.
[…Yes.] Ace put his arm over his eyes with a bit of shame and said in a low voice: [Not only did I fail to go back alive with them as everyone wished, I didn’t even get to see whether Dad and the others managed to escape the encirclement of the navy…]
My goodness, it turns out that it’s not that you haven’t suffered before, it’s that you have suffered to death.
Mori Ogai is not a very compassionate person, otherwise he would not be able to do such a thing as the Undead Legion. He was not at all touched by what Ace had experienced, but tried his best to extract the information he wanted from this passage.
It was already confirmed that Ace came from another world. However, he discovered new problems from Ace's self-narration.
He first asked: [Do you have a lot of people in the Whitebeard Pirates?] Are there enough people to start a war with the military of that world?
Because of the image of pirates in his own world and the related history, he was a little skeptical about the water content of this "war". But Ace's answer directly overturned his understanding of the word pirate -
[There are a lot of them. Our pirate group alone has 16 teams, each with about 100 people. We also have 43 affiliated pirate groups. If you add them up, there should be tens of thousands of people.]
This number is a fleet.
[Did all of them come to the war started by the Whitebeard Pirates?] Mori Oogai felt that even if they all came, there should be many who came because of the intimidation of Whitebeard and took advantage of the situation.
However, Ace said: "Of course we came. We have a good relationship with the affiliated pirate group. We are all life-and-death partners. We will not escape at this time."
It seems that the Whitebeard Pirates are quite popular among the affiliated forces. Mori Ogai sighed inwardly and finally asked him: [What reason did the Navy use to execute you? ]
The Navy set a trap for Whitebeard. Ace must be someone extraordinary to have caused such a big storm. And the execution was so fussy that the Navy probably used a public execution to lure Whitebeard in. Not only did they set a trap, they also gave the Whitebeard Pirates a slap in the face.
But being just a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, or just one of the 16 captains, is not enough. Whether it is a reason to lure Whitebeard into an all-out attack, or a reason for a public execution, there must be something else about Ace that the navy values. Special abilities? Or does he know something that the navy shouldn't know? Or... some unknown identity?
[I am... the son of the Pirate King.] Ace was silent for a long time before answering in a low voice. His voice was slightly choked and low, and then he chuckled with self-mockery, [The execution of the son of the Pirate King who started the Great Age of Pirates, the Navy must be eager to announce it to the world, maybe you will see the news of my execution in the newspaper tomorrow.]
Hearing the last sentence, Mori Ogai's mood suddenly became subtle. He said: [I can't see it.]
Ace: […Hmm?]
[Ace-kun,] Morio said calmly, which made Ace's emotions, which were fluctuating due to the memories of the recent tragic events, calm down a little. [I thought you should have noticed? This is not the world you used to live in. Ah, should I not tell you? After all, in this way, being able to live again in my body becomes attractive.]
Fake. Although the tone is sincere, the second half of the sentence is full of hypocritical temptation.
First of all, the fact that Ace could control his body was not something Ace could control, and he himself didn't know anything. Secondly, it didn't matter if he told him, because the world was so different, and he was one of the protagonists of the big event. Even if Moriogai didn't say anything, he would be able to quickly notice it himself. Finally, it all depended on Ace's response to his words -
[Ah? I don't care. We pirates are bastards who only live for today. I didn't intend to control this body, but I don't know what happened yesterday evening...]
If he covets this body of mine, then he must be eliminated; if he has no such thoughts, then it doesn't matter if he keeps it for now...
OK.
Mori Ogai didn't know whether he felt regret or emotion. The other party had really chosen the path of survival without any awareness.
Although people's thoughts are not static, at least now Moriowa can hear that he is serious.
Really, it's just intuition.
And... yesterday evening. He chewed on this sentence and said thoughtfully: [You saw the death of the previous leader. ]
[Ah, I was really shocked to see blood splashed all over my face as soon as I woke up. 】
Mori Ogai: [……]
Hmm? Isn't it intuitive? You are observing me like me! ?
He asked casually: [You came so early, why didn't you say hello to me? ]
[Ah... At that time, I thought I was just a ghost that accidentally attached itself to you. I couldn't get away, and I didn't know how to communicate with you. How stupid it was to talk to myself. ]
Mori Ogai: [……]
That's right, then they are still different, at least the reasons for not speaking out are different.
He was too vigilant. This brat's personality was troublesome in another sense. He didn't know who was more troublesome, compared to that brat Dazai.