Chapter 717: The Pirate King's Right Hand
["Something is coming!"]
[“So strong! So fast! —Is it in the sea?!”]
[“Could it be the navy? Did they send people to attack us from the sea?”]
[“Impossible! The warships that the navy sent to monitor our movements have all been destroyed!”]
[A few days ago, in a certain sea area in the New World, the pirates on the White Whale stared at the seemingly calm sea surface with vigilance. A black shadow from the water quickly rose up, and finally broke through the sea surface with a "boom", causing a group of waves to jump high.]
[“It’s a person? Only one person?” Some pirates looked surprised. ]
[Among the gathered captains, Marco looked up at the figure that jumped out of the sea and said calmly: "It's him! He actually came here alone when the atmosphere is so tense... Brothers, put away your knives, he shouldn't come to fight us."]
[“Lucky…” The man jumped onto the bow of the White Whale, his long gray hair dripping wet, his old but still sturdy body covered with several scars, seawater trickled down his hairy legs and bare feet. He put on his glasses and smiled, “I was thinking that you guys would head towards Fishman Island…”]
[“The Pluto King, Lei Li?!”]
[Some of the young pirates on the White Whale lost their patience and stared at the old man with long white hair standing on the bow in amazement, "Did he swim here alone with his bare hands?!"]
[“Rayleigh, what are you doing here?” Captain Izou of the 16th Division asked with a frown.]
[“Nothing, I just have something to talk to Whitebeard about.” Rayleigh stood at the bow and did not move for the time being. Although he had a knife hanging behind his waist, he did not intend to reach out to touch it. He glanced at the Whitebeard Pirates on the front deck with a calm demeanor, “Can everyone put down your weapons first? I’m a retired old man, and I don’t want to fight with anyone…”]
[Captain of the Third Division, Joz, crossed his arms and said solemnly: "Then you have come to the wrong place."]
[“That’s right! Pluto, you are not a popular character here!” Other senior members of the White Group also said. ]
[“Sons, let him come over.” Whitebeard’s resonant voice came from far away on the rear deck.]
【“Dad!” Everyone turned around. 】
[Marco sighed: "Since Dad has spoken, there is nothing we can do - young brothers, please retreat first."]
[“Again?” The young pirates thought of something and suddenly felt a little dissatisfied. The last time Red-Haired Shanks came to their ship, they had a similar experience. “Why are these people from Roger’s pirate group——”]
[Pah, pah, Rayleigh threw the two slippers in the clothes tucked under his armpits onto the floor, stepped on them, wrung out the moisture from the clothes, and walked towards Whitebeard at the back of the deck.]
[Bang, bang, bang…]
[Wherever Rayleigh passed, an invisible aura of dominance spread. Many young Whitebeard Pirates fell down with their eyes rolled back and foam coming out of their mouths.]
[“Damn it, didn’t he say…he’s retired…and doesn’t want to…uh…”]
[Many pirates who were barely holding on watched indignantly as Rayleigh walked all the way to the giant-like Whitebeard sitting on the steps of the rear deck.]
[“You’ve become so arrogant now that you’re so old.” Whitebeard lowered his eyes and glared at Rayleigh.]
[Rayleigh raised his head and smiled, "My captain is gone, so as the mate, I have to hold up the show."]
[Whitebeard hugged his muscular arms and snorted, "How dare you say that in front of me!"]
[Rayleigh said: "Newgate, you really look good! You don't look like an old man in his seventies at all."]
[“Stop pretending…” Whitebeard said calmly, “The boy Lynch who treated my injuries back then was invited by Marco from your side. Don’t you know the situation? Or…”]
[“Do you want to try it yourself?” Whitebeard stood up, holding the Kusukumogiri large naginata in his hand. ]
[“It’s a good idea to give it a try!” Rayleigh said with a smile, pulling out the long sword from his waist and waving it towards the large naginata that Whitebeard was slashing at.]
【Boom! 】
[The two weapons collided in mid-air, emitting a burst of black, domineering lightning. The majestic momentum soared into the sky, and the sky was split apart.]
[The entire White Whale pirate ship was shaking slightly during the confrontation between the two. Many pirates on the ship were speechless. It was like this last time when Red Hair came, and how come it was the same scene again this time when Pluto came? Why are all the guys who came off the Pirate King's ship like this...]
[“Well, at a time like this, it’s great to have an old man like you who has retired come all the way here…”]
[After a simple greeting with a knife, Whitebeard and Pluto sat together to drink. The other members of the pirate group, including the captains, had been dismissed by Whitebeard, and the area around the two who were talking privately was empty. ]
[Whitebeard raised his head and took a sip, then asked calmly, "It's for that kid Ace, right?"]
[“Newgate, you really do know Ace’s background.” Rayleigh looked at his old face reflected on the surface of the wine in the giant bowl in front of him.]
[The drunk Whitebeard sneered, as if to say, Is Ace's background so great? Do I care? ]
[Rayleigh suddenly said: "Two years ago, when I saw in the newspaper that Ace became the captain of the second squad on your ship, I was surprised..."]
[After a pause, he looked up and asked, "Whitebeard, does Ace really hate Roger that much?"]
【“…” Whitebeard was drinking by himself. He looked at Rayleigh with a wry smile and shook his head, then raised his huge bowl and drank it down. “He is willing to acknowledge you as his father, have Whitebeard’s pattern tattooed on his back, and live with your name… That kid really wants to draw a line between himself and his father, the Pirate King Roger. Is that right?”】
[Putting down the giant bowl, Rayleigh wiped the corner of his mouth and sighed: "...I just want to clarify this issue first, that's all."]
[“What if I answer ‘yes’?” Whitebeard asked, “What will you do?”]
[“Then…” Rayleigh said after a moment of silence, “I can only respect Ace’s decision. Since he has chosen you as his partners and does not want to have anything to do with Roger, his life and death can only be left to you.”]
[“Gulala! Gulala…”]
[Whitebeard suddenly raised his head and laughed. Marco and others on the deck in the distance heard it and couldn't help wondering what his father and Pluto were talking about that made them laugh.]
[The laughter gradually died down, and Whitebeard said to Rayleigh, who was also somewhat puzzled, "Ace...he lost a bet with me, and I took him away to be my son."]
[“Ah?” Rayleigh was startled, obviously not expecting this answer.]
[“At that time, this guy went through so much trouble to get on my ship…” Whitebeard raised his head and took two gulps of wine, recalling, “He didn’t do it to take my head, nor did he want to become famous by challenging me. He just wanted to find me, his father’s former opponent, to ask a simple question - what kind of person is his father?”]
[“…” Rayleigh sighed slightly with a complicated expression and drank silently.]
[“I can’t scold my father in front of my son.” Whitebeard shook his head and drank, “But let me praise Roger? Spare me!”]
[Rayleigh couldn't help laughing and took two gulps of wine.]
[“After all, even if Ace knows a lot about Roger, what does it matter? Roger is dead after all!”]
[Whitebeard looked at the wine gourd in his hand and said calmly, "Chasing the shadow of a dead person with that kind of mood will only increase sadness..."]
【Rayleigh drinks silently.】
[“Rayleigh, how many times have we fought? You should know me well... Whenever I see the poor kid who longs for his family’s care, I can’t bear to let him wander alone again.” Whitebeard sighed slightly, and a gentle smile appeared in the corners of his wrinkled old eyes. “So... I made a bet with that kid. If he can burn off one of my hairs within three days, I will tell him everything I know about Roger.”]
【“And then?” Rayleigh asked. 】
[“Are you looking down on me? It would take a hundred years for a young man like him to hurt a hair on my head!”]
[Whitebeard pretended to be unhappy and drank the last bit of wine in the wine gourd. In the end, he couldn't help but smile.]
[At the beginning, after the agreed three days, Ace finally failed miserably. He accepted the defeat and agreed to join Whitebeard's army...]
[“Gulala, your father was as good as me back then!”]
[Hearing Whitebeard say this, Ace was stunned. He looked up and saw Whitebeard extending a big, generous hand towards him. He asked gently, "Ace, be my son."]
…
[“All coated! Sink! Target Fishman Island!”]
[The White Whale sank into the sea. Standing on the bow and looking at the dark seabed, Rayleigh suddenly asked: "Newgate, did you really take Ace into your service just because you sympathized with him?"]
[“Gulala…”]
[Whitebeard laughed when he heard this, "Rayleigh, unlike you, I am still a pirate! Since I am a pirate, if I am robbed, I will find a way to get it back..."]
【Rayleigh looks back.】
[“That bastard Roger stole a brother from me back then,” Whitebeard snorted, “Is it not too much for me to steal his son now?”]
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
[Rayleigh laughed, then felt a little sad. Both Oden and Roger are gone.]
[“It’s not excessive.”]
[Rayleigh put his hand on the hilt of the knife, looking at Whitebeard's territory, Fishman Island, which was just in front of him as a transit point, and said to himself, "It's not too much to have one more person on the ship that rescues Ace, right?"]
【"certainly!"】
[Whitebeard waved his hand nonchalantly, "As long as you don't hold us back..."]
…
"Whitebeard... Pluto... these two guys actually teamed up?!"
At the public execution site in Marinford, standing next to Ace on the execution platform, Admiral Sengoku looked solemnly at the two legendary pirates on the bow of the Moby Dick.
Any one of these two people who showed up would attract everyone's attention, not to mention that as opponents of the enemy ship back then, they were actually standing together at this moment. For a moment, no matter the 100,000 marines on the scene, or the ordinary people and pirates from all over the world who were watching all this through the broadcast screens, they were all shocked.
Under the gazes of countless people, Whitebeard crossed his arms, growled, and punched the air on both sides heavily.
Crack! Crack! Whitebeard punched the air on both sides of his body, creating cracks visible to the naked eye, and the air spread out like a spider web.
Wherever the air crack went, the sea surfaces on both sides seemed to be squeezed by an invisible force, piled up high, and spread out towards the distant sea surface like wrinkles.
What happened? Many marines were shocked, nervous and alert, but also a little confused. What did Whitebeard do? "Why do you care about me?!"
Ace's roar suddenly came from the execution platform. He lowered his head and gritted his teeth, blaming himself, "It was me who ignored your advice and failed others' well-intentioned advice... It's all my own fault that I ended up like this. Why did you come here?"
"Ace! Listen carefully..." Whitebeard leaned on his naginata at the bow and calmly faced Ace's painful roar, "A father is someone who can forgive any mistake his child makes. Is there any father in the world who can watch his son die in front of him?"
"..." Not only Ace, Rayleigh was also deeply touched by Whitebeard's words. Pluto sighed, stood up, and said with emotion: "Don't you know how to say good things for Roger?"
"Don't get me wrong," Whitebeard said calmly, "Did I mention Roger?"
Rayleigh just smiled and slowly drew out the long sword from his waist. "I haven't done this kind of activity for a long time. I wonder if I can still handle it?"
"Really, these guys are causing too much trouble..." Aokiji, who was sitting in one of the three chairs below the execution platform, stared straight at the two people on the top of the White Whale in the distance ahead.
Akainu said beside him: "Isn't it too late to say such things now?"
"How annoying..." Kizaru said listlessly.
"Rayleigh! Why are you doing this?" Ace, kneeling on the execution platform, shouted with red eyes, "I am already a member of the Whitebeard Pirates! It has nothing to do with you -"
"Is it related?"
Rayleigh looked up and thought for a moment, then said, "Ace, do you know? Roger's favorite sword is one of the twelve supreme swords. Its name... is 'Ace'."
Among the marines on the shore, Hawkeye, who was carrying one of the supreme swords, moved his eyes.
"..." Karp sighed in confusion.
"Old man..." Ai was stunned and stared blankly at the two figures on the bow of the White Whale.
"The world calls me the 'Pirate King's Right Hand'..."
Rayleigh gently turned the long sword in his hand, and a strong and domineering aura wrapped around the blade like flowing water.
"Although the 'Pirate King' is gone, the most important 'treasure' he left behind is mine. As his 'right hand', I have to hold on to it tightly for him!
"What do you say, 'Ace'!!"
Rayleigh raised his eyes, and as he shouted, a fierce and domineering aura swept out, and at the same time, he swung the knife fiercely forward.
Boom!
A majestic and domineering aura gushed out, bursting out with black lightning.
Rayleigh's blade slashed straight towards the execution platform where Ace was. It could almost be said to be an exaggerated flying slash. In a blink of an eye, it swept hundreds of meters and flashed past the heads of tens of thousands of astonished navy soldiers.
"Oh no!" Many lieutenant generals in the headquarters looked grim and drew their swords in a hurry, but it was too late.
“How terrible…”
Under the execution platform, Kizaru was about to deal with the shocking slash coming from the front with Akainu and Aokiji. Just as he was about to make a move, he saw Hawkeye in the crowd below, who had already pulled out the supreme sword behind him - the Black Blade Night. Before anyone could react, he had already slashed out. The slash was no weaker than Rayleigh's, and the huge slash that flew up from bottom to top almost perfectly collided with Rayleigh's slash towards the execution platform.
Bang! The two slashes collided in mid-air and exploded. Under the astonished gaze of everyone, a burst of light that made their hair stand on end was aroused. No matter which of these two slashes landed on them, they would probably be killed or injured! "The right hand of the Pirate King... You are also a powerful swordsman." Hawkeye held the black knife and looked at Rayleigh on the bow of the White Whale in the Crescent Bay through the crowd.
Rayleigh smiled faintly and said, "Oh? What an honor! I'm praised by the world's greatest swordsman?"
Everyone was shocked!
But before the navy could be shocked by the confrontation between the two world-class swordsmen, they felt an increasingly obvious vibration coming from the sea far away on both sides of Marinford...
Two huge tsunamis hundreds of meters high rushed towards Marinford with a terrifying momentum that could destroy the world!
The apocalyptic scene made some Marines look pale.
"Don't be careless, that man is Whitebeard!" Zhan Guo shouted wildly on the execution platform, "He has the power to destroy the world!!!"
This world-leading war has truly begun!
(End of this chapter)