“Pops…”

After obtaining Whitebeard’s permission and returning to the deck, Marco only saw the slowly dissipating afterglow of starlight before Whitebeard.

“Has Star Lord left?”

Marco asked with some curiosity, and behind him, Namur and the others also quietly peeked their heads out.

Yes—after learning that Star Lord had directly bypassed their vigilance and boarded the Moby Dick, they naturally had to come check on the situation.

“Mm.”

Whitebeard glanced at the foolish looks on his sons’ faces and shook his head.

Marco grew even more curious: “Pops, what did you and Star Lord talk about?”

Just as mentioned before.

Marco had long noticed that Whitebeard’s attitude toward The Zodiac was quite special—especially toward Star Lord. It seemed like Pops knew something.

So he had long harbored guesses of his own.

“Talked about some things from the past.”

Hearing this, Whitebeard said casually.

“Things from the past?”

Marco was stunned, privately wondering if his Pops really had known Star Lord before.

But why had he never heard about it?

However, before Marco could think too deeply, he heard Whitebeard’s voice again: “Marco, the tide is coming.”

“In the tide of the era, what do you want to do?”

Hearing this, Marco was stunned, involuntarily looking at Whitebeard in surprise.

He wasn’t surprised by the ‘tide of the era’ Whitebeard spoke of—anyone with even a passing understanding of this sea’s situation could see it.

The momentum of The Zodiac was growing ever larger, and the changes across the entire sea over this past year were almost comparable to all the years since Roger’s death combined.

The tide of the era had already arrived; everyone in the Whitebeard Pirates understood this.

But the question was…

“What tide… it doesn’t matter.”

“What matters is that we’ll follow by your side—Pops.”

Marco did not directly answer Whitebeard’s question.

He also understood that Whitebeard seemed to have glimpsed the changes of the future world during his conversation with Star Lord—a giant wave that even Whitebeard, the strongest of the Four Emperors, had to be wary of.

But, just as Marco said.

For everyone in the Whitebeard Pirates, ‘how to deal with the giant wave’ was a question that didn’t need to be thought about at all.

Because they had Whitebeard.

They only needed to be by their Pops’ side.

“We are the Whitebeard Pirates.”

Marco said seriously.

The waves of the era continuously wash everything away, but only they still stand tall.

“…”

Looking at Marco’s ‘Pops replaces the brain, muscles replace thinking’ demeanor, Whitebeard laughed heartily.

Yes.

He is the ‘patriarch’ of the Whitebeard Pirates.

The family built by the forces and islands under his command is his only cherished possession.

So just as he told Rocks in the past—he didn’t want to get involved in the changes of the world, because that would bring danger and trouble to his family.

But the problem was…

“…”

Whitebeard could feel it.

His body was no longer what it once was.

His knotted muscles were still formidable, but no longer young.

His blonde hair had turned white, and the old injuries all over his body sapped his strength every moment.

He was of course still Whitebeard—he could stay out of the world’s changes, because no matter how big the waves grew, he could lead his family through the storm.

But…

He had grown old.

How much longer could he protect them?

Two years? Three years? Five years?

That future giant wave, that destined tide that would change the world—how long would its aftermath last?

Like every patriarch.

Whitebeard began to consider the ‘future’ of his children.

“Your Excellency Newgate, I have a proposal…”

Not long ago, Star Lord’s words still seemed to echo in his ears.

“…”

Whitebeard picked up the wine beside him.

Then, he casually tossed it to a dumbfounded Marco.

“Put it away, brat.”

He shook his head and said casually: “For the time being… this old man is quitting drinking.”

Clearly.

Apart from the people of the Whitebeard Pirates, the rest of the world naturally wouldn’t know.

The strongest of the Four Emperors had quietly met with the Lord of The Zodiac, and the two had even reached some subtle, unspoken understanding.

Especially for Elbaf, isolated as it was in the New World, this was even more true.

For example, right now.

Elbaf’s Upper Realm, Village of Warriors, West Village.

“The east wind blows, the war drums beat, repairing the battle sword, chopping the bone dish…”

“Sola, you sang it wrong! It’s chopping bone and blood—blood acts as wine in the cauldron, head acts as the dish under the bowl.”

“Cut the crap, you can’t beat me anyway! What I sing is right!”

The children of the West Village were singing innocent nursery rhymes while playing their daily little games.

Well, of course.

Whether it was nursery rhymes or games, Elbaf was quite ‘intense’—in normal human kingdoms, several toddlers who clearly hadn’t finished growing shouldn’t be hacking at each other with axes, even if the axes weren’t sharpened.

And what was even more absurd was that while the children fought each other, the giant warriors nearby were actually laughing merrily.

But exactly at this moment—

RUMBLE!

The Upper Realm suddenly began to tremble.

And it wasn’t just the Upper Realm—the entirety of Elbaf seemed to experience an earthquake at this moment. The continuous tremors instantly sent the playing children tumbling, letting out little “ouch, ouch” sounds.

And following closely behind…

“Awoo!”

“Roar!”

From below the Upper Realm, massive roars continuously rang out.

“It’s the beasts of the ‘Underworld’!”

“The ‘Anomaly’ is here again.”

“A riot must have broken out down below again… let’s go, let’s hunt some beasts, otherwise it’ll be endless for the next few days!”

“It must be related to those intruders from before. Who knows where they hid.”

“The Underworld is ‘that Lord’s’ territory. Even he didn’t find the intruders—perhaps those guys already died in the Underworld long ago.”

The expressions of the giant warriors instantly became serious.

They each stood up and picked up their weapons, every face carrying the iconic sharpness belonging to a warrior.

But exactly as they were preparing to move—

“Gegyagyagyagya!”

“Gabababababa!”

Two massive and distinctive laughs rang out.

Dorry and Brogy, gripping a short axe and a giant sword respectively, walked out from their rooms.

And behind them, an old man wearing a horned helmet with a beard dragging on the ground followed.

All the giant warriors immediately showed respectful expressions.

This was only natural.

The Giant race is a warrior nation that worships the strong—although in some past years, certain aspects of their warrior culture had been concealed for a time.

But in recent years, they had reclaimed their glory.

And as the two captains of the Giant Warrior Pirates, Dorry and Brogy naturally represented the warrior ideal, so they naturally commanded respect.

As for that old man, it goes without saying—’Mountain Beard’ Jarul, the strongest of this sea three hundred years ago.

Even across the entirety of Elbaf, he was the legendary warrior with the highest standing!

“Everyone.”

At this moment, Jarul spoke in a deep voice.

“This is the third ‘Anomaly’ in two months. I will immediately go to Orst Castle to report the situation to Prince Regent Hajrudin and request that he send people to investigate.”

“Before that, Dorry and Brogy will lead you to the Underworld to clear out those rioting beasts.”

But just as his words reached this point, the giant warriors laughed loudly: “Why do we need Chief Dorry and Chief Brogy for this?”

“It’s just a pack of beasts—we can handle it!”

But exactly as they were saying this—

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sound of whistling wind came from above.

In the sky, a giant raven descended and landed beside Jarul.

“Caw!” “Caw!”

The raven opened its beak and cawed a few times, clearly communicating with Jarul.

Jarul seemed to understand its meaning.

His expression instantly became solemn.

“Dorry, Brogy… ‘Munin’ tells me that intruders from overseas have arrived near the Spring of Warriors and appear to have entered the ‘Owl Library’…”

He said in a deep voice.

“The Owl Library?”

Hearing this, Brogy and Dorry frowned: “Is it that group of ‘intruders’ from before? Did Biblo fight with them?”

But Jarul shook his head: “No, their identities cannot be confirmed yet.”

“At present, Biblo doesn’t seem to have engaged them—so before that happens, you two take a few warriors to the Spring of Warriors as backup!”

“If the other party resists… capture them!”

☆☆☆

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