Mock's broadcast had enraged both the World Government and Marine HQ. The authorities agreed unanimously: this pirate could not be allowed to live. Capture him immediately, or better yet, kill him on sight. Under the Gorosei direct orders, Marine HQ shifted its entire operational focus to hunting down Mock.
Orders were issued to branches stationed in the New World and along the Grand Line: commit full resources to finding his whereabouts. He could not be allowed to run wild any longer.
The World Government raised the bounty once again. Mock's poster now stood at two billion Berries.
Two billion Berries.
In the entire New World, that figure belonged to no one outside the Four Emperors. Not even the top commanders of an Emperor's crew had reached that level of infamy.
He was already a Emperor in many ways.
Some pirates in the New World had already started calling Mock the Fifth Emperor, the fifth ruler of the seas. And the inflation didn't stop there. Everyone else on his ship now had bounties if they didn't before, and existing ones saw massive spikes.
Mohji and Cabaji both broke the hundred-million mark, one at 120 million Berries, the other at 130 million. Overnight, they had shot straight to the top of the pirate hierarchy.
They trembled with sheer joy, eyes bulging at the wanted posters, frozen in place by the overwhelming excitement.
The same went for Ace and Teach, who had been on the ship at the time of the broadcast.
Ace's bounty shot from 550 million Berries to a flat one billion, making him the second member of the Whitebeard Pirates to break the billion mark.
As for Teach, the quiet one, the man who always played the honest fool, the World Government had its eyes firmly on him now because of that incident. They slapped a 500-million Berry bounty on his head, instantly making him the third-highest earner in the Whitebeard Pirates.
When Teach saw that wanted poster, his face turned a sickly pale.
He had spent decades lying low in the Whitebeard Pirates. Decades of playing the nice guy, the invisible nobody, all to avoid drawing attention. It was all for the Dark-Dark Fruit.
Until he found that fruit, he would never reveal his ambitions. He had made up his mind: if he never got it, he would live out his days quietly as a Whitebeard Pirate, a loyal crewman to the bitter end.
And now...
One broadcast from Mock, and years of careful patience meant absolutely nothing.
He still hadn't found the Dark-Dark Fruit!
And now he was a priority target of the World Government? His mind erupted with vicious curses. Mock was a complete madman. What else could you call him? Who in their right mind did things like that?
He had a death wish.
Sure enough, anything involving those two sons of the Pirate King was bound to go horribly wrong.
Still, even though the World Government had him marked, Teach couldn't just go blaming Mock. Not if he wanted to keep up the image he had built with the crew. He had to grin and play along, loudly praising the East Blue Overlord's boldness and acting like he admired the guy.
Of course, in that moment, Teach made a quiet vow to himself. He would keep his distance from those two nutcases.
As for their so-called bond? What did he care! Whoever wanted to deal with that mess could deal with it. The sea was far too dangerous. He was going back to Pop's side, and until he found the Dark-Dark Fruit, he was not setting foot off the ship again.
"..."
Hearing Mock's frantic retelling, Dante nodded slowly. "So on your way back to the Whitebeard Pirates, you ran into the Marines, and under Whitebeard's protection, you and Ace got away, but Teach got captured?"
"Oh, nah, that didn't happen." Mock's voice came through the Den Den Mushi with an embarrassed laugh. "Nothing really went down on the way. We made it back to the Whitebeard Pirates just fine. It's just..." A slight pause. "Black Sole and Fire Fist got kicked off the ship by Whitebeard."
Dante froze up again.
Mock's voice continued through the receiver.
After regrouping with the Whitebeard Pirates, they had been warmly welcomed by the crew. They even threw a massive party in their honor. They had been the stars of the celebration and had a great time all night long.
The next day, Mock figured the time was right to leave. After kicking up that much trouble, he couldn't stay in the New World a second longer. The World Government and Marine HQ had their eyes on him now. Chances were he wouldn't need to pull anything major for a while, so he just needed to find a place to lay low.
Then he would circle back to the East Blue for a foot soak. A nice, proper break.
That whole stretch of time, he hadn't let it show on his face, but he had been scared stiff inside.
Just as he was about to leave, Ace climbed aboard his ship again.
Mock's heart jumped. He immediately launched into a righteous speech about how this was all his own doing, and there was absolutely no way he would drag his brother down with him. He would handle the heat alone. The rest of the journey would be a solo one!
But Ace didn't hesitate. He refused, tugging his cowboy hat down low over his eyes. He hadn't officially acknowledged Mock yet, he said, but he and Teach sure as hell weren't letting him risk his neck alone. Until the heat died down, he wasn't going anywhere.
Teach felt the words hit like a wad of phlegm stuck in his throat. There were things he desperately wanted to say, but with so many brothers watching, he swallowed it all down. In front of a crowd like that, he couldn't exactly say he was the type to ditch his comrades at the first sign of danger. If word got out, how was he supposed to hold his head up in the Whitebeard Pirates?
So while he mentally cursed that brainless Ace up and down, he let out his signature laugh. He put on a face that matched Ace's conviction, thumped his chest, and declared that he felt exactly the same.
Deep down, he was still hoping Mock would refuse. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he got the feeling Mock really didn't want them tagging along.
Before Mock could get a word out, Pops spoke up.
He dragged his battered frame upright. Looking at Teach and Ace with a gaze full of immense pride, he let out his booming laugh. Moved by their loyalty, he spoke. "Gurararara! A fledgling bird must eventually spread its wings. You boys have grown!"
He gave his sons decision his absolute blessing.
It would be lonely, he said, but as their father, he had decided to let them go. To let these two promising sons go out into the world, to make their mark and keep chasing adventure!
From this day forward, Ace and Teach were no longer part of the crew.
They were still Pop's sons, of course. They were just heading out on their own path. If real danger found them, they could always come to their old man. As their father, he would never stand by and watch his children come to harm.
He was old now. He would stay here with the rest of his sons, keeping the home safe. So whenever they got tired, they would have a warm place to come back to.
What else could Mock do? He had to accept. He couldn't exactly refuse right there in front of Whitebeard and the crew, with all that bittersweet relief written across their faces. In the end, they set off on a new adventure, sent off by the cheers of Whitebeard and his family.
On the third day, they ran into a Marine warship.
That day, the weather was clear, the ocean breeze warm and gentle. They were sailing through a quiet stretch of the New World, and everything was perfectly calm.
At first, Teach's face looked genuinely awful, like someone had forced him to swallow something foul. But once they had put some distance between themselves and the Moby Dick, he snapped out of it, as if finally resigning himself to the situation.
He must have come to terms with it deep down. He even suggested to Mock that since the World Government was still raging mad, they would do well to lay low for a while. Stay completely out of sight until the heat died down. Everything else could wait.
Mock was of the exact same mind. He accepted the suggestion without hesitation.
But the suggestion was made in the morning. By afternoon, they ran straight into a Marine warship.
"Boss, you don't understand. I nearly pissed myself." The Den Den Mushi shuddered with leftover fear. "Thought I'd never see you again."
"Focus."
Faced with Mock's bid for sympathy, Dante ignored it completely.
"So you got surrounded by a Marine fleet, and in the end only you and Ace got away? The three of you together and all you could do was run?" He frowned. "Sounds like Marine HQ sent an Admiral. What I don't get is, why would the Marines ignore you and go after Teach instead?"
He paused, with confusion creeping into his voice. "And Teach is no weakling. Even against an Admiral, he should've been able to get away. You got out. There's no reason he couldn't."
Another pause. Something clicked.
"Unless it was more than one Admiral?"
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