Any strong person would never care about the thoughts and demands of the weak. They enforced the law of the jungle to the very end.
Even ordinary people under the rule of Member Nations were, for the most part, merely "tools" struggling to stay alive.
Even Roger had never been arrogant to this extent.
But now, Whitebeard had truly seen such a person.
It was a strange way to put it, but when he was young, Whitebeard, born in a Non-Member Nation, had also lived through a dark childhood.
Pirates plundered. War burned and slaughtered. The doves of peace would never land upon that soil.
All there had been were crows filling the sky, accompanied by screams, sobbing, and wails of grief.
But never once had anyone cared about the demands of the weak who lived on that land.
Never—
Never!
Edward Newgate had grown up in that environment.
He was luckier than his peers. He possessed great talent, and from a young age, he could rely on his own martial strength to struggle and survive.
Yet he could not save others.
Others who were just as miserable as he was.
The power brought by that talent had barely been enough for self-preservation. After all, he had been born in that damn place called the New World.
At certain moments, Edward Newgate had also once hoped that someone would come to help them.
But... no one came. There was nothing at all.
In that abandoned world, in that narrow world filled with pirates, blood, and fire,
there had never been justice, nor order. There were only the rules made by the strong.
But the privileges of rules had never had anything to do with the weak.
From that time onward, Edward Newgate became Whitebeard, roaming the Four Blues to grow stronger.
When he joined the Rocks Pirates, Rocks had once asked him what he was pursuing.
Whitebeard's answer had been "family."
But he had not left that place, where the members schemed and crushed one another from within, because he believed he still was not strong enough.
It was not until he followed Rocks through the God Valley Incident, and the Rocks Pirates disbanded, that Whitebeard finally left and formed his own family upon the sea.
At that time, he had not forgotten his homeland.
Because he was strong, Whitebeard protected his home. Because he was strong, he had enough spoils to help rebuild it.
Thus, that place became a hidden paradise among Non-Member Nations, outside the rule of the Member Nations.
Besides that, many other places under his protection also gained lives that were not exactly good, but at least stable.
He occupied nearly half of the islands in the New World.
But that was already Whitebeard's limit.
In a certain sense, the young man before him was very much like Edward Newgate.
However, there was an essential difference between them.
Roger had the temperament of a child. To him, his crewmates were above all else. Under extreme conditions, it was possible for him to slaughter an entire nation for the sake of his crew.
As for Whitebeard himself, it was family first, then household, and only after that came the weak.
Or rather, the peaceful lives the weak now had were part of the order he wished for, and so they obtained peace.
It was not that he created that order for the sake of giving peace to the weak.
The order of those two things carried completely different meanings.
"If you had appeared several decades earlier, perhaps I would have followed you."
Under Marco's incredulous gaze, Whitebeard said those words.
Ren was stunned. Then, as if he understood something, he could not help laughing.
"You also once longed for justice to descend from the heavens?"
"The reality is that there is no justice that descends from the heavens. There is only the strength in your own hands."
Edward Newgate shook his head.
"That is why I would only have had such thoughts several decades ago. As for now, my family is more important than the things I once hoped for in the past.
"And precisely because of that, I respect you. At least, I will until you change your mind.
"Not everyone, after becoming strong, can still remember the 'thing' they once hoped for."
"Does that count as recognition?"
Ren felt somewhat overwhelmed by the honor.
"It does. But that recognition is personal. Before you, there was also Roger.
"However, when we met, we never allowed personal feelings to affect matters involving our crews."
"I'm the same."
"Then let's return to business. I already understand your pursuit and your bottom line.
"I imagine it is impossible to make you hand over the Celestial Dragons unconditionally.
"To someone like you, money, treasure, beauties, and power are all meaningless.
"To achieve your goal, you might even be willing to pay with your life.
"Just like the fight you had with me in order to learn Conqueror's Haki Infusion.
"I have no way to deal with you. Then I can only agree to your request. But I will not fight this war to the very end."
Whitebeard's tone was calm as he said,
"Ace is my family. Marco and the others are also my family.
"Family can pay any price to save family, but they cannot become someone else's pawns and bleed for another person's schemes for no reason."
At this point, Whitebeard paused. He stared at Ren and said very seriously,
"If you are a prophet, then you must be able to see what comes afterward.
"In reverse, can I also think that what you want lies before my bottom line?"
"...The wisdom of an old man, huh?"
Ren sighed, then laid his cards on the table without hesitation.
"More than eight Vice Admirals. Over half of the Marine backbone participating in the war.
"I know you can do it. The Gura-Gura no Mi is originally capable of large-scale destruction.
"This is the bottom line. No matter what, I cannot give way any further."
"I thought you would name Akainu, Kizaru, and the others."
Whitebeard's gaze shifted slightly, as if somewhat surprised.
"Which expert standing at the summit is easy to get rid of? I am not naive to that extent."
Whether it was Kizaru, Akainu, or Aokiji,
in the original work, they were all evaluated as the strongest generation in the history of Marine Headquarters.
Their strength was clearly stronger than Sengoku's generation.
Although Ren was not sure whether the Three Admirals had Conqueror's Haki, or whether they knew the technique of Conqueror's Haki Infusion, in terms of overall strength, they were undoubtedly at the level of the Four Emperors.
Or rather, they were in the peak tier.
Even with the support of Word Spirit, and even with Whitebeard being stronger than he had been in the past, under an absolute disadvantage in numbers, he would not have any chance to kill any one of them.
Perhaps Whitebeard was the strongest, but there were at least four or five others in the same tier as him.
Ren would not, for the time being, think so naively.
Besides, killing was not the only way to deal with the Three Admirals.
"Then, a pleasant cooperation?"
Whitebeard said.
"Yes. I am also very happy that I managed to sell one."
Ren answered him in a relaxed tone.
"One?"
Marco's expression changed slightly. Just hearing the contents of the transaction had already made him feel immense pressure.
Although a Celestial Dragon did indeed have such value, exchanging one for only—
"Enough, Marco."
Whitebeard stopped him in the next second. Then he calmly turned back and said,
"What else do you want?"
"Another transaction. It has to do with you."
Ren did not hide anything and said frankly,
"You should be able to feel it, right?
"The root of that immortal power is not a power that can ignore death forever."
"..."
Whitebeard said nothing, merely nodding.
"If I am not wrong, the condition for the test is that willpower will be consumed faster and faster as time passes, and the requirement placed on willpower will become higher and higher.
"Although you can recover after stopping the battle, healing methods also have their limits.
"Once it reaches a certain stage, it becomes a hopeless state. When the willpower can no longer pass the test, death will arrive.
"I think a legend is bound to die in the Marineford War. But perhaps the power of that legend can be inherited."
It was a very subtle, even tactful way of saying it.
But the meaning inside was enough to make one's blood run cold. At least, Marco felt that way.
He opened his mouth and was just about to say something.
But then he saw Pops turn his head, look at him, and shake his head. After that, Whitebeard gestured for him to leave.
"Pops..."
"Go outside and see whether any Marines have come to inspect the area. The disappearance of Raijin Island may attract the Marines' attention.
"They are very vigilant and very nervous right now. If they discover the situation here, it will bring us trouble.
"This is the captain's order, and also your father's order, son."
"...Yes."
Marco still left.
After a brief silence, Whitebeard said,
"Can Devil Fruit abilities also be captured?"
"I am very special. One more unbelievable thing about me will not matter."
Ren said softly
"Your power is very important to me. The price is that your corpse cannot remain."
"That is not important. I am a pirate. I do not care about that sort of thing."
Whitebeard's tone became somewhat gentler.
"What I care about is my family. So—this is still not enough."
"What do you want?"
"A guarantee. A guarantee for my family."
"Does this count as a transaction?"
"Perhaps it can be considered a plea?"
"...Being pleaded with by Whitebeard, one of the Four Emperors. How could I have such a dream?"
"The one before you is not one of the Four Emperors. He is merely a father."
Whitebeard said, "In your world, there is only one strong person. Then everyone else must be the weak who obey, right?
"In that case, why can my sons not be among them?
"They have been rejected by society, but perhaps they can live well beneath your overlooking gaze."
"The premise is that they are not pirates, and that they do not touch my rules."
Ren spread his hands, then asked curiously, "Why do you have so much confidence in me? The World Government has never been defeated in eight hundred years, while I am merely a nineteen-year-old young man."
"Precisely because you are nineteen. Precisely because you are still young. That is why I think this way.
"Whether it is your Devil Fruit ability or this power of yours, there are far too many unbelievable things about you.
"Even if I entrust to you certain things I once thought unrealistic, what is so strange about that?
"Whether one is a Four Emperor or a father, in the end, one is merely human.
"Praying to gods has never brought a response. But praying to you may perhaps bring a different result."
Whitebeard's voice lowered.
"I want to give them a chance. A chance to live quietly.
"Whether they can grasp it is their own business. A parent cannot protect them forever.
"This is also the only compensation a father can leave behind before parting forever.
"If you fail, then at worst, they will merely return to their position of being hunted."
Yes.
The position of being hunted.
That was the future Edward Newgate saw with his own eyes.
(End of Chapter)