At the harbor, aboard the Blackbeard Pirates' flagship—
The "Saber of Xebec," a massive vessel cobbled together from an enormous raft.
Marshall D. Teach stepped onto the deck, his face dark and stormy, carrying the still-unconscious Laffitte slung over his shoulder. Each step landed heavily, deliberate, as if weighed down by something far more than just the man he carried.
The moment he boarded, he showed not the slightest hint of care.
Reaching the ship's edge, he simply tossed Laffitte aside like a sack of cargo—
Thud.
Laffitte hit the deck with a dull impact, letting out a muffled groan. The jolt seemed to stir a trace of consciousness, but his eyes remained shut, his breathing weak and uneven.
After all… their captain had just lost face in spectacular fashion.
Now was definitely not the time to wake up.
Standing by on the ship, the one who had remained behind—"Plague Doctor" Samuel Cronos—quickly stepped forward.
His eerie green eyes flicked first toward the battered Laffitte sprawled on the deck—
Then, almost instinctively, lifted toward the distant silhouette of New Marineford, still bathed in the glow of the setting sun, its towering presence radiating unshakable authority.
Unbidden, his mind replayed that terrifying surge of Haki he had faintly sensed from the harbor not long ago.
The corner of his mouth twitched beneath the mask.
He turned back toward Blackbeard, whose expression looked ready to drip with malice, and asked—half cautiously, half awkwardly:
"Captain Teach… you… you didn't actually… fight 'Heaven-Shaker' at Marine Headquarters, did you?"
"Hah?!"
Blackbeard shot him an irritated glance, clearly displeased.
But instead of answering directly, he snapped back in a voice thick with suppressed anger, his gaze sharp as a blade:
"That Haki just now… you felt it, didn't you?"
He paused, his tone turning even harsher.
"Then why didn't you come?!"
The implication was obvious:
I was down there getting crushed—nearly killed by that bastard's Haki. Laffitte got knocked out cold. And you, the strongest one left on the ship, sensed it… and did nothing?
Faced with that accusatory glare, Samuel Cronos immediately shrank.
He even took a small, unconscious step back, fear flashing through his green eyes.
"Captain Teach…" His voice came out dry, almost instinctively subdued. "That was… 'Heaven-Shaker'…"
As if recalling something deeply unpleasant, his voice trembled faintly.
"Back in the legendary era… I—'Plague Doctor' Samuel Cronos—had a bounty of 1.14 billion Beli!"
"In the New World, with a reputation like that… who didn't treat me like a 'great pirate'?"
"Even the man who ruled Pirate Island back then—Wang Zhi—would nod when he saw me. Give me face."
He paused.
Then his tone twisted, bitterness seeping through.
"And what happened?"
"I slipped up—just once—and that bastard Gern Reginald Sigmar… who was only a Rear Admiral at the time…"
"…beat me like a dog."
"Dragged me off to Impel Down… locked me up for who knows how many years!"
The words came out through clenched teeth, laced with both humiliation and lingering dread.
Back then…
His spine had practically been shattered.
And worse—
The treasures he had painstakingly gathered—his very lifeblood—
Those two precious Paramecia fruits—the Gold-Gold Fruit and the Heal-Heal Fruit—
Had all been taken by Gern.
Used to strengthen his own forces.
In other words…
Deep down—
Samuel Cronos, the so-called "Plague Doctor"—
Was utterly, instinctively afraid of Gern.
Because back then…
He had been beaten so thoroughly… so hopelessly… that the shadow never left him.
Watching Samuel shrink like this at the mere mention of Gern—confidence completely gone—
The anger in Blackbeard's eyes faded slightly, replaced by something more complicated.
He knew Samuel wasn't lying.
He understood that kind of fear—
The kind born from being dragged from the peak into the abyss by the same person.
After all…
Wasn't he himself wary of certain "monsters" from the old era?
Blackbeard let out a cold snort, withdrawing his piercing stare, no longer interested in berating Samuel's "cowardice."
He turned instead toward the vast, dangerous sea ahead.
His expression hardened once more as he spoke—half to himself, half to the crew behind him:
"That relic of the old era… Gern Reginald…"
His voice was low, heavy with reluctant acknowledgment.
"Even with my two Devil Fruits now… the Dark-Dark Fruit that counters everything… the Tremor-Tremor Fruit that destroys everything…"
He paused.
Then exhaled slowly, voicing the harsh truth:
"If it's 'Heaven-Shaker' Gern as he is now…"
"…I can't beat him head-on."
"!!!"
The moment those words fell, the atmosphere on deck froze solid.
Laffitte—who had been "playing dead"—suddenly shot upright, his face full of disbelief, staring at his captain's back like he'd just heard something absurd beyond comprehension.
Wait—what?! Captain?!
Is this your idea of a 'high emotional intelligence' statement?!
Back at the harbor, when he told you to 'get lost,' you didn't even dare talk back—you just picked me up and got the hell out of there!
And now that we're back on the ship, it's 'can't win head-on'?
That's… quite the upgrade in phrasing, Captain Teach!
Even Samuel Cronos blinked behind his mask, clearly thrown off by this sudden burst of "calm, rational analysis."
Where had that earlier panic gone?
How did it switch to "strategic evaluation mode" the moment they got back onboard?
Blackbeard seemed to feel their stares drilling into his back.
His body stiffened slightly.
A flicker of awkwardness crossed his face.
He coughed once, trying to recover some dignity—or at least construct a more "reasonable" explanation for his earlier… tactical withdrawal.
"Don't get it twisted…!" he muttered.
"You think I don't know how strong that guy is?!"
His voice rose slightly, as if convincing himself as much as them.
"Back when I was still on Whitebeard's ship… when that bastard had just entered the New World and was establishing G-10…"
"He fought Old Man Whitebeard—who was still in his prime, damn near at his peak—no less than fifty times in a single year!"
He let that sink in.
"In other words…"
"I've seen it with my own eyes… what that monster looks like when he goes all out!"
So—
Now that they were safely back on their own ship—
Talking big a little was only natural, right?
There was no way he could just say—
If I'd made a move back there, I'd have been crushed to death on the spot at Marine HQ.
He might not be Red-Haired Shanks…
But Blackbeard still had some pride to maintain.