“Boom!” Consumed by rage, Whitebeard drove his right fist, wrapped in a white halo, into Kozuki Oden’s face.
The ground collapsed beneath them, forming a circular crater dozens of meters wide with Whitebeard at its center.
After venting some of his anger with that punch, Whitebeard finally asked, “Who are you?
Why did you try to harm my son?” “I want to go to sea!
I want to see the outside world!” Oden’s left cheek was swollen like a watermelon, and his missing teeth made his words difficult to understand.
“It seems you still haven’t suffered enough!” Whitebeard growled.
The answer made no sense to him.
If the man wanted to go to sea, then he should simply go.
With his strength, leaving the country should have been easy.
Why had he charged at Teach so aggressively for no reason?
Had he planned to ride Teach out to sea?
Whitebeard raised his right hand again.
Another white halo formed around his fist as he prepared to strike Oden’s other cheek.
“Stop!” Several figures dressed as samurai rushed toward them from the distance.
“Pops!
Teach!” Marco swooped down from the sky and landed beside them, while the others from the Moby Dick came running behind him.
“How dare you disrespect Oden-sama!” Seeing Whitebeard preparing to strike again, the samurai roared in outrage and drew their blades one after another.
“Don’t even think about attacking Pops!” Teach shouted a warning and led the charge toward them.
He had originally been nothing more than a spectator, but the situation was not chaotic enough for his liking, so he personally joined the fight to make matters worse.
He wanted the conflict to escalate.
Ideally, Whitebeard would kill Oden, allowing the Whitebeard Pirates to occupy Wano Country directly.
The crew did not yet possess permanent territory.
Taking Wano now would save Teach from having to scheme against Kaido for it in the future.
After all, Pops’s territory was his territory.
And Pops’s sons were his…
future subordinates.
Teach was no match for either Oden or Kaido yet, so he could only try to use Whitebeard against them.
Wano was simply too valuable as a base.
Its geography made it easy to defend, its natural environment was excellent, and it was the world’s sole producer of Seastone.
Teach coveted it deeply.
He had not brought his three-clawed gauntlet while exploring, so he charged forward empty-handed.
“Bang!” He drew the revolver he always carried—mainly as decoration—and fired at the leading samurai, who wielded two swords.
The samurai tried to dodge, but he was a fraction too slow.
The bullet grazed his cheek, leaving blood running down his face.
The two immediately entered close combat.
Relying on Observation Haki, Teach avoided the samurai’s first downward slash.
He raised the revolver to block the second blade, but the sword cut straight through its barrel.
Without Armament Haki, a strike like that could easily break whatever part of his body it struck.
Before the samurai could raise his sword again, Teach drove a fist into his abdomen.
The man coughed up blood, some of it splattering across Teach’s face and making his already fierce expression appear even more demonic.
As the saying went, when a lord was humiliated, his retainers were prepared to die.
These men served Oden, and seeing their lord beaten made them disregard their own pain.
Ignoring the damage from Teach’s punch, the samurai thrust his blade forward.
The sword pierced Teach’s right shoulder.
The pain only brought out his ferocity.
Teach gripped the blade with both hands, using it to restrict his opponent’s movement.
Planting his right foot, he kicked with all his strength.
“Bang!” The samurai’s eyes widened as he was sent flying backward.
Teach fought with complete recklessness.
With Whitebeard present, he was certain he would not die.
Oden and his retainers could not stop Whitebeard from taking control if the situation became critical, so Teach held nothing back and paid no attention to his injuries.
The more seriously he was hurt, the angrier Whitebeard would become.
And the angrier Whitebeard became, the heavier his attacks against Oden would be—perhaps until he finally killed him.
Teach fought viciously, and his aggression influenced the others.
There was no need to show mercy to anyone who threatened their family.
Oden, who was still being beaten down by Whitebeard, saw the fierce battle unfolding around them.
Even someone as carefree as him began to regret acting so rashly.
“Stop!
Everyone, stop!” Ignoring his own injuries, Oden shouted with all his strength.
Seeing that Oden had lost the will to fight, Whitebeard refused to take advantage of him and stopped attacking.
“Kin’emon!
Raizo!
Ashura Doji!
All of you, stop!
Can’t you hear me?” Oden issued the order again, and his retainers obediently began to withdraw.
They stopped, but Marco and the others did not.
Without an order from Pops, they had no reason to stand down—especially after seeing Teach injured.
No one could harm their family and walk away unscathed.
Seeing his retainers continue to suffer because of his actions, Oden picked up one of his swords and, without hesitation, drove it through his own shoulder.
“Oden-sama!” Kin’emon and the others cried out in shock.
Whitebeard understood the gesture as an apology.
“Enough!
Stop fighting!” With both leaders ordering an end to the conflict, the fighting gradually ceased.
Teach blended back into the group, feeling nothing but regret.
“I want to go to sea!
I want to have adventures!” “Hey, take me with you!” Oden spoke excitedly to Whitebeard with the sword still lodged in his shoulder.
One would never have guessed that their two groups had been fighting to the death only moments earlier.
“Impossible!” Whitebeard refused flatly.
“Why would I allow someone who tried to harm my son aboard my ship?” He was beginning to suspect something was wrong with the man’s head.
“How did I harm your son?” Oden argued with complete confidence.
“I’m clearly the one who got beaten!” Seeing that he intended to keep arguing, Whitebeard turned away.
“Sons, we’re leaving!” Vista and Thatch supported the injured Teach as they followed the others back toward the Moby Dick.
“Hey!
Don’t leave!” Oden pulled the sword from his shoulder and, despite his injuries, struggled after Whitebeard.
“Oden-sama, please stop dreaming.
You cannot go to sea.” “You are the daimyo of Kuri, the son of Wano’s shogun, and the future shogun of this country.” “You know perfectly well that you cannot leave.
The people of Kuri need you, and Wano Country needs you!” His retainers earnestly tried to persuade their unreliable and willful lord.
“Yes, yes, I know.” Oden picked his nose and answered perfunctorily, clearly taking none of their words to heart.
That was simply the kind of unconventional man he was.
As a child, he had frequented the pleasure districts.
Later, he caused even greater trouble by taking other men’s wives and daughters away—only for those women to willingly remain with him afterward.
His constant womanizing eventually led his own father to disown him.
He also did things that defied ordinary morality, such as cooking and eating oden over the cremated remains of a deceased friend.
Although he lived in the mundane world, Kozuki Oden refused to be bound by its conventions.