“Is this what food from the outside world tastes like?
It’s really good!” At the Whitebeard Pirates’ camp on the coast of Wano Country, Kozuki Oden heartily devoured food that had been soaked in seawater and was already slightly spoiled.
Everyone stared speechlessly as he ate as though no one else were there.
They had never seen anyone so shameless.
“Are you all about to eat?
Count me in!” Eating the food no one wanted wasn’t enough.
He still wanted to push his luck.
“Hey, get out of here.
You’re not welcome!” Marco said darkly as he tried to drive him away.
None of the Whitebeard Pirates present looked pleased to see him.
The only reason they tolerated him was because they needed Oden’s connections to replenish their supplies.
They also depended on his help to obtain the materials needed to repair the ship.
They required far too much for ordinary people to gather.
Only Oden’s authority as the Daimyo of Kuri could secure everything they needed.
Of course, Oden had shamelessly volunteered to help for the sole purpose of getting closer to them.
“I am the Daimyo of Kuri, the lord of the land you’re standing on.
How can you chase me away?” Oden said with a long face.
The next second, his expression changed completely.
He leaned close to Whitebeard with a flattering smile.
“Whitebeard, let me join you!
Take me out to sea!” “I refuse!” Although the misunderstanding had been resolved and Whitebeard now knew Oden had not intended to kill Teach, Oden’s retainers had still injured his son.
That could not simply be brushed aside with an apology.
Allowing Oden to join now would likely disrupt the crew’s unity.
More importantly, Whitebeard could tell that Oden was an ambitious man who could never remain idle and was unlikely to stay for long.
Why bother letting him join?
“Give it up.
I will not allow you to join us.
If you want to go to sea, then go by yourself,” Whitebeard said decisively.
The unity of his crew—or rather, his family—was the most important thing.
In his eyes, Oden was an unstable element.
“But I’ve already tried going to sea dozens of times, and every attempt ended in failure!
I don’t know anything about navigation!” Seeing that Oden still refused to give up, Whitebeard said bluntly, “You’re not someone who can serve beneath another person, nor are you capable of following orders.
You have ambitions of your own.
My family is made up of my sons, so what—do you want to become my son?” Having once sailed with the Rocks Pirates, Whitebeard knew exactly what happened when a group of unruly people gathered together.
Things inevitably went wrong.
In the end, even if they possessed ten times the strength, they could not bring out a tenth of it.
Back then, Whitebeard included, every member of the crew had harbored their own motives.
They had watched their captain fall to Garp and Roger without a single one of them thinking of going to his aid.
Everyone had been planning their own escape.
After Rocks died, they divided what he left behind and went their separate ways.
“Uh…” Even Oden, who cared nothing for worldly ethics or convention, was rendered speechless by Whitebeard’s words.
Then he seriously began considering whether he should acknowledge Whitebeard as his father.
Oden carefully studied him.
He himself was nearly thirty, while Whitebeard appeared only somewhat older.
Whitebeard looked mature, but the difference in their appearances was not great enough for anyone to mistake them for father and son.
Should I call him Dad or not?
“D—” After a moment of thought, Oden—who had never cared about how others looked at him—made up his mind.
Sensing what Oden was about to say, Whitebeard clenched his right fist as the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit surged around it.
He had already decided that if this shameless bastard truly called him that, he would knock every tooth out of Oden’s mouth.
“You insolent fool!” A furious shout interrupted Oden’s shameless attempt and stopped Whitebeard’s attack.
Several of Oden’s retainers suddenly appeared.
The strikingly beautiful Izo shouted furiously, as though he himself had been humiliated.
“Lord Oden is the son of Wano Country’s shogun!
How could he acknowledge another man as his father?” He drew two pistols from his waist and said to Whitebeard, “If you intend to humiliate Lord Oden, then you’ll have to kill me first!” The same thing had happened repeatedly over the past few days.
Kozuki Oden would shamelessly come over, and whenever he disappeared, his retainers would soon rush after him.
“Hurry up and drag this idiot away!” Whitebeard ignored the fuming Izo and waved him away like an irritating fly, his disdain plain to see.
“Whitebeard!
Lord Oden carries the future of Wano Country on his shoulders.
It is impossible for him to go to sea with you!” Kin’emon said solemnly.
He was covered in bandages and looked dispirited.
“Moreover, the laws of Wano Country explicitly forbid anyone from leaving!” “Then hurry up and take him away!” Marco said.
“We’ll be leaving soon too, so stop letting him bother us.” “Hey, I’ve helped you a lot!
Would your ship have been repaired this quickly without me?” Oden complained loudly.
He then turned toward his retainers and shouted, “Stop talking so much!
What do the country’s laws have to do with me?
Don’t you understand me at all?” “I only want to sail the seas, have adventures, and see the vast world outside!” Oden spoke with great passion, but the Whitebeard Pirates remained unmoved.
His retainers had harmed a member of their family.
The only reason they had not started another fight was out of respect for Oden’s courage in stabbing his own shoulder without hesitation as an apology.
“Lord Oden, there really isn’t much to see outside Wano.
There are only five small islands,” two anthropomorphic animals—a cat and a dog—explained earnestly, sharing everything they knew with him.
They were members of the Mink Tribe from Zou, Wano Country’s sister nation.
Zou was a mysterious land situated on the back of the giant elephant Zunesha.
It was isolated from the world to a degree no less extreme than Wano Country.
Wano’s geography made it nearly impossible to approach, while Zou itself was constantly moving.
“There are far more than five islands in this world,” Teach suddenly said.
“Countless islands lie across the sea, inhabited by all kinds of races and filled with people and things you’ve never seen.” Since killing Oden was clearly impossible now, they might as well bring him aboard.
That would give Teach another connection he could use to manipulate Oden’s son and daughter in the future.
With righteousness as his pretext, he could use Oden’s children to control the powerful samurai of Wano Country.
Through them, he could indirectly bend the entire country to his will.
What Teach wanted was not merely the Whitebeard Pirates, and certainly not some small patch of territory in the New World.
He wanted the entire world.
He wanted the supreme, unfettered power enjoyed by the Celestial Dragons.
To achieve that goal, he needed to gather every possible source of power into his own hands and strengthen himself as much as possible.
Teach’s words only encouraged Kozuki Oden, whose determination to sail the seas burned brighter than ever.
“Really?
I knew it!
I have to go to sea, then change Wano Country and open its borders!” Oden casually wrapped an arm around Teach’s neck and loudly proclaimed his ideals.
Although he appeared reckless and aimless, he had his own reasons.
His domain, Kuri, had once been a place where people could enter but never leave—a den of devils that resembled a miniature Wano Country.
Just as he had changed Kuri back then, he now wanted to change the entire country.