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Ron froze.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but his throat felt as if it were blocked, leaving him unable to utter a single word for a long time.
What is going on here?
A grown man saying something so cheesy on an occasion like this.
Of course, to say he wasn’t touched would be a complete lie.
When someone with whom you barely had any deep history was willing to stand by your side at all costs in a dire situation, even when facing formidable enemies…
Such an action, especially in a situation like this, carried immense emotional weight.
Ron exhaled a long breath.
It seemed…
he finally had someone he could truly trust.
“Little brother?” Hearing Whitebeard’s words, Roger made little effort to hide the shock on his face.
“Newgate…
are you serious?”
Knowing Whitebeard as well as he did, Roger couldn’t understand it.
Shouldn’t Whitebeard deliberately keep his distance from someone like Ron?
Why would he be willing to lend a helping hand?
Whitebeard’s face showed no ripples of emotion.
Looking directly at Roger, he said, “Do you think I’m joking with you, Roger?!”
“Newgate, do you really not know what this guy did?” Roger’s voice rose sharply.
“Who cares what he did?” Whitebeard replied flatly.
“As long as I find him agreeable, there is no problem at all.”
Now that things had reached this point, Roger took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
Gripping his sword hilt tightly once again, his voice dropped: “And what if I insist on taking action, Newgate?”
Whoosh—
Whitebeard swung Murakumogiri, tracing a cold arc through the air as the blade’s tip pointed steadily toward the ground.
“Then you are welcome to try.”
In that instant, the air pulled taut with tension.
“Roger,” Rayleigh said softly from the side.
“Calm down first.”
In the original story, during Dadan’s recollections, Garp had mentioned that when provoked, Roger could be extremely short-tempered and reckless.
The current situation matched that description completely.
Ron’s verbal jabs had been like poison-tipped daggers, stabbing right into Roger’s sore spots one after another, pushing his fury to the absolute limit.
Even with Whitebeard stepping in, he did not want to back down.
Just then, Gaban rested a hand on Roger’s shoulder and murmured, “That guy told us we don’t have much time.
If we wait until Rocks and the others return, we’ll lose the upper hand.”
Gaban’s words acted like a bucket of cold water dumped over Roger’s head.
Standing where he was, Roger’s gaze swept back and forth between Ron and Whitebeard twice as the pros and cons flashed rapidly through his mind.
Ron had infuriated him, but…
he did not want his own stubbornness to drag his crewmates into a bad situation.
Roger sheathed his sword, the long blade sliding back into its scabbard with a soft click.
“Newgate, until we meet again.” Roger slowly put his straw hat back on, pulling the brim low to cover most of his face.
He then turned around and walked away.
Rayleigh and Gaban exchanged a glance, their eyes lingering on Whitebeard for a fraction of a second before following behind.
Once Roger and his crew were far off, Whitebeard slowly shifted his gaze to Ron and asked, “What happened?
How did you manage to tick Roger off to this degree, kid?”
Ron shrugged and dusted off the dirt clinging to his clothes.
After thinking for a moment, he offered a guess in a tone filled with helpless disbelief: “Most likely because of the terms of our deal with the Kuja Pirates.
I only saved Annika, while the others…
I told them to save themselves.”
“Are they insane?
Coming after you just over that?” Kaido chimed in from the side, complete exasperation written across his face.
“And then,” Ron continued, “those who tried to save themselves probably didn’t make it.
So they claimed I ignored the Kuja Pirates’ conditions and came to demand justice.”
Whitebeard’s gaze darkened slightly, and he suddenly asked a question that made everyone fall silent: “How did Roger find out in the first place?”
Hearing that, Ron froze instantly.
Earlier, he had been entirely occupied with anger and fighting, completely missing the existence of this issue.
Thinking about it carefully now, that was right—how did Roger know the details of what happened back then?
The ones who had acted alongside Ron were Stussy and Kaido.
Those two could basically be ruled out, because if Ron were truly at fault, the two of them wouldn’t be able to escape the blame either.
Suddenly, a silhouette flashed across Ron’s mind.
Ochoku.
Yet Ochoku hadn’t been at the scene; how could he have known the process?
Wait.
Ron began recalling the words Roger and the others had spoken earlier.
‘You didn’t have to save them, but why did you drag them down with you?’
Drag them down?
What did that mean?
Could it be…
they weren’t even on the same page from the start?
Ron’s mind raced, his suspicion falling squarely onto Ochoku.
In the original timeline, Ochoku was the traitor who backstabbed the Rocks Pirates for personal gain.
And that guy had just returned two days ago.
Not long after his return, Roger appeared right here.
Even more conveniently, this narrow path was the only route leading to the coast.
In other words, Roger hadn’t bumped into Ron by chance—he had the exact coordinates.
Thinking up to this point, Ron basically had his answer.
“Heh…” Ron let out a low, cold chuckle, the corner of his lips curling up.
“Quite the clever calculation.”
Immediately, Ron turned around and started sprinting in the direction where the ship was docked.
He felt it was very necessary to have a friendly sparring session with Ochoku.
“Where are you going?” Kaido and Whitebeard asked at the same time.
“Taking care of some business with Ochoku,” Ron replied without looking back.
“Ochoku?
Did Ochoku head back?” Kaido pressed.
Ron came to an abrupt halt and snapped his head around.
“Ochoku…
went out?”
“Yeah, we came out together,” Whitebeard said slowly.
“Together with you?” Ron frowned, suspicion flashing in his eyes.
“That doesn’t sound like his style, does it?”
“We only walked out together.
That guy didn’t come to drink,” Whitebeard added.
Ron fell silent for a moment, then asked another question: “When you left, had Annika gone out already?”
“Just shortly before us,” Whitebeard thought for a moment.
“What’s wrong?”
Ron’s brow furrowed even tighter.
“Nothing…
I just hope I’m overthinking it.”
Without another word, golden chakra instantly enveloped Ron’s entire body.
The moment Nine-Tails Mode activated, his form flickered, moving forward at high speed.