Excited cheers gradually rose from the pirates aboard the ship.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!
A golden pillar…
It’s actually a golden pillar!”
“How much do you think a golden pillar that huge is worth?!”
“We’re rich!
We’re rich!
Captain, everyone, we’re really going to strike it rich this time!”
“There’s not just a golden pillar!
There are two enormous golden eggs on either side of it!”
“That…
couldn’t possibly be a wild Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon, could it?”
…
The deck was filled with jubilation.
Everyone was immersed in excitement and exhilaration.
Everyone except one person.
Edward Newgate leaned against the ship’s railing, resting his chin on one hand as his golden hair fluttered in the sea breeze.
The commotion of his companions on deck had nothing to do with him.
In fact, he found it somewhat too noisy.
Born in the war-torn land of Sphinx, Newgate had been alone ever since childhood.
Whenever he saw other impoverished children who had a home to return to, who had their parents’ arms to embrace them, he had always been envious.
Later, he went out to sea alone, hoping to find a “family” he could rely on.
He had heard of the Brothers Pirates.
Everyone aboard the ship, regardless of whether they were blood relatives, were brothers.
That sounded wonderful.
So he joined the Brothers Pirates.
At first, everyone really did get along like brothers.
But as his own talent began to shine, an invisible and sorrowful barrier eventually grew between the brothers.
Perhaps it was time to leave.
Newgate couldn’t help thinking this.
But until the moment he left, he was still a member of the pirate crew.
That meant he still had a responsibility to fulfill.
“Captain, something is clearly wrong.
How could a golden pillar remain untouched on an uninhabited island for so long?
It could be a trap.”
Newgate solemnly warned them.
“Lahahaha!
Everyone’s in high spirits right now.
Don’t be such a killjoy, Newgate!”
Captain Banna laughed heartily.
“Exactly!
Newgate, you’re being way too gloomy!”
“Even if you’re right and it’s actually a trap, so what?”
“We’re pirates!
When we see treasure, how could we possibly leave it behind?”
The pirates had all been completely blinded by the golden Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon.
“Sorry, I just…”
Newgate opened his mouth.
But in the end, he said nothing more.
“Men, prepare to get rich!”
“Yeah—!”
…
…
At that very moment.
On the uninhabited island.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!
They’re here!
They’re actually here!”
“Some idiot really was lured over by the shape of our golden Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon!”
“Now that they’re here, we’ve finally got a ship!”
Black Bear Big Bear held a spyglass in one hand and cheered excitedly.
“Wahahahaha!
As long as they’re pirates, there’s no way they can resist the temptation of the golden Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon!”
Rocks laughed confidently.
Ren: “…”
Seriously.
This wasn’t a Gintama movie set.
Why the hell was there an Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon here?!
Originally, the plan had been proposed by Ren.
They would use a golden pillar to lure greedy pirates passing by, then requisition their pirate ship.
But after the golden pillar was erected, Rocks and the Twin Bear Brothers all unanimously felt that something was missing.
And so they ended up with the indescribable structure before them.
A golden pillar stood upright on the beach.
At the bottom of the pillar, a golden sphere had been piled up on each side.
No matter how Ren looked at it, it was an assault on the eyes.
“Whatever.
As long as you’re happy.”
Ren shook his head.
He extended his Radar Observation Haki, wanting to see which unlucky greedy bastard had taken the bait.
“Hm?”
Just then, Ren suddenly let out a surprised sound.
A strange expression appeared on his face.
“What is it?”
Rocks immediately noticed something unusual.
“Captain Rocks, didn’t you say a couple of days ago that you wanted someone to become our new crewmate?”
“He’s here.”
Ren replied.
Rocks froze for a moment.
Then, after realizing what Ren meant, an expression of wild delight spread across his face.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t suppress the grin at the corners of his mouth.
Ten minutes later, the Brothers Pirates landed on the shore of the uninhabited island.
The two sides formally met.
“You’re Edward Newgate, aren’t you?”
Rocks immediately spotted Newgate standing toward the back of the crowd.
“You are…”
Newgate looked at Rocks, and his pupils contracted.
He had already recognized Rocks’ identity.
“Newgate, I like you.
Become my crewmate.”
Rocks bluntly extended an invitation and attempted to recruit him on the spot.
“I refuse.”
Newgate rejected him without the slightest hesitation.
He had gone out to sea simply to find a family.
The Brothers Pirates were not his final destination.
And a villain like Rocks certainly wasn’t going to be it either.
“Don’t reject me so quickly.
Join me, and I promise…”
“Wait!
Wait!”
At last, Captain Banna could no longer tolerate it and sharply interrupted.
“Who the hell are you?
How dare you try to poach my crew right in front of me!
You’ve got some nerve!”
Rocks had arrived and immediately started talking to one of his crew members, completely ignoring Banna, the captain himself.
This made Banna extremely dissatisfied.
The words his younger brother had spoken the previous night resurfaced in his mind, causing a trace of unease to rise in his heart.
Could he really be replaced?
“Captain, wait!
This guy…
I know this man…”
The intelligence officer of the Brothers Pirates widened his horrified eyes.
“He…
he…
he seems to be Rocks!”
“That man who caused a huge disturbance at the World Conference and had a bounty of 1.5 billion Berries placed on his head by the World Government!”
“What?!”
The pirates of the Brothers Pirates were all stunned in terror upon learning Rocks’ identity.
A ruthless man with a bounty of 1.5 billion Berries.
They couldn’t afford to provoke him!
Absolutely couldn’t!
Just as thoughts of retreat began to emerge in their minds, Rocks spoke again.
“Newgate, you rejected my invitation, but I really do like you.”
“In that case, let’s settle this the pirate way.”
“What do you say?”
Captain Banna shuddered when Rocks’ gaze fell upon him.
He stammered nervously.
“The…
pirate way?
What way?”
“Naturally, the way of the great pirate Davy Jones—Davy Back Fight!”
Rocks grinned.
Davy Back Fight?
At the mention of the term, many of the pirates looked confused.
But quite a few had heard of the game that circulated among pirates.
“Davy Jones was a pirate who was cursed by a demon and sank to the bottom of the sea, yet supposedly continues to live there to this day…”
“They say that all the treasures and sunken ships at the bottom of the sea belong to him, locked away in his treasure chest!”
“Davy Jones claims everything that sinks into the sea as his own.
That’s why pirates came to call the act of taking something they liked from their enemies a ‘Davy Back’!”
The pirates who knew about the Davy game began talking over one another, explaining the essence of the game.
“That’s right!”
“This is a game belonging to pirates!”
“Do you dare accept the challenge?”
“But let me make one thing clear beforehand.”
“Once the arrow is fired, there’s no turning back.”
“If you refuse to abide by the rules of the Davy Game, you’ll be regarded as a disgrace to pirates…”
“And offered up to Davy Jones’ treasure chest!”