The Big-Eater Game—
No, Davy Back Fight.
A game among pirates in which the participants fought over and poached each other’s crewmates.
As a descendant of Davy Jones, Rocks naturally knew the game inside and out.
He had wanted to play it for a long time.
Since Newgate was so adamantly refusing to join him, then they would use legitimate means to force him to do so.
Hearing Rocks’ invitation to play, Captain Banna of the Brothers Pirates fell into deep thought.
To be honest, after learning about Rocks’ terrifying bounty, he had absolutely no desire to get involved with him.
Compared to treasure, his own life was obviously more important.
At this moment, all Banna wanted to do was turn tail and run.
“Brother, accept.”
Vice-Captain Ganna gave his elder brother a meaningful glance.
Captain Banna immediately widened his eyes and stared at his younger brother in disbelief.
The meaning was obvious.
Are you crazy?
That’s a man with a 1.5 billion Berries bounty!
Ganna made a gesture and walked with Captain Banna toward an empty corner.
“Brother, you really need to listen to me this time.”
“Foolish little brother, treasure may be tempting, but you need to be alive to spend it!”
“Don’t worry, Brother.
How could I ask you to risk your life?
Listen.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
“What opportunity?
An opportunity to get ourselves killed?”
“An opportunity to obtain that golden pillar while also getting rid of Newgate legitimately!”
“Oh?”
Captain Banna’s expression changed.
If things were really as Ganna said, then this was practically killing two birds with one stone.
A double stroke of luck.
“I observed them just now.
Of the four people on the other side, only Rocks is actually strong.”
“We only need to have two matches against them.”
“Rocks values Newgate so highly that if you lose to him, he’ll definitely choose Newgate.”
“With Davy Jones’ oath in place, even if Newgate doesn’t want to leave, he’ll have no choice.”
“Exactly, exactly!”
Captain Banna nodded repeatedly.
Their opponent was a man with a 1.5 billion Berries bounty.
If he lost, no one could blame him.
No matter who looked at the situation, they wouldn’t be able to find fault with him.
He might even gain a reputation for being magnanimous.
“Then there’s the second match.”
“As long as I win that one, I’ll be able to choose their Armstrong Cannon.”
“When that happens, we’ll be rich!”
Ganna spoke with complete confidence.
“Wait, Little Brother.
What if everyone demands that you choose Newgate?”
Banna asked.
“That’s simple.
We just need to designate the opponents beforehand, and I’ll be the first one to fight.”
The two brothers whispered among themselves for quite some time.
Eventually, they exchanged a knowing smile.
They thought their conversation had been perfectly concealed.
Unfortunately, they had no idea that several people present possessed powerful Observation Haki.
Ren had heard their entire conversation.
So had Rocks.
And Newgate had heard it as well.
“All right!
We accept this Davy Back Fight!”
Captain Banna returned and confidently accepted the challenge.
The other pirates of the Brothers Pirates felt as though a bolt of lightning had exploded from a clear sky.
It was as if the heavens themselves were collapsing.
Yet something even more despairing was still to come.
“To prevent either side from suffering excessive losses, I suggest that we only have two captain-versus-captain matches.”
“Captain against captain, vice-captain against vice-captain.”
Banna continued.
“I have no objections.”
Rocks shrugged.
He then pointed at Ren, who was crouching on top of the Armstrong Cannon and casually munching on an apple.
“He’s my vice-captain.”
“Who are you sending?”
Pfft!
Upon learning that Ren would be his opponent, Ganna couldn’t help laughing out loud.
He had originally assumed that his opponent would be Black Bear Big Bear or Brown Bear Little Bear, which would have put at least some pressure on him.
He never expected his opponent to be a skinny little brat.
This was going to be easier than blowing his nose with one hand.
“Ohhh!
Captain Banna, are you serious?”
“You’re really going to fight that Rocks?”
“That’s the man with a 1.5 billion Berries bounty!”
“If you sent Newgate, there might at least be a chance of winning!”
The pirates of the Brothers Pirates began speaking one after another.
Captain Banna’s expression immediately darkened.
“Shut up, all of you!
This is a captain’s order!”
Banna barked.
“Newgate, Newgate, Newgate!”
“Is Newgate the only person you people have in your eyes?”
“I’m the captain!”
As the captain of the ship, being ignored by his own crew made anger build up inside Banna.
Newgate’s Gura Gura no Mi was certainly powerful.
But Banna himself was also a powerful Devil Fruit user now!!!
He wanted to prove that he wasn’t inferior to Newgate.
“Then let’s begin with the vice-captain battle!”
Vice-Captain Ganna casually stepped forward and beckoned provocatively at Ren.
“Come on, then.”
Ren clapped his hands and leaped into the arena.
“Roahahaha!
Kid, don’t say I didn’t give you a chance.”
“Go ahead and make the first move.”
Ganna stood with his hands behind his back, looking completely confident of victory.
“Oh.”
Ren merely responded with a calm acknowledgment.
And then there was nothing more.
Snap!
The crisp sound of his fingers snapping was immediately followed by a bolt of lightning as thick as a barrel.
BOOM!
It struck Ganna head-on.
In an instant, he was charred black from head to toe, his hair standing straight up as he stared blankly at the sky and questioned his life choices.
“Hm?
You’re a Devil Fruit user too?”
Ren heard the mechanical voice of the recording system in his ear.
[Zoan-Type Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Hound — Successfully Recorded!]
What was supposed to be nothing more than a formality had unexpectedly brought him an additional benefit.
The Hound ability itself was of little use to Ren.
But the physical enhancement provided by a Zoan Devil Fruit was very real.
Meanwhile—
“Little Brother!”
“Vice-Captain!”
After being stunned for several moments, the pirates of the Brothers Pirates finally reacted.
They immediately rushed forward and surrounded the charred human figure.
“Don’t worry.
It’s just a game.
I didn’t go for the kill.”
Ren shrugged.
“He’s alive.
Vice-Captain Ganna is still alive.”
The ship’s doctor gave his diagnosis, confirming Ren’s statement.
The pirates all breathed a sigh of relief.
Then they immediately began lamenting.
“That’s why I said we absolutely shouldn’t have accepted this challenge!”
“How could Rocks’ right-hand man be an ordinary person?”
“Lightning…
That was the power to control lightning!”
“Vice-Captain Ganna was simply too careless.
If he’d transformed and gone all-out from the beginning, perhaps…”
“No, no, no.
He couldn’t have won.”
“Not even remotely.”
“His opponent is a lightning user!”
The pirates chattered among themselves, their words and expressions filled with awe toward Ren.
“Looks like we’ve won the first round.”
Rocks grinned.
“Then it’s decided.
Newgate, become my crewmate.”
He delivered his final declaration to the noisy Brothers Pirates.
After a brief moment of stunned silence, the expressions on the Brothers Pirates’ faces grew increasingly grim.
“Waaah!
Newgate!”
“Newgate, I can’t bear to see you go!”
“Newgate is going to become someone else’s crewmate!”
…
Unlike the emotional turmoil of everyone around him, Newgate remained calm and composed from beginning to end.
Because he had already foreseen this outcome.
This pirate game had been arranged by the captain precisely to kick him out.
Newgate had already accepted his fate.
“Goodbye, everyone.”
Newgate said farewell to the people he knew.
“Welcome aboard, Newgate.”
Rocks spoke warmly.
Newgate maintained his cold expression and merely nodded.
Rocks didn’t mind.
After all, he had already gotten the man.
“All right.”
“Now it’s our turn.”
Rocks’ aggressive gaze locked onto Captain Banna.
Aside from Newgate, there was one other thing on the other side that they wanted.