Makoto glanced at the nurses on Whitebeard's ship and told them with a smile to reinsert Whitebeard's IVs.
"An old man whose body is half in the grave shouldn't push himself so hard."
The nurses hastily and flusteredly applied medicine and reinserted the needles, constantly urging, "Captain, please don't get so excited! Your body..."
Whitebeard grunted, put his blade back, plopped down onto his seat, and asked in a deep, rumbling voice, "What are you here for?"
Makoto waved to his girlfriends on the adjacent Otherworlder-Go.
Immediately, large quantities of prepared delicacies and fine wine were brought over.
Makoto acted as if he owned the place, sitting down across from Whitebeard without any pretense, accepting a glass of freshly squeezed juice from Alice, and taking a sip before saying, "Just here to see an old acquaintance."
Whitebeard was surprised.
"Are you that kind of person?"
Makoto's smile grew wider.
"Since you're about to die, if I didn't see you now, I'd never see you again."
Whitebeard couldn't help but curse, "Go to hell."
Just then, Kokoro walked up to Whitebeard carrying a large wine jug over two meters in volume.
"Uncle Newgate, this is wine brewed by Erina-nee and the others. It's for you!"
Whitebeard looked down at this young woman who had once studied under him forty years ago, his gaze lingering on her face for a moment.
The tiny little girl from back then had now grown into a graceful young woman.
Whitebeard was an old hand at this kind of thing.
From the way she moved, he could tell that this girl was no longer a virgin.
Then he saw how, after delivering the wine, Kokoro ran to Makoto's side, clinging to his arm with a dependent, bird-like posture...
Whitebeard couldn't hold back and cursed, "Beast."
As soon as he said this, everyone in the Whitebeard Pirates, who had just sat down to enjoy their food, was startled.
'What the hell, Pops? Weren't you the one who said not to fight with him?'
'Why are you blowing up first?'
Marco's mouth twitched.
Makoto glanced at the ship's doctors in their tight nurse uniforms beside Whitebeard and retorted, "Kokoro is only a little over ten years younger than me. You're sleeping with women a few decades younger than you… that's even more beastly."
Whitebeard rolled his eyes hard and decided not to engage in a verbal battle with Makoto.
He really couldn't win against the guy.
Still, Whitebeard couldn't resist trying to defend himself, muttering, "I'm still a bit better than Roger."
As soon as he said this, Ace, who had just stepped aboard the Moby Dick, darkened his face.
Clearly, Ace understood that Whitebeard was referring to how Roger had gotten together with Rouge, who was thirty years younger than him, right before he died.
Although Whitebeard and Roger had a good relationship, Whitebeard clearly looked down on this behavior after learning about it.
Sleeping with someone decades younger was one thing, but damn it, you were about to die and you still got her pregnant… that was just too beastly.
Makoto glanced at Ace, whose expression was growing increasingly grim, and said to Whitebeard, "Stop talking."
Whitebeard raised an eyebrow, somewhat confused.
He had heard that Makoto loved mocking Roger the most. Why was he shutting it down now?
Then, Whitebeard noticed Makoto's glance toward Ace and looked over as well.
Upon seeing Ace's face, Whitebeard's expression changed slightly.
'This kid... really looked like a young Roger.'
Instantly, Whitebeard guessed what was going on, but didn't say anything more, just raised his sake bowl and took a drink.
Seeing that Makoto truly had no intention of attacking their father, the Whitebeard Pirates let out a collective sigh of relief and sat down to enjoy the fine wine and food.
Makoto and Whitebeard chatted sporadically about other topics.
It was at this moment that Nayuta, carrying Pochita, came before Teach.
"Hey, ugly."
Teach's face darkened.
He looked down at the black-haired girl before him, her golden ringed eyes staring at him coldly.
But he didn't dare lose his temper, after all, she was Makoto's woman.
With no choice, Teach suppressed his anger, squeezed out a smile, and asked, "Miss, is there something you need?"
Nayuta said flatly, "Say, 'Dedicate everything to Nayuta'."
Teach was bewildered.
'What?'
But he didn't dare talk back, so he could only repeat it: "Ded... dedicate everything to Nayuta."
Nayuta nodded in satisfaction, then turned and walked away without looking back.
Teach was completely confused, thinking to himself: 'Is this woman crazy?'
After having a meal with the crew of the Moby Dick, Makoto's group returned to Otherworlder-Go and sailed away.
Watching the orange-red dog-shaped ship disappear at the horizon's edge, the entire Whitebeard Pirates finally breathed a sigh of relief.
It seemed they really had just come for a meal.
Whitebeard leaned back on his throne, looking at the distant sea line, and remarked, "Next is Shiki? I'm not surprised about that."
During their conversation, Makoto had revealed that his next target was Golden Lion Shiki, another user of a top-tier Paramecia-type Devil Fruit.
Whitebeard wasn't surprised by this.
After all, back in the day, Makoto's attitude toward Shiki had been absolutely terrible.
Whitebeard didn't pity Shiki... it was just that seeing people from his own era disappear one by one made him feel a vague sense of melancholy.
Just then, Teach came before Whitebeard and bowed deeply.
"Pops, I would like to temporarily leave the Whitebeard Pirates and go out to make my own way."
At these words, everyone was in an uproar.
Teach was a long-time veteran of the Whitebeard Pirates, always very low-key and hardworking. Why would he suddenly choose to leave?
The expressions of the Whitebeard Pirates' division commanders were varied, but all were bewildered.
Whitebeard raised an eyebrow, also a bit surprised, but still agreed.
After all, many of the pirate captains under the Whitebeard Pirates were former members of the Moby Dick who had later left to start their own crews.
Whenever the Whitebeard Pirates encountered danger, they would all return. Whitebeard had always treated Teach, his former captain's son, quite well.
"Go ahead," Whitebeard nodded.
Teach bowed deeply again, then turned and left.
No one noticed the fleeting gleam beneath his lowered eyes.
…
A few days later.
As Makoto had told Whitebeard, his group began their assault on Shiki.
Regarding Shiki's Float-Float Fruit, Makoto had originally considered giving it to Saeko.
After all, Saeko's swordsmanship was primarily inherited from Shiki. Wasn't it perfectly normal for a student to inherit her master's Devil Fruit along with his swordsmanship?
But Saeko expressed that she wanted to remain specialized in swordsmanship and was unwilling.
Ultimately, Makoto chose Hiyori.
After all, Hiyori now used dual swords as well, and she could also follow Shiki's template of combining swordsmanship with Devil Fruit abilities.
Incidentally, Hiyori's dual-sword style primarily came from her biological father, Kozuki Oden.
Although he had promised Erina to work hard at finding her a top-tier Devil Fruit later, the Float-Float Fruit was different from Alice's Soul-Soul Fruit.
It wasn't the kind of Devil Fruit you could eat and then automatically win… it wasn't suitable for Erina.
Otherworlder-Go arrived on an endless expanse of sea.
Yu suddenly looked up, his gaze sharp as a torch.
"It's right above."
With that, Yu transformed into the Gun Devil, craned his neck, and a pitch-black gun barrel extended from the center of his brow, pointing straight up at a ninety-degree angle.
The next second—
Bang!
With a heavy sound…
A violent laser shot out of the gun barrel, soaring into the sky.
Boom—!
The laser hit something, exploding into a massive ball of fire in the high altitude.
A few seconds later, a colossal ship, comparable in size to a small island and even larger than Otherworlder-Go and the Moby Dick, with a golden lion's head for a bow, plummeted from the sky like a meteor.
The Golden Lion's Ship.
Watching the Golden Lion's ship with its gaping hole plummet from above, Nami, Kalifa, and the others below couldn't help but exclaim, "So big..."
It was the first time they had seen such a huge ship.
Normally, with the current shipbuilding capabilities of the pirate world, it was impossible to build a ship of this size.
But with the power of Shiki's Float-Float Fruit, that wasn't an issue.