After circling around Alabasta for a day, Marco and his crew arrived at the port of Nanohana City and successfully met up with Ace and Ian, who had tied up the captured Blackbeard Pirates like Zongzi. (sticky rice dumplings)

Upon receiving the news from Ace that they had successfully captured Teach, the Whitebeard Pirates dispatched four of their captains to assist them. They were the first division captain Marco, the third division captain Diamond Jozu, the fifth division captain Flower Sword Vista, and the eighth division captain Namur.

With Ace, the captain of the second division, that made a total of five captain-level individuals responsible for escorting the dangerous Blackbeard crew.

This was a special request made by Ace, which was why the Whitebeard Pirates were taking the task so seriously.

In reality, even after Teach killed Thatch and fled, the Whitebeard Pirates still hadn’t fully realized the danger that Teach posed. In the eyes of many, Teach was just a brute with great strength but not much else to offer in terms of combat ability. This was mainly because Teach had behaved rather harmlessly during his time with the Whitebeard Pirates.

If it wasn’t for Ian’s insistence, it’s likely that only Marco would have been dispatched to handle the situation…

Even so, when Marco and Vista saw Ian, they complained a bit, saying, “Ian, we were on vacation, you know! But because of your request, Dad sent us here too. You better treat us with drinks!”

Ian smiled and replied, “Drinks are no problem, but I have to remind you guys that I didn’t bring you here just for fear-mongering. Don’t you know? Ace and I almost fell into Teach’s hands. So when you’re escorting him, you have to be extremely careful!”

“Is… is that so?” After hearing this, Marco and his crew couldn’t help but hesitate, and they looked at Teach with even more caution.

Approaching Teach, Marco squatted down and looked him in the eye, gritting his teeth as he said, “Teach, do you even realize how much you’ve hurt Oyaji?”

But Teach remained silent and just stared at Marco with an intense gaze.

Marco sensed a hint of madness from Teach’s intense gaze and couldn’t help but shudder. He instinctively took a step back, feeling like he was facing a stranger rather than the Teach he knew from before.

He had changed! Marco realized it immediately, but he had no idea what had caused Teach to change.

Turning his head, Marco asked Ian, “Ian, are you coming back with us? Dad really wants to see you…”

Ian thought for a moment, shaking his head and saying, “No, I have something to do. With you, Ace, and the others escorting the monster, and as long as you’re careful, there shouldn’t be any accidents on the way. So, I won’t be going with you guys.”

Ian did have something to attend to. Just two days prior to Marco’s arrival, Ian had received a secret phone call from Fujitora, who informed him that Admiral Aokiji had come to see him.

Admiral Kuzan had come to discuss matters related to the pacifists.

As only Kuzan knew the location of the Dragon Hunter Pirates’ base, which was currently located on a sky island, the Marines sent him as a liaison to contact the Dragon Hunter Pirates.

During the phone call, Fujitora told Ian that the Marines and the World Government had finally agreed to trade Germa Technology’s data for the pacifists.

Originally, the pacifists were a secret weapon of the Marines’ scientific team, and it was impossible for them to fall into anyone else’s hands. However, when Ian reported the trade conditions of exchanging Germa Technology’s data for the pacifists, it immediately caused divisions within the Marines.

The division mainly occurred between the marine Headquarters and the Marines’ Scientific Team. The marine Headquarters, led by Sengoku, was firmly against the trade, but the Scientific Team was eager to obtain Germa’s technological data. They argued that they needed to verify the pacifists’ capabilities through actual combat, and therefore whoever conducted the verification would be just an excuse for the trade. This led to a disagreement between the Marines and the scientific team on this matter.

As for the World Government, they remained silent and merely watched the two departments under their command argue. However, after a period of dispute, a person of significant influence finally spoke up – none other than Dr. Vegapunk, the marines’ most highly regarded scientist!

It was a surprise to many when he declared his support for the proposed trade. As the Navy’s foremost expert, his words carried immense weight, and even the most stubborn opponents couldn’t ignore his endorsement. Eventually, the fleet admiral agreed to the deal, albeit reluctantly, and stressed that only one of the prototypes could be given…

In fact, the pacifists were still in the testing phase as the modification of Bartholomew Kuma was not yet complete. Otherwise, it would not have been so easy for Sengoku to give in.

However, there was a major secret in this transaction that Aokiji was unaware of, so he couldn’t mention it.

But regardless, Aokiji informed Fujitora of the situation, who promptly relayed it to Ian. According to the Navy’s requirements, Ian had to go to the marine Headquarters to personally complete this trade.

Therefore, Ian needed to go back once more to the Marine Headquarters and couldn’t participate in the escort mission.

It was difficult to tell Marco and the others about this, but they were understanding and didn’t press for more information. After resting for a while, they set off to escort the Blackbeard Pirates.

As they watched the Whitebeard Pirates’ fleet depart, Ian couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

However, he wasn’t too worried about the escort as he knew that Marco and the others were there. It wasn’t like Ace, who had been alone. So, he could only shake his head and temporarily set aside his doubts.

…………………………

After the fleet set sail, Teach, who was tied to the deck, suddenly burst into laughter. His laughter immediately alerted Marco and his crew, and Vista drew his swords, pointing them at Teach and saying, “Teach! What are you up to? Don’t even think about running away. We brought Namur along this time to keep an eye on you. You should know what will happen to a devil fruit user who falls into the sea and encounters fishmen, right?”

The fishman, Namur, also clenched his fists to show his presence.

However, after Teach finished laughing, he shook his head and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t escape! As a person with only one hand, where could I go?”

“Why are you laughing then?” Marco asked, puzzled.

“I’m just laughing at this damn fate!” Teach burst out laughing again and said, “Fate is truly the most elusive thing…”

Ace and the others looked at each other, unable to understand what he meant.

After laughing, Teach closed his eyes and rested on the ship, and Marco and his crew had no choice but to let him be.

However, Teach, with his eyes closed, was not sleeping like Marco and his crew thought. He was actually going over his plan in his mind.

“The first step was a success!” he thought to himself. “Lafitte seems to have completed his mission, and the Marines have cooperated. Ian didn’t follow us either. Next, it’s up to me…”

As Lafite said when he told Sengoku and Akainu, Teach was deliberately caught.

In fact, when Teach boarded the Port of City and saw Ian and Ace, he realized that the Blackbeard Pirates might not be able to escape this time.

The reason was simple. The crew of the Blackbeard Pirates had just survived a shipwreck and were in a state of exhaustion. Fighting against Ian and Ace in such a state was not going to end well for them.

However, the crew of the Blackbeard Pirates were all crafty and cunning. When they realized that the situation was not in their favor, they immediately thought of self-preservation.

Knowing that Ian could fly, they knew that escaping by ship would be a death sentence. Ian would surely destroy their vessel and leave them to the mercy of the sea creatures below. So, they had no choice but to fight against him and his crew.

But Teach was able to delay the inevitable through conversation, buying them some time. During this delay, the helmsman of the Blackbeard Pirates, Lafitte, had already taken action.

If someone had noticed Lafitte’s movements at the time, they would have realized that he was constantly twirling his cane in his hand. An uninformed observer might have thought that this was due to Lafitte’s nervousness, but the truth was that Lafitte was a skilled hypnotist! Twirling his cane was his way of using hypnosis.

Being a master hypnotist, it was difficult to detect his techniques. At the time, Ian and Ace were focused on Teach, and Lafitte was standing next to him. As he twirled his cane, he naturally caught the corner of their eyes.

Thus, even Ian and Ace were not aware that they had been hypnotized by Lafitte without their knowledge!

During the hypnosis process, Lafitte had two suggestions.

The first was that they could not kill Teach under any circumstances.

And the second was: whenever you count the members of the Blackbeard Pirates, there were always five members, then one of them was surely Lafitte himself!