Somewhere in the New World, an unknown stretch of sea.
In stark contrast to the suffocating atmosphere aboard the Whitebeard Pirates' ship, unrestrained laughter echoed here.
"Zehahahaha! Zehahahaha!"
On a crude wooden raft, Marshal D. Teach lay sprawled without a care, arms spread wide as he basked in the sunlight, emitting his signature distinctive laugh.
He had succeeded.
After lurking within the Whitebeard Pirates for over a decade, all to find the Dark-Dark Fruit.
Now, this Devil Fruit finally belonged to him!
Teach slowly raised his hand, and in his palm, a bottomless darkness materialized, wildly contorting and spinning like a miniature black hole, seemingly devouring all light, air, and everything around it.
He could feel an unprecedented, terrifying power surging within him.
This was the power he had dreamed of!
As for his "comrade" Thatch, whom he had murdered, he felt not an ounce of remorse.
Thatch was merely a stepping stone on the path to his dream's summit—if someone blocks the way, you kick them aside.
That's all there was to it.
"Zehahaha..."
As his laughter gradually subsided, Teach sat up.
The ambition that had lain dormant for years in his deep eyes was now completely unveiled, burning fiercely.
"From today onward, the Blackbeard Pirates are officially formed!" he declared to the empty sea.
"Next, it's time to find some interesting crewmates."
No sooner had he spoken than he noticed a black dot floating among the waves not far away.
Squinting, he saw it was another dilapidated raft, with an exceptionally burly man lying on it, his muscles bulging like a beached giant bear.
The man seemed to have just survived a fierce battle, now lying motionless on the raft while gasping for breath, clearly exhausted.
Teach grinned and paddled his raft leisurely closer.
"Hey, big guy over there."
He looked down at the man on the raft, his tone playful.
"Who are you? How'd you end up drifting in a place like this?"
The man on the raft struggled to lift his head, revealing a rugged face.
The moment he saw Teach, a flicker of wariness flashed in his eyes, but his physical weakness prevented him from mounting any effective counterattack.
"Jesus Burgess!" The man laboriously flipped over and sat up, then continued.
"Fleet Admiral Orion came to the New World with a bunch of trainees. I was trying to avoid his training ship when I had the bad luck of running into a Sea King. Lost my ship and crew—I'm the only one who made it out alive."
"Fleet Admiral? Orion?"
"Zehahaha! I never expected the esteemed Fleet Admiral to bring a training ship into the New World. This is truly unexpected!"
After a hearty laugh, Teach turned his gaze back to Burgess, an unusual glint flashing in his eyes.
"Hey, Burgess, since you've got nowhere to go now, how about joining my pirate crew?"
Burgess panted heavily and retorted, "Do I even have a choice at this point?"
Teach's smile instantly twisted into something ferocious and cruel.
"Of course you do."
He slowly extended his hand, darkness swirling once again in his palm.
"You can choose to join my pirate crew and become my first crew member."
"Or..."
"Choose to die right here and now, becoming nourishment for this great ocean!"
...
Several hours later.
A fully recovered Jesus Burgess stood energetically beside Teach, his massive frame making the already cramped raft feel even more crowded.
"Wehahaha! Captain! Where are we headed next?" Burgess had completely embraced his new role, asking with great enthusiasm.
Teach took a swig of rum and grinned widely. "Of course we're going to find more crewmates! A powerful pirate crew can't just have the two of us."
Before his words faded, the sound of flapping wings suddenly came from high above.
Both men looked up simultaneously to see a giant white "monster bird" circling down.
Before they could react, the "monster bird" gracefully landed on the other end of the raft.
Only then did they realize this wasn't a bird at all, but a man with a pair of white wings growing from his back.
The man was tall and slender with a pale complexion, wearing a tall top hat and leaning on a cane. His every movement carried a sickly elegance.
As he landed on the raft and took in the extremely crude "pirate ship" and the two men with completely different appearances aboard, a barely noticeable surprise flashed in his eyes.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen." The newcomer bowed slightly, speaking politely. "I am Lafitte, codename 'Demon Sheriff.'"
"Lafitte?" Teach examined the unexpected visitor, his smile turning dangerous.
"Who you are doesn't matter. What matters is you've got guts, daring to land on my ship so casually."
"I presume you're prepared to die?"
As his words fell, a terrifying gravitational force erupted from Teach, darkness spreading like tidewater as he attempted to pull Lafitte directly toward him!
Feeling this bizarre and overwhelming power, Lafitte's elegant expression finally changed.
The wooden planks beneath his feet creaked, and his body leaned forward uncontrollably.
"Please wait!" he hurriedly spoke, his voice no longer composed. "I mean no harm!"
"The reason I landed here is because I'm evading Marine pursuit! Fleet Admiral Orion's training fleet is nearby in these waters - I nearly ran into them!"
"Orion?"
Hearing this familiar name, the darkness in Teach's palm slowly receded, and the terrifying gravitational force disappeared along with it.
He looked at Lafitte with great interest.
"Zehahaha, that Fleet Admiral again? Seems he's been causing you quite some trouble."
His eyes shifted as he instantly grasped the situation's key points.
To be personally pursued by the Fleet Admiral, this man named Lafitte before them was undoubtedly no weakling.
And now, these formidable individuals were scurrying around the New World like headless flies.
This was nothing short of a godsend for him!
"Since you're also a stray dog running from the Marine, why not join my pirate crew?" Teach extended the invitation once more.
Lafitte adjusted his top hat, his cane tapping lightly on the raft with a crisp sound.
He bowed gracefully again.
"It would be my honor to follow you, Captain."
...
Three days later.
The raft remained the same raft, but the number of people on it had increased to five.
The captain, "Blackbeard" Marshal D. Teach, sat imposingly in the center of the raft.
The helmsman, "Champion" Jesus Burgess, waved his fists beside him, seemingly bursting with endless energy.
The navigator, "Demon Sheriff" Lafitte, stood elegantly to the side, leaning on his cane, a mysterious smile gracing his pale face.
The ship doctor, "Death God" Doc Q, huddled weakly in a corner, clutching a rotten apple as if he might breathe his last at any moment.
The sniper, Van Augur, stood at the very front of the raft, holding his beloved rifle "Kuri" like a statue, ever vigilant of his surroundings.
These five men, bizarre in appearance and terrifying in aura, crammed together on a raft that seemed ready to fall apart at any moment, formed the initial core of the "Blackbeard Pirates."
"Captain!" Burgess shouted with undiminished enthusiasm. "We have five comrades now! Isn't it time we pulled off something big?"
Teach downed the last of his liquor and casually tossed the bottle into the sea, letting out an earth-shaking roar of laughter.
"Zehahaha! Of course!"
"Right now, the great pirates of the New World have been scared out of their wits by Orion, becoming frightened birds!"
"Before the Marine finds them, we'll hunt them down one by one!"
"Either they join us, or they die! We'll use their corpses to make the name of the Blackbeard Pirates resound across the seas!"
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