Great Pirate
Blackbeard: "My final moment! Behold!!"
Drake: "Finally showing your true colors, Troy's guardian."
Hector leaps from Drake's ship to Rikka's side.
Rikka: "You sure about joining us?"
Hector: "Gotta protect Master from that cunning spear."
Rikka: "Blackbeard! Blackbeard!!"
Hector restrains her.
Hector: "Calm down, Master! Approach him now, and you'll share his fate!"
Rikka: "But! But…!!"
Her distress is intense. What's her connection to Blackbeard?
Hector: "Enduring is fighting. Don't cheapen your worth! I won't allow reckless sacrifice!!"
Rikka: "…Ah—"
Drake: "Mash! Hold Rikka!"
Mash: "Yes, Senpai! Stay strong…!"
Blackbeard: "I'm fine, Rikka-tan… No pain at all, see?"
Hector: "Tch, you slipped, Captain. Acting carefree but always clutching your gun. A genius playing fool is trickier than a fool claiming genius."
He twists the spear, grinning.
Blackbeard: "…But betraying at this moment? Foolish, Hector."
Mash: "Hector!? As in 'Shining Helm' Hector!?"
Hector: "Bingo! I had my odds calculated."
Drake: "Edward!!"
Rikka: "Don't underestimate us!!"
Drake and Rikka fire in retaliation.
Hector: "Missed—Holy Grail, mine!!"
He snatches the Grail from Blackbeard's body, leaping to another ship.
Gilgamesh: "No matter. War's nature. Given your opponent, that flimsy mask was necessary."
Gilgamesh unleashes treasures; Hector dodges nimbly.
Hector: "Thanks. But my real target—"
Asterios: "Rooar!!"
Hector parries Asterios's charge.
Hector: "Sorry, I'm not rusty enough to lose to a Berserker."
Asterios: "Graah!?"
Euryale: "Asterios…!?"
Hector: "The goddess. Going to her was unlike you, Hero-King. A mistake for Master's sake?"
Gilgamesh: "…Hmph, fool."
I knew.
Gilgamesh: "I came here deliberately."
It was planned.
Gilgamesh: "To lure you to your death!"
Chains bind Hector tightly.
Hector: "What!?"
Medusa: "Step back, Elder Sister."
A serpentine Rider appears.
Hector: "Medusa!?"
Medusa: "I was summoned by the Hero-King, under Command Seal, to protect my elder sister from Chaldea."
Hector: "Even so, a summon this fast… impossible… unless—"
Exactly. The summon was prepared.
Flashback:
Gilgamesh: "I don't go to them—they come to me. But first…"
Euryale: "Mmph! What're you doing!?"
Gilgamesh entrusted a Command Seal to Euryale.
(He'll target the goddess. Don't fail, Medusa.)
(Leave it to me, Hero-King.)
For the moment Hector revealed his betrayal.
Gilgamesh: "I showed a flaw, knowing you'd pounce. A cunning foe like you wouldn't miss a 'king's mistake.' This is the result."
Hector: "…!"
Gilgamesh: "You thought yourself a master of schemes, Hector. Such ploys are a king's basic craft. You made your name in Troy, but none there surpassed me."
With me here, the Hero-King's 'flaw' is no flaw—it's your path to ruin.
Hector: "Got me… Toughest foe since Achilles. Thought you'd overlook me, hating gods."
Gilgamesh: "Hah, I'm breaking out in hives."
Touching him was tough, but effective.
A bullet pierces Hector.
Hector: "Guh!!"
Gilgamesh: "Still breathing, Blackbeard?"
Blackbeard: "Dufufu! Rikka-tan and my love's teamwork!"
Rikka: "Don't talk! It'll worsen your wound!"
Supported by Rikka, Blackbeard lands his final shot.
Hector: "Tch—!"
Asterios: "Rooar!!"
Hector: "Fine, I'll retreat! Gotta live to fight!"
Gilgamesh: "Wise. Your schemes failed. In this sea, you've no choice but to flee home."
Hector: "Ugh, worst loss ever—!"
He swings chains, tripping Medusa.
Medusa: "Kuh!"
She releases the chains to stay by Euryale. Hector escapes on a small boat.
Drake: "He had a boat ready! Sneaky bastard!"
Rikka: "Let him go, darling. He took nothing."
Blackbeard: "…Hero-King, Gilgamesh… Never make that guy an enemy…"
Hector's escape secures his organization's path. Now's not the time to kill him.
Gilgamesh: "Preparations done. Now…"
He glances at Rikka, crying over the fading Blackbeard.
Blackbeard: "Dufufu! Don't cry for me, Rikka-tan! Head still on? Blackbeard's doing great!"
Rikka: "Sob… hic…!"
Blackbeard: "What's wrong? Smile, smile!"
Rikka: "Sob… Uuuh…!"
Drake: "Teache, stop joking."
Drake lowers her gun.
Drake: "She's genuinely worried for scum like us. Don't waste her tears."
Blackbeard: "…"
Rikka: "Teache…! Don't go… We finally… finally met…!"
Gilgamesh: "Leave a decent death poem. That's why your head's still on."
Blackbeard: "…Right."
He gently touches the sobbing Rikka.
Blackbeard: "Stop blubbering, kid."
Rikka: "Huh…?"
The fearsome pirate who ruled the Caribbean stands tall.
Blackbeard: "Blackbeard's death deserves a festival! No mopey nonsense. Laugh, Rikka, laugh! Hahaha!!"
Rikka: "…Ha, haha…!"
Tears streaming, she laughs, voice trembling.
Blackbeard: "See? You got it. Pirates die laughing. 'Finally croaked, serves him right!' That's our end. Our reckoning. So—"
He plops his bloodied Captain's Hat on her.
Blackbeard: "Don't waste treasures like tears before I go. Makes dying too costly."
Rikka: "…Yeah. Yeah…!"
Blackbeard: "Not giving you my head, Francis Drake."
Drake: "Don't want it. Take it with you."
Blackbeard: "Hah! Fine, fine!"
He pulls Rikka close.
Blackbeard: "The woman I respected most sees me off! The one who embraced me cries for me! Head intact—what a blessed death!!"
Rikka: "Teache…"
Blackbeard: "Farewell, humanity! Farewell, pirates! And—farewell, Rikka!!"
Rikka: "!!"
Blackbeard: "Blackbeard dies! Hahahahahahahaha!!"
Patting Rikka's head, the Caribbean's great pirate vanishes, laughing.
Gilgamesh: "Go, pirate. Savor those precious tears and face the underworld's judgment."
I admire Master.
She supported Blackbeard, loathed by all, and accepted his pirate soul's Captain's Hat.
I want to live like that—reaching out to all, shining.
Another hue colors this nameless soul.
Drake: "Treasure it. It's a captain's soul. Might stink a bit."
Rikka: "No… I'm used to smells."
Adjusting the hat, Rikka looks up.
Gilgamesh: "Chase Hector, Master? You cared so much—tearing him apart won't suffice."
Rikka: "No, Gil. I'll defeat him, but not out of hate."
Gilgamesh: "Oh?"
Rikka: "He's with those wrecking the world. That's reason enough!!"
Wiping tears, she shouts.
Rikka: "No giving up! Let's go, everyone!! Gil! Big Sis! Lend me your strength!!"
Drake: "Of course! Can't refuse my cute junior!"
Gilgamesh: "No need to ask. I'll spare no investment for you!"
Mash: "Senpai!"
Rikka: "Let's go, Mash!! Time to take down the real boss!!"
Absolutely!
(No hate, no grudges.)
Rikka: "…Right, Seekermaster?"
Blackbeard: "Rikka-tan's my bride! This treatment seals it!"
Mash: "'Death Angel'—"
Everyone, let's tackle Salem!
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The battle isn't over... and the truth has yet to be revealed. Read the next chapter now on Patreon! [patreon.com/Greyhounds]