Teach blinked in confusion. "Images? Your news agency is running that kind of business now?"
He glanced toward Redyat. If anyone knew, it would be him.
Redyat sipped his red wine with an easy smile. "It is a new industry. Let me explain."
He walked Teach and the others through how the system worked, what it offered, and why it was different from newspapers. As a former prince, he understood the power of information better than anyone. Printed news shaped opinions, but moving images reached the heart. They framed truth in a sharper way. They stirred ambition in people who had never imagined becoming strong.
Teach scratched his cheek with a helpless look. "Only a few months, and I feel like I am falling behind the times."
Even he could not ignore how quickly the era was shifting. The butterfly effect of his existence was long gone; now it had grown into a hurricane spreading across the world.
He laughed softly. "In any case, I have no reason to hide anything. We are heading for the Grand Line soon."
Falling behind the times was a joke. Anything valuable could be bought, borrowed, or stolen.
Yet something in his chest tightened. He understood exactly what images would do to the world. They would do far more than entertain. They would show distant seas to people who had never left home. They would show power to those who had never imagined grasping it. They would kill ignorance. They would raise ambition.
This meant the Four Seas would not remain weak forever.
Morgans finished his explanation with cheerful energy. "And finally, good news. All newspapers are printed. Tomorrow morning, they will reach every corner of the world. You will receive them soon."
Teach chuckled. "Make sure you pick a good title for me." Then he hung up the Den Den Mushi.
On the other end, Morgans froze. A title. Yes. Teach truly needed a title worthy of what he had shown. The old one, Demon Claw, no longer matched him. He had something far darker now, something that had destroyed a kingdom. Morgans pressed his fists together, excited.
"This is big. It must be chosen by me. Something that fits his power, his fruit, his pirate crew. It needs to resonate."
He thought of the Dark Dark Fruit. He thought of the Nightfall Pirates. Suddenly the idea clicked into place, bright and perfect.
He snapped his fingers. "I have it."
He immediately ordered his staff to prepare the headline.
Back inside the restaurant, Teach waved for a crewmate. "Get me a few of those video Den Den Mushi."
The pirate raced off and soon returned with a large sack filled with the specially bred snails. With a crew their size, they needed more than a few devices.
These were not ordinary Den Den Mushi. They were modified strains capable of both video display and calls, but they only connected to the World Economic News Agency's hotline. It was a system built through cooperation between the agency and the Den Den Mushi breeders.
You selected a video, paid the fee, and waited for a trained seagull to arrive and take the payment. Only then would the video begin playing.
There was always the question of privacy. The devices could send location data, but Teach knew Morgans was not foolish enough to track his customers. No one would buy something that let others spy on them.
Teach lifted the shell, and the Den Den Mushi's eyes opened. Its face mimicked a screen, revealing a list of categories and titles. Buttons on its body worked like a mouse, allowing him to scroll.
He skimmed through several options. "Not bad, but nothing I need."
He closed the shell.
It was a new industry. The system would improve. More money-collecting seagulls would shorten the wait time.
Teach stood up. "Alright, time to head back."
The group left the restaurant. Citizens stepped aside one after another as the officers of the Nightfall Pirates passed by.
Down by the coast, ships that had once filled the docks were now gone. Only the five Nightfall Pirates' vessels remained, plus two more. The Kingdom of Tirisfal had gifted them two Kraken Kingdom warships in the aftermath of their victory.
The newer recruits stared at the fleet with shining eyes. In half a day, their numbers had grown to nearly nine hundred. In a few more days, they would surpass a thousand.
In the New World, that number was no small force. Great pirates with bounties around four or five hundred million often commanded several hundred men. The truly powerful had thousands. The Nightfall Pirates were entering those ranks.
But Teach knew the truth. Numbers were not everything. They needed elites trained in Haki. Whitebeard's commanders had trained thousands of subordinates who could use Armament Haki with ease. That level of power took years.
Still, progress was progress.
By dawn the next day, just as Morgans promised, news birds filled the skies across the world. Newspapers rained into the hands of eager readers.
A man on his morning walk paused at a newsstand. He glanced at the cover and felt his heart skip.
"Boss, give me one. Now."
He threw the Berry down, seized a copy, and opened it on the spot.
His eyes bulged.
The cover stunned him. Mountains of treasure gleamed across the page. Teach stood at the front of the Nightfall Pirates, every officer behind him, each one radiating presence.
Then he saw the bold headline.
Nation Destroyer Marshall D. Teach
The fall of the mighty Kraken Kingdom in West Blue, crushed by the rising Nightfall Pirates
A single Devil Fruit that brought ruin to an entire nation
The strongest rookie of a new era
A contender for the throne of the Sea Emperors
He swallowed hard, frozen in disbelief.
He continued reading. The newspaper detailed the Kraken Kingdom's power. Their hundred thousand elites. Their ten captains. Their king, transformed into an enormous sea monster using an Ancient Zoan. All defeated.
And the Nightfall Pirates had done it with only eight hundred members.
The images were crisp and brutal. Teach destroying the palace. The ruins afterward. Every frame sharpened the truth.
The paper also revealed the reason for the invasion. The kingdom had hidden a Devil Fruit, and once Teach consumed it, his strength skyrocketed. With that power, he destroyed the Kraken King with ease.
For the first time, people across the world understood how terrifying a Devil Fruit could be.
It was too much to dismiss. Teach was barely eighteen. His officers had not even reached twenty.
Give them ten years. Give them twenty. The world would not remain the same.
At the bottom of the paper, large red letters read:
Look forward to the complete video of Teach vs. Jones tomorrow
That single line thrilled readers more than anything else.
Across countless towns, cities, and islands, similar scenes played out. The story exploded through the world like wildfire.
On the Moby Dick, Marco skimmed the front page, then his expression shifted. He dumped a pile of Berry into the news bird's bag.
"Leave all of them. I want every copy."
He grabbed the stack and launched into the sky, scattering newspapers over all five Whitebeard ships.
Crewmates cursed at the sudden rain of paper until they saw the headlines. Then shock spread through the fleet.
Whitebeard himself read quietly, then rumbled a deep, amused laugh. "Gurarara. You have gained something terrifying, Teach."
A worried crewmate frowned. "Pops, if he enters the New World…"
Whitebeard raised a hand and smiled. "Do not worry. We are the Whitebeard Pirates. If he challenges us, we will remind him who rules these seas."
Cheers rose around him, full of confidence and devotion.
"Still," Whitebeard added, "make sure you pay the fee tonight. I want to watch the battle."