NOVEL NEXT Chapter 15: CHAPTER 15
In the original story, Tea Beard appeared at Punk Hazard, where he lost his legs and had animal limbs grafted onto him by Trafalgar Law.
Tea Beard grinned wickedly, wielding a large knife.
"Oh, so you recognize me? Now that you know who I am, hand over all your treasure!"
Alastor looked at him with disappointment. Recognizing Tea Beard, he realized the man was too weak to pose any real threat.
"Hey, are you deaf?" Tea Beard shouted angrily when he saw Alastor ignoring him.
A lackey beside him sneered, "Boss, this guy won't give up until we teach him a lesson. Watch this!"
He raised his blade and swung it down at Alastor's head.
Clang.
The blade shattered.
The lackey stared, bewildered, at the broken sword in his hand and at Alastor, whose skin remained unscathed.
Tea Beard's eyes widened in shock.
"What a hard head! No wonder you're brave enough to travel alone in the New World. You've got some skills."
Tea Beard, being ruthless and bold enough to encroach on Whitebeard's territory, wasn't easily intimidated. Instead, he roared, "Boys, let's take him down together! Kill him!"
"Kill!"
More than a dozen pirates charged forward, and Tea Beard himself put all his strength into trying to kill Alastor. Swords, bullets, explosives—every weapon was thrown at him.
"Is he dead?" Tea Beard gasped after the prolonged fight, drenched in sweat. He squinted through the smoke to the spot where Alastor had stood.
Then, steady footsteps sounded, and the young man emerged from the smoke, unharmed.
Tea Beard's face contorted in fear, and he screamed, "Monster!" He turned and fled.
Alastor brushed the dust from his clothes, watching Tea Beard's retreating figure. He considered finishing him with a single strike but remembered Tea Beard was a wanted criminal with a decent bounty. If he handed him over to the Navy, he'd make a little money.
Alastor wasn't yet widely recognized, and the Navy didn't know he was affiliated with the Beasts Pirates.
He glanced at the map and noted a nearby naval base.
True to his plan, Alastor knocked Tea Beard out with a swift blow and dragged him toward the naval base.
Not long after Alastor left, a large blue bird descended from the sky. Landing on a branch, it transformed partially into a human form, its arms still feathered.
The birdman looked in the direction Alastor had gone, a glint of interest in his eyes.
"Tea Beard's attacks couldn't even scratch him—his defense is impressive."
He took note of Alastor's clothing, rare outside the Wano Country.
"Perhaps those clothes are from Wano," murmured Marco the Phoenix, who had originally come to teach Tea Beard a lesson but instead witnessed the entire scene.
Alastor's defensive strength didn't surprise Marco much, but his Wano Country attire reminded Marco of events from long ago.
"It's been nearly twenty years since Oden died. I wonder how Wano Country is faring now."
Marco flapped his wings and took off, ready to return to the Moby Dick to discuss this with Pops, Jozu, and the others.
Marco the Phoenix is Whitebeard's right-hand man, serving as the ship's doctor and the captain of the first division.
With Whitebeard's health gradually declining, much of the crew's responsibilities had shifted to Marco, who managed most of their affairs.
Hearing that Tea Beard had been encroaching on Whitebeard's territory, Marco had come to teach him a lesson—something his Phoenix Fruit abilities allowed him to do with ease.
After witnessing Alastor's battle with Tea Beard, Marco returned to the Moby Dick and shared what he saw:
"That strange young man has impressive defense. Tea Beard's attacks didn't faze him at all. He may be an animal-type Devil Fruit user."
"An animal-type user from Wano Country?" remarked Vista, who carried twin swords on his back, with a slight change in expression. "He could be with the Beasts Pirates."
It was well known that the Beasts Pirates favored animal-based powers. From Kaido down through the Three Disasters and the Tobiroppo, most members had animal abilities, which granted them exceptional defense and vitality.
As rivals of the Beasts Pirates, the Whitebeard Pirates were all too aware of this.
Marco nodded, agreeing. "I think so too—he's likely one of Kaido's men."
"Kaido!"
The voice came from Izou, the sixteenth division captain, filled with bitter anger.
Although Izo was not one of the Nine Red Scabbards, he had once served as a retainer of Kozuki Oden. He still harbored resentment over Oden's death at Kaido's hands.
Marco sighed, placing a comforting hand on Izo's shoulder. "Hey, Izou, don't look so down."
A ball of flames suddenly floated in front of Izo, as the second division captain, Fire Fist Ace, approached with a grin. His fingers transformed into flames as he adjusted his hat.
"We're the Whitebeard Pirates, aren't we? Even Beast Kaido will fall eventually!"
"By the way, when I traveled to the New World a few years ago, I visited Wano Country myself. Unfortunately, I didn't cross paths with Kaido then—otherwise, I would've avenged you on the spot."
HHearing this, Whitebeard, who was reclining in a deck chair with an IV, spoke up.
"Ace, don't be so reckless. Kaido isn't as easy to deal with as you might think."
As the world's strongest man, Whitebeard had immense confidence in his own strength, but he was neither arrogant nor naive. He knew Kaido well—no longer the young pirate apprentice on the Rocks crew, but now the "Strongest Creature" and an Emperor of the Sea alongside him.
Underestimating Kaido would come at a heavy cost; Oden's death was a clear reminder of that.
But Ace, sheltered by Whitebeard and used to smooth sailing, showed no sign of listening. His expression was filled with youthful defiance.
Behind Ace, a grizzled Second Division veteran—a dark-skinned man with a toothless grin—spoke up.
"Come on, Pops, our captain is young and talented. Even if he can't take down Kaido now, who's to say what he'll accomplish in the future?"
"Teach, you get me!" Ace said, laughing as he heard this.
Blackbeard Teach laughed along with him, and Whitebeard could only shake his head with a sigh. He had an uneasy feeling that Ace's impulsive nature might one day lead him into trouble.
But he wasn't too concerned. No matter what trouble Ace found himself in, he, Whitebeard—the strongest man in the world—would be there to back him up. From the moment he discovered Ace was the son of his old friend Roger, Whitebeard had resolved to see him rise to the title of Pirate King.
Two generations of Pirate Kings in the same family—that would be the greatest tale of the Great Pirate Era!
Then Izou asked, "Ace, what did you encounter when you went to Wano Country?"
Ace began to recount his experiences there.
"I was shocked when I first arrived. The people in Wano were ragged and starving."
"I even went to Onigashima, Kaido's base, but he wasn't there. Instead, I met a strange guy who claimed to be Kaido's son."
"That guy was pretty strong. We didn't get to finish our fight due to an unexpected interruption, and I left Wano Country after that. I never saw him again…"
This person Ace encountered was Yamato.
But unlike in the original story, Ace and Yamato did not become friends. Due to Alastor's interference, Yamato had no reason to befriend Ace this time. Instead, the two saw each other as rivals.
---
At that same moment, while the Whitebeard Pirates discussed Wano Country, Alastor was busy dragging Tea Beard to a Navy base in the New World.
Although the New World is considered the domain of the Four Emperors and a paradise for great pirates, the powerful Navy has still managed to establish bases here.
In addition to smaller bases, there are two prominent branches. One is the G-1 branch, positioned near the entrance to the New World, and the other is the lesser-known G-5 branch.
This time, Alastor arrived at a G-5 branch base.
"Navy, I've caught a pirate," he announced confidently, walking onto the base island.
The soldiers on the island eyed him warily. One of them went to confirm Tea Beard's identity and quickly reported back, "It's him—a pirate known as Tea Beard, with a bounty of 80.06 million berries."
The soldiers relaxed slightly, assuming Alastor was a bounty hunter. Since pirates have bounties, it's natural that bounty hunters would pursue them—a situation the Navy and World Government are more than happy to encourage.
"Please wait a moment while we process the bounty," a petty officer said to Alastor.
Alastor nodded, casually observing the naval base around him. It was a basic outpost, with only about thirty or forty sailors stationed there—likely a temporary setup for the G-5 branch.
"Hmm, is that... a warehouse?" he wondered aloud.
The soldiers handling the bounty carelessly left the warehouse doors wide open, revealing the contents to Alastor: crates overflowing with treasures, stacks of berry-filled boxes, countless weapons and ammunition, and an abundance of food.
"Hey, what are you looking at?" the petty officer, noticing his gaze, shouted.
Alastor pointed to the warehouse and remarked, "Where did you get all that? I doubt the Navy Headquarters would send you so many supplies just out of goodwill."
The petty officer snapped back, "None of your business! Take your reward and get out of here!"
A smirk formed on Alastor's lips. "I've heard rumors that the G-5 branch has a bad reputation, almost like bandits. Seems those stories were accurate."
The petty officer's face twitched, then twisted into a sneer. "If you know our reputation, you're a fool to mouth off like that. It's too late to back down now!"
Click, click, click—
Over a dozen rifles were trained on Alastor.
"Get out if you want to live!" the petty officer threatened.
Alastor chuckled. "Actually, I do want to die. So go on—kill me."
This was the first time in his life that the petty officer had heard someone actually say, "I want to die, so kill me."
He stared, wide-eyed, and the other sailors gaped at Alastor, regarding him as if he were insane.
"This guy… maybe there's something wrong with his head. Is he a lunatic?" one soldier whispered to the petty officer.
The petty officer nodded. "Seems like it. But it's odd for a lunatic to capture Tea Beard, a pirate with a bounty of over 80 million berries."
"Probably just dumb luck," the soldier muttered.