Night was falling, and the temperature in the Alabasta desert changed dramatically. The day had been scorching, but the night was just as bitterly cold.
Blackbeard's hands and feet were freezing, yet he kept desperately running in a specific direction.
As for the four members of his crew… since they couldn't keep up with him, Roger had caught them.
Roger's Observation Haki, like Ryuma's mastery in swordsmanship, had reached the level of 101 gigabytes. He could sense Whitebeard, who was a dozen miles away, and it took him less than a second.
Although Roger wasn't the Yellow Monkey, capable of moving at the speed of light, Blackbeard wasn't exactly someone who could run very fast either.
The chase between them lasted from sunset, and then from sunset until dawn.
Ezekiel learned about this chase and gave the order to capture Blackbeard.
Originally, Blackbeard wasn't part of his plan, but this guy was truly insane. He had delivered himself right into Alabasta, which sparked a lot of ideas in Ezekiel's mind.
"TE-E-EACH!" Roger's roar would occasionally thunder behind Blackbeard, and every time it did, Teach's hair stood on end, feeling the distance between them grow ever shorter.
"No! I can't die here!" With that resolve, Blackbeard kept fleeing for his life.
The thought of stopping to fight the man who possessed the One Piece treasure wasn't even up for discussion! Until Teach acquired the fruit that could destroy the world, he wouldn't be qualified to take on such a battle. After all, he'd fought against Roger's Pirates in the past and understood this very well.
Blackbeard ran faster and faster, blue veins bulging on his forehead, until he saw a large sand dune blocking his way.
"Black Hole!"
The power of darkness surged forth like a tidal wave. The entire sand dune was engulfed by the force of the Darkness Fruit. Blackbeard finally neared the dune.
Boom!—the sand dune, shrouded in darkness, trembled violently.
Blackbeard came to a halt, a sense of foreboding rising in his chest.
When the sand settled, Blackbeard saw a giant standing atop the dune, completely unfazed by the power of darkness!
In the early morning light, the giant narrowed his eyes slightly. Through slits between his eyelids, he watched endless sand cascading down. The sun was rising behind him, its golden rays outlining his figure: crimson skin, bulging muscles, enormous devilish horns. Slowly, the giant opened his massive eyes as his hair fluttered in the breeze.
It was the Super Giant, Oars!
"Oars… must've accidentally dozed off," the giant muttered, scratching the back of his head. "His Majesty told me to just wait here…" As if suddenly remembering, Oars politely tried to explain to Blackbeard. "Thank you—if you hadn't woken me, I'd have gotten scolded by His Majesty again. Although Miss Robin…" ...she's good. His Majesty told me to listen to Miss Robin.
Blackbeard's face was completely dark, and he felt the urge to slap himself. Had he lost his mind?
Oars's eyes turned red, his already swollen muscles bulged even more, and his fists became blotched with darkness.
"So, shall we fight now?"
Blackbeard held his breath. He wanted to turn and run when he suddenly heard a devilish whisper by his ear…
"Teach. Do you have any idea what it would cost you to take my son's head?"
With difficulty, Blackbeard turned his head and saw a tall man holding a knife, wiping it on his sleeve. His hair was a bit messy, he had shaggy mustaches, and a wide grin revealing large, white teeth—but his eyes were truly terrifying.
It was the look of a father thirsting for revenge for his son.
Oars answered before Teach could:
"Oars doesn't want to find out!" he bellowed with tyrannical force.
Then everything above Teach's head went black. Blackbeard looked up and saw an unbelievably huge, jet-black fist!
Boom!
.....
In the main hall of the Royal Palace in Alubarna, the capital of Alabasta…
"Om-nom… nom-nom…" Roger was eating meat and drinking alcohol, grinning widely as he did so. He was excitedly telling Ezekiel and Fujitora about what had happened. "When I caught up to him, I found that Oars was blocking his path. I really need to thank Your Majesty for sending Oars there. Then I asked him about my son, and he couldn't say a thing. When Oars lost patience, his fist came down on Teach's head. I won't go into details about the fight scene—it was just too brutal. From what I understand, Oars had attacked him before."
Fujitora was stunned.
"The legendary holder of the One Piece… are you really this enthusiastic and clueless? Your son is in the hands of the World Government and will be executed in less than two months. Are you even aware of that?"
He was aware!
So why was he so calm?!
Then Fujitora looked over at the unflappable Ezekiel. For a while, Ezekiel had been a bit out of sorts over Rayleigh, who at that time was exhausted from searching for Roger's wife.
"Aren't you worried about Ace?" Ezekiel asked.
"Wah-ha-ha-ha! Is he dead?!" Roger tore off a piece of meat and set down the mug of wine he was holding. "I heard that Whitebeard acknowledged him as his son. That guy's going to save him, and… even if he ends up dead, it doesn't matter. As a man, of course that's a possibility, but it's disgraceful to give in to fear!"
This peculiar way of thinking left Ezekiel and Fujitora genuinely perplexed. Since Alabasta had gained the power of resurrection, Roger couldn't have cared less about whether his son lived or died. What a strange guy.
Looking at Roger, who was still eating and stained with greasy spots, Ezekiel finally said,
"By the way, did you know that Garp was Ace's guardian?"
"What? Garp was Ace's guardian?!" Roger's face froze, and it looked like what he had in his mouth would fall out at any moment. He flushed, then turned pale, then blushed again, and suddenly whipped his head toward Fujitora and sprayed out a mouthful of old wine.
Pfft!
Fujitora impassively wiped the liquid from his face