The human heart was an unknowable thing. Even Whitebeard — one of the Four Emperors — had to admit he'd never been able to see through it. He'd never imagined that Blackbeard Teach, of all people, would betray the family.
What Whitebeard found most unforgivable was this: in Blackbeard's eyes, a crewmate's life was worth less than a Devil Fruit.
Even if it was a rare Logia-type.
For a single Devil Fruit, Teach had chosen the path of betrayal. He'd put his own family's lives at risk.
Thatch's death weighed on Whitebeard like an anchor in his chest. Combined with everything Ryū had told him about the future, the old captain's fury toward Blackbeard had crystallized into sothing cold and final.
"O-Old man…" Ace lifted his head, jaw clenched, eyes burning. "You're going to deal with Teach yourself? Let do it instead. Teach was under my division — this whole ss is my fault. I swear I can bring him back!"
Whitebeard paused, then shook his head.
"No, Ace. This isn't your responsibility."
Knowing what the future held, there was no way in hell he was letting Ace pursue Teach. That would be pushing his son straight off a cliff.
Whitebeard would never allow that.
Ace wasn't his by blood. But he was his son all the sa.
After a brief silence, Whitebeard continued. "Give Thatch a proper send-off. He once told his dream was to visit his holand in the North Blue one last ti. So let's… lay him to rest there. It's where he belongs."
The death of one of his sons had drained every trace of the joy Whitebeard had felt upon joining the Dinsional Chat Group. What remained was a smoldering anger toward Blackbeard — and a deep, gnawing guilt that he, as their father, had failed to protect his children.
Marco, the First Division Commander, stepped forward and placed a hand on Ace's shoulder.
His expression was heavy — a strained, pained smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Just listen to the old man this once, Ace. He's hurting worse than any of us right now. He wants to deal with the traitor personally."
Ace was silent for a long mont. Then, quietly: "…I understand."
Across the vast deck of the Moby Dick, every mber of the Whitebeard Pirates was shrouded in grief.
Death at sea was nothing new to pirates. They all knew the risks.
But dying at the hands of an enemy was one thing. Dying at the hands of family was sothing else entirely.
You could chalk up a death in battle to insufficient training.
But being killed by soone you called brother?
That was sothing nobody could accept.
Marco glanced over at his old man — the legendary pirate whose na shook every sea in the world. Edward Newgate. Whitebeard. The Strongest Man Alive.
Killing intent radiated from him like heat from a furnace.
What Blackbeard Teach had done was beyond any forgiveness.
In the Whitebeard Pirates, betraying your family was a cri that eclipsed every other offense a thousand tis over.
anwhile, in the Dinsional Chat Group, Ryū — who had finished his preparations — checked in with a certain yōkai.
RawrSoFierce:
"@The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden — you all set?"
RawrSoFierce:
"If you're good to go, I'll open the transfer permissions. We've only got 10 days for this quest — can't afford to waste ti."
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden:
"Mm, all prepared. Ready to depart whenever~"
RawrSoFierce:
"Alright. Opening transfer permissions now."
After a series of relatively straightforward steps, Ryū activated the transfer permissions for both himself and Yukari, and opened the dinsional gateway to the One Piece world.
As the Admin, he had the authority to do this. And since transfers during a Group Quest were free, his ager 100 Points weren't an issue.
The mont he opened the dinsional gateway, a swirling black vortex materialized before him.
It looked exactly like what it sounded like — a vortex. Pitch-black throughout, as though sothing had torn a hole through the barrier between dinsions.
So this was the Dinsional Chat Group's cross-dinsional gateway.
Honestly, it wasn't particularly impressive to look at.
Just a big black hole floating in his room.
Ryū gathered his thoughts, took a breath, and stepped through.
Sowhere in Gensōkyō, a certain Gap Yōkai — elegant parasol in hand — delicately stepped into her own gateway with a graceful stride.
In truth, none of them were calm right now. Not Ryū, the Admin. Not Yukari, the ancient yōkai. Not any mber of the Dinsional Chat Group.
Because this was the Dinsional Chat Group's very first cross-dinsional transfer.
And its very first Group Quest.
Kaguya and the Little Wandering Planet were monitoring the group chat every second, watching for any updates. They couldn't participate in the transfer due to their respective circumstances — but that didn't an they couldn't watch.
After all, the Dinsional Chat Group had a cara-sharing feature that let mbers broadcast their perspective in real-ti.
Turn on the cara, and it was basically a livestream.
Zero latency. Zero buffering. Crystal-clear picture quality.
Kaguya-sama:
"With the Admin, Yukari-nee-sama, and Newgate-san — three against one reincarnated Blackbeard — it should be fine."
Kaguya-sama:
"The Admin did say Newgate-san is the absolute peak of the One Piece world's power system. Reincarnation or not, it won't matter."
Kaguya-sama:
"I just wish I were stronger. I'd have loved to take on a quest too…"
The Little Wandering Planet:
"@RawrSoFierce @The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden — PLEASE turn on the cara!! I'm begging you!!"
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden:
"Ara ara~ the cara feature? Give a mont, let find it. Also, the Admin and I haven't arrived in the One Piece world yet — this dinsional corridor is rather long."
Kaguya-sama:
"Wait — Yukari-nee-sama, you're chatting while transferring between dinsions?!"
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden:
"Of course~ Multitasking is nothing special, is it?"
The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden:
"Ah! Found it. This must be the cara. Let turn it on~"
The instant Yukari activated the cara-sharing feature, both Kaguya and the Little Wandering Planet received a notification in the chat.
[mber "The Eternally Seventeen-Year-Old Maiden" has shared their cara feed. Would you like to watch? YES / NO]
Was that even a question?
Without a mont's hesitation — YES.
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