Pirates on Rocks' Ship 996

"I don't need it. Besides... your workday should be over by now, right?" Marco said with a smile.

After years of getting to know each other, everyone was already very familiar with Reina's habits.

Perhaps because he treated training as part of his job, he basically stopped training after his work hours ended.

“It’s alright, if you like… I can make an exception and play with you!” Reina said with a strange laugh.

"Never mind, but didn't you say you were planning to send Ace to Alabasta? Did you tell Dad?" Marco quickly waved his hand and said.

“Hmm! That kid isn’t used to using Observation Haki and Armament Haki yet, and always prefers to rely on his Devil Fruit ability. If he continues like this, he’ll never become a true powerhouse!” Reina nodded and said, “Although training in the New World would be more effective, it would also be more dangerous. So it’s more suitable for him to go to the first half of the Grand Line, and run some errands for me while he’s at it!”

“Mr. Reina, even in the New World, my strength is not weak, is it? Most pirate captains are no match for me!” At this moment, Ace walked over with a limp and said.

"Is this all the magnanimity you have? If your goal is to be a captain, you've already fully qualified. But... didn't you want to surpass that man? With your current strength, you can't even beat me, yet you want to surpass him? You should know that he used to crush me!" Reina chuckled and said.

Sure enough, after hearing what Reina said, Ace didn't say anything more. He knew that Reina was doing it for his own good. This kind of special training was something most people would beg for, but Reina had been training with him for three whole years.

"Remember this: the time you can beat your grandfather is the time you can surpass your father!"

"Old man?" Ace was taken aback, asking incredulously, "The old man is stronger than him?"

“No, their strengths should be quite similar!” Reina thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, “Let me put it this way! So far, no strong person can withstand the passage of time, including my elder brother. As they get older, their bodies have already begun to decline from their peak!”

"Back then, Admiral Zephyr of the Navy chased me around like a dog! But now... if he were to fight me head-on... he would have almost no chance of winning! However, among these powerful individuals, there is only one exception... and that is your grandfather! Although his current strength may not be as great as it was at his peak, it hasn't declined much!"

Reina's words not only surprised Ace, but even Marco, who was standing next to him, asked in disbelief, "Garp's strength hasn't decreased? That's impossible, isn't it?"

“You don’t believe me? Then you can try it next time! You know how strong Garp was back then! Now you can go and see how much his strength has decreased! I guarantee... I can beat you to death without any problem!” Reina grinned and said.

Because of his appearance, the Whitebeard Pirates are stronger than in the original story. A few years ago, Marco already had the strength of a Yonko's first mate in the original story. With his additional combat power, the Whitebeard Pirates are undoubtedly the leader of the Four Emperors.

No one dares to refute this point.

"Mr. Reina, so what is your current strength?" Ace asked curiously.

"Well... to be honest, I don't know myself. Of the Four Emperors, not only has my eldest brother not spoken, but the other three haven't fought yet, so I can't be sure! But I can guarantee one thing: they can't kill me! If I want to leave, they can't stop me!" Reina said confidently.

"So... our pirate crew has two top-tier fighters?" Ace asked in surprise.

Whitebeard's strength needs no introduction; he now holds the title of the world's strongest man. Moreover, several years ago, Reyna began having Whitebeard secretly wear pure gold for his health, so Whitebeard's body should not have changed much in recent years.

In the original work, during the Marineford War, it's more accurate to say that Whitebeard was worn down by his own body rather than beaten to death by a mob!

If it were a young Whitebeard, he would definitely not have met such an end.

“Ace…this world is vast! Besides the powerful figures still active on the seas, there are many others who haven’t yet emerged, so don’t be complacent! Those guys are no pushovers!” Reina exclaimed.

As far as he knew, there was also Shiki the Golden Lion, who was on par with Roger and Whitebeard, as well as Baron Redfield, who was capable of fighting the Whitebeard Pirates all by himself, and Rayleigh, Jabba, Douglas, and others from the Roger Pirates. They were all top-tier fighters on the sea.

Just as Reina was giving Ace a special training session, in the East Blue...

Luffy officially set off from his hometown, Windmill Village, and began his pirate journey.

"Today is a perfect day for sailing!" Luffy said happily, rowing his little boat. "Ace... wait for me! I'm off to catch up with you!"

"Roar~~" At the same time, a huge sea monster burst out from the seabed and blocked Luffy's way.

"You've finally arrived... Lord of the Coast... But you've chosen the wrong opponent! Perfect timing to let you test the results of my ten years of training, Gum-Gum... Pistol!" Luffy stretched out his arm and punched his opponent in the face, knocking him down instantly.

"Hehehehe... How about that? Now you know how powerful I am!" Luffy said with a grin as he watched the near-sea king slowly sink into the sea.

Chapter 276 Persuading Zephyr

"Well then, Mr. Reina, I'm off!" Ace set off in his unique little boat, heading towards Alabasta.

When Ace was heading to the first half of the Grand Line, Reyna gave him several tasks. The first was to go to the Sabaody Archipelago to find Rayleigh and have him teach him Haki.

When it comes to teaching others, Rayleigh is much better. Compared to him, Reina is just a junior, which is why he sent Ace to find him.

As Roger's second-in-command, he should be willing to teach Ace a lesson.

In recent years, Reina has focused more on cultivating Ace's combat abilities and his creative thinking! The "Flame Burst Fire Daruma" technique that Ace used in their previous battle was developed by Ace with Reina's help.

In addition, he also needs to go to the Thriller Bark in the Devil's Triangle to find Gecko Moria, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and deliver a letter in Reyna's handwriting to him.

After delivering the letter, head to Alabasta and find Reyner's daughter, who is the vice president of Baroque Works under the alias Nicole Robin.

In addition, Reina also gave Ace a special instruction... that is, to be careful of a pirate named Blackbeard, who was originally a member of the Whitebeard Pirates but later betrayed them and has now disappeared.

However, the other party was definitely not someone to be trifled with, so Reina solemnly warned Ace to be careful if they encountered them.

After Ace left, Reina summoned the Hard Shell to catch up with the Moby Dick, which had set off a few days earlier.

However, before he could catch up with the Moby Dick, he spotted a strange warship. The ship's flag was not a normal naval flag, but an upside-down naval insignia with a pierced skull.

“This logo… seems familiar!” Reina thought carefully, but still couldn’t remember where he had seen it before.

He has been in the world of One Piece for thirty or forty years, and many of his memories have become very blurry.

However, being skilled and daring, Reina did not avoid the other vehicle but drove directly towards it.

"Teacher, a pirate ship has been spotted ahead! It's flying the Whitebeard Pirates' flag!" A tall, strangely-looking man dressed in ninja attire said to a man of imposing stature standing on the deck.

"We're not far from Xuan Yue Island, so it's not surprising to run into the Whitebeard Pirates. Get ready for battle! The Whitebeard Pirates are not easy to deal with!" said the imposing man, a cigar dangling from his lips.

"Yes!"

Besides the man in ninja attire, there was also a beautiful woman with long, flowing, wavy, sea-blue hair beside him. The two of them replied at the same time.

Before long, the warship and the hard hull approached each other.

"So it's you... Aren't you in charge of training cadets in the Navy? When did you come out on a mission again? And you even came here!" Reina said with a smile when he saw the man standing on the deck.

“Hahahaha… What a coincidence! I never expected to run into you here… Benedict D. Reina! Is that your name? You’ve never told me your full name in all these years, what an impolite fellow!” Zefa said with a loud laugh.

That's right, the person Reina encountered was none other than the former Marine Admiral, Zephyr!

"You're leading new recruits on a mission? You'd better be careful! The New World isn't a place your navy can just wander around in!" Reina said with a smile, looking at the two young men behind Zephyr.

Seemingly stung by Reina's words, Zephyr's face darkened, and he said to Reina, "Reina! Are you mocking me?"

Reina was taken aback. After thinking about it carefully, he looked at Zefa's right arm, which was now fitted with a prosthesis, and then remembered what had happened to the other person.

"I told you back then, if you're unhappy in the Navy, come find me! That still holds true! As for that so-called Whitebeard Jr.... I've already killed him!" Reina said in a deep voice.

"Stop talking big! Whitebeard Jr. appeared in the New World not long ago, and you actually said you've already killed him?" Before Zephyr could speak, the beautiful girl Ain spoke up first.

“That’s impossible. I slashed his neck with my sword back then. He had no chance of surviving!” Reina shook his head and said.

"You didn't check carefully to see if he was already dead, did you?!" Zefa knew that Reina wasn't a liar, so he asked, guessing.

Reina nodded and said, "Aokiji arrived just then, so I didn't have time to confirm, but I did manage to slash his neck!"

“Although I also really want him dead, I regret to inform you that there were indeed reports of him appearing recently!” Zephyr exhaled a smoke ring and replied.

"So you came here following his trail?" Reina asked, squinting.

If that's the case, then it means the other party is eyeing the Whitebeard Pirates, which is absolutely intolerable to Reina.

Just as Ain was about to speak, Zephyr shook his head first and said, "I came here chasing after another pirate crew!"

"Teacher...why..." Ai Yin asked, somewhat puzzled, when she saw Zefa answer truthfully.

In his view, if he gave the other party the wrong information, there might be unexpected rewards.

However, Zephyr shook his head, telling Ain to calm down.

Sure enough, after hearing Zefa's reply, Reina smiled and asked, "Old man Zefa, we haven't seen each other for many years, won't you invite me up for a visit?"

If Zephyr had said that Whitebeard Jr. had appeared in the surrounding waters, Reina would have turned around and left immediately, since this is the area around the Whitebeard Pirates' headquarters.

If Whitebeard Jr. were to get here, and even Zephyr knew about it while they didn't, then Reina might as well just kill all the intelligence agents.

It was clear that Zephyr had no intention of deceiving him, which was why Reina suggested going up for a seat, thus not including the other party in the list of enemies.

"Hahaha... brat, if you're not afraid of getting killed, come on up!" Sure enough, upon hearing Reina's friendly gesture, Zephyr immediately burst into laughter.

Reina wasn't afraid. After instructing Hardshell to follow the warship, he boarded Zephyr's warship alone.

"Hey old man Zephyr, what's that flag of yours? Is it from the Navy or the Pirates?" Reina asked, pointing to the strange symbol on the mainsail.

"I now belong to the Pirate Hunting Corps, which I founded myself, and it has nothing to do with the Navy!" Zephyr replied calmly.

"Oh? So you've left the Navy now?" Reina asked, his face lighting up with delight.

Zephyr glanced at Reina and said with a smile, "Kid, still eyeing me? This may be my own pirate hunting team, but look at this warship... it still belongs to the Navy!"

“That’s alright. You know, our Whitebeard Pirates have never lacked these. If you’re willing to come, I’ll give you three warships, not just one, and fully staffed! I guarantee they’ll be just as good as warships! Hehe…” Reina said with a sly laugh.

"You've got some big money to burn, haven't you? I heard that the food and drinks you use at your annual banquets are enough to support the production of some small countries for a year! Is this really a good idea to be so wasteful?" Zefa shook his head and said with a wry smile.

“You don’t understand. Reasonable consumption is the best way to revitalize the economy! It’s always labor that creates wealth, not anything else! The food and drinks we consume are always given to the common people at market prices! Without us, who knows how many people would starve to death, after all, the World Government… won’t care about them!” Reina said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Hmph! Didn't you all steal all your money? What's there to be proud of!" Ai Yin said disdainfully from the side.

“Oh? This little girl seems quite unhappy with me! It’s alright, I don’t mind. But no matter where our money comes from, we’ve used it on civilians, enabling them to survive, isn’t that a fact? Not to mention, we never rob civilians! Doesn’t that make us much better than the World Government?” Reina looked at Ein and said with a smile.

"Hmph! Anyway, pirates are all bad people!" Ain turned her head and said angrily.

"Hahaha... What an interesting brat! Hey~ old man Zefa, where did you find all these naive fellows?" Ain's appearance made Reina burst into laughter.

“They’re just obedient kids!” Zefa’s tone softened as he spoke of his two students.

“They are…” Reina didn’t finish his question, but he knew that Zephyr would understand what he meant.

"Hmm!" Sure enough, Zephyr nodded in response.

“I see, they are indeed good kids… But Zephyr… I’m not saying anything strange! Even if you don’t think about yourself, you should think about them! The Navy… is no longer suitable for you! Either you don’t keep them with you, or… you take them away from the Navy!” After a moment of silence, Reina said seriously.

"I understand! But... things aren't that simple... I've dedicated my life to the Navy, and naturally I hope they can become excellent Navy personnel as well!"

"An excellent navy officer? Heh... How excellent? Like you? You're already a navy admiral, second only to the fleet admiral! What more do you want them to do? Look at yourself... how badly have you been ruined by the navy? Zephyr, listen to me... leave the navy! Even if you don't want that kind of fighting life anymore, you can come live on Crescent Moon Island. I absolutely won't ask you to lay a hand on anyone!" Reina said sincerely.

After listening to Reina's words, Zephyr hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I cannot betray the justice in my heart. I'm sorry!"

“Alright, since that’s the case, then… let’s talk about something lighter! Anyway, you know I’ll always welcome you on behalf of the Whitebeard Pirates!” Reina shrugged and said.

Chapter 277 Ace's Journey

Just as Reina was trying to persuade Zephyr, Luffy, who had set off from Windmill Village, found his first crewmate—the pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro.

After parting ways with Coby, who dreams of becoming a Marine Admiral, the two continued their journey.

However, Luffy was soon snatched away by a large bird while trying to catch some food.