Chapter 113: Whitebeard’s Fury
Upon learning of Roger’s entry into the New World, Shiki the Golden Lion, one of his old rivals, immediately redirected his fleet to meet him.
Eventually, the two clashed recently in a sea area extremely close to Whitebeard’s territory.
Since this was his domain, if Roger and Shiki were to fight and affect this place, Whitebeard would truly lose face. Therefore, even without intervening in Roger and Shiki’s meeting, Whitebeard still chose to remain stationed here, awaiting the outcome.
Meanwhile, as Chief of Staff Tsuru had predicted, Drew, the Second Division Commander, who was severely injured and bedridden after his battle with Alucard in New Kaba several months ago, finally drew his last breath two weeks prior.
Whitebeard was naturally furious, but Roger and Shiki’s meeting was imminent.
At the same time, news arrived of Alucard and Kaido’s five-day and five-night battle, which ended in a stalemate.
Due to these dual reasons, Whitebeard temporarily put off dealing with Alucard, choosing instead to await the outcome of Roger and Shiki’s confrontation.
Drew’s death was not yet known to the world, as he had succumbed on Whitebeard’s ship after several months of treatment.
However, just today, Marco the Phoenix, his First Division Commander and a veteran of the Whitebeard Pirates like Drew, reported that the Agnis brothers of the Double Dragon Pirates had intel that Alucard was on the Rulusas continent, having intervened in a war.
He should still be there.
Whitebeard could also guess why the news hadn’t reported this.
The death of Drew, this grudge absolutely had to be settled.
But now was not the time.
Although he hadn’t formally met Alucard, Whitebeard had clashed with Kaido once before. Even he couldn’t easily kill that guy.
The fact that Alucard fought him to a draw meant that none of his subordinates could deal with him. Even if he could send overwhelming numbers, what then? It would just be sacrificing countless of his sons’ lives to avenge one son—it wasn’t worth it.
Though Whitebeard claimed everyone who boarded his ship was his son, he was still just one man. How could he treat everyone completely equally?
For example, comparing Marco with an unknown crew member, if both were in danger, who would Whitebeard choose to save first? Anyone could guess.
The Marineford War, which would erupt over Ace in the future, was also similar. If Ace hadn’t held such a position in Whitebeard’s heart, would the Marines have been foolish enough to use him as bait?
After rejecting the suggestions from Marco, Jozu, and others who wished to attack and subdue Alucard, Whitebeard made a vow in front of his crew: after Roger and Shiki’s situation concluded, he would personally pursue Alucard!
Meanwhile, far away on the Rulusas continent, due to a momentary whim after the war, Alucard decided to first explore the Exeter Kingdom, the largest kingdom on Rulusas.
It was quite a prosperous nation.
Alucard didn’t bother using his Blacklight Virus ability to alter his appearance; he appeared in his true form within the Exeter Kingdom, which naturally caught the attention of the patrol units.
However, most civilians didn’t recognize Alucard.
This wasn’t surprising.
Alucard’s reputation was originally not as profound as Kaido’s, and coupled with the kingdom’s deliberate concealment of the incident, it wasn’t strange that the civilians of the Exeter Kingdom didn’t recognize Alucard.
After all, it was a humiliating matter for an entire military camp to be overthrown by a single pirate, so it was best kept hidden.
Alucard walked into a residential street. It was located behind the bustling main street and seemed quite desolate, as most people congregated in the main thoroughfare.
"Encountering your country’s number one enemy and assassinating them when no one else is around is an excellent choice." Alucard stopped in a small alley and slowly turned, grinning sinisterly. "Now I’ve given you the chance to act. Aren’t you going to hurry up and kill me, Exeter Kingdom soldiers?"
A few seconds after Alucard turned around, over a dozen people emerged from behind several buildings. Their attire was nearly 80% similar to the Exeter Kingdom soldiers Alucard had seen on the battlefield a week ago, though their armor wasn’t as thick. These were the Exeter Kingdom patrol guards.
"We have no intention of taking action," a guard captain, the leader of the patrol, walked up to Alucard. Though he forced himself to remain calm, the slight twitch at the corner of his eye betrayed his inner fear. "His Majesty the King wishes to meet a great individual like yourself. A grand banquet has been prepared; please do us the honor of attending."
Alucard asked with interest, "Oh? Is it a Hongmen Banquet?"
"What?" The guard captain naturally didn’t understand what a "Hongmen Banquet" was. He paused, bewildered. Seeing that Alucard said nothing more, he was about to invite him again when Alucard chuckled softly, "Lead the way."
The guard captain and his men were quite surprised by Alucard’s sudden change in attitude, but this was their objective. Seeing Alucard agree, they immediately led the way towards the royal palace.
’They’re probably trying to figure out how to kill me, whether by ambush or poison,’ Alucard mused inwardly. ’But I’m bored anyway, so I might as well go see.’
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