Chapter 460: Crossroads of Destiny: The Island’s Gamble

As soon as those words were spoken the deadly tension in the air vanished. Teach instantly realized someone was protecting Ace.

Teach unclenched his fist and gathered the unconscious Ace, hurrying toward Lafitte and the others, afraid this mysterious power might suddenly change its mind.

Meanwhile high atop a distant mountain, a mysterious middle-aged man with arms folded watched Ace and Teach’s showdown. His face finally came into view—it was none other than Roger, the late Pirate King.

After seeing Teach’s move he slid Ace’s sword back into its scabbard.

“So this is the new era Karl spoke of?”

Roger glanced at the ring on his left thumb and let out a long sigh.

“If I didn’t owe someone this favor, Teach, there’s no way you’d leave this island alive.”

Roger kept his eyes on Blackbeard and his men as they set sail, only turning away once their ship disappeared from view.

Finally, as Blackbeard boarded his ship urging Lafitte and the others to hurry, the prickling gaze at his back faded. Relief washed over him, and he wiped cold sweat from his brow.

“Zehahahaha!”

“That was way too close—I almost died!”

No matter how impressive Teach sounded when he spoke to Ace, he knew exactly how precarious his situation had been.

If he’d been up against a true martial arts master or someone highly skilled in Haki, his Devil Fruit would only grant him a small edge—it wouldn’t have given him the kind of power he just wielded over Ace.

“Still… who was that, anyway?”

Teach mentally ran through every top fighter in the New World but still couldn’t figure out who had forced him to back off Ace.

“Zehahaha, looks like I can’t touch you after all, Ace.”

“May as well hand you over to the Navy and let them give themselves a headache.”

Teach knew from the moment that mysterious man appeared Ace’s fate was no longer in his own hands.

……

Elsewhere, across the Four Seas, Tradis had transformed into a massive golden eagle, tirelessly patrolling the area.

Chaos reigned in the Four Seas now—on nearly every island, both the Resistance and Revolutionary Army were making their presence felt.

Every time Tradis stamped out unrest in one place, another would flare up elsewhere. No sooner would a country find peace than it would spiral back into chaos the moment he left, leaving him trapped in a mire he couldn’t escape.

He couldn’t even attend the upcoming Seven Warlords meeting at Navy Headquarters.

“Is that… Dragon?”

He’d rushed over the moment he got news that a large group of revolutionaries had appeared on an island in the East Blue. But when he arrived, he only saw a lone figure at the mountain’s edge, marked by a gridlike pattern across his face.

That man was Luffy’s father, Monkey D. Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army.

“Sashi burida na, Tradis!”

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Tradis touched down at the mountain peak and reverted to human form, locking eyes with Dragon across the summit.

“When you defected from the Navy, it left everyone stunned. After all, your father is the legendary Vice Admiral Garp.”

Dragon shrugged. “Yeah, if I hadn’t witnessed so much cruelty in the world, I would have been foolish enough to think the Navy could be changed from within.”

His tone shifted sharply, growing more serious. “But once I learned the Navy was nothing more than a pawn of the World Government…”

“…I realized real change from the top down was impossible and gave up on that dream.”

Dragon had discovered this truth only after thorough investigation.

The Navy’s warships, personnel, wages, facilities and even Devil Fruits all came from the World Government. The Navy had no way to support itself financially. If they ever cut ties, the Navy would fall apart overnight.

When Dragon reached this conclusion he understood—the Navy could never act independently from the World Government.

That realization crushed any hope he had of rising through the ranks to fix things from within.

But fate intervened when he met someone who changed his path, leading to the birth of the Revolutionary Army.

“Either way, we’re on opposite sides now.”

“So tell me, you brought me here for a reason. What do you want to say?”

Tradis had figured out Dragon’s ploy the instant they met—the “news” was nothing but bait to draw him in.

“As expected from Sengoku’s old right hand.”

“You’re right. I called you here to ask—are you interested in joining the Revolutionary Army?”

“After all, you wouldn’t want your wife learning the truth about how the Navy really operates, would you?”

All officers at the rank of Rear Admiral and above had their families housed at Navy Headquarters in Marineford.

It was meant to keep others from threatening them through their loved ones, but also to make sure that, after enough brainwashing from the Navy and World Government, none of their relatives would ever question the regime or sway the officers’ loyalty.

“If you have business with me, leave my family out of it. If you even touch my wife, I’ll fight you to the death.”

Zephyr’s tragedy was still fresh in his mind. Tradis didn’t trust Navy Headquarters to guarantee his wife’s safety.

Let alone when the man threatening him was the son of a former Navy hero—elite Vice Admiral Monkey D. Dragon.

Click!

Just as he walked up to Dragon a shutter snapped, and a photo was taken.

“Now, I could take this photo strait to the World Government and claim you’ve been colluding with the revolutionaries. I doubt you want your wife and child to suffer at Navy Headquarters.”

Dragon was willing to go all out to keep the Navy from interfering in this coming war.

“You… I…”

Tradis was caught off guard by Dragon’s cunning. Navy Headquarters didn’t scare him, but the World Government only cared about evidence, not explanations. Whether he could keep his title as Admiral was one thing, but his family—they’d be finished.

“Dragon, this can’t be all you want, right?”

“You really think a few photos and this elaborate setup would sway me?”

Tradis kept up the bravado.

He believed Dragon wouldn’t actually harm his family out of some lingering sense of loyalty.

“You sure about that? If you really think I wouldn’t do it, then you’re free to walk away right now.”

Dragon gestured toward the cliff’s edge, making it clear he wouldn’t stop Tradis—he was free to leave at any time.

Tradis wanted nothing more than to leave, but his legs felt like they were filled with molten lead. His eyes were glued to the photo in Dragon’s right hand.

If he left now, even without ill intent, Dragon could spin the story and he’d be exiled, unable to protect his family.

For a moment, he was truly cornered.

Tradis was the easiest admiral to manipulate because the other two had no family, but he did—which is why Dragon went after him first.

Of course, Dragon already had plans for the other two as well.

“And are you really unaware of all the things the World Government has done over the years?”

Dragon pulled a thick stack of documents from beneath his cloak and tossed them to Tradis.

Tradis took the heavy bundle and leafed through it, finding a record of atrocities the World Government had committed over decades, not just across the Four Seas but in the first half of the Grand Line as well.

Executions, slave trading, child abuse, senseless cruelty to civilians, gambling, death games, Buster Calls—the list went on and on.

“How did you get your hands on something like this?”

Tradis had followed Sengoku for years and knew the World Government was rotten to the core.

But he’d never been confronted with the crimes so directly. Before, as an assistant and a newly appointed admiral, he was kept in the dark about everything.