Chapter 33: Discussion With Whitebeard
(Starrk's POV)
Its been almost 2 years since the last time I had that strange dream. The one about the Woman.
Ever since I had collapsed, everything had seemingly went back to normal.
I stayed with the Whitebeard crew to grow even stronger as a fighter. I fought many battles in the name of Edward Newgate, waging wars against other pirate crews. Fighting off fleets of Marine battleships.
I've obtained a reputation, one of a dangerous criminal.
Old Man Whitebeard named me Captain of the Second Division. I was the successor of the famous Kozuki Oden, a legendary man. Ever since then, I had become a somewhat famous pirate.
The Government issued me a bounty and dubbed me "The Black Wolf."
I haven't paid attention to my bounty poster so I can't tell you what I'm worth.
Its been almost 2 years of peaceful nights. I haven't had that strange dream for so long.
Hopefully tonight is the same.
I sat atop some crates in the deck of the ship. I leaned against the railing and stared off into the sea, i noticed that the sun was setting.
I felt as someone approached me.
"Yo." I turned to see Thatch walk up to me
"What's up?" I said
"Hey hey hey!" Thatch said as he patter my shoulder, "What's this I hear about you and this little marine girl, huh?"
I frowned, "What?"
"Oh don't play coy!" He chuckled, "I heard you got this Navy officer wrapped around your finger!"
"Oh." I said, "You mean Anne?"
He leaned towards my face, "That's her name?"
"Uhuh." I nodded, "She's a friend, I guess. Kinda complicated. I saved her life a couple of times."
"Oh?" Thatch smirked, "Anything else?"
"Its nothing like what you're thinking." I told him, "She just has conflicting feelings on what to do when it comes to me. We've been through some shit together, not gonna lie. I mean that time we were stranded on that remote island."
"Ohohoho…." He mused, "Stranded you say? Did you do something there?"
"Yea." I said, "We survived. It was rough. A remote island in the New World ain't an easy time, Thatch. You guys took your sweet time finding me. I mean you weren't there."
He stepped back and started laughing, "Oh man, Starrk!" He bellowed, "You sure know how to make me laugh! You and that girl are quite the complicated thing!"
I don't know why he's assuming things. Anne and I have run into each other a lot of times in the past 2 years. Every time we have a quick skirmish and I always come out on top in terms of power. I always tend to go easy on her.
That aside, She and I had been through a couple of rough situations. I have saved not only her life but the lives of her men on many occasions.
We have had run-ins with the likes of the Big Mom pirates and the Beast Pirates. So you can assume that it was tense situations.
Thatch has some wild imagination.
I sighed and stood up.
"Listen, assume what you want." I said, "Its nothing like that."
"Sure, buddy!" He said, "Anyways. Pops is calling you, he's in his room."
"What does he want now?" I grumbled
"Hey, you're a commander of a yonko crew." He said, "Like it or not, you got responsibilities."
I walked to the old man's room. As I made my way there, I couldn't help but think about that time I had the strange dream. There was a feeling I couldn't shake off and I didn't know why.
As I reached the door, I let out a sigh. I knew there was some bullshit the old man was going to come up with so I had to mentally prepare myself.
Whitebeard is an old man after all. So he will always say some ridiculous stuff.
I knocked on the door.
"Come in." I heard him call out
I opened the door and walked inside.
I saw that he was laying on his giant bed and drinking from a gourd. As always, he was drinking booze.
"Shouldn't you lay off the booze?" I said
"Shouldn't you mind your businesses, brat?" He retorted before he chugged from it
He let out a burp after he took the chug.
"What do you need?" I asked him
"Couple of things to discuss with you." He said, "First things first. There's something i would like the 2nd division to handle."
"What is it?" I said
"Apparently there's a Navy ship that has confiscated Pirate treasure." He told me, "Go and take it from then. Shouldn't be that hard. Guarded by a Rear-Admiral. I'll let you handle how you'll get it."
"Done." I said, "What else?"
"Yea, it's about what you discussed with that Red-Hair." He said as he gave me a serious look, "Its been almost two years since it happened and I respected your wishes not to discuss it. But I've lost my patience, so here I am…about to ask you."
"Hm." I said
He raised an eyebrow, "You're gonna tell me?" He said, "Starrk…you've been acting strange ever since before your meeting with Shanks. The day we found you collapsed on the floor. I could immediately tell that something was wrong."
He wasn't wrong. Something was definitely different about me. And it wasn't just since that day I collapsed. It was that day in the Beehive when I suddenly attacked Garp and Whitebeard without thinking. I couldn't help but wonder sometimes what that was all about. Then there were the dreams I kept having.
"Ever since I took you into this ship…" he continued, "You've been vague about the future. The one thing that I took interest in. Those rumors that were started about you. The Man Who Knows The Future. The Government still considers you a threat because of that."
"I did discuss something about the future with Shanks." I told him, "But I was also vague about it with him. I keep telling you old man, about what we should do."
"Hm." He said, "Aquire the Road Poneglyphs and find the One Piece. You've been adamant about that for quite a while."
I nodded, "There's a reason for that!" I said, "The Future is-"
"I know what the future has in hold for us." He cut me off, "Starrk, do you think me as a fool?"
"Huh?" I said
"Gol D. Roger." He said, "He was the only man to reach Laugh Tale with his crew. He became the Pirate King. Do you think that he died not knowing what the future will entail?"
"What do you mean?" I asked him
He took a massive chug from his gourd and then let out another burp.
"The Will of D." He continued, "Roger told me what it was. He also told me about something, no…someone that he was waiting for. He said that the person he was waiting for will come, in the next years to come. The dawn of a new era will come with them. The time of us old timers is about to end. Soon this Age of Piracy will enter its new stage and when the new generation rises, that's when it'll happen."
"When what happens?" I asked
"Isn't it obvious?" He said seriously, "That's when the new Pirate King will be crowned."
I stared at him for a couple of seconds. I didn't believe what I just heard. This old man was certain of the words that just came out of his mouth. He truly believes that in the future, the next Pirate King will be crowned.
"Wait-" I started
"Kaido, Big Mom, Shiki….." he said, "Those are still trying to hold on to the idea of becoming King. Not just King of The Pirates, but King of The World. Something our former Pirate Captain wanted to achieve."
"Rocks?" I asked
He nodded, "They'll try their best to achieve that goal." He said, "But in the end, it won't matter. I have faith in Roger's words…."
"The Pirate King will be one of the New Era."
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