Super Card System

Ian searched the sea for a while but couldn’t find any trace of the Blackbeard Pirates, so he had no choice but to return.

There were a total of twelve islands within a thousand nautical miles around Glas. They varied in size, and since Ian was alone, he couldn’t conduct a detailed search of each one. All he could do was observe them roughly from the sky.

This kind of visual observation, of course, wasn’t very thorough. Unless Ian could bring along a Pacifista, perhaps their scanners could conduct a more detailed search.

Ian’s main goal during this search was to find the Blackbeard Pirates’ ship. He didn’t know where they might be hiding, but a pirate ship and its flag would be more noticeable.

However, what frustrated Ian was that he couldn’t find the Blackbeard Pirates’ ship anywhere. He guessed there were only two possibilities: either his search range wasn’t large enough, or that sly Van Augur really did manage to warn Teach and the others, causing them to hide their ship as well.

With Teach’s Dark-Dark Fruit ability, which could engulf an entire town, hiding a pirate ship would be no problem at all…

Ian had searched Van Augur’s corpse but found no Den Den Mushi. It wasn’t clear whether Van Augur had discarded or destroyed it or if he simply hadn’t carried one. This left Ian unable to determine the exact situation.

Unable to find anything, Ian had no choice but to temporarily give up. His encounter with Burgess and Van Augur had been purely coincidental. However, regardless of how it happened, Ian had managed to take down two of Teach’s most trusted crewmates. The Blackbeard Pirates might not have expanded during this time, and if not, the crew was now reduced to just three members—Teach, Lafitte, and Doc Q—bringing them to the brink of disbandment. Three people couldn’t hold up a pirate crew…

This was all the result of Ian’s relentless efforts to suppress them.

Now, Ian wasn’t in any hurry. The Blackbeard Pirates were in a far worse state than they had been in the original timeline. Ian knew Teach; the man wouldn’t stay in hiding forever. If he couldn’t find him this time, it didn’t matter—once Teach resurfaced, Ian would track him down.

After returning, Ian resumed his procurement mission.

The next day, as the News Coo distributed newspapers worldwide, spreading the news of what had happened on Glas Island, the Blackbeard Pirates also got their hands on a copy, somewhere on the open sea.

After Lafitte finished reading the newspaper to Teach, Teach’s eyes became terrifying, filled with a gaze that seemed ready to devour anyone in sight, revealing just how furious he was.

“Argh! Damn you, Ian! One day, I will kill you with my own hands!!!”

Teach slammed his fists down on the table, smashing it into countless pieces, then kicked a nearby metal barrel, sending it flying through the air and crashing through the ship’s railing.

Teach vented his fury towards Ian by wreaking havoc on their ship, while Lafitte and Doc Q stood silently by, watching as Teach tore through their vessel.

Fortunately, Teach knew that without the ship, they would be left to perish at sea, so after a while, he finally calmed down.

His eyes were still bloodshot. The deaths of Burgess and Van Augur had dealt a heavy blow to Teach. This was the first time his pirate crew had suffered casualties, and they had lost two members at once.

“Captain, what should we do now?” Lafitte, leaning on his cane, no longer wore his usual grin as he asked Teach, “Should we continue with our plan?”

“Of course!” Teach glared at Lafitte. “If we give up now, wouldn’t that mean Burgess and Van Augur died for nothing? Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to avenge them!”

“Cough, cough!” Doc Q, still looking as if he was on the verge of death, weakly asked, “But Captain, are you sure about this information? What if we can’t find it…”

“We’ll find it!” Teach grinned with his toothless smile and coldly said, “Haven’t you noticed something strange about this sea area? The water here is unusually murky!”

Lafitte and Doc Q looked at the sea surface and indeed noticed that what should have been a clear blue sea was instead dark and muddy, as if something had stirred up the sediment from the ocean floor.

“Two days ago, someone witnessed a strange phenomenon in this sea area!” Teach continued, staring at the water. “They claimed that a small uninhabited island mysteriously lifted off from the sea and slowly floated into the sky. It seems that the story was true. The murky water here is proof of that. Only an island separating from the continental shelf would cause such widespread disturbance… But only fools would believe this was just another one of the New World’s peculiar weather patterns!”

“It’s not the climate?” Lafitte asked, puzzled.

“Zehahaha! Exactly!” Teach spread his arms wide and laughed. “This is man-made, and as far as I know, there’s only one person capable of causing such a phenomenon!”

“Look up!” Teach pointed towards the sky and said to Lafitte and Doc Q, “The person we’re looking for is right there!”

Following Teach’s direction, Lafitte and Doc Q looked up and saw several islands of varying sizes floating high among the clouds, forming a sort of archipelago in the sky.

These floating islands were different from typical sky islands. Real sky islands are completely made of clouds at their base, but these islands had conical rock foundations underneath them. Some of the islands even had rivers that flowed off the edges, only to plummet straight down, forming waterfalls as if the water had been abruptly cut off.

It was a rare and breathtaking sight…

“We’ve finally found you!” Teach laughed maniacally. “The legendary pirate, the flying pirate Golden Lion Shiki!”

Lafitte, adjusting his hat, asked with some doubt, “Captain, is Golden Lion Shiki really still alive? He’s been off the radar for the past twenty years…”

“Who else could make entire landmasses and islands float in the sky other than him with his Float-Float Fruit? Of course, he’s still alive!” Teach snorted. “Back then, to escape from Impel Down, he even went so far as to cut off his own legs. And after he escaped, he visited Whitebeard’s ship once. I was still in the Whitebeard Pirates at the time, and I saw him clearly. The Golden Lion Shiki was filled with a burning desire for revenge. A man like that wouldn’t die so easily.”

“I see. But it seems the World Government also knows that the Golden Lion Shiki is still alive. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have found so many reports of floating islands in the classified information room…” Lafitte remarked.

“Of course. After Roger was executed, Shiki single-handedly attacked Marineford, killing a large number of Marines!” Teach continued. “It took both Sengoku and Garp working together, destroying most of the Marine Headquarters in the process, to finally drive him back. He’s a figure from the same era as Roger and Whitebeard, and it’s only natural that the World Government would keep a close watch on him. However, it seems even they have started to relax their vigilance. After all, he hasn’t appeared for over twenty years. Didn’t you notice that the later reports about islands flying into the sky became fewer and fewer?”

“That may be true, but Captain…” Lafitte expressed his concern, “According to what you said, the Golden Lion Shiki was also friends with the Whitebeard. If he sees you, he might attack you. After all, you did try to assassinate the Whitebeard…”

“He definitely will attack!” Teach’s face twisted into a grimace. “But that’s all he’ll do—just attack. He won’t kill me because I’m certain that during these twenty years of hiding, he’s been biding his time, preparing to take revenge on the World Government and the Navy. And my plan will definitely appeal to him… Besides, Whitebeard isn’t dead yet, is he?”

“Alright then, I’ll go up and check it out first. Let’s hope we can make contact with this Pirate Admiral…” Lafitte’s arms transformed into wings as he flapped them, slowly ascending toward the floating islands high in the sky.

As Lafitte flew away, Teach’s face returned to its menacing expression. He stared at the floating islands above and muttered, “Ian, you can’t stop me. When I reappear, the entire world will know my name…”

Meanwhile, Ian, who was still busy with his shopping, had no idea that he had narrowly missed an encounter with Blackbeard.

At the time, Ian’s search was focused on the islands on the sea, while Teach, having received information, had been searching in an area where the islands had ascended into the sky. In such a sea area, naturally, there wouldn’t be any islands left on the surface…

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