The Greatest Disgrace in Marine History

"By the way, I heard you had a run-in with Big Mom?"

As if suddenly recalling something, Momonga asked curiously.

Darren gave a helpless chuckle.

"Sort of. I killed two of her sons right in front of her."

Momonga: "…"

"Sort of"…?

With Big Mom's insane personality, you kill two of her sons and she'll chase you across the entire sea, life or death!

Wait a minute…

Momonga's face suddenly turned skeptical as he stared at Darren and asked hesitantly,

"What do you mean by 'sort of'? Don't tell me you did something weird?"

As the Supreme Commander of the North Blue — and someone naturally cautious — Momonga was intimately familiar with the bounties of every major pirate in the sea.

Even now, Charlotte Linlin — Big Mom — was nearing forty and still retained a striking beauty.

And Darren, with his notoriously flirtatious ways…

"What are you thinking…" Darren's mouth twitched. He snapped irritably:

"I didn't do a damn thing!! I've got standards, alright?!"

He sounded downright offended.

"Really…" Momonga muttered under his breath.

He eyed Darren with suspicion. "You're acting way too weird about this…"

Momonga knew Darren too well.

Normally, when it came to women, this guy had the thickest skin imaginable.

The fact that he was reacting this strongly only made him more suspicious.

Darren: "…"

"So what exactly happened?" Momonga asked, half-smiling.

Darren's eye twitched. He turned his head away, pretending to gaze casually out at the sea.

"That crazy woman… wanted me to be her husband."

He said it in a low voice.

"…What?"

Momonga's eyes widened in disbelief.

"I SAID that crazy woman wanted to have my child!" Darren shouted, exasperated. "Don't pretend you didn't hear me the first time!"

A dead silence fell.

Then—

"Pffft!!"

Momonga suddenly clutched his stomach and burst into uncontrollable laughter, his face turning red, tears forming at the corners of his eyes.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Darren stared at the doubled-over Momonga in speechless irritation, the corners of his eyes twitching madly.

"Hahaha… you… why didn't you just say yes?"

Momonga was trembling from laughter.

"Charlotte Linlin's one of the top beauties among pirates, isn't she? Hahahaha!!"

"And those curvy, seductive mature types — weren't they exactly your favorite back in the North Blue? Hahahahahaha!!"

"Besides, both of you have mastered Steel Body. It's a match made in heaven! HAHAHAHAHA!!"

"Who knows? With your… 'charm', you might even reform Charlotte Linlin, turn her to our side — HQ might give you a medal! Hahahahaha!!"

He laughed so hard he didn't notice Darren's face turning dark as a stormcloud.

"You really should've just gone along with her. It might not be such a bad— huh?"

Click!

Momonga's laughter stopped instantly.

He looked down, bewildered, and saw… a pair of Seastone cuffs clamped around his wrists.

Instantly, a wave of crippling weakness swept through his body. His knees buckled, his strength drained like a receding tide.

"Seastone cuffs?!"

Momonga cried out in shock.

Darren… actually carried these things around?

But wasn't he a Devil Fruit user himself?

Then why… was he completely fine?

Momonga instinctively looked up — and met Darren's amused, dangerous gaze.

A chill shot up from his feet to his scalp, sending shivers down his spine.

"…Why aren't you laughing anymore?"

Darren stood there, shadowy and smiling, rolling his neck and cracking his knuckles with loud pops.

"Getting a little sweaty, aren't we?"

Momonga forced a sickly smile.

"H-Hey, Darren… don't overreact, I was just joking—"

His legs trembled, though whether from the Seastone cuffs or Darren's terrifying aura, he wasn't sure.

"Oh, I know you were joking." Darren grinned — all teeth, no warmth.

Momonga took a cautious step back. "So… you're not mad, right?"

"Me? Mad? Of course not." Darren smiled cheerfully. "Why would I be mad about something like this?"

…Oh, you're not mad? Then that's a relief— said no one ever!!

Momonga's eyelid twitched furiously. His voice trembled.

"S-So what do you want to do then…?"

Darren clenched his fist. With a sharp boom, compressed air cracked in his palm.

Momonga's heart skipped a beat.

"Oh, this? It's just Seastone resistance training."

Darren's voice was utterly serious.

"It's a technique I picked up in Wano. Quick results, excellent effect."

"…The process just happens to be a bit painful."

"So hang in there."

Momonga: ???

The next second—

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"

His miserable screams echoed through the deserted jungle of the island.

(Bellirys

Training: 0/10

Revenge-Fueled Justice: 10/10

"Lesson learned: never mock the boss."

Sleep well, warrior.

May the bruises fade before dawn.🙏)

———

New World — somewhere on the sea.

Whitebeard Pirates — Moby Dick.

A massive black cloud rolled in from the far horizon like a tide of ink.

The once-clear sky turned to night in an instant. Furious waves surged across the sea, and thunder rumbled deep within the clouds.

"The weather sure changed fast…"

A young division commander frowned up at the sky.

"No — that's not the weather."

Marco leapt down from the mast, eyes sharp and heavy with dread.

"Something terrifying is coming."

"What?" The others were starting to sense it too.

Oden — Kozuki Oden — had been leaning against the mast, drinking. But now he stood upright, sober in an instant.

His lone remaining arm instinctively moved to grip the hilt of Ame no Habakiri at his waist.

As a master swordsman, he could feel it — a ferocious, untamed aura of Conqueror's Haki was screaming toward them from the distant skies.

"No good! It's him!!"

Marco's expression suddenly changed. He turned to the crew with a shout:

"Everyone below captain rank — get inside the ship!!"

But even as the words left his mouth, he knew — it was already too late.

BOOM!!!

Black-and-red lightning crackled violently across the sky, lighting up the stunned, pale faces of every crew member aboard the Moby Dick.

Gale-force winds howled. Towering waves roared.

A colossal wave of raw killing intent blasted outward, splitting the clouds.

Several of the younger crew were knocked unconscious on the spot — others stumbled, dazed, as if struck by lightning.

The world before them had become a hellish nightmare.

"Tch… What a troublesome bastard…"

On the grand seat at the center of the deck, Whitebeard slowly opened his eyes.

With an irritated grunt, he reached for his massive naginata — Murakumogiri — and rose to his full height. Towering like a mountain, his golden hair whipped wildly in the wind.

"Jihahahaha!!!"

A twisted, savage laugh rang out from the sky.

And then—

From the depths of the stormclouds, a brutal figure tore through the heavens — wreathed in black-and-red lightning, twin swords in hand, plunging toward the Moby Dick like a falling meteor!

His wild golden mane flared like the roar of a flying lion!

Golden Lion — Shiki!!

"Sashi burida na... Newgate!!!"

(Newgate… long time no see!)

---

To be continued…