Hearing the voice, Teach spun around in a panic. Suddenly, he noticed a pair of hands clad in white gloves emerging from the black wall riddled with massive eyeballs. The moment he saw the emblem on the back of those gloves, a cold sweat drenched Teach's back.
Alucard's head and torso gradually phased out of the wall, his smile carrying an indecipherable mix of mockery and approval. "Dured through decades of obscurity only to finally have your day in the sun?"
Teach stood frozen, his expression blank and his body stiff. Cold sweat poured down his forehead in torrents. He opened his mouth, but for a long time, no words came. Finally, he managed to choke out a few words. "Wh-Where did that come from... Zehaha..."
"The wound on your left eye... it reminds me of that Red-Haired fellow. You left a scar on his left eye, and now I've left one on yours. It feels a bit like poetic justice."
As Alucard spoke, Teach's shifty eyes darted back and forth, frantically calculating a way to escape.
"Relax. I have no intention of doing anything to you."
Alucard's next words left Teach stunned and incredulous.
"Enduring for twenty years just to reach this moment… I'm quite looking forward to seeing what a man like you can accomplish from here on out."
As Alucard finished speaking, the surrounding Blood Pool space began to dissolve. Teach looked down; expecting to plunge into the ocean, he found himself standing on a jagged reef. Alucard stood opposite him.
It was a stroke of luck for Teach. The Vampire loathed the sea and refused to touch it, so Alucard had chosen this specific spot to deactivate the Blood Pool.
"Don't let me down... Blackbeard."
Alucard uttered the title the man was destined to hold.
For a man capable of staying with one pirate crew for so long, fixated on a phantom goal, only to betray them without a second thought, Alucard was genuinely curious to see how far he could go. To kill him now would be such a waste.
Once Alucard had returned to his small boat and drifted away, Teach let out a long, shuddering sigh and collapsed onto the ground. He didn't even notice that the jagged surface of the reef was digging painfully into his backside.
"Huff... huff... Zehaha... A narrow escape indeed. Just you wait, 'Immortal.' One day, I'll come back to challenge your seat!"
Midway through his boast, the image of the man he had followed for over twenty years surfaced in Teach's mind. He clenched his fist tightly. "And as for my stepping stone... it'll be you, Pops!"
…
A week later, Alucard's small boat encountered a specially modified, fire-propelled strike-ship.
Bare-chested, wearing a large cowboy hat, shorts, and leather boots, Ace met the man he had once thought of visiting three years prior.
"Roger's son?"
Alucard looked at Ace without standing up. He simply placed his wine glass back on the armrest and crossed his hands over his knees, watching him with a cryptic smile.
Although this was Whitebeard's territory, it was common knowledge in the New World that Alucard enjoyed wandering through various seas. Consequently, whether it was Whitebeard, Kaido, or Big Mom, they all tended to turn a blind eye when Alucard entered their waters. Well, Kaido usually tried to pick a fight with Alucard, only to be beaten down.
Rumors currently circulating the seas claimed Kaido had failed a hundred challenges against the other three Yonko and Navy Headquarters, and that over ninety of those defeats were at Alucard's hands.
Ace knew well enough that Alucard wasn't here to seize territory or challenge his "father," but the phrase "Roger's son" ignited his fury.
"My only father is Whitebeard!" Ace growled, gritting his teeth.
Alucard leaned his head back against his chair, smiling faintly. Toward Roger the man, he felt a mix of disdain and admiration; but for Ace, Roger was nothing but a source of resentment, perhaps even hatred.
As Alucard's boat began to drift past him, Ace couldn't help but call out, "Hey! Did you see a guy with a full beard? Tall and fat?"
Ace knew Teach had some skill, but since the man had no bounty yet, someone of Alucard's stature wouldn't likely know him by name. Thus, Ace simply described his features.
"Do you want to die, kid?" Alucard's back was now toward Ace, his voice drifting lazily across the water.
Ace blinked, and a few seconds later, he bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle. "I apologize. Please, tell me where that ugly, dark-looking fellow ran off to."
Alucard's eyes shifted to the side. Ace had clearly misunderstood his meaning.
Ace thought Alucard had taken offense at his tone, but in reality, Alucard was pointing out that Ace was currently no match for Teach with the Dark-Dark Fruit. Going after him was suicide.
"The Hailstone Region."
Despite the warning, Alucard gave Ace the direction. Even so, Ace wouldn't be able to catch him now.
"Hailstones?"
Ace froze for a moment, then punched his palm in realization. "Crap! Doesn't that mean I've been going the exact opposite way?"
Ignoring everything else, Ace hurriedly adjusted his course and sped off into the distance.
"The outcome of the Paramount War is becoming quite blurred."
After Ace left, Alucard muttered this to himself. On the surface, Whitebeard's forces had only added the 17th Division led by Lucky Roux, but if one looked closer, the variables were stacking up.
At the very least, that Sabo fellow was a massive wildcard.
Half a month later, while Alucard was wandering through his "homeland" in the North Blue, the Den Den Mushi on the small wine table beside his chair suddenly began to ring.
As soon as he picked up the receiver, Dr. Vegapunk's voice came through.
"Captain, it's me. It looks like we're about to engage in a rather fierce battle with the Government very soon."