At that moment, Gar recalled Teach's question—astonished that Teach already knew his race and identity. He hadn't expected this man to show no hostility, much less hand him the key to his shackles. Excitement welled up in his chest.
"Gar. I'm a Mink. Ten years ago…" he said while fitting the key into his restraints. As the cuffs clattered open, he began recounting his past.
He was no ordinary Mink, but a rare white lion.
When he was just four, he had tumbled from Zunesha into the endless sea. Fortune spared his life. Clinging to a drifting tree trunk, he was carried for days until he finally washed ashore on an island crawling with ferocious beasts. There, a powerful hunter found him and took him in.
That island had a few villages, each surviving by hunting its monstrous wildlife. The man who rescued him was the island's strongest hunter. Gar grew up under his care, learning how to stalk prey, battle beasts, and carve his strength into muscle and bone. He spent twelve years there, always carrying the dream of returning one day to the Mokomo Dukedom.
Not long ago, he had spotted a ship moored on the coast. Overjoyed, he thought it would be his ticket home. He never imagined it was a slaver's vessel. Before he could realize the truth, tranquilizer darts pierced his hide. Rage flared, and in the struggle he killed five traffickers but the drug and their bullets finally overwhelmed him. Captured, he was dragged away and sold in the Sabaody Archipelago.
Even now, Gar remained wary of Teach and revealed little about that island. Teach respected his caution. Still, he was intrigued. In ten years Gar had risen to become one of the two strongest young hunters there—so who was the other?
Minks were a combat race through and through. Their martial art was unique: they wrapped their bodies and weapons in electricity to strike with lethal force. Even the frail, the elderly, or children could fend off pirate riffraff.
A Mink country had no weaklings.
As a white lion Mink, Gar's combat talent was prodigious. Teach knew this well, he had sailed with Inuarashi and Nekomamushi for two years aboard the Moby Dick. Both had shown terrifying potential, and this lion had the same wild aura.
Tall, scarred, and feral, Gal stood nearly two meters. His lone gleaming eye radiated menace. The beast inside him was alive and unbroken.
Teach didn't push for details. Trust took time. Instead he asked, "You should know Inuarashi and Nekomamushi, right?"
Gal tilted his head, rifling through old memories. The names stirred something. "Are you talking about Brother Inuarashi and Nekomamushi? You actually know them?"
Minks began fighting almost from birth, so even as a cub, Gar had known them.
"Hah! We shared a ship for two years," Teach chuckled. "By now, they're probably in Wano, or maybe they've already gone back to Zou." His gaze sharpened. "You don't have a destination now, do you? Then how about sailing with me?"
"Alright. I'll follow you for now." Gar lowered his guard another notch. He had nowhere else to go, and this man's strength dwarfed his own. Whatever else, Teach would not sell him.
As they walked on, Gar's eyes caught a slave shop. Hatred rippled across his face—he hadn't forgotten the traffickers who had dragged him in chains.
Teach noticed. "When we leave, you can deal with the ones who caged you. As for the rest, let them rot. This trade is a hydra—kill one head, another grows. Better to bide your strength." His faint smile never faltered as his gaze swept across the market. His Observation Haki, stretched wide, cloaked the entire black market.
Unlike Mary Geoise, here he had no need to restrain himself. There were no Admirals hiding in Sabaody's underworld. In Paradise, even a Vice Admiral counted as top-tier.
Teach's Observation Haki was honed razor-sharp. With subtle control, he skimmed every aura and silhouette. He counted them; twenty-three Devil Fruits in the Archipelago's black market. Fourteen displayed openly, nine hidden deep.
He also marked three Vice Admiral–level fighters, each a Devil Fruit user, but they were ordinary. Strong enough to dominate Paradise, but no terrors of the New World.
No wonder. When the Half-Human Half-Demon Fruit was auctioned years ago, it drew seven pirates with bounties above 300 million. Here, the pickings were leaner. Truly rare Fruits never lingered in places like this; they were eaten, hoarded, or smuggled to exclusive auctions.
Still, those hidden nine…
At Teach's words, Gal's lone eye gleamed. He kept his killing intent buried deep, but it was there—an electric hunger for revenge.
Teach did not yet know Gar's title, 'the Pursuer'. When Gar marked prey, escape was impossible. He would hunt until one of them lay dead.
Once, another predator had dared steal his kill; a Phantom Mantis, a nightmare of speed, stealth, and blades sharp enough to shear stone. The beast's scythes had taken Gal's left eye, and the two fought from dawn till dusk before parting, bloodied but alive.
Gal had pursued it for a full year. Hunt after hunt, clash after clash, until at last he killed it with his twin short blades. The feat earned him his title—the Pursuer.
Teach did not yet ask. For now, his focus was elsewhere. He would not seize the Devil Fruits tonight. An attack would throw the entire Archipelago into chaos, and escape would become troublesome. Patience.
They left the black market. Gar's unusual appearance drew glances, but no one interfered. In Sabaody, Minks fetched around 700,000 belly—valuable, but not impossibly rare.
At a restaurant, Gar devoured food like a starving beast, each bowl vanishing almost as soon as it touched the table. He hadn't eaten like this in years. The flavors were rich and strange compared to the Mokomo Dukedom or the roasted meat of his hunting island.
In this world, appetite often mirrored strength. The stronger the body, the greater the hunger, and Gar's was immense.
Later, back at the inn, Peto eyed the new companion curiously. She'd met few Minks in her time with the Whitebeard Pirates. She'd seen other rare tribes, Longarm, Longleg, Snake-Neck, but only two Minks.
"Stay here for now," Teach said. "I have business tonight."
Gar's ears twitched. His instincts screamed against staying behind. He'd never liked crowds, and after the betrayal of the traffickers, his trust in humans was thinner than a blade's edge.
"I'm going to kill people," Teach added casually, his smile cutting through Gar's thoughts.
"Then I'm coming with you." Gar's lone eye burned.
Peto perked up too, restless with boredom.
"Fine. All of us, then," Teach said, glancing at the darkening sky.
Night fell. The wind whispered. Shadows stretched. In the outskirts of Area 3, three figures advanced under the cloak of darkness.
Their target was House—the trafficker who led the group that had captured Gar, and one of the largest slave-trading bosses in the Archipelago. His base sprawled across a fortified estate, complete with its own private port for smuggling in chained cargo. At the heart of it all stood a castle, lit by hundreds of lanterns.
House was giddy. He had plans to court the Celestial Dragons with a special gift, and the thought of rising higher in their favor intoxicated him. He'd spent years building this fortress, lining it with guards, bounty hunters, and hired blades. Few would dare assault a Celestial Dragon's supplier, and he reveled in that security.
Still, he was cautious. Offending his patrons meant death, and he had spared no expense. Over 150 million belly had gone into the defenses around him tonight.
His mercenaries, smug in their safety, waited idly, dreaming of the fat payday soon to come. None imagined that death was already walking toward their gates.
From the shadows, Teach studied the fortress. His Observation Haki painted the battlefield clearly.
"Peto," he murmured, "how many?"
"Four hundred and thirty-two," she answered at once. "One hundred thirty-six to the left, one hundred forty-three to the right, the rest inside the castle."
Her tone was calm, but her eyes glittered. Peto's Observation Haki was already awakened and growing at a pace that outstripped even Teach's. Given time, her range would surpass his entirely.
Teach's grin widened.
Tonight, the black market would drown in screams.