Because of this incident, the Whitebeard Pirates lost a lot of territory. Even after defeating the Blackbeard Pirates, they still lost a lot of territory. However, Akira didn't go to find those territories and forces again. Even if some people showed goodwill again, he didn't include these forces in the Whitebeard Pirates Alliance again.
What Akira hated the most was betrayal. To test whether a person was loyal, he would see if the other party could share weal and woe. The same was true for some forces. Since they had chosen to betray, Akira would naturally not accept them again, even if it would result in a loss of many benefits. However, for the Whitebeard Pirates, these problems were not very big.
The territory was a little smaller, but the cohesion became stronger. Now, the entire Whitebeard Pirates were united, and this was the result that Akira most wanted to see.
"What about the Big Mom Pirates? Are we not going to care about them?"
Ace was young after all. Before the other commanders had spoken, he couldn't help but ask first.
Akira a smile appeared on lips, and he said, "What are we going to do with them? If soldiers come, we'll block them. If water comes, we'll dam it. When have we Whitebeard Pirates been afraid of anything? We have never known what fear is. If she wants to take action against us, then it depends on whether she has the courage."
He didn't want to fight, but it didn't mean that he was afraid of fighting. He always felt that the Big Mom Pirates wouldn't really start a war regardless of everything. He didn't give Big Mom face, but when had the other party given him face? So, no matter what he thought, he wouldn't compromise.
"I understand."
Ace nodded, and then muttered, "I hope that old woman has some courage. I didn't have enough fun in the last war. With the Big Mom Pirates, I will definitely be able to have enough fun."
"Puchi, hahaha..."
Hearing Ace's words, everyone couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Akira, there's something I want to tell you. Squard has always wanted to see you. However, you didn't have time for a while, so it has only been delayed until now. Shouldn't you see him?"
Suddenly, Marco asked Akira.
Hearing Marco's words, the others stopped talking, and all looked at Akira. They were all very clear about Squard's matter. Because Akira's attitude was unclear, everyone's attitude towards Squard was not as friendly as before since the Battle of Marineford. It wasn't that they had too much of an opinion on Squard either. It was that they had to maintain Akira's rule and position.
Before Akira had spoken, Marco continued, "Squard was very hardworking during the last war with the Blackbeard Pirates. In order to annihilate the Blackbeard Pirates, he killed several pirate captains under Blackbeard's command. He even lost an arm for this, and the entire Maelstrom Spider Pirates was almost wiped out, leaving only a few people."
These words made the faces of the people present change slightly. Even Akira felt very surprised. He had said to Squard last time that as long as he performed well in the war with Blackbeard, he would abandon his previous suspicions, and wouldn't care anymore.
However, he never expected that this Squard would be so loyal. Not to mention that he himself was seriously injured, and became disabled, just the fact that his Maelstrom Spider Pirates, which had nearly a thousand pirates, had so few left after a war, one could imagine how tragic it was.
Not only Akira, but even the others were hearing such definite news for the first time. The first to couldn't help but speak was Ace, who had a very good relationship with Squard before. He pleaded to Akira, "Captain, please don't blame Squard anymore. If you want to blame someone, then blame me. If it wasn't for saving me that time, if it wasn't because I was Roger's son, Squard wouldn't have done such a rebellious thing. You should blame me."
Thatch also said, "That's right, Akira. Back then, Squard's weakness was used by that bastard Akainu. Although he also made a mistake, he didn't really hurt Pops after all. And he has paid so much. We shouldn't continue to target him."
He had also lost an arm, so he knew best how painful it was to lose an arm. Moreover, Squard was even more miserable than him. Not only was he disabled, but even his subordinates and brothers had lost almost all of them. This kind of pain was not something that ordinary people could bear.
The others also spoke one after another. These commander-level members, apart from a few people like Ace, had all watched Akira grow up. So, they didn't speak as restrained as Ace.
Seeing that everyone was pleading for Squard, Akira's face didn't change. He really hated traitors the most, so he had that attitude towards Squard in the beginning. However, now that he had heard about Squard's misery, the resentment in his heart had disappeared.
So, he said to Marco, "Let Squard come here."
Marco nodded, and then walked out. After a few minutes, he brought Squard here. It turned out that since that battle, Squard's Maelstrom Spider Pirates had basically existed in name only. Plus, he was seriously injured, so he hadn't left the Whitebeard Pirates, and had been recuperating here all the time.
After Squard came here, he respectfully bowed to Akira, and shouted, "Captain."
Akira nodded, and said to Squard, "I have heard about your matter from Marco. You were very hardworking in the last war. You blocked a lot of the Blackbeard Pirates' forces, and even made your own pirate crew almost destroyed."
Squard said, "This is what I should do."
Akira waved his hand, and said, "There's nothing that should or shouldn't be. To be honest, I did have some opinions on you before. However, after this matter, I no longer have any opinions on you. Now, I'll give you a choice. Your pirate crew has basically been lost. You have made great contributions this time. I can agree to let you directly join the main crew of the pirate crew. Are you willing?"
"Really?"
Squard had just sat down, but stood up excitedly. Before he came, he was just thinking of letting Akira forgive him. However, he didn't expect that Akira would not only forgive him, but also agree to let him join the main crew of the Whitebeard Pirates. This was a great thing.
"Are you unwilling?" Akira asked.
Squard quickly nodded, and said, "I'm willing, I'm willing, I'm willing."
Speaking of the end, this big man actually choked up. The pressure he had been under during this period of time was really too great. At this moment, he could finally relax, so he was very excited.
Akira sighed. He knew that he also had a responsibility for this matter. Just because of his attitude, it had caused the people of the entire pirate crew to not dare to be too close to Squard. This seemed a bit too much.
...
However, wrong was wrong, but Akira would naturally not admit it directly. The captain's prestige still had to be maintained.
"Squard, from today onwards, you will join the First Division of the pirate crew, and become directly under Marco's command. Is there a problem?"
"No, no."
Squard had joined the Whitebeard Pirates Alliance for more than twenty years, and had long been familiar with Marco. Being able to be directly under Marco's command was naturally also something that Akira had carefully considered.
Marco laughed loudly, "Squard, from today onwards, you will have to listen to me. Hahaha, let's go have a drink together later. We won't go home until we're drunk."
Squard also said happily, "Okay, we won't go home until we're drunk."
The matter that had been troubling him for so long had finally been perfectly resolved. His mood was also extraordinarily good, and he recovered his usual temperament.
However, Akira said at this time, "There's also one more thing I want to tell you. Last time when we were at war with Blackbeard, I remember that guy Doflamingo from Dressrosa seemed to want to take advantage of the situation, right?"
Ace said, "That's right, he wanted to ambush us at that time. Fortunately, you had arranged it in advance, Captain, so he didn't succeed."
At the time of the Battle of Sapporo Strait, only Ace and Trafalgar Law had fought with the attacking Doflamingo. It was precisely because of Ace and the others' obstruction that the people of the Donquixote Family were not allowed to rush into the battlefield. Otherwise, the Whitebeard Pirates would have faced attacks from both sides, and the situation would definitely have been very critical.
"Fortunately, he didn't succeed at that time, otherwise it would have been very unfavorable to us. Moreover, according to what he said at that time, it seemed that he and the Blackbeard Pirates had colluded beforehand."
Akira snorted coldly, and said, "That guy has always been thinking of killing me, because he has fought with me several times, and suffered several losses in my hands, so he has always wanted to take revenge. I hadn't paid too much attention to him before, but I didn't expect that this guy would actually want to plot against me from behind. If I were to remain indifferent to this, wouldn't people think that I'm too easy to bully?"
Hearing Akira's words, Marco and the others' eyes all narrowed. Marco asked, "Akira, you don't want to take action against the Donquixote Family, do you? That guy is deeply rooted in Dressrosa. If you want to move him, it won't be that easy. Moreover, he is also a Shichibukai appointed by the World Government. If we take action against him, it will be equivalent to declaring war on the World Government and the Navy Headquarters. This is not very optimistic for our current situation."
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