Chapter 48: The Ones on the Wanted List

Upon arriving at the laboratory, Buffon followed the same procedure he had used with Moria previously, cleaning their wounds and stitching them up. He also collected the green lights in a glass bottle, intending to study them when he had time to figure out exactly what they were.

Once everything was finished, Buffon walked up to the deck. Watching Teach and his crew disappear into the distance, he muttered to himself, "So this is where the feud between Moria and Blackbeard began!"

Not long after, Ace woke from his coma.

After listening to Buffon's account of what had happened, Ace thanked him without hesitation, then got up and summoned his small "surfboard," speeding off in pursuit of Teach and his escaping crew.

When saying goodbye, he suddenly added, "I have a younger brother named Luffy. If you ever meet him at sea, Buffon, I hope you'll look after him."

Buffon said nothing, simply nodding calmly.

Once Ace had left, the Juventus set course for the nearest Navy outpost.

As they neared the naval base, Moria had already regained consciousness.

Although none of them understood how Buffon managed to remove that strange green light from their wounds, it only deepened their admiration for him.

After listening to Perona and Saul’s account of what had happened, Moria roared in fury, "Blackbeard Teach, is it? The injury to Perona—I, Moria, will make him pay!"

Buffon, meanwhile, reevaluated the strength of Doc Q, as Perona described how Doc Q was the first to break free from the threads using the green light. When she tried to stop him, she was instantly slashed and gravely wounded.

Saul, who arrived to help, was also wounded by Doc Q. Afterwards, Blackbeard used Dark Water to temporarily restrain Saul, who then called out to Buffon for help. They escaped in haste aboard a battered ship, conveniently taking Wapol and his crew with them.

As for how the two Devil Fruit users ended up on the raft, that was thanks to the dead horse "Strong," whom Buffon had overlooked.

"Perona's grudge is no longer yours alone, Moria—now it's mine as well," Buffon declared.

…

At the naval base, Moria, under the banner of the Seven Warlords, successfully handed over Blackbeard’s remaining crew and brought back a bounty.

Two days later, on the return journey, Buffon read the latest newspaper. The headline read:

"Some members of the Whitebeard Pirates' renegade Blackbeard Teach's crew were recently captured by the Navy near Drum Island!"

"The Navy really does love to flatter itself," Buffon chuckled inwardly, then handed the paper to Moria. "They stole your credit!"

Moria glanced at it and replied indifferently, "That was your achievement. I only ran errands. But the Navy gave a bounty of one hundred million Berries for these three, enough to cover the cost of repairing my ship."

Buffon's face remained expressionless, but he secretly scoffed, "Moria makes it sound as if the Navy is actually generous!"

These three hadn’t even appeared on wanted posters yet; clearly Moria had once again used his negotiation skills to wring the money out of the Navy.

…

Two days later, Blackbeard Teach appeared at a Navy branch. He traded Wapol and his crew to retrieve his three comrades whom Moria had handed over.

Before leaving, he told the Navy about Shanks’s severed arm being attached to one of Moria’s zombies. As for his battle with Ace and Buffon, Teach mentioned nothing!

A week later, the Juventus arrived at Water Seven, where the group docked at Dock One of the Carrera Company.

This time, not only would the Juventus undergo repairs, but Moria also intended to commission a new ship for himself.

After Moria finished his discussion with Iceburg, Iceburg’s secretary, Miss Kalifa, appeared.

Without glancing at Buffon or Moria, she opened her folder, adjusted her rimless glasses, and began to report: “Mr. Iceburg, in one hour…”

Her speech was perfectly even, with pauses between words as if rehearsed countless times beforehand.

Just as in the original story, Iceburg soon grew exasperated, then sternly told her to push back all his appointments.

Kalifa nodded, then continued to read another report:

"Moonlight Mo•ria, former bounty: 320 million Berries; Kastie Buffon..."

It took her about two minutes to finish reading the report. Except for Buffon’s rather vague details, the rest of the group’s information was accurate.

Moria, startled and slightly displeased, said, “Mr. Iceburg, such detailed information goes beyond the scope of normal commercial investigation, doesn’t it?”

Iceburg replied gravely, “A comprehensive investigation of our customers enables us to tailor the most suitable ships for them!”

Moria chuckled awkwardly, accepting the explanation for now, though he silently reassessed Carrera Company's intelligence capabilities.

Buffon, however, was not surprised at all. At this point, Carrera had been thoroughly infiltrated by CP9; with them involved, detailed information was to be expected.

Leaving Iceburg's office, Moria grinned mysteriously, “Heeheeheehee! Buffon, after we return, I'll finally tell you the secret of why the Thriller Bark has always remained in the Devil’s Triangle!”

This detail, never addressed in the original, was something Buffon, the lore master, had always wanted to know. Still, he replied, “Isn't it simply because it’s easier to swallow up pirate crews lost in the Devil’s Triangle?”

Moria shook his head. “That’s only part of the reason. I’ll tell you when we get back!”

Buffon nodded blankly, pretending not to care.

…

The two found a restaurant specializing in sea salt cuisine, enjoyed a hearty meal, and packed some food for Saul and Perona before returning to the Juventus.

Perona handed over the newspaper she had just bought. “Blackbeard handed Wapol over to the Navy!”

Moria took it, then laughed. “Buffon, you've helped Blackbeard become famous!”

Buffon took the paper, and upon seeing the headline, he smiled inwardly: “The Navy still loves saving face!”

The headline read: “Blackbeard’s crew, in order to rescue their comrades, attacked Drum Kingdom and pressured the Navy. To ensure the safety of the king of a member nation, the World Government was compelled to exchange the three captives for their release…”

Buffon had no interest in reading further; he already knew what followed—how the Navy supposedly acted with the greater good in mind, and then Blackbeard’s entire crew would be issued wanted posters!

He wondered whether this excuse was invented by the Navy’s high command or by Teach himself.

Just then, several wanted posters slipped out of the newspaper. Buffon paid no attention to Teach’s poster—compared to the twenty-two billion bounty in the original story, it was probably only a few tens of millions at this stage.

Still, Buffon had, in a way, helped Blackbeard become famous earlier than in the original; Blackbeard didn’t get wanted so quickly in canon.

Buffon bent down, picked up the last wanted poster, and then carefully examined the newspaper again, chuckling to himself, “Luffy has set sail, too.”

At that moment, Perona leaned over and looked at the wanted poster, then asked curiously, “Buffon, why are you paying attention to this Straw Hat Luffy?”

Buffon shook his head and said nothing, handing the paper back to Perona.

Moria, bored, picked up the scattered wanted posters and flipped through them.

When he reached the “White Ghost” poster that Buffon hadn’t seen, he noticed the bounty had risen to seventy million Berries.

He quickly snatched the newspaper from Perona and scrutinized it, but found no mention of the subject.

Looking back at the coverage after the Punk Hazard incident, Moria finally understood.

“So you were already that powerful back then!”

Moria watched Buffon’s retreating figure as he returned to the cabin, unable to calm his thoughts.

If Buffon had seen it, he probably would have just smiled quietly and thought to himself, “It must have been that coward Wapol who blabbed to the Navy.”