196- Farewell

After discussing for a while Acelynn calmed down and everyone sat down in the living room.

"I am a little curious," Ethan said in a serious voice getting her attention. "what is a member of the Whitebeard Pirates doing in Paradise?"

Ethan knows the answer, but he wants to hear it from Acelynn.

"Well... I'm hunting someone," causing the girls to look at her curiously "Not just someone, a pirate to be exact."

"Is there a high bounty on this pirate's head?" Nami's eyes looked very bright.

"No, this isn't about the money...it's more about vengeance," Acelynn said with a serious tone.

"Vengeance?!" Lucy looked at her sister seriously.

"Who is this pirate?" Zora asked Ace.

"His name is Blackbeard," Acelynn said with a lot of hatred in her voice.

"Blackbeard?" Chopper asked causing Acelynn to nod her head.

"It's the same pirate who attacked my house," She added in a slightly sad voice which caused Sora to hug her tightly while patting her back.

The crew didn't know about this, so Ethan explained to them how Blackbeard had wreaked havoc on the Drum Kingdom.

"Sora will not forgive this person for making Chopper sad, if Sora sees him, Sora will make him regret it." Sora said sweetly while she punching the air as if it was Blackbeard.

"What did Blackbeard do?" Ethan ask in a serious voice.

Acelynn looked at Ethan with a grim look on her face before she spoke in a pained voice. "He's a former member of the Whitebeard Pirates, and he killed the commander of the 4th Division of the Whitebeard Pirates."

"Why did he kill him though?" Ethan asked.

"He killed him over a devil fruit," Acelynn said with a growl causing everyone's eyes to widen.

They can't believe that someone betrayed the strongest man in the world just for a devil fruit, while here Ethan is distributing devil fruits to his girls as if they were sweet.

"What kind of devil fruit?" Sanju asked in a curious voice.

"I don't know," Acelynn replied with a sigh.

"Do you remember what a devil fruit looks like? If you tell me what it looks like, I may know what abilities it offers." Ethan wanted the conversation to get to this point.

Acelynn closed her eyes while trying to remember what the Devil Fruit looked like in detail. "Actually, I don't remember the shape of the fruit very well, but I think it's a large, round, light purple fruit."

'Most devil fruits have the same characteristics.' The corner of Ethan's mouth trembled.

"I will describe some devil fruits, and when you find a similar one, let me know." After that, Ethan described various forms of Devil Fruits and eventually described Blackbeard's Devil Fruit.

"Is it a large, round, light purple fruit made up of many small teardrop-shaped components with swirl patterns, and green leaves sprouting from the top. It is also very similar to a pineapple or a bunch of oversized and teardrop shaped grapes. It mildly resembles the Mera Mera no Mi that you ate."

"Yes, I remember now. I think the shape of those fruits is as you said now."

"It's Yami Yami no Mi," Ethan spoke seriously. "The Yami Yami no Mi is a Logia-type Devil Fruit that allows the user to create and control darkness at will, making the user a Darkness Human. This fruit is considered 'unique' even for a Logia-type, and the ability it grants is said to be the 'most evil'."

After that, Ethan started explaining the strengths and weaknesses of the Devil Fruit. "The first and foremost strength, is that it allows the user to control darkness and its unique property of gravity. Easily the most unique and frightening advantage of the fruit is the ability to completely nullify the powers of other Devil Fruit users by simply touching them."

"That's why if you fight him, you better not touch him." Ethan looked at Acelynn seriously.

"But it still has weaknesses," the corner of Ethan's lips rose into a wry smile. "The major strength of this particular fruit, the darkness that the user turns into which swallows up everything, is also its major weakness. Since the darkness also absorbs attacks, the user of the fruit is still vulnerable in battle, which do not pass through the darkness they turn into. If they fail to absorb an attack in time, the user can be hurt like any other normal human being or even more."

After Ethan finished explaining all about the Devil Fruit, he looked at Acelynn seriously, "Why don't you go sailing with us? I think you might meet him if you come with us."

"Why are you so sure? Also, I've been following him for months and am already close to catching him, so I should decline your offer."

She doesn't understand why Ethan is so sure he'll meet Blackbeard, in fact Ethan himself doesn't know if he'll meet Blackbeard before Sky Island but just doesn't want Acelynn to go.

"So what do you think to bet with me? You and I will fight and the loser will do whatever the winner asks." Ethan spoke confidently and with a big smile, he was sure Acelynn wouldn't turn down a challenge.

But contrary to his expectations, Acelynn refused, "No thanks. You obviously want me to stop chasing Blackbeard, but even if you win a fight, I'll go catch him."

"Does this mean that you are afraid that I will win?" Ethan tried to provoke her into agreeing.

"What I'm trying to say is that this fight is useless to prevent, for example if I win and tell you to join the Whitebeard Pirates will you do it?" Acelyn's question made him shut up for a moment, he really wouldn't agree to it but he was sure of his victory, but what Acelynn made clear that no matter who the loser is, he will never carry out the orders of the winner.

Acelynn has disobeyed the orders of the person she respects most and whom she regards as her father in order to go and take revenge on Blackbeard, so surely even if Ethan wins, she will not fulfill this request for him.

After that, no matter how Ethan tried to convince her, she totally refused. but at least he told her Blackbeard's abilities and she had a better chance of defeating him.

After Ethan lost hope of persuading Acelynn, Clara asked him, "Ethan, since you also collected the information, you must know that the kingdom of Alabasta has been brought down, so what's our next step?"

Acelynn didn't know what was going on so Makino explained to her.

Ethan sat on a nearby barrel and looked at Vivi and then at the girls. "We will go straight to Alubarna to save the queen and defeat the crocodile."

"But even if we did, it is possible that the people of Alabasta would not accept the return of the kingdom into the hands of Vivi and her mother." Hearing Zora's words, Vivi lowered her head, sadness in her eyes as she knew what Zora had said was true.

"No, if we show the rebel army that Crocodile is the one who caused this strife in the kingdom, who caused the kingdom to dry up and who brought the Dance Powder [1], then the name of the queen will be acquitted and the people will agree to her return to rule."

"Especially since she refused to fight and surrendered only so that the people of her kingdom would not shed each other's blood." Ethan stood up and walked toward Vivi and gently patted her on the head, "Don't worry, the people of Alabasta will know the truth, I won't allow anyone to hate you and criticize you for something you haven't done."

Hearing Ethan's soothing voice, Vivi's expression relaxed and a small smile appeared on her face.

"You're going to Alubarna, so our destination is completely different so I think this is farewell." Acelynn's destination was Yuba because it was the last place Blackbeard was seen.

After saying goodbye to her sister, niece and the crew, she gave her sister a piece of paper and then jumped into her boat and started her journey to catch Blackbeard.

...

[1] Dance Powder is a green powder that is used to make artificial rain. It is a powder that brings both happiness and misery at the same time.

When the Powder is burned, it emits a mist-like vapor that rises up in the air. It speeds up the creation of ice particles in sub-freezing temperature clouds, resulting in near immediate heavy rainfall.

The process in which the artificial rain is created artificially matures clouds that aren't ready to rain yet. The clouds would have rained on their own, but at a later time and most likely in a different location.

When Dance Powder is used, all of the water contained within these clouds would all be used up. Because of this, other countries and locations who would have naturally benefited from the rainfall when these clouds naturally matured would be greatly deprived of rain.