Chapter 22 : The New World

"We've finally reached the New World!" exclaimed Deuce, wearing an eye patch, standing on the deck with his arms wide open. His pose seemed a bit flashy to Youta.

Come on, your name's Deuce, not Luce! And doing those kinds of moves, you might just hit an iceberg, you know?

But soon, the welcoming ceremony of the New World showed him the consequence of posing randomly. Waves mixed with a terrifying chill almost froze him into an ice sculpture.

"Ah, so cold, so cold! What's happening? It's sunny now, why is the sea so cold, it's almost freezing?" shivered Deuce, hastily stepping back, while Ace extended his hand, releasing a large flame, finally warming him up a bit.

"In the New World, it's normal for the seawater to be colder than ice, and icebergs falling from the sky are quite common too," lazily remarked Youta.

"Haha, how could icebergs fall from the sky?" chuckled Deuce nervously.

Youta squinted, paying him no attention. The climate in the New World was even more extreme than the first half of the Grand Line.

Not to mention, even mighty figures like Kaido, the Great Pirate, were almost completely wiped out by a storm. From Kaido to a roasted chicken, one could imagine how terrifying the maritime climate here was.

Fortunately, the navigator of the Black Spades Pirates was this guy Ace, the only capable person on the ship besides himself. Otherwise, Youta wouldn't dare to venture into the New World.

It had been over half a year since Youta joined the crew.

During this time, the Black Spades Pirates had been through a lot. But for the most part, Ace and Youta had handled the majority of the dangers. While the crew members of the Black Spades Pirates contributed in their own way, in terms of combat effectiveness, they were lacking, only able to provide logistical support and the like.

Let alone anything else, even now, half of the remaining crew members didn't even possess the basic knowledge of Haki.

With Observation and Armament Haki, and having faced opponents with Armament Haki, Ace quickly awakened his Armament Haki during a battle.

And although Ace awakened his Haki through natural talent and wasn't quite sure how to train it further, Youta didn't need detailed guidance either. Just by sparring with Ace several times, he gradually figured out his own Armament Haki.

It was precisely because they had both types of Haki that they dared to come to the New World. Otherwise, while Ace wasn't afraid of anything, Youta was a bit nervous.

He knew very well how stubborn Ace could be when it came to facing challenges.

First, he went to find the Red Hair Pirates. Fortunately, his visit was merely to thank them for rescuing his brother, Luffy, and since Shanks had a straightforward and generous personality, there wasn't any conflict between them.

Later on, he started to act recklessly, directly going to Wano Country to pick a fight with Kaido. If Kaido hadn't been away from home at that time, he would probably have ended up with another addiction to deal with.

They didn't find Kaido in Wano Country, but they encountered Kaido's son, Yamato. After fighting Yamato, who was wearing Sea Prism Stone handcuffs, to a draw, this guy still didn't realize the difference and went straight to pick a fight with Whitebeard.

Come on, as headstrong as Luffy is, when he encountered Big Mom, he knew to strategically withdraw and grow a bit before causing trouble again. Ace, do you have to be so brave?

Oh, right. When they were at Fish-Man Island, this guy Ace even burned Whitebeard's flag. Whitebeard might have a big heart and might not directly confront Ace, but his underlings definitely won't go easy on Ace.

Although in the original story, Ace didn't encounter any major problems and after being defeated by Whitebeard, he acknowledged him.

But honestly, before he encountered Whitebeard, he was really walking on thin ice. He might have been taken out by Whitebeard's sons or Kaido's subordinates, like the big names like Marco or Jinbe, might have been enough to defeat Ace in a one-on-one fight!

Thinking about the journey to the New World, Yang Tai suddenly felt a headache.

But he didn't have anything to complain about. In fact, for any pirate crew that enters the New World, the Yonko is an insurmountable mountain.

Even if Ace's Black Spade Pirates didn't want to conflict with the Yonko, it was impossible. These four pirate overlords of the New World would instinctively suppress any pirate crew that might threaten their status. Even if pirates like Whitebeard and Red-Haired Shanks didn't have much malice, the beneficiaries under their command carrying their flags would spontaneously act like this.

As the saying goes, when the old ones are beaten, the new ones come. All the pirates in the New World belong to the Yonko's subordinates, so how could there not be conflicts among pirates? Therefore, newcomers to pirate crews will eventually have to face the final Yonko.

With Ace's status as a Super Nova plus his candidacy for the Seven Warlords, he was already under the Yonko's attention. It's difficult to grow quietly; inevitably, there will be a conflict. Ace just accelerated this process a little bit.

Putting aside those worries, Yang Tai's gaze turned to Ace: "Captain, where are we going next?"

Ace is not only the captain of the Black Spade Pirates, but also their navigator—this guy dared to pursue Blackbeard alone, obviously he's quite skilled in navigation.

Ace looked at the map in his hand and then glanced at the Eternal Pointer in his hand: "Let's go find the Red-Haired Pirates first. I have some things I want to thank them for!"

"But, the Red-Haired Pirates are quite difficult to find. If we can't find them, we'll go find the Whitebeard Pirates first!"

The Red-Haired Pirates' territory is the smallest in the New World, but unlike the other Yonko, they are basically traveling every day and don't have a specific main base.

Unlike Kaido, who has Wano Country, or Big Mom, who has Whole Cake Island, even Whitebeard has his own main base where he often stays.

Only the Red-Haired Pirates truly roam and commit crimes on the fly. Sometimes, even Shanks himself doesn't know where he is.

Once, when Shanks and Hawk-Eye or whoever were having a banquet, they took out what was said to be wine produced on a deserted island. There are no records of pointers in the New World's deserted islands, in other words, the Red-Haired Pirates completely drifted there themselves. I guess they didn't even know about that island at the time.