Chapter 784: Chapter 784: The Pirate’s Lecture

Aeridar hovered in mid-air before the twenty-meter-high golden sand pyramid.

"Honestly, the world has long outgrown the era of you old relics. Even Whitebeard lost his life to the shifting tides of history!"

"Even if I hadn’t stopped you today, there are countless others who would. Marines, pirates... If your student Kuzan didn’t value your bond so much, he wouldn’t have just limited himself to freezing that Dyna Stone!"

Aeridar droned on, nagging like a loquacious old man.

Crack...

A faint, nearly imperceptible fissure appeared on the surface of the sand pyramid.

"Truth be told, your current students aren’t half bad. You should spare a thought for them. Did you really think that handful of people could hold back Arlan and the others?"

Aeridar shook his head, seemingly addicted to the sound of his own voice. He added smugly, "Ridiculous! Take Shuzo, for example. You probably think he was captured by the Marines, don’t you?"

"In truth, I captured him myself. Right now, he’s likely being brainwashed, slowly being forged into a killing machine for the Chris Pirates..."

Just as Aeridar was hitting his stride, the upper half of the sand pyramid abruptly detonated. Countless grains of yellow sand erupted outward as a powerful dark shadow lunged like a lightning bolt, aiming straight for Aeridar in the sky.

"Heh heh heh... couldn’t hold it in anymore?"

The smugness vanished from Aeridar’s face, replaced by a cruel leer. "I thought you could play dead for a bit longer!"

"Shinra Tensei!"

As he spoke, a terrifying repulsive force erupted from Aeridar’s body in a perfect 360-degree radius.

BOOM!

The next instant, just as the furious Zephyr reached Aeridar, his fist yet to swing, an overwhelming, mountain-like force slammed into him. He was sent hurtling backward, and the sand filling the air was instantly cleared away.

CRASH! RUMBLE!

Covering hundreds of meters in the blink of an eye, the dark shadow smashed into the dirt. The impact cratered the ground several meters wide, sending stone shards flying in every direction.

He skidded back dozens of meters more, carving a long trench into the earth and tumbling seven or eight times before finally coming to a halt. A massive cloud of dust billowed up, shrouding a hundred-meter radius.

"Puargh...!"

Zephyr lay prone on the ground, coughing up a mouthful of blood that stained the earth crimson. Moments later, the dust began to settle.

"You can’t defeat me. In the presence of one who sees the future, your fate is already written!"

Aeridar flew over, looking down at the blood-spitting Zephyr with playful mockery in his eyes.

His "nagging" served a dual purpose: psychological warfare to break Zephyr’s spirit, and stall for the visions he saw through his Advanced Observation Haki.

"You bastard... You’re the one who took Shuzo?" Zephyr asked, his face deathly pale.

"That’s right. In the waters near the entrance to the New World. It seems even God is on my side!" Aeridar tilted his head back, pointing a finger toward the heavens.

"Then God is blind!" Zephyr spat through gritted teeth.

"No, God favors the strong!" Aeridar grinned, his gaze intensifying. "However, out of respect for your status as a powerhouse, I’ll give you a choice. Bring the Neo Marines and join me!"

"In your dreams!"

Enraged, Zephyr ignored his mangled body and lunged upward again, his fist driving toward Aeridar.

"Impact Wave!"

Aeridar raised an eyebrow and thrust a palm forward. The sheer force of the impact compressed the air instantly.

VROOOM— RUMBLE!

A white halo manifested as a massive annular shockwave erupted. The earth shattered, forming a colossal crater. The surrounding ground buckled as a violent gale swept the area, sending a pillar of dust into the sky.

Zephyr coughed more blood, his body embedded in the center of a ten-meter-wide pit, the surrounding ground spider-webbed with deep cracks.

"Hmph... still can’t see reality, ’Black Arm’ Zephyr?!"

Aeridar let out a cold snort, his voice turning sharp and piercing. "After all those years in the Marines, do you still not understand the nature of this world? The Marines! The World Government! Do they truly represent so-called ’Justice’?"

"Might is the only thing that matters! He with the biggest fist is the boss!"

"So what if I’m a pirate? Who do you think caused all of this? You did! The Marines did! The World Government did!"

"The source of the world’s greatest evil isn’t pirates! It’s the World Government! It’s the Celestial Dragons!"

"If not for their indulgence, their injustice, and their lawlessness, none of these tragedies would have happened!"

Aeridar’s voice echoed, causing the death-seeking Zephyr to go still. Memories he had tried to bury deep in his heart began to resurface.

He remembered the filthy missions he’d executed for the Marines, the corruption of World Government officials, and the atrocious deeds of the Celestial Dragons.

In this moment, he faltered.

"I’m a big fan of what Doflamingo said at Marineford: ’Whoever wins becomes the Justice!’" Aeridar looked at Zephyr calmly. "Because you aren’t the winner, and because you lack the strength, your justice... doesn’t exist!" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Like a thunderclap, Zephyr looked at himself in a daze, muttering, "My justice... doesn’t exist?!"

If my justice doesn’t exist, then what have I been fighting for my entire life?

"Exactly! The justice you spent your life for is nothing but a hollow bubble! For that bubble, you’ve lost your family, your students... you’ve lost too much. You have almost nothing left!" Aeridar spread his hands mockingly. "Oh, wait, I’m wrong. You still have a group of followers and students."

"Right! Binz! Ain! I still have them!" Zephyr whispered to himself.

Aeridar continued, "But unfortunately, your stubbornness is about to make them die for absolutely nothing!"

"No! I can’t let them die anymore! Not like this!" Zephyr’s expression grew frantic.

"Honestly, even if you destroyed the New World, it wouldn’t change much. Someone like me, with the Float-Float Fruit, could simply lift the entire Clifford Kingdom and fly away!" Aeridar shrugged, gesturing with his right hand. "Then there’s Kaido of the Beasts. You know how annoying his immortality is; a little magma isn’t going to kill him."

"And Big Mom? The woman who conquered the weather can fly away with her core members just as easily."

"So, your plan wouldn’t cleanse the world of evil. It would only cause more chaos. Your sacrifice, and the sacrifice of your students, would be worthless!"

Aeridar watched Zephyr with cold, undisguised irony.

Zephyr fell silent. After a long time, he finally looked up.

"Heh... to think I’d fall so low as to be lectured by a pirate. How ironic."

"So, what is your objective?"