“So this is the hometown of that old man Whitebeard? It really doesn’t look like much.”
“The location’s definitely right, but why the hell did you bring me here?!”
Inside the captain’s cabin of a pirate ship, two people were observing Sphinx Island through the viewing port, though the person beside him was extremely dissatisfied.
“Shut up! You have no right to make demands of me. The only reason I’m sitting on this humiliating ship is because of you!”
Looking farther out, the figurehead of the pirate ship was extremely distinctive—it was an enormous stylized version of Buggy, with an eye-catching red nose sticking out front.
This was a ship belonging to Cross Guild. When Cross Guild was first established, Hawk Eyes had provided top-tier combat strength, Crocodile brought mid-level fighting power and money, while Moria used what remained of his reputation to maintain appearances and gather intelligence.
As for Buggy, he contributed a massive number of low-level personnel. Those so-called talents were all Buggy’s underlings.
Following Buggy’s orders, they built exclusive ships for Cross Guild, but no matter how one looked at them, these ships were clearly Buggy’s personal rides.
By the time Buggy realized it, it was already too late. Even if he wanted them remade, there was no time.
The reason the Cross Guild ship had come here was to reach certain agreements with the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates. Leading the delegation were Buggy and Crocodile, though Buggy had essentially been dragged along by force.
“You sounded pretty imposing before, so why are you scared now? Back on Karai Bari Island, I thought you had everything under control.”
“The situation’s different! Back then, both Shanks and I missed going to Laugh Tale alongside Captain Roger due to unforeseen circumstances. But Shanks once told me that for some reason he couldn’t head to Laugh Tale immediately, though he would continue being a pirate.
“The fact that he suddenly formed an alliance with Kaido and Big Mom means he’s definitely made some sort of decision. That much is certain!”
“Exactly. Which is why we also need allies. The influence of three Emperors of the Sea is simply too terrifying. Roger’s death and Whitebeard’s death each triggered a great pirate era. Their combined power could very well spark a third.
“The Marines won’t just sit back and let that happen. Most likely, they’ll make an example out of one pirate crew to intimidate the others.
“And right now, we’re the perfect target. Strong enough, famous enough, but far weaker than that Emperor alliance. We’re the ideal target.”
At that point, Crocodile suddenly glared at Buggy.
“The reason our reputation far exceeds our actual strength is because of you! You and Red Hair were apprentices during the same era, weren’t you? So why is the gap between you two so enormous?”
“I-I don’t want this either! It’s because of those words that the Marines…..”
“Hmph. In any case, don’t think you can just sit in the back and reap the benefits. If we can form an alliance with what remains of the Whitebeard Pirates, our overall strength will increase considerably. It still won’t compare to the alliance of those three monsters, but it definitely won’t be something to underestimate.”
Even Moria, that shut-in, had been assigned to investigate the situation in Alabasta, so there was no way Buggy could stay idle.
To begin with, Crocodile already felt that Buggy had been freeloading off the rest of them.
After all, without him and Hawk Eyes, Buggy wouldn’t have accomplished anything even with all those subordinates.
In order to keep himself from feeling too unbalanced, and also to show sincerity toward the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates, he had dragged Buggy along as an accessory.
“Flame Fence!”
Before they could even dock, a wall of fire had already surrounded them. The blazing fire wall split the area in two as Marco and Ace stepped out from within the flames.
“Crocodile? Why are you here?”
“I’m here to discuss an alliance. It’s something that benefits both of us.”
Cross Guild lacked a large number of high-end fighters, while the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates lacked a top-tier powerhouse. Whether in terms of reputation or actual strength, the two sides complemented each other to some extent, which was precisely why Crocodile had come here.
What he needed were companions with genuine strength; one Buggy is enough to serve as a target for fishing for fame.
Hearing Crocodile get straight to the point, Marco and Ace exchanged glances. They didn’t agree, but they also didn’t reject the proposal outright.
Noticing their hesitation, Crocodile continued.
“You know the state of the seas as well as I do. The alliance of those three pirate crews means that no single pirate crew can stand against them anymore. Most won’t even be able to protect themselves.
“Mihawk and I currently have no intention of becoming someone else’s subordinates. And you people, who defended Whitebeard’s name for two years, probably don’t want to join another crew either, right?
“The Marines and the Revolutionary Army are both making moves. If you still think you can quietly hole yourselves up somewhere in the seas, then just pretend I never came.”
“T-That’s right! Form an alliance with me, the great Buggy! Otherwise, you lot won’t be able to stand against those monsters!”
Crocodile glanced sideways at Buggy, and Buggy, who had learned to read the room during this period, immediately understood what he meant. Unfortunately, his behavior only ended up amusing Marco instead.
“Come with us first. This isn’t something the two of us can decide on our own.”
“H-Hey! You guys better think this through carefully! Just look at these bounty posters! Even combined, you lot might not match even one of them!”
While following Marco and the others toward Sphinx Island, Buggy pulled out the newly received bounty information. The sight of it caused Marco, who hadn’t yet seen the latest news, to abruptly stop in his tracks.
“Gladius… am I still asleep?”
While the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates and the members of Cross Guild discussed an alliance of their own, Doflamingo had also seen the latest newspaper.
The summons Queen had issued earlier had nothing to do with him. Doflamingo understood his own position very clearly. He had absolutely no place getting involved in something like that, nor did he want to.
These days, he merely read the newspapers every few days to keep up with changes in the world. The old men he often drank tea with alongside Lao G had even grown accustomed to Doflamingo, this young man’s presence.
Doflamingo hadn’t looked at the news for the past few days, but those few days felt as though an entire century had passed.
“Kaido formed an alliance with Red Hair and Big Mom? Marine’s Garp was defeated? And Kuzan was involved? Just how much news did I miss? Gladius, why didn’t you tell me about something this huge?!”
“Young Master, you said you wanted to rest for a few days and recover. You instructed me not to disturb you no matter what happened…”
“…”
Gladius’ absolute loyalty left Doflamingo speechless. Arceus’ earlier actions had been far too massive, and together with the chain reaction of changes within the Beasts Pirates, Doflamingo had chosen to spend some time mentally processing the news first, which was why he had given Gladius that order.
“Next time news this big comes out, remember to tell me in advance.”
“I understand, Young Master. I definitely will next time.”
Doflamingo held two different newspapers in his hands—Morgans’ world edition and Wano Country’s special edition. He could still distinguish the differences in the information they contained, and after roughly comparing them, Doflamingo had already formed his own understanding of the situation.
“The Marines are pretty clever. At least they didn’t let morale collapse… so that Garp is in Wano Country now?”
“Yes, Young Master. He’s currently frozen inside the quarry in Udon.”
“I see. If I remember correctly, that Straw Hat brat is his grandson, right? Perhaps I should go take a look. But I’m more curious about what kind of person was worth him personally risking his life to rescue. Vergo never told me there was someone this important among the Marines.”
“He’s a Marine Captain. I looked into it. Pirates who were there at the scene said Garp referred to them as the future of the Marines.”
“The future? The future of the Marines is actually a bunch of nobodies? How tragic.
“And letting that future operate deep within enemy territory before they’ve even grown strong enough… that’s an unbelievably stupid decision.”
After mocking them a few times verbally, Doflamingo looked toward the bounty posters below.
“Fuffuffuffu, they’ve really broken records again. But those two… will they really accept this?”
Kaido of the Beasts — Bounty: 6,511,100,000 Berry
Big Mom – Charlotte Linlin — Bounty: 5,088,000,000 Berry
Red Hair Shanks — Bounty: 5,348,900,000 Berry
This was the first time Doflamingo had ever seen the Marines and the World Government simultaneously update the bounties of three Emperors of the Sea.
At Kaido’s level, bounty increases were mostly just a form of intimidation. Anyone actually capable of claiming that bounty would never stoop to becoming a bounty hunter working for money.
If they desired wealth and possessed that kind of strength, then no matter which kingdom or force they joined, they could obtain inexhaustible riches.
Raising their bounties not only failed to produce positive results, but instead indirectly increased their deterrence. Quite a few people even made a living by pretending to be infamous pirates with huge bounties.
Still, the Marines could not simply ignore pirates of such global notoriety, so they usually raised these people’s bounties at very low frequencies.
Unless there was some major incident known worldwide, they would not make headlines, because updating bounty posters meant spreading those people’s names across the world once again.
Among them, Kaido’s increase was the largest, because he was still the pirate considered the greatest threat.
Since the details of the battle had not leaked out, the bounty changes for the other pirates were not especially drastic. Most of the increases came from the overall threat posed by the alliance.
Because of this, Queen escaped disaster. At the very least, when Kizaru arrived there, he had not witnessed Queen’s “heroic” struggle against Garp.
However, this round of bounty posters included one additional person.
Former Marine Admiral Kuzan — Bounty: 3.7 billion Berry. Although he had long been famous, this was still a rare monster whose very first bounty surpassed 3 billion.
“So even our former Admiral has been given a bounty now. Looks like from this moment onward, he’s officially being treated as a pirate.”
“Young Master, what difference does that make? Even without this bounty poster, Kuzan already joined the Beasts Pirates, didn’t he?”
“Fuffuffuffu, it makes no difference to Kuzan or the Beasts Pirates, but the impact on the Marines is enormous. Going from trying to downplay him to openly issuing a bounty, that represents a complete shift in the Marine Headquarters’ attitude.
“In the past, Kuzan hadn’t really done anything, so the Marines chose to ignore him. But now, the threat he poses has become too great for them to continue doing that. If they still approach Kuzan with wishful thinking, it’ll be very easy for something unexpected to happen.”
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