Chapter 376

376

"Well, things are complicated. But it's a given." Luffy said, "Anyway, do you have any updates on our little agents in Water Seven?" 

Morgans nodded, "I didn't believe you at first that the CP9 were at Water Seven. But after doing a bit of digging, you were right. They are hiding in plain sight and are so obvious that I didn't consider it. But I do wonder what they are doing there?" 

Luffy shrugged, playing oblivious, "Even I don't know that one… Anyway, did something noteworthy happen there?" 

"Nope," Morgans answered, "The bartender, Blueno, is still a no-show. But other than him, the other members of CP9 are still in Water Seven."

Luffy nodded, feeling a bit of hate for the door-door fruit user. He did steal from him. To keep tabs on them, Luffy pinned Morgans on them, after giving each of their descriptions. But Blueno, that bitch, was out there somewhere with his fruits!

Luffy sighed, what's lost is lost. "And news about the Aqua Laguna?" He asked.

"Well, it usually happens once a year, so it should hit anytime this week," Morgans said, "Still, with that Warlord emergency meeting taking place, you might not be able to stay there… I don't know which island you are on but if you are anywhere near Long Ring Long Land, then it would take a while for you to reach Marineford. You might have to skip a few islands to get to Marineford." 

Luffy blinked, "That's a bit of a rush…" 

Morgans scoffed, "This is an emergency meeting after all. Every one of the Warlords were being called on short notice… if your ship isn't fast enough, the Navy will be more than willing to provide a lift. Fleet Admiral Sengoku will most likely call you to get there immediately. My recommendation is going there with your crew, no need to take unnecessary risks."

"Aww, someone is worried about me," Luffy even winked making Morgans gag, before both of them laughed. 

"Be careful kid, you are my number one asset. Don't want you to end up dead… so yeah." Morgans grinned, "And besides, you might not know, but a lot of the Marines admire you and your crew. So going there a few days earlier, you should be able to spend quite a bit of time there. I mean there aren't many pirates that can stay at Marineford." 

"Heh, just say that you want some writing material for your newspaper," Luffy said while shaking his head.

"That is true as anyone other than the Warlords aren't allowed to step foot in there. Just imagine how many things I can write up with this…" Morgans said shamelessly. 

"Sure sure… whatever you say." Luffy said. He was going there for other reasons as well. 'This will make it easier for me to go in to Impel Down.'

Luffy also remembered something. "Oh, by the way, do you have news on Vegapunk or Germa 66? Specifically about their new developments…" 

"I have some news, but it's nothing concrete." Morgans said after pondering for a while, "But there are rumors that Dr Vegapunk managed to make almost sentient robots dubbed as Pacifistas…"

"Its true…" Luffy said cutting him off, raising an eyebrow when Morgans had a shocked expression. "What? You didn't know that? They were the ones that attacked my crew back on Jaya and helped a certain someone steal some valuables from us."

"That's… That's big news, not that I can share it…" Morgans asked, already having a notepad in hand. "But still... What do they even look like? How strong are they?"

"I can't give you the details, but they seemed to be cyborg clones of the Warlord Kuma," Luffy said, not fully telling the truth, "My crew had a hard time with them, but they managed to escape after stealing from us." He clicked his tongue, "It wouldn't have happened if I was there."

Morgans nodded, buying into his half-truths. Luffy, of course, wouldn't tell him that his crew beat the bots. And even set them up for research. That was too sensitive of an information to tell anyone. 

"That is truly amazing. Dr Vegapunk is really ahead when it comes to technological improvements." The bird-man nodded. "Well, other than the news about the Pacifistas, there's also a drug that's been circulating around the black market. It supposedly boosts the performance of a zoan user… the downside is still unknown. But it's highly addictive."

Luffy was surprised yet again, "What? I haven't heard of that." 

"Well, it's only been a week since the drug was released. And it's only available in the New World for now." Morgans said, "But it should be spread to the first half of the Grand Line soon."

"Huh, who's making them? Germa 66?" 

"That is still unknown, but the seller is selling through Joker… so Doflamingo should know." Morgans said with a knowing smile, "you should ask him in the emergency meeting." 

Luffy straight out laughed, "Shishishi… that was good. But seriously you don't know who's making them?" 

"For now, no." Morgans admitted, "But it's not only me that's doing research on it. Even the World Government doesn't want that kind of drug out in the open."

Luffy nodded, "A drug that can power a zoan user." Chopper came to mind. But he couldn't be related. Could he?

"The government will likely try to stop the drug's production or buy all units for themselves…" Morgans said, "For now, Joker is releasing only a limited stock. So the World Government is trying to buy all of them at high prices." 

Luffy nodded, asking a few more questions about other things before ending the call with Morgans. 

Luffy could exactly see what Mingo was playing at here. Even though many people knew that the underground Joker was Doflamingo, they didn't know that Caesar Clown was working for him. The Smiles hadn't been developed yet. 

And with the Beast Pirates' ranks being filled with zoan users, it was a power play on his part. If the product or drug was anything like Chopper's rumble balls that can give you a false awakening, then it would put a huge tide shift in the war. 

In Canon, Mingo didn't need to do any of it since the World Government was going against Whitebeard. So his alliance with Kaido was safe. But now, it wasn't. 

Because of his connection as a former World Noble, Mingo couldn't just leave the Warlord system. And because of fear, he couldn't go against Kaido either. So that kind of drug was a great equalizer on his part. 

And not to mention if Caesar Clown developed something like this, it would pave the way for other scientists like Queen, Judge, and even Vegapunk to go in that route. 

'But if that's the case, I will have my own people make that stuff.' Luffy internally snorted, 'Chopper and Law have a lot of work cut out for them… Artificial devil fruits, artificial awakenings… I really did mess up canon, didn't I?' Luffy thought with a smile on his face.

Speaking of awakening, he should really focus on that aspect of his powers. It's not as if he wasn't trying. No, he was. But he needed to try harder if he wanted to set things right. 

Certainly, the call with Morgans was helpful in learning about a few key pieces of information, and like Morgans said, a few hours later Sengoku called in for the emergency Warlord meeting. 

Things were moving fast and Luffy needed to plan things if he wanted everything to go his way. Of course, some things will be uncontrollable, but still, Luffy wanted to be careful. 'This might be the last night in Skypiea for quite a while… huh, I will miss this place.'

Luffy thought looking at the moon as the soft clouds drifted in his vision.

— — — 

A/N: In canon Rayleigh wasn't the strongest swordsman. Well, it wasn't confirmed. But it's a very popular theory that went around before the clash between Roger and Whitebeard was shown. So yeah, I went with this. 

Also, I always thought Chopper's rumble balls were underused. So I came up with something that utilized it. Also, remember Chopper here is a mink that was experimented on by certain someone. 

So yeah, I was setting it up for quite a while now. Lol

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