Chapter 156

The Azure Pirates are sitting together around a large table. There is a heavy mood in the room.

"Why are we still sitting here! We should go and help him!" said Ace.

"Sit down, Ace. Ken throwing his sword away means that he saw the situation as hopeless. All we can do now is listen to his last wishes," said Sabo.

[Laffitte, Deuce, go back home and don't look back. From this moment on, Sabo is the new Captain. Tell him not to bother coming after me and that I'm really sorry for putting him and everyone else in so much danger. I'm a failure as a Captain and brother.

- Ken]

"How can you leave your own brother behind! You know that he wouldn't think twice to save any of us! So why aren't you thinking of a plan! Don't you care about him anymore!"

"BAM!"

The table they were sitting at got smashed into pieces by Sabo's fist. He looked enraged.

"Of course, I want to go out there and save him! The pain in my heart is getting worse and worse the longer I am sitting here doing nothing! I don't care about my own life, but as the Captain, I have to think about everyone here, including the soldiers and citizens. Ken making me Captain means that he has trusted me to keep everyone safe, so I can't let him down."

Ace glared at him. He knew that Sabo was right, but he can't stand doing nothing while his brother could still be fighting for his life. Ace stood up, and as he was about to leave the room when a crying Celine ran into the room, clutching onto a newspaper. Seeing this, the Azure Pirates' hearts dropped.

Robin quickly went to support Celine who's legs are shaking. She gently grabbed the Newspaper from her and threw it to Sabo, not daring to read it herself. When she looked at Sabo, she saw something she didn't expect, a smile.

[Azure Ken has been captured by the Navy!]

"Thank goodness. If he has been captured, that means that we still have a chance to save him," said Sabo.

Ace let out a sigh and sat back down on his seat with a relieved expression. "Since they know what happened last time they dared to try and execute someone close to us, they won't dare to do it again. But we don't know when Ken will piss them off enough to just kill him on the spot. So hurry up and tell us your plans, Captain Sabo."

"Don't worry about it, subordinate Ace. I have everything thought out already," said Sabo with a smirk.

"You bastard! I just called you Captain to be nice, but you dare to act so arrogantly!" Ace was about to attack when the room suddenly got filled with killing intent. It was coming from the rest of the crew.

"This isn't the time for jokes. I'm sure that you already have a plan, so hurry it up, Sabo," said Jinbe. The others nodded.

"Sigh, I was just trying to lighten up the mood. Alright, listen up!"

---

"That brat!" screamed Big Mom. "How dare he get captured before I could kill him."

"Mama, calm down. We can still get revenge by killing his crew. They must be in a panic right now, and they were the ones to actually attack us." said Perospero.

"I guess we have no other choice. If he ever manages to see the light of day, I'll definitely go and kill him myself. Katakuri, take whoever you want and destroy that island and everyone on it."

"Yes, Mama. I'll take care of it immediately," said Karakuri.

---

"Captain! Calm down, please!" screamed Queen.

"Shut up! Those damn old bastards! How dare they touch my prey! I'll fucking kill all of them!"

Queen, King, and Jack are fully transformed and trying their best to hold back their enraged Captain.

"Captain, didn't you say yourself that those old men are worse than monsters? Then why do you still want to go there?" asked King.

"I don't care. If I can kill that Brat and die after killing a couple of those old bastards, I'll die happily!"

The three All-Stars almost face slapped when they heard that their Captain wanted to go for another suicide attempt.

"Captain, I have a great idea!" said Jack.

King, Queen, and Kaido looked skeptically at him. Jack was never known for his bright ideas.

"How about we wait till the Azure Pirates attack? They'll definitely try to rescue their Captain, and when they fight with the World Government, we can just arrive when all of them are wounded and finish them off."

'We know that that is the best plan of action, but do you really think that Captain would ever do something like that! You idiot!' thought King as Kaido snapped and kicked Jack.

"You coward! Who the hell do you think I am!" screamed Kaido. The rest of the day was spent calming Kaido down and the All-Stars being beaten up in the process.

---

"Pops, what should we do?" asked Marco.

"I knew that that brat would mess up one day. But how dare he make me indebted to him without me asking for it."

A week after Blackbeard started attacking Whitebeard, Ken sent his Giant crew to help Whitebeard. This stopped the momentum of the Blackbeard Pirates. A couple of days later, Whitebeard's allies finally made it, so the Giants went back home, and this battle has been a standstill since.

"Sigh, even though I owe him, I'm in no position to help anyone. I don't even know If I'll be able to win this battle."

"Well, serves him right. I hope he dies," said Marco.

"I'll let him know when we see him again."

"Pops!"

"Hahahaha!" Whitebeard and his crew started laughing at Marco's panicked face.

---

"Captain, what should we do? Aren't we close with them? I heard that he is even training my son," said Yasopp.

"I'm sorry, but if my guess is right, then he is in a place that I don't want to fight at. I'll be putting all your lives in danger, and even then, it's not a guarantee if we can get him out of there," said Shanks.

"You have never told me about such strong opponents," said Benn Beckman.

"It's better if you don't know."

"Shouldn't we warn his crew then?" asked Lucky Roux.

"It's not like they're going to listen anyway. But I guess if they were to succeed in getting him out of there, we could protect them."

"So you care about them after all. I guess that special wine of his really hits the spot," said Yasopp.

"Sure does."

---

A couple of days later, at Jiyū Island. Preparations for plan 1 are being made.

[Plan 1: Stop any enemies from touching the island to show the world that even without Ken, the Azure Pirates aren't to be trifled with. This will give them enough breathing room to prepare for plan 2.]

Sabo and Deuce are standing on the castle roof, looking down at everyone running around the island.

"How is Robert doing?"

"He is still sleeping while clutching Shusui. I'm still surprised that he caught it while being unconscious, and it going at such a fast speed. But he is stable, and I didn't find anything wrong with his body besides the obvious wounds, so there is not much to worry about. He should wake up soon."

"Sigh. He must have fought hard. We'll have to make sure to pay those 3 bastards back after we save Ken."

"Did Laffitte already find out where Ken is and who was behind all of this? Even though those Admirals are strong, Ken wouldn't have been defeated by them."

Both of them suddenly turned around to see Laffittte standing there with a serious look on his face.

"I did find out."

"Is it bad?" asked Sabo.

"When I arrived at the scene, I could track which direction the 2 Admirals went, but Ken and 5 other people seemed to have disappeared."

"Disappeared, 5 people? Wait, don't tell me!" screamed Deuce.

"Yes, the 5 Elders were there."

"Fuck, then he is probably held at Mary Geoise," said Sabo.

"That's the most likely place, but I still need to confirm before we do anything," said Laffitte with a smile.

"What are you smiling for?" asked Deuce with a confused expression.

"Didn't you hear me before? I said 2 Admirals managed to leave."

"Did Haia die when she fell into the sea?" asked Deuce.

"No, the one that got killed is Admiral Kizaru."

"What!" screamed Deuce and Sabo at the same time.

"Haia was already really wounded, so I could understand if she died, but Kizaru was completely fine. Ken is really amazing to be able to kill someone when he is up against the strongest people in the World Government and Navy," said Deuce.

"They haven't made it public yet, but after asking a couple of nice marines with a high rank, I confirmed it. But that isn't all. I have a little minion in Mary Geoise. She is one of the many maids in Pangaea Castle, and there is a rumor that's been going on since the fight."

"A rumor?" asked Deuce.

"Yeah, some maids have claimed to have seen the Elders wounded, but all of the maids immediately disappeared."

A smile appeared on Sabo and Deuce's faces.

"Hahaha, that's my brother, alright!"

"Alright, we can't let him outdo us! Next time we will definitely kill them and destroy Mary Geoise!" screamed Deuce.

"Kekekeke!" Laffitte suddenly started laughing creepily.

"What is with that laugh. You're freaking me out," said Deuce.

"Captain sure is awesome for corrupting two nobles so beautifully. One of which could have even attended the Levely. I still have much to learn from Captain."

"YOU BASTARD!" screamed both Deuce and Sabo.

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[The only reason why Kaido knows that the 5 Elders are behind this before even Laffitte found out is because he has seen Ken's power first hand. He knows that the 5 Elders are the only ones capable of doing it.]

Facts & Quotes:

- Pound sterling is the world's oldest currency still in use

- Global debt is now almost 2.5 times greater than the world's total stockpiles of money

- No trees are cut down to make our banknotes

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"Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."

- Winston S. Churchill

"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It's quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that's where you will find success."

- Thomas J. Watson

"I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite."

- G. K. Chesterton