Chapter 288 - Calm Before the Storm 03.

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]

Third Person POV

Sabaody Archipelago, First Half of Grandline.

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Luffy returned to the Sabaody Archipelago with Enel, then gathered the group to train a bit before starting operations while the ship was finally getting ready. Many ships began arriving on the island, wanting to watch and cover the war from the best possible place to broadcast to all the communication and news companies in the world.

"Let's go!" said a man with a Den Den Mushi.

"But boss... They are a pirate group worth billions!!!" said another man with a recording Den Den Mushi.

"Don't you understand...? This is a unique opportunity to interview the billion-berry pirate!!" he said with a greedy tone.

"What if they try to kill us?! I don't want to die!" the man complained.

"Stop crying! Think about the fame and money we can get. We will sell this interview to Morgans! We will be famous for this!" the man said, as they walked through the forest, still destroyed and devastated by fights a few days ago.

"I still think it's a terrible idea..." the cameraman murmured, but they continued through the destroyed area as they approached an isolated bar, with a large ship completely coated in bubbles for protection to enter the sea depths next to it.

"It's the Black Pearl!" the man said, taking the Den Den Mushi and snapping a photo of the ship.

"Boss, it's him!!" the cameraman suddenly called the boss, pointing to the front of the bar where a shirtless man was sitting in a chair, sunbathing alone in the morning.

"Yes, it's him!" the man swallowed hard as he saw Monkey D. Luffy, who had returned to the island the day before and was there calmly with his hat over his face as if he was sleeping.

"Let's go!" he said nervously and hesitantly.

"..." His cameraman was nervous but nodded, following his boss as they approached the seemingly calm pirate.

"Hm... Excuse me, Lord Monkey D. Luffy!" the man wrung his hands greedily as he called Luffy from a few meters away.

"Hm?" Suddenly, Luffy murmured under his hat, while the men were startled by this. Luffy then moved his arm and removed his hat from his face, looking at the two men.

"Who are you?" Luffy asked with a sleepy expression.

"We are reporters, Lord Monkey D. Luffy..." the man said nervously.

"What do you want?" Luffy asked with a dangerous look while they trembled with fear.

"We want to interview you..." the man said.

"I'm not interested, as I'm heading to the New World." Luffy said grumpily while the men were surprised by this, and the boss himself took his notebook and began writing about it.

"You're leaving when there's a war about to happen?" the man was quite surprised by this.

"Don't you see my fully coated ship? I'm leaving soon, the war doesn't matter to me." Luffy continued speaking in a grumpy tone while the man kept marking everything in his notebook.

"He doesn't care about the war?" the cameraman was quite surprised.

"Come on! Take a picture of him!" the boss requested, and the cameraman did exactly that, clicking a photo of Luffy looking at him grumpily.

The flash appeared, and Luffy looked at them with a dazzling glare while the men trembled with fear. "I told you to turn off the flash, now we're going to die!" the boss shouted.

"Luffy, the coffee is ready!" suddenly a voice from the ship called out while Luffy diverted his attention to Reiju calling him.

"Well, time to eat something." Luffy spoke now in a common tone while he got up and walked to the ship. The two men were surprised to be ignored like that, but suddenly, Luffy emitted a wave of Conqueror's Haki, making the two faint on the ground.

Luffy jumped onto the fully coated ship, where Usopp had placed chains on the deck that no one could see from outside the ship. He headed to the upper deck cabin where the kitchen was and entered, finding his entire crew waiting for him.

"Luffy... Why did you let those reporters approach... You didn't let anyone see us in the last few days and asked Yamato to do the same yesterday while you were away." Nojiko asked.

"I wanted to give false information. Tomorrow it will be in the newspaper that we are heading to the New World without caring about the war, this will confuse our enemies for a while." Luffy said, opening his usual smile, without that usual grumpiness.

"What are we doing today? Are we leaving tomorrow, captain?" Hugo asked.

"I would like you to train a bit, or get prepared," Luffy began while sitting in a chair and grabbing the food that Reiju made with Hachi's help. "We won't have any easy moments once we leave this island, so I want you to be prepared. The enemies will be powerful, and we won't just be facing the navy. After all, the World Government has painted us as Yonko-level threats or something like that, so they've sent many reinforcements to Marineford to assist the navy." Luffy shared his thoughts with the crew; the World Government wouldn't let the navy face him alone, so they would have great enemies there.

"Alright, I'll train," Hugo said, striking his right fist into his left palm with Armament Haki, showing that he wanted to do this.

"That's good, let's continue the training after breakfast," Luffy said as everyone in the kitchen, where the entire crew was present at the moment, nodded.

During the rest of the day, Luffy asked Yamato to take the reporters away from there with his bike, and Luffy continued training with his crew in that area while preventing anyone from getting close, as many people were trying to approach, from marines, government agents, to reporters trying to get a scoop with photos or interviews.

While his crew trained, a burst of sword clashes erupted in the air, as Luffy held his Ace clashing against Rayleigh's sword. Rayleigh had already finished his work and took this time to spar with Luffy. The swords clashed at high speed in the air; it wasn't a very violent fight, but to any normal person, it seemed like they were trying to kill each other.

"What is this...? How did you put a Devil Fruit in that sword?" Rayleigh couldn't help but ask, surprised, while watching the lightning being emitted by Ace around it.

"I threatened the user of the Yami Yami no Mi, the powers of darkness are quite useful..." Luffy commented while Rayleigh, despite knowing nothing about that fruit, nodded.

Their fight continued as they destroyed the area, and explosions occurred in the outlaw area.

"They're fighting again..." A citizen said from a distance, looking towards the forest.

"Who?" A man in a suit with a Den Den Mushi commented.

"You just arrived today... Those explosions are made by the Straw Hats... They've isolated themselves on that side of the forest. No one on the islands can fight against them... Even the navy fled after he took down an admiral, or so they say," the citizen explained.

"The Straw Hats! This will make for a lot of photos!" The reporter was quite excited.

"Doubtful, they always throw everyone who tried to get close, knocked out of the area. No one can get near," the man warned.

"Tsk..." Kid growled from a distance, alongside his second-in-command. He decided to stay on the island, and seeing the explosions was humiliating for him.

Luffy continued fighting with Rayleigh for the rest of the day, fighting with swords for at least four hours straight before finally stopping to gather his crew for the final banquet on Sabaody Island.

"It was a good fight, although at my age, it's getting harder and harder to have long battles..." Rayleigh commented.

"It was great training. Come on, Rayleigh, let's have a drink," Luffy said with a smile as they entered Shakky's bar while she placed two glasses with a bottle on the table as if she already knew what was going to happen.

"So... Have you thought about what I said?" Luffy asked.

"..." Rayleigh didn't respond immediately and took his glass after filling it, looking at Luffy as he drank. "Do you think I will be useful? You all learned Haki on your own with this manual you mentioned," he said.

"It's not the same as having a teacher. Even I have some deficiencies, and it will still take time for me to become an expert to perfect my Haki," Luffy said. "Besides, wouldn't it be safer for you to stay here... How about moving and enjoying your retirement in a better way?"

"Alright," Rayleigh finally nodded. "I'll train her, but I want to meet her first," Rayleigh said.

"Okay, we'll come back after the war here, after all, I need to get her," Luffy pointed to a woman crossing her arms at the entrance of the bar, where Bonney stood.

"Tsk," she clicked her tongue while Luffy was drinking his beverage.

He spent some time talking with Rayleigh before leaving, and as it was getting dark, he spoke to Bonney, "I'm leaving tomorrow. So, you'd better think carefully before I come back here, kid," he said to her outside the bar.

"..." Bonney didn't respond, just looking at him. She seemed like she wanted to say something but held back. "Don't call me a kid!" That was the only thing she shouted before turning her back to Luffy and leaving.

The crew meeting later resulted in another banquet while they enjoyed their last moments before starting the real battle. The next day, Luffy left with his group hidden from everyone, while a newspaper came out that day with the news that he was heading to the New World, along with a photo of him with the coated ship.

"Are we ready?" Luffy commented, looking at the ship after placing it on the western edge of the island. As it started to inflate with the coating filling with air, the crew was inside the area.

"Good luck, Mugiwara-boy!!" Shakky shouted while waving to them.

"..." Rayleigh kept a smile, watching them.

"Will do." Luffy smiled and looked at the huge shadow above the ship. It was Enel's ship, which he was controlling with the power of his fruit. Hugo and Chouchou were with Enel. "Are you ready? The mission is quite simple. I want you to capture a group of them without the World Government knowing. There's a bunch of them leaving that golden part of the Treasure..." Luffy commented.

"A simple task," Enel said with disdain.

"It'll be great to beat up a few more of them," Hugo commented with a smile.

"Woolf Woolf!" Chouchou barked.

"Alright, don't take too long. We won't act until you are in Impel Down," Luffy commented, and both nodded, as the ship created by Enel began to fly away, ascending one side of the Red Mountain without attracting the attention of Marie Geoise.

"Great, now let's depart!" Luffy returned to his crew while Hachi waved at the helm.

"Goodbye, everyone. I'll be waiting for you!" Camie commented from Bonney's back on the shore, with her starfish also waving.

The ship began to enter the water after that, finally submerging completely, descending between the roots of the trees that formed the Sabaody trees. "Let's go, everyone!" Luffy smiled as he looked at the underwater scenery starting to unfold in front of him.

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