Chapter 70- Gathering forces
"Gurararara! The kid did it!" Whitebeard laughed while reading the newspaper. "Pops, did you see the video?" Marco asked Whitebeard as he waved around a Den Den Mushi. "Gurarara! Of course, it was fun seeing those damned Marines get demolished!" Whitebeard grinned. Although he enjoyed seeing the Marines' defeat, he was a little saddened by Sengoku's loss. Sengoku was one of the few remaining legends from his era, and one he exchanged blows with on more than a couple of occasions. Seeing him getting crippled on video made Whitebeard realize his time was coming to an end sooner rather than later. Not that there was much of a difference between the two at this stage.
"Pops! There's some winged dude who wants to see you!" Someone shouted. The Whitebeard Pirates didn't receive many guests, at least not direct ones. Not just anyone could sail to the Moby Dick and requested an audience with Whitebeard. It didn't work like that. Only big names or their messengers could do that, and the big players rarely interacted with each other. This meant something big was about to happen. Whitebeard smiled in anticipation as he allowed the winged man on board the ship.
"You're Straw Hat's man, right?" Whitebeard asked the Skypiean. "Yes, sir," the Skypiean responded. "I see the kid's teaching his men some manners. Now, what did Straw Hat wanted to say to me?" Whitebeard asked as he downed a giant cup of Sake. "He told me to give you this," the Skypiean pulled out a Recording Dial. "Press this button and a recording of what Luffy wanted to say will play out, then you press the button again and it'll record you," the Skypiean explained. "Gurarara! Straw Hat really struck gold with this stuff, didn't he? Alright, let's hear it!"
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"OH! Luffy won!" Shanks yelled as he read the newspaper near a lake in the middle of a desert-like island. "Boss, please n-" a pirate tried to plead but he was too late. "GET READY BOYS, WE'RE HAVING A FEAST!" Shanks yelled and received a loud round of applause in return. "You need to relax. At this rate, we won't have enough booze for the rest of our stay," Shanks' right-hand man, Benn Beckman, said. "Don't ruin my fun!" Shanks retorted. "Ugh, just you wait. Everyone will have splitting headaches tomorrow, and I won't help you turn everything back to normal," Beckman said in annoyance. "Hahahaha!" Shanks laughed loudly as he tried to distract himself from the problem he'll face tomorrow with a big gulp of beer.
"Captain! There's a messenger!" A subordinate yelled from afar. "A messenger, huh? Invite him for a drink!" Shanks yelled out. "um, hello," a Skypiean awkwardly greeted Shanks in the middle of the party. "Oh, you look like the guys from the newspaper, are you part of Luffy's fleet?" Shanks asked. "Yes, actually. Luffy sent me to deliver this to you," the Skypiean pulled out a recording Dial. "You push this button to hear the recording, and when you push in again it'll record your response," the Skypiean explained. "Wow, this technology is awesome! I can't believe all this stuff was on the Sky Islands, Luffy really scored big time with this!" Shanks got excited.
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Dragon was walking restlessly, checking maps and criticizing new trainees. "I-is he normally like this?" An exhausted recruit asked his trainer. "Heh, do you think the head of the entire revolutionary army likes to crack down on trainees in his free time? He has better stuff to do." The woman responded with a chuckle. "So why?" The young man asked. "You'll find out eventually, but for now you should return to your training. Dragon will go in a couple of minutes, so don't worry," The woman said. Just as the woman spoke, a seagull with a hat and bag flew overhead. As if on cue, Dragon quickly walked to his office where the newspaper would be left.
Dragon arrived at his office and immediately opened the newspaper with shaky hands. He quickly looked over the newspaper, finding the article he wanted on the front page. His concentrated eyes read word after word, with a big smile forming by the second. He thanked God he was in his office, as he didn't know if he could keep a stoic face after reading about the victory his son had.
"Did it turn out well!?" Sabo burst into his office while half yelling. "Take a look," Dragon tossed him the newspaper. "Hahahaha! That's Luffy for you! Speaking of which, one of his men stopped by and gave me this," Sabo pulled out a Dial from his pocket. "This is one of those things from the video, no? Maybe we can ask Luffy for a steady supply. If we have these weapons with us..." Dragon murmured. "Take it slow, let's listen to this first," Sabo chuckled at Dragon's train of thought.
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"How did it go?" Zoro asked Luffy as the latter came out of his room after listening to all the responses. "It's really good. We have the support of the Red Hair Pirates, the Whitebeard Pirates, and the Revolutionary Army. I also received a reply from Brogy and Dorry, but from what I understood we only have the support of the reestablished Giant Warrior Pirates. That's not enough. I think it's time I head there and have a conversation with the royals, I don't think it'd be hard to get them under our wings." Luffy responded.
"So we have two emperors and the Revolutionary Army as our allies, with the legendary nation of giants joining us soon. This is going to be fun!" Zoro grinned in antisipation.