Chapter 343 - The New Era is Coming! 05 (First Meeting with Shanks).

Chapter Size: 2200 Words.]

Third Person POV

Grand Line.

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The sound of Luffy was heard by everyone as people looked stunned at the ship, noticing the Red Force at this moment.

"Akame no Shanks is here...!" The pirates quickly exclaimed.

The reinforcement continued approaching the ships at the front of that fleet, while Moby Dick was among them.

"Shanks..." Newgate looked at Shanks on his ship, while Shanks looked back at him with a more serious tone as soon as he saw him.

"Honestly... I came here thinking I'd find you dead and wanted to save whoever I could from your crew." Shanks said without hesitation.

"You think pops would die just like that, Shanks?!" Ace immediately exclaimed, dissatisfied.

"Ow, I see you're fine, Ace, I'm glad about that." Shanks admitted, smiling at Ace who was gritting his teeth. "Anyway... it seems that everything went well." He looked back at Newgate.

"You can say that..." Whitebeard didn't seem offended by Shanks' words, after all, he himself thought about sacrificing himself, but he managed to survive that place, even though he faced Teach with that strange power and Kaido, the navy had to direct their forces to deal with another crew. "I had some help." He admitted in the end.

Shanks nodded. "Seems like it's true..." he murmured, looking at one of the last ships there, being the one representing the flag with his old hat, given by his former captain.

"SHAAAAANKKSSSS!!!" Lucy exclaimed excitedly from the ship.

"Lucy! You're here, which means you left the navy!!" Shanks seemed to sparkle with that.

"Yes..." Lucy responded a bit sad about it, but seemed not to regret it.

"And you Luffy..." Shanks looked at the boy lying in the palms of the giant mermaid on his ship. "You seem to have grown a bit, but you're still just a kid, not strong enough to face me, brat! HAHAHAHAHA!" Shanks began to mock.

"Boss..." Lucky Roux approached while Shanks was laughing.

"Hm?" Shanks looked curious.

"Everyone's looking at you like you're an idiot..." He told his captain who turned back to Whitebeard's pirate crew and saw that everyone was looking at them that way.

"Why are they all looking like that..." Shanks murmured, stopping his laughter at that moment.

"So he's a Yonkou too... doesn't look very strong..." Nami murmured.

"Don't be fooled... All my instincts tell me I'd die if I faced him..." Zoro commented.

"Then this is Shanks' crew..." Usopp commented, scanning the crew until his eyes met someone staring at him. "Dad..." He murmured, the man opening a smile for him.

"SHAAAAAAAANKKKKKSSSS!!!!" Buggy's voice echoed through the area as he appeared furious!

"OH?! BUGGGYYYY!!!!????" Shanks opened an excited smile seeing his old mate.

"Amazing... Boss Buggy is fighting with a Yonkou..." The prisoners began to murmur seeing this.

"Shanks you bastard!! I hate you since you made me eat that akuma no mi and made me lose my treasure map while we were on the Oro Jackson!" Buggy began to cry, remembering the immense anger he had for Shanks.

"Buggy... don't be like that. I really want to catch up with you like the old times!" Shanks commented.

"Catch up like the old times nothing!!" Buggy grimaced.

"Hey, someone get that ship and tie it up with ours." Shanks requested, as he was eager to see his old friend and it seemed that no one there would mind him kidnapping Buggy.

"What are you doing?!" Buggy exclaimed as a steel chain locked his ship to that of Shanks.

"Let's have a feast, Buggy!" Shanks said with an excited smile while Buggy started to swear and asked everyone to try to remove the rope, but to no avail.

"Shanks, you bastard, come to my ship and let's talk." Luffy shouted again.

"Noooo!" Although he was surprised by the crowd's reaction when he mocked Luffy's challenge, after all, he didn't see what happened at Marineford besides the windy and rough sea that the Red Force had to cross twice with the strange comet that he still didn't know had made, he didn't want to meet Luffy yet. "Let's talk only in the New World, since you are fine, I will go away!" He exclaimed.

"Alright, you idiot, we'll see you there then. Get ready for my fleet to invade your territory!" Luffy exclaimed smiling.

"I'll be waiting." Shanks said sticking out his tongue, while looking at his men. "Let's turn around, and head a different way from them, while Buggy was being dragged by Shanks." He spoke, after all his promise was still standing, but it wasn't the time to really meet Luffy.

"Help me, he's trying to kidnap me!!!" Buggy exclaimed to his companions, but no one in the Whitebeard's fleet cared.

"It's a shame we won't see him..." Lucky Roux complained disheartened.

"Yes... but it won't be long until that happens..." Yasopp said with crossed arms, looking at his son from a distance. He wanted to meet him after all these years, but as his captain said, they would leave that for the New World.

"That comet in the sky..." Benn Beckman murmured. "It was made by Luffy..." He concluded.

"Yes..." Shanks admitted in the end. But still without knowing exactly what happened. Deciding to look into that later. 

"It seems we won't be able to see each other yet..." Luffy murmured. "Shirahoshi, can you put me down." 

"Luffy!!!" Hancock approached Luffy on the ground faster than anyone else could get there first, as she looked at him worriedly. "Let me take care of you!" She said. 

"That's great... can you bring me some alcohol?" Luffy asked cheekily. 

"He really won't stop drinking..." Nojiko murmured. 

"Fufufu." Robin laughed and used her power to bring a bottle of sake to Luffy. 

"Hey, he asked me!" Hancock exclaimed with a bit of anger, but still took the bottle and began to give it to Luffy. 

"This is life! Let's continue our feast!!!" He exclaimed as everyone began to nod, having started a little before Luffy's and Shanks' speech. 

They began a great celebration at this moment while Hugo, Chouchou, and Chopper also joined in. The whole world was beginning to receive information about what happened in Marineford in the next few hours, while most people became more scared and afraid of what would happen to the sea in all the blues and grandline. It was no secret to anyone that pirate activities would greatly increase and people would be more susceptible to their atrocities with an even weaker navy. The future seemed quite grim for most. 

And as the navy began trying to control the situation across all the seas, the pirates, victorious from the war, continued their feasts across all the ships. Beard, continuing to exclaim, they had not only victory after all since they lost many comrades in this fight. They came with 45 ships, including 43 from the fleet and 3 main ones, including Moby Dick. However, only 20 were returning and they had lost at least half of their men in the war. 

There were 6000 pirates killed, but the navy lost more than 40,000 men, which gave them a crushing victory against the navy, a blow that will be remembered for this era as the navy loses most of its credibility. 

The pirates might be celebrating, but they also felt the pain of their dead brothers, but would leave that for later, after all, their sacrifice was not in vain in the end and they would honor them in the new world. 

The night soon arrived and passed while the ships continued to party, with most not going to sleep. Luffy did not hold back despite being paralyzed with his injuries and stayed on Hancock's legs laughing with his crew. 

The next morning, he was much better, standing but still bandaged, finding someone on the deck while he touched his belly. 

"I want you to be okay..." Luffy said. 

"I will be..." Hancock murmured. 

"Tell everyone in Amazon... the navy won't do anything now that it's broken, but that might change soon, and when it does, we will have moved Amazon Lily." Luffy said. 

"Yes, I will prepare everyone for the changes." She said with a small smile. 

Despite Hancock having participated in the war so as not to be removed from the Shichibukais, in the end, she ended up becoming a traitor as she fought with the pirates against Saturn, and Amazon Lily could be in danger soon, so Luffy instructed her during the night to prepare the kingdom. Luffy would move it to Skypiea with Bepo, leaving them in safety, especially with the babies missing a little more than 6 months to be born. 

"That's good, it will be good to have our daughters close to us when they are born." Luffy said, he was excited to have his first child with her. 

"Then I'm going to be an aunt!" At that moment, Lucy appeared excited while looking curiously at Hancock's belly. Luffy had spoken last night that he was going to be a father, and Lucy had found out everything. She stayed on top of Hancock the rest of the night asking questions. She seemed quite excited about the idea of having nieces. 

Hancock, who just smiled and was quite responsive to the excited girl, would not deny Luffy's sister, her excited sister-in-law, the joy of her daughters. 

Hancock sighed and looked at Luffy, "Well, I'm going," she said in the end.

He nodded, giving a small kiss. She then began to leap into the air, flying over the sea after that. The ships were still navigating through the Calm Belt, so Amazon Lily was very close at this moment. 

Luffy turned his attention back to his ship, with his crew finally calming down from the feast, many still sprawled on the ground after drinking all night and most of the women sleeping in his room. 

This could also be said of the rest of Whitebeard's pirates who were all down on the ground and even in the masts. Luffy looked towards the farthest ship, Moby Dick, and saw the man sitting in his chair in the middle of the deck while also staring back at him. 

"Looks like we're finally going to talk," Luffy commented as he turned back to his sister. "I'm going to Ace's ship to talk with his captain. I'll be back later." He said. 

"I want to go too!!" Lucy exclaimed excitedly as Luffy leaped into the air and stretched out his hands to grab her at that moment and pull her along. 

Luffy just wanted to laugh at Lucy, but let the girl be carried by him as he jumped through the air with Geppo. Despite feeling a bit of pain in that state, it was nothing that hindered him, and he advanced over all the ships. 

Landing on Moby Dick, with his sister clinging to him, where the man known as the strongest man in the world was waiting. Luffy faced him while the man did the same. Whitebeard was also bandaged like Luffy, as he had many injuries, and only the man was awake on the deck at that moment. 

"Hm?" Lucy was looking confused at the silence there. 

Neither of them spoke a word. Luffy took his eyes off Whitebeard, who looked to the side as he approached and grabbed a barrel of rum and came back towards the pirate, taking a glass and pouring it for him before tossing it to Whitebeard, who quickly moved his hand and caught the barrel. 

"If we're going to talk, good rum can't be missing," Luffy commented calmly, cracking a smile as he sat on the ground and his sister did the same beside him, the man just nodded. They were finally going to have their conversation.

Meanwhile, in Merry Geoise, things were not going well. A heated discussion began in Pangaea Castle, with Sengoku and the 4 Elders. 

Sengoku could only stay quiet as the men exclaimed angry words against him and his plan, which had been a total failure with unimaginable losses. 

Kong appeared a few hours later, since he had recovered a bit in Marineford and woke up, but quickly left even with his injuries, as the situation was urgent. 

"Enough of all this, it's already happened and we should just start thinking about how to reverse this, we also agreed on the plan and it's our responsibility too, so let's start the projects," one of the Elders decided. 

"Yes. It's time to start mass-producing Pacifistas and initiating the Seraphim Project," he said, while the elder only nodded, knowing very well what they were talking about. 

"Contact Egghead, it's time for Dr. Vegapunk to start the projects. We're going to create the greatest force the World Government has ever had in the history of this world." Another Elder spoke at the end with a somber voice. 

"Now, we also need to put bounties on all those pirates," another concluded as they nodded. 

A new discussion began, the bounties on the Straw Hats were to be updated. 

Raccoon Here: I don't know the ideal number of how many men Whitebeard put into the war, so I ended up asking ChatGPT for help, it gave me this answer: 

In the Marineford War, Whitebeard managed to gather a considerable force of allies. In addition to his own crew, which had 16 division commanders and about 1,600 men, he also brought a large number of allies from other pirate crews. In total, it's estimated that he mobilized about 43 allied pirate captains, each with their own crew. 

This puts the total number of pirates under Whitebeard's command in the war at several thousands. The series doesn't provide an exact number, but considering that each allied captain could have between 50 and 100 men, the total number of men beside Whitebeard could easily exceed 10,000. 

I ended up putting then 11,600 men.

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