Chapter 972: Pre-War Gathering
Chabaoti Archipelago, Area 13, inside the extortion bar.
One of the pirate alliances that caused Sengoku so much headaches was gathering here for a meeting.
The participants included the Straw Hat Pirates, Buggy and his men, Law and his crew, Rayleigh, Gildarts and several other wizards who had been on the island for a long time. As for Golden Lion, he went to chat with his old friends Kaido and Big Mom nearby.
The Golden Lion now has the rudder on its head removed under Luo's surgery, regaining its normal IQ and original domineering power. It also has a group of large rare beasts that have been improved with IQ drugs. In the upcoming war, it is definitely an existence that cannot be underestimated.
Kira and his crew had just arrived here. When they landed on the island, Katakuri discovered his own ship and happily returned to his mother's arms. So the only outsider left in the team was Crocodile. Fortunately, he was not lonely now and was having a "cordial" chat with Mr. 3.
And now, Stinger and Roger are telling Kira and others what happened to them in the past two days.
It turned out that a few days ago, Golden Lion reached an alliance with Luffy, Buggy, and Law. After Law performed surgery on Golden Lion, the group came here under the guidance of their guide Buggy and found Rayleigh and Gildarts.
Gildarts accepted the invitation of the "Operation Save Ace" because Buggy brought his guild members and Ace was also his friend.
After that, they discussed it again and all agreed that Ace must be saved, but they could ignore what happened to Whitebeard.
After listening to the story of "Saving Ace Alliance", Kira felt itchy in his heart. The development of things was really beyond his expectations. Fortunately, this development that deviated from the original plot was exactly what he wanted to see.
In fact, Kira could see that in this alliance, perhaps only the people in this tavern really wanted to save Ace...except Crocodile and Law.
The purpose of Golden Lion, the initiator of the alliance, is not to save Ace at all, but to cause trouble in Marineford. This is the same as Kaido and Big Mom outside. Maybe the three of them are discussing the alliance now.
Golden Lion wants to use the 'Rescue Ace Team' to attract the pirates' firepower, and Luffy and others also want to use Golden Lion's ability to quickly go to the battlefield to rescue Ace. There is no conflict between the two sides, so they can maintain the alliance.
Sitting in the tavern, looking around, the scene before me did not have the slightest bit of the tension and solemnity before the war:
Gildarts, Natsu, Gray and the others drank, sang and danced to celebrate their reunion;
The cute pets, including Harpy, Rector, Flosh, Chopper and Bepo, were either holding fresh fish, or holding cotton candy, or drinking beverages, like little kids who had never grown up, having a blast;
Sanji went back and forth between Erza, Lucy, Wendy, Nami, and Robin, showing his affection;
Crocodile seemed to have discovered Mr. 3's hidden talent. After mocking him, he asked him arrogantly if he wanted to go back to his country of sand and follow him again. Mr. 3 boldly said that he would consider it, but he would help Crocodile contact other members of the Baroque Works.
Buggy, with his red nose, boasted in front of Rayleigh about how righteous he was. On the other hand, he talked about how heartless Shanks was. Luffy, who was standing by, felt uncomfortable after hearing this, and the two soon started arguing.
Zoro and Cana were having a drinking contest. On the table in front of them were dozens of empty bottles and several empty barrels. It was said that they had been drinking for a whole day and night, and had not even eaten peanuts during that time.
Luo sat quietly on the side holding a long sword, but his eyes always looked in Robin's direction every once in a while - of course, he was not looking at the person, but the thing in Robin's hand, which were rubbings of three road sign texts.
These days, Robin is working on translating road sign texts.
Unlike what Kira had originally expected, the signpost texts did not clearly indicate the name of a marked island, but instead used a riddle-like method to record the geographical location, historical culture, or environmental features of the island in an obscure way, leaving people to guess and calculate.
That is to say, after completing the translation, you still need to solve the puzzle, and to solve it successfully, you need certain navigation knowledge and experience!
There’s even astronomy involved!
Fortunately, Robin was born in O'Hara, where scholars had long explored astronomy and even built a simple model of the 'world instrument', 'moon' and other planets in the 'Tree of All-Knowing'.
"I am bored……"
Kira looked away and lay idly on the bar. "Isn't it said that the Celestial Dragons from Marinjoa often come to the Sabaody Archipelago to bully others? How come I haven't seen a single one of them since I got here?"
Xia Qi brought Kira a glass of fresh juice with a few fleshy fruits in it, then she elegantly lit a cigarette for herself and began to puff away.
"There are so many lawless pirates gathered on this island now. If there are still Celestial Dragons who dare to come down, I will really doubt whether the Five Elders are just here to eat."
Kira was stunned: "That makes sense... What a pity ! I originally wanted to use two Celestial Dragons as sacrifices."
"Why? You should not have any deep hatred with the Celestial Dragons, right?" Xia Qi blinked. She was very curious about the young man who defeated Kaido.
She would also watch the live broadcast of the underground world, and knew that in the war between the Wizard and the Two Emperors on Cake Island, the red-haired boy in front of her was the leader. The attitude of such an important existence towards the Celestial Dragons would have a huge impact on the future world!
"No! But...do we need a reason to teach the Celestial Dragons a lesson?"
Kira also blinked innocently at Xia Qi. In his opinion, if you want to fight the Celestial Dragons, you can just fight them. Is there any need to choose a day?
As a time traveler, I was already very merciful by not killing two Celestial Dragons and awakening their Conqueror's Haki. I lost face in front of my peers. Now I just wanted to beat them up to kill time after an afternoon of boredom. Is there a problem with that?
Xia Qi smiled mysteriously: "That's right."
Hmm? This old lady smiled? Then...
"Can this glass of juice be free?" Kira pointed to the freshly squeezed juice in front of him. If he didn't drink it, it would no longer be fresh.
"20,000 Baileys."
"How many?!"
The sudden increase in volume attracted the attention of everyone in the tavern. After a brief silence, the room returned to its original hustle and bustle.
"Hey, hey, hey... 20,000 Baileys for a glass of juice, isn't that too much of a rip-off?!"
Xia Qi raised her eyebrows: "Oh?! Didn't you just take over Big Mom's Wan Guo? You own 35 islands, so you shouldn't be short of money!"
“That’s your stereotype!”
Kira retorted unconvincedly, "Who says that people who own 35 islands don't have money? Understand that islands are real estate and cannot be converted into liquid funds!"
"Besides, having money is one thing, and whether it's free or not is another! I know that you didn't charge the Straw Hat Pirates any money, so why are you charging so much from me?"
Xia Qi smiled and said: "The reason is simple, because I am a fan of Straw Hat Brother~"
Wow, is this the legendary mom fan?
No, no... I remember she was from the same generation as Garp, and she was always chased and beaten by Garp? At this age, she must be a grandma fan, right?
Seeing Kira's embarrassed look, Xia Qi suddenly smiled brightly: "Okay, no more jokes!"
Kira's face looked much better after hearing that, and he instantly felt relieved: "Hahaha, I knew you were joking. Sure enough, you will still exempt me...Huh? What is this?"
Kirara reached out and took the small notebook that Xia Qi handed over. When he opened it, he saw a bill with a huge amount of data. A very bad feeling arose in his heart.
"This can't be... No! It can't be..."
At this moment, Kira's hands were shaking.
Xia Qi looked at Kira with a smile, and said something extremely terrifying in a gentle voice: "You are not mistaken, it is Miss Kana, and the wine money for Brother Gildarts during this period!"
Oh my god! !
Kira didn't even see the specific amount. After glancing at the densely packed numbers, he decisively snapped the notebook shut and then lowered his dry voice and asked, "This kind of thing should be given directly to them, right?"
"But they said they had no money, and you are the current guild leader, so you should be the one to pay the bill!"
“…”
Whoever wants to be the president can be the president!
As Kira's face turned increasingly grim, Xia Qi stretched out a hand: "So do you want to pay 20,000 Baileys for a glass of juice, or pay for the wine?"
I don’t even want to pay!!
