_________ POV Narration_________
The more Francisco talked the more Rayleigh felt that things were getting more complicated. More so than their captain had predicted so many years ago.
The realization that Garp was colluding with a pirate was already shocking enough, even if said pirate was Enel.
Still, Luffy had a few more questions left. Simple things, like 'What's Baltigo?'
Thankfully, Rayleigh explained the situation to him with a sigh.
Luffy found the entire situation quite cool, just thinking about Enel facing off against the entire Navy by himself seemed to put stars in his eyes.
Ace was a bit concerned, but there wasn't much he could do... His little brother had grown to admire the man that he called 'Long Ears'.
But that man was now an Emperor, one of the most dangerous people alive, and quite possibly the biggest threat to the World Government if what Francisco was telling them was true.
In the first place, the very existence of Francisco was perplexing. Ace remembered his father(Whitebeard) speaking about the man with melancholy.
It was clear that the two of them were friends. At the same time, Ace also knew that the two of them had fought in the end. And he knew that Francsico should have been dead already.
But, seeing him young and unharmed proved that everything he knew was wrong... And it also gave him hope... Hope that Enel would be able to cure Whitebeard.
Meanwhile, Rayleigh was still somewhat stuck on the fact that Francisco was alive and well.
The fact that Francisco wasn't gunning for his head was also quite the surprise, but he had never seemed like the vengeful kind anyway...
"So what's your plan now?" Rayleigh decided to break the silence first, changing the subject.
'It's not worth stressing out Luffy with this any further. He should focus on his training now.'
"Well, I do want to go find one named 'Gecko Moria', I also want to meet up with some of my old crewmates." Francisco didn't bother hiding his intentions, as he was looking for some information.
"Moria... The Warlord? I've not heard much about his whereabouts after the war at Marineford..." Rayleigh nodded as he didn't bother asking why exactly Francisco was looking for him.
'To have attracted this man's attention, can't help but feel a bit bad for that Moria... But it's none of my business.
I'm not in any state to be fighting someone like Francisco regardless... At most, I could've held him back for a bit while Ace took Luffy away. At least there's no need for that now.'
"That weirdo..." Luffy scoffed a bit when hearing about Moria, being taken out of the trance he was sent into by the surplus of information from earlier.
"He's admittedly not that strong, but his devil fruit is quite powerful." Rayleigh shrugged as he looked at Luffy.
"... Can't help you much with Moria, unfortunately... By the way, are you planning to visit Whitebeard as well?" Rayleigh spoke as Ace's eyes widened.
"Yep! The sooner the better. It's been a while since I've talked with the old bastard..." Francisco laughed a bit as he remembered the blonde giant that was once part of the Rocks Pirates.
"... If you're planning to visit Pops then I can take you there..." Ace muttered, catching the attention of both Francisco and Rayleigh in an instant.
"On one condition..." Ace continued, surprising the older pirates present as he composed himself and spoke out fearlessly.
"Promise not to do any harm to Pops... He's already old, I don't know what went on between you two, but I'm sure you can bury the hatchet..." Ace clenched his fists as he tried his best to somehow protect his father.
After all, if the stories Whitebeard told them were true, Francsico returned to his prime and be a real threat to anyone on the High Seas. He needed some kind of assurance that a fight wouldn't break out.
"That's no issue. I promise you that my intentions are not harmful. I've no reason to hurt him. From what I know, he's one of Enel's allies..." Francisco just waved Ace's concerns away and promised right away.
"It's safe to assume that Whitebeard will panic quite a bit when seeing you..." Rayleigh sweated a bit as he imagined how the old and sick Whitebeard would react when seeing a ghost from his past.
"I won't hold it against him if he attacks me out of panic or something like that... Especially since it seems he's achieved his dream already..." Francisco smiled a bit as he eyed Ace for a few seconds.
He had picked up on how Garp's nephew had called Newgate 'Pops'. It was rather heartwarming for him since he knew exactly the type of person that Whitebeard was.
"What do you mean?" Luffy seemed a bit out of it, but he wasn't exactly brought up to speed on a lot of things.
"Whitebeard only ever cared about having a family. That's his dream. And he will do anything in his power to protect it, he'll stop at nothing." Francisco nodded a bit as he remembered Whitebeard's dream.
It did warm his heart a bit to hear that his old friend had achieved his lifelong dream.
"That sure sounds like Pops..." Ace smiled a bit as he imagined Whitebeard springing into action to protect his children the second Francisco appeared on the horizon.
"Heh, that old guy is pretty awesome though! He just swung his fist and the whole island trembled!" Luffy seemed to imitate Whitebeard's movements for a moment, looking a lot like a child, which he was.
"Heh, of course, Pops is awesome!" "Whitebeard's always been a monster, he's from our generation after all..." Both Ace and Francisco seemed to agree with Luffy.
Meanwhile, Rayleigh just shook his head.
'Of course, that generation had too many monsters rise from it...'
Even Roger was one good example, who had grown to deserve the title of 'King of Pirates'.
"Luffy, I think that's enough playing around. You still have a lot of training ahead of you." Rayleigh decided to be the one to break the jolly atmosphere.
"Shishishishi~ Of course!" Luffy laughed as he cracked his neck and sighed. "It was nice meeting you, blonde sword guy! Tell Enel that he can still join my crew if he wants to!"
The rubber teenager ran off immediately after that, probably off to hunt some wild beasts. He left behind a rather flabbergasted Francsico.
"Ummm..." The old pirate wasn't quite sure what to think of a Newby pirate asking a Yonko to join his crew.
"Ignore my little brother, he's always like that..." Ace, fortunately, managed to take his mind away form it before it imploded.
Francisco just smiled with a bit of amusement. "That's quite an interesting family you all have here... Would expect nothing less from both Whitebeard's and Garp's families..."
Rayleigh also smiled from the side.
'If only you knew... Ace is also Roger's son. They are a lot weirder than you could ever imagine...'
Regardless, Rayleigh had been happy to spend some time with Roger's biological son after so long.
In a sense, Ace reminded him of Roger, but not in every aspect. For example, Luffy was a lot more similar in character to Roger.
Meanwhile, Ace was almost the spitting image of Roger in his youth, but a lot more hot-headed.
'Ah, how time flies...'
"The two of us should be off soon... I'll go prepare the boat. I'll come to visit later Ol' Ray!" Ace said as he looked at Francisco and Rayleigh, he then started walking in the opposite direction of Luffy.
His departure broke both of the old pirates from their trances.
"Oh, I still have to go and prepare food for Luffy..." Rayleigh sighed as he then took another look at his old enemy.
"Of course... It was nice seeing you again, Rayleigh. Good to see a familiar face, even if we weren't all that friendly in the past." Francisco crossed his arms and started trailing behind Ace, whose back had already disappeared in the distance.
"Nice, huh? You've always been an odd person. Well, I can't say it was a bad reunion, if anything, I would've imagined a meeting between the two of us going much worse." Rayleigh shook his head as he gave Francsico's back one last look.
"Francisco... Please make sure to protect Ace, he's still young and impulsive. But he's a good kid."
Rayleigh felt the need to ask such a thing of Francisco, something just told him that Ace going with Francisco was going to bring a lot of trouble... He just wanted some assurance for his old Captain's last living relative.
"Hah, don't worry! As if I'd let Garp's Nephew and one of Edward's sons to just die on me... Nothing will harm a hair on his head as long as I can help it." Francisco didn't even turn around, he just waved at Rayleigh as he walked off.
Rayleigh smiled before shaking his head and going off on his own way.
Their reunion was short-lived, but somehow, Rayleigh knew that it wouldn't be the last time he'd run into Francisco.
Well... It didn't seem like such a bad thing regardless.
Just like that, Ace and Francisco embarked on a journey together, while Luffy continued his training with Rayleigh.
But while Ace and Francisco were just setting sail, someone else was already almost at their destination...
A gigantic fleet, hoisting countless jolly rogers atop their masts, all heading for one little island near the beginning of the New World.
A poor and small island that couldn't even afford to be part of and under the protection of the World Government... The island of Sphinx.
And at the very front of that fleet was a gigantic warship, one having the wooden head of an azure dragon sculpted as its figurehead.
It hoisted the Jolly Roger of none other than the Beast Pirates... And the purpose of their expedition was rather straightforward.
'Kill the strongest man alive.'
To Kaido, Edward Newgate was a thorn in his side. He had refused to join the Emperor Alliance, and the Dragon Emperor wasn't willing to bet on his chances of Newgate croaking before the war happened.
'I'd much rather make sure he and his crew aren't going to be an issue during the war...'
Kaido had not invited the other two Yonko that were allied with him for this expedition, and that was for one good reason... Settling a score.
'I'll take this chance to show the world that only one man in this world deserves to be called the strongest...'
There were no Shanks to protect Whitebeard this time... Hell, Kaido hadn't even bothered notifying his allies of his intentions.
But all of the Pirates he had subjugated were joining him. Together, they numbered in the thousands. And the Beast Pirates were also present, all of the All-Stars and the Tobiroppo.
A decisive clash between two Emperors was going to happen... Question is, will Whitebeard be prepared for it?
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you like the chapter!
Still trying to come to terms with final exams and the amount of shit I have to do/study.
Literally in my final year of uni and I'm pretty sure I'll have to repeat it just for a few classes. I call bollocks.
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)
_________ POV Narration_________
The more Francisco talked the more Rayleigh felt that things were getting more complicated. More so than their captain had predicted so many years ago.
The realization that Garp was colluding with a pirate was already shocking enough, even if said pirate was Enel.
Still, Luffy had a few more questions left. Simple things, like 'What's Baltigo?'
Thankfully, Rayleigh explained the situation to him with a sigh.
Luffy found the entire situation quite cool, just thinking about Enel facing off against the entire Navy by himself seemed to put stars in his eyes.
Ace was a bit concerned, but there wasn't much he could do... His little brother had grown to admire the man that he called 'Long Ears'.
But that man was now an Emperor, one of the most dangerous people alive, and quite possibly the biggest threat to the World Government if what Francisco was telling them was true.
In the first place, the very existence of Francisco was perplexing. Ace remembered his father(Whitebeard) speaking about the man with melancholy.
It was clear that the two of them were friends. At the same time, Ace also knew that the two of them had fought in the end. And he knew that Francsico should have been dead already.
But, seeing him young and unharmed proved that everything he knew was wrong... And it also gave him hope... Hope that Enel would be able to cure Whitebeard.
Meanwhile, Rayleigh was still somewhat stuck on the fact that Francisco was alive and well.
The fact that Francisco wasn't gunning for his head was also quite the surprise, but he had never seemed like the vengeful kind anyway...
"So what's your plan now?" Rayleigh decided to break the silence first, changing the subject.
'It's not worth stressing out Luffy with this any further. He should focus on his training now.'
"Well, I do want to go find one named 'Gecko Moria', I also want to meet up with some of my old crewmates." Francisco didn't bother hiding his intentions, as he was looking for some information.
"Moria... The Warlord? I've not heard much about his whereabouts after the war at Marineford..." Rayleigh nodded as he didn't bother asking why exactly Francisco was looking for him.
'To have attracted this man's attention, can't help but feel a bit bad for that Moria... But it's none of my business.
I'm not in any state to be fighting someone like Francisco regardless... At most, I could've held him back for a bit while Ace took Luffy away. At least there's no need for that now.'
"That weirdo..." Luffy scoffed a bit when hearing about Moria, being taken out of the trance he was sent into by the surplus of information from earlier.
"He's admittedly not that strong, but his devil fruit is quite powerful." Rayleigh shrugged as he looked at Luffy.
"... Can't help you much with Moria, unfortunately... By the way, are you planning to visit Whitebeard as well?" Rayleigh spoke as Ace's eyes widened.
"Yep! The sooner the better. It's been a while since I've talked with the old bastard..." Francisco laughed a bit as he remembered the blonde giant that was once part of the Rocks Pirates.
"... If you're planning to visit Pops then I can take you there..." Ace muttered, catching the attention of both Francisco and Rayleigh in an instant.
"On one condition..." Ace continued, surprising the older pirates present as he composed himself and spoke out fearlessly.
"Promise not to do any harm to Pops... He's already old, I don't know what went on between you two, but I'm sure you can bury the hatchet..." Ace clenched his fists as he tried his best to somehow protect his father.
After all, if the stories Whitebeard told them were true, Francsico returned to his prime and be a real threat to anyone on the High Seas. He needed some kind of assurance that a fight wouldn't break out.
"That's no issue. I promise you that my intentions are not harmful. I've no reason to hurt him. From what I know, he's one of Enel's allies..." Francisco just waved Ace's concerns away and promised right away.
"It's safe to assume that Whitebeard will panic quite a bit when seeing you..." Rayleigh sweated a bit as he imagined how the old and sick Whitebeard would react when seeing a ghost from his past.
"I won't hold it against him if he attacks me out of panic or something like that... Especially since it seems he's achieved his dream already..." Francisco smiled a bit as he eyed Ace for a few seconds.
He had picked up on how Garp's nephew had called Newgate 'Pops'. It was rather heartwarming for him since he knew exactly the type of person that Whitebeard was.
"What do you mean?" Luffy seemed a bit out of it, but he wasn't exactly brought up to speed on a lot of things.
"Whitebeard only ever cared about having a family. That's his dream. And he will do anything in his power to protect it, he'll stop at nothing." Francisco nodded a bit as he remembered Whitebeard's dream.
It did warm his heart a bit to hear that his old friend had achieved his lifelong dream.
"That sure sounds like Pops..." Ace smiled a bit as he imagined Whitebeard springing into action to protect his children the second Francisco appeared on the horizon.
"Heh, that old guy is pretty awesome though! He just swung his fist and the whole island trembled!" Luffy seemed to imitate Whitebeard's movements for a moment, looking a lot like a child, which he was.
"Heh, of course, Pops is awesome!" "Whitebeard's always been a monster, he's from our generation after all..." Both Ace and Francisco seemed to agree with Luffy.
Meanwhile, Rayleigh just shook his head.
'Of course, that generation had too many monsters rise from it...'
Even Roger was one good example, who had grown to deserve the title of 'King of Pirates'.
"Luffy, I think that's enough playing around. You still have a lot of training ahead of you." Rayleigh decided to be the one to break the jolly atmosphere.
"Shishishishi~ Of course!" Luffy laughed as he cracked his neck and sighed. "It was nice meeting you, blonde sword guy! Tell Enel that he can still join my crew if he wants to!"
The rubber teenager ran off immediately after that, probably off to hunt some wild beasts. He left behind a rather flabbergasted Francsico.
"Ummm..." The old pirate wasn't quite sure what to think of a Newby pirate asking a Yonko to join his crew.
"Ignore my little brother, he's always like that..." Ace, fortunately, managed to take his mind away form it before it imploded.
Francisco just smiled with a bit of amusement. "That's quite an interesting family you all have here... Would expect nothing less from both Whitebeard's and Garp's families..."
Rayleigh also smiled from the side.
'If only you knew... Ace is also Roger's son. They are a lot weirder than you could ever imagine...'
Regardless, Rayleigh had been happy to spend some time with Roger's biological son after so long.
In a sense, Ace reminded him of Roger, but not in every aspect. For example, Luffy was a lot more similar in character to Roger.
Meanwhile, Ace was almost the spitting image of Roger in his youth, but a lot more hot-headed.
'Ah, how time flies...'
"The two of us should be off soon... I'll go prepare the boat. I'll come to visit later Ol' Ray!" Ace said as he looked at Francisco and Rayleigh, he then started walking in the opposite direction of Luffy.
His departure broke both of the old pirates from their trances.
"Oh, I still have to go and prepare food for Luffy..." Rayleigh sighed as he then took another look at his old enemy.
"Of course... It was nice seeing you again, Rayleigh. Good to see a familiar face, even if we weren't all that friendly in the past." Francisco crossed his arms and started trailing behind Ace, whose back had already disappeared in the distance.
"Nice, huh? You've always been an odd person. Well, I can't say it was a bad reunion, if anything, I would've imagined a meeting between the two of us going much worse." Rayleigh shook his head as he gave Francsico's back one last look.
"Francisco... Please make sure to protect Ace, he's still young and impulsive. But he's a good kid."
Rayleigh felt the need to ask such a thing of Francisco, something just told him that Ace going with Francisco was going to bring a lot of trouble... He just wanted some assurance for his old Captain's last living relative.
"Hah, don't worry! As if I'd let Garp's Nephew and one of Edward's sons to just die on me... Nothing will harm a hair on his head as long as I can help it." Francisco didn't even turn around, he just waved at Rayleigh as he walked off.
Rayleigh smiled before shaking his head and going off on his own way.
Their reunion was short-lived, but somehow, Rayleigh knew that it wouldn't be the last time he'd run into Francisco.
Well... It didn't seem like such a bad thing regardless.
Just like that, Ace and Francisco embarked on a journey together, while Luffy continued his training with Rayleigh.
But while Ace and Francisco were just setting sail, someone else was already almost at their destination...
A gigantic fleet, hoisting countless jolly rogers atop their masts, all heading for one little island near the beginning of the New World.
A poor and small island that couldn't even afford to be part of and under the protection of the World Government... The island of Sphinx.
And at the very front of that fleet was a gigantic warship, one having the wooden head of an azure dragon sculpted as its figurehead.
It hoisted the Jolly Roger of none other than the Beast Pirates... And the purpose of their expedition was rather straightforward.
'Kill the strongest man alive.'
To Kaido, Edward Newgate was a thorn in his side. He had refused to join the Emperor Alliance, and the Dragon Emperor wasn't willing to bet on his chances of Newgate croaking before the war happened.
'I'd much rather make sure he and his crew aren't going to be an issue during the war...'
Kaido had not invited the other two Yonko that were allied with him for this expedition, and that was for one good reason... Settling a score.
'I'll take this chance to show the world that only one man in this world deserves to be called the strongest...'
There were no Shanks to protect Whitebeard this time... Hell, Kaido hadn't even bothered notifying his allies of his intentions.
But all of the Pirates he had subjugated were joining him. Together, they numbered in the thousands. And the Beast Pirates were also present, all of the All-Stars and the Tobiroppo.
A decisive clash between two Emperors was going to happen... Question is, will Whitebeard be prepared for it?
__________________________________________________________________
Hope you like the chapter!
Still trying to come to terms with final exams and the amount of shit I have to do/study.
Literally in my final year of uni and I'm pretty sure I'll have to repeat it just for a few classes. I call bollocks.
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)
