Let's rewind time a little.
After declaring war on the World Government in the waters at the beginning of the Grand Line, Mock followed his Boss's orders and began his adventure.
On the surface, it looked like the East Blue Overlord was conquering the Grand Line, but he didn't actually need to do much.
He just had to stay hidden, occasionally popping out to show his face and cause some trouble to draw the attention of Marine HQ and the World Government.
While Mock did love an adventure, that was only when he was with Dante. If he was alone, he preferred wandering the East Blue waters in the morning and returning home to soak his feet and relax in the evening.
If his Boss hadn't promised him a stake in Romance Dawn and made him a shareholder once they expanded across the seas, Mock wouldn't have wanted to leave the East Blue at all.
There was no Romance Dawn out there!
So, after some thought, Mock decided that since he'd already shown his face a few days ago, he just needed to keep a low profile for now. He might as well take his two current subordinates and just speedrun the rest.
He planned to reach the New World first.
After all why not show his face there? It would probably have a bigger impact in the New World Dressrosa anyway!
Plus, with the end of the year approaching, he planned to make a quick appearance, cause a little chaos to catch the World Government's eye, and then take some time off. He'd get Kuma to pick him up and take him back to the East Blue for a proper break, returning only after the New Year.
He hadn't been to Romance Dawn in days, and his whole body felt weirdly uncomfortable! And the AquaBliss Foot Spa made by Apple Geezer? It had no soul. Mock much preferred the atmosphere at Romance Dawn.
So, he took his two lackeys and sped off. He cranked the Propulsion Wheel to maximum, and whenever they ran into danger, he instantly went invisible, ship and all, to pass through. In the end, they arrived in the New World safe and sound.
With these two lackeys around, the trip wasn't lonely at least.
The only thing was, these two kept pestering him at the start, asking where his friend Buggy was. Even when he told them the truth, that he'd joined the Marines, they refused to believe him.
They even thought he had killed Buggy himself.
Come on!
They were all best friends here!
Did he look like a killer?
But no matter what he said, they wouldn't believe him. They just clutched their heads and burst into tears.
Their genuine brotherhood moved Mock.
He wondered if he should call Boss Garp and let Buggy have a word with them when, to his surprise, they recovered after crying for just a moment.
Next thing he knew, it was as if they had completely forgotten their old captain. They threw themselves on their knees in front of him, kowtowing as they shouted, "We heard you don't have a crew anymore! We want to be your real crewmates!"
Mock, an honest pirate if there ever was one, stared in disbelief.
They really were Red Nose's crew!
How could they be just like him? They had forgotten their Boss in an instant.
Back then, he had intended to bring Buggy to Dante, but the moment Buggy saw Boss Garp, he switched his allegiance immediately.
Seeing the selfishness of pirates again filled him with a sense of melancholy. He was an honest and righteous pirate, after all.
He wanted to go back to Romance Dawn and relax.
But remembering Dante's orders, he suppressed his sadness. He pushed through the boredom and continued sailing.
Before long, they entered the New World.
The only catch was, he didn't know the waters of the New World very well. For the first half of the Grand Line, he had let the ship steer itself.
It was Vegapunk's new invention. It had a slot for a standard Compass, a Log Pose, or an Eternal Pose. Once the appropriate needle was inserted, it would activate the Propulsion Wheel and allow the ship to navigate automatically.
Furthermore, once a location was logged, the system would store the data. From then on, whenever he visited a place he had been to before, he didn't need to place a new Log Pose, he could simply retrieve the corresponding record from the adjacent screen and engage automatic navigation.
Of course, this device was in limited production for now.
After all, they didn't know how stable it was. One had to consider that the magnetic fields in certain areas of the ocean were not exactly stable.
If he deviated too far from the intended route, or set sail from uncharted waters, it remained unknown whether he could still reach his destination.
The sole prototype was installed on his ship. They planned to test its performance first before commencing full production.
Before departure, Vegapunk had specifically uploaded the sea charts for the first half of the Grand Line based on their past travels. This was why Mock had been able to traverse the first half of the Grand Line so quickly.
As for the New World, there was only one saved route: heading toward New World Dressrosa.
Therefore, upon arriving in the New World, Mock thought... 'Might as well just keep going forward!' If there was any danger, he could just hide!
Moreover, Dante had specially crafted a Vivre Card for Mock.
That way, if he ever encountered danger, they would be able to notice immediately and locate him as quickly as possible.
So Mock picked a direction at random and continued sailing, but he never expected what would happen next...
Just two days ago, Mock encountered an island, and in the waters right beside it, two pirate crews were locked in a fierce battle.
Of course, strictly speaking, it was one pirate crew ganging up on another.
Mock recognized the Jolly Roger on one of the ships, it was the Whitebeard Pirates, mentioned in the 'Grand Line Survival Guide' Dante had given him.
The ship wasn't the Moby Dick as recorded in the guide, but rather a medium-sized vessel, and it didn't have Whitebeard on board.
He was spotted by the Whitebeard crew, but instead of attacking him, they actually invited him aboard for a banquet.
Furthermore, there was a burly man Missing alot of teeth with fluffy black hair who looked incredibly ugly, yet for some unknown reason, he was particularly enthusiastic toward Mock.
At this point, Mock grew excited and lowered his voice, happily recounting how he had found a Devil Fruit.
He had snuck onto the island while the two pirate crews were busy fighting each other and found it there.
He just didn't know what kind of Devil Fruit it was. It was purple and covered in swirls. It looked truly bizarre!
Hearing this, Dante's raised his eyebrows in surprise, and a thought formed in his mind.
A Whitebeard pirate crew, a burly man Ms.ing teeth, and a purple Devil Fruit. It was confirmed. Dante hesitated a moment but asked, "Did anyone see you with that Devil Fruit?"
"Of course not, I'm not stupid! Do you know how expensive that thing is!" Mock said proudly. "I wonder how many times I could enjoy a trip to Romance Dawn with that kind of money. How could I let anyone else see it? What if they want a cut of the profits later?"
Dante fell silent. Mock was surprisingly sharp when it came to money.
Dante's mouth twitched, but he asked, "So, the main reason you called me this time is to tell me you found a Devil Fruit?"
"No! Finding that Devil Fruit was just an accident. Boss, listen to me..." Mock scratched his head, his voice full of confusion. "The Whitebeard Pirates... I don't know what got into them, but they were super enthusiastic about seeing me. Oh, right, except for Sparky. I don't know why, but he was different from the others. He seemed to hate me and even shot fire at me, even though we're both from the East Blue!"
Mock complained bitterly as he recounted his encounter with Ace.
'I hadn't provoked him at all, yet he unleashed a massive blaze on me for no reason. If I hadn't been wearing the East Blue Overlord Armor made by Apple Geezer, I probably would have been hurt.'
"I'm telling you, Boss! He seems to have something wrong with his brain..."
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