"After going wild and having fun for so long, it's finally over."
Pokémon Sea, Whole Cake Island.
Holding up a goblet, Red stood by the castle window and let out a soft sigh of emotion.
After returning to the Pokémon Sea, the Merry hadn't sent the pirates on board back to their respective islands. Instead, it had headed straight for Whole Cake Island.
With Luffy's proposal and full support, a grand banquet lasting an entire week officially began.
And among those attending the feast were not just the combatants who had taken part in the operation.
Nearly every pirate in the Pokémon Sea who wasn't on assignment had been called over.
After all, they had destroyed the Celestial Dragons' Holy Land, Mary Geoise. For an event of that magnitude, even if they held a banquet for a whole month straight, no one would have anything to say about it.
During the banquet, aside from the endless eating and drinking, the most anticipated event was naturally the commendation ceremony for this operation.
Under the supervision of Buggy and the others, the members of the Straw Hat Grand Fleet hadn't pocketed so much as a needle or a thread. Every treasure they had obtained from the land of the Celestial Dragons had been handed over in full.
Unfortunately...
Perhaps because of the God's Knights' earlier recruitment drive, the Devil Fruits in the Celestial Dragons' possession had been confiscated along with everything else.
As a result, during this operation, Buggy and the others had only found a total of ten Devil Fruits, and all of them were rather mediocre abilities.
Ten Devil Fruits should have been an immense fortune.
But compared to the Straw Hat Pirates' previous operations, it felt a little too ordinary.
Fortunately, aside from Devil Fruits, the Celestial Dragons had no shortage of gold, silver, jewels, antiques, and precious ornaments.
And Red had also taken out some additional treasures from what he had collected in Pangaea Castle to sweeten the pot...
By the end of the commendation ceremony, everyone had received rewards that left them thoroughly satisfied.
At the same time, it made the pirates who had been too weak to qualify for the operation cast envious looks one after another. Each of them became fiercely determined, swearing that once they returned, they would train harder than ever and never allow something like this to happen again.
Heaven knew just how agonizing it felt to watch brothers who had once stood shoulder to shoulder with them suddenly become heroes who had slain Celestial Dragons—figures whose names would be recorded in history, worthy of having their own page in the family genealogy.
Among those most upset, naturally, was the Avengers Alliance, which had had no chance at all to join the operation because of their escort duties.
In the current Avengers Alliance, the number of people above Level 50 still wasn't particularly high, but it had already exceeded ten.
It was just that because the Avengers Alliance was also responsible for protecting merchant ships traveling through the Pokémon Sea, they hadn't been able to make it in time for the operation.
Because of that, the four legion commanders of the Avengers Alliance had spent the banquet loudly grumbling to Red.
Fortunately, with a masterfully outrageous display of twisting the topic, Red successfully redirected their hatred for the Celestial Dragons into hatred for the world's aristocratic ruling class.
And he told them that there would only be more events like this in the future.
There were still many unenlightened nations in the world waiting to be liberated by them.
And what they needed to do was seize the time to grow stronger and become an invincible army.
To that end, Red had even deliberately promoted the ideals of the Avengers Alliance among the slaves who had been freed this time, leading more of them to choose to join the organization and strengthening this special corps under the Straw Hats once again.
And so, while the outside world was still reeling in shock over what the Straw Hats had done, the Straw Hat Pirates completed a grand banquet that lasted nearly ten days.
...
...
At the outer edge of the Pokémon Sea, at the harbor of Abra Island—the port that had once been attacked by the Five Elders—
A ship with a crimson dragon figurehead quietly docked nearby.
One after another, a group of mysterious hooded figures stepped down from the ship.
Seeing Luffy and Red, who had been waiting at the harbor for quite some time, the leader immediately removed the hood from his head, revealing a head of tousled golden hair.
"Luffy, Lord Red, it's truly been a long time~"
"Sabo!!!"
The moment he saw who it was, Luffy immediately jumped up in excitement and pounced onto Sabo like a child, completely lacking the dignity and imposing presence that a Pirate Emperor Sovereign of the seas ought to have.
"Hahaha~ Luffy, you really haven't changed at all!"
Feeling the enthusiasm of his little brother, Sabo also lifted the corners of his lips and laughed in delight.
Then, once he finished speaking, he turned his gaze toward Red standing behind Luffy and said seriously:
"Lord Red, thank you so much... for what happened with Ace!"
Ever since recovering his memories, Sabo had found time to make a trip to Whitebeard's territory, where he found Ace and once more reenacted the scene of brothers recognizing each other.
During his conversation with Ace, he had also learned about Ace's death in the original course of fate.
Because of that, Sabo had sighed with emotion, grateful that the three of them were fortunate enough to reunite like this.
"Haha~ no need to be so formal, Sabo."
Red waved his hand, indicating it was nothing, then smiled at him again and said:
"You came at just the right time. In a little while, the Whitebeard Pirates should be arriving here too."
"This time, you three brothers will finally be together again!"
"The Whitebeard Pirates!? Ace!?"
Hearing this, Sabo was instantly overjoyed, visible delight flashing through his eyes.
"That's right." Red nodded lightly, then said to Sabo and the Revolutionary Army members behind him:
"All right!"
"This place is too noisy. It's not a good place for talking, so we shouldn't stay here too long."
"Please, come with me. We've already prepared a place to receive you."
Under Red's lead, the Revolutionary Army group made their way somewhat stiffly toward the castle deeper within Abra Island.
Compared to Sabo's relaxed demeanor, the others were nowhere near as calm.
After all, standing before them were the captain and vice-captain of the strongest pirate crew on the seas today—the Straw Hat Pirates.
With an entire week for the news to ferment, the Straw Hat Pirates' devastating blow to the World Government and massacre of Celestial Dragons had long since become famous throughout the world.
In the eyes of the public, the Straw Hat Pirates were now only one self-declaration away from becoming Pirate King.
With the prestige the Straw Hats now possessed, if they simply declared themselves Pirate King, absolutely no one on the seas would object.
Because...
How could the title of Pirate King possibly be worthy of what the Straw Hats had accomplished!?
Their achievements had already surpassed Roger's image in the hearts of the world.
Some had even begun saying... that the Pirate King was merely a king beneath the Pirate Emperor Sovereign.
The Straw Hat Pirates had already reached the very apex of piracy, so there was naturally no need for them to pursue the title of Pirate King anymore.
Of course, all of that was merely the outside world's recognition of the Straw Hat Pirates.
As for the title of Pirate King, Red and the others still intended to fight for it.
Not for legitimacy, but because they truly wanted to know...
What kind of secrets were hidden upon the legendary final island, Laugh Tale?
Before long, the group arrived at a luxurious and spacious conference room.
Inside was a spread of food and desserts that Law had arranged in advance.
"You must all be hungry after traveling so far, right?"
"How about we talk while we eat?"
"If so, that would naturally be excellent!"
Sabo, who had hurried all the way over, smiled slightly and sat down gladly at Red's gesture.
The purpose of their invitation this time was actually quite simple: to help the Straw Hat Pirates handle the slaves who had been freed from Mary Geoise.
Although some of those slaves, burning with hatred, had chosen to join the Avengers Alliance, and some had decided to remain in the Pokémon Sea to repay the Straw Hats' kindness—
There were still others who simply wanted to return to their hometowns and live the peaceful lives they had dreamed of even in their sleep.
The Straw Hat Pirates naturally respected that choice.
But the troublesome and thankless task of sending them all home was obviously not something the Straw Hat Pirates were going to do personally.
So...
At a time like this, Red naturally chose to dump this mess on the nice guys of the Revolutionary Army!
And as luck would have it, they were more than happy to take on that mess.
In the time it took to finish one meal, Red and Sabo had already settled the handover arrangements for the slaves.
Afterward, however, Sabo suddenly put down his knife and fork with a serious expression and looked at Red as he asked:
"By the way, Lord Red."
"Could I trouble you to share more detailed intelligence regarding the World Government?"
"Our leader specifically asked me to inquire on his behalf."
"Your leader? Luffy's deadbeat dad!?"
Red chuckled lightly, then didn't bother hiding anything as he said:
"Let me guess—you're planning to take advantage of the World Government's weakened military strength and use this opportunity to attack Mary Geoise, completing the great liberation of the world's people!?"
Before Sabo could even nod in response, Red said directly:
"If that's the case, then my advice is for you to go home, wash up, and sleep!"
"Although the World Government can now barely be said to have only a handful of top-level fighters left... I still don't think the Revolutionary Army has the power to completely destroy the current World Government."
"Compared to the World Government, your foundation is far too shallow!"
"No, Lord Red, our leader's strength—"
"Stronger than an Emperor of the Sea?" Red cut in again without hesitation, waving a hand to stop Sabo before explaining:
"With all due respect, I don't think Luffy's old man is stronger than Luffy is now!"
"And even Luffy could at most tie down a few of the Five Elders. Beyond that, there's nothing else he could do."
"Not to mention that mysterious Imu standing behind them!"
"..."
Faced with Red's utterly unhesitating warning, Sabo fell silent.
Only after quite a while did he ask in a conflicted tone:
"But Lord Red... is Imu really that strong!?"
"You've never seen him fight, have you?!"
"If the Straw Hat Pirates and the Revolutionary Army joined forces—"
"Forget it."
Red shook his head again. "I may not know exactly how strong Imu is, but I do know just how terrifying Joy Boy's strength was eight hundred years ago."
"In our possession is a giant robot from eight hundred years ago, and inside it is a portion of Joy Boy's Haki!"
"I can say this very responsibly: that Haki alone is enough to make the Five Elders unable to move in an instant, completely incapable of fighting."
"And yet even someone like that still lost to Imu and the alliance of the Twenty Kings during the great war of the Void Century."
"I don't care whether Imu won through some underhanded trick or through sheer luck—but someone who could contend with Joy Boy..."
"I do not believe our current strength is enough to defeat him."
"..."
"..."
As Red's words fell, the entire table went silent.
Even Luffy sank into thought because of what Red had said.
This was the first time Red had clearly told him why he wasn't choosing to go all-out against the World Government directly.
Of course, that was only the conclusion Red had reached based on his analysis of the world of pirates.
The real reason he didn't dare confront Imu head-on was because Imu resembled Ōtsutsuki Kaguya from the neighboring Naruto world far too much.
Red was worried that, like Kaguya, Imu possessed a level of power far beyond that of this world.
More importantly, Kaguya hadn't failed because she was too weak, but simply because she lacked combat experience and suffered from being bad at fighting.
Otherwise, with her abilities and methods, Sasuke and Naruto would never have been able to oppose her.
There was even a theory online that Imu was a being from beyond the heavens, and that the so-called Ancient Weapon Uranus was not some ordinary "heavenly king" at all, but rather a gigantic interstellar warship floating beyond the planet.
Though Red didn't know what Imu's true strength was, at the very least he believed the Straw Hat Pirates were not yet his match.
As for the Revolutionary Army?
Heh...
Just as he had said—go home, wash up, and sleep!
The Revolutionary Army wasn't the Straw Hat Pirates. They didn't have antimatter space to keep Imu in check through fear.
If Imu really decided to personally make a move, it would absolutely be a catastrophic blow for the Revolutionary Army.
They might not even make it past the Five Elders.
"All right. No matter how ferocious a beast is, in the end there's only one of it."
"And besides, this beast is merely crouching in its own territory right now. It isn't running everywhere to terrorize people, is it?"
"Just because you can't attack Mary Geoise doesn't mean you can't exert force elsewhere."
"Don't forget—your mission is to liberate the people, not to defeat the World Government!"
Seeing that Sabo still looked unwilling to accept it, Red offered another earnest word of advice.
No matter what, he was Luffy's actual relative. Red didn't want the Revolutionary Army doing something foolish.
"Oh, right!"
"Judging by the time, Whitebeard and the others should be arriving soon~"
Red suddenly smiled and suggested to Sabo:
"How about having a good talk with the Whitebeard Pirates later?"
"I'm sure you'll have a lot in common!"
Although the Five Elders' plan had been interrupted almost as soon as it began, there were still quite a few members of the Whitebeard Pirates who had died by their hands.
As a father who doted on his children, Whitebeard—now empowered with even greater strength—wasn't the sort of honest man who would let himself be butchered without fighting back.
...
...
"Luffy! Sabo! Long time no see!!!"
The massive Moby Dick slowly docked at the harbor of Abra Island.
And Ace, unable to wait any longer, rushed ahead first, turning directly into a burst of flame as he flew down from the Moby Dick.
In that instant, Luffy, Ace, and Sabo...
After more than ten years of twists, turns, and waiting, finally appeared in the same frame once more and reunited together.
(End of Chapter)