"Thanks for the invite. I'm currently in Wano Country, and things are too busy; I'll see how I feel about coming then."
Buggy said casually.
"You..." Doflamingo wanted to say more, but realizing that Buggy didn't play by the rules at all, he decided it was best to leave first.
"Why did this guy turn out like this?" Rayleigh watched Doflamingo's retreating figure. "To even be willing to throw away his life just to take revenge on the world?"
"He's been power-crept, his mentality has collapsed, and he's become a fanatic," Buggy said.
"What does 'power-crept' mean?" Rayleigh didn't understand the term.
"For example, you were originally a top expert in the world, challenging the whole world and submitting to no one. But as time goes on, you suddenly find yourself only able to fight to a draw with everyone, or even unable to win, and finally being stepped on by newcomers."
"You train hard, only to find more and more newcomers can step on your head, and the strength gap grows wider, so—bang..."
Buggy spread his hands. "His mentality just exploded."
Rayleigh couldn't help but shudder. "That sounds pretty miserable."
"What's so miserable about it... even if he's been power-crept, his strength is still top-tier, and he lives better than 99.9% of the people in the world."
Buggy said flatly, "If that's considered miserable, what about the ordinary people who struggle just to survive? Doflamingo is just an arrogant giant baby."
"So you're saying I was wrong and should have listened to you and killed him directly?" Rayleigh felt a bit ashamed.
Could it be that because he was getting older, he wasn't as decisive as the young people of today?
"He's already run away. Besides, keeping him around is fine; that guy is a real shit-stirrer within the World Government," Buggy said.
Doflamingo didn't belong to any faction now; perhaps he wished for the Celestial Dragons to die out completely more than anyone.
"But I need to hurry up and clear out the unstable factors before Doflamingo causes trouble."
Buggy was already considering whether or not to go to Water Seven; Shipwrights could be recruited anytime, but some things had a higher priority.
"Unstable factors? You don't even know Doflamingo's plan, so how can you clear them?" Rayleigh asked.
"Doflamingo wants to bring together the Celestial Dragons, the Marine, the Four Emperors, and some ambitious pirates. Regardless of the method he uses, the friend-or-foe relationships of these factions are basically clear. Only one guy is drifting outside, not fitting in, yet possessing strength..."
"That's the Blackbeard Pirates," Buggy said.
"You're going to war with the Blackbeard Pirates?"
Rayleigh had seen the strength of the Blackbeard Pirates during the broadcast of the Marineford War. "Their strength is not weak."
With the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit plus the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Rayleigh felt a bit uncertain facing Blackbeard himself... Although the Buggy Pirates had several Shichibukai joining them, Rayleigh felt their strength was roughly equal to the Blackbeard Pirates.
"If you don't know what to do, attacking Blackbeard is always right," Buggy said. First mate, do you have Shanks' contact information?"
"I do, but what do you want to do? Wait, you're not thinking of allying with that kid Shanks to deal with Blackbeard, are you?"
"Correct." Buggy snapped his fingers. "Since we're going to fight the Blackbeard Pirates, of course, we should unite all the forces that can be united."
"Two Four Emperors Crews against one—you really come up with some unique ideas." Rayleigh felt Buggy's way of thinking was truly unconventional.
"Who said two? I also have the contact information for the Straw Hat Pirates. They haven't gone far yet. Sharing joy is better than enjoying it alone; I'll call them to join the fun," Buggy said.
"..." Rayleigh opened his mouth but didn't know what to say for a moment.
What kind of sin did Blackbeard commit to be targeted by this kid?
"Aren't you afraid of being laughed at? If Shanks and Luffy both agree, that's three Four Emperors Crews against one—how will the world see you? They'll think you lack the pride of the strong," Rayleigh said.
"Pride of the strong? What kind of nonsense is that? As a Pirate Crew Captain, the first thing to consider is the safety of the crew. If you're not busy, come help too, first mate."
Buggy suddenly realized Rayleigh was also one of the top combat powers available.
"This is a contest between your next generation; I don't want to get involved."
Rayleigh pulled out a pair of transponder snails. "Talk to Shanks yourself in a bit. Whether he agrees or not is his business."
"You actually have a White Transponder Snail to prevent eavesdropping. Do you guys talk about secrets often?"
Buggy didn't expect Rayleigh to be so careful in contacting Shanks.
"The World Government knows I'm on the Sabaody Archipelago, so it's better to be careful," Rayleigh said.
Ever since the fight with Kizaru, Rayleigh had noticed people monitoring him.
But he just wanted to live in seclusion and didn't want to fall out with the World Government, so he ignored those monitors.
The World Government didn't want to provoke a power house that basically didn't care about world affairs, so they didn't take much action.
However, Rayleigh added a layer of insurance to his contact methods to prevent others from eavesdropping.
Rayleigh dialed the transponder snail, and before long, the voice of Red-Haired Shanks came through.
"Vice-Captain Rayleigh, is something the matter?"
"It's not me looking for you, but another annoying fellow." Rayleigh handed the transponder snail to Buggy.
"Hi! Shanks, it's me looking for you."
"You're... Buggy?" The transponder snail was very surprised. "You're with Vice-Captain Rayleigh?"
"That's right, Vice-Captain Rayleigh also told me many secrets, including..."
"Get to the point, or give me the transponder snail." Rayleigh glared at Buggy and said into the transponder snail, "Don't listen to his nonsense;e, he doesn't know anything at all. Don't let him trick you into revealing anything later."
The transponder snail let out a laugh. "Buggy, you've changed quite a bit. What's the matter?"
"Remember that little black fat guy from when we fought the Whitebeard Pirates?" Buggy asked.
"Blackbeard Teach?" The transponder snail became serious. "What's wrong? Did he cause trouble for you?"
No, it's this guy who wants to cause trouble for Blackbeard, Rayleigh thought to himself.
"I said back then he was a monster, and now it's come true." Buggy paused. "Shanks, give me some face, let's team up and wipe out the Blackbeard Pirates!"
The transponder snail didn't reply for a long time. Just as Buggy suspected, it might be hungry and cause a bad signal; the snail finally spoke.
"I don't think I heard you clearly just now... what do you want to do?"
"I said, the Buggy Pirates plus the Red Hair Pirates, do you want to team up and wipe out the Blackbeard Pirates?" Buggy repeated.
Hearing the voice from the transponder snail, there was silence on the red force.
"Wait, my head is a bit of a mess. Buggy, you called just to start a war between the three Four Emperors Crews..."
Red-Haired Shanks scratched his head. "Isn't that a bit too casual?"
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