Translator: PapaSmurf0700 with new tech
World News Morgans:
"Move your asses! Faster!"
A hulking figure, looking like an albatross stuffed into an exquisite suit, barked orders across the newsroom. It was "Big News" Morgans, and he was on the verge of the story of a lifetime.
"Get me every island, every kingdom we have a link to, now! Tell them to get their Visual Den Den Mushi ready for a live feed. I want eyes everywhere!"
"What's the content? I don't give a shit what you tell them! Just get it done. When my broadcast goes live, I want the entire world watching!"
Someone mentioned a follow-up on the public execution. Morgans scoffed. "Fuck the follow-up report!"
"I don't care if a Navy Admiral chokes to death on a rice cracker today! That's not news! Mobilize everything we have for this broadcast!"
He spread his wings, his voice booming. "What happens next will be an event that shakes the very foundations of this world!"
-----
Back in the auction house, Rayleigh didn't need a map. When Bai Ye made his request, the old pirate knew exactly what was happening.
So, they mean to charge headfirst into Marineford to save him.
A thought sparked in Rayleigh's mind. Luffy is Garp's grandson. Ace and Luffy are brothers, which means... A wide, genuine grin spread across his face, the first in a long, long time.
"Hahahaha! If Roger knew about this, he'd be laughing his ass off! Hahaha!"
It had been ages since he felt this alive, not since the day they killed his captain. But even with the good mood bubbling inside him, he had to play the part. He was a retired old man, after all.
"I've built a quiet life here," Rayleigh said, stroking his beard. "If I stick my neck out for you, the peace I've enjoyed will be over..."
"Agree to help us," Bai Ye cut in, his voice steady, "and I'll supply you with the finest booze for the next ten years."
Rayleigh paused. "This old man..."
"I also happen to have a little something," Bai Ye continued, a glint in his eye. "A pill that can restore a man to his physical prime. It's yours, free of charge."
"Well, that is..."
"One more thing. I promised that young lady, the mermaid, that I'd help her find work. But you know how it is on the Sabaody Archipelago for her kind..."
"I'm in," Rayleigh said without another moment's hesitation.
The Straw Hat Pirates just stared. The scene felt shockingly familiar.
Trafalgar Law, standing nearby, thought, I don't understand the half of it, but I'm floored nonetheless.
Bai Ye and Rayleigh locked eyes for a moment before bursting into simultaneous laughter. The deal had seemed like a ridiculous transaction, a simple list of bribes. But it was a test. Bai Ye knew he couldn't just buy the Vice-Captain of the Roger Pirates. He had to show his resolve. No matter what Rayleigh asked, Bai Ye was prepared to up the stakes, to prove he would stop at nothing.
And Rayleigh saw it. He saw the fire in the young man's eyes, the same fire he once saw in his captain. That determination was what truly sealed the deal.
Of course, the boy with the straw hat was the real clincher. That hat alone was enough to pull Rayleigh from his long retirement. The man who first wore it had defined Rayleigh's entire youth, turned his world upside down. He still remembered the day of Roger's execution like it was yesterday. The World Government wanted to make an example of him, to scare the world into submission.
Instead, Roger used his last words to light a fuse.
[My treasure? You can have it if you want it. I left everything I own in one place. Now you just have to find it!]
In Rayleigh's memory, Roger's dying breath became a firestorm that engulfed the globe, birthing the Great Pirate Era. It was the best and worst night of his life.
Snapping back to the present, Rayleigh turned his sharp gaze to Luffy. "You want to be the King of the Pirates, don't you, Straw Hat boy?"
Luffy's playful demeanor vanished. He looked Rayleigh dead in the eye and nodded, his expression deadly serious. "Yeah. I do."
Rayleigh pressed on, his presence growing heavier, a wave of Haki washing over the room. "You've barely survived the first half of the Grand Line. Now you plan to challenge the most powerful military force on the planet. Can you really do it? Can you rule this chaotic sea and all the monsters who sail it?"
The pressure was immense, enough to make a lesser man's bones crack. Luffy didn't flinch. He didn't even try to counter with his own Haki. Instead, a wide, confident smile spread across his face—his signature grin.
"I'm not going to rule anything," he declared. "The freest man on the sea is the Pirate King!"
Just like that, the crushing weight vanished.
-----
"RUN! IT'S AN ADMIRAL! KIZARU IS HERE!"
On Grove 27 of the Sabaody Archipelago, screams echoed through the air. From a cloud of smoke and debris, a lanky figure in a pinstripe suit and a Navy justice coat emerged, a lazy, almost disconnected look on his face.
It was one of the Navy's Three Admirals: Kizaru.
"Ooooh, hello there," he drawled, holding a finger to his chin. "Kizaru, at your service."
He glanced at the black Den Den Mushi on his wrist. "How strange."
In a flash of golden light, he disappeared, reappearing seconds later directly in the path of a group of fleeing pirates. "I just wanted to ask for directions. Have any of you seen my subordinate, Sentomaru?"
Despite his casual tone, the terrified pirates instinctively opened fire. Bullets passed harmlessly through his shimmering, light-based form.
Kizaru sighed, a look of mild disappointment on his face as he slowly raised his right leg. "Is that a no? What a shame. I was only asking for directions."
A searing beam of light erupted from his foot.
BOOM!
-----
On Grove 33, another fearsome figure intercepted a panicked crowd. Vice-Admiral Tokikake, known as Chaton, had arrived after hearing news of the Straw Hats' chaos. He swung his blade with a casual air, cutting down a pirate as he muttered to himself.
"Just as Mister Garp always said," Tokikake mused, a grim smile on his face. "The Sabaody Archipelago is where the world's filth gathers to fester." He sheathed his sword. "Now, off to Grove 1. I hear some rookies were stupid enough to attack a Celestial Dragon. Now that takes balls."
On Grove 4, X. Drake scrambled to avoid another laser blast from the hulking figure in front of him. A grimace twisted his features.
"Bartholomew Kuma's body... but with Kizaru's laser," he grunted, diving behind a mangrove root. "Vegapunk has already advanced the Pacifista project this far?"
As a former Rear Admiral and a secret captain of the Navy's "SWORD" unit, Drake was one of the few who knew the truth about the Special Science Group. He knew about the Pacifista program. He just hadn't expected them to be this powerful, this complete.
BOOM!
He dodged another attack, his eyes scanning the battlefield. The area was nearly cleared of civilians and weaker pirates. It was just him and the machine.
Getting captured by my own side now? Drake thought, his body shifting into his hybrid Zoan form. What a fucking embarrassment that would be.