Let us rewind time a little.
A few days ago, when Dressrosa suffered a coup d'état.
In the Holy Land, Mariejois.
"Know this: we only took the time to meet you because it's you."
"Now tell us—what is your purpose here, Shanks?!"
The Five Elders were either standing or seated.
On a green sofa before the five of them, the red-haired man wore a cloak and, with one hand extended beneath it, placed a bounty poster on the table.
"I want to talk about a certain pirate."
The Five Elders looked at the bounty.
One of the Yonko—Monkey D. Luffy. 5 billion!
Marcus Mars looked bitter.
"It was you who attacked the government ship and took that Akuma no Mi! The root of all our problems is you!"
At that very moment, the Five Elders wanted to kill Shanks.
The corner of the red-haired man's mouth lifted slightly. Even in the enemy's lair, he remained perfectly calm.
"Could you please set that matter aside for now? The God's Knights should be hunting Luffy as we speak, right?"
"Are you joking? Not long ago, that damned Straw Hat carried out a coup in Dressrosa!"
Marcus Mars's eyes darkened.
Although the news had yet to spread, the coup in a member kingdom had already cost the World Government a great deal of prestige.
In the past, only the Revolutionary Army did such things. Now another had appeared—Straw Hat Luffy!
Like father, like son… that family truly deserves to disappear!
Garp, that bastard…
Garp left the Navy and founded a New Navy together with Zephyr…
Thinking of this, the Five Elders grew so enraged they could barely restrain themselves.
"I truly don't care about such a trivial matter."
But this kind of humiliation made it impossible for them to hold their heads high when facing Imu.
The red-haired man spoke in a low voice:
"Please recall the God's Knights!"
The Five Elders narrowed their eyes.
An abrupt silence filled the office.
"The pursuit of the Straw Hats has been handed over to Figarland. Why don't you go to him personally and ask him to call it off?" Jaygarcia said.
Hearing this, the red-haired man slowly stood up, turned around, and left.
"You don't need to worry. In fact, it won't take much longer."
Watching that bastard leave, the Five Elders were extremely irritated.
Half of the Celestial Dragons had been killed by Luffy. If it hadn't been for Figarland back then, they might be very different people now.
"The Figarland family… is also a huge problem," Etanbaran said, rubbing his temples.
At that moment, a soldier entered.
"This just fell from the sky."
"What?"
It was a letter.
The text read: To the Five Elders.
Jaygarcia took the letter, opened it, and read. His expression changed drastically as he went on.
"A wedding invitation?!"
---xXx---
[You have invited a new crew member: Portgas D. Ace…]
With the addition of the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates, another wave of Adventure Coins flowed in for Luffy.
The system did not count allied members of the Whitebeard Pirates—only the pirates aboard the Moby Dick.
There had been sixteen divisions, each with about one hundred people, totaling 1,600 individuals.
Among them, the captain of the Second Division, Ace, became the captain of the entire regiment.
The captain of the Fourth Division had been killed by Blackbeard.
In reality, only fourteen divisions remained now.
And after the War of Marineford, of the original 1,600 people, nearly ten percent had been forced to remain behind at Marineford.
Thus, only about a thousand people were left.
The total number of Adventure Coins obtained was just 12,000.
That was only slightly more than what one would get upon landing on a new island.
[Adventure Warehouse]:
Haki Fruit ×31, Longevity Fruit ×33, Cleansing Fruit ×1, Empty Fruit ×1, Awakening Fruit ×1, Healing Fruit ×1
During this period, Luffy still refreshed the shop six times a day, with a guaranteed minimum consumption of 1,260 Adventure Coins.
He continued buying the Haki Fruit again and again, but did not use the custom refresh.
In the blink of an eye, more than thirty units had been accumulated, but it was obviously still not enough to upgrade it.
As for the Longevity Fruit, he bought several on purpose.
The reason he bought so many was to give Garp and Zephyr a boost.
Those two old men were already over seventy years old, and their combat power was far inferior to what it had been in their youth. Only by making them about ten years younger could they better manage the New Navy.
"Speaking of which… is Aokiji dead or not?"
Luffy closed the Adventure Shop, murmuring to himself.
Aokiji and Akainu had fought for ten days and ten nights. Eight days had already passed since the battle, and the newspapers still only said that his life or death was uncertain.
If Aokiji hadn't died and had escaped the Navy, Luffy could still draw him to his side.
If he couldn't deceive someone himself, he could just let Garp do it for him.
At that moment, with the Longevity Fruit, the New Navy would also possess combat power at the Admiral level.
Even if they couldn't directly confront Marine Headquarters, at the very least they wouldn't be easily destroyed by the World Government.
"We'll talk about that at the wedding. First, let's get the third Road Poneglyph!"
By then, it was already the next morning.
Luffy asked Monet to gather a few people. He didn't plan to take everyone with him. The Straw Hat fleet was already enormous, so there was no need to mobilize all of them.
After some thought, he decided to take only his elite.
Zoro and Sanji would naturally come along.
Robin, responsible for deciphering the Poneglyphs, couldn't be left behind.
Moria, who had once been defeated by Kaido when he was still a Supernova, was also included.
In addition, Ace and Marco would go as well.
As for the rest, they would remain on the island for the time being.
"Luffy, what do you want from me?" Ace and the others arrived at the castle.
"We're going to Wanokuni."
Without much explanation, Luffy immediately left the castle and activated the power of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi.
The ground split apart, forming a floating platform that carried the entire group and headed toward Wanokuni.
Their territory was very close to Wanokuni; if they traveled by ship, it would only take five or six hours to get there!
"What are you planning to do?" Marco asked curiously, then added excitedly, "The Fuwa Fuwa no Mi's ability is really convenient!"
He could also fly, but his ability consumed stamina.
The Fuwa Fuwa no Mi was different: floating objects did not consume energy as long as they remained still.
Only when they moved—when the ability user manipulated the target—would physical strength be expended.
Of course, this made no difference to Luffy at all. He possessed limitless stamina during the day!
"We're going to look for Pluton!" Luffy replied with a grin.
He had three objectives for this trip.
First, the Road Poneglyph.
Second, the genes of Kaido and the Lunarians.
Third… the Ancient Weapon, Pluton!
(End of chapter)