Baltigo, a somewhat unfamiliar name.
Not many people knew of it.
Because it was originally a barren island with no resources, nothing but yellow sand and white rubble as far as the eye could see.
Therefore, even though this [Island of White Soil] was located in the Grand Line, very few people deliberately stopped here.
However, precisely because of this 'uniquely advantageous' geographical position, Monkey D. Dragon chose to establish the Revolutionary Army's headquarters here.
Thanks to someone's influence on the Marineford War, the World Government collapsed, and Blackbeard met a miserable end. Baltigo remained undiscovered to this day.
Similarly, due to the World Government's collapse, the Revolutionary Army's actions had become much bolder recently.
Their front lines were no longer confined to a single country but spanned entire seas.
However, the cost of this was that almost all their personnel were mobilized. The Commanders of the East, South, West, and North Armies were frequently away on 'business trips', and even Dragon, the Supreme Commander, had to constantly move to provide support.
Such large-scale operations would have been unthinkable in the past.
The kings of those World Government member nations would contact the World Government immediately upon facing threats, and then the Marine, dispatched by the World Government, would come to forcefully suppress the uprisings.
They often needed to pay a great price and spend a considerable amount of time to completely liberate a country.
Moreover, if the country's royal family managed to escape during the liberation, it wouldn't be long before they returned with the World Government's support.
Even if the price was the wealth their families had accumulated over many years, they didn't care.
As long as they could get their country back, they could always recoup those losses by squeezing the citizens even harder.
But this predicament of 'attrition' ceased to exist after the Marineford War.
The collapse of the World Government was unacceptable to many kings.
Some chose to align themselves with other pirate forces, while others chose to bury their heads in the sand and pretend not to see.
Of course, some were smarter and chose to contact the Revolutionary Army, exchanging the voluntary relinquishment of some of their rights for the safety of their families.
The biggest advantage of this was that the time needed for liberation was greatly shortened. The disadvantage was that the revolution was not 'thorough' enough and required a period of continued monitoring to ensure those people wouldn't relapse.
It was rare to see a day like today, where not only Dragon stayed at headquarters, but even the North Army Commander, Karasu, had no missions outside.
"So, Sabo, why did you call me back in such a hurry?"
Dragon lowered his hood and dusted off his clothes.
"…"
Karasu, standing nearby, also turned to look at Sabo, the newly appointed Chief of Staff, but because he forgot to turn on his speaker, no one heard what he said.
It couldn't be helped. Despite his fierce appearance, Karasu naturally had a very soft voice and needed to use the beak-shaped speaker on his face to communicate normally.
Sabo didn't speak… he just looked silently at Karasu.
He knew Karasu's personality well. The other man was sensitive about his soft voice and would get angry if it was brought up, so Sabo merely used action to remind him.
Seeing Sabo didn't respond, Karasu finally realized and quickly raised his hand to turn on the speaker.
"…You specifically asked us not to tell Belo Betty. Why?"
Initially, a rather terrible thought had crossed Karasu's mind.
That was whether Belo Betty had betrayed them, which was why Sabo specifically instructed not to tell her.
Fortunately, the reality wasn't as bad as he had imagined. Sabo didn't keep them in suspense and simply placed an invitation on the table.
"A News Coo dropped this off recently. Not many people know that Baltigo is our main base, so I think this is the work of the [Great Hero] himself."
Upon hearing this, Dragon took the invitation and unfolded it. The content was also very simple.
It was essentially a sincere invitation for the high-ranking cadres of the Revolutionary Army to attend his wedding on Amazon Lily. It didn't specify exactly who was invited.
After Dragon finished reading, Sabo added.
"I remember you guys told me before that Sister Betty and that person seemed to have a history… I thought I should tell you before passing this news on to all the senior cadres."
To be honest, if Karasu weren't responsible for message transmission within the Revolutionary Army, Sabo would have wanted to keep it from him too.
"Your approach is correct, Sabo."
After hearing the whole story, two drops of sweat appropriately appeared on the forehead of this [Cold Sweat King] Dragon.
"It was right not to tell Belo Betty."
He then shook his head, as if recalling past events.
"If that kid Naruto were marrying just one woman, it might be understandable, but he's marrying two at the same time… Betty will definitely go crazy."
Hearing Dragon say this, Karasu, who knew roughly what had happened, also nodded in deep agreement.
This made Sabo, who only had a partial understanding, curious.
"Huh? So Sister Betty's feelings for Uzumaki Naruto weren't fake?"
"Can you tell me the details?"
Even though Sabo was a blockhead himself, he was very interested in other people's love lives.
"Hmm… I'll tell you what I know."
After a moment's thought, Dragon, being a bit reserved himself, figured since they'd come this far, it wouldn't hurt to talk about it.
Don't think the Revolutionary Army was always a grim and bitter bunch. They had joys and sorrows like ordinary people, with their own likes and dislikes.
Gossip wasn't exactly rare.
—The story between Belo Betty and Naruto wasn't actually that dramatic.
Simply put, it was about the twenty-one-year-old Naruto rescuing the then eighteen-year-old Belo Betty at sea.
Back then, Betty had just eaten the [Kobu Kobu no Mi] not long ago and hadn't fully mastered its power.
The citizens she had 'inspired' didn't stop after passionately overthrowing the nobles oppressing them… instead, they continued, eyes red, launching indiscriminate attacks on anyone within the noble's estate who could move.
Even if that person was just a servant working at the noble's house out of necessity, even if that person was also oppressed like them, it didn't matter.
Inspiration was the manipulation of emotions, a positive emotional reinforcement, but also a very dangerous ability.
Once out of control, it could easily turn into an uncontrollable tragedy.
The courage that was inspired could easily twist into pure violence.
These people even attacked Betty, who was trying to stop their violence. At that time, Betty, whose mind wasn't mature enough and who was shaken by her own actions, forgot to even fight back.
It was at that moment that that man, like the wind, appeared.
He didn't hesitate. He beat up everyone present, but without truly hurting them.
'Hey, hey, hey, if you're drunk, go sleep! Otherwise, I'm gonna go on a drunken rampage too. Now, all of you… WAKE UP!'
It must be said, Naruto was indeed incredibly cool at that moment. A young woman like Betty, in her prime and with her heart freshly shaken, simply couldn't resist.
"Ah? So why didn't they end up together in the end?"
Sabo was captivated and then raised his question.
Hearing this, Dragon sighed and then explained.
"Actually, Betty confessed to Naruto not long after, but he rejected her, using the excuse that 'his heart had already been given to another girl'."
"Ah… I see… no wonder…"
Sabo nodded. That made sense.
After finishing the story, Dragon placed the invitation back in Sabo's hand, which made Sabo quite confused.
"Commander, aren't you planning to go?"
"My presence is too conspicuous, I'm not suitable for such an occasion… As for Karasu, he needs to maintain message transmission and can't get away either. You will represent us there."
With that, Dragon moved to pat Sabo on the shoulder, but his hand froze in mid-air.
In fact, not only him, but even Karasu beside him fell silent instantly… although he was usually quite silent anyway.
Sabo, still unaware, was about to look up after taking the invitation when he heard a familiar female voice.
"I'll go with you."
The woman, wearing only a red jacket on her upper body, extinguished her cigarette, then took off her sunglasses, her eyes fixed on the invitation in Sabo's hand, her look suggesting she was ready to fight him if he disagreed.
"Si… Sister Betty…"