"Yo, everyone. You probably don't need me to introduce each other, right?"
Michael, wearing the uniform of the Revolutionary Army, folded his wings as soon as he stepped into the bar.
To be honest, Shakky's bar was a little cramped.
"But just in case someone doesn't know me—allow me to introduce myself first. I'm Michael, Rear Admiral of the Navy Headquarters and concurrently the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army."
"As for my identity, I'd prefer if you all could keep it a secret... but if not, that's fine too. Just chalk it up as pirates spreading slanderous rumors about a kind and noble Marine."
After speaking, Michael stepped aside to let Rayleigh and Gaban through from behind.
The two had yet to decide where to go after retiring, and had been bumming around in a small village in the South Blue.
This time, Michael had reached out to them through Morgans.
Originally, they had thought that their meeting on Baterilla Island in the South Blue would be their first and last contact with the young Marine.
But surprisingly, Michael took the initiative to contact them again.
At first, they suspected it might be some Navy ploy to lure them into a trap.
But then they thought, if the Navy already knew where they were hiding, wouldn't it be easier to just send troops?
Besides, this meeting was in the Sabaody Archipelago.
Not exactly the best place to start a fight.
Driven by curiosity—and with nothing better to do in retirement—they accepted Michael's invitation.
What they didn't expect was to run into an old acquaintance here...
To be precise, an old enemy.
But after Rocks vanished without a trace and the Rocks Pirates dissolved into smoke, and after their own crew had disbanded due to the loss of their captain, meeting again like this no longer carried any hostility.
Rocks lost and disappeared.
Roger won and died.
That great war of the past had left no winner in the end.
...
"Gloriosa, what are you doing in Shakky's bar?" Rayleigh was more curious about why this woman had gotten involved in all this.
He and Shakky were old acquaintances—he'd met the bar owner and top-class intelligence dealer back during his first visit to the Sabaody Archipelago.
"Hmph. As the empress of Amazon Lily three generations ago, I currently have nowhere to go. Staying at a junior's house for a while isn't that strange, is it?"
Gloriosa snorted coldly. Though she didn't harbor any particular feelings for Rocks, losing a fight...
Some lingering resentment was only natural.
"Amazon Lily's empress? Three generations ago? Junior?" Gaban counted on his fingers, "So that means... Shakky was the empress two generations ago?"
Rayleigh looked at Shakky too when he heard that, but she simply puffed on her slender cigarette calmly without saying a word.
He had no choice but to temporarily bury the question in his mind.
...
"Have you all finished your pleasantries?" Michael's perfect, warm smile spread across his face as he gently tapped the table. The 'tap tap' echoed softly in the small bar.
"If so, then let's begin our strategy meeting."
"Strategy meeting!?" Gaban nearly fell out of his chair. "Kid, you serious? A Marine on the surface, a Revolutionary in the shadows, and now you're holding a strategy meeting with a bunch of ex-pirates?"
"This setup... normal folks wouldn't be able to wrap their heads around it!"
Though Gaban was voicing his own complaints, he also spoke for everyone at the table—except Morgans.
None of them understood what this young Marine was trying to do.
Michael, however, turned his gaze toward the Celestial Dragon's officials who were still collapsed on the floor, paralyzed with fear.
He tossed a glance at Morgans. The man rolled his eyes and ignored him.
Only when Michael made a tight fist gesture did Morgans finally get up from the bar and drag the two officials over, dumping them on the table surrounded by these powerful figures.
The atmosphere...
Felt like they were about to eat them alive.
Of course, no one was reenacting Diary of a Madman. Michael rested his chin on both hands and smiled cheerfully at the two officials:
"You two are the ones who came ahead to scout and plan the route for the Celestial Dragons' outing, right?"
"Y-Yes..." one of the officials stammered. "P-Please don't kill us. The Celestial Dragons won't let you off if you do."
"Come on now. Do you really think the Celestial Dragons would get angry over two useless men? Sure they will—but that anger would be directed at you."
Michael was smiling, but none of the warmth reached his eyes.
That cold gaze made Morgans shiver.
"Good thing I'm on this guy's side," Morgans muttered, returning to his beer.
"The Celestial Dragons wanted to purchase new slaves, but failed. Do you think you worthless subordinates might end up becoming the replacements?"
"As their officials, you should know better than me what becoming a Celestial Dragon's slave means, right?"
The two officials trembled violently from head to toe. That terror had always haunted the darkest corners of their minds, and now Michael's words dredged it all up again.
They could not—must not—become slaves!
"Sir Marine, what do you want to know? As long as we don't become slaves, we'll do anything!"
"Yes! Anything!"
Michael nodded in satisfaction.
He had to admit, the Celestial Dragons' reign of terror could even make people from his own faction uneasy.
"Simple. Report this route to the Celestial Dragons as their official itinerary—just follow this plan."
"If you do that, I guarantee you won't become slaves."
After he finished speaking, Michael even stood up, shook hands with the two men, and let them go.
...
"You're not worried they'll report this to the World Government?" Morgans asked in a low voice.
"Two low-ranking scouts, claiming they were dragged into a back-alley bar by a Rear Admiral of the Navy Headquarters who's also Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army, accompanied by two Amazon Lily empresses and the Pirate King's right- and left-hand men, Rayleigh and Gaban?"
Michael curled his lip in disdain.
"If you were in the World Government, would you believe a fairy tale like that?"
"Alright. They got the ball rolling. Now it's our turn."
Michael turned around and looked at the four stunned faces.
"What's with the ghost-struck expressions?"
"You're actually going to take action against the Celestial Dragons!?" Rayleigh asked gravely. "Aren't you a Marine?"
"But I'm also a Revolutionary," Michael replied with a shrug.
Then, with a carefree tone, he added:
"And it's not me who's acting against the Celestial Dragons."
"It's you terrifying~ pirates."
"I'm Pure Michael, after all."