Chapter 98 Vice Admiral Luffy wreaks havoc at G8 FortressJust as everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
*Snap! Snap! Snap!*
Countless blinding beams of searchlight illuminated the Going Merry from all directions, instantly turning it into daylight.
"What?! What's going on? Where are we?"
Nami, blinded by the bright lights, cautiously surveyed her surroundings.
Luffy grinned, licking his lips. "Finally, some decent food."
Everyone stared at him like he was an idiot. "Huh? You know where we are?"
Luffy didn't explain, just smiled faintly, turned, and went back into the cabin.
When he emerged, he was wearing that long-lost Navy cloak emblazoned with the word "Justice."
Just then, a piercing alarm shattered the night air, and small military boats quickly surrounded the Going Merry. Fully armed Navy soldiers nimbly leaped onto the deck.
"Don't move! Hands up, all of you!"
The leading officer shouted, gun raised, but his voice trembled when his gaze fell on the epaulets on Luffy's shoulder: "Lieutenant General... Lieutenant General?!"
Luffy casually tossed his cape, exuding an aura of dominance: "Men, let's go! Follow me to fight the rich and redeem the land!"
Following the light, the crowd saw the enormous "G-8" insignia on the fortress wall, strikingly prominent.
"A naval fortress?!"
...
"I never expected the renowned Vice Admiral Monkey D. Luffy to grace my humble branch base with his presence."
Fortress Commander Jonathan, holding a glass of red wine, smiled and handed it to Luffy. "And in such a...surprising way."
"Haha, an accident, purely an accident! I'll have to trouble you all to give my ship a full check-up this time."
Luffy took the wine and, without any hesitation, struck up a conversation with the famously henpecked vice admiral.
G8 Fortress, to outsiders, seemed like a "large but useless" decoration, but Luffy knew in his heart that a fortress called "Iron Wall" in the hellish Grand Line was definitely a tough nut to crack.
Just look at the battle-damaged warships being repaired in the dock, and the ships carrying wounded soldiers—that was enough to show how much blood and sweat this fortress had shed for the peace of this sea.
It was precisely because of the existence of G8 Fortress that the pirates in this sea area dared not act recklessly, making the fortress itself appear idle.
Without this anchor of stability, this sea area would have long since descended into chaos.
After a long and arduous voyage, the Going Merry, a civilian slingship, had long reached its limit.
Even though Luffy had been intentionally or unintentionally protecting it in this life, the ship was now riddled with damage.
Although the keel was still intact, the frequent leaks in the hull were a dangerous sign.
Therefore, Luffy deliberately changed course and made a hard landing at G8 Fortress, intending to utilize the Navy's resources to thoroughly reinforce the Going Merry.
Because Luffy, through the perception of his Rinnegan, discovered that the Going Merry's ship spirit was beginning to show signs of awakening.
To preserve this little creature, Luffy decided to conduct a daring experiment—the Ship of Theseus.
If you replace each plank on the ship one by one until all the parts are no longer the same, is the ship still the same ship?
Similarly, could the Going Merry be reborn in this way?
Luffy plans to replace all parts except the keel before reaching Water 7.
Upon arriving in Water 7, he'll replace the keel with the Adam Tree Franky bought.
Let's see if he can inherit the ship spirit intact.
After all, in the original story, the Going Merry endured a lot of patchwork repairs, yet the ship spirit remained steadfastly by its side.
Jonathan looked at the excessively young vice admiral before him, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
He knew that a monster like Luffy, with his powerful background and monstrous strength, had a much brighter future than an old codger like himself, relegated to a branch office.
"Vice Admiral Luffy, you're too kind. Your crew has been a great help to us. Our brothers encountered that madman 'Scissorhands Jack' on a mission, suffering heavy casualties. We were fortunate to have your ship's doctor come to our rescue," Jonathan replied politely.
After exchanging pleasantries, Jonathan suddenly changed the subject, looking curiously at Luffy who was leisurely sipping his wine: "Speaking of which, Vice Admiral Luffy, what brings you here? Don't you know Headquarters' been frantically searching for you?"
"Searching for me? What for?"
Luffy looked completely bewildered, putting down his glass.
He was just a nominal vice admiral, usually only doing prestige work. What urgent matter could possibly require his personal attention?
"You really don't know? The sky's about to fall in the New World!" Jonathan's expression was serious, not joking.
"Huh? The sky's falling?"
Luffy was even more confused.
Logically, according to the original timeline, the biggest thing right now should be Ace meeting and fighting Blackbeard, and being captured.
But Ace had already been sent away prematurely by him, Blackbeard had been fooled into giving up his plan to capture Ace, and Big Mom's tea party wasn't even scheduled yet.
This should be the calm before the storm, so what big event is this?
Jonathan looked at Luffy's bewildered expression and confirmed that he was indeed offline.
So he took out several newspapers from different dates from his drawer and slammed them on the table.
The bold headlines on the front page were shocking:
[Four Emperors Enraged! Whitebeard Pirates Attacked by Mysterious Assassin!]
[Half of His 46 Grand Fleets Attacked! Many Captains Vanish!]
[Whitebeard Issues Sky-High Bounty! Vows to Find the Mastermind!]
[Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach publicly declares: Yes, I'm the one who captured him! Whitebeard is furious and gives chase, but the entire Blackbeard Pirates successfully escape the New World, shocking the world!]
[The World Government urgently summons the Seven Warlords of the Sea! Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach confirmed as the new Shichibukai!]
"Pfft—!!!"
Luffy's mouthful of red wine instantly sprayed out three meters away like a high-pressure water cannon, leaving him stunned for a long time.
"He's ruthless!"
Luffy managed to squeeze out these words through gritted teeth after a long pause.
His mind worked quickly, and he instantly understood the situation.
Teach went to great lengths to force Whitebeard to submit, or perhaps to pledge allegiance to the World Government!
Relying on his decades-long service on Whitebeard's ship and intimate knowledge of their movements, he launched a sneak attack, capturing nearly half of their subordinate captains?
Is this the legendary case of making up for a lack of quality with quantity?
Luffy glanced at the list; they were all relatively unknown characters. The only one he recognized was Squard, the "filial son" who later stabbed Whitebeard in the back during the Marineford War…
If it were just capturing one or two captains, Whitebeard, for the sake of the bigger picture, might have only attacked a few Marine branches to exert pressure.
But this damn Blackbeard has no sportsmanship; he captured half of them!
If they can't be rescued, the Whitebeard Pirates' "world's strongest" title can be torn off and thrown in the trash.
After all, the Four Emperors are emperors not only because of their individual strength, but also because of their vast territories.
Only those with subjects, territory, bases, and the ability to protect their subordinates can be called emperors.
Those lone commanders who rob people everywhere are, at best, great pirates.