— — — — — —
"Oh?"
Hearing the na, Mihawk raised an eyebrow. "Zoro and Kuina, huh? Us old-tirs are really feeling the pressure."
He gave a small smirk. "But that just makes things more interesting! Saves the trouble of grooming worthy opponents myself. The more skilled swordsn there are, the better!"
Shanks chuckled and shook his head. "You're still completely obsessed with swordsmanship, huh? No wonder you've gotten so strong."
"Well, of course I am! I'm not like you." Mihawk gave him a sideways glance before finally stepping aside to give Shanks a clearer view of the screen.
Truth be told, he was still a little annoyed by how Shanks had thrown away an arm in the East Blue just to gamble on the so-called 'New Era.'
Wasting one of his own arms for nothing—wasn't that just foolish?
Even if it was for that tattoo, it still wasn't worth it
It had definitely affected his swordsmanship too. Missing an arm made a real difference.
And now, with everything Renzo had stirred up, who exactly got to define this new era?
Whatever grand plans Shanks once had… they were all aningless now.
In the end, that arm was lost for nothing.
And for so reason, Mihawk couldn't help but feel a little smug about it.
Sengoku and Garp looked around at Shanks, Mihawk, Whitebeard, and Dragon. Though it still felt a bit awkward to be on the sa side, Sengoku finally spoke:
"Since Imu and the Celestial Dragons are gone, it's ti for us to take action. The Grand Line's first half, the West Blue, and the South Blue—those are on us."
Dragon nodded. "The East Blue and North Blue are in the hands of the Revolutionary Army."
Whitebeard and Shanks chid in together: "Then we'll handle the New World for now."
"But—" Whitebeard added seriously, "Don't expect total peace in the New World. That's just not possible. We'll do what we can, but there are too many powerful pirates there. Real peace will take ti… if it's even possible at all."
Renzo, however, sounded confident. "No need to rush. Once the Marines and Revolutionary Army have reford the Blues and the first half of the Grand Line, we'll shift our focus to the New World. One step at a ti."
He looked around at the group. "Now, about forming a new world governnt—I hope all of you will work together to figure it out."
"I'm not asking for perfection. But we do need a functional, energetic, and future-proof political system. The old world, with the Celestial Dragons and that so-called 'World Governnt,' must never rise again. I won't allow it."
He'd gone through too much to bring them down—no way was he going to let history repeat itself.
"Count the Marines in," Sengoku said firmly. "You have our full support."
Honestly, hearing Renzo say that was a relief for him.
At least it showed Renzo had no interest in becoming the next Imu—no secret puppet-master pulling the strings of a new regi.
And that ant everything to Sengoku and the Marines.
"We of the Revolutionary Army agree as well," Dragon added. "In fact, I've uploaded a bunch of books Renzo gave to the group chat. Everyone should take a look—they have so really useful ideas. You can even ask Red Queen to show you the core rules."
"Oh? Then I've got to check those out," Sengoku said, suddenly intrigued.
Shanks and the others nodded in agreent, quickly downloading the files.
After a few more exchanges, the call ended.
Renzo imdiately created a shadow clone and opened a portal to Shanks' ship.
The clone nodded at the original before stepping through.
"Well then… my part's done for now." Renzo stretched, took a step—and vanished from sight, reappearing in Aunt Shakky's "Rip-off Bar."
"Huh?" Kuina blinked in surprise when she saw him. All her worry lted away as she threw herself into his arms. "You're okay? You're not hurt? What happened to Imu?"
She had tried to monitor the situation via satellite, but once Renzo activated Takamagahara, everything went dark. She had no idea what had happened.
"I'm fine," Renzo said with a warm smile, gently patting her back. "Co on, you know . That so-called Imu? I already took care of them. And the Celestial Dragons, too. Mariejois is history. The world's headed for a new era now."
"I don't care about this 'new era' nonsense! Just don't go off on your own again, okay?" Kuina's voice trembled, her eyes rimd with red.
She'd really been scared. Scared to lose him.
"I won't. I promise." Renzo gave her a reassuring smile.
"Can't believe you actually pulled it off with a smile on your face," Rayleigh spoke up, finally joining the conversation. "So… what now? Gonna just let the world do its thing, or what?"
"Of course not," Renzo replied, shaking his head.
He briefly explained the overall plan—how the Marines, the Revolutionary Army, Whitebeard, Shanks, and himself would each play a part in shaping the world going forward.
Rayleigh's eyes lit up. "Wow, kid. You've really got guts. That's one hell of a plan. But seriously… you're not interested in Imu's seat? The top of the world? That kind of power is within reach for soone like you."
Renzo gave a light laugh. "Power or not—it doesn't make much difference to ."
"As long as I'm the strongest in the world, the respect and authority will co either way."
"But if soone stronger than shows up, then no matter what kind of throne I'm sitting on, they'll knock right off it. So really… who cares if I'm sitting there or not?"
"Besides, you know —I hate trouble."
"If I take control and have to run this new governnt, handle all the reforms, and keep everything together… that'd be a nightmare. I'm not about to make my own life harder."
"That kind of stuff is better left to people like Dragon and Sengoku. They're way more suited for it."
"People says 'The Pirate King is the freest man on the seas.'"
"I don't care about being Pirate King—but if I had to rephrase it, I'd say the freest person in the world… is the strongest. And that person is ."
Rayleigh and Aunt Shakky both burst out laughing at that.
Rayleigh took a big swig from his bottle, grinning. "Damn right! In the end, this world really is ruled by strength. If you've got the power, who needs titles?"
"Heh, you've really got a clear head on your shoulders. Honestly, I thought soone your age would be more tempted by power. Looks like I misjudged you."
Renzo smiled faintly but didn't respond.
Aunt Shakky nodded thoughtfully. "Well, with that kind of mindset, I doubt the world's going to fall into chaos anyti soon. Your plan's solid."
"Bringing the Revolutionary Army, Marines, and even two of the Four Emperors to the table to help build the next world governnt… only soone like you could've co up with that."
"Yeah, no kidding," Rayleigh said, chuckling as he looked over at Renzo. "The real question is, how'd you manage to convince people like Whitebeard and the Navy to work together?"
"Oh, that part's easy—" Kuina jumped in. "He just beat them into submission! Problem solved!"
Rayleigh burst out laughing, but shook his head. "If only it were that simple."
There were way too many ideological differences and fundantal principles involved for it to be just a matter of brute force.
Kuina was still too young—she didn't see the full picture.
"You're right," Renzo nodded. "It wasn't just about strength."
"The real key was that everyone had already grown sick of the Celestial Dragons and the World Governnt. When I presented a new idea for how the world could be run, they were actually pretty interested."
"It's not like they sat down and politely listened to at first."
"Of course, overwhelming strength helped push things along. Once they realized they couldn't beat , it made more sense to work with . After all, my proposal actually benefits everyone."
"No one's dumb enough to reject a good deal—especially not when they're outmatched."
"Haha! Exactly!" Rayleigh laughed heartily. "Sengoku, Dragon, even Shanks and Whitebeard—they're all smart guys. They saw the upside in your plan. Add in your power, and it beca a no-brainer for them to cooperate."
"And thanks to all this, Roger's original plan pretty much collapsed." Rayleigh let out a long sigh of relief. "Looks like this old man is finally free."
"If your plan works out, I wouldn't be surprised if piracy slowly disappears from the world altogether."
He had seen right through the implications.
Renzo took the drink Aunt Shakky handed him, downed it in one go, and smiled. "So Roger really did have a plan for you guys—Shanks included."
Rayleigh nodded. "Yeah, he had a few things in mind."
"After learning the truth about what happened 800 years ago… he wanted to change the world."
"Unfortunately, ti wasn't on his side. His illness caught up with him, and there just wasn't enough ti left. So all he could do was set things in motion and hope future generations would finish the job."
"He knew the Great Pirate Era would be a double-edged sword. There were gains and losses, and the regular folks definitely bore the brunt of it."
"But we don't regret it."
"Change doesn't co without bloodshed."
"What were we supposed to do—let the rotten World Governnt and the Celestial Dragons keep running the show just to avoid conflict?"
Of course, looking back on it, it was kind of ironic.
The one who triggered a global revolution… was a pirate.
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