"Yes!"
Sabo nodded firmly in confirmation.
"What do you think, then? Do you think what he said was right? About the revolution?"
"Although some of what he said doesn't apply to every situation, the overall direction is sound. And I think he was right about spreading our ideals."
Sabo first expressed his agreement with what Chen Qiang had said, then gathered his own thoughts and continued.
"Only by telling the whole world what we stand for can we make more people understand what we're doing. Right now, the World Government controls all the flow of information, and that makes many people see us as villains even more terrifying than pirates. That clearly can't go on."
"And..."
Sabo spent the next half hour explaining his thoughts on Chen Qiang's words, along with his own analysis, to Dragon.
"If you think it's right, then do it! Don't forget, you're the Revolutionary Army's chief of staff. You have the authority to decide what path the Revolutionary Army should take from here."
After Sabo had finished explaining everything, Dragon fell silent for a while on the other end of the Den Den Mushi. Then he spoke to Sabo in a firm voice.
"Does that mean you agree, Chief?"
Sabo looked at the Den Den Mushi, somewhat surprised.
"Sabo, you have to understand: the Revolutionary Army was founded to overthrow the Celestial Dragons' rule. Before this, we didn't know what the right thing to do was, so we had to figure it out as we went. Now someone has put forward a different idea, and it sounds better than the methods we're using. What reason would I have to reject it?"
"All right! I'll make the preparations as soon as I get back and put the plan we discussed into action."
"Give it your all, Sabo! The future of this world belongs to you young people!"
With that, Dragon hung up.
After Sabo and the others returned to the Revolutionary Army's headquarters, they began putting their plan into action.
A newspaper office was also quietly established on the Sabaody Archipelago.
After leaving Copperfield, Lin followed Chen Qiang's instructions and sailed away from the harbor. Then she picked a direction at random and set off.
After all, Lin had only ever been a resident of a small island. She could manage rowing a boat here and there, but sailing the Grand Line was a different matter. Finding an island in this vast ocean was even more difficult.
So once the ship had set off, she stopped worrying about which direction it was headed in. Instead, she went up on deck, placed the finger left behind by Chen Qiang's clone in front of her, and stared at it blankly, wondering when Chen Qiang would come back to life from it.
She had made a contract with Chen Qiang. Although the distance between them had weakened the mental connection they'd once shared, she could still sense whether he was alive or dead. So she was certain that Chen Qiang was all right.
Lin wasn't worried at all. She was simply wondering when Chen Qiang would appear.
Four hours later, the ship had sailed to who knew where. The Red Line, which had still been visible earlier, had completely disappeared from sight.
Just then, the finger Lin had left on the deck twitched. A streak of crimson light shot down from the sky and enveloped it, and Chen Qiang's body quickly began to regenerate within the glow.
The finger's movement startled Lin, who had been dozing off.
As soon as she came to, Lin saw what was happening in front of her and realized that Chen Qiang had returned and was repairing his body. She could already feel their connection growing stronger.
"Ah! You pervert!"
But when Chen Qiang's body had been fully restored and the crimson light had faded away, Lin, who had been about to run over and hug him, blushed bright red. She scolded him, then turned away.
"Huh?"
Chen Qiang had only just recovered, and his mind was still a little hazy. Being scolded out of nowhere left him completely baffled. But he soon realized something was wrong when he felt a chill around his lower half.
That was when he understood. His body had been restored, but his clothes had been left behind in Copperfield, which had completely vanished. He was standing naked in front of Lin. No wonder she'd scolded him.
"Damn!"
That was all Chen Qiang said before he flashed into the cabin and began looking for something to wear. Luckily, the ships belonged to slave traders, and there were plenty of clothes and other belongings aboard. He soon found a pair of shorts and a floral shirt and put them on.
"Phew! All done. I've dodged a bullet again!"
He checked himself in the mirror and nodded with satisfaction. Then he left the room and returned to the deck.
"Hey, Lin? Where are we?"
After they'd talked for a while, Chen Qiang finally asked Lin.
"I don't know! I picked a direction at random and let the ship sail on its own. I don't know where we are now." Lin shook her head, showing that she had no idea either.
"You don't know how to navigate?"
"No! I never learned."
"Wait! Why does it feel like there hasn't been any wind at all for a while?"
Chen Qiang had no time to say anything else. He suddenly realized that after leaving the cabin, he hadn't felt even the slightest breeze. Even when he waved his hand, he couldn't feel any wind against his cheek. Sensing trouble, he hurried toward the helm.
"What's wrong?"
When Chen Qiang suddenly ran off, Lin seemed to realize that her actions might have caused some kind of trouble. She hurried after him and called out anxiously.
"Just as I thought! I knew something was wrong. We've sailed into the Calm Belt!" At the helm, Chen Qiang turned it, but nothing happened. He then looked out over the sea and saw no waves at all. That was when he knew for sure that he and Lin had entered the Calm Belt.
"The Calm Belt? How did we end up here? Aren't we in danger? When I was little, I heard my aunt and uncle say that the Calm Belt was full of giant monsters that ate people alive!"
When Lin heard that they were in the Calm Belt, her cute little face turned panicked, and her brows knitted together.
"It's fine! I took a look just now. Since there's no wind, we're not far from the Grand Line. I just need to get in the water and push the ship back over there."
Seeing Lin's panicked, guilt-stricken expression, Chen Qiang smiled and patted her on the head to reassure her.
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