After Leo's personal physician, Nojiko, set out the drinks for them, the Revolutionary Army and Red-Haired's officers gathered around the fireplace, sitting in a circle on the sunken sofas.
The more than thirty people capable of deciding the world's course did not look like they had come to negotiate. Instead, they seemed like old friends who had gathered to chat and confide in one another.
Holding glasses of liquor, they began quietly chatting with their friends. Naturally, the topic discussed most was the Revolutionary Army's experiences over the years.
Yet everyone's gaze drifted, seemingly unintentionally, toward the central circle. The three people talking there were the key to determining whether they would be enemies or friends from this point onward.
"Is that so? So that's how it was." As Red-Haired spoke with Dark King Rayleigh about Ace, he nodded gently. "News travels far too inconveniently across the seas. We barely received any word before your war with the Marines had already ended. It truly was..." He shook his head.
In the original Marineford War, Red-Haired had arrived late because he had gone to stop Big Mom's and Kaido's pirate crews.
They definitely had not come to pick up scraps. They had intended to exploit the opening; whether it was the Marines or the Whitebeard Pirates, they wanted them both!
But Red-Haired stopped them, preventing them from advancing, and in the end they could only leave in frustration.
That alone showed the gap between Big Mom's side and Red-Haired's.
By the time Red-Haired and his men hurried over, a bloody clash had already taken place.
But Red-Haired had not arrived during this period because the Marines had given them far too little time.
Even setting out from the New World, they would have had to cross Big Mom's, Kaido's, and Whitebeard's