Trump Card

Chapter 037: The Trump Card

"I want to create a new world with my own hands." Leo shifted uncomfortably from squatting for too long, so he plopped down directly in front of Ace and looked at him, smiling as he spoke.

"But my strength is too weak, so I need people like you." He extended his arm, which was about as thick as Ace's. His build was also similar to Ace's in height and proportion, but the difference in their strength was like heaven and earth.

This wasn't just due to the gap between races, but also the result of the world's strongest martial artist, [Iron Fist] Garp, relentlessly beating him with his loving fists day and night, forging a powerful physique.

Even without eating the Flame-Flame Fruit, his physique should be comparable to Sanji's. In terms of martial arts, he was still much stronger than Sanji when he first set sail.

It was just that his luck wasn't great, encountering one of the world's few top-tier pirates.

"Don't you have her, isn't that enough?" Ace gestured towards the Empress.

"I already said, to create a new world, one person's strength isn't enough." Leo placed his hands on his knees and looked at the other man, chuckling as he asked.

"I know you don't trust us yet, but the most important things in this line of work are honesty and sincerity."

"Lies cannot yield truth," Leo said with a smile.

"Moreover."

"Don't you find this world too absurd?"

"Your father opened up a free and unfettered world on the seas, but don't you feel that the world hasn't changed at all?"

"There are still the eternal Marines chasing pirates, the unchanging nations, the Celestial Dragons who enjoy the sustenance of the world's people. What fundamental changes have occurred in this world since before your father became the Pirate King, and after his execution?" Leo's expression gradually turned serious. "Oh, there are more pirates."

"But is that a good thing?"

"Explorers, people who truly love adventure, have become fewer. These adventurers, who are completely different from pirates, are either slandered as pirates by the Marines or assimilated by pirates. Everyone has become an extreme dualist: either Marines, pirates, or pirate hunters. There are no more free adventurers, no more explorers."

"This world hasn't changed a bit."

"You're spouting nonsense! The Pirate King started the Great Age of Pirates!" Scar, the intelligence officer of the Spade Pirates, shouted angrily.

Before boarding the ship, he was a pirate fan who loved pirate culture and was a worshipper of Pirate King Roger. He held the Pirate King and his captain in immense respect.

When he discovered his captain was the Pirate King's son, the excitement in his heart couldn't be contained and erupted. Now, hearing Leo "insult" the Pirate King like this, he would defiantly rebuke him even if it meant death.

"Scar! Shut up!" Ace's face was grim. His feelings towards Roger were too complex.

So complex that even he didn't know what kind of emotions he truly had for his father.

He hated Roger for causing his mother, Portgas, to die. He resented Roger for abandoning his wife and child for the sake of the sea. He cursed Roger for making his childhood filled with misfortune and danger.

Yet, he also admired Roger, the great hero who started the Great Age of Pirates. He respected Roger, for he was the world's strongest father. He envied Roger, for he was the freest man in the world.

He... didn't know how to criticize Roger, which is why he had been extremely cynical and world-weary since childhood, until he met his two brothers: Sabo and Luffy.

Even though his personality had calmed down now, he still didn't know how to evaluate Roger.

"Roger died of illness." Leo's words stunned everyone into silence. The bombshells he dropped today were more numerous than everything they had learned in their lives combined.

"Roger was already critically ill at the time, so there were many things he didn't have time to do. He left all his secrets on Raftel, the Final Island."

"And then, he lit the spark."

Leo didn't have a high opinion of Roger, but it was clear that given his physical condition at the time, it was impossible for Roger to do anything significant. However, with Roger's personality, it was also difficult for him to truly do anything world-overturning.

In Leo's view, if the World Government wasn't overthrown, this world was beyond saving. Ultimately, it was a systemic issue.

"He left behind quite a few old comrades and crew members waiting for the new era to arrive, waiting for someone who could overthrow the World Government to appear; waiting for people like me, waiting for younger generations of pirates like you who are not so cruel, not so foolish, not so ignorant, and who have grown up in hardship under the oppression and exploitation of the World Government."

"Have you forgotten how your brother Sabo died!" Leo's icy words made Ace break out in a cold sweat.

"As long as the World Government exists for one more day, countless people like Sabo will still die. Have you forgotten all of that!"

Leo hadn't told Ace everything, but if even this couldn't ignite Ace's rebellious spirit, then telling him that Sabo was alive would be meaningless.

"What do you want to do?" Large beads of sweat rolled down Ace's face. He stared at Leo with wide eyes, like a furious Vajra, but his words made Leo's face break into a smile.

"Unite all forces that can be united, and start by bringing over some Marines and generals who are dissatisfied with the World Government." Leo explained his strategic direction. In this world, very few people paid attention to political strategies. Shouting slogans wouldn't work. They had to be shown concrete, implementable, and feasible plans before they would seriously listen to your slogans, your calls for revolution, and your talk of greatness.

In the world of pirates, might makes right. Most people wouldn't listen to your slogans or your sense of justice. Perhaps Fujitora would listen and believe, but more people believed in fists, in power.

If you don't defeat them, if you don't subdue them, many pirates are difficult to communicate with.

Take Ace, for example. Don't let his suave, witty, and amiable demeanor when he first appeared fool you. That was only towards Luffy and his friends. Deep down, Ace still harbored the arrogance of the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and the power of a Logia-type Devil Fruit user.

If Whitebeard hadn't defeated Ace, would Ace truly have submitted to him? Would he have listened to Whitebeard's talk of "father and son" family values?

Everyone knew the answer in their hearts.

PS: The editor said there are too few readers following this book, so it's going to flop. Of course, I know whether I'm writing well or not. It's also my fault for not writing the "flavor" that everyone wants. I've read the pirate revolution books that people recommended to me, but deep down, I still don't believe pirates would follow you just because you shout a few slogans and gain their trust. That's why I haven't written about these things until now. I will write about them later, but that will be much later, just like the late Qing Dynasty, when initially all the people were ignorant and chaotic, and the warlords were selfish and cruel. There were no saviors, only those who forged their own path. That's all there is to it. Shouting slogans won't save the pirate world, it's that simple.