The Straw Hat Crew Sets Sail! Dark King Rayleigh's Advice! (Transition)
Sabaody Archipelago
"Ah! Aunt Shakky's drinks are still the best!" The Straw Hat Crew sat in the bar, enjoying a rare moment of relaxation before their trip.
"Luffy, you're heading to the New World, right?" Rayleigh asked, sitting to the side. Just like in the original story, Luffy had become Rayleigh's apprentice. In the past two years, their strength had improved rapidly. Although they weren't as powerful as in the original story, they had reached about 90% of their original strength!
"Yeah! We're heading to Fish-Man Island next, but we'll need Rayleigh's help to coat it!" Luffy grinned at Rayleigh. Unlike in the original story, he didn't participate in the Paramount War, and Ace didn't die! So, Luffy still longed to see his brother again!
"Coating is no problem, but as your senior, I still have a few words of advice!" Rayleigh's expression suddenly turned serious. After all, the landscape of the New World had changed dramatically!
"Please speak, Rayleigh -senpai!" As the ship's navigator, Nami naturally keeps abreast of the news, and in order to ensure the safety of their voyages, she also needs to know a lot of things!
"The New World is different now! The New World used to be ruled by four emperors, each occupying a region! They were Whitebeard Edward Newgate, Beast Kaido, Big Mom Xia Luo Linlin, and Red-Haired Shanks! Each of them was a force to be reckoned with, and each had several powerful figures under their command with bounties exceeding 1 billion!" Rayleigh picked up his glass and took a sip of his drink, while the Straw Hat crew listened intently to the various forces in the New World.
"However, the landscape of the New World has completely changed! First, due to the Paramount War, the Marine Headquarters at Marineford was destroyed, forcing them to choose the G-1 branch in the New World as their new Marine Base! The Marines have thus become the fifth largest power in the New World! And two months ago, an even larger war broke out, a Bloody battle launched by the World Government against the Whitebeard Pirates! In the end, however, the World Government was defeated!"
Rayleigh's words shocked the Straw Hat crew. Marine HQ? Two years ago, their entire crew couldn't even handle a Marine HQ Vice Admiral. Although their strength had improved, they could only flee in defeat when facing an Admiral! Yet the Whitebeard Pirates were able to confront the World Government's massive military force and even defeat it!
"As expected of Ace's pirate crew! They're really amazing! Alright, I've decided! Once we enter the New World, we're going to challenge the Whitebeard Pirates first!" Luffy laughed carelessly, while the others looked on in astonishment.
"Idiot Luffy! Didn't you want to become the King of the Pirates? Why did you challenge the Whitebeard Pirates?!" Usopp swallowed hard and said tremblingly.
"But Whitebeard was Roger's rival! To become the true King of the Pirates, you have to defeat him!" Luffy said matter-of-factly, listening to Rayleigh laugh heartily.
"Luffy! Even if you want to challenge the strongmen of the New World, you can't just go and challenge the Whitebeard Pirates! Let me give you some advice! If you want to challenge strongmen, the Whitebeard Pirates must be your last choice!" Rayleigh looked at the still somewhat youthful face in front of him, and suddenly, he connected him with another familiar figure!
"Why, Rayleigh?" Luffy asked, looking puzzled.
"Right now, the New World's power structure is led by the Whitebeard Pirates, followed by the Marine HQ! The three Emperors are behind them! You should know that the Whitebeard Pirates currently have 57 pirate crews under their command! Every captain in those 57 crews is a renowned figure in the New World! If you were to directly challenge the Whitebeard Pirates, you probably wouldn't even be able to get close to their headquarters! What's more, the Whitebeard Pirates also have Blackbeard! His strength is even greater than that of Admiral!"
"What? Teach is that strong? Ah, he's really giving me a headache!" Luffy said in shock.
"You idiot captain! You never read the newspaper! Do you even know that during the Paramount War, Blackbeard completely dominated Akainu? His bounty is a whopping 4 billion Beli now! (After the Battle of Crescent Moon Island, Teach's bounty increased by another 500 million! He's now known as the Fifth Emperor of the Sea!)" Nami said with a headache.
"Not only that, the Blackbeard Pirates currently have 10 crew members! Besides Captain Blackbeard, there's also Shiryu with a bounty of 2.5 billion! He was originally the Chief Warden of Impel Down, but now he's joined the Blackbeard Pirates! He's a top-tier swordsman who can go toe-to-toe with Mihawk!" Hearing this, Zoro's eyes lit up. If he wanted to become the World's Greatest Swordsman, Shiryu had to be on his list of targets!
"In short, if you really want to challenge the Whitebeard Pirates, it means you'll be facing two Four Emperors- level figures at the same time! And the rest of you will undoubtedly be facing Yonko-level commanders!" Rayleigh's words made the more timid Nami and the others tremble. Just thinking about such powerful opponents was enough to fill them with despair!
"That's really exhilarating!" Sanji said casually, lighting a cigarette.
"Hahaha! What a fearless bunch of young men! Alright, I'll go coat you now. Take a short rest and get ready for your new journey!" Rayleigh laughed heartily. He saw the shadow of Roger Pirates in Luffy and his crew. Yes, they were fearless young men back then too!
"Alright, brothers! We've been training in seclusion together for two years! I won't go into too much detail about it! Everyone, get some rest, we'll be setting sail soon!" As the captain, Luffy naturally had to say some words to boost morale! Clearly, their adventure had only just begun!
At the same time
Crescent Moon Island
"Hehehehe! Hehehehe! Success! My guess was right after all!" Teach let out a triumphant laugh as he looked at the cannonball in his hand!
"Next is to mass-produce this stuff! Then... hehehehe!" Teach laughed loudly, and suddenly, a red light flashed in the corner of his eye, as if his powerful Observation Haki had sensed something!
"What are you looking at! It's you! Leave me your 5-star review!"