Back in the present, Su Yu met Marco's puzzled gaze with a smile but said nothing, then took a great gulp of wine. Being cryptic and watching the other person look utterly baffled felt pretty good, huh~
Seeing that Su Yu was ignoring him, Marco could not be bothered to think any further. He took a large gulp of wine too, then breathed out the fumes with satisfaction.
A little while later, a lackey up in the lookout took a sip of wine, then casually raised his telescope and glanced through it, seemingly just for fun.
The next moment, he wondered whether he had drunk so much that he was hallucinating. He rubbed his eyes hard, then looked again to make sure, only to see exactly the same thing.
Cold sweat instantly poured down his body. He calmed himself, then scrambled down from the lookout and shouted at the others, who were still lost in their revelry:
"P-Pops! Everyone! We've spotted Red... Red-Haired's ship!"
The lively atmosphere instantly cooled. They all instinctively wondered whether they had misheard, since the news was rather shocking.
"Are you sure you didn't mistake it?" Whitebeard fell silent for a moment, clearing his head, which had grown a little heated from drinking, before asking.
"Absolutely! Th-that's the Red Force!"
With his confirmation, everyone lowered the cups they had raised to their lips and sobered up. It seemed the banquet could not continue.
Only then did Marco finally understand what Su Yu's earlier "riddle" had meant. He had been talking about Red-Haired.
The sudden arrival of Red-Haired, who was on the same level as Pops, left some of the low-ranking pirates a little flustered. The powerful pirates serving as commanders remained composed, though their expressions were rather grim.
They did not know why Red-Haired had come.