Shanks and the others fell silent for a time. The older members among them held a significant fondness for Luffy. Eight or nine out of ten would agree to the rescue, but to gamble the foundation they had worked so hard to build, just to save a child... honestly, it was a genuinely difficult decision.
No one spoke, waiting for someone else to break the silence and then gauge the situation.
Finally, Shanks, the Captain, stood up. "Look, I'm decided. I'm doing this. Those who are willing to join me in this operation, come with me. Those who don't want to can stay here and wait for my return."
Shanks's words were practically meaningless. A pirate crew is a collective. Not everyone can afford to have subordinates but prefer to work alone, like Kaido. Shanks is not a lone wolf; on the contrary, bonds and teamwork are his greatest weapons. He couldn't compare to Kaido in a one-on-one fight.
And the crew members were the same. If the Captain was taking action, could the subordinates possibly refuse to follow? If they did, even if it wasn't exactly synonymous with "traitor," it was close enough.
Lucky Roux picked up his drumstick again, took a bite, and said, "I like that kid Luffy a lot. I'll go with you, Captain."
"Well, count me in too. I left my wife and son to go out to sea, and when I see Luffy, I always feel a sense of kinship. The thought of him falling into Alucard's hands feels like my own son is being hurt. I'll do it." Yasopp, the sniper, also stepped forward to state his mind.
Following this, seeing the core executives one by one express their willingness to participate in the rescue, the low-ranking members naturally couldn't truly hide on the side. Even those who were still dissatisfied had no choice but to bite the bullet and join.
"Since everyone agrees, Beckman, tell us your plan." Shanks turned to his first mate, seeing everyone nodding in agreement.
"It's good that everyone agreed, otherwise this operation wouldn't be possible."
Beckman tossed his cigarette butt away and made a shocking statement. "We attack Arderay."
"Huh?"
Everyone was terrified and fell onto their backsides.
"Hold on, First Mate, are you serious?"
"Isn't Arderay Alucard's..."
Everyone knew that the Arderay Kingdom ruins were Alucard's main base. Shanks had visited it during his rounds to the Yonko and suffered an attack, losing a quarter of the Red-Haired Pirates at the time—a devastating loss.
But the key point was, they had just finished fighting Kaido and hadn't even caught their breath, and now they were going to attack Alucard's home base? Were they insane?
"That's why I said there are risks."
Beckman explained, "Based on the information Makino gave over the Den Den Mushi, the Immortal Pirates have about a thousand members in the East Blue, including the Captain, Alucard, and the executive, the gigantic battleship Wolf, and Iron Mask Matthew. In that case, we can take advantage of the opportunity to launch a surprise attack. If we take Arderay as quickly as possible, Alucard will definitely not have time to deal with Luffy. He'll return to the New World at the fastest speed. At that moment... we run."
Beckman's plan wasn't complicated. Simply put, it meant attacking Alucard's home while he was away, and before he could return after learning of the situation, the crew would escape, preventing him from worrying about Luffy.
However, even without Alucard and the others present, Arderay was still a tiger's den and not an easy target to conquer.
Shanks pondered for two minutes, then slammed his palm heavily onto the dirt ground. "Good! Let's do it!"
The island the Red-Haired Pirates had just seized from the Beasts Pirates was actually not too far from Arderay.
This was because Alucard and Kaido both occupied the central region of the New World. If they had Bartholomew Kuma's ability, they could fly there in half a day at most.
Sailing at full speed, it would take approximately three to five days. The weather in the New World was too atrocious and dangerous to guarantee an exact arrival day, so Shanks and his crew could only pray that Luffy would run fast and not get caught too easily.
Meanwhile, in the borderlands of the East Blue, on Mount Corvo west of Foosha Village.
This was the base of many mountain bandits, the largest faction being the Dadan Family, who had been pursued by Garp the Fist but now lived in seclusion here. Although they were mountain bandits, they rarely descended from the mountain.
But today, this place suffered a catastrophe.
Alucard was seated on a stone platform next to a large tree. Nearby, the thousand members of the Immortal Pirates had nearly rounded up all the mountain bandits on the entire mountain. At this moment, a junior member of the Immortal Pirates seemed to have extracted some information from a mountain bandit he was holding and quickly ran to Alucard to report. "Captain, we found out! The brat named Luffy usually moves with two other brats named Ace and Sabo. They are well-known troublemakers on Mount Corvo. They..."
"Get to the point." Alucard shot him a cold look. "Yes, my apologies."
The junior member quickly said, "Yes, to the north of this mountain is the Gray Terminal, which is the mountain bandits' trading spot. Everyone who lives on this mountain goes there often.
Further north is a high wall, and on the other side is the Goa Kingdom, the richest country in the East Blue."
"Gray Terminal and Kingdom. Those two words really don't go together. They are only separated by a difference of one ship." Matthew tossed a half-dead mountain bandit aside, who was allegedly a member of the Dadan Family. He was just a minor figure, so Matthew didn't bother with him.
Matthew walked up and said, "Captain, I also got a piece of information. The strongest pirate crew around here is called the Bluejam Pirates. Their bounty is only a few million, but they should be quite familiar with the area."
"Then why are you asking me? Go find the people," Alucard said.
Alucard stood up and began walking north. The others quickly followed, leaving behind a large pile of dead or crippled mountain bandits.
The Gray Terminal, a gathering place for criminals and ruffians, piled high with garbage that the Goa Kingdom dumped twice a day. People who couldn't live inside the Goa Kingdom choose to salvage the discarded trash of the rich to survive.
"What is that?"
"A monster!"
When Alucard's group entered the Gray Terminal, Wolf's terrifying figure once again drew cries of astonishment from everyone present.
"I'm going into the Goa Kingdom. You all find the boy," Alucard instructed.
"Yes, Captain!"