"To be frank, I want to attack the Immortal Pirates."
Lucky Roux's declaration instantly sobered up countless members of the Golden Hair Pirates. Although they had anticipated the others' intentions, the emotions still surfaced when Lucky Roux laid the matter entirely on the table.
Ivalis kept his inner thoughts concealed, drained the last half-cup of wine in his glass, and wiped his mouth with his white glove. "Cough... Is this a declaration of war from Whitebeard?"
"No, it has nothing to do with Pops. This is something we want to do on our own," Lucky Roux replied, shaking his head.
The Golden Hair Pirates were not entirely composed of former Red Hair Pirates members; out of the over two hundred crewmates, only about twenty were former Red Hair Pirates.
Hearing Lucky Roux's words, the other crew members found it amusing.
If the entire Whitebeard Pirates fleet had shown up, that would be a different story. But with only two hundred-plus remnants of the Red Hair Pirates, the Golden Hair Pirates' own two hundred-plus crew members would be more than enough to handle them, let alone the entire Immortal Pirates.
"I came here today to warn you. We will launch an attack in a few days. And..."
Lucky Roux's gaze swept over the crew members who were formerly of the Red Hair Pirates. "When that time comes, you should come too. Let's hope things don't escalate to an unmanageable situation between us."
After speaking, Lucky Roux rose his large body and led his men back to their ship and sailed away.
…
"Prepare to return to base, and report this matter..."
"Hold on, Ivalis."
Before Ivalis could finish speaking, Beckman interrupted him.
"Are you letting old feelings get to you, Beckman?" Ivalis turned to look at the man who was once Shanks' first mate and was now his own.
"Aren't you?" Beckman raised an eyebrow.
Ivalis shook his head, then sat down on the ground, once again sinking into confusion.
…
Five days later, the rumors intensified, exacerbated by the stirring of the Revolutionary Army led by Dragon.
Led by Exdeath, over three thousand members of the Immortal Pirates completely surrounded Amazon Lily, the Kuja's territory. If Shirahoshi hadn't used her ability to encase the island like an iron barrel, they probably would have landed by now.
However, Shirahoshi's power could only be maintained for about two days before exhaustion would cause her to lose control over the Sea Kings.
"Exdeath, if the women of Amazon Lily absolutely refuse to relinquish the Swap-Swap Fruit's right of use, are you seriously planning to... kill them?" one of Exdeath's crew asked as he approached him.
The Swap-Swap Fruit was currently still with Law, being shipped to the New World, but only Urdaha knew this. To prevent Law from being dragged into the situation, Urdaha had lied, claiming the fruit was already in the hands of the Kuja. He hadn't expected it to cause such an uproar.
"I endured it when that bastard Zephyr ate the Titan Fruit, but I absolutely won't tolerate it this time! They have to hand over the item and let us compete fairly!"
Exdeath's expression was nearly twisted with rage. The experience of losing to Zephyr six months ago, combined with the recent instigation by the Revolutionary Army's undercover agents, had caused him to lose his mind and descend into a frenzy.
The crew member's face darkened. "Aren't you afraid of the wrath of Alucard the Immortal?"
The mention of Alucard's name brought a flicker of fear to Exdeath's face, but he quickly turned away harshly. "With three thousand crew members united against him this time, even if the Captain wants to punish us, can he really punish all three thousand?"
Exdeath's mentality was the idea that "the law cannot punish the masses." He had forgotten that before the pirate crew was formed, the territory they now stood on was acquired when Alucard massacred the Twelve Kingdoms. The ground beneath their feet was soaked with the blood of the former kingdom residents.
If Alucard had slaughtered eight million people, would he truly care about three thousand?
Just then, a violent tremor sounded, and streaks of golden sword light and bullets flashed across the sky.
Everyone looked up at the mid-air conflict. Two seconds later, they clearly saw the situation.
Two people were fighting!
Ivalis, the Captain of the Immortal Pirates' affiliated Golden Hair Pirates, and his First Mate, Beckman!
"W-what's going on?"
"Ivalis, and the other one is... Beckman!"
"How could those two be fighting?"
Everyone was stunned by this sudden sight. In their eyes, the two had been close friends when they were in the Red Hair Pirates. Why were they suddenly fighting?
After the collision of sword and gun, Ivalis and Beckman landed separately on the masts of two battleships.
Ivalis's face was dark. He swung his saber and spoke to Beckman on the opposing mast. "You ultimately chose betrayal, Beckman?"
Beckman's expression was incredibly complex: regret, entanglement, pain, helplessness...
But finally, he cocked his rifle and pointed it at Ivalis. "The choice I make is no longer important to me. Let's let the fighting do the talking, Ivalis!"
"I never wanted to kill you. Don't force me..." Ivalis pushed up his sunglasses with one hand.
Whoosh!
Following the two men, two more battleships rapidly entered the surrounding waters of Amazon Lily. Everyone shifted their attention from the two combatants above.
Upon inspection, one of the ships belonged to the Golden Hair Pirates, and the other was... the Whitebeard Pirates!
The two sides were clashing fiercely as they charged toward them. The people surrounding Amazon Lily were bewildered. Strange things kept happening; what was going on?
"Beckman and the remnants of the former Red Hair Pirates have joined Whitebeard! Attack!"
Someone on the Golden Hair Pirates' ship yelled out loud. Led by Beckman, the twenty-plus former members of the Red Hair Pirates defected to Lucky Roux's side. The only former Red Hair Pirate still loyal to the Immortal Pirates was Ivalis.
"Hey! People of the Immortal Pirates! We know your captain gave a precious Devil Fruit to his woman and didn't spare any for you, his subordinates who risked your lives for him! Is a captain like that still worthy of your loyalty?"
At that moment, someone on the Whitebeard ship also shouted out, "Defect to us, the Whitebeard Pirates! Let's attack the Kuja, capture the women on the island, seize their resources, and join Whitebeard's fleet together!"