On Sword-Shadow Flow's side, the Buggy Pirates and Alvida shook hands without a second thought.
They'd help Alvida hunt down a rumored Devil Fruit to power up; afterward, she'd form an alliance with Buggy—first to avenge their loss to the Straw Hats, second to grow their own name.
Buggy stood at the prow, wind in his face, chest swelling with heroic delusion.
"As long as you follow me忠—me, Captain Buggy—you won't be shortchanged!"
For all his clownishness, the man was infectious. A rumble of cheers ran the deck.
Sword-Shadow Flow stood among them, expression complicated. He'd chosen; he had nowhere better to go. And with his new "Circus Dancer" passive, this really did feel like… a circus.
Dusk on the Red Force. Another feast—of course.
A fresh wave of viewers spilled into Xiao-Kaka's stream.
[lol Red-Hair Pirates are either partying or on their way to a party]
[no but for real this vibe is goals]
[RED GANG FOREVER]
Kaka leaned on the rail with a smile, cup raised—until Ben Beckman emerged from below decks, face grave, a slip of paper pinched between two fingers.
"Shanks. Fresh intel."
The captain's laughter faded. He scanned the sheet once. The smile vanished.
Kaka felt the deck tense underfoot. Before she could ask, Lucky Roux beat her to it.
"Captain, what's up?"
Shanks set the paper down, gaze sweeping the crew… and landing on Kaka.
"Kaka—sorry. We might not be able to finish this little East Blue tour with you."
He'd planned to walk her back through that first journey into the Grand Line—Reverse Mountain, Twin Capes, the sights and scars. Maybe even a quiet greeting for Crocus.
But this report changed everything.
"I'm fine," Kaka said softly. "What happened?"
Shanks exhaled, then spoke to all.
"Intel says Portgas D. Ace—Whitebeard's Second Division Commander—was seen at Fish-Man Island. That means his pursuit of Teach has begun."
At the name, three scars over Shanks's left eye seemed to throb.
The deck's laughter died. Men who joked with emperors of the sea stood straighter, listening. Kaka swallowed her question and let her thoughts stream to chat:
[Wait, Whitebeard Pirates are one of the Four Emperors too, right?!]
[this involves TWO Yonko crews?? this is… big]
[why does this feel scary—Red-Hair never looks like this]
Viewer counts spiked—six million, seven, eight—comments blurring into a storm.
Shanks rose, hand falling to the hilt at his hip, eyes on the flat black sea. His voice carried, all warmth turned to steel.
"Red Force, make sail. Best speed—back to the New World."
Ace wasn't his crewmate; it wasn't his right to interfere.
But certain bloodlines—and the balance of the sea—made this complicated. Whether for the sake of a legacy inherited from Roger, or to keep the world from tipping… he needed to see Whitebeard.
Best case: persuade the old man to recall Ace.
This ocean couldn't afford a quake. Not yet.
For the first time, Kaka saw him not as the smiling red-haired uncle—but as a captain whose will bent waves. It wasn't love. It was awe.
"Aye, Captain!"
"Building Snake," the navigator, unfurled charts, eyes flashing.
"Our fastest line is through the Calm Belt into the Grand Line, then coating at Sabaody. Earliest arrival—three plus months."
Shanks thought for a beat, then shook his head.
"No Fish-Man Island. We enter via the Calm Belt, then cross the Red Line at Mariejois."
"Mariejois?!"
The word cracked across the deck. Even old hands stiffened.
Kaka held her breath. Only after Shanks disappeared below did she dare sidle up to Lucky Roux.
"Roux… where are we rushing to? And why did 'Mariejois' make everyone jump?"
He offered a drumstick from nowhere. "Bite?"
She shook her head. He bit, then spoke around the crunch.
"Fastest road is through Mariejois—Holy Land, headquarters of the World Government."
He blinked when Kaka's face stayed blank. "Oi, Kaka, how do you know nothing? Didn't your country join the Government?"
He sighed and simplified.
"You know the Marines, right?"
She nodded.
"The World Government is above them. One-hundred-seventy-plus member nations. Biggest, strongest organization in the world. We pirates? Natural enemies."
"Then why would we go under their nose?" Kaka blurted, finally grasping the weight.
"Because," Roux said, glancing at the captain's closed door, "sometimes you don't pick the sea. The sea picks you. If we cut under Mariejois and take the Red Line crossing, it saves weeks. And when the world's about to roll… a week's the difference between stopping an avalanche and being buried by it."
He wiped grease on his sleeve, lowered his voice.
"And it ain't like you can just walk through their front gate. There's… ways. Old debts. Unofficial channels. But it's still walking a razor."
Kaka's heart thudded. Her chat exploded:
[so they're literally threading the needle through the Government's capital??]
[bro this is either giga-brain or giga-suicide]
[Red-Hair has THAT kind of leverage??]
The Red Force heeled as sails billowed. East Blue fell behind in darkening streaks.
Kaka watched the mast lights kindle one by one. Somewhere past those lights lay the Calm Belt—sea kings under glass-still water—and beyond that, the Red Line's blood-red cliff and the city of dragons where Celestial nobles played at gods.
She shivered, turned to her viewers, forced a grin.
[Brothers… looks like our "slice-of-life party arc" just got speed-ran]
[Next stop: Calm Belt → Grand Line → Mariejois]
[I… kinda wanna throw up and cheer at the same time]
Below, boots thudded, ropes sang. Above, Shanks's shadow crossed the cabin window, motionless for a long moment—as if weighing the cost of every mile.
Then the bell rang three times. Night drills began.
Kaka took one last look at the starlit wake and whispered to herself, to the ship, to the sea:
"Please… don't break."
Three months shrunk to weeks. Weeks shaved to days. The route through gods and governments was set.
And at the end of it, a man with three scars would try to hold a world together with one conversation.
—If the World Government lets him ring the doorbell.
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