Chapter 263: Chapter 263
263
A few minutes earlier,
"Gurararara… you are quite the ambitious one, brat."
"Shishishi… I already like you, Newgate." Luffy said with a grin on his face, as he looked at the transponder snail. The transponder snail on a video call between the pirates. Not just any pirates, it was between a Yonko and the future King of the Pirates, "Keep the title for me, will ya. Don't kick the bucket before I get there and kick your ass."
Whitebeard laughed, stroking his beard with his hand. "You are a hundred years too young for that, brat. Gurarara…" Luffy found it amusing that this world's Whitebeard actually had a beard.
"Gotta hand it to him, pops, the kid's got some brass balls." Said Marco the phoenix popping out from one side of the screen. "Heh, he's just like Ace in that regard. Young and foolish-yoi."
"Oi, who's side are you on, bird brains!?" Ace complained from Luffy's side, complaining at his crewmate. "And besides, for all my brother is worth, he still has to go through me before he can even touch pops."
Luffy rolled his eyes, "Keep saying that brother, and the next thing you know, you are a living donut."
Ace's brow twitched with annoyance. "I still don't know what that means, but piss off!"
Luffy butted heads with his brother, "You wanna go one round, match stick!"
"Bring it, rubber brain!" Ace said, pushing him back.
"Kids!" Sabo chopped the air between them, breaking off the fight. "Stop fighting."
Both Ace and Luffy looked at the blonde and did the mature thing, stuck out their tongue, and pulled down their eyelids.
"Gurarara…" Whitebeard laughed from the other side seeing their antics.
"It seems you got the brains in the family-yoi," Marco mused.
All of them present here had been talking for quite a while now. Detailing the terms of the alliance. They even brought in the fact about Luffy and Ace wanting to help the Revolutionaries, but Whitebeard didn't say anything, for now, the old man would rather only involve himself with the Straw Hats, not the Revolutionaries at large.
Worked out for him. Political relationship or any relationship for that matter was a give-and-take exchange. If Luffy proved to be beneficial for the Whitebeard Pirates, then he was sure the old man wouldn't mind allying with in taking down the World Government.
But then again he did see it from the old man's perspective. Newgate was in a crew —Rock's crew— that all things considered did just that and failed. So from his perspective, they looked like brats that didn't know stuff.
"You know I'm serious about fighting you," Luffy said with a grin, "But not like this… I want to fight you at your prime… if possible that is."
Whitebeard raised his eyebrow, before understanding what Luffy meant, Ace had informed him before. Though it was no guarantee of success, Ace was still keen on trying. The old man had an unreadable expression. "For all it's worth, you are a strange one, brat…" he hummed, "Though, I see myself as a legend of old… know this brat, I'm more than capable of fighting you. Age and sickness can hardly hold me back."
"Don't underestimate pops, Luffy." Ace said, before leaning in, "He's got a mean punch." He whispered aloud, getting a grin from Whitebeard and Marco.
It was then both Whitebeard and Marco looked towards their left, Luffy and the others could hear some background sounds.
"It seems the party is on-yoi." Marco said, "We will catch you guys later."
Whitebeard gave a curt nod, while also Luffy and the others agreed to end the call. With that, the transponder snail blinked off, and the video feed was cut off.
Right after the call was over Ace looked to his side, eyeing Luffy. Sabo blinked as he eyed Ace and Luffy, before musing.
The younger brother raised his eyebrow, but the fire logia didn't say anything for a while, just glaring at him. "Fine… what do you want?"
A grin split across Ace's face, "Well, little bro, can you tell me how you intend to make Pops go back to his prime? Any super rare medical potion? Or some kind of devil fruit powers?" he asked, "I'm really curious."
Luffy grinned, "Hm… should I tell you?" He hummed thoughtfully, making his older brother whine. He chuckled, "Fine… it's actually a theory, but devil fruit powers are rare, and have a vast range of abilities… so…"
But his speech was cut off when
"Pere pere pere pere pere…. Pere pere pere pere pere…." The transponder snail called. But it was not from Whitebeard, no it was from Dragon of the Revolutionary Army.
"Talk about timing…" Sabo snorted.
"Finally, the old man has the time to call his son," Luffy grumbled, giving an apologetic look to Ace.
"Nah, take the call." Ace said, waving him off. He could have the conversation later.
"Thanks," Luffy said, before taking the call, a video of Dragon came up, he looked menacing as ever, with tribal tattoo on his face and with a green cloak. "Oh-ho-ho, if it isn't my dear old dad. Finally managed to take some time off your work and call your son?"
Dragon gave him a small smile before he nodded, "I was busy with work so I didn't return the call."
"Eh, excuses," Luffy said waving him off, "But I did hear something about setting up new bases here in Paradise."
Dragon nodded. "Let's just say that your recent incident at the G-3 base gave us quite the opportunity to set up Revolutionary bases in the surrounding islands," Dragon revealed with a grin. "Also, congratulations on becoming a Warlord."
"Huh, thanks… I guess." Luffy said, "Wait, does Alabasta also have a Revolutionary base?"
Dragon shook his head, "No, unfortunately, the World Government has marines and spies all over the country… placing Revolutionaries there wouldn't do us any good." He said, "And besides they don't need any… the country has a good ruler, with a lot of resources. The Marines are very much active there, and along with other things… we are not putting any bases there… yet."
"Oh…" Luffy then scratched his chin, "I might also have an idea… you see I'm unofficially taking over Baroque Works which was under Crocodile. And I need new members to fill out the roster, powerful bounty hunters. I even changed the names to CDS. So…"
"You want some of the members of the Revolutionary Army to join your little bounty-hunting group…" He said, thoughtfully. Going over the benefits, "That could get us some connections… also, the extra income through an official source would also help. We weren't able to cash the bounty of most pirates… Hm… we might be able to do that if some members join your bounty-hunting organization. Many won't even bat an eye if it's under a Warlord." He said mainly thinking over the other warlords and how lax the world government was with them.
Luffy grinned, "Yeah, but I would still need to be careful… the World Government might let me spread some influence on the first few islands but I would need to be careful with CDS."
Dragon nodded, before asking, "What does this CDS stand for?"
Luffy was about to replay, Ace chimed in, "Court Dating Service!"
Luffy pushed his face down, while Dragon gave an amused smile.
"It's Courting Death Service, you idiot," Luffy said. Only he was powerful enough to name his organization with such Cringy grace. "Also our motto is 'Courting Death' to any and all pirates."
Dragon gave another amused chuckle when Sabo broke their fight off. "Anything else happened while on your visit to Alabasta?"
All three brothers stopped before Sabo and Ace glanced at Luffy.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone