บท 125: Liam's Dire Situation
"So, have we found Straw Hat Pirates?" Tsuru looked at Garp and then looked at Sengoku as she asked.
"Yes, Vice Admiral Jonathan just contacted me. They seemed to have returned from Sky Island. Come to think of it, your grandson really went on one hell of a journey, Garp."
Sengoku looked at Garp as he gritted his teeth.
"Bwahahaha! That's my grandson." Garp just laughed it off.
"Bastard, I am trying to help you and you want to help me." Sengoku slapped the table and shouted.
"Sorry, sorry, I was just happy." Garp immediately apologized but his apology didn't even look right.
"But Sengoku, is it really okay to send two Admirals? We can send multiple Vice Admirals, can't we?" Tsuru looked at Sengoku and asked. She didn't think it was the right choice to send two admirals for a rookie pirate.
Even if they had defeated Aokiji, it was just a temporary boost. From Smoker, they understood how his devil fruit works so they knew that it wouldn't be easy to increase his power during the battle multiple times.
Sengoku shook his head and said.
"No, it's not that I don't want to send more Vice Admiral but we can't. Right now, Aokiji and Kizaru are already free and Akainu is already watching the New World."
"But, Vice Admirals, they are chasing new pirates all over the Grandline. Straw Hats aren't just rookies. They have already defeated a Vice Admiral before and even if it was a hard battle, we can assume that they have grown stronger after their battle with Aokiji."
"So, we can barely send two Vice Admirals together with Two Rear Admirals, three Commodores, and five hundred marine soldiers. If Admirals weren't free, then I would've considered sending one admiral and multiple vice admirals."
"But with two admirals, I can be reassured that Straw Hat Pirates will be destroyed and Monkey D Luffy will be captured and sent to Impel Down."
Although he spoke in a harsh tone, Garp couldn't help but feel grateful toward Sengoku.
Although Aokiji lost that battle, if he was prepared from the beginning, he would've defeated both of them. At least, he had that level of confidence in Aokiji.
That means if Aokiji goes all out, he can defeat Straw Hat Pirates but this defeat will be devastating because he could accidentally kill Luffy. The best-case scenario would be Luffy barely surviving the full power of Aokiji.
So, sending two Admirals can keep Luffy away from Liam and can be defeated quite easily.
Although it sounds quite easy, it is almost impossible to send more than one Admiral to hunt down a pirate crew, especially a rookie crew.
So, Garp knew that Sengoku was doing this for him. If he wasn't Sengoku's friend, it would be impossible for Sengoku to do this for someone else.
That's why he stayed silent throughout the conversation.
Aokiji was currently riding his bicycle on the sea. He heard his Transponder Snail cry so he immediately picked up the call.
"Hello, Sengoku-san! Why did you call me now?"
"Straw Hats position has been determined. I want you to be at ready state for the next operation."
Sengoku's voice rang from the Transponder Snail.
Kizaru also got the same order except he was in his own Warship. Sengoku quickly sent his Warship to get Aokiji and other Vice Admirals as well.
The Admirals didn't raise any questions for this command. On one hand, this was the command from their Fleet Admiral.
On the other hand, it was to help Garp feel safe with the next operation.
......….
Going Merry quickly ran away from the Marines. Even though they could fight these marines with ease, they decided not to.
Right now, they didn't want to show off their strength in front of the Marines because Marines are really good at calculation.
So, they decided to visit the Water Seven first and recruit Franky.
"Liam, that marine ship is still chasing us. Do you want to sink it?" Zoro came in front of Liam and asked.
Liam shook his head and said.
"As I said before, those marines will definitely find us and send two admirals to hunt us down. But, Sengoku isn't an idiot. He doesn't want to make an island filled with innocent people into a battleground unless necessary."
"But since Aokiji is also coming, they can easily freeze the sea which means unless we defeat them, we can't escape. Because Kizaru can cover the sky and Aokiji can freeze the Sea."
"So, even if we destroy this ship, it won't do us any good."
"But, aren't we going to Water Seven? Will they let us stay there?" Robin walked closer and asked.
Nami also walked closer while others were busy doing their thing especially Chopper, Usopp, and Luffy who were busy playing with Merry.
"They won't. But, our plan is not to make Water Seven a battleground. Our plan is to go there and make a friendship with Iceberg, the Mayor of Water Seven."
"Robin, you know about Pluton, right?" Liam raised his eyebrows and asked.
Robin nodded her head and chuckled.
"Do you want to know where it is?"
"I already know. It's in the Wano Country." Liam replied with a calm expression. He was a smart person. He could fool people like Luffy, Chopper, and even Usopp, and even Franky with his words.
But, Nami, Robin, Sanji, and even Zoro are not easy to fool.
Robin narrowed her eyes as her smile disappeared.
"Liam, you weren't a reporter before. You didn't work for News Agency. What were you before?"
As soon as she asked that, everyone's expression changed. Although everyone believed Liam, they were still suspicious of his identity.
"Does it matter?" Liam raised his lips and asked.
Four of them stared at him for a moment before shaking their heads.
"It doesn't matter. If you were the enemy, you wouldn't have trained us so hard. It's just baffling to see that you know so much about the world."
Hearing Robin's words, the other three nodded their heads.
Liam chuckled and said.
"Maybe one day you will know who I am."
Suddenly, his smile froze.
'Who am I?'
"Liam, what happened?" Nami noticed his expression and anxiously asked.
Liam suddenly stood up and ran toward the cabin. He instantly closed the door and clenched his fist.
He fell on his butt and asked.
'Who am I? I am from Earth. I am a student. Yes, I am a student. What was my name?'
'Damn it! My name is Liam, right? Yes, my name must be Liam.'
He didn't even realize a line of tears falling down his eyes.
'Am I really Liam?'
He didn't understand his situation. He remembered everything from the start of Luffy's journey to his current state.
He also remembered reading about his journey. But, he couldn't remember where he read it. He couldn't remember which medium he used to read it. He couldn't remember how he read it.
Bang! Bang!
"Liam, are you okay? What happened?" Nami's worried voice came from outside. It sounded quite hoarse.
Liam trembled for a moment and his expression changed.
'Right now, I don't know what's happening to me but I can't panic. If I panic, it will only make the situation worse. I need to find out what's going on but I can't affect the crew.'
He took a deep breath and stood up.
He opened the door and walked out with a smile.
"Sorry, sorry, I suddenly remembered something and panicked. It's okay, Nami."
But, Nami just stood there with a confused look. She pointed at his face and asked.
"Liam, why are you crying?"
"Crying?" Liam was surprised for a moment. He raised his hand and found tears on his cheek.
"What? Liam, are you crying?" Luffy's funny voice came from afar. He ran toward Liam in shock and asked.
"Liam, why are you crying? Did anything happen?"
Others also panicked and ran in front of him.
Liam quickly wiped out his tears and shook his head.
"Something must have entered my eyes. Anyway, let's not talk about my situation. I am fine. Let's talk about our situation. Luffy, I need you to listen carefully because next, we will be acting so you mustn't mess up."
Hearing his words, everyone immediately understood that he was hiding something but they didn't expose him.
Only Luffy looked at him with confusion and asked.
"Acting? Why act?"
"Because we need to not only win over an entire city but also our future shipwright." Liam answered.
"Wow! Are we really getting the Shipwright? Liam, who is he? Can you tell me more about him?" Luffy got excited immediately and started asking him a bunch of questions.
"Why do we need to win over the city?" Zoro's focus was on a different thing as he asked curiously.
Others were also more curious about this than the Shipwright, especially Robin.
Liam mysteriously smiled and raised his hand. First, he raised his index finger and spoke.
"One, we need them for future development."
Then, he raised his middle finger and spoke.
"Two, we need money, a lot of money."
................
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