"Not bad, you've improved. You can already pick up on the meaning behind the words. You have grown."
"No, Dad, I really don't want to hear that kind of praise… or rather, I don't think it even counts as praise."
"What it is doesn't really matter, Yamato. I'm not too worried about your strength; after all, there aren't many out there who can pose a threat to you anymore.
But your personality makes you too easy to fool. Who knows when someone might trick you into helping them count the money after selling you out.
It's not like you're stupid either. You come up with quite a few clever tricks when you face Kaido. If only you could make that state your norm."
Listening to Arceus, Yamato visualized that scene for a moment, then shook her head.
"Forget it, Dad. All that scheming with the father was forced. Besides, I think I am pretty sharp. It's not that easy to fool me."
"I hope that's really true…"
"But Dad, I do know that regular people don't trust pirates. Still, the people of the New World… they should at least know what kind of person Whitebeard was, right?"
"People have never truly longed for the truth. When faced with evidence that doesn't suit their tastes, they'll simply turn their backs on it. If a falsehood happens to be enticing, they'd rather worship the falsehood.
Pirates are still pirates. Hoping that everyone will believe in them is impossible."
"But the people of Wano Country really do believe in us. Even those stubborn samurai have changed."
"Of course. All these years of effort haven't been for nothing. But if you want everyone across the whole sea to think the same way… that's going to be a very long road."
After saying a few more things, Arceus left, leaving her some time alone to reflect.
That "complicated" logic reappeared in Yamato's mind, but staying true to her usual approach, if it's too troublesome, then better not to think about it for now. She figured she could slowly discuss it with someone else when she had time.
Glancing around, she suddenly noticed someone was missing from the ship.
"Uncle Queen's missing again? Did father drag him off for training?"
"Oni Princess, if you're looking for Lord Queen, he's on the ship behind us."
One of the crew members pointed toward the pirate ship trailing them. Strictly speaking, it wasn't the Beasts Pirates ship; it belonged to Hawkins.
He hadn't officially joined the Beasts Pirates yet, but Queen had already taken him along, planning to throw him onto one of the islands within their territory first. During this period, Queen was also making use of Hawkins' divination abilities.
"Hawkins, now that Boss Kaido has left, tell me, has the result of the divination changed at all?"
"It hasn't. The probability of your disaster involving bloodshed is still 100%, though the occurrence has been significantly delayed."
Hawkins had never seen such a precise fate before. No matter how turbulent the process was, it couldn't alter the final result of the divination. In a way, that in itself was a kind of miracle.
"I'm starting to seriously doubt your abilities…"
"But you've seen it for yourself, except for matters related to that person on the ship, my divination success rate is very high."
When it came to divination, Hawkins didn't back down, and that shattered Queen's lingering sense of false hope, forcing him to once again confront reality.
[Since Boss Kaido left… the disaster has been delayed, so the root cause must still be Boss Kaido...
But the one who suffers the disaster first should be Miss Yamato, right?]
Queen kept stroking his beard, trying to figure out what kind of event could lead to his own misfortune. Just then, a Dragonite landed on the Genesis, carrying today's newspaper.
...
"Thanks, appreciate the hard work today too."
Yamato greeted Dragonite casually; she was clearly familiar with it. Delivering newspapers wasn't part of Dragonite's original duties, but once it showed up carrying one, it meant they had officially entered their own territory.
"Let me check the recent news... A new member of the Shichibukai, Buggy the Star Clown? I remember him being really weak. How did he even become a Shichibukai?"
The World Government had also started making moves, such as replenishing the ranks of the Shichibukai.
Buggy's actual abilities weren't anything special, but he had become something of an idol among the escapees of Impel Down, attracting a bunch of dangerous individuals to his side. Because of that, the World Government wanted to harness that influence and began making moves to bring Buggy into their fold.
In order to legally go treasure hunting, Buggy didn't reject the World Government's invitation, and just like that, he became one of the Shichibukai.
The World Government also put in some effort for Buggy, for example, stacking him with titles like "former crewmate of the Pirate King" and "brother of Red Hair Shanks."
The sole purpose of this was to praise Buggy in order to calm down the newly emerging pirates and let them know that powerful enemies that they couldn't defeat awaited them on their journey.
"Sister Olga should be happy to see this. This can make her combat record even more impressive."
With Buggy's strength being updated, Olga's achievements were also upgraded — now labeled as a super-monster who couldn't be defeated even by the combined forces of a Shichibukai and an Emperor of the Sea.
"Doesn't look like there's anything interesting."
Yamato flipped further through the newspaper. News about the Summit War was already dwindling. Over the past few days, Morgans had already published everything — both what should and shouldn't be reported — so there weren't many big headlines left.
What remained were mundane reports like some Marine getting killed in action, a certain prison being overcrowded, or some island being raided by pirates.
But as Yamato continued turning the pages, she came across a far more outrageous article.
"A... pirate interview?! Morgans really is getting bolder…"
[Monkey D. Luffy — Interview with a Super Rookie Pirate]
Those large words dominated the newspaper's side section, and the content below was even more absurd.
[One of the participants in the Summit War reveals detailed accounts of the battle…]
[The Evil Bloodline's view of his father…]
At first glance, it looked like a bunch of nonsense headlines, but in reality, this was all part of a plan Hercules had devised for Luffy.
Luffy wanted to tell his crew to delay their reunion, but he didn't have the means to contact everyone. So Hercules came up with a solution.
Since the Straw Hats had been scattered by Kuma to different places, the only way to reach them was through a global intelligence network — and Morgans' newspaper was a prime example.
It was one of the few things that could reach every corner of the world. So by creating a major buzz and getting featured in the newspaper, he could get the message across.
And when it came to how to make something attention-grabbing, Hercules came up with a more direct approach.
Instead of having Luffy do anything too ridiculous, it simply got in touch with a reporter from the World Economy News Paper.
When Morgans heard Luffy's introduction and the inside scoop he had on the Summit War, he agreed to the exclusive interview without a second thought, which indirectly allowed Luffy to successfully get his message out.
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