After Luffy's death, Ace quickly gathered his little brother's body into his arms. Now, all they could do was wait for the phoenix to arrive.
Off to the side, Marco and Shanks stepped away from the others. Marco broke the silence first. "Shanks, what are you planning to do next?"
Shanks went quiet at the question. All this time, he'd been waiting for Luffy to grow, believing that kid was the Child of Destiny who'd change the world. But now Luffy was dead, and everything he'd been waiting for had been cut off. For a moment, Shanks felt completely adrift.
Then he quickly curved his lips into a smile. "Me? I'll be the same as always—keep sailing and having adventures."
Marco stared at that carefree smile, a little stunned, and said solemnly, "Didn't you bet your left arm on him? I thought you'd be devastated now that Luffy's dead."
Shanks let out a bitter little laugh. "Of course I'm a bit sad. And you're right—I did stake the future on Luffy."
He lifted his only right hand and briefly touched the empty space where his left arm used to be, smiling as he added, "But people still have to look forward."
Luffy's death had definitely shattered Shanks's original plans, but Shanks, of course, had prepared other options.
Marco couldn't see through what Shanks was thinking. In the original story, among the old Yonko, Shanks had always had the least revealed about him. After Whitebeard, Kaido, and Big Mom all went offline one after another, Shanks remained as enigmatic as ever. So Marco really didn't understand him and asked, "Then do you want to join the Three Emperors Alliance?"
Shanks refused without hesitation. "Forget it. I don't like joining any alliances."
'If it were just you and the Phoenix Pirates, maybe. But with Kaido and Big Mom in the mix? No way.' Shanks thought to himself. He couldn't bring himself to trust those two. Their personalities clashed with his on every level.
Those monsters never listened to reason—they only spoke with brute force. Shanks was confident he could take down Big Mom if it came to it, but against Kaido… he wasn't sure. That guy was a real beast.
Marco didn't argue with Shanks any further. Instead, he quietly activated his level detection to gauge Shanks's current strength.
Red-Haired Shanks still registered as Strong Yonko level, and the overall strength of the Red Hair Pirates hadn't changed either. They were still a dual emperor pirate crew.
Shanks studied Marco for a moment, then chuckled as if joking. "Marco, your strength seems to have grown a lot. I can't see through you at all now."
Marco's lips curled into a playful smile. "Are you that curious?"
"Mm, a little, actually." Shanks smiled back, probing him. "Do you know Joy Boy?"
Marco was briefly stunned, then joked, "You're not about to tell me I'm Joy Boy reincarnated, are you?"
Shanks blinked, genuinely surprised Marco had guessed his train of thought. With an awkward smile, he asked, "Uh… has someone else asked you that before?"
Marco nodded. "Mm. Kaido and King both asked me the same thing. But my answer hasn't changed—I've got nothing to do with Joy Boy."
"I see." Shanks nodded, then went on, "Marco, this 'Three Emperors Alliance' of yours… it's to overthrow the World Government, right? I read about it in the papers. Your bounty's already reached an unprecedented level. Even the World Government thinks you've surpassed Captain Roger and Whitebeard now."
Marco quietly met Shanks's gaze. Seeing no hint of playfulness in Shanks's eyes this time, he listened as the red-haired emperor spoke in a low, serious tone.
"If you really do bring down the World Government… what kind of world are you going to create?"
Marco's eyes narrowed slightly. He fell silent for a moment, then replied, "Well, I've actually been thinking about that for a while. I've got two plans in mind, but I haven't decided yet."
He really had considered it long ago. Once the World Government was toppled, should he build a feudal monarchy… or a parliamentary system? He was still hesitating.
Personally, Marco leaned toward a feudal monarchy. In this world, imperial rule was nothing unusual. As long as he crushed the World Government, he could establish a massive empire. All the nations that were once under the World Government could be turned into vassal states. If they refused, he'd simply subdue them by force—though that path would demand a tremendous amount of effort.
After all, force could destroy a country, but rebuilding one—or making it truly submit—took a very long time.
In his previous life, hadn't the United States toppled Saddam in the Middle East and intervened in Afghanistan, only for those places to end up in chaos anyway?
The other method is to directly seize control of the World Government's existing structure. After all, the World Government runs on a parliamentary system—or at least, it appears that way on the surface—granting more than a hundred member nations a seat at the table. The tribute those nations pay to the Tenryuubito is essentially nothing more than protection money.
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