439 | Meeting

The meeting with the warlord was held in Marineford. The round table had multiple high-ranking marines sitting down along with the pirates. Even though not all of the warlords were here, those that were here, were enough to make the situation very difficult. 

Sengoku went briefly over why the meeting was held along with the importance of it in regard to the upcoming war. It was formal in a way, "…and with that let us start the meeting." 

Silence fell for a second before it was broken by someone, "Man, you guys had to give the meeting at this time… my afternoon nap is ruined." Luffy yawned.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Garp yawned as he agreed with his grandson. Munching down rice crackers like it was no one's business.

Sengoku's forehead vain twitched from annoyance but he didn't bother to say anything. Even Vice Admiral Tsuru who was present in the meeting felt her lips perk up, finding some amusement in the old man's misery. 

"The meeting for war is nothing to scoff at," Sengoku said, placing some files on the table, "Kaido is a wild beast more than a pirate. Going to war with him will cost us much more, if we don't prepare. A war like this will shape the future of the world." 

"That is true," Jinbe agreed, "Kaido does have a reputation for being unkillable. His strength is comparable to Whitebeard in some ways, but unlike the old man he won't hesitate to kill friend or foe if he wants something."

"Fufufufuhehehe… at least someone here knows the terrifying power of the strongest beast." Dolfamingo said, looking over everyone, "Kaido is not an enemy that we should take lightly…"

"Oh, wow. Someone's chickening out…" Luffy said, cutting him off. Pissing off the other warlord. 

If looks could kill, Luffy would have been six foot under. "You know nothing brat…" 

"And you know all the things, don't you," Luffy rolled his eyes. 

Honestly, things would be easy if it was openly known who the Underworld Joker is. Well, some of the marines, Sengoku, and few others kind of did. But as Sengoku said, taking any action before the war would only bring problems, so he chose not bring them up.

"Aside from Kaido, we will also have to deal with his allied forces," Vice Admiral Cancer spoke up, changing the subject, "As a yonko, Kaido has gathered quite a number of allies under his banner. They surely aren't big as the Whitebeard pirates, but their strength is nothing to ignore either." 

Even though the warlord meeting was taking place, not all high-ranking marines were present. For example, one would think Kizaru or even the former admiral Zypher would take part in the meeting. But they didn't.

The reason? Simple. While the meeting was taking place, every warlord had brought a few of their members in Marineford, and someone needed to keep them in check.

"That is true," Kuma spoke, "Also, unlike other pirates Kaido has Queen, who was once part MADS, under Dr. Vegapunk. A brilliant scientist who has experience working with Vinsmoke Judge and Caesar Clown. Even though the country of Wano is a bit behind when it comes to technology, we have limited information on what's going on there. Wano is also famous of manufacturing sea stones… so we have some problems their as well." 

"At least someone knows his stuff," Doflamingo snorted, "But Queen isn't the only one we should be worried about. Kaido's right-hand man, King is also someone that we should worry about. King the wildfire is a man that we have limited information on. Even with his high bounty, we know barely anything about him. And his powers are nothing to scoff at either. And there's also the six Tobiroppo…" 

"Speaking off… didn't Moria fight against Kaido?" Luffy said cutting of Doflamingo yet again. As he looked at the empty seat. He was honestly expecting him to be here, but he wasn't, "Where's he anyways? He should know much more than us."

"We had some problems getting in contact with him," Vice Admiral Cancer said answering the question. 

Everyone kind of knew why Mihawk wasn't here. His dual with Red Hair Shanks had brought quite a bit of attention. And there were even some rumors that he might not join the war. Which was the main reason this meeting was taking place. 

"Who cares about that bastard?" Doflamingo scoffed, not liking that he was cut off yet again. "That bastard is just in the ranks of Warlord due to his old fame." 

"Oh, so he's like you?" Luffy asked, making the string user growl at him, "What?" he said with a grin, "Did I say something wrong?"

Doflamingo's fist tightened as he glared Luffy, barely holding himself back from doing anything. But before he could speak someone else did. 

"Tch… men. Always finding ways to pick fights with each other," Boa Hancock said, with an annoyed tone. "Always the same!"

"Aww… but the first word you speak is mock against me. You hurt me, Boa," Luffy said with a wink, getting the ire of the pirate empress. 

She might be beautiful, hot and all the other things, but he wasn't going to let her walk over him.

"We aren't on a first-name basis," Boa said, right as Luffy pointed one finger above her and shot off a string that was crawling itself toward her.

She frowned as she tensed up, not expecting an attack. And so did the marines as they looked between Luffy, Boa and the culprit Doflamingo.

The man was grinning with a mock surrender, "What? As a pirate you take every opportunity to pull the strings…" 

"Sounds like a puppeteer to me. You know Pinky, you can play puppet all day back on your island, just don't try to do it here," Luffy scoffed, "Also, other than pissing the empress off, you wouldn't have done much. She's much stronger than to fall for your tricks."

Boa just 'hmph-ed' before shooting an annoyed glance at Doflamingo, "At least the other one, knows his place." She said hotly, peaking a soft glance at Luffy. 

"Huh, the arrogant little lass isn't she?" Garp said as he munched on the rice crackers, "Reminds me of a certain marine that I used to know… she was such a pain in the ass. Always strategy this… strategy that…" 

"I mean, women, right?" Luffy said, rolling his shoulder, getting a few chuckles to break out from the room.

Tsuru was, of course, glaring daggers at Garp. The other marines didn't piece it together, but Sengoku did. But he just shook his head, things weren't easy when you have not one, but two Monkey D.s In the same room.

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