𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜||𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐱 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐞!𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

38||Whitebeard is dumb and Aokiji is a Menace.

"Is this an excuse for Yasopp to throw stuff at me?"

"Ye—"

"No," Benn cut off the sniper immediately. "It's to train your observation. Besides, the closest island is days away from now and your range is only decent. We're trying to increase your range, not unlock it. It's easier to increase than to unlock observation haki."

"I understood everything until you said besides."

"What Benn is trying to say," Shanks gave a pointed look to his First Mate before glancing back at (Name). "Is that because you already unlocked observation, increasing your range won't be as difficult compared to unlocking. Because of this, it hopefully wont be such a long process. We only have 2 weeks at most. And you've already been at it a week. I caught wind of Kaido wanting to invade Whitebeard territory and the power balance will tip if I don't intercept." He grumbled as he recalled the other emperor.

"But do you have to fight Kaido? I get Whitebeard's a renowned pirate from his era, but I have a feeling this war will tip the balance one way or another no matter who wins. You don't owe the old man anythin'. Besides, didn't he try to kill your captain?" (Name) muttered as he adjusted the blindfold over his eyes, seastone bracelets clacking against each other as he moved his hands.

"It's not about grudges and debts, it's about the power balance between the emperors and the navy." Shanks shook his head as he frowned at the nonchalant manner his friend was speaking in.

"Well Whitebeard's dumb then." (Name) scoffed as he got into a fighting stance once again.

The deck quieted down to a low murmur, no doubt whispering about the sudden insult thrown at the oldest emperor. Heck, even Yasopp lowered his voice obnoxious voice.

Shanks frown only deepened at the sudden insult to his fellow Emperor, his only hand slowly beginning to inch towards his sword. "Watch your tongue when speaking of such people, (Name). That man has leagues more experience and power here than you do, so before you start throwing names around here, know that I won't tolerate that on behalf of Whitebeard."

(Name), seemingly not getting the memo, merely yawned as his shoulders drooped a bit. "I'm just sayin', he should've been smart about this whole damn war thing." He relaxed from his initial fighting stance, fans at his sides. "If he has so much experience, why leave his territory weakly guarded for Kaido? Why have Ace go off on his own anyways? Why Raise the Colors for Ace when he ran into this thing guns a blazing without thinking of the consequences? He's an emperor, faced Gol D. Roger, and has decades of experience, and yet his downfall will be a few unattended islands he should've had a plan for beforehand."

Shanks opened his mouth to interrupt but (Name) continued anyways.

"I mean, he Raised the Colors for Ace and let him take Second Division when he clearly wasn't ready with only 2 years of piracy under his belt. Went against captain's orders to not get involved with Teach, and look where that got all of them. So what if we're all pirates? Doesn't excuse us from making irrational choices. This is Whitebeard's own irrational choice on his own accord. You don't have to accommodate to him just because of some shitty broken power balance."

Benn quirked a brow and gave a Shanks 'he's got a point' look.

The captain of the ship waved his arms to try and show the significance of the problem even after his argument was brutally demolished by the man in front of him. He stumbled over words to recover and tried to make a new argument. "But the power balance—"

"Screw the power balance." (Name) scowled as he got into his fighting position once again, arms up and at the ready. "It was unstable in the first place. This war will mark a new era. You of all people should know. It's the World Government versus the Golden Age of Piracy. Either way, the balance will tip unless there's some sort of tie, which I highly doubt."