Chapter 136 - Chapter 138

Name:A New Path Author:Vallori
Amell, Cal and Guts were currently standing on the deck of Guts ship. It was a massive ship comparable to Big Mom's own Queen Mama Chanter, in fact, all the commanders had a personal ship of a similar size. Guts ship was very simple in design, and it had no defining features other than their jolly roger and his number among the commanders on the sails of the ship. And the Gotei's jolly roger was a simple skull like all others, but it had a question mark behind the skull, to play into his role as the enigmatic emperor, despite his face being one of the most recognized thanks to his bounty poster.

"Captain, what is the plan now? I doubt Kaido will stay quiet after this. I feel a war is on the rise now that you personally appeared and dealt with him. He is not one to give up whatever he aims for this easily." Cal said and leaned against the railing of the ship.

"No, he is not. I have an idea of what his big final plan is. But if I know Kaido, whatever that plan turns out to be, death and chaos will certainly be part of it." Amell sighed out loud. He may have won that island from Kaido for the moment, but it still wasn't a good idea to send any personnel there since Jack or anyone else belonging to the Beast pirates could attack randomly. That abandoned island was the perfect way into the New World for the Gotei, but now it had become extremely dangerous to establish a presence there.

"We could move Kenshi there, Jack wouldn't dare attack if he knew he was stationed there. I mean Kenshi almost killed Queen two years ago." Cal came with a suggestion while enjoying the view of the ocean.

"That won't work. Jack is insane, he will keep attacking until he succeeds, and if we kill Jack, Kaido will start a massive world war where millions will die. We need to take this slow for now. And first of all, we need a stronger presence in the New World before we do anything else." Amell closed his eyes and enjoyed the refreshing feeling of the sea breeze hitting his face.

"Whatever you say, captain," Cal said and jumped down and started walking towards her room. Around her Guts crew gathered and wanted to escort her to her room, but she knocked them all unconscious and walked away while growling how annoying it was to be attractive. Guts crew were made up of simple-minded folk. Fighting and eating were all they were good at, and they all had the same physical physique as Guts, muscles upon muscles.

"oh?" Amell's eyes lit up as he suddenly felt a surprising aura approaching, he looked into the distance and smiled, "Two emperors in one day." Amell and Guts both saw that in the distance, a decently sized red coloured ship with a carefree and happy looking man standing in front was approaching them.

On that very ship, the man that was known famously worldwide as red-haired shanks stood smiling, and not minding the slightly worried expressions that his crew showed, "Captain, are you sure this is a good idea?" A fat man with a smile on his face asked while casually eating some meat.

"Yeah, I'm sure, there's nothing to worry about, Lucky," Shanks said while smiling brightly. Minutes passed and the two ships approached each other until they were close enough for Shanks to easily bridge the gap between them.

Amell watched Shanks jump from his ship and land on the deck of Guts ship with a thud echoing out, "Welcome aboard kid," Amell said with a calm tone and a smile on his face.

"Thanks, sorry for the intrusion," Shanks said while speaking slowly and with a careful tone.

"It's no bother, welcome aboard. Want something to drink?" Amell said casually while leaning against the railing and scanning Shank's crew with a quick look. For most members of Shanks crew as soon as Amell's gaze swept past them, they felt a sudden increase in heartbeats. Fear was building up, uncontrollable fear, like a lion staring down on the smallest of animals.

"No, thank you, just here for some friendly conversation, got anywhere we could sit?" Shanks said like it was just another Tuesday.

"Follow me, brat!" Amell said in a calm yet commanding tone.

Shanks and Amell arrived in the ship's kitchen and Amell drove out anyone in the crew that was inside the kitchen, "Take a seat!" He said and pointed at the bar stools, and he himself walked behind the bar and started taking up bottles and placing them on the counter. Shanks sat down quietly on one of the stools.

"He's an interesting boy, but are you sure giving him that straw hat was the right choice?" Amell said while mixing two drinks, one for him and the other for Shanks. Shanks opened his eyes in great shock and surprise, and for what felt like hours, he was completely tongue-tied. But after the shock settled he started smiling softly and just nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sure," He said and stared at Amell's smooth movement while mixing the drinks.

Amell gave one of the glasses to Shanks, "Here, drink to Luffy." Amell said and both of them took a sip, and they held it in their mouths for a second, to savour the flavour and then they swallowed.

"It's good, thank you," Shanks said and smiled.

"Thank you, and I know. It's my own creation and I call it, For The New Era," Amell said and spread out his arms like it was a great revelation.

"Haha, cheers to that, old man," Shanks said with a bright smile and downed the whole drink in one go. What he didn't expect was Amell turning furious and gave him a chop on the head that would have killed any random crewmate on this ship. "What the hell was that for?!" Shanks yelled out in anger while carefully rubbing his head.

"You are supposed to enjoy that! Not down it in one go, you idiot!" Amell said genuinely angry that Shanks did that.

"That's how I drink, you got a problem with that?" Shanks yelled in his face.

"That's why I hit you! How dense can you be? It's all the partying that's rotting your brain! Stop partying!" Amell now also started to raise his voice.

"Hell no! Make me!" Shanks yelled and slammed his hands down on the counter and put some cracks into it.

"Brat... That was a mistake," Amell stared at the counter, and at a speed, Shanks just couldn't follow Amell hit him three times on the head and knocked him out.

A few seconds later, Shanks woke up and shook his head, "aah, you are dangerous, old man." Shanks said and saw that Amell had refilled his drink so he took a sip and refrained from downing it all this time.

"You have no idea, brat," Amell said and took a sip from his drink,

"So how was Kaido doing? Was he angry?" Shanks asked with a smile.

"He was very angry. I'm just lucky he doesn't have your skills or I might have actually had to be serious against him." Amell said calmly, and Shanks nodded.

"Old man, you know what's coming don't you?" Shanks said suddenly and looked at Amell with a serious expression on his face. "Of course," Amell answered and nodded.

"I guess you also know my role in it. So... Can I count on you when the time comes?" Shanks asked in a serious tone, yet a strange eerie calmness was present over him that made the aura around them almost suffocating to weaker-minded individuals.

"I designed the Gotei 13 to fight the World Government," Which was partly true. "Anyone standing in my way will not last for long. So you Shanks... Have the support of the Gotei should you need it. But the question is, are you prepared to take responsibility for what will come after this is done?" Amell asked while taking another sip.

"That is the question," Shanks said and emptied his glass. But this time Amell didn't hit him, he simply nodded along in understanding and downed the rest of his drink as well.

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