Chapter 187 - Chapter 189

Bradley was back in Kong's office, and both of them wore sour expressions, except one of them wore it genuinely while the other one was quite content in reality. "What to do!?" Kong looked more miserable than when Sengoku saw a large stack of papers. "The news coming off Alabasta is troubling, to say the least. The king has the throne, the rebellion was settled, but Crocodile has yet to be located." He looked up at his favourite Admiral. "This is your speciality, where has Amell taken Crocodile? His headquarters? Or maybe with Ginrummy!"

"First of all, I can see that you're blaming yourself, don't do that. No one could have known Crocodile had the backing of an emperor. So, for the moment, stop focusing on that Warlord, as capturing Crocodile is impossible now that Shiryu managed to recover him. He is gone, so let's focus on the bigger picture here."

"I know, but it's damn frustrating. Fourteen years of silence, and now suddenly he's making all these moves. Why now?"

"I think I have an idea," Bradley said and received a glare from Kong that told him to stop withholding information. "Take Toshiro for example. He hates pirates, yet he joined the most dangerous one, why?" Kong was apprehensive to where these questions were going, but after a few seconds of recalling, he started to understand.

"Common goal! He joined Amell because the one thing he hates more than pirates are us, the world government. So, you're thinking his goals are in line with Dragon's?"

"Maybe. I see that as the most likely option." Bradley adjusted his position and continued. "What do we know for sure? Amell controls the biggest army in the world, almost surpassing the Marines and world governments combined forces. Now, for our speculations, Amell has power or technology to keep his bases air-born, as it would explain how we can't locate the biggest army in the world. If you had the biggest army in the world and you lived and could freely move in the air, and you hated the world government, what would you do?" Bradley raised one of his eyebrows and watched how the gears inside Kong's head was turning.

"If I had all that. All I would need to do is pick a date for the attack! This is of course under the pretence that he has truly mastered flying." Kong sighed out loud.

"Of course, but what I'm saying is, would it be so bad to prepare for such an attack?"

"I will talk to the elders about your concerns, Bradley. As always, I appreciate you coming here, I know you're busy with that new emperor and Big Mom becoming more aggressive." Kong leaned back on his chair.

"Knowing those old fools, as soon as they hear that these are my concerns, they'll just dismiss it without a second thought. That's how it's always gonna be, for I hate them, and they hate me." Bradley's tone was stern, and Kong knew it was no changing his mind on this, at least not easily.

"It can not always be like that, my old friend. Especially not if you're gonna be fleet-admiral soon."

"Yeah, we'll see about that! Those bastards are gonna wanna have me sign papers, making me their slave, like poor Sengoku is now. You know I would kill myself or defect the second they try that, and they are gonna try and control me the higher I climb in the ranks."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, let us focus on Amell!" Kong was twirling his pen between his fingers. "We need to be ahead of him here, Bradley. Got any ideas?"

"No, but let's brainstorm!" Bradley and Kong shared a chuckle and a knowing look. Before they could continue, a knock came from the door to the office, "Come in!" Kong said loudly, escaping his silly persona and entering Chief-commander attitude.

"Sorry to disturb you, Sir Kong!" A seemingly blind man with a walking stick walked through the door and into the room. Kong held up his hand to stop the man, "Nonsense, Issho, what's the nature of your visit?"

"Confirmation just came in from the number team tracking Straw hat Luffy. Nico Robin seemed to have joined them. Should we move in to apprehend her?"

"No, continue to observe!" Kong took out a letter from behind the desk, "It's not confirmed whether or not the Gotei is protecting them, but if they are, engaging without enough information will only get those agents killed." He offered the letter to Bradley. "Take this to Sengoku!" He said.

"In that case should we call off the tracking team? They are just as likely to get caught by The Gotei as if they would have engaged." Issho said seriously.

"Don't call them off just yet. Tell them priority number one is safety on this mission, and tell them to keep their distance and not engage Straw hat under any circumstances."

"I understand! Well, if you'll excuse me!" Issho bowed and walked out after Kong gave him permission to leave the room. He turned to Bradley and smiled. "You should go as well, you have duties to attend to!"

"That I do!"

"It was good seeing you again, my friend!" Kong and Bradley stood up and shook hands with a smile. "You too, Kong!" Bradley said and left the room.

------------------------------------------------------

End