Chapter 197: Waking up, Karasu Island and Meeting

Chapter 197: Waking up, Karasu Island and Meeting

_________ POV Narration_________

It wasn't difficult for Whitebeard to realise that something was wrong when he woke up...

Especially since he could hear his sons grieving at his side.

The old man's eyes softened when he noticed Ace's figure also present in the room.

Guilt and shame seemed to hang around the young pirate, as Whitebeard's tired eyes scanned the room a few more times...

'... Which one of my sons have I failed?...' Was the first question that rose in his mind.

It wasn't long before everyone in the room noticed him waking up, they all rushed to his side.

"Pops!" "Father!" They looked both happy and desperate at the same time.

"What's with the fuss? Not like I died..." Whitebeard scoffed as he slowly stood up, ignoring his injuries and cracking his neck a few times.

"P-Pops... It's better if you stay in bed for now..." Ace said as he patted his father on the shoulder.

"Bah! Stay in bed and then what? I ain't getting much better than I am now..." Whitebeard scoffed as he looked at his injuries.

Normally, such injuries would take months to heal... But Whitebeard was well aware that he no longer had that time. He was on his last legs.

'... From the way I feel... I have only a few weeks at best...'

"Pops..." Ace's face seemed to contort into a painful expression. Which prompted the old Whitebeard to slap him over the head.

"Don't get all sappy with me now... I ain't dead yet..." The old man's eyes were warm as he patted his son's head.

It didn't matter how many times Ace had tried to assassinate him in the past... Ace was now his son.

Now...

"... Where is Vista?" Whitebeard's question seemed to silence the cries of his sons and daughters.

"... Pops..."

__________________

"I told you letting him go off on his own was a shitty idea!" Garp shouted as he crushed a table underneath his fist.

"All things considered, this might be for the better... Whitebeard is Enel's ally after all... Which means he's also our ally."

Sengoku shook his head at the side, patting the head of his goat, which Tsuru had made sure to bring with her when departing from the World Government.

"Ally or not, Francisco did go and kill a Yonko. It's hard to say whether or not this is a good thing..." Garp scowled a bit as he crossed his arms and sat back down on his couch.

"That particular Yonko was more of a nuisance to us... Remember Red Hair's report?" Shiki also didn't seem too concerned about Kaido being killed.

"Big Mom, Kaido and Shanks... Normally such an alliance would make the World Government go crazy... At least they would pretend that it was a threat to them..." Zephyr at the side also scowled as he remembered the report of the Red Haired pirates...

Benn Beckman had noticed that government agents were present in Wano, so Shanks was able to surmise that they were simply not doing anything to stop the meeting/alliance from happening.

They either couldn't or didn't want to do anything about it. Shanks had surmised that it was likely the latter.

"They likely just hope the emperors would band together and fight us..." Tsuru shook her head as she rolled up the sleeves of her pink shirt.

"Their plan doesn't appear to have worked that well... Shanks is already allied with Enel, and Big Mom does also appear to be on friendly terms with him..."

Akainu rubbed his chin, the permanent scowl on his face lessening as he thought about how yet another nuisance had been removed from the seas.

"That doesn't make it any better. We have all the right to hold that against him! Even you never did something that heinous!" Garp's response was just as fiery as expected.

But Shiki's next words did help pour a bucket of cold water over his head.

"Trust me, Francisco did them a favour... No one gets off that easy when disrespecting Xebec..."

Garp opened his mouth, he wanted to refute Shiki. But deep down, he knew that Shiki was telling the truth.

The old Golden Lion didn't care how he was perceived by others. He had no reason to lie in order to 'gain sympathy' for him or for Francisco.

He was a pirate through and through.

"Death was a blessing to them. Especially compared to whatever else Xebec had planned for them... It was a blessing that only Francisco had the power to bestow. The rest of us didn't have much say..."

Shiki sighed as he tapped his bladed feet on the floor of the office a few times.

"... I understand... Still, he did have the choice to rebel against Xebec at all times... Hell, the rest of you would've likely joined him without skipping a beat..." Garp was still a bit spiteful, unwilling to ever forgive Francisco for that incident.

"Hey, didn't say Francisco was faultless!" Shiki laughed a bit as he shook his head.

"I don't know how that bastard Xebec did it... But Francisco was much sooner willing to kill himself than to betray him..."

"... We can leave such a discussion for another time... I believe we all understand the risks of him being out now..." Sengoku said as he clapped, gaining everyone's attention.

"But I believe that the benefits still far outweigh the risks. So I vote for him to continue his journey for now." The old Fleet Admiral started the vote.

And in the end, most people voted as he did.

Zephyr, Garp and Akainu were all against Francisco being allowed to roam, but the rest all agreed that it was a good thing.

"In the end, the captain's decision matters most... We should call Enel here, just to make sure..." Garp scowled, somewhat dissatisfied.

He hoped that Enel would side with him, but deep down he knew that it was unlikely to happen.

Still, he felt that such matters needed to be run by Enel either way. He was the one that had brought them all together after all...

"That might be for the best. We need to bring him up to speed on Shanks's reports as well." Gan Fall seemed to agree with Garp.

So did everyone else in the room. Who couldn't understand the importance of the Sky King?

Hell, he was the whole reason such a meeting could ever exist.

Imagine leading figures from all factions somehow gathering in one spot peacefully... Such a thing was simply unheard of before he came along.

"I'll go grab him... He's quite diligent in his training..." Garp slowly stood up and walked out the door.

"Let's wait for them to return... In the meantime, let's talk about food production, we're running quite low on vegetables after all..." Gan Fall looked towards Shiki, who just sighed.

'More work for me, huh?'

__________________________________________________________________

Eyyy, Priests.

Trying to keep up the daily uploads again(daily as in, alternating stories and all that).

This story may be somewhat close to ending, but it's still got a few dozen chapters left. Maybe closer to 100 tbh

Basically, I'm in no hurry and I wanna make sure everything get's addressed even before the final battle if possible.

If u want to support me look up VeganMaster(Vegan Cult) on Patre_on, you'd also get 15 chapters in advance (or 10/5 depending on tier)