Red-Haired drew Griffon from his belt, and a cold gleam lit up Whitebeard's face. Shanks moved with his usual calm and elegance, yet his sword was unsheathed in the blink of an eye and blocked the massive bisento's strike.
Crash!—it was probably the greatest clash in the world at that moment. Two exceptional swords, wielded by the two strongest pirates alive.
In an instant, the clouds overhead were split apart, as if the very sky had been torn in two.
Red-Haired refused to show the slightest weakness; though his frame looked rather lean in contrast, he effectively blocked the powerful attack from the imposing man.
He understood Whitebeard's anger, so he didn't hold any resentment against him.
"Shanks! You're a free pirate, a powerful man, an Emperor who can stand on equal footing with me! Yet you're here begging for mercy for Ace from a country that's a lackey of the World Government! Even if you manage to save Ace that way, he won't be happy about it!" Whitebeard shouted.
Enraged, Whitebeard lunged at Shanks, giving him no chance to respond.
Crash!—once again, Griffon blocked the bisento.
What truly infuriated Whitebeard was that someone wanted to make him and Red-Haired—two Emperors—submit, to force them into making some sort of promise. That was a serious insult. He was the strongest man in the world. Was he supposed to sell himself out just to save his son?
More importantly, since Whitebeard didn't keep up with the World Government's affairs and didn't even use a mobile phone, his knowledge of Alabasta was limited to whatever news the World Government's newspapers reported. So, his impression of Alabasta amounted to little more than a glorified version of the Watch.
What's interesting is that in this world, ordinary people know a lot about Alabasta. But the more powerful a pirate is, the less they actually understand.
Whitebeard considered Alabasta to be just another version of the World Government. And what kind of madness was this—paying Alabasta fifty billion Belli in exchange for Ace?!
Could it really be that Alabasta was prepared to attack the Watch's headquarters for fifty billion?
Two Conqueror's Haki clashed, and Whitebeard refused to listen to whatever Red-Haired was trying to explain.
Whitebeard wanted to save his son, and he didn't need anyone's charity. If both he and Ace were to fall in this war, he wouldn't consider it shameful.
...…..
Royal Palace of Alabasta.
Katakuri passed on to Ezekiel some information about the "negotiations" between Red-Haired Shanks and Whitebeard.
Both ships had taken serious damage. Shanks' ship had lost its main mast, while Whitebeard's ship had to be sent to a shipyard in Sabaody for repairs.
Hearing this, Ezekiel fell into thought.
That's just the kind of relationship that exists among the great pirates. Kaido and Big Mom were exactly the same in this regard.
"Most likely, Whitebeard refused your terms," Fujitora said. He had overheard Ezekiel's previous conversation with Red-Haired, and from the perspective of national interest, this approach made perfect sense to him.
Alabasta had originally planned to save Ace by any means necessary.
But Fujitora believed that in this case, one had to be calculating. Ezekiel had contacted Red-Haired in advance and made him an offer Let him pay the ten billion owed to Alabasta, and then pay another fifty billion Belli to prove his loyalty. Then, in the name of the Royal Family of Alabasta, Ezekiel would absolutely return Ace to him!
Of course, Red-Haired agreed.
Red-Haired thought Whitebeard was wealthy enough; at the very least, he could easily come up with fifty billion Belli. And if fifty billion Belli could buy Alabasta's help, any way you look at it, that would be the perfect deal.
Naturally, Whitebeard refused.
Otherwise, he wouldn't be Whitebeard the Emperor. But Red-Haired was definitely the type who would go to Whitebeard and make this offer. If he hadn't, he wouldn't be Shanks.
Sunlight streamed through the window as Ezekiel gazed up at the sky. There was a deep wisdom in his eyes: he had ruled over millions of lives and shaped the fates of countless beings for so long. And it wasn't just a matter of Ezekiel combining the knowledge of the 21st century and applying it to the pirate world. He was a calculating ruler—no one could deny that.
So fundamentally, what he had done wasn't just about getting fifty billion Belli, but about making a fair trade: the friendship of two Emperors, plus money and political intrigue.
If the Whitebeard Pirates saw that Alabasta displayed enough strength in the War of the Best, they wouldn't just hand over fifty billion Belli to Alabasta; to some extent, they would come to see Alabasta as an ally.
But without Shanks making a prior visit, if Alabasta were to intervene in the War of the Best, the Whitebeard Pirates would view Alabasta as a nation trying to seize power out of sheer ambition, simply using the war as a stage to show off their strength.
Ezekiel explained his plan to Fujitora and Katakuri, and they were stunned.
Although Fujitora didn't entirely agree with Ezekiel's logic:
"But this still doesn't guarantee that Whitebeard won't see Alabasta as a power-hungry nation acting out of its own ambitions."
After all, the World Government had not yet attempted any outside interference against Alabasta, so if Ezekiel wanted to convince Whitebeard that Alabasta had a higher cause for sending its troops, he needed to be prepared.
Then, while the other two were still deep in thought, Ezekiel smiled and dialed Red-Haired's number.
"King Ezekiel?" It was Shanks's voice.
"Yes, it's me."
At the moment, Shanks wasn't in great shape. He'd suffered many injuries, and even that handsome face that made women swoon was a bit swollen from the "slings and arrows of fate." His voice sounded apologetic:
"I'm sorry, King Ezekiel, I couldn't persuade Whitebeard…"