457. Father Arrives

Leo recorded his conversation with Gordon using a recorder. Then he leaves it in Uta's room for her to hear in the hope that she will change her mind. He doesn't bother Uta again after that and waits to see the result.

But 2 days later, he finds out about the war in Marineford through the newspaper. It's such a great event, so the news spread to the whole world. Every page of the newspaper is filled with articles of war in Marineford.

Leo is very surprised to know that his dad and Luffy were participating in that war. Luffy is only mentioned a few times, but his dad is filling every article. Buggy has taken Whitebeard's spotlight and became the main character of that war, after all.

The whole war was broadcasted, so the journalists could see everything that happened there, including Buggy's feat. Disguising himself then escaped Impel Down, infiltrating the war, making some Warlords retreat just by revealing his true identity, holding off all 3 Admirals alone, and lastly killing Big Mom in seconds.

The articles are full of Buggy as if they forget that the war was initially between Whitebeard Pirates and Marines that happened because of Ace's execution. It just shows just how much impact Buggy made in the war.

A few papers suddenly drop out of the newspaper when Leo reads with widened eyes. He checks the papers which are bounty posters attached to the newspaper. His eyes widened even more and his jaw drops to the floor very hard. After all, the posters have the new bounties of Clown Pirates.

'Clown Lord' Buggy: 6 billion

'Red Fists' Montblanc Cricket: 3.69 billion

'Black Hammer' Palu: 2.23 billion

'Thunder God' Enel: 2 billion

'Demon Giant' Magnus: 1.9 billion

Mantis 'The Dancer': 867 million

'Fatman' Manba: 734 million

'Rainbow Hair' Bunglon Deon: 722 million

'Soul King' Brook: 687 million

'Ash Girl' Ariella Jude: 673 million

'The Inventor' Ruff: 656 million

'Top Gun' Maverick: 636 million

'Lord's Hand' Dela: 400 million

The Marines really raised Buggy's bounty to 6 billion as he asked. Cricket's bounty increased by 2 billion while Palu, Enel, and Magnus have their bounties increased by 1 billion. The others with the exception of Maverick who gets a raise of 500 million are getting their bounties increased by 300 million.

Other than the executives, every member of Clown Pirates gets a bounty now. Those who already have it get small raise, while those who didn't have bounties finally get their bounties. But their bounty posters aren't attached because there are too many of them.

So the Marines made a list of them on some papers. Their bounty posters are available on Marine bases. So bounty hunters who wish to get more detailed information available in bounty posters can get them in Marine bases.

"Damn, so Dad is that strong, huh? He is strong enough to fight 3 Admirals alone. Even 1 Admiral already has enough strength to destroy our whole crew without breaking a sweat. I can't even imagine how strong the 3 of them are, and Dad could fight them alone. Then he even killed an Emperor of The Sea who is said to be on par with an Admiral easily. Some articles even say that my dad might be able to defeat the 3 Admirals if he was serious."

If Leo didn't meet Garp and was told that his dad is the strongest man alive, then he won't believe this news. Even so, he was still underestimating the title of world strongest previously. Only now that he starts to understand how powerful the world's strongest is.

"I can't stay idle anymore or I won't catch up to my dad and achieve my dream. Uta's matter is standing in my way, so I will settle this as fast as possible and return to Sabaody to meet my crewmates again."

Leo still can't make any solid plan to stop Uta and the girl hasn't shown any reaction after he gave her the recording. He will wait a few more days before deciding what to do. For now, he will watch how the situation will unfold first.

2 days later, Gordon suddenly comes to meet Leo and he seems to be in a hurry. Leo asks him if something happens to Uta and Gordon shakes his head. The old man says that he has just received news that Red Hair Pirates are approaching the island.

"Leo, you know them, right? Can you go there to meet them before they arrive? I don't know what Uta will do if she sees Shanks right now. So I will talk to her while you explain the situation to them."

"Sigh, alright, I'll try to talk it out with Uncle Shanks. Might as well ask him what to do."

Leo transforms into a human torch and flies to the sea, following the direction that Gordon pointed out. He now can fly in the air for a rather long time by transforming his body into flame. Although he can also fly by shooting fire strongly from his feet and palms, but it consumes too much energy because his body is heavy without transforming into flame.

After flying for a while, Leo finally sees Red Hair Pirates' ship and goes there. The pirates on the ship are alerted, but then they realize that it might be Leo. Buggy has told them that Leo is here, after all, and they know the kid has Fire Logia ability.

Leo lands on their ship and they welcome him happily. They were good friends and Uta even had a crush on the boy, so they really like him. Leo greets them briefly and asks them to stop getting closer to the island for a while before explaining the reason.

The Red Hairs have known the whole situation from Buggy's intel. But they never thought that even Leo couldn't convince Uta. She really liked him back then and most likely still has that feeling today. That's why it's very surprising that she doesn't listen to Leo.

They want to talk more to know Uta's current condition. However, they suddenly hear Uta's voice coming from the island. It's not loud, but they can hear it even from the sea. Leo widens his eyes and immediately tells them to close their ears to avoid being pulled into Uta's world.

Sometime later, they can feel strong vibrations in the air coming from the island. All of them widen their eyes when they see a massive monstrous entity that suddenly appears on the island. The Red Hairs know this creature very well because they fought it years ago.

"Tot Musica!"

Leo also realized what that thing is. He can't believe that Uta managed to find the music sheet and summoned this monster. It makes Leo want to skin Gordon alive for letting Uta get the damn music sheet so easily.

Some pirates stop closing their ears and they look fine. So Leo also stops closing his ears, but he immediately wears a pair of earbuds and even wears an earmuff to block his hearing. He asks the Red Hair to block their hearing too or they'll get pulled to Uta's world.

Now that Tot Musica has appeared, they don't have any choice but to defeat it first. But they need a special method to defeat Tot Musica. So Leo can't let all the Red Hairs being pulled into Uta's world before telling them. After all, he can't defeat Tot Musica alone because he can't be in the real and virtual world at the same time.

The Red Hair Pirates immediately make earbuds using anything available like cloth, cotton, or even cork. But because they can't hear, Leo can't talk with them. So he writes the plan and they talk through writing.

It's a simple plan, they just need to let a few people enter the virtual world. The ones in the real and virtual world will fight Tot Musica which exists in both worlds. They need to defeat it in both worlds as fast as possible, so they need to go all out from the beginning.

After pondering for a while, Shanks decides to send Benn, Yasop, Lucky, and many members into the virtual world. He and the rest will take care of the real world. There are more who will go to the virtual world than the ones who stay in the real world.

After all, Shanks himself will fight in the real world, so there's no need for many of them to stay here. Furthermore, they don't know the virtual world condition, so it's better to send more. Leo will also fight in the real world.

Other than defeating Tot Musica, he also wants to see how strong Shanks is. Shanks shares the same title as his dad, The Emperor of the Sea. So even though Shanks isn't the Strongest Man in the World, his power must be close to Buggy, and Leo wants to see that power himself.

His dream and goal are always the same, surpassing his father's power. But he never knows how powerful Buggy is, so he doesn't have a clear view of the distance between them. Now that Shanks is here to fight, Leo wants to gauge that distance through Shanks who is one of the few people at the similar level as Buggy.

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You can read more chapters ahead of my fanfics and more pictures on my Pa_treon page if you are interested.

Voting for this book is highly appreciate. Cover image is the MC, artist's ig: @fatmaqn_

I've uploaded Chapter 494. The Kids Move

- Pictures of both stories (ex: bounty poster & magazine cover) by fatmaqn_

https://www.pa_treon.com/CaptMermain

(the web didn't use _underscore_, it's to avoid censorship)