The Gathering Begins

A Little bit earlier.

"Captain of the Krieg Pirates and The Ruler of Armada island! Don Krieg has arrived!"

The servant's exclamation made Kurl promptly looked the door with everyone with a serious look on his face as Don Krieg and His right and left vice-captains walked in.

Since he came to the East Blue as a spy, one of Baroque Works' main targets has been to defeat Don Krieg because of his immense reputation and large fleet of pirates under his command.

I(Kurl) was the spy sent to gather information on Don Kreig, so I have been trying to complete his duty, only to fail multiple times.

Don Krieg is a paranoid man who doesn't trust anybody as he knows that many people wanted him dead, especially after Arlong's defeat, which made it impossible to even get a single piece of news on him.

He tried many ways to get any information on Don Krieg's location, only to fail. He didn't know why but his instincts kept ringing, compelling him to find whatever he could on Don Krieg.

The more he learned about Don Krieg's past actions, the more he felt that this period was like the calm before the storm, and so he slowly rose his bounty awaiting the day that it might come to use, which fortunately did when he was invited to this Gathering.

"Now, let's begin the Gathering that would decide the

Future of This Sea!"

Kurl was interrupted from his thought by Don Krieg's loud voice. He swiftly put his hand in his pocket where there was a tiny snail there, Kurl pressed a button that turned on the Baby Den Den Mushi, making it start sound recording and send it to a ship near the island since the Baby Den Den Mushi's signal couldn't reach that far.

After Kurl turned on the Baby Den Den Mushi, Don Krieg started his speech.

"You all know why I gathered you here. It's because of Baroque Works. Since their arrival, our lives have changed drastically by their constant and never-ending desire to destroy-No erase us from existence! How many pirates have they killed or captured and made into slaves those past five months!"

"What!" Buggy cried out, his eyes widening in shock and disbelief.

'The captured pirates are made into Slaves!' Kuroobi's eyes widen with shock and rage as some of his brothers were captured when they were defeated by Baroque Works.

"..." Kuro didn't say anything as he was a bit skeptical about whether what Don Krieg said was true.

"those monsters!!"

All the pirate captains had a similar reaction, with eyes widening with shock, disbelief, rage, doubt, and many more emotions swirling in the Hall as they either yelled or discussed quietly with their vice-captains or fellow captains.

'This is bad... Really bad if this information reaches the Marine or the Public then...' Kurl clenched his fist tightly as his expression darkened when he thought about the dire consequence of this news.

Don Krieg waited patiently for them to absorb what he said when everyone quieted down a little, he continued with a somber look.

"Even if you don't believe me, this is the information my spy has gathered. Every pirate they capture isn't sent to a prison camp like they have told the world. Instead, they are taken to a facility where they are trained into obedience and then sold away..."

The pirate captains' expressions darkened as they still couldn't believe or accept the reality of the situation, especially Kuroobi, whose entire being was radiating rage as he thought about his brothers, who might have been sold into slavery once again.

'Phew... Thank god I didn't get captured by them,' Buggy thought as he breathed a sigh of relief.

Some of the pirates were starting to look at the Hall's floor with a look of despair. They felt defeating Baroque Works was impossible the more they learned about them, but then Don Krieg stood as he voiced his thoughts loudly and waved his hand angrily.

"I would like to know if Baroque Works thinks of us as animals and beasts that can either slaughter or sell away as they please! If so, then I can't ACCEPT THIS!"

Everyone grew quiet when they heard what he said, especially the ones who started to give up, raised their head, and looked at him with surprise and a little hope. Hope that he might have a way out of this mess.

"I will not accept this is how we, the mighty and feared pirates of the East, are being treated like animals by those Grandliners!!!"

Don Krieg's yelled loudly with frustration, his face reddening as he continued his speech.

"I need-NO We Need To Raise Against THEM! They need to feel our pain! Are you all With ME!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"Let's Kill those Grandliners!"

"Kill!"

"Kill every last one of them!"

"Kill!!!!"

Numerous pirates stood yelling loudly, unleashing all their pent-up emotion and bloodlust into the air, making the castle reverberate from their loud chant. Some people just sat there quietly without saying anything as they were still doubtful and unconvinced of how they would defeat B.W.

"Might I know what or how you intend to defeat Mr.1 and Mr.Sniper?" Kuro pushed his glasses back with his palm as he looked sharply at Don Krieg. Those two, Mr.1 and Mr.Sniper, are the main reason he gave up on hiding as they have shown great strength when they beat many pirates, so he wanted to know how Don Krieg would deal with them.

The question made all the pirates yelling pause as it was a legitimate problem they needed to know how Don Krieg Planned to solve.

'Gyahahaha! Good job, Kuro' Buggy's smirk grew when he saw how Kuro ruined Don Krieg's great speech. He came to the Gathering not to join hands with Don Krieg but instead to recruit many pirates willing to join him and immediately set sail to the Grandline since the East Blue wasn't safe. Still, with how the speech was going, he got a little worried that everyone would want to stay or join Don Krieg to fight B.W.

Don Krieg looked at Kuro calmly. Slowly his smile grew more prominent as he said. "... Mr. 1 has left the East Blue and isn't coming back any time soon as for Mr.Sniper... Bring it in."

"What he left! how do you- the spy!" Kuro said with his eyes widened as he remembered that Don Krieg had a spy.

"Yes, Sir" The servant bowed and ignored Kuro's reaction as he quickly went to the side room, and shortly he came back with a small chest. The servant placed it in front of Don Krieg and retreated.

"..." Kurl's expression grew severe as his instincts kept ringing loudly when he saw the small chest, advising him to leave immediately. Still, he ignored it since his mission still needed to be completed. 'I need to know more... what are they planning or if they have any secret weapons other than Buggy's balls...'

Don Krieg looked at everyone in the Hall and then said, with his smirk growing as he gently rubbed the chest.

"Four Days ago, I received intel that a Baroque Works' ship was coming from the Grandline and bringing with it something that would aid the agents in their conquest. I immediately gathered my best men and set out to raid this ship. It was one of the reasons that Gin or I weren't present to greet you all..." Don Krieg paused as he slowly opened the small chest and turned it around so everyone could get a better view.

"Huh?" Kurl became confused as he didn't get any news about an attack on B.W ship, especially a ship that was carrying something that would help them, and besides, didn't Mr.Mountain tell him that the spy was already taken care of 5 days ago? Do they have another spy? or is something going on in LogueTown he didn't know of...

"What we found is..." Don Krieg said as he finally opened the chest, showing the pirates what was inside it.

"What is that?"

"Is that... No impossible!"

"You know what it is?"

"Yeah, I might know..."

"What is it?"

When the pirates saw what was inside the chest, they grew bewildered about how this thing could help them. Only some of them had an inkling of what it might be about and weren't sure if it was true since it was a myth they had only heard about. Until Buggy yelled loudly.

"That A Devil Fruit!" Buggy's eyes popped out of his head. For him, it had been a long time since he last saw a devil fruit, but he would never forget how they looked.

A white fruit with unique swirling patterns that looked like dragon fruit sat inside the chest.

"Yes, Whahaha! What we found was Four Devil Fruit!" Don Krieg laughed loudly with a satisfied look when he saw everyone's faces shift into a look of greed when they heard his confirmation.