Chapter 20

"How old is Kong anyway?" Nami asked, still trying to process everything.

"We're twins. We both set off to become pirates at the same time," Luffy explained, his excitement fading into a slight frown. "Kong was supposed to stick with my crew until he found his own… but we got separated by a whirlpool."

"Twins?!" Nami's eyes widened in shock before quickly scanning the newspaper. Her gaze locked onto a full article about Kong, and she immediately began reading aloud. As she spoke, the crew's eyes grew wider with each word.

Kong had been robbing Marine bases, breaking criminals out of prison just to recruit them, and had somehow escaped from Garp and multiple Vice Admirals, all in less than a month.

"Your brother is crazier than you," Sanji said, still trying to wrap his head around it. Luffy just grinned and laughed in pride.

"He's always been stronger than me," Luffy admitted, his usual grin never fading. "But we're both going after the One Piece, and I'm not planning on losing!"

He clenched his fist with determination before throwing his head back and laughing. "So watch out, Kong!"

Meanwhile… Far across the sea, on a massive ship, a shirtless young man held up two wanted posters. He stood before one of the Four Emperors, Whitebeard.

The legendary pirate sat relaxed in his chair, allowing his nurses to tend to him. Despite being long past his prime, he still radiated an undeniable presence, a man whose very name shook the world.

"Hey, Pops! Take a look at these two." The young man waved the wanted posters in front of him, a smirk playing on his lips.

Whitebeard took a slow sip of his drink before glancing down, his eyes narrowing with interest. "Who are they?"

"These two are my little brothers, Luffy and Kong… well, Luffy feels more like a little brother, but Kong—he's always felt more like an older brother, even though they are twins." Ace grinned as he held up the wanted posters, causing the entire Whitebeard crew to perk up with interest. Some even walked over, curious to see the faces of their commander's brothers.

"Older brother?" Whitebeard raised an eyebrow, watching Ace with mild amusement.

"Yeah," Ace admitted with a chuckle. "I could never beat him, not even once. He's a real monster. Even when we were just kids, no older than eight, he was using Conqueror's Haki like it was nothing."

Silence fell over the deck. Whitebeard paused, staring at the bounty poster in his hand. He wasn't the only one.

The entire crew exchanged glances, their eyes drifting back to Kong's wanted poster. A 300 million bounty for a rookie. It made sense.

Whitebeard's eyes narrowed as he studied Kong's wanted poster. The more he looked, the more another face began to overlap with Kong's image in his mind, a red-haired pirate.

His grip on the poster tightened slightly, and after a moment, he had to look away, his scar aching as if in reminder of an old battle.

"He is like Shanks…" Whitebeard mused, his deep voice carrying a weight of experience.

"A brat who mastered Conqueror's Haki before the other forms of Haki…" A slow smile crept onto his face. "I'd like to meet him someday."

***

"Captain, look! You've got a bounty!" A pirate rushed over, holding up a newspaper.

Kong was lounging back, letting the ship's doctors tend to his injuries. He barely glanced at the pirate, too exhausted to care.

For the past few weeks, he had barely gotten any rest, every time he tried, another group of Marines would come knocking for a fight. He didn't want to keep battling, not while his wounds were still healing, but he had no choice.

"What?" Kong finally asked, taking the newspaper. But before he even got to his own bounty, something else caught his eye, Luffy's wanted poster. 

"30 million?!" He laughed. For a long moment, he just sat there laughing, finding it hilarious how low Luffy's bounty was. But it wasn't really low since he was still in the East Blue, After all, a bounty of 10 million was considered impressive back there.

But as the laughter faded, a genuine smile took its place. Luffy was alive. And that was all that mattered.

"Oh, there was a Fish-Man in East Blue? What a shame, I wanted to fight one," Kong muttered, tilting back a barrel of alcohol and drinking straight from it.

He lazily flipped through the newspaper, reading through all of Luffy's exploits that had earned him his bounty. As he read, he couldn't help but laugh, amused that Luffy had stuck around in East Blue while he had skipped straight into the Grand Line.

But then, his gaze drifted to his own bounty. Kong sighed in disappointment.

"Only 300 million?" He muttered, shaking his head. He had been expecting at least three billion, or maybe even a trillion, but it was clear the World Government wasn't taking him seriously yet. If that was the case…

"I guess I'll just have to go even crazier." He took another long swig from the barrel before setting it down with a loud thud.

"How long until we reach Alabasta?" Kong asked, stretching his sore muscles. He wanted to fully recover before making his next big move.

"We should arrive tomorrow," a pirate reported. Kong nodded, setting down his barrel. They should have reached Alabasta much sooner, but to avoid drawing too much attention from the Marines, they had taken a longer route.

But now, with over 300 men under his command, Kong realized something, hiding them all was going to be a nightmare.

"Once we arrive, we go into hiding," Kong declared. "We should also find a nearby island to use as a base. If all of us land at once, we'll draw too much attention."

Everyone nodded in agreement before spreading the orders to the other ships. A dozen ships, each carrying at least 30 men. That was a lot of people Kong had freed during his journey across the Grand Line. And honestly? He hadn't even planned on building a crew this big. But the Marines kept pissing him off, so every time he raided an island, he made sure to free every pirate prisoner—just to spite them.

There was a small island not far from their current location, only a two-hour trip from Alabasta. It was the perfect place to set up a temporary base. Kong and his crew docked there, carefully hiding their ships within the island's mountainous terrain.

With their stash of stolen supplies, they had more than enough resources to last a month. And yes, it was mostly water. Food wasn't a problem. They had plenty of water, and they could fish for whatever else they needed.

With that settled, Kong and the others finally took the chance to rest before making their next move.