[ Third Person POV ]
An island within the New World
Roger and his crew were currently camping with the Whitebeard Pirates.
Apparently, Whitebeard had somehow managed to assemble nearly the entire crew. Save for the small crews that were responsible for overseeing certain islands that were under attack. Also, another one of him members was currently in Paradise, but Whitebeard said that he'd be coming soon.
On the other side stood the unity between the Golden Lion Pirates, and the Big Mom Pirates. They were said to be at war when Roger had arrived in the New World, but it seemed all of that was immediately put to rest upon hearing of his arrival.
Neither Roger nor Whitebeard understood the full context of their relationship, but they could have only assumed the worst for the moment. Now, it was important to note that their cooperation wasn't that much of concern for either Whitebeard or Roger.
However, that all stopped when they had heard news of Kaido's interference. Rumors immediately started to spread about Kaido returning to the alliance, hence adding another powerhouse within the alliance. This was slowly beginning to become troublesome for Whitebeard and Roger, and it wasn't helping either that the World Government had taken that oppurtunity to call of the non-aggresion pact that they themselves had proposed to the Whitebeard Pirates.
Judging from the way things were heating up, a normal bystander would have wasted no time leaving the New World. It was easy to assume that there was a World War coming soon, and that's what many assumed.
As a result of the building tensions, many slowly began sailing away from all territories affiliated with both the alliance, and the Whitebeard and Roger pirate's coalition. Hence, reducing revenue for both parties, and stirring even further animosity between the two groups.
Roger didn't have much territories because his main priority was finding the last island. However, the same couldn't be said for Whitebeard. He was furious upon hearing what this conflict was doing to his territories, and although the number of people leaving were minimal compared to the other party. It was still a lot of people leaving overall.
Big Mom and Shiki's territories were losing more people on the other hand. They didn't seem to care until the emigration started hurting their own pockets directly. It was then, that an order was given out to kill any villagers that dared to leave any of the islands. Consequently holding the islanders hostage for the duration of the conflict.
However, what else could they do?
"Newgate, when did you say the young man was coming again?" Rayleigh asked curiously.
Whitebeard slowly took a swig out of his gourd before replying.
"His Deputy answered the phone for him, she said that she'll send him our way as soon as possible."
Roger laughed before taking a swig out of a bottle of wine. He let out a sigh as he placed the bottle on a table.
"It doesn't really matter either way, I think that we can take those three idiots either way."
"It doesn't hurt to have some extra help, besides, you already know what he can do;" Rayleigh responded before taking a swig.
"By the way, Newgate, what are you going to do with those Marine bastards? They seem to want to start snooping around your territories again," Roger asked curiously.
"I've been thinking about putting Boris back on patrol, its been a long while since he did it. The Marines will have to think twice before they go about it again," Whitebeard replied.
Just like that, they kept drinking while preparing for the incoming battle.
Totto land
The Big Mom pirates and the Golden Lion Pirates were in a rather strained relationship.
Strained was an understatement, they were practically still enemies. Matter of fact, the only reason that they had called a truce at the moment was because that they had heard the news about Roger's arrival in the New World.
That had incentivized Shiki to try and reason with Linlin before it was too late. She didn't seem willing at first, but upon hearing the possible islands that she could claim at Whitebeard's cost, she couldn't help but to agree to the truce.
To ensure that they would be able to handle that bastard Boris in the scenario that he does come to play. Linlin had given Kaido a call and incentivezed him to rejoin the alliance under the guise of a good fight. It was just natural that Kaido agreed to it, but he wasn't an idiot either.
Kaido knew that he had a lot more to gain by joining the alliance, so he managed to leverage his position to get Linlin and Shiki to make an agreement that they would split the total island evenly with him. There was large profit to be made from this battle, and Kaido was not planning on letting this go.
He had already began his ventures within the isolationist Wano land thanks to the help of that fool that they call Shogun. The land wasn't in too much turmoil that required his personal intervention, so he had left the majority of his forces within Wano to help the Shogun, while he went out and played to his heart's content.
Currently; Linlin, Kaido and Shiki were gathered within Linlin's place. They were all eating and drinking while discussing how they were going to handle the Whitebeard and Roger pirates in battle.
"Kaido, do you remember Boris? That's who you're going to be fighting this time," Linlin commented while eating some sweets that walked up to her.
"I don't need you to tell me who I have to fight, Linlin!" Kaido snarled before downing some more alcohol.
"I won't need any help handling Roger, so leave him to me." Shiki snarled before tearing a piece of chicken off.
"Leaving me with that old bastart Newgate....." Linlin said before eating some more snacks. She didn't believe that she had the ability to defeat Whitebeard, but all she really wanted to do was to buy enough time.
Linlin had a plan.
She was going to wear down Newgate just long enough until the rest of the Big Mom pirates could effectively overwhelm him without extra effort. Granted, this plan was under the assumption that Whitebeard would be fighting alone, but it was a plan regardless.
Besides, she was also stalling long enough until someone like Shiki or Kaido could finish their business and help her out: another part of the trio's agreement.
It wasn't a thoroughly thought out plan, but it was a plan regardless. The question remained whether or not they would be able to successfully pull it off without any hiccups or unknown variables.