Video;

[raiseyou]

[ While he's not who appears onscreen, the SmartSnail signature on the phone is Portgas D. Ace. The location behind Marco is carefully chosen to be generic as possible: a wooden plank wall, the outside of some building or the side of some ship or who knows, really. The coded location of the transmission itself is scrambled. ]

Portgas D. Ace is currently alive and under the protection of the Whitebeard Pirates, the Straw Hat Grand Fleet, and certain sections of the Revolutionary Army.

[ Marco's trying for deadpan, really, but the smirk on his face is goddamn shit-eating. ]

As First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates I am hereby proclaiming his right to live as equal to that of any other man.

Boys. Be on notice.

To the Navy, the World Goverment, and the Yonko Marshall D. Teach: Just you fucking try and touch him.

[ Do what you want 'cause a pirate is free. ]

Comments

[raiseyou]

[ In the meantime, Marco's gonna be investigating exactly how big a target Micqueot actually is. It's possible, sure, but islands with a big alcohol production tend to have fairly decent naval protection. He's also gonna see how difficult it is to cross-reference a delisted number. ]

I'll reach out to allies in the area. With any luck someone will already have a foothold near you.

[callada]

Hold off on that until I ask, don't just assume we want it. Not my decision to make.

They're gonna want to know why, anyway. It's a hard sell, pirates without their former leader. Too often a hole in the command like that makes trouble, I've seen it before. You sound like you mean well, so I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, but what do I tell them? Nobody's out to protect entire islands out of the goodness of their hearts. What do you want from places under your protection?

[raiseyou]

Depends on what they have to offer. If your local Marines aren't doing fuckall to actually protect your vineyards I don't imagine you've got much in the way of money. But if your season's good a percentage of cases of wine would be enough. Pops was always big on second chances and bartering before shooting. I see no reason to deviate from that philosophy.

[callada]

Thanks. Sounds reasonable. If he's interested he'll contact you directly.