"Battle Plan."
These two words were appearing within the Straw Hat Pirates for the very first time.
Just think about how Luffy and his band of "savages" made their debut in the East Blue:
Buggy the Clown: You dare bully the little dog Chouchou? Screw that, don't be a coward, just fight! Charge head-on, furiously brute-force an A-move* all the way through. Did they win? They won. Pack up, work done, hide the merit and fame.
Kuro of a Hundred Plans: You dare plot against Miss Kaya? Screw that, don't be a coward, just fight! Charge head-on, furiously brute-force an A-move all the way through. Did they win? They won. Pack up, work done, hide the merit and fame.
Don Krieg: You dare eat the food and not pay? Screw that, don't be a coward, just fight! Charge head-on, furiously brute-force an A-move all the way through. Did they win? They won. Pack up, work done, hide the merit and fame.
Arlong the Fish-Man: You dare make my navigator cry? Screw that, don't be a coward, just fight! Charge head-on, furiously brute-force an A-move all the way through. Did they win? They won. Pack up, work done... well, the merit and fame weren't hidden successfully that time—bounty: 30 million Berry.
After entering the Grand Line and Sherlock joining, the battles they experienced were mostly skirmishes, so we'll skip those for now.
But this time, according to the idiot Captain's style, it would probably go like this...
Sand Crocodile—Crocodile: You dare plot to take Vivi's country? Screw that, don't be a coward, just fight! Charge head-on, furiously brute-force an A-move all the way through. Did we win? What? Haven't fought yet? ...Forget it, win or lose, I'll fight first and talk later.
Therefore, Sherlock, as a senior intellectual laborer, felt it was absolutely necessary to teach the Straw Hat Pirates a lesson.
A long wooden table was placed in the center of the room. The members of the Straw Hat Pirates took their seats one by one. However, the person sitting at the head of the table wasn't Captain Luffy, but the convener of the meeting, Sherlock. This act of usurping the host's role made the dim-witted Captain extremely dissatisfied; he childishly turned his head away, seemingly sulking at the Warlock.
Sherlock propped his elbows on the table, his long, slender fingers interlaced in front of his mouth. He leaned forward slightly. In the somewhat dimly lit room, his spotlessly wiped glasses reflected two startling gleams of light, making it impossible for anyone to see exactly where his eyes were looking.
An invisible aura radiated from Sherlock, pressing down on Zoro and the others so heavily they hardly dared to breathe. He sat there quietly, yet he commanded attention like a wisp of flame in the endless dark night.
(This guy... why does it seem like he's suddenly become a different person...?) The Straw Hats silently commented in their hearts.
If Anna and the other high-ranking members of the Goldglint Trading Company were here, they would surely be moved to tears.
He's entered Meeting Mode! The Second Generation Head of Goldglint!
"Alright, let me first give you a general overview of the current situation."
— Projection Mirror!
Under the amazed gazes of Nami and the others, a phantom 3D map suddenly floated up from the somewhat shabby wooden table. Although simple and rough, it clearly marked the names and descriptions of various locations.
"This is the map of Alabasta. Our current location, Yuba, is right here."
Swish. A city located in the center of the western continent on the map emitted a glowing green light.
"And the Sand Crocodile's current location: Rainbase, is here."
Swish. A city to the north of Yuba emitted a piercing yellow light.
Sherlock's voice was soft and magnetic, but everyone heard him with absolute clarity. Because his lenses were reflecting light, it wasn't clear where Sherlock's attention was focused, but Nami and the others felt as if a pair of pitch-black eyes were watching them, forcing them to pay one hundred and twenty percent attention.
Of course, a certain idiot wearing a straw hat was the exception.
"Good! I get it!" Luffy suddenly slammed the table, standing up with a face full of excitement. "I already understand Sherlock's battle plan!"
Nami glanced suspiciously at the dim-witted Captain. "Luffy, what is Sherlock's plan?"
"It's simple~" Luffy grinned. "That bastard Crocodile is to our north, so we just walk north..."
"And then?"
"And then we'll arrive at Rainbase, find him, and blow him away. Isn't that it?" The dim-witted Captain said it as a matter of course, as if in his eyes, how to defeat the Sand Crocodile and how to stuff an elephant into a refrigerator were the same type of problem.
"I knew it..." Nami, Usopp, and Sanji simultaneously facepalmed, all wearing expressions that said, 'As expected.'
The green-haired swordsman, however, maintained a serious expression. He looked at the map before him, nodded solemnly, and whispered:
"So that direction is North..."
"Pfft!~~~" Everyone who heard that nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.
(Doctorine, Doctor, I don't think I can become a panacea...) Chopper lay on the table, streaming tears, thinking silently to himself.
(And I feel that even if there was a panacea, it couldn't cure Zoro's lack of direction!!!)
"Mosshead, although I knew you were bad with directions," Sanji looked at Zoro as if seeing him for the first time, "I didn't think you were so lost that you didn't even know which way North is!"
"Shut up! You love-struck curly brows! Your love-sickness is the thing that's truly incurable!"
"Bastard! Are you asking for a kicking?"
"You want to fight? Come on then, who's afraid of who?!"
Just like that, these two guys actually started fighting. At the same time, Luffy and Usopp, fearing the world wasn't chaotic enough, started cheering them on, with whistles and laughter ringing out continuously.
In an instant, this chaotic, chicken-flying-dog-jumping scene seemed to return to the goofy times on the Going Merry, completely destroying the meeting atmosphere Sherlock had worked so hard to construct.
"Sanji, Mr. Bushido, stop fighting..." Vivi said weakly. She wanted to mediate, but her heart was willing while her strength was lacking.
Sherlock watched these goofballs quietly, remaining silent. He still sat upright with his fingers interlaced. Although he appeared calm, the corner of his mouth, twitching slightly behind his fingers, revealed the Warlock's true feelings at this moment.
Inside Sherlock's heart right now: (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
He really wanted to flip the table and leave. What the hell. These goofballs were hopeless.
(Why did I board this pirate ship in the first place?) Sherlock asked himself, but couldn't come up with a suitable answer.
At this moment, Nami secretly glanced at the Warlock, only to find the latter silently focusing on her. That smile, full of sunshine, gave one the feeling of a spring breeze.
However, the Navigator read a very specific meaning in Sherlock's gentle, water-like eyes:
(I give you 20 seconds to make these goofballs shut up, or I'm going to kill someone!)
"Uh..." Nami shuddered. To be able to express such a terrifying thought while smiling so pleasantly—should she say, 'as expected of Sherlock'?
20 seconds later...
Looking at the four goofballs who had been beaten black and blue by Demon King Nami, Sherlock nodded with satisfaction, then continued:
"Our ultimate goal is to defeat the Sand Crocodile, but directly attacking his doorstep is a very unwise choice."
"Leaving aside the fact that Rainbase is full of Crocodile's spies, just the Marines chasing us are enough to give us a hard time."
Zoro immediately thought of a certain blue-haired girl with glasses and nodded in deep agreement.
"We have to fight, the question is how to fight, and whether we should do some meaningful things before we fight."
Clearing his throat, Sherlock took a large stack of documents out of the Mirror Space and placed them on the table, letting Usopp and the others pass them around.
"These are materials I've been collecting since Whiskey Peak. Although most of it is trivial matters, there is still a lot of useful intelligence."
Next, Sherlock began a long discourse. From Baroque Works secretly purchasing weapons to Crocodile devising a plan to turn the Royal Army against itself; from using Dance Powder to frame the King, to how he himself had blackened the Sand Crocodile by framing him as part of the Revolutionary Army... he chattered on about a whole heap of things.
"...The Sand Crocodile has been secretly funding the Rebel Army, because even though the Rebels have superior numbers, a mob lacking equipment can't beat the Royal Army."
"The Rebels lack weapons and supplies, so the Sand Crocodile provides them with weapons and supplies."
"His goal is to have the evenly matched sides engage in a deathmatch at Alubarna. Once they are both severely weakened, he will reap the benefits of the fisherman, eliminating both the Royal Army and the Rebel Army!" Sherlock said with a heavy tone.
Swish! A piercing pillar of blood-red light lit up the location of Alubarna on the map.
"Judging by the Baroque Works ships we saw on our way here, the Sand Crocodile no longer fears the suspicion of the Marines and the World Government. This means the day of the decisive battle is right now!"
"That's amazing, Sherlock! You're almost catching up to how I was back in the day!" The long-nosed brother said with a look of admiration. He truly hadn't expected Sherlock to deduce Crocodile's shocking conspiracy, planned over many years, just from those trivial matters.
The little reindeer nodded his small head, wearing an expression that said, 'I don't get it, but it seems awesome.'
Nami thought for a moment after listening, then said uncertainly, "If that happens, then neither the Royal Family nor the Rebel Army will exist anymore..."
"Yes. And as the person with the highest reputation in this country, it is very likely that the Sand Crocodile will be elected by the people as the new King." Sanji rubbed his chin. "Just like the Drum Kingdom."
After the Drum Kingdom was destroyed by the Blackbeard Pirates, the new King was to be elected by the citizens themselves; even the World Government wouldn't interfere with this.
"How could he do that!" After realizing the severity of the situation, the blood drained from Vivi's face. She slammed the table hard and shouted, "That's one million people! Just to seize my country, he actually wants to kill so many people!"
"Calm down, Vivi," Zoro said coolly. "Sherlock bringing this up here means he already has a solution, right? Lord Strategist."
The green-haired swordsman's slightly teasing title immediately made Nami and the others feel that this was exactly how it should be.
Strategist? Yes, if the Straw Hat Pirates were compared to a person, then Luffy, the dim-witted Captain, was the heart, the core hub of the Straw Hat crew. Sanji and Zoro, the two high-end combatants, were the left and right hands.
And the Warlock—Sarsalian Sherlock—was undeniably the "Brain" of the Straw Hat crew!
"Naturally, there is a solution. This is one of the main reasons we came to Yuba." Sherlock nodded, then, under Vivi's hopeful gaze, gently waved his hand.
Swish, swish, swish. Three port cities near Yuba, close to the Sandora River, lit up with blue light on the map.
"As a hub city, Yuba can be said to be the closest city to these three places." Sherlock calmly pushed up his glasses.
"Next, we are going to split our forces for the operation."
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