"An invasion?" Usopp repeats, voice halfway between awe and alarm at the very idea of it. He thinks that he ought to have heard of an invasion, if there was one, but it's possibly that this New York place is way on the other side of the world, and he had managed to miss the memo entirely. "That sounds really serious!"

Two years ago, two years ago... he had had access to the news way back then, but some things make it to the Grand Line sooner than others. There's only one way to be totally sure, he thinks, and that's using a benchmark that everyone knows, from the furthest corner of rural East Blue to the top dogs in the New World.

"Did this happen before or after Whitebeard died?"