Chapter 679 Ace, stop it! (12,000 words)

Leaving Whiskey Peak Island, the Merry sets sail again! ……

"Vivi is the princess of Alabasta?!"

"We are now enemies with Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea?!"

On the deck, Sanji, who was dragged onto the ship by Luffy, had messy blond hair and Usopp had a crooked nose. The two of them stood on the left and right, looking confused. They had been having a lively party last night, but how come the world had changed when they woke up?

How much did we miss after sleeping all night?!

"There was a fight, but you didn't wake me up?" Sanji pressed his forehead against Zoro's, "Green algae head! Did you steal the opponent?"

"Ah?" Zoro was unhappy, "You're drunk, and you still have the nerve to complain?"

After listening to Luffy, Nami, and Chopper, who also participated in the battle last night—Chopper didn't drink any alcohol last night, so he naturally wouldn't be drunk, but when he heard the noise of a fight outside, he ran out in panic and got involved in the melee—Robin roughly understood the whole story.

She sorted out the story: "The waitress is actually a princess from Alabasta. She went undercover in an organization called Baroquewater and found out that their boss is Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. Crocodile is the mastermind behind the unrest and even revolution in Alabasta. Finally, last night Luffy and Nami agreed to help the waitress return to Alabasta... Is that right?"

Usopp was amazed, "Although I have made everything clear, why are you so calm even when you mention Crocodile, Robin?!"

Nami nodded with lingering fear, "Yes, yes, Sister Robin, they are the Seven Warlords of the Sea! I didn't expect that we would be targeted by such a scary guy as soon as we entered the Grand Line..."

Last night, several assassins from the Baroque Society had already taken down their portraits. Even if they didn't help Vivi return to Alabasta, they had undoubtedly been targeted by Baroque.

Luffy crossed his arms and said indifferently: "What does it matter? Sooner or later, we will face that kind of guy anyway!"

"Yeah," Zoro chuckled, "If I don't chop down guys of this level, how can I be the world's greatest swordsman..."

Robin looked at Luffy, Zoro, Sanji... and said noncommittally: "The Seven Warlords of the Sea are indeed not that great. However, Crocodile is a natural ability user. If you want to defeat him, if you can't master Armament Haki... you don't have much chance of winning."

"Heroic?" "Natural?"

Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and even Luffy all tilted their heads in unison, and a question mark slowly appeared above their heads.

"BIB" was speechless. The three doubts were understandable. Luffy, why are you joining in the fun? Luffy laughed and asked, "I know about Armament Haki, but what is Nature Haki?"

The order here is also reversed... "BIB" and Robin were speechless. Luffy's pace of growth is too strange. He first mastered Conqueror Haki, but not only did he not get started with Armament Haki, he didn't even know the most basic classification of Devil Fruits.

So, Robin gave a brief introduction, starting from the three-series classification of devil fruits and ending with the domineering three-color classification.

Although in Lynch's concept of domineering training, domineering is domineering, whether it is armament color, observation color or domineering color, they are just techniques with different levels of difficulty and application directions, but they are essentially the same thing.

However, for Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and others who do not have the conditions to systematically learn Lynch's Haki experience, there is no need for Robin to go into details for them. She simply gave them a brief introduction using the commonly circulated Haki classification.

It was also because of this that Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and others knew for the first time the uniqueness of Luffy's ability to intimidate.

One in a million people has the "king's qualification"...

Although I knew that this stupid captain was actually very powerful, I didn't expect... He was actually this powerful?! On the side, Weiwei suddenly seemed to have thought of something, and looked at Robin's profile with a domineering look and devil fruit in doubt. I always felt that I seemed to have seen her face somewhere before...

Also, the name Robin...

Did he recognize her? "BIB" leaned in front of Weiwei to observe.

"Ah!!!!" Weiwei was suddenly so scared that her eyes almost popped out of her head, "What is that??!!!" The running duck Kalu next to her had the same stunned and terrified expression.

"I'm sorry..." The narrow eyes on the dark mask glowed faintly and disappeared into the air. "I accidentally materialized..."

It must have been intentional...

The others on the ship looked at the black helmet that disappeared again.

Weiwei's eyes were filled with tears. "Everything on this pirate ship is so strange..."

"Hahaha!" Luffy laughed, "This is fun."

～～～～～～～～～～～ “That’s right, it’s the island that is magnetically attracted to Cactus Island and is our next destination… It’s the one in front!”

The Merry slowly sailed into a sea channel extending into the island.

On the deck, Vivi was a little nervous, "Be careful, the atmosphere of this island makes people feel very solemn..." Usopp was startled, "Will there be monsters?!" Sanji held a cigarette in his mouth, "That's perfect, we need to replenish food on the ship anyway."

The jungles on both sides of the sea route are deep and dark, with tall and ancient trees, as if it is a secret place.

"Look!" Nami looked at the shore in surprise, "I've never seen these plants in the illustrated manual..." Chopper's eyes lit up, "Maybe we can find some rare herbs!"

Suddenly, a whistling sound passed overhead. Zoro looked up and saw a giant bird with a wingspan of more than 40 meters flying over their heads. Soon, a low roar came from the depths of the jungle. The ground shook slightly. A tiger that was several times larger than normal fell to the other side of the shore covered in blood and was about to die. Nami panicked and said, "Something is wrong! There is something wrong with this island...Should we wait on the boat until the magnetic storage is over? Then leave this island as soon as possible-"

"It's too late, Nami." Zoro tapped the straw hat beside him with the Wado Ichimonji, "I'm afraid it's impossible to prevent this guy from landing on this island."

Nami's eyes were filled with tears. "That's true!"

"Sanji, I want a pirate bento!" Luffy shouted excitedly, "I smell the scent of adventure!!!"

"This is too outrageous..." Usopp cried along with Nami.

“You do need to be careful.”

Robin walked to the bow and looked at the island's deep jungle from afar. "In addition to many large animals on the island, there are also two...humanoid creatures over 20 meters tall. Could they be giants?"

"Giant~~human~~tribe~~?!!"

Usopp and Luffy both turned their heads with stars in their eyes to look at Robin who was speaking.

With the pirate lunch in hand, Luffy and Usopp rushed into the depths of the island's forest. Usopp's excited and nervous voice could be heard faintly: "Luffy, you have to protect me..."

"Really? If you're scared, why did you follow Luffy?" Nami sighed speechlessly.

Robin also jumped off the boat, "I want to take a walk, too. And do some research..." After all, she is not a pirate by profession, but an archaeologist and historian. Seeing such an ancient island, she has the urge to study it - and it can also temporarily distract her from some of her worries.

"Me too!" Chopper raised his hoof, took his backpack and followed Robin, "There are so many rare plants here, I'm so looking forward to it~~"

"..." Weiwei looked at Robin's back and suddenly shouted, "Wait for me!" She turned over and jumped off the boat, "Kalu, follow me."

"Uh..." So many people ran away in the blink of an eye. Nami was quite speechless. She also jumped off the boat and followed Robin, Chopper and Vivi. "Sister Robin, wait for me." I always feel that staying with Sister Robin is much safer than other unreliable ones! "The three beauties on the boat have all landed on the island. As a knight, I can't just sit back and watch." Sanji adjusted his bow tie, jumped off the boat with a heart in his eyes, and followed them twisting and turning. "Sister Robin~ Miss Nami~ Vivi~~" Chopper was angry, "You only missed me?!" Sanji laughed, "Do you want to make marshmallows for you today?" Chopper's eyes were full of stars and drooling, "Yes!" Several people gradually walked into the jungle.

Robin looked back and saw a figure in black armor floating cross-legged in the air on the deck, wrapped in a ball of dark flame-like energy, practicing in silence.

…

"Knight? Aren't you a cook?"

Zoro shook his head and turned around to sit down by the boat. He wanted to take a walk, but he was the only one left on the boat, so he decided to stay and watch the boat.

『BIB』 Originally I thought that this guy would lie down and fall asleep in a second like Nobita Nobi, but after a long while, when I turned my head, I saw Zoro was still leaning against the fence with his hands under his head, his legs crossed, his eyes open and his face calm, and three knives were quietly placed across his bellyband.

"What are you thinking about?" A pitch-black helmet suddenly appeared in front of Zoro, and he was so scared that his head turned black. "Why are you suddenly scaring me again?!"

"Hmm?" The man in the black helmet tilted his head, staring at the young swordsman who lost his composure with his narrow eyes. "You kept staring at me without sleeping. I thought you knew I was on the boat."

"How should I know?"

Zoro bared his teeth, rubbed his short green hair, looked at the white clouds floating in the sky, and said to himself, "Didn't you say that only by mastering that Observation Haki can we actively sense your existence..."

"It seems like you care about this a lot." The black helmet dangled in front of Zoro's eyes.

"Not just me..." Zoro held the three swords lying on his legs. A gust of wind blew the three earrings on his left ear gently. He said lightly, "Curly Eyebrow Chef, Usopp, and Chopper, everyone is the same... Since only by mastering Haki can we protect our partners and not be a drag, then we have to master it as soon as possible." The young swordsman smiled slightly, "Didn't Robin say that Haki is a power hidden in everyone. Isn't this the fairest thing?"

"What a touching speech!" said the black helmet, "I feel like crying. It's a pity that I'm just a suit of armor and don't have this function."

"Don't give me that!" Zoro's face turned red, and he raised the Wado Ichimonji and struck. Without Haki, of course he struck nothing.

However, the black mecha's palm with flame patterns grasped the Wado Ichimonji.

"This sword is Wado Ichimonji, one of the twenty-one great swords. Is that correct?"

With a "clang" sound, "BIB" drew his sword out of its sheath, revealing a few inches of the blade that was shining with cold light.

"Yes," Zoro said, "It's the knife my master entrusted to me. It's my treasure."

The pitch-black helmet floated in the air, and the narrow eyes glowed with light as they stared at Zoro. "Even if we take it literally, 'Wado' and 'Ichimonji', the name of this sword, it is obvious that it is inextricably linked to the country of Wano..."

Zoro was surprised, "Wano Country, do you mean the rumored closed country of samurai?"

"What's your master's name?" asked BIB. Yeah, you're asking even though you already know the answer.

Zoro said: "Shigezuki Koushiro."

"BIB" said: "There are several major lords in Wano Country, and one of them has a noble surname of Shimotsuki. Haki is called 'Ryu-sakura' by the samurai of Wano Country. However, the samurai do not practice Ryu-sakura specifically, but focus on improving the way of the sword, or in other words... they integrate the practice of Haki into the improvement of swordsmanship... Zoro, I think your master Shimotsuki Koshiro has already incorporated everything about 'Ryu-sakura' into your cognition through swordsmanship. You just haven't really touched it through a breakthrough in swordsmanship..."

——"Zoro, there is a sword technique in this world that can cut steel but can't even cut through paper... You will understand this sentence later..."

Zoro's pupils narrowed, and he suddenly recalled a piece of advice that his master had once given him seemingly unintentionally.

I was completely confused at the time, but now after BIB’s guidance, I feel like I have finally seen the moon after the clouds have been cleared away. Everything is clear now! That’s it!

…

"This is... a rare thirteen-leaf clover."

In the dense forest of the Ancient Island, Robin squatted on the side of the road, observing the rare plants on the roadside with Chopper.

Sanji was very happy as he showed his courtesy to Nami and Vivi.

"Nami." Robin said suddenly.

"Huh?" Nami kept fanning her hands. There had been mosquitoes flying around since a while ago.

An arm suddenly grew out of her shoulder, stretched out like lightning, and grabbed the "mosquito" flying around Nami.

Robin observed closely and said, "Caschia... I didn't expect there were such poisonous insects on this island."

"Poisonous insect?!" Nami was shocked, and Vivi and especially Sanji were even more shocked.

Chopper was also surprised and gave them some scientific knowledge: "This is a poisonous flea that lives in hot and humid jungles. After being stung by it, bacteria will enter the body through the wound. In the early stage, the human body will only feel slight discomfort, but after five days of incubation, the symptoms will really break out, with a high fever of 40 degrees, severe infection, myocarditis, arteritis, encephalitis, etc...."

With every word the reindeer said, Nami's face turned paler, especially when Robin added expressionlessly, "It will be a very painful death. On the fifth day, it will probably be a state worse than death..."

"Nami!" Vivi was very nervous and quickly touched Nami's body to check if there were any signs of bites.

Sanji quickly took off his black suit and put it on Nami, who was only wearing a belly-exposing camisole. "I will protect you. No bugs will be able to get close to you!"

"Thank you, Sanji-kun." Nami was a little touched.

Sanji was so rewarded by this look that he felt like he was burning with fire. He kicked his legs rapidly in the air with excitement, as if he wanted to kick all the mosquitoes and fleas on the island to death.

"I'll go and warn others to be careful."

Chopper didn't dare to delay, so he transformed into a reindeer and flew away to find Luffy, Usopp and the others.

Even if it has spare antibiotics, there won’t be enough if everyone on the ship is bitten!

Weiwei said nervously: "Let's find a place..."

"Is it right in front?" Nami exclaimed and pointed forward.

Sanji and Robin looked up and saw that in the jungle ahead, for some reason, there was a white... small house? It was square and didn't match the style of the surrounding primitive jungle at all.

…

“Is this a candle?”

After entering the strange white hut in the jungle, Robin touched the wall with his fingertips and twisted it.

"There are tablecloths and baskets in the room..." Nami, wearing a black suit, sat on a white chair in the white cottage and looked around in surprise.

"And there's a pot of tea—hot!"

Sanji reached out to the teapot on the table and felt a surge of heat. "It seems that the owner of this hut has been away for not long... Miss Nami, would you like some tea?"

"Thank you." Nami nodded.

Sanji happily laid out four teacups, pouring some for the three ladies first, then pouring himself a cup of hot tea.

"Are you okay?" Robin and Vivi sat next to Nami.

"I don't feel any discomfort..." Nami shook her head and said thankfully, "I probably wasn't bitten by that bug."

Sanji drank his tea and said, "To be safe, let's observe for a while longer."

The ladies all agreed and chatted while drinking tea.

After all, she was a princess who dared to infiltrate a bounty hunter organization as an undercover agent... Robin was drinking tea and noticed that Weiwei was stealing glances at him from time to time. He understood something in his heart. It was probably that the princess was a little suspicious of her identity...

Although she had not appeared as Nico Robin for about ten years, and there had been no news about her for many years, the old bounty notices from that time were still circulating on the sea...

"Bulu, bulu, bola..."

The four of them were drinking tea when suddenly a slight sound came from the corner. The sound sounded familiar.

"Oh, isn't this a Den Den Mushi?" Sanji casually lifted his foot and opened the basket in the corner. With a look of surprise on his face, he took out an interesting thing from it. "It's so fat! It looks like it has a wide communication range."

He was about to pick up the Den Den Mushi phone, but Weiwei's eyes widened and she shouted, "Wait! Don't answer it yet!"

"What's wrong?" Sanji was surprised and pressed the receiver of the buzzing Den Den Mushi.

"Mr. 3..." Robin looked at the words written on the side of the phone shell and said slowly while drinking tea, "If I remember correctly, this is the code format of the senior executives of Baroque Works that the princess mentioned."

"In other words, this cabin is the base of Baroque's people?!"

Sanji and Nami were shocked and looked at Vivi who looked serious. The latter nodded slowly and said, "Take it."

Sanji put his hand across his face and calmly answered the phone, "Hello, this is Mr. 3, who are you?"

Den Den Mushi's face instantly turned into a pair of cold dead fish eyes, and he said coldly: "Are you confused, Mr. 3! Don't forget, you haven't reported to me yet... I am Mr. 0!"

Mr.0!

On the other side of the Den Den Mushi was Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea? Nami and Sanji were shocked. Looking at Vivi's reaction, she was also very nervous with her pupils constricted. Vivi pursed her lips and nodded to Sanji, signaling him to continue the call. At the same time, she shook her head at Nami and Robin. Everyone tried to keep quiet.

Crocodile's voice came out of Den Den Mushi's mouth: "I have conveyed the instructions to you for several days, Mr. 3, how are things going? Have you killed the Straw Hat Pirates and Princess Vivi?"

Sanji bit his cigarette, smiled slightly, and leaned back on the wax sofa. He said calmly: "Ah, that, they were just a few rookie pirates who had just entered the Grand Line and a delicate and beautiful princess. I killed them a long time ago. Don't worry, no one knows the secrets of our club anymore. You don't have to send anyone to assassinate us again, Mr. 0."

"That's good. Thank you for your hard work." Den Den Mushi said slowly, "The unlucky duo is on their way to you now. They want to make sure that you have completed the mission and give you a permanent pointer of Alabasta."

Unlucky duo? Sanji was puzzled and turned his head to see Robin pointing to the window of the white wax house. He saw a sea otter standing like a human and a bald bird with arms growing on its body. They were subdued in an instant.

As expected of Robin! Sanji gave Robin a thumbs up and heard Crocodile on the other end of the Den Den Mushi continue, "Once you get the pointer, immediately come to Alabasta with Miss Golden Week (same code name, another person). The time is ripe, and now we have to start the most important operation for us. I will give you detailed instructions once everyone arrives in Alabasta..."

Soon, the call ended. Sanji put down the Den Den Mushi receiver and said, "It seems that this time, Baroque Works plans to mobilize all its executives to Alabasta to carry out some kind of large-scale operation..."

He couldn't help but look at Vivi, the princess of her own country who was being targeted by a powerful organization led by the Seven Warlords of the Sea... But he saw Vivi biting her lips tightly. Although she was nervous and scared, she didn't utter any words of weakness even though her lips were bitten and bleeding.

She is so strong! Nami watched it clearly from the side, she reached out to hug Weiwei and patted her, she was in awe.

Robin picked up the Alabasta Perpetual Pointer sent by the unlucky duo who had fainted, and looked at the pointer in the glass cover that was pointing to a distant place without moving. She said thoughtfully: "A famous Shichibukai for many years... What did he get in Alabasta to organize such a secret organization? Moreover, he himself has been active in the Kingdom of Alabasta for many years and has cultivated a considerable reputation..."

Sanji said, "Isn't he trying to get the throne of Alabasta?"

"The Seven Warlords of the Sea are legal pirates, so it doesn't seem impossible for them to become kings..." Nami hesitated.

"No!" Weiwei raised her head and shook her head, "This possibility is very small..."

"Why?" Sanji and Nami didn't quite understand. Why was Vivi so sure? "Because of Vivi's last name." Robin placed the permanent pointer on the wax table and pushed it in front of Nami, "Nefertari."

Nami put away the permanent pointer and asked in confusion, "What's wrong with this last name?"

Robin said slowly: "There are nineteen special surnames in this world that are above everyone else, including laws, morals, and all worldly constraints. And Nefertari, eight hundred years ago, could have been the twentieth."

"...She's right." Vivi bit her lip and said bitterly, "Although Nefertari is not one of the twenty Celestial Dragon families, but...even so, not everyone can replace Nefertari and become the royal family of Alabasta. Even if Crocodile is one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, it's not very likely, and he must understand it himself."

"So your family is so prominent, Vivi." Nami stuck out her tongue.

Sanji held the cigarette between his fingers, tapped off the ash, and said thoughtfully: "So, he went to so much trouble. On the one hand, he was concerned about the Nefertari family name, so he acted in secret to avoid being seen. On the other hand... he must have some other special purpose that he couldn't tell anyone."

"It's a desert country that is difficult to usurp the crown and gain independence, and it doesn't have many precious natural resources. Compared to its huge area, Alabasta is not very wealthy..."

Robin analyzed to herself, "As one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Crocodile wants everything, fame, status, money, and even power. It's obviously more convenient on the sea... Why did he have to spend so many years in Alabasta? I think the most suspicious reason... ultimately has to do with the ancient surname of your family, Princess." She looked at the surprised and confused Vivi with her calm dark green eyes, "Alabasta is also an ancient country..."

Vivi nodded in doubt. "Yes, we were already the royal family of Alabasta before the establishment of the World Government. The history of Alabasta itself is thousands of years old..."

Nami analyzed with a serious face: "Could it be that he found some underground ruins, valuable cultural relics or something like that?"

"A Shichibukai going to rob a tomb..." Sanji scratched his head, "It's not that bad, is it?"

ancient……

Robin followed the three people out of the white wax house. In front, Nami, Sanji and Vivi were hurriedly looking for Luffy and the others. Time was running out and they had to set sail for Alabasta immediately.

The wind blew, ruffling Robin's hair. Could it be related to the "historical text"?

Although he didn't think that anyone other than himself could decipher the words in the historical text, after all, the scholars of O'Hara themselves had learned that kind of writing through deep research, and no one could guarantee that other people really didn't have the ability to decipher ancient writing.

As far as Robin knows...

There were about thirty historical text tablets in total, of which only nine recorded the historical truth of the blank hundred years that he was pursuing; another four were historical texts that marked the way to the final island, one of which he had seen on Zou Island; the remaining twenty-odd historical texts were either experimental records, such as the tablets found on Rare Beast Island and the original Loan Shark Island, or purely commemorative tablets, such as the one on Nine Snake Island...

But there is no guarantee that there may not be some historical stone tablets that record some kind of technology that is ahead of its time.

Robin thought about it and concluded that those were the only things that could make an ambitious Shichibukai like Crocodile pursue so hard.

Historical text...

…

When Robin followed the three hurried people to find Luffy and the others, Nami was holding up the Permanent Pointer of Alabasta and was saying something to Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and the others in a high-spirited manner.

Of course, it is to encourage Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, Sanji and others to be more motivated...

Usopp was covered in wounds and looked miserable. He kept waving his hands at Nami in dismay: "Hey, hey, hey! Don't count me in with these monsters..."

Luffy laughed, "With the pointer, we can sail smoothly now!"

"Robin!" Chopper rushed over and said proudly, "I helped Luffy, Usopp, and the two giant uncles drive away the bad guys!"

"This little deer is really powerful..." The two giants, the blue demon Touri and the red demon Broki, laughed and admired Chopper's previous performance. "He is a brave man!"

"Hate it~~" Chopper twisted around shyly, "Even if you praise me like this, I won't be happy~~"

"Giant tribe..." Robin looked up at two giants that were over twenty meters tall.

Weiwei asked curiously, "Have you ever seen giants before?"

There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!

Robin murmured sadly: "Well, we met before, in the West Sea."

…

While playing with Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, and Chopper, Nami caught a glimpse of Robin's back as she left alone and headed back towards the Merry.

"Let's go!" The navigator raised his arm and shouted, and Luffy and the others responded in unison, "Oh!!"

～～～～～～～～～～～ Back to the Merry, the others saw the huge beast's body parts scattered on the shore. Usopp was shocked and asked, "Hey, hey, hey, what happened?"

"They were all cut by sharp weapons," Sanji lit a cigarette, "It must have been done by that green algae-head on the ship. It's just in time that the food reserves have been replenished."

"Who are you calling the green algae-head? Curly eyebrows!"

Zoro on the deck shouted unhappily.

"I'm talking to you! Aren't you convinced?!" Sanji leaped up and stepped towards Zoro, who drew his sword and blocked his move.

"They are really energetic..." Usopp climbed onto the boat weakly.

“Haha!” Luffy stretched out his arms and jumped onto the Merry Sheep Head on the bow. He turned his head to look at Nami and Vivi who also got on the boat, and then looked at Robin who was enjoying the sea breeze by the fence on the second floor, and BIB who was like a knight in black armor beside her, and smiled with his big white teeth, “Guys—our destination is Alabasta, let’s go!!!”

"oh!!!"

The wind blew, ruffling Robin's messy hair. She wore a black mask on her face, and through her narrow eyes, it seemed as if she had traveled through a time tunnel of ten or even more than ten years...

…

[“You are the captain, where are you going next?”]

[He turned back with a smile and rubbed his face roughly.]

[Although the skin on my palms is a little rough, it is also warm...]

…

We stopped at a small island along the way to replenish fresh water and food.

This is a winter island. Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper are throwing snowballs at each other and having a snowball fight. Luffy deliberately smashes Usopp's lifelike snowman into pieces and laughs amid Usopp's angry roar.

Sanji was gathering fresh ingredients.

Zoro, with his muscular upper body exposed, was practicing with a sword in the snow.

Nami smiled brightly, "Robin..." She turned around and saw Robin turned her head away and seemed to wipe her cheek. "...Sister Bin." Nami whispered to herself.

…

[“What is the most important thing when being a pirate?”]

[On the island where Pirate King Roger and his arch-enemy Whitebeard had fought, among the pirates singing and dancing, he stood carelessly on a high place and raised his first finger, then the second, and the third.]

[“Happy! Happy! Still damn, happy!”]

…

Along the way, we passed an autumn island. On the island there was a stone tablet with the words "Sniper Island" written on it.

"Wow!!!! I was wondering if there would be an island like this in the Grand Line!!!"

Usopp's eyes were shining and he ran around and looked everywhere excitedly.

In the middle of the island is a huge slingshot-like mountain. Luffy, Chopper, Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp are competing to see who can reach the top first. They mess with each other as they climb, laughing and making a lot of noise.

Bang! Bang! Bang! …

Nami punched the boys who were only busy playing, "It's rare to have a freshwater river, wash your dirty clothes! You can't just throw them to us, right?! Weiwei and Sister Robin are princesses!!!"

Weiwei couldn't help laughing.

…

[“Lin Qi, we knew we were right about you! You are absolutely right!”]

[“That’s right! Being a pirate is all about having fun! Because—”]

[“It’s so boring on land!!”]

【"Ha ha ha ha……"】

[Everyone laughed and raised their glasses. The members of the Red Hair Pirates whistled and cheered. She pushed me into his arms. He didn't hesitate. He leaned forward and kissed me fiercely with his drunken mouth...]

[“Wow!! Great, you two, are you bullying us bachelors in public?!”]

[I didn't drink much, but my face was already red. I heard Shanks also shouting and making a fuss. Even the usually aloof Hawkeye Mihawk didn't miss the fun and raised his glass with a smile, "Drink a penalty, you have to drink a penalty."]

…

…

"Sister Robin, Sister Robin..."

Someone was shaking my body gently.

Robin woke up from a long dream that seemed so long that he forgot the time. He was stunned for a while, then took away the book covering his face and said, "Nami, what's wrong?"

She was lying on the sofa in Den Den Mushi Castle. Nami squatted beside the sofa and gently woke her up as she accidentally fell asleep while reading a book.

Nami said: "It's terrible. Baroque Works's executive 'Mr. 2' unexpectedly came to our ship..."

"What?" Robin was surprised. He stood up and followed Nami out of the Den Den Mushi castle. "So, did you keep him?"

“I’m sorry…” Nami covered her mouth with tears in her eyes and smiled bitterly, “Everyone only realized that he was Mr. 2 after he left…”

Jumping out of Den Den Mushi Castle, Robin and the others saw Vivi kneeling on the deck, holding her forehead and blaming herself for her carelessness. She said nervously, "...When he showed us the 'face' he had memorized in the past, I saw my father's face. What on earth did he do with my father's face?!" Zoro said, "If you have the king's face, you can do very evil things."

Nami explained to Robin that Mr. 2 had the ability to miraculously imitate any devil fruit ability.

Robin nodded and said, "It's the Parahuman Mimicry Fruit... It's indeed a tricky ability. But..." She changed the subject, "Since we already know about this ability, its intelligence advantage has been greatly reduced, hasn't it?"

Nami, Vivi, Usopp, Sanji, and Zoro all thought, "That's right !" "It seems that we are lucky to meet this guy in advance!" Zoro laughed, "Because we can formulate countermeasures in advance. His imitation ability will be useless to us."

Luck... 'BIB', floating in the air above the deck, glanced at Luffy who seemed out of his mind. Luck is this kid's strongest hidden attribute! Robin led Nami down the stairs step by step. "So, what kind of countermeasures do we need? Should we make a secret code or make a special mark?"

Just when "BIB" thought that Luffy and the others would draw a cross on their arms like in the comics, and then bandage it up to make a double mark that only the people on the ship knew about...

Luffy however chuckled and held up a finger, "I have a simple and great idea!"

…

"I see!"

After hearing Luffy's good idea, Sanji was surprised and said: "I didn't expect you to have such a smart brain. I really misunderstood you."

"Humph!" Luffy crossed his arms and raised his head proudly.

"So..." Zoro glanced at the people around him.

Usopp nodded and counted on his fingers: "Me, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Chopper, Robin, Sanji! And Vivi, Kalu..."

Weiwei smiled and said to herself with sweat dripping down her face: "Yes, ordinary people can't see the 'ghost' on our ship at all..."

Nami smiled brightly, "Add 'BIB'! So the total is--"

"That's nineteen in total!" Luffy laughed, but Nami came up and knocked him down with a punch, "How did you calculate that? It's clearly ten!!!"

"Yes... yes... ten..."

Luffy, who was lying on the ground with a bruise on his head, raised his fist tremblingly in response.

Zoro and the others were speechless. Forget it. Even Mr. 2 couldn't pretend to be Luffy, who was so stupid!

"So……"

Nami smiled and glanced at everyone on the ship, "The code has been decided. How many people are on our ship?"

“Ten!!!”

Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, and even Runaway Duck Kalu all raised their fists enthusiastically in response.

Luffy chuckled and said, "Hurry up and land!"

～～～～～～～～～～～ 〖Alabasta, port city, Nahana——〗

As soon as the Merry landed on the sparsely populated shore, Luffy rushed out impatiently and headed straight for the bustling town in the distance ahead.

"Restaurant～～!!!"

Leaving behind a trail of dust and yellow sand, Luffy, the captain, was the first to run away after landing.

"BIB" floated out of the Merry and heard Nami's complaint below: "I really hope he can have a little awareness of being a wanted person... especially in a big country like this..."

"..." Robin tied the small bag to his waist and jumped off the boat quietly.

Weiwei said worriedly, "What should we do? Naha is a very big city. How can we find Luffy?"

Zoro was not worried at all. "Don't worry about him. He will definitely find a way. Let's find a place to fill our stomachs first..."

As he said this, he was the first to step forward, carrying three knives.

"Hey! Don't run around by yourself!" Usopp and Sanji followed silently. You are the one with the worst sense of direction, and you love running around the most.

"Robin?" Chopper turned into a reindeer and looked up.

Robin said, "Let's go. I'm a little hungry."

"BIB" floated down beside Robin like a black phantom. He waved his left arm vigorously, and a black arm armor covered with blue flame patterns condensed out of thin air.

Robin asked in surprise as he walked: "Already have a whole arm?"

"It's a whole arm..." BIB said slowly, "and a whole helmet." Its head also appeared out of thin air, its narrow eyes glowing with light, looking far away in the direction of the town Luffy was running towards. The strength of the captain of the Whitebeard Second Division was much stronger than he expected.

However, if it's just this level...

If you want to deal with Marshall D. Teach, I'm afraid it's far from enough, Fire Fist.

…

〖Nahana, suburbs——〗

Sanji went to get some food, then spread a tablecloth on the ground, and the few of them gathered around to solve their stomach problems.

Nami, Vivi and Robin went to get some clothes that would be convenient for moving in the desert.

Robin didn't really want to change her clothes, so like Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and other boys, she simply put on a loose robe over her original clothes, and wrapped a headscarf and shawl on her head for heat insulation.

As soon as the fragrant Nami approached, Chopper, who had a sensitive nose, screamed, "It's so pungent! Is this perfume?"

"You've had a hard time, Chopper." Usopp patted the reindeer sympathetically, "You need to endure the heat, and you also need to endure Nami's smell..."

Bang! Nami punched him and said unkindly, "Watch your words, Usopp."

"Yes..." Usopp said with tears in his eyes, holding the bag on his head, "Ms. Nami..."

During the chat, Vivi began to introduce the situation in Alabasta. In short, she planned to stop the actions of the rebels in the country. The leader of the rebels was in the Oasis, Chiefba...

As they were talking, there was a commotion on the adjacent street.

"It's the navy..." Zoro looked over, "Why are they here?"

A big country like Alabasta has its own security forces, and the navy will not easily come to other people's territory for no reason.

"And they're marching in large numbers on the streets. Are they pirates?"

As Zoro was talking, he, Sanji, Usopp, Chopper, Nami, and Vivi were stunned to find that the so-called pirates that the navy was chasing all over the street were their captain who had run away before...

"Ah, Zoro, you are there!" Luffy waved at them happily. The marines following him immediately pointed at Zoro and his group and shouted, "The straw hat guy is over there!"

It was you who led the navy here?! Zoro, Sanji and the others were all confused, and Robin reminded them: "The one chasing Luffy is the navy, the 'ghost Smoker' from Rogue Town..."

The way she was dressed now, at first glance she looked no different from an ordinary man on the street, so she wasn't worried that Smoker would recognize her at a glance.

However, just when Robin was about to suggest going back to Merry and waiting for Luffy to run back by himself, in front of Colonel "Onikanchou" who was chasing Luffy, an orange-red flame fell from the sky on the road between him and Luffy.

Boom!!!

Luffy felt the blazing heat behind him and looked back in surprise.

"Someone appeared in the flames..."

Nami and the others who were watching nervously not far away were stunned as they watched the flames that fell from the sky and blocked Luffy and Smoker quickly dissipate, and a shirtless young man appeared in front of everyone.

Zoro muttered to himself, "Fire ability... is that what Robin meant by 'nature-type'?"

"It's you?!" Smoker's eyes were bloodshot as he looked at the shirtless young man in front of him.

"It's him..." Robin looked at the tattoo of the Whitebeard Pirates on the man's back from afar, "Ace, the captain of the second division of the Whitebeard Pirates..."

"He is Ace?" Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and others immediately remembered that Luffy had mentioned this name, "Luffy's brother?!"

Soon, Luffy ran towards them with a big laugh, "Guys, let's go back to the Merry first! I'll leave the navy to Ace~~!!!"

…

After returning to the Merry, not long after, a ball of fire flew over along the sea surface, transformed into a human figure, and with billowing heat, it landed on the fence and squatted.

"Luffy, long time no see." Ace said with a smile, holding his hat.

Luffy said happily: "Ace! Why are you here?"

"I..." Ace was about to speak, but suddenly his expression changed. He looked towards a certain place on the deck and met the narrow eyes of "BIB". He asked curiously, "Hey, Luffy, what is that?"

Luffy grinned and said proudly, "Isn't that great?"

"Forget it, this kind of thing is not important." Ace nodded politely to everyone on the deck, "Hello everyone, thank you for taking care of my brother."

Zoro and Usopp nodded in return, "We did work hard to take care of him."

"As for why I'm here? I went to deal with a small matter nearby. In the team I'm in charge of, there was a bastard who killed his companions. His name is Teach, and I heard that he is also called Blackbeard recently... Forget it, let's not talk about this."

Ace quickly changed the subject and laughed, "I was surprised to run into you. I'm so happy!"

Luffy asked, "Oh? Do you need help?"

Ace waved his hands, "Forget it, I can handle it myself! Besides, I don't want outsiders to interfere in this matter..."

"Outsider?" Nami and the others were very surprised. Luffy is your brother, right?

Ace smiled, stood up, pressed the hat on his head, turned around and pointed at the white beard tattoo on his back, and asked with a smile: "I am now a member of the Whitebeard Pirates, Luffy, do you want to join us? Of course, your friends can also join us."

…

Of course Luffy refused decisively.

Ace was not surprised. He smiled and said a few more words, then jumped off the Merry, stood on his own flame-driven single-person boat, and waved goodbye.

"Um?"

Luffy looked up and saw a dark shadow passing overhead.

"I didn't expect that Luffy's brother is actually the captain of the second squad of the Whitebeard Pirates..."

Usopp and the others were still in shock.

"Anyway... let's meet again someday. Then we can have a drink together!" Ace stepped on the boat and looked back at his brother's pirate ship, smiling and talking to himself, and suddenly said, "Mr. Ghost, what do you want from me?"

Huoquan raised his eyes and looked upward. A dark shadow was folding its arms, suspended in the flame-like energy. Its narrow eyes were glowing as it stared at him quietly.

"BIB" said faintly, "Blackbeard, Marshall D. Teach...Fire Fist, I'm afraid you are no match for him. Turn back now while you can still turn back."

(End of this chapter)