After accepting the thanks from Ace and his two brothers, Lin Xuan looked at Luffy and a thought suddenly occurred to him. He asked a question: "Straw Hat kid, you've already entered the Grand Line by now, right? How many crewmates have you gathered?"
"Of course!"
The moment the conversation turned to his pirate crew, Luffy immediately puffed up with pride. "We have five crewmates right now! They're all really interesting guys!"
This single statement revealed this guy's basic principle for choosing comrades – they had to be interesting!
And indeed, based on the original story, he ultimately gathered a bunch of peculiar characters as his crewmates.
Naturally, this wasn't the important point for Lin Xuan. What mattered was that based on Luffy saying they currently had five members, he could roughly deduce their current location and the general timeline.
Of course, due to the butterfly effect caused by his arrival, how much the Straw Hat Pirates' future journey would change was something Lin Xuan couldn't predict.
Afterwards, Lin Xuan simply shooed them away, telling them to go enjoy the banquet themselves, as he also planned to properly indulge in the feast.
As it happened, when Ace was leaving with Sabo and Luffy, they ran into Roger and Rayleigh, who were also coming to find Lin Xuan.
Ace just snorted coldly, turned away, and ignored Roger completely.
Luffy, on the other hand, got excited the moment he saw the former Pirate King and immediately wanted to challenge him for the title, only to get a solid whack on the head from Ace, who then dragged him away.
Clearly, the rift between father and son had not yet been mended.
Roger didn't seem to mind and casually sat down beside Lin Xuan.
Lin Xuan glanced at him. "You don't seem the least bit worried?"
"Nothing to worry about! After all, I really did wrong by him. Whether he forgives me or not doesn't matter, as long as he's doing well. Hahaha..." Roger replied with apparent openness, laughing loudly.
Whether he was just being his usual obtuse self or doing it on purpose, his voice carried all the way to Ace, who had already walked some distance away, causing Ace to pause mid-step for a moment before continuing on.
As for Lin Xuan, he noticed that Roger, despite being dead, was mimicking the others by holding a wine glass, talking while gulping down large mouthfuls.
The result was the wine simply seeped through his Edo Tensei body, spilling all over the ground – a complete waste!
But considering the wine was provided by Shanks's crew, Lin Xuan didn't feel it was his place to comment.
Lin Xuan simply asked, "Looking for me? Something up?"
Roger scratched his head. "First, I wanted to thank you for giving me this chance to save my son. Second... I'd like to ask a favor of you!"
"What favor?" Lin Xuan asked.
The usually boisterous Roger actually looked a little embarrassed. "I wanted to ask if... you could let me see Rouge one more time?"
"Is that all?"
Lin Xuan initially wanted to wave his hand and say, "Don't bother me with such a small matter. Just go find Orochimaru. If he's willing to help, your wish will be granted!"
After all, performing the Edo Tensei on someone from this world didn't require Lin Xuan's personal involvement; Orochimaru could handle it easily. It really wasn't a big deal.
But just as the words were about to leave his mouth, Lin Xuan reconsidered. Wait, Roger must know that Orochimaru can perform the Edo Tensei. So why come to him?
Had he already asked Orochimaru and been rejected, hence coming to Lin Xuan?
Or, knowing that Roger was technically under Lin Xuan's command, he came to Lin Xuan first to avoid causing any displeasure?
Recalling how Orochimaru, after obtaining a large batch of Devil Fruits, had rushed off immediately to research them, Lin Xuan thought the latter was more likely.
But he had a feeling Roger probably wasn't that shrewd himself.
He guessed the reason Roger came to him instead of Orochimaru directly was actually a hint from Rayleigh, who was with him.
As Roger's right-hand man from back in the day, Rayleigh reminding him was perfectly understandable. But Lin Xuan thought that if Rayleigh enjoyed strategizing so much, then he shouldn't blame Lin Xuan for dragging him into the fray later!
"So," Lin Xuan swallowed his initial response and changed his tune. "If I wanted to do it, it certainly wouldn't be difficult. But the question is, why should I help you?"
This statement left both Roger and Rayleigh stunned.
Roger turned directly to Rayleigh. "Rayleigh, this isn't what you said would happen!"
Rayleigh also looked bewildered.
In his view, after such a great victory today, in such a celebratory mood, shouldn't Lin Xuan have agreed readily and happily?
Seeing Rayleigh's confused expression, Lin Xuan's lips curled into a smirk.
Rayleigh caught Lin Xuan's mischievous look and immediately understood Lin Xuan was doing this on purpose.
But he could only brace himself and say, "President Lin, we are comrades who fought side-by-side, after all. Couldn't you grant Roger this wish?"
Lin Xuan chuckled. "Granting Roger's wish isn't impossible... but only after you two help me with one thing first!"
"Help with one thing? What thing?" Roger asked eagerly.
Ignoring whatever Rayleigh might be feeling, Lin Xuan said directly, "It's nothing major. I just plan to take some people to participate in a large martial arts tournament, and I want you two to join as well."
Upon hearing this, Rayleigh frowned but remained silent, pondering whether Lin Xuan was trying to trick them.
But Roger didn't even think about it. He immediately said, "That's it? No problem! I agree!"
Rayleigh: "...Hey, hey, Roger you bastard, don't just decide for me!" He always felt that whenever he encountered Roger, he ended up with bad luck. Even after twenty years, this scoundrel was still dragging him into a pit.
Roger, upon hearing Rayleigh's protest, just patted him on the shoulder. "Don't be like that! It's just a martial arts tournament. Are you worried someone might actually kill you there?"
Rayleigh's mouth twitched.
However, he was still very confident in his own strength. Perhaps there were people in this world stronger than him, but killing him wouldn't be so easy!
But Lin Xuan's next words left him utterly baffled.
Lin Xuan gave a sly smile and said, "I never said the tournament would be held in this world."
Rayleigh: "???"
Roger: "???"
What was that supposed to mean?
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T/N:
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