Bang!
A figure smashed directly through the ceiling.
"Yohohohoho!"
Brook, who had passed through the ceiling, laughed loudly, boarded the flying fish, and quickly departed.
"Yohohoho! Is that an Admiral? Good thing I prepared Plan B in advance, otherwise I would have been caught."
Brook, in the air, looked at Renji below, who wasn't giving chase, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"I heard everyone has arrived. How exciting."
Not only had he narrowly escaped death from an Admiral, but the thought of re-embarking on a journey with his long-unseen companions made Brook's mood incredibly pleasant.
"Boss, aren't we going to chase him?" Miguel asked Renji, purely out of curiosity.
In the previous situation, Brook had used an ice-smoke bomb and a pre-set stage mechanism to suddenly smash open the ceiling and escape.
If it had been ordinary Marine soldiers attempting to apprehend him, Brook would most likely have escaped successfully. However, with Renji's methods, if the latter had wanted to, there would have been no chance of Brook escaping.
"Would you believe me if I said I missed?" Renji said playfully.
Miguel shook his head. "No, but Brook's bounty isn't high enough."
Miguel's implication was that such a small-fry could be handled by him, without Renji needing to intervene.
Renji, of course, understood. But it was too early to cast the net now.
"We waited two years for this, let the bullet fly a little longer."
[Shadow Mark (Lv. 6): Uses the power of shadows to mark a target's whereabouts, constantly monitoring its life status and coordinates. Can consume shadow power to temporarily seize control of the target's body! Current Shadow Mark duration is six months!]
After Renji's prestige level rose to Lv. 6, he unlocked a prize pool and he could even draw rewards using bounty points.
Shadow Mark was one of the very practical skills among them.
Over the past two years, this skill had proven consistently effective in the strategy of letting small fish return to the net before catching them all.
As for seizing control of the opponent's body, compared to Teach's soul control, this had quite a few limitations.
The control of Shadow Mark seemed to be related to the opponent's mental power. Renji had tried it, and with the current Lv. 6 Shadow Mark, controlling pirates with bounties of two to three hundred million was no problem.
Seeing the smile on Renji's lips, Miguel showed a knowing expression.
In these two years, whenever Renji displayed such a smile, the fate of that pirate crew was inevitably tragic.
"He actually scared away our Soul King. What are you Marines doing here, causing trouble?"
"Yeah! You owe us our concert tickets."
Brook's disappearance immediately caused dissatisfaction among the fans in the venue, but when they clearly saw Renji's figure, their expressions changed again.
"He is… Admiral Seiryu!"
"It's Admiral Seiryu!"
"It's my first time seeing him. I didn't expect him to be so handsome. A hundred times more handsome than in the newspapers."
"Oh, since it's Admiral Seiryu, then there must be a reason."
"Yes, Admiral Seiryu, a Marine full of righteousness, certainly wouldn't cause trouble without reason. This Brook might have some unspeakable secret."
Upon seeing Renji, the civilians' attitude underwent a complete 180-degree change, and some curvaceous women even had hearts in their eyes.
"If it's Renji-sama, then it's perfectly fine."
Miguel wasn't overly surprised by this scene.
Who in the world didn't know Renji's renown now?
In the Marineford War, after Whitebeard's death, the war didn't end there.
Instead, due to the arrival of Shanks and Kaido, another great battle among top powerhouses began.
Moreover, in the past two years, every place Renji appeared, he was sure to kill pirates with bounties over 100 million on the spot, saving countless lives inadvertently.
Especially Sabaody Archipelago, which was previously the island Renji most frequently visited.
Miguel couldn't speak for other places, but on Sabaody Archipelago, even if Renji wanted to leave in a palanquin, countless fans would come to apply as bearers.
On this island, Renji was the walking God of Justice.
"Boss, should we block the news?" Miguel frowned.
Their mission was covert. Looking at the restless crowd, although the idea wasn't very realistic, if Renji gave the order, he would spare no effort to achieve it without a doubt.
"No need. What if they know? We just need to wait quietly." Renji smiled mysteriously.
"What we want to do, even the Four Emperors can't stop us now."
Hearing this, Miguel's eyes trembled violently.
According to his understanding of Renji, the latter was never one to make grand boasts. What he said, he would definitely accomplish.
Since the battle known as the Marineford War, no one had ever seen Renji fight at full strength again. To what extent Renji's strength had reached now, no one knew.
"Boss!"
Miguel's eyes sparkled, feeling his blood boil. Remembering his boss saying they would pull off a big one soon, he was now increasingly excited.
At this time, in Shakky's Bar on Sabaody, Zoro and Robin had already arrived.
"So, that means only Luffy and Sanji are left, right?" Robin nodded with a smile.
Zoro stroked his chin, a wicked smile curling at the corner of his lips.
"What, has that stinky cook become a big shot now? It's annoying that I, who arrived first, still have to wait for that guy."
Seeing the two of them, Shakky's expression softened considerably, as if she was recalling her own vibrant younger days.
Rayleigh took a sip of his drink and let out a faint chuckle.
It seemed that after the setback two years ago, not only Luffy but the rest of his group also hadn't broken down. Instead, after that blow, every single one of them had undergone a transformation.
Especially Zoro, whose aura was much more restrained than two years ago. Although he still exuded sharpness, Rayleigh could sense that Zoro's swordsmanship had definitely made a qualitative leap.
The extent of his progress was even comparable to Luffy's under his own tutelage.
"It seems your adventures over the past two years have been considerable."
Rayleigh smiled, already looking forward to seeing this group reach the pinnacle.
Although he was already old, living a few more years, barring any unforeseen circumstances, wouldn't be a problem.