"Sanji, you go to the sunny and inform everyone, I'll hold off Kizaru."
Luffy handed Sanji a suitcase larger than himself, looking at Borsalino with a fighting spirit.
"Then you'd better hold on!" Sanji didn't dither; this was the best plan right now.
Luffy's lips curled into a confident smile. Two years ago, facing an Admiral, even escaping was a luxury, but now, it might be different.
"Ya le ya le, Heather kou wa i ne~" Borsalino's eyes narrowed... Five minutes later.
"Set sail! Hurry up and set sail!" Luffy, tongue out and panting like a dog, sprinted towards the sunny.
Borsalino, with his Glint-Glint Fruit power, followed unhurriedly, saying "so scary" with every step and delivering light-speed kicks, occasionally releasing countless flash barrages from his fingertips.
Luffy, perhaps because his strength had truly increased too much in the past two years, or for some other reason, was only somewhat disheveled by Borsalino's attacks, with hardly any injuries.
"Franky, hurry up and set sail!" Sanji shouted to Franky when he saw Luffy running towards them.
"An Admiral, huh~" Zoro's hand rested on his sword hilt, looking eager to fight, much like Luffy five minutes earlier.
"Haha! sunny, depart!" Franky, in the control room, gripped the ship's wheel with both hands: "Get ready everyone, next stop, Nicuss Merfolk Special Zone!"
"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and set sail! Kizaru is catching up!" Nami shrieked, her fangs bared in a Crash Roar.
"Wait, Luffy is still a little bit away..." Chopper clung to the ship's railing: "Luffy... hurry!"
"Luffy will definitely find a way, Franky, accelerate!" Nami chose to trust her companion.
"No, no, no, that's an Admiral! Luffy will die!" Usopp complained, finding the woman increasingly ferocious.
"Believe in Luffy, he's the man who will become the Pirate King!"
"That line is too convenient!!"
As they bickered, and the sunny was halfway submerged...
Luffy finally achieved the feat of being faster than light in this chase, leaping onto the sunny a step ahead of Borsalino.
Upon reaching the sunny, Luffy clutched his straw hat with one hand and turned back to give Borsalino a big smile.
"Kou wa i ne, this time I can't let you escape so easily." Borsalino pressed his hands together.
"Yasakani no..."
Then he saw a small golden head curiously peeking out from the sunny.
Borsalino: "..."
Looking at that familiar appearance, even seeing her for the first time, he could recognize her identity.
At the last moment, Borsalino performed an extreme maneuver, twisting his direction, and countless light bullets were fired towards the sky, then exploded.
Only when the sunny was completely submerged did he wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and genuinely exclaim: "Kou wa i ne~"
However, what he didn't know was that on a large tree behind him, an image den den mushi had recorded everything.
When the next day's newspaper, titled "Two Years Later, Straw Hat Pirates Set Sail Again, Admiral Kizaru Personally Sends Them Off with a Salute!" was placed before him by Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, he finally understood Kuzan from back then.
But now, Borsalino only felt relieved; if that attack had hit... Suddenly, he noticed something was off, a shadow on the ground?
He lunged forward to create distance, turned to prepare to attack, and saw a three-meter-tall Little Dragon Person smiling at him.
...Borsalino stopped saying "scary"; his long-dormant heart began to pound violently, and his Emperor's Engine activated!
Meanwhile, on the sunny, a group of people surrounded Artoria. Although Robin had brought her aboard, whether she could stay on the ship ultimately depended on Captain Luffy's decision.
After Robin explained Artoria's situation, Luffy had been frowning deeply.
This made Robin and the others nervous; was Luffy going to refuse Artoria joining the crew?
After a while, Luffy suddenly slapped his hand: "Aren't you Nero?"
Everyone collapsed, sharp-tongued: "Is that what you were thinking about?"
Luffy, bewildered, picked his nose: "What else?"
Artoria stepped forward: "Nero is my father. My name is Artoria Claudius Palace, and I am currently an apprentice knight of Nicuss."
"A knight? That's so cool!!!" Luffy's eyes immediately turned into stars upon hearing Artoria's self-introduction.
"Father? Is the Empress of Nicuss, the world's most beautiful woman, a man?" Sanji was so shocked that his cigarette fell out of his mouth without him noticing.
"No, my Imperial Father is a true woman." Artoria had a line of black sweat on her forehead. Was this ship a bit... unconventional?
"Um, can I see your sword?" Zoro asked somewhat awkwardly; he had been interested in that sword for a long time.
"Of course." Artoria held up the sword with both hands and offered it to Zoro.
Zoro solemnly took it with both hands, examining it carefully and murmuring: "As expected, it's not one of the existing Supreme Grade Swords, but its quality is absolutely on par with the Twelve Saijo O Wazamono."
"This is the Blade of Kings, personally forged by my Imperial Father. My Imperial Father is also the strongest swordsmith in the world."
Artoria said proudly: "You must be Zoro, right? I often hear Kuina mention you."
"Oh! Kuina? How is she doing now?" Zoro immediately became interested.
"Using Mihawk as a reference, my Imperial Father says Kuina is roughly four-six split with him."
Zoro's pupils contracted. With Hawkeye Mihawk? Is Kuina that strong?
After returning the sword to Artoria, Zoro became somewhat withdrawn. He had thought that after all these years, even if their gap hadn't closed completely, it should be much smaller.
But now it seemed Kuina was still a huge step ahead of him. Having fought monkeys mimicking Mihawk for two years, Zoro expressed his frustration.
"Nero is the world's richest person, right? Artoria, you must be very rich too?" Nami's eyes turned into the shape of Berries.
"Just call me Lia. My Imperial Father is very strict about our pocket money." Artoria said, scratching her head a bit shyly: "Only one hundred million Berries a month, just enough to occasionally buy some delicacies."
...xN
Nicuss's wealth inadvertently struck everyone's heads. Is the world of the rich really this exaggerated?
Especially Nami, who recalled the one hundred million Berries she had painstakingly saved over several years, and immediately burst into tears.
"Sanji, serve Her Highness Lia some dessert!"
"Please wait!"
"Usopp, Chopper, go prepare a resting chair for Her Highness Lia."
"Okay!" x2
"Luffy, from now on, Her Highness Lia is a member of the Straw Hat Pirates!"
"No problem!" Luffy scratched his head and casually agreed.
"Her Highness Lia, when we go to the New World, when can we visit your home?" Nami rubbed her hands, completely succumbed to the glitter of money.
This attitude made Artoria somewhat flustered, and she instinctively looked at Robin with a pleading gaze.
Robin's smile stiffened, feeling a sense of losing face...
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