"You should visit Clifford Kingdom sometime."
"And I hope the next time we meet, you can take a few more hits."
Aeridar grinned, waved, and suddenly vanished from the spot. "See you, Gol D. Ace!" His last words were spoken so softly that only Ace could hear them.
"…"
Ace's pupils widened, his face etched with disbelief.
"How did he know?" Ace murmured to himself. "A coincidence? No, that's not right. Dammit, my name is Portgas D. Ace! Not Gol D. Ace…"
After a long moment, Ace shook his head to clear his mind, his spirit broken, and walked out of the ruined shop.
"Clifford Kingdom… next time…"
Ace looked up at the scorching sun, his face covered in blood, and muttered to himself as he walked back to the coast.
....
Grove 33, Sabaody Park.
"Hey, this is Aeridar." Aeridar walked down the street with a small Den Den Mushi in his hand.
"Aeridar, I heard you had a fight with Fire Fist Ace at Sabaody Archipelago. What's his strength like?" the voice of Sengoku the Buddha came from the Den Den Mushi.
"Yeah, that's right. He has half-assed martial arts and relies completely on his Flame-Flame Fruit ability. The power is decent, very destructive, but he still has a lot of potential," Aeridar said, his expression unchanged.
"I see… Did he accept?" Sengoku asked from his office. Beside him, Garp, who was trying to break his donut-eating record, stopped to listen.
"An idealistic kid who wants to be the Pirate King, of course, he wouldn't agree to be the World Government's 'dog,'" Aeridar said with a light laugh, intentionally emphasizing the last word.
"Then what? Did you capture him?" Sengoku ignored Aeridar's words and continued to press for information.
Aeridar pouted. "No."
"What do you mean, 'no'?" Sengoku frowned in confusion. "With your strength, you couldn't capture him?"
If that were the case, Sengoku would need to raise Ace's bounty. Sengoku was well aware of the terrifying power the man on the other end of the phone possessed. Given his growth rate, he had overwhelming strength against a Logia rookie. If Fire Fist Ace had managed to escape from him, Sengoku would have to re-evaluate the rookie's potential and strength.
"That's not it," Aeridar said, scratching his head casually. "I gave him a good beating, showed him what overwhelming power looks like, and told him not to underestimate the world. Then I let him go."
When Garp heard Aeridar's initial words, his heart jumped into his throat. He wanted to teleport there and punch the man. But when he heard the last part, he relaxed and smiled.
Sengoku, however, was not in a good mood.
"What?!" Sengoku was stunned, then enraged. "You bastard! You let a pirate with that much potential go! Don't you forget who you are, you idiot!"
"Hey, hey, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, I'm not your subordinate," Aeridar said lazily, picking his ear. "As for my identity as a Warlord, I do fight pirates, but who I fight is my decision alone."
"You…" Sengoku was so angry he couldn't speak. Hearing Sengoku's frustrated silence and Garp's loud laughter from the Den Den Mushi, Aeridar's lips curled into a smile.
"By the way, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, speaking of pirates, at my core, I'm a pirate, too!" Aeridar said calmly. "You can't just pluck a bud before it blooms. I may be young, but compared to these rookies, their era is just beginning!"
Click!
With that, Aeridar hung up. At his core, Aeridar was a pirate, a powerful one. So, unless it was necessary, he wouldn't casually kill these promising rookies.
After all, as a Warlord of the Sea, he was only in a partnership with the World Government and the Marines. Trying too hard would get him shunned by all pirates.
Besides, if Ace were captured or died, things wouldn't be fun anymore.
Bang!
In his office in Marineford, Sengoku couldn't contain his fury after hearing Aeridar's words and the hanging-up sound. He slammed his hand on the desk. The table shook, and the documents on top almost fell off.
"Bwahahahahaha!" Garp, seeing the furious Sengoku, laughed with schadenfreude.
"Garp! This is all your fault!" Sengoku roared, now directing his anger at Garp.
....
Clifford Kingdom, Nakor City.
In a luxurious mansion, a handsome blue-haired Arlan sat at a table, sorting through documents.
As the first mate of the Chris Pirates and the highest minister of Clifford Kingdom, Arlan had a lot of work to do every day. If he hadn't implemented new laws and distributed some of his power to other nobles and ministers, he wouldn't even have time to train.
A middle-aged man in a noble's uniform and black-rimmed glasses entered the room with a document. "Arlan-sama, there's a document you need to review," the man said, walking to the table and placing the folder in front of Arlan.
"Oh, it's Julius! Let me see," Arlan said, looking up with a smile.
"Mina-san specifically requested this document," Julius said before turning and leaving the room.
"Mina…" Arlan's expression shifted, and he picked up the document and began to read.
A minute later, Arlan finished reading and fell into deep thought.
"It involves a Celestial Dragon… This is troublesome… And the World Economy News Paper gave us this information. Is this Morgans' doing? Dammit, what a headache!" After a long time, Arlan rubbed his temples, his face as grim as still water.
"A Celestial Dragon, the remnants of the Dasco Royal Family, the former first mate of the Flying Shot Pirates, now their captain, Beastclaw Vatis, and the former Inspector General of CP, Abner Brynn. These guys are all tangled up together." Arlan massaged his temples, his face a grim mask.
"Looks like I need to inform the Captain. And… I wonder if that elite special operations team in Alvis is still operational?"
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