Outside Rainbase, the twilight sun made Rainbase look even more beautiful.
Aokiji's body was slightly tense, ready for battle at any moment. His target was naturally not the so-called Shichibukai Crocodile, but the young man standing beside him.
"What exactly is your goal?"
Yang Tao said with a chuckle, "You keep asking about my goal, my goal. Can't it just be pure boredom?"
Aokiji looked at Yang Tao expressionlessly and said softly, "Any of your actions or thoughts could cause irreversible consequences to this world. Although I am not your opponent, I will do everything I can to stop you."
"Whatever makes you happy."
Yang Tao looked toward the depths of the desert, where a massive figure was racing toward Rainbase.
It was a crab, an incredibly huge crab.
Chopper and a camel were riding on top of it.
"They're here."
Aokiji looked at the distant crab, somewhat confused by Yang Tao's meaning.
Suddenly, he sensed someone rapidly approaching behind him. Turning around, he saw the Straw Hat crew running quickly toward their location.
Luffy, running at the front, laughed and said, "I saw a stable in the city. Let's go buy a horse."
Princess Vivi said, "But the city is full of Marines."
By this time, Chopper had steered the crab to the very outskirts of the city. Sanji chuckled and said, "No need, look ahead."
Seeing the massive crab beneath Chopper, Luffy showed a look of surprise and exclaimed, "That's wonderful!"
Aokiji looked at Luffy and his crew and asked, "You came here for them?"
"Yes."
Yang Tao watched as Luffy's group climbed onto the crab's back and explained, "I came here this time to watch a duel, and also to have you deal with the matter of Crocodile."
The crab stepped away briskly. Just then, a golden hook snagged Princess Vivi's body, pulling her directly off the crab. Luffy might usually be carefree, but he was very reliable in crucial moments.
Luffy's arms suddenly stretched out, rescuing Princess Vivi from the hook, while he himself was carried along with the hook toward Crocodile.
"You absolutely must take Vivi home! Send her home completely unharmed!"
Aokiji, standing beside Yang Tao, showed a slight change in expression, because he saw someone.
Nico Robin.
She walked out of the city and stood beside Crocodile, looking at the crab's silhouette gradually disappearing in the sunset, and said, "Princess Vivi got away."
Crocodile said dismissively, "No matter, the Agents have already gathered in Alubarna. Go contact them."
Then, looking at Luffy as if he were already dead, he said, "You've caused too much trouble, Straw Hat Kid."
Luffy, who was lying on the ground, immediately sat up, adjusting his Straw Hat with one hand while saying, "That guy is clearly so weak..."
Hearing Luffy's tone, Yang Tao immediately reacted and said to Aokiji, who was distracted watching Robin, "Three minutes. If you can't deal with Crocodile, I'll do it myself."
Aokiji nodded slightly toward Crocodile. At this moment, Crocodile cooperated perfectly by pulling an hourglass out of his coat and throwing it on the ground, saying arrogantly to Luffy, "Three minutes. I don't have time to waste here with you."
However, the moment his voice fell, a path made of ice crystals appeared on the ground beside him and instantly spread onto his body.
"Frozen Time Capsule!"
Aokiji's opening move was a super-strong single-target control technique. This move had extremely high control power; even a Vice Admiral hit by it would be frozen in regret.
Crocodile truly couldn't understand why Admiral Aokiji would appear in Rainbase: "Admiral Aokiji, I am a Warlord of the Sea recognized by the World Government. You Marines have no right to..."
Aokiji didn't have time to explain to him. Crocodile would never know that Aokiji was going all out just to save this guy's life.
He used his ability again, instantly freezing the guy into an ice sculpture.
Thankfully, everyone in One Piece is virtually indestructible.
Seeing Crocodile frozen into an ice sculpture, Luffy showed no fear. Instead, he excitedly stood up, walked over to Crocodile, and said, "That's wonderful."
"Mister, is your ability to turn into ice cubes?"
Aokiji looked at the carefree Luffy.
Two black lines appeared on his forehead. Internally, he struggled with whether or not to take Garp's grandson back with him.
However, at this moment, he glanced at Yang Tao out of the corner of his eye. Yang Tao's gaze was again fixed on the depths of the desert. Following Yang Tao's line of sight, he saw several figures racing through the desert.
They were moving very fast.
Perhaps having spotted them, these figures immediately adjusted their route and headed straight toward their location.
"Sir Yang!"
The arrivals were Naruto, Sasuke, Zabuza, and Haku. They had followed Luffy's route, continuously gathering intelligence and capturing every Pirate they encountered, and had finally caught up with Luffy's group.
"Why are you here?"
"I figured you would come here, so I waited for you in advance."
Yang Tao nodded with great satisfaction, seeing that Naruto was clearly much more mature and steady than when they started. As for Sasuke...
Hmm... he still looked like someone owed him money.
Haku politely bowed to Yang Tao, greeted him softly, and then pulled a stack of wanted posters from his pocket. The first one was Luffy's.
"Naruto, Sasuke, Lord Zabuza, that is our target, Straw Hat Luffy."
Sasuke glared at Luffy, his Three Tomoe spinning rapidly in his eye sockets. He drew the Kusanagi Sword from his waist and swiftly slashed toward Luffy.
Luffy clutched his Straw Hat and leaped backward, dodging Sasuke's attack. The next second, a bolt of lightning shot out from the Kusanagi Sword and struck Luffy.
Luffy, completely unharmed, said, "Hey, what are you doing?"
Sasuke, unaware of Luffy's characteristics, saw Luffy withstand a Lightning Style Ninjutsu attack head-on. His expression became extremely serious, and the Three Tomoe spun again:
'Genjutsu...'
Luffy suddenly yelled, "So much food! This is great!"
After speaking, he sat on the ground and started stuffing his face with air, displaying an extremely satisfied smile.
Sasuke: "???"
He turned his head to look at Yang Tao, who was watching the show.
'That's it?'
He had expected a fierce battle, but he never thought this supposed target couldn't even resist the Sharingan's Genjutsu.
Yang Tao also had a headache watching Luffy's performance. The current Luffy was certainly no match for Sasuke, but he hadn't expected him to lose so quickly.
Only after gaining Observation Haki would Luffy have a chance to exchange moves with Sasuke.
Helplessly, he pointed to Kuzan, who was watching the spectacle, and said, "Defeat him, Aokiji, one of the Three Admirals of the Marines. Come forward one by one and let me see your progress."
"Haku, you go first!"