Upon hearing Sabo's words, not only did Luffy nod with a smile, but the Straw Hat Pirates also showed smiles of approval.
"I even wanted to fight him back then! But he refused!"
Luffy pouted in disappointment, then pulled his hat down lower. A confident smile and unwavering determination appeared on his face. "But no matter what, I will become stronger, until one day I stand before Ian and challenge him again!"
As soon as he said this, the members of the Straw Hat Pirates and Sabo all looked at Luffy with smiles, as if they truly believed that one day Luffy would definitely be able to defeat Ian.
It wasn't until a while later that Sabo came to his senses, looked at the sky, and said, "It's getting late, we should set off."
As he spoke, his gaze fell on Luffy again, and he said with a smile, "Don't worry, we'll definitely have a chance to meet again, and Ace too... Let's have a good drink together then!"
"We will definitely meet again, Sabo!"
Luffy nodded solemnly, his face showing no reluctance, but rather a serious tone.
"By then, I will definitely be even stronger!"
"Goodbye!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Sabo and his companions boarded the Revolutionary Army's ship and slowly sailed towards the Revolutionary Army's location.
But gazing at the sun in the sky, a thought involuntarily welled up within him, and he murmured to himself, "The God of Sun... Ian?"
Meanwhile, Luffy quietly watched Sabo and the others depart.
Only after the ship grew smaller and smaller did he turn around, look at his companions, raise his hands, grin, and say with a smile, "Alright, everyone... Let's continue our adventure!"
...
At the same moment, the entire sea was reeling from the death of one of the Five Elders.
On the other side, in the Skypiea.
After lying down all day, as the sun was about to set, Ian finally stood up, stretched, and turned to look at Zephyr beside him, smiling as he asked, "Have you found the ship that transports the Heavenly Tribute?"
…
On an island in the West Blue.
"Our luck is pretty good. I didn't expect these lowly people to have secretly hidden a treasure of the sea. Rip-sama, as long as we offer this to the gods, we're sure to gain their approval!"
"A treasure of the sea?"
The man named Rip, dressed in a black suit, casually picked up the Devil Fruit placed in the wooden box, his tone indifferent. "To God, this is nothing more than a toy that adds a bit of fun. Do you think a mere toy can gain God's approval? How laughable."
As he spoke, he casually tossed the Devil Fruit in his hand into the box, as if it were not a treasure that was highly sought after by powerful people, but just a piece of disposable trash.
"How's the harvest of the Heavenly Tribute going?"
"The lowly people of this island can't afford it!"
Hearing his superior's words, the man in the black suit regretfully put away the Devil Fruit, then looked at him with disdain. "I wonder what they've been doing all year? They can't even pay this little bit of money. It's obvious they haven't worked hard all year. They deserve to die! That's money belonging to the Gods! How can these lowly people be so lazy?"
With a disdainful and sinister smile, he said, "I've already ordered my men to arrest those lazy, lowly people. If they still can't produce anything, then they will have to hand themselves over."
Before Rip could even frown and say anything, an old man's pleading voice and a cold, reprimanding voice suddenly came from the distance.
"Sir! Sir! Please spare us!"
"You damned wretch, do you know what you're doing? How dare you disobey the World Government's orders?"
"We didn't! Please spare us! We've done our best, and didn't we already hand over a treasure of the sea? I heard it's a treasure worth a hundred million!"
"What treasure of the sea? You're not thinking that rotten fruit is a gem, are you?! Behave yourself..."
The man in the suit following behind the ragged old man raised his leather whip, ready to strike and silence the lowly commoner.
Smack!
A hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the whip with a blank expression.
This sudden action startled the man in the suit, whose face changed to one of terror.
"Rip-sama, I'm so sorry to have disturbed you. It's all this lowly commoner's fault..."
"Hmm."
Faced with his subordinate's terror, before he could finish speaking, Rip, holding the whip, gave him a cold glance, silencing him.
Then, he lowered his head and looked at the old man kneeling on the ground, said expressionlessly, "What happened?"
"M-my lord."
Seeing that the man who had been whipping him had actually been stopped, the old man looked at Rip in front of him as if he had seen a lifeline, and pleaded, "It's not that we don't want to pay the Heavenly Tribute, but this year's harvest was bad, and we really can't afford it. Please give us a chance, just... Just let us sell this treasure..."
As he spoke, he looked at the wooden box that had been taken away, "If we do so, we can pay the Heavenly Tribute. Please give us a little more time. That's not trash. I heard from a pirate that it's an extremely valuable treasure!"
After saying this, the old man immediately kowtowed and kept begging.
However, in response to the old man's words and kowtow, the seemingly better-tempered man in the suit merely replied with a bland, hmm, and then said nothing more, made no other move, and didn't even look at the old man in front of him again.
This scene chilled the old man to the bone, especially when he heard the ceaseless pleas around him, which filled him with even more sorrow.
He realized that his words and pleas were useless, and that the guy in front of him wasn't a lifeline, but just like everyone else… a demon!
But the old man continued to kowtow forcefully, seemingly trying to gain a shred of sympathy from the demon before him.
Even though he knew that doing so would be useless against these demons, it was the only option he had at the moment.