Zoro said these two words in a gentle tone.
Indeed, there's nothing a bottle of wine can't solve.
"It was nothing."
Link smiled, put away the empty wine bottle, and took out another one.
"Want more?"
"…Yes!!"
While Link was making friends with wine, Nami and Koby at the wall were already dumbfounded, and Luffy was grinning from ear to ear, like a monkey possessed.
"Looking at you, you don't seem like a man who would be easily caught by the Marines, do you?"
Link asked while pouring the wine.
Zoro couldn't answer, but Rika, puffed up with anger, explained the whole story.
It turned out that twenty days ago, Morgan's son, Helmeppo, brought his two pet wolves into Rika's restaurant.
After defiling Rika's food, they tried to attack her. Zoro intervened, cutting down the wolves and beating Helmeppo with the blunt side of his sword.
As a result, the screaming Helmeppo used the excuse, "Even if I can't do anything to you, can't I do anything to the people in this restaurant? When you leave, they will be executed," threatening Zoro to be tied up here for a month.
The two made a bet: as long as Zoro could survive the month without dying, he would be released, and all the previous wrongs committed against him would be disregarded.
It was precisely because of this that Zoro foolishly let himself be controlled here.
He was willing to abide by a man's promise, but the other party did not share the same idea.
After listening, Link just smiled and didn't say much more on the matter. Instead, he looked into Zoro's eyes and said:
"You're an ambitious person too, aren't you?"
"Ah, I want to become the Worlds Strongest Swordsman. Being the strongest in the world is my goal."
After two bottles of wine, the atmosphere livened up, and Zoro was happy to express his resolve and ambition.
"The strongest in the world, huh..."
Link sized him up and down, shaking his head slightly, "With how you are now, you're still far from it."
"I'll reach it one day!"
Zoro himself was full of confidence. He felt that even if he was slightly inferior to the man he had always sought, Dracule Mihawk, the difference wasn't that great.
At least, it was a visible gap.
It wasn't until he truly fought Dracule Mihawk that he finally understood the disparity of the world.
"I think so too~"
Link continued, the future Zoro would definitely be the Worlds Strongest Swordsman, "But environment shapes a person's growth."
"The small East Blue is too limiting for your talent and will. Why not consider going to a bigger stage?"
"A bigger stage? Are you referring to the Grand Line?"
Zoro had, of course, heard of that place, "That's a graveyard for pirates."
"But it's also a place where strong people gather, full of masters."
Link said leisurely, "You think you're not weak, but do you know that some Great Swordsman can casually cut a meteor into dust with a single slash?"
"Some strong ones can even effortlessly flatten a mountain with two moves?"
Dracule Mihawk in the Bullet movie and the weakened, elderly Golden Lion in the Strong World movie both did this with ease.
"Are there really people like that?"
As soon as he heard something related to swordsmanship, Zoro's expression immediately became serious.
"Of course?"
Link nodded, "And that Great Swordsman who cut the meteor is the current Worlds Strongest Swordsman, Dracule Mihawk."
"Mihawk..."
Hearing that name, Zoro's breathing paused slightly.
He didn't doubt what Link said, and asked emphatically: "You've seen him?"
"I've witnessed him."
Link chuckled, "Not only Dracule Mihawk who can cut meteors, Fujitora who can summon meteors, but also you in the future who can also cut meteors. I've witnessed all of you."
"Cutting meteors, the Grand Line, huh..."
Zoro murmured, his eyes gradually becoming firm and bright.
"In that case, it seems I absolutely must go there."
He said each word clearly, evidently having made up his mind.
"Hahaha, you're going to the Grand Line too? That's even better!"
Luffy came running over with a whoop, his hearty, silly laughter exceptionally clear over the execution ground.
"Who's that guy?"
Zoro glanced at the excited Luffy running over and asked Link.
"That's Luffy, my captain."
Link straightened his collar, "Let me introduce myself. My name is Link, his name is Luffy. We are pirates, preparing to go to the Grand Line and recruiting crewmates."
"On a side note, my captain shares the same ambition as you—or rather, a dream. But his goal is to become the Pirate King."
"Pirate King, huh..."
Zoro stared at Luffy's smiling face, which looked unreliable no matter how he saw it.
"Someone like him can be your captain?"
He spoke with a very skeptical tone.
"Luffy can be very reliable at times."
Link clapped his hands, then looked towards the entrance of the execution ground.
"We'll talk more later, let's deal with the trouble at hand first~"
There, three figures were approaching from a distance.
"Yo yo yo, it's really lively here, isn't it?"
At the entrance, an unpleasant voice, like a gander's squawk, came through.