"Oh, the Four Seas Alliance!"
Golden Lion mumbled the name Rowan said, walking down the steps from the front of the ship one step at a time.
He reached into his pocket, took out a cigar, put it in his mouth, and lit it.
He walked to Rowan's side, staring intently into Rowan's eyes.
"Never heard of it..."
"What a coincidence."
Rowan faced the approaching lion, advancing instead of retreating, stepping forward and smiling.
"Golden Lion... who's that?"
...
Crocodile smoked his cigar, his heart showing extreme disdain for the scene before him.
Tch, two old guys pretending...
Rowan didn't need to be said much about.
The Golden Lion, even if he had been hiding for a long time, had his own ways to know about major events at sea.
And now, in the first half of the Grand Line, the "business" of the Four Seas Alliance has become a landmark industry no less important than the "shipbuilding industry" of Water Seven.
The fixed shipping routes it maintains with its own power are the preferred routes for all merchant ships in the first half of the Grand Line!
Some merchant captains even said that the establishment of the Four Seas Alliance's fixed routes has greatly reduced the dangers of navigation in the first half of the Grand Line, and even made Limitless close to the other four seas.
At the same time, the Four Seas Alliance also has the only safe route to the Sky Island!
The establishment of this route is extremely good news for people traveling back and forth in the first half of the Grand Line, and has even created a tourism industry centered around the Sky Island!
...
Back to the present.
Since Golden Lion knows about Fish-Man Tom being captured by the judicial ship, he must have heard of the Four Seas Alliance.
So Crocodile is sure that both Golden Lion and Ryan·Rowan are pretending to be stupid!
How boring...
Crocodile took a puff of his cigar and flicked off the ash.
I say, are these two old guys going to fight or not?
...
Golden Lion isn't really in a hurry.
Well, for Golden Lion, although he has heard of the Four Seas Alliance, and even the name of [Golden Dawn] Ryan·Rowan, he doesn't know the other party's intentions.
…No, that doesn't seem entirely accurate.
For top experts, it is possible to sense something from the aura that the other person gives off.
Ryan·Rowan's goal is Golden Lion himself—Golden Lion is sure of this!
But Golden Lion is now curious about two things:
First, his Flying Pirates and that Four Seas Alliance should have no connection.
That's just a business alliance, and he hasn't robbed any of the Four Seas Alliance's merchant ships.
If so, why is the actual leader of the Four Seas Alliance looking for him?
But then again, this person really seems to have some skills.
If they can't even take the slash he used as a greeting on their first meeting, Golden Lion wouldn't bother listening to their purpose.
Second, and the point that makes Golden Lion most surprised and curious—
How did this group of people find him?
The sea is really big, so to find a ship or a person at sea, you usually have to rely on something—
A Vivre Card.
It is a special paper that is not afraid of fire or water, made by mixing a person's nails into the materials, and is a paper that represents the owner's life force.
Usually, people will tear it apart and give it to relatives or friends who are about to separate, and the torn pieces of paper will attract each other, thus helping the owner to determine the location of the Vivre Card's owner.
And the technology to make Vivre Cards can only be found in the New World.
Ryan·Rowan of the Four Seas Alliance certainly wouldn't have Golden Lion's Vivre Card.
At the same time, Golden Lion's Flying Pirates have a fundamental difference compared to ordinary ships.
Their sailing range is not limited to the ocean, but also includes the sky, which is much larger than the ocean!
This is the unique characteristic that Golden Lion's Float-Float Fruit has brought to the Flying Pirates.
It is precisely because of this characteristic that the possibility of the Marines capturing Golden Lion is extremely low.
To be honest, as long as Golden Lion hides patiently, and doesn't proactively provoke Marineford like last time, the Marines won't even be able to find his tracks!
This is also one of the reasons why Golden Lion was able to ambush the judicial ship and snatch Fish-Man Tom away.
And Golden Lion also understood that after he attacked the judicial ship, the Marines might be able to guess his whereabouts, so he chose the most difficult return route to track.
Passing through the Devil's Triangle, using the fog of this sea area as cover, returning to the floating island group he built!
But Golden Lion never expected that he would be targeted by the Four Seas Alliance, whose name he had only heard of.
...
"That's really interesting..."
Golden Lion stroked his chin and grinned, "So, what are you here for?"
"To ask for a person."
Rowan is good at playing dumb, but also likes to get straight to the point, "The Tom you picked up on the ship is a friend of my friend."
As expected!
A gleam of light flashed in Golden Lion's eyes, thinking that the other party was indeed here for the blueprints of Pluton.
However, how could he give up the ancient weapon blueprints that he already half-held in his hand?
"Sorry, I don't want to hand anyone over."
Golden Lion said slowly, "Also, I'm very curious, how did you find me?"
"Everything can be predicted, plus we have a very good weather forecaster."
Rowan pointed to the direction of the lower deck, indicating that the "weather forecaster" he was talking about was on this ship.
Golden Lion nodded and sighed, "Is that so, I see..."
After that, both Golden Lion and Rowan fell into a long silence.
Such a scene naturally puzzled the people around them.
Neither Tiger nor Hocka understood why these two men in front of them were so tense, but did not make any other extra movements.
Their bodies were just frozen in place, only the corners of their clothes fluttering in the sea breeze.
Only one person's expression changed.
From bored to slightly excited.
That man was Crocodile!
He was watching this quiet but strange scene with great interest, as if he had seen something very wonderful.
"It's finally starting..."
"What?" Tiger didn't understand Crocodile's mutterings.
Crocodile pointed to Rowan and Golden Lion.
"Look for yourself!"
Tiger turned his head to look and suddenly saw Golden Lion raise his leg and kick his sword against Rowan's black spear!
"Huh?"
Tiger was stunned.
But when he blinked again, he suddenly found that Rowan and Golden Lion were still in that still pose!
"What are they doing..."
"A clash on the level of Observation Haki."
Crocodile smiled darkly, "These two monster-level old guys are predicting each other's actions, trying to gain the upper hand!"
A clash on the level of Observation Haki!
Tiger had never witnessed such a battle before.
Without any substantial action, relying only on their own Observation Haki to fight.
Such a battle is already worthy of the word "exaggerated"!
...
Gradually, it wasn't just Tiger and Crocodile.
The others around them also noticed that something was wrong.
The Observation Haki that the two of them released became more and more turbulent, almost turning into a substantial gale, rushing towards the crowd on the deck!
Whoosh!
Suddenly, Golden Lion's gaze sharpened, and his body, which had been stagnant for a long time, finally reacted, making a move before Rowan.
Seeing this, the smile on Crocodile's face grew even wider.
Because "moving first" means being forced to "have to act" by the opponent's Observation Haki!
It seems that the old guy from the last era can't beat the old guy from eight hundred years ago!
But the next second, Crocodile's face changed again.
Because he watched Golden Lion suddenly squat down and slam his right hand on the deck.
Then he saw Golden Lion grin and laugh:
"Hehehehehe, what an interesting guy!"
"So..."
As he spoke, a strange force was suddenly poured into the Four Seas Alliance's ship, and the huge ship suddenly began to rise!
"I have good wine in my ship, come and have a drink with me!"
A glimmer of light flashed in Golden Lion's eyes.
"Come, I'll take you up to the sky!"
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