Hearing Renji's words, Kizaru twitched at the corner of his mouth.
He did not respond at all and simply let the Marines escort him away.
"Damn it."
Once Kizaru and the Marines were completely gone, Renji immediately sat down on the ground.
"Good thing he ran out of stamina first."
"If that fight kept going, I would've been the one forced to run."
The moment he sat down, overwhelming exhaustion rushed through his body.
Renji simply lay flat on the ground without caring about his image.
With that, the incident at Sabaody Archipelago had finally come to an end.
Silvers Rayleigh slowly walked over and handed Renji a bottle of water.
Renji did not bother being polite and opened it immediately.
He drank the entire bottle in one go.
The water restored some of his strength.
Because the fight had drained his stamina completely, his body was also improving slightly while recovering.
The improvement was small.
But at his level, even the slightest increase in strength was exciting.
"Impressive," Rayleigh said sincerely.
"Young people truly are terrifying."
"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never believe a young man in his twenties could fight Kizaru to that extent."
After resting for a moment and replenishing water, Renji still could not fight again, but normal movement was no longer a problem.
He slowly stood up and shook his head modestly.
"You're exaggerating."
"Even if I hadn't been here, with you around Kizaru wouldn't have been able to do anything."
"That's different," Rayleigh said with a smile.
The more he looked at Renji, the more satisfied he felt.
Strong, humble, and polite.
A person like this would shine wherever he went.
"My strength may indeed be higher than Kizaru's."
"But I'm already nearly eighty years old."
"My stamina and energy decline every year."
"If Kizaru only focused on exhausting me for a while, I wouldn't last long."
"I don't mean a full-day fight like yours."
"But after three hours or so, I would probably begin to lose."
"You're joking," Renji replied.
He thought about Rayleigh's words briefly.
Rayleigh was clearly hiding something.
But the gap between him and Kizaru probably was not very large.
"You're the vice captain of the Pirate King."
"How could a single Admiral defeat you so easily?"
"Don't tease a junior like me."
"Hahahaha!"
Rayleigh burst into laughter.
Renji's words sounded polite.
But they also created a distance.
It was a polite way of avoiding offending anyone.
"You really handle things carefully, kid."
"I'm old friends with Edward Newgate."
Rayleigh paused and looked thoughtfully at Renji.
"Calling me 'senior' sounds too distant."
"Judging by age, you could even call me grandpa."
"But Whitebeard treats his crew like sons."
"If I did that, it would feel like I'm taking advantage of him."
"You can call me Uncle Rayleigh."
"Alright, Uncle Rayleigh," Renji replied immediately.
Rayleigh nodded.
"You've exhausted your stamina and need time to recover."
"Come stay at my bar for a couple of days."
Renji hesitated.
His original plan was to return to the Fourth Division ship to rest.
But judging from Rayleigh's tone, there was clearly something he wanted to discuss.
After thinking for a moment, Renji agreed.
"Alright, Uncle Rayleigh. I'll trouble you then."
They walked slowly.
After the chaos caused by the Straw Hat Pirates beating a Celestial Dragon and the arrival of a Marine Admiral, the Sabaody Archipelago had become eerily empty.
The residents hid inside their homes.
Most pirates had either been captured or fled.
The Marines had also temporarily withdrawn because of Kizaru's failure and Rayleigh's presence on the island.
At that moment, the only people walking on the streets were Renji and Rayleigh.
One thing worth mentioning was that because Renji had held Kizaru back, Bartholomew Kuma never stepped in.
The Straw Hats were already arranged by Rayleigh to rest inside the bar.
As for the other Supernovas, they had either escaped toward the New World or gone somewhere to recover from their injuries.
Ironically, those Supernovas were originally Kizaru's primary targets during this mission.
But because Renji appeared, not a single one of them was captured.
"Hey, Renji!"
As soon as he entered the bar, Renji saw the Straw Hats who had already eaten and drunk their fill.
Monkey D. Luffy rubbed his belly with one hand and waved enthusiastically with the other.
"Thanks! Without you we would've died at Kizaru's hands!"
"Renji, you were amazing! Fighting an Admiral head-on!"
The rest of the crew also greeted him excitedly.
"Glad you're all safe," Renji said.
After exchanging a few simple greetings, he turned toward Rayleigh.
"Uncle Rayleigh."
"You didn't bring me to the bar just so I could rest safely, right?"
"With your intelligence network, you must know I came here with the entire Fourth Division."
"Of course," Rayleigh said.
He stepped behind the counter and reached into a hidden compartment.
After searching for a moment, he pulled out a folded sheet of paper.
He slid it across the counter to Renji.
"You'll probably be very interested in this information."
"Something that interests me?"
Renji frowned.
There were only two things in this world that truly interested him.
The Whitebeard Pirates.
And becoming stronger.
Strength was necessary for survival.
And the Whitebeard Pirates had protected him when he was weak and given him a place to grow.
With curiosity, Renji unfolded the paper.
After reading the contents, he looked up at Rayleigh.
"This is real?"
Rayleigh nodded.
The paper recorded information about Portgas D. Ace.
It detailed everything from Ace leaving the Whitebeard Pirates to being captured by Marshall D. Teach and handed over to the Marines.
"The World Government wants to lure Whitebeard out of the New World using Ace."
"If no one rescues him, Ace only has one path left."
"Death."
Renji nodded in agreement.
Beside him, Luffy's expression changed instantly.
"Ace is going to die?!"
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