One Piece: From Picking Up Red Hair's Broken Arm

Chapter 140 Has he always been this brave? [Second Update]

The air seemed to freeze at this moment.

Robin's pupils shrank to pinpoints, and she immediately crossed her arms in front of her chest, staring intently at Aokiji.

Kuina, who was standing next to her, also sensed that something was wrong and immediately placed her hand on the Wado Ichimonji.

"What a coincidence?"

Xia Nuo stepped forward, raising an eyebrow slightly. "What a coincidence! You clearly came here on your own initiative, how long have you been squatting here?"

This must be a case of waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree stump, or a chance encounter?

How could such a coincidence exist!
The last time I encountered Akainu on Tohru Island, amidst a sky full of cherry blossoms, was already an extremely rare occurrence.

And now it's another chance encounter...

Ghost letter!
What kind of unlucky guy could run into two admirals in a row?

"Oh dear, did you see through me?"

Aokiji scratched his messy curly hair. "Tsk, you probably arrived around noon. But since you guys have been scattered around, it's too much trouble to find you one by one. I'll just wait until you all gather before I start talking to you."

"Hey, Smoker, who's this guy?"

Seeing Aokiji dressed casually, Nami was a little confused and asked Smoker quietly.

"Kuzan, an old friend of mine."

Smoker, a cigar dangling from his lips, narrowed his eyes slightly. "He is also one of the three admirals who rank among the highest combat forces in the Marine Headquarters."

ha?
A naval admiral?!
Nami was startled and quickly shrank back to shield Xia Nuo in front of her.

"Don't be so nervous, little girl."

Aokiji slowly sat up straight on the bench. "I didn't come here to arrest you. Otherwise, you would all be frozen solid by now."

Anyone can talk big.

Xia Nuo had already unleashed his Observation Haki, sweeping across the entire island like a tidal wave. After confirming that only Aokiji was there, he grinned:
"So it really was just you alone? Hey... isn't that a bit too dismissive? A lone admiral, you dare to dream of taking me down?"

"……Well."

Aokiji tilted his head, propped his chin up with his hand, and sized up Xia Nuo.

"that's true."

He shrugged and said seriously:

“If any other kid said something like that to me, I’d probably just laugh it off, but you… you really have the right to say that.”

"Xia Nuo was born in the Kingdom of Oycot. His surname, biological father and mother, and bloodline are unknown. He was quite famous in the East China Sea several years ago."

Aokiji calmly narrated:

"And now, at just eighteen years old, he has already been highly valued by the world government, with a bounty of one billion, and possesses the power to shake the world order."

"What a terrible resume."

He sighed sincerely, looked up, and turned his gaze to Robin.

"No wonder you chose this group as your hideout, Nico Robin. Your judgment and luck seem to have improved a lot this time. At least for the time being, you don't need to rush to find another host."

"Many threats and enemies that once terrified you are nothing to this man. He truly has the strength to protect you."

Robin bit her lip, staring intently at Aokiji, her hands unconsciously clenching into fists.

"Enough, Kuzan!"

Smoker, with a cigar in his mouth, frowned and spoke:
"Stop saying such unpleasant things on purpose. What exactly is your purpose in coming here? Is it just to reopen old wounds from Ohara in front of Robin?"

"..."

Aokiji glanced at Smoker with some surprise.

"With your rank, you had no right to access those things when you were still in the Navy. But after you defected, you seem to know a lot about those things now."

Aokiji raised an eyebrow. "Oh my, that's quite surprising, Nico Robin. You actually told these people about what happened back then? It seems you've already developed a good relationship with them..."

"If I knew a few more things like the mess Ohara, I probably would have left the Navy years ago."

Smoker interrupted with a cold laugh, drawing his jitsu from behind him.

“Answer my question, don’t beat around the bush. Besides, Boss Shano and Robin have already told us what you were doing. Back then, you were the one who released her, so why have you been secretly chasing her all over the ocean all these years? Kuzan, what exactly are you up to?”

"That's what I mean too."

With a mouth double, Xia Nuo's tone became more relaxed. He sat down on the bench and crossed his legs:
"You've come looking for me this time, probably mainly because of Robin, right? Even the World Government doesn't know she's on my ship yet, but you've found her first. What, did you secretly put a tracking device on her?"

"Hey, hey, hey, don't make me sound like a perverted stalker."

Aokiji helplessly raised his arms in surrender. "What do you mean by chasing her everywhere... that's going too far. I just keep an eye on her every now and then, to see just how far that Saul guy, who's so desperate to protect the spark, can go..."

"As for how you knew she was here with you now..."

Aokiji looked down and touched his pocket, pulling out a photo. "Look, this is what Grandpa Garp showed me after we met at headquarters a while ago. That old man... really admires you."

Xia Nuo reached out and took the photo.

It was a selfie of Garp standing on the dog-headed warship, grinning and waving goodbye at the distant Fallen Ship. I have no idea what the old man was so happy about...

In short, the figures on the Curtain Fall were indistinct, and Robin stood discreetly at the very back, her features completely obscured. Even professional agents from the World Government wouldn't notice her.

But after taking a few more glances, Aokiji noticed something was amiss and immediately tracked him down.

"You're really something, you can even recognize that."

Xia Nuo tossed the photo back at him, giving him a disdainful look. "You still have the nerve to say you're not a stalker?"

"..." Aokiji was speechless for a moment.

"Don't worry about this kind of thing."

He said weakly, “Seeing the fate of the Son of Ohara is certainly my motivation for this trip, but... after seeing you in person, all of that suddenly becomes unimportant.”

"Ah, that includes Smoker too. It was something I couldn't understand at first that he would become a pirate." Aokiji pointed to someone next to him who was puffing on a cigarette. "But I don't care about that now."

"Huh? Don't go too far, you bastard!" Smoker roared with fangs. "It's been so long, and you're talking so hurtful. I'll burn you to death with a cigarette butt!"

"Don't misunderstand, that's not what I meant. The reason I said that is because I think the answers to my questions about both of you can be found in this man."

Aokiji shrugged, turned his head, and bent down to stare at Xia Nuo.

"Hey, can you tell me, what exactly are you after all this time...?"

"What? I don't understand what you're saying?" Xia Nuo didn't answer immediately, but instead grinned.

Do you really want me to explain it clearly?

Aokiji met his gaze and spoke softly:
“From the age of fourteen or fifteen, you began to make a name for yourself in the East Blue, solving many troublesome pirates, and were a teenage idol for many years. You were even hailed by many people in the East Blue as the embodiment of justice.”

"And now that you have officially set sail, although the world government has smeared you with a long list of evil deeds and a notorious reputation in the newspapers, we both know the truth."

"In Loguetown, in order to protect the people, he did not hesitate to bear the infamy of pirates and became an enemy of Vice Admiral Onigumo."

"He stood up for justice in Alabasta and directly wiped out the Hanafuda Pirates."

"Just in the last few days, we also rescued some poor slaves from the slave ships..."

"You have never plundered towns or attacked civilians. Wherever you have gone, the people have been grateful to you."

Aokiji's voice gradually deepened, and his leaning motion became more and more pronounced, closing in on Xia Nuo. A chilling aura emanated from him, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
"If you keep doing this, where do you think you're placing the Navy and the justice we believe in?"

"In addition to your act of taking in the Son of Ohara, what exactly do you want to become, and what kind of ambition do you harbor?"

The atmosphere suddenly became tense.

Kuina pulled out half of the blade, Nojiko clenched her fist, Zeff slightly raised his heels, and Nami gritted her teeth and flashed out from behind Shano, a burst of flames erupting from her orange hair...

Xia Nuo stared at the face scrunched up in a grimace, so close to his own.

But then he suddenly grinned.

He was about to speak when a furious roar suddenly came from the garden entrance:
"How dare you! You try laying a hand on an adult!!!"

Everyone was stunned. Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw a burly giant, eight meters tall, rushing towards them. With each step he took, the ground of the entire garden trembled.

Couples who were just whispering sweet nothings on a nearby bench suddenly screamed and frantically ran outside.

No, who is this person?
For a moment, apart from Xia Nuo raising an eyebrow and showing an interested expression, everyone else, whether it was Aokiji or the crew, was stunned.

Your people?

Smoker and Aokiji exchanged a glance, then shook their heads simultaneously.

What are they doing here?
"Wait a minute." Nami frowned. "This guy looks familiar...we feel like we've seen him somewhere before..."

She didn't finish her sentence.

The burly giant's body had swelled and deformed rapidly, his thick limbs covered with long brown hair, and two curved tusks extended from his mouth.

In the blink of an eye, a massive mammoth appeared before them, its crimson eyes fixed on Aokiji.

"If you want to hurt Lord Xia Nuo, you'll have to get past me first, you bastard!"

The mammoth let out a deep roar, and with a low growl, its massive trunk rose high, crashing down on the blue pheasant with terrifying force.

"Ah la la..."

Aokiji raised an eyebrow. "An Ancient Zoan-type ability? That's quite rare."

But... why did she suddenly attack him for no reason?

He remained calm, not even blinking, until the elephant's trunk was about to smash into his head, at which point he finally slowly raised his right hand—

Click!

The moment they made contact, a bone-chilling cold suddenly erupted, and terrifying frost instantly spread up the elephant's trunk from the palm of the blue pheasant.

Jack stared in horror, struggling desperately, but to no avail. He could only watch helplessly as his nose turned into a glistening icicle in the blink of an eye.

But this is just the beginning.

The ice covered the entire body at a visible speed, from the curved tusks and thick legs to the tail—in an instant, only the eyeballs could still move.

In just two short seconds, this mammoth, which was more than ten meters tall, was completely transformed into a lifelike ice sculpture, reflecting crystal-clear light under the streetlights.

(End of this chapter)