Starting with two Kamui, they raised the flag of rebellion in One Piece.

Ace chuckled.

Caught off guard by this 180-degree turn of events, both Karina and Nami were speechless.

The panicked expressions on their faces from not long ago hadn't even completely faded yet.

When the two of them came to their senses and looked at Ace again, their expressions changed to one of doubt, as if they had misheard something.

"Huh? They're not fighting anymore? That's so sudden??"

Karina stared in disbelief.

"So, what exactly have you been doing since just now?!"

Nami tugged at her hair, almost frantically saying, "Is that person trying to mess with us?!"

Even Li Mingyuan was somewhat at a loss for words when faced with this sudden and unexpected change in attitude.

"Giving up without even trying."

Li Mingyuan said in a deep voice, "So, can I take that as you're now backing down from fighting me?"

"Oh dear, I'm not falling for that kind of provocation. Do I look like a fool?"

Ace raised his hand to block in front of him, looking at Li Mingyuan with a mocking expression. "This is your ship. You're definitely in a better position to fight on your home turf, right? What good would it do me to clash with a bounty hunter like you here?"

"I am not afraid of any challenge, but I have no hatred for you. Rather than risking our ship sinking and both of us falling into the sea during the battle, I would like to fight you and then have a banquet, and listen to the stories of the fishmen. If it is just a friendly sparring match at a safe place on the island, then I will not be breaking my promise to Deus."

"Or what? Although I don't have a bounty on me, you actually despise pirates. Just because I'm a pirate, you want to fight me even though you have no reward?"

Ace smiled calmly, bowed slightly, and put his hat back on his head. "If it's a life-or-death battle, then I have no objection to that kind of fight... However, this is just my intuition. If you really harbored hostility towards me, shouldn't you have tried to shoot me down the moment I flew towards your deck?"

"If your confidence truly matches your strength, don't tell me you can't do this. But strangely, you just let me end up on your ship. No matter how I look at it, I can't sense any hostility from you, the bounty hunter."

After saying that, Ace looked at Li Mingyuan, his eyes filled with seriousness as if he were very certain of his words, and his tone was also filled with a kind of inexplicable certainty.

It was an instinct akin to that of a wild animal.

To his utter surprise, the momentary hesitation he had just experienced had now been used by Ace to launch a counterattack. A hint of admiration and amazement quietly crept into Li Mingyuan's gaze as he looked at Ace.

As expected of the son of the Pirate King, who was born with the qualities of a king, he is a supernova for a long future in the Grand Line. Could this be a rudimentary form of Observation Haki?

Although, according to his previously concealed thoughts, Li Mingyuan was quite certain that appropriately demonstrating his strength was a necessary step in the process of dealing with Ace.

But at this moment.

Looking into Ace's eyes, and seeing the somewhat fearful gazes of Karina and Nami beside him.

"Seriously, that's why recruiting more strong crew members is so necessary. Right now, we don't even have a suitable combatant, let alone the ability to protect functional crew members from the aftermath of battle. If Yamato were on board right now, I wouldn't have to worry about all this."

Yamato, oh Yamato, why haven't you become one of my crew members yet?

After a few seconds of contemplation, Li Mingyuan's gradually rising fighting spirit was completely extinguished.

"……never mind."

Li Mingyuan waved his hand, somewhat disappointed, and said, "Since you've already figured out that I have no hostility, there's no point in forcing a battle. I must admit, your prediction is correct."

"As expected."

Seeing that things had gone as he expected, Ace couldn't help but chuckle.

"However, Ace, even if your intuition is very sharp, you are still wrong about one thing. Even if you are an unknown pirate without a bounty, it doesn't mean you are not worth capturing."

"Besides, since you've already figured out that I had no hostility from the beginning, why not guess the reason?"

Li Mingyuan and Ace locked eyes, his gaze revealing a profound meaning.

"Oh?"

Seeing Li Mingyuan's performance, Ace showed some surprise.

Because Li Mingyuan's words seemed to be implying that they had met somewhere before.

But Ace was certain that he had never met Li Mingyuan in his entire life. Putting aside everything else, the unusually heavy sense of oppression emanating from Li Mingyuan was unique in the East China Sea. If he had really met Li Mingyuan before, there was no reason why he would have no impression of him.

However, Li Mingyuan's statement did make some sense, and Ace was unsure of the situation for a moment.

Seeing this, the tense atmosphere dissipated. Li Mingyuan walked over to Ace and gently patted him on the shoulder. After realizing that Ace did not use his elemental powers to dodge, Li Mingyuan's smile widened. He deliberately avoided Karina and Nami's eyes and whispered something in Ace's ear.

"You!? What exactly do you mean by that?!"

In an instant, all the composure he had just displayed vanished.

Ace's expression changed slightly. He took a step forward and grabbed Li Mingyuan's arm with a serious expression.

I can't believe that this came out of Li Mingyuan's mouth.

"I have no reason to lie to you. After all, as you said, since you could tell at first glance that I had no hostility, what reason could I have? There must be a reason why bounty hunters ignore pirates."

Under the somewhat bewildered gazes of Karina and Nami, Li Mingyuan remained calm and continued speaking to Ace: "Of course, if you don't believe me, that's fine too. Just think of me as a passerby who happened to learn about your story by some unknown coincidence, and that's why I'm being a little friendly to you out of the blue."

Ace's expression kept changing.

The way he looked at Li Mingyuan was sometimes sharp and enlightened, and sometimes doubtful and incredulous.

A full minute passed before Ace finally let out a long breath.

"Whether it's true or false, since you've said these things, I really have no reason to be your enemy anymore."

Ace frowned, somewhat skeptical, and said, "But to be honest, I have absolutely no recollection of someone like you. You look to be a bit older than me, don't you? If you really did appear at the terminal, there's no reason I wouldn't remember you."

"To be honest, you're much more suspicious now than before. No matter how I think about it, my intuition keeps telling me that you're definitely not telling the truth."

"Let's assume that's how it is then."

Seeing this, Li Mingyuan finally couldn't help but laugh, and said with a relaxed expression, "If you could see right through me on our first meeting, I would lose face as a pirate hunter."

"Portgas D. Ace, right? Then let's proceed with your proposal. We'll cease hostilities until we reach Golden Island. Once we're on the island, we'll have a friendly spar and each of us will find the treasure based on our own abilities. If you can defeat me, then you can have whatever you want, whether it's a banquet or inquiring about the ship."

After explaining things to Ace, Li Mingyuan didn't pay any more attention to Ace's reaction.

He turned to look at Nami and Karina, waved to them, and called out, "You can come over now. It seems like there won't be a fight for the time being."

Nami and Karina looked at each other in bewilderment.

Soon, the two of them reached Li Mingyuan's side, and then dragged him away from Ace, who was still frowning and thinking about something. Once inside the cabin, the two of them surrounded Li Mingyuan tightly.

"So what exactly happened? Do you know that guy named Ace?"

Nami couldn't help but ask.

"Strictly speaking, it's just that I know him, but he doesn't know me."

With a smile on his face, Li Mingyuan began to reminisce about his non-existent past, saying with a nostalgic expression, "I don't know the specifics even if I told you, but it is indeed a story from a very long time ago."

His expression was full of memories, but in reality, Li Mingyuan didn't have much of an emotional reaction.

In fact, the words he used to intimidate Ace and turn the tide were quite simple.

That was when he said to Ace, "You have two sworn brothers, one named Sabo and the other Luffy, right? I saw you two at the Terminal Station before, and without your knowledge, I witnessed many of your amazing feats."

That's it.

Anyway, he's a person without a past in the One Piece world. He has an understanding of the plot and foresight, so he can make up his past experiences however he wants. Even if he adds a non-existent past on the spot, he won't feel any pressure.

The reason he suddenly added this part of the past, especially mentioning the name "Sabo," which shocked Ace, was not only because his demonstration of strength had failed and his mind had been seen through, putting him at a complete disadvantage, but also because Ace had the upper hand in the psychological battle between the two, which was extremely detrimental to his next plan.

More importantly, he couldn't let Ace completely lead him by the nose.

Ace suddenly appeared on the ship, and he could start and stop at will. Regardless of the reason, as the captain of this ship, failing to immediately expel an outsider would affect the captain's prestige.

Especially now that the entire ship's rhythm is in the hands of the headstrong Ace, how will the two crew members who just boarded the ship view him? You have to know that he has established a mysterious and powerful image in front of the two of them.

"Although it was a forced comeback, Ace's reaction was pretty good."

"This non-existent past will inevitably leave Ace with a mysterious impression of me, especially since the more certain he is that he has never seen me, the more surprised he will be by this kind of talk."

While talking to Karina Nami, Li Mingyuan thought to himself, "With this 'past' as a connection, future interactions should be much better than those with a purely hostile bounty hunter."

So.

If he and Ace really do go to the Golden Island together next.

How will Ace react to that mysterious "treasure"? Will it turn out as he wishes?

That's really something to look forward to.

Li Mingyuan's peripheral vision lingered on Ace, who was still standing on the deck.

On the other side, Ace, still standing on the deck, had a somewhat wistful expression on his face.

He unexpectedly heard the names Sabo and Luffy again from people he never expected, which made him feel a little nostalgic, but more than that, he felt confused and wary.

Putting Sabo aside for now, the fact that the other party knows about Luffy means that even now, they can still follow the clues to Windmill Town, since Luffy, who hasn't gone to sea, is still on the island.

This means that no matter what happens next...

It would be unwise to rashly confront that man who exudes a dangerous aura.

"...Seriously, Luffy is such a troublesome little brother. Even though he's set sail, I still can't stop worrying about him."

Ace shook his head slightly with a wry smile.

On the distant sea, at this very moment, a sound that cuts through the waves draws ever closer.

Ace looked up and saw that his pirate ship was approaching. It seemed that he had spent too much time thinking and hadn't realized how much time had passed.

"Hey everyone, over here!"

Ace waved his hand and shouted at his pirate ship.

The very next second, on the pirate ship, a man wearing a blue mask and exuding a gentle aura waved at Ace.

Judging from their appearance, it seems they were shouting something.

Mascud Deus

As Ace's first mate and the first crewmate he met, he served as the ship's doctor and navigator on the Spade Pirates.

He is currently leading his men, desperately trying to steer the boat towards Li Mingyuan's ship.

"Phew! Whew! That's great... It seems like a fight hasn't broken out yet this time."

"Honestly," Diuss said, panting, "what was he trying to do by suddenly rushing out like that?"

The entire East Blue is now teeming with pirates searching for Golden Island. It's no wonder that at this crucial moment, another ship is heading to Golden Island just like them.

If a real battle were to break out, Ace's Logia-type Flame-Flame Fruit ability would likely prevent him from being defeated. However, if his opponent were very strong, they could easily destroy his footing during the battle, causing Ace to fall into the sea. In that case, even if Ace were incredibly strong, he might not survive.

Fortunately, it seems that Ace's visit did not result in any conflict with the other party.

"It seems that there really aren't pirates on this ship."

"Things like pirate ships are probably a mistake."

The boat was moored next to Li Mingyuan's vessel, and the two ships were officially joined together, quietly floating on the same ocean.