I guarded Impel Down for a hundred years in the pirate world.

Meanwhile, the two people chasing Luffy also smelled a fragrant aroma along the way.

That's the aroma of cooked meat.

"I really want to eat it... Ace..."

It looked like a private house. Ace pulled Luffy back, saying, "Don't disturb them."

Luffy was disappointed, but he sniffed the meat again reluctantly before nodding and saying, "I understand. Let's go, let's make some money, I want to eat meat!"

"After all, he came from Marine Headquarters," Zoro thought to himself, as the sharp right angle not far away suddenly held a strange attraction for him.

Is that where we should go next?

Just as the three were about to go their separate ways, the gate of the small courtyard suddenly creaked open.

Standing at the gate of the courtyard was an old woman with a cane and a slightly hunched back. The wrinkles and age spots covering her face made her look somewhat sinister, but her eyes revealed kindness.

"It's fate that we met. Would you like to come in and have something to eat?" the old lady said.

The courtyard gate opened, and the aroma became even stronger. Luffy's eyes lit up, then dimmed again: "Grandma, I don't have any money, so I won't eat."

Ace and Zoro exchanged glances.

This old woman... must have noticed us a long time ago, but our mental network didn't hear a thing. She seems very powerful.

"Come in. After we finish this meal, I have a few small things I'd like your help with."

“This…” Luffy looked at Ace hesitantly. If you ignored the drool dripping from the corner of his mouth and his frantic nodding, he was indeed hesitant.

Ace asked helplessly, "Grandma, is there anything we can help you with?"

"This," the old woman said, "I have seven shops on the island that I'm planning to sell, and some lamp wicks that I've consigned to the Francis Merchant Guild. Could you help me run errands and get them to give me the money as soon as possible? I need lamp coins, half price is fine."

Luffy's eyes widened: "Wow, so rich!"

This is a large, bustling island with hundreds of thousands of residents. No matter where the seven shops are located, they are all quite valuable.

Not to mention the lights and wicks.

"Grandma, how do you make money? Ace and I have always been so poor!" Luffy was so surprised that he even forgot to eat for a moment.

"Making money? Being poor?" A smile appeared on the old woman's aged face: "I'm the poor one."

She turned and walked into the house.

The three looked at each other blankly.

This... this is poor?!

The old lady didn't cook much meat, only about ten pounds, but the four of them shared it, and even Luffy ate until he was half full, relieving his hunger.

Watching the old man slowly picking his teeth, Ace's eyes became even more cautious. It was sea monster meat, and at least... level three sea monster meat!

"Alright! Thank you for the treat, Mother-in-law!"

Luffy, however, had no other thoughts. He stuck out his tongue and licked the grease off the plate, saying, "Where is your shop? How many lantern coins are you planning to sell? We'll go and promote it for you!"

“They’re not far... Oh, and this courtyard too, we’ll sell that as well.”

"A yard?" Luffy was taken aback. "Are you planning to move?"

"Moving? You could say that." The old woman laughed again: "To the afterlife."

Zoro's pupils dilated slightly.

Ace's heart also trembled.

Luffy's expression remained unchanged: "The afterlife? You're going to die?"

Aren't you sad for me?

"A little." Luffy nodded. "Is there any way to keep you alive?"

"Ha, ha, ha..." The old lady was amused by him and said, "You were such an interesting child. It's a pity that you're gone."

"I see." Luffy's expression then lowered slightly. "I understand."

Ace then asked, "I still don't know your name, Grandma. Also, how old are you this year?"

"My name is Xin, and my age is... six hundred and forty... fifty... um, I don't remember exactly," the old lady replied.

"Over six hundred years old?" Luffy couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, "That's...that's much, much older than Grandpa Figo..."

"Figo?" Xin murmured, "The same name as the King of the Stars?"

Just as Luffy was about to explain, Ace subtly nudged him with his elbow. Luffy looked at him strangely and continued, "It's the King of the Stars, Grandpa Gaston Figo."

Ace was speechless, and Zoro was speechless as well.

"You actually know him?" Xin Ze smiled again. "The King of the Stars is a great man. He killed the Pillar of Poison, well done, well done, well done..."

She didn't press the matter about the relationship between the three men and Figo; she simply kept praising Figo.

Seeing this, Ace hesitated and asked, "You... have a grudge against the demon race?"

“Who among us our age doesn’t have hatred for the demons?” Xin said. “My father, my mother, my lover—they all died at the hands of the demons!”

The three men's expressions changed.

Xin continued, "Want to hear about this old woman's experiences? Hehe, actually there's nothing special about it."

More than six hundred years ago, the Demon Race had not yet split, and the Fire Star had not yet entered peace. My parents and lover were all warriors of the Fire Star Army, and even going back further, my grandparents also sacrificed themselves in the battles against the Demon Race.

The year my lover sacrificed his life, I was 27 years old. We made a promise that we would get married after he returned from that mission…

She shook her head, concealing the rest of her sentence, and said, "Later, I also joined the Light Army. I trained and cultivated desperately, hoping to participate in the war against the demon race, hoping for revenge. But just when I was ready, the demon race split apart."

Peace has arrived!

“Then you…” Ace asked.

"Two years after the arrival of peace, the human, half-demon, and demon races ruled their respective sea areas and settled down completely. The Skeleton Emperor issued an order that the Light Army no longer needed to maintain more than ten million people. Anyone without brothers, sisters, or children in their family was required to leave the Light Army and await further orders."

So, I had no choice but to leave.

Xin sighed, “Waiting for orders? I’ve been waiting for orders for a hundred years, two hundred years, and by now, I’m afraid even the Emperor has forgotten about me.”

The war is finally about to resume. With the help of the Star King, we will make the demons experience what we once suffered. But look at me now, can I still participate in the war?

Her eyes were slightly red, and all three of them could sense the powerlessness and helplessness in her words.

“That’s why I say I’m the poor one. True poverty is being unwanted and forgotten,” she said, shaking her head.

"Of course, I have no resentment towards anyone. I have also found the last thing I can do with this decaying body of mine." She smiled again: "Alright, hurry up and help me sell the shop. I'm in a hurry. I need to attend Lord Fishing Lantern's funeral."

"Surrounding someone at...a funeral?"

Chapter 339 Bringing People Back

The news that Wan Gang, the King of the Human Race without a title and the Fishing Lantern King, was about to hold his ascension funeral spread throughout the Fire Star of Lanterns for the next half month.

Against the backdrop of the current news that the human race, the half-demon race, and the mermaid kingdom are gathering their armies and heading to the sea area bordering the demon race to evacuate residents, and have had several small-scale conflicts with the demon race, this news has stirred up quite a wave!

After all, Wan Gang was a man who participated in the founding war of Capri, just like the Skeleton Emperor. He was one of the strongest in the Light Star, and also a kind elder with countless disciples and grand-disciples.

Compared to that, news such as the Half-Demon King proposing to the Star King Gaston Figo for Asmodian, and the Holy Demon King drunkenly raiding the Half-Demon territory and beating up the Half-Demon King, were like fleeting shooting stars, quickly fading from public attention.

Gradually, as Figo disappeared without a trace after killing Astaroth and did not appear for more than half a month, some people speculated that he was chasing another demon pillar, Baimon, and the calls for Figo to kill Baimon grew louder.

The once dormant fire star, which had been silent for six hundred years, now resembled a volcano about to erupt, but none of this disturbed the development of the Lynch Merchant Guild.

Without Figo, the Lynch Merchant Guild was merely a medium-sized merchant guild with a relatively large sea area and a rather peculiar operating model.

Over the past few months, Vice President Lucilia has managed the merchant group in an orderly manner based on the experience she gained while following Doflamingo, consolidating its territory on nearly five hundred islands within a radius of tens of thousands of miles. The Lynch Merchant Group has also acquired a prominent merchant group building.

The transport team's vice-captain, Doflamingo, also did a great job... As Figo's series of major scandals spread throughout Mars, no one dared to provoke the Lynch Merchant Guild.

On this day, Lin Qi, the head of the Merchant Guild's Network Insect Department, was instructing his subordinates on maintaining the Merchant Guild's website when he suddenly heard some exciting news.

Figo is back!

He immediately ran excitedly to the president's office and found that Lucilia was indeed reporting to Figo on the recent situation of the merchant group. However, there were three people he had never seen before standing in the office.

One man and two women.

The man was wearing a yellow plaid shirt, looked middle-aged, and had a somewhat... sleazy appearance.

Of the two women, one was a tall, pink-haired woman as tall as Figo, and the other was an orange-haired girl of average height, around 170 cm.

They're all so beautiful! So cute!

Lin Qi stared blankly, and the orange-haired girl's smile made him blush even more.

"Hehe, come here, Lin Qi."

Figo waved to him: "Let me introduce you. This is Nami. She will be our merchant group's finance minister from now on. Everything related to money will be under her management."

“Hello, Lynch, Lord Figo introduced you to me. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Please take care of me in the future.” Nami extended her hand to him.

Lin Qi nervously reached out, touched her fingers briefly, and then quickly withdrew his hand.

Nami smiled gently.

Lynch's blood pressure rose.

This...this...this is too much for a typical otaku to handle!

Kizaru mischievously smacked his lips and extended his hand: "Hello, I am the newly appointed Minister of Transport, Kizaru. Nice to meet you."

This time, Lin Qi not only didn't blush, but also got goosebumps. He felt much more at ease, shook hands with him, and nodded repeatedly: "Please take care of me."

Hmm, the Minister of Transport must be incredibly capable, right?

You can't judge a book by its cover...

“I am Charlotte Linlin, the granddaughter of Grandpa Figo.” Linlin also extended her hand. Lin Qi was actually a little nicer to her than to Nami, and stared at her with some surprise: “You are Uncle Figo’s…granddaughter? Ah, hello, hello.”

Lingling narrowed her eyes slightly.

Figo smiled and said, "Let each of us have our own perspective. This kid's used to calling me 'uncle'."

"Ah, sorry! Sorry!" Lin Qi realized what was happening and bowed repeatedly in apology.

“Alright, don’t be so reserved. Kizaru and Linlin are just nominal members; they probably won’t be with the merchant guild often. They’ll be doing other things. Only Nami will stay here long-term,” Figo said. “Later, find someone… or you can do it yourself, to teach Nami how to use the Web Bug… well, do what you can.”

"Yes, I know..."

Lin Qi responded, then suddenly realized what was happening.