The Great Voyage: The Props Master on the Straw Hat Ship

Nami sighed, too lazy to bother with Sanji's situation.

They immediately made arrangements for Usopp, and the group headed towards the Going Merry at the port.

On the other side, in a secluded alleyway amidst rapeseed flowers.

"You've found a really good partner, Luffy."

Having escaped Smoker's clutches, Ace sat cross-legged on a step, his freckles speaking volumes about the joy of the two brothers' reunion.

"Of course! I'm going to be the Pirate King, so of course I need to gather the Pirate King's crew!!"

Luffy seemed quite cheerful when the topic of his crewmates came up.

"There's a swordsman with a terrible sense of direction, a greedy thief navigator, a deceitful sniper with a long nose, a lecherous, curly-browed cook, and a talking reindeer-drawn ship's doctor."

Luffy counted on his fingers, "Aren't they all interesting?"

"It's very interesting to hear you say that. It seems that your own sailing experience is quite rich and colorful."

Ace chuckled. "But you seem to have forgotten to introduce me to someone else, haven't you?"

"Your first mate?"

"Link?"

Luffy recalled, "Didn't you see him at the restaurant before? He's the most reliable person on our ship!!"

I know that.

Ace nodded. "After all, he's the first mate whose bounty is higher than yours, the captain's!"

At this point, Ace couldn't help but start mocking Luffy:

"What kind of person are you? How could the first mate's bounty be higher than yours as the captain?!"

"You're such a loser, Luffy, hahaha!!"

On this Grand Line, it's not uncommon for crew members to have higher bounties than their captains, but it's extremely rare.

After all, this is a sea where the strong prey on the weak and the law of the jungle prevails, and those who can serve as captains are all the most powerful people on a ship.

Most of them are ruthless and vicious true pirates, while pirate crews like Luffy's, which are more like adventurers, are extremely rare.

"Oh, it's nothing. Sooner or later, I'll surpass him!!"

Luffy, however, didn't mind at all, flashing a white-toothed smile. With his broad-mindedness, or rather, his carefree nature, he didn't care about such a trivial matter at all.

He was happier than anyone else as the captain than when his crew's strength was being recognized more by the Navy and the world.

Luffy has never cared about the amount of his bounty, and even if he did know, he wouldn't care at all.

In the original story, Robin joined the Straw Hat Pirates and quickly became the crew's most wanted member at the time.

Even though Luffy had already defeated Crocodile and reached a bounty of 100 million Berries by then, he still accepted Robin without knowing this.

"Just you wait and see, one day I will surpass him!!"

Luffy, on the other hand, was very confident about this.

"By the way, his nickname is 'Props Master,' right?"

Ace seemed to remember something and asked aloud.

"yes

Luffy said, "Link has a lot of awesome gadgets, they're all really fun!!"

Well, Link's gadgets are practically toys to Luffy.

"That's it..."

Ace narrowed his eyes slightly, seemingly lost in thought.

He recalled the dreams he had while he was asleep in the restaurant.

He was now almost certain that the images and content of his dreams were definitely related to Link, the prop master and vice-captain of the Lucky Starship.

"Come on, I'll take you to meet my companions!"

Without hesitation, Luffy took Ace and headed straight to the beach where the group had agreed to meet.

Despite Luffy's reckless appearance, he always appears at the most opportune time.

Just as the Going Merry set sail, Luffy returned just in time.

"Haha, everyone's here, that's great!!"

After boarding the ship with his rubber body, Luffy counted his crewmates and, finding none missing, couldn't help but put his hands on his hips and laugh happily.

But before he could even chuckle twice, Nami delivered a powerful blow to his forehead.

"We've been waiting for you, you idiot captain!!"

Nami expressed strong indignation at Luffy's irresponsible and reckless behavior.

"I've already boarded the ship... And what's going on with Sanji?"

Luffy pointed to the gray-white Sanji lying on the ground, his body twitching.

His knight's suit, originally black, was stained so deeply that it was no longer recognizable as black.

"Don't worry about him, he'll get better on his own after a while."

Nami, who knew Sanji's nature well, was quite indifferent.

Given Sanji's sycophantic, so-called chivalrous behavior, all I need to do when I need him is say a few gentle words of praise.

The latter will instantly be fully revived, then with hearts in their eyes and waves on their feet, they will happily go back to recover and do things for her.

Yes, in this respect, Nami, who knows Sanji's personality, has Sanji completely under her control.

103's duel with Ace! [Super-powerful Frostwave Fan]! The power to freeze everything!

Although the others didn't know what Nami was thinking, they could roughly guess what she was thinking.

Unconsciously, I moved a little further away from Nami, afraid that the little devil on her body would stab me with its trident.

This woman must be a devil from hell!

"Is that so?"

Luffy tilted his head.

Although I still don't quite understand, Nami said it's no problem, so as long as it doesn't interfere with my enjoyment of delicious food during my meal, I'll let Sanji do whatever he wants.

Just as he was thinking this, a burst of fire suddenly appeared behind him.

"Hello everyone, nice to meet you all!"

Using the propulsive force of the flames beneath his feet, Ace leaped from the small boat all the way to the deck of the Going Merry.

"You're Luffy's brother, Ace, right?!"

The others had obviously already heard Chopper and Link tell them that Luffy has an older brother.

"Yes, my good-for-nothing brother has really caused you a lot of trouble lately, and you've all taken such good care of him." Ace greeted everyone very politely.

Zoro: "It's truly unbelievable that Luffy would have such a polite older brother!!!"

Nami: "Can the difference between people really be this great?!"

Usopp: "This isn't a hallucination or a dream, it's real!!"

Chopper: "Even though I'd seen it once before, seeing it a second time was still incredibly touching!!"

Vivi: "This ocean is truly magical; it's amazing to witness such wondrous things happening."

Even Sanji, who was lying on the ground convulsing, was making grunting noises, as if to indicate his agreement.

Link: "..."

You've already said everything, so what can I say?!

Link looked at the group speechlessly. Even if Luffy was unreliable most of the time, shouldn't he at least show some respect in front of the other guy's brother?

However, Link glanced at Luffy, who was grinning foolishly.

Their captain seems genuinely indifferent to these things.

He genuinely felt: "Don't I have any pride?"

"Luffy has already introduced you to me. It's a pleasure to meet you all. Please take care of me."

Ace bowed again, demonstrating his politeness and decorum to the fullest extent.

Then, amidst the praise of the crowd, he looked at Link.

"Link, the prop master, how about a fight?"

Suddenly, he challenged Link to a fight.

Eh eh eh?

None of the other people on the ship were taken aback by Ace's sudden challenge.

He then realized what was happening and a look of understanding appeared in his eyes.

As expected of Luffy's brother, the two brothers are indeed of the same ilk when it comes to causing trouble.

"A challenge?"

Link was also taken aback, but looking at Ace's eyes, which were filled with fervor and a certain meaning, he understood what was going on.

"Was the previous dream guidance too stimulating for Ace, so he's trying to test me?"

Earlier at the restaurant, Link used dream artifacts to make some modifications to Ace's dream.

The modified dreams are basically consistent with Ace's own behavior and are indeed things that will happen in the future.

Therefore, Ace was easily influenced by Link's script, and almost in his dream, he walked through the path that Link would take in the future.

This has left Ace confused ever since he woke up, unsure whether it was just a dream or something that would actually happen in the future.

Although his intuition and experience suggested that there was at least an 80-90% chance that it would be a scene from the future, Ace still wanted to test it out for himself.

"Is that alright?"

Although he was very eager, Ace still showed Link the respect he deserved when asking the question.

"As for fighting, then forget it."

Link looked around at the vast ocean and couldn't help but laugh.

"It's a bit restrictive on the sea, so instead of fighting, we might as well test our skills in other areas. That would be fine."

"How about we compete in other areas?"

Ace didn't quite understand Link's meaning until he followed Link's gaze and looked at the distant coastline, where many ships were gradually approaching.

"Those things...the Baroque Works ships!!!"

Vivi immediately recognized the flags flying on those ships, with the skull and crossbones symbol printed on them.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight—exactly eight ships, no more, no less.

Moreover, all of them are fleets led by the highest-ranking elders, aside from those with high-ranking positions related to numbers and holidays.

"It seems we've been discovered and attracted our pursuers?"

The rest of the Straw Hat Pirates immediately went on high alert.

"How about comparing it to this group of invading enemies?"

Link looked at Ace and offered his suggestion and rules, "From now on, whoever captures the most ships wins, how about that?"

"Is that so?"

Upon hearing this, Ace couldn't help but smile. "That is indeed an interesting plan."

"OK!!"

He readily accepted the offer.

"Oh my god!! Link, are you going to have a match with Ace?!"

Luffy immediately perked up like a monkey, "Link is reliable, and Ace is strong. It would be really interesting if the two of you had a match!!"

Although he didn't know why the two of them suddenly decided to start a competition, he himself was very much looking forward to it.