Chapter 162: That Aggro Pulling Is Spot On

Looking at the reckless straw-hatted boy before him, the young man's eyes suddenly lit up. The dissatisfaction he felt just a moment ago vanished like mist into thin air.

"Ah, Luffy, it's been so lo—"

The excited young man shouted with joy, but the next moment, he was directly sent flying by an enraged figure, crashing through seven or eight walls before finally coming to a halt, buried deep within the rubble.

Inside the restaurant, the furious figure was naturally Smoker. Having suffered a humiliating defeat in Loguetown, how could Smoker possibly be in a good mood upon finally catching sight of Luffy? Furthermore, this brat had just treated him with such utter disrespect.

"I've finally found you, Straw Hat Luffy! Now surrender quietly and take your arrest!"

With those words, Smoker prepared to strike. His massive fist instantly transformed into billows of smoke as he charged straight at Luffy.

Hearing the roar, Luffy looked at Smoker with a somewhat bewildered expression, though his hands never stopped stuffing food into his mouth. However, when he overlapped this figure with the guy he had encountered back in Loguetown, his expression changed drastically.

Cold sweat poured down his face, yet he still remembered to sweep up every last scrap of food, shoving it ravenously into his mouth. Finishing just in the nick of time, Luffy narrowly dodged Smoker's attack, used his Devil Fruit powers to blast a giant hole right through the restaurant, and fled like the wind.

Behind him, Smoker gnashed his teeth in fury. Glancing at the wrecked and chaotic restaurant, he grit his teeth and unleashed his powers to give chase. After so much time, now that he had finally laid eyes on Luffy again, there was no way he would let this guy slip away. Last time, some mysterious person had intervened and stopped him, but now with Rolan here, he wanted to see how far Luffy could run.

Meanwhile, back inside the restaurant, Rolan watched Luffy and Smoker leave one after the other and pressed a hand to his forehead in exasperation. He really had to wonder—did Luffy possess some kind of absolute aggro-taunt against Smoker? To the point that Smoker would completely ignore Ace, a member of the Four Emperors' crew, and fixate single-mindedly on pursuing Luffy.

"You go and follow your Colonel; I'll handle things here. I'll head over to that strait to find Smoker later," Rolan said, shaking his head with a helpless sigh as he instructed the marine beside him.

"Understood, Rear Admiral Rolan." Though the marine felt a twinge of regret, he obeyed the order, left the restaurant, and turned the place over to Rolan.

Once the marine was gone, Rolan glanced at the giant hole in the wall and walked straight toward it. Now that nobody else was around, it was the prime opportunity to chat up—ahem, to discuss business with Ace.

As for Luffy, Rolan wasn't worried in the least that anything bad would happen to him. After all, he was Garp's grandson, and since Smoker wasn't Akainu, the situation was manageable.

"Luffy, wait, it's me, Ace!"

The young man who had been blasted away stumbled back into the restaurant, shouting at the top of his lungs as his gaze swept toward the counter. Yet, in barely a dozen seconds, it felt to Ace as though ages had passed.

Just a second ago, he had excitedly recognized Luffy, but the next second, the space around the counter was completely empty. Far across the room, the wall bore an identical massive breach, looking as though a chaotic battle had just taken place there.

At this thought, Ace could no longer sit still and bolted to give chase. Luffy setting out to sea for adventures was his own path, and he shouldn't interfere. But now that Luffy had appeared right before his eyes, how could he stand idly by and watch him fall into danger?

"Commander Ace, Luffy won't be in any danger. Besides, I'd like to get acquainted with you."

Rolan materialized abruptly in front of Ace, blocking his path.

"Who are you? The Devil Rolan?"

As the 2nd Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Ace naturally knew who Rolan was. Staring at this sudden apparition, Ace instantly tensed up, because according to the rumors, this guy was no saint at all. Especially toward pirates like them, he was utterly ruthless. Not a single person who fell into his hands ever walked away unscathed.

"There's no need to be so tense, Commander Ace. Today, I've actually brought you some good news." Rolan shrugged, completely unfazed by Ace's vigilance.

"Good news? What kind of good news could a Marine possibly have for pirates?" Ace sneered.

"No, correction—you could say there are two pieces of good news," Rolan mused, rubbing his chin as he suddenly realized that Laffitte's death could actually be considered good news for Ace. After all, Laffitte's demise was equivalent to severing one of Blackbeard's arms, which indirectly aided Ace in his hunt for Blackbeard.

"Two pieces of good news?" Ace looked at him quizzically. Since when did good news come with buy-one-get-one-free offers? It was just one a moment ago, and now it had miraculously doubled.

"First piece of good news: the navigator of the Blackbeard Pirates, the Devil Sheriff Laffitte, has already been butchered by me. His corpse is sitting right on my warship," Rolan stated calmly.

"Blackbeard? The navigator Laffitte?" Ace's brain short-circuited. He had been out at sea for so long, chasing Blackbeard all the way from the New World to this place, solely to capture him. And now, a devilish Marine suddenly popped up and claimed he had already slaughtered Blackbeard's navigator? How could that possibly be true?

"The second piece of good news is that Sabo is still alive. He is currently the Chief of Staff and second-in-command of the Revolutionary Army. I saw him not long ago on Salvador Island," Rolan continued smoothly.

Compared to the previous revelation, this piece of news dealt an even greater shock to Ace. It struck like a sudden clap of thunder out of a clear blue sky, leaving Ace completely frozen in place.

Sabo—to him, this was a name both distant yet agonizingly familiar. Yet, all of that had been sealed away a decade ago. He would never forget that day, the horrifying sight of a luxurious vessel firing cannons to blast Sabo's small fishing boat to pieces. Even after taking to the sea and joining the Whitebeard Pirates, he would still frequently dream of that very scene.

And yet, a Marine had suddenly appeared out of nowhere to tell him that Sabo wasn't dead. How could he possibly believe such a thing?

However, what made Ace hesitate was the fact that apart from himself and Luffy, absolutely no one else knew about Sabo. Could it be that Grandpa had told him? Since they were both Marines, it wasn't impossible for Garp to have shared this secret with Rolan so that Rolan could use it to trap him and Luffy.

At this thought, Ace's expression darkened. If Rolan had simply engaged him in combat straight away, Ace wouldn't have felt such revulsion—after all, they stood on opposing sides. But for Rolan to use Sabo to toy with him crossed a line. It was a taboo, a taboo he could never forgive.

"Though I have no idea what you mean by playing these kinds of jokes, Rear Admiral Rolan, you shouldn't use Sabo to mess with me."

With that grim declaration, flames instantly erupted from Ace's fists as he charged toward Rolan.

"Ah! Fire! Flames! That guy's a monster!"
"Run! Hurry up and run!"
"..."

The instant Ace made his move, the patrons—who had already been through the ordeal with Luffy and Smoker—scattered in all directions like frightened birds. Because Smoker was a Marine whose power was smoke, they had barely managed to summon the courage to stay and finish their meals. But the two guys left standing here didn't look like good Sametians in the slightest; if a fight broke out, nobody would care about collateral damage. If they didn't run now, were they supposed to stay here and wait for death?

Facing Ace's impulsiveness, Rolan could only shake his head in helpless resignation.

These days, did nobody believe him even when he spoke the absolute truth? And this guy Ace—even if he didn't believe him, he shouldn't resort to a full-blown brawl right off the bat. According to the original storyline, he was supposed to be a polite and gentle guy for the most part. How on earth had the situation degenerated into this?