Chapter 163: Such a Familiar Crowd

Although troubled, Rolan did not hesitate at all when it came to action.

Coating his hand with black Armament Haki, Rolan directly intercepted Ace's punch.

Meeting Ace’s shocked gaze, Rolan smiled and said, "Causing too much destruction here is not ideal. Let's head outside and have a proper match."

With that, Rolan grabbed Ace and pulled him straight out of the restaurant.

"Armament Haki?"

Out on the street, Ace stared fixedly at Rolan. He had not expected this Marine Rear Admiral to master Armament Haki.

For a Logia-type devil fruit user like himself, Armament Haki was a formidable counter, capable of directly neutralizing the powerful advantage of elemental intangibility.

"So, can we have a reasonable conversation now?"

Rolan nodded.

"Out with it. What is your purpose in fabricating those lies? If this is a request from Garp, you didn't have to go to such lengths with me," Ace said in a deep voice.

Rolan felt a trace of helplessness.

No matter how he reasoned with him, this guy simply refused to believe a word. This situation was getting increasingly bizarre.

Back when he first met Sabo, that guy had immediately believed him and successfully recovered his memories of Ace and Luffy.

"Rolan, have you already started fighting?"

Just as Rolan was wondering how to make Ace believe him, Smoker dropped from the sky, dragging Luffy along with him.

"Why did you have to show up right now?"

Looking at Smoker and the struggling Luffy trapped within the billowing smoke in his grip, Rolan massaged his temples in despair.

This guy had chosen the absolute worst timing to return.

Ace already distrusted him, and now that Smoker had captured Luffy, wouldn't Ace assume this was all part of his master plan to round them all up?

"This punk runs pretty fast. Unfortunately for him, escape is impossible under my power."

Smoker let out a rare laugh, but his smile vanished the instant he caught sight of Ace.

"Could this be a crew member of the Whitebeard Pirates? Portgas D. Ace, Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' Grand Fleet."

"Ace?"

Luffy, who had still been struggling frantically, instantly calmed down upon hearing that name.

Lifting his gaze, he saw none other than the familiar face he knew by heart.

Ace, his older brother, and the man he had always been chasing.

"Luffy, I never thought we would meet under circumstances like this."

Seeing that Luffy was unharmed, Ace breathed a sigh of relief.

After the greeting, his expression hardened once more as he shifted his gaze to Rolan and Smoker.

He knew that unless he dealt with these two right here and now, both he and Luffy would end up captured—and worse, captured by that demonic Rolan.

"Smoker, put Luffy down first."

Rolan shook his head helplessly.

Nothing seemed to be going right today. His original intention was simply to meet Ace, talk about Sabo, and perhaps forge some friendly ties.

Instead, he first ran into Smoker, which in turn triggered the conflict between Smoker and Luffy.

Now, things had escalated to the point where Rolan himself had no idea how to proceed.

Giving Rolan a sideways glance, Smoker pondered for a moment before slowly deactivating his devil fruit power, setting Luffy gently onto the ground.

"It's you! The Marine who was with Grandpa at Orange Town!"

Luffy finally noticed Rolan's presence and exclaimed in surprise.

"What's wrong, Luffy? Do you know this guy?"

Ace asked, looking slightly astonished.

"Ace, this is the very Marine who captured me and handed me over to Grandpa! He even lectured me, saying things like pillaging and burning are what real pirates do, and that scum like me doesn't even qualify to be called a pirate!" Luffy pointed straight at Rolan.

"Was I wrong, Straw Hat Luffy?"

Rolan shook his head, gesturing toward the nearby restaurant. "Take a look at that restaurant. Before you arrived, it was completely intact."

"Because of you, what state is it in now?"

Gazing at the building that could now essentially be classified as ruins, Luffy fell silent.

He was straightforward by nature, but he wasn't stupid; he understood perfectly well what Rolan meant.

Luffy opened his mouth to offer some defense, but the words died on his tongue, leaving him entirely speechless.

"Luffy, go apologize and compensate the owner for the damages."

Gazing at the ruined restaurant, Ace suddenly sighed, his impression of Rolan shifting slightly.

It seemed that, in Rolan's eyes, not all pirates were cut from the same cloth.

From the rumors he had heard in the past, every single pirate targeted by Rolan was an egregious criminal guilty of heinous crimes.

Individuals like Luffy, who merely called themselves pirates without ever committing any actual evil deeds, seemed to be entirely absent from Rolan's radar.

Although he had set out to sea three years before Luffy, Ace had strictly adhered to his own code along the way.

He took to sea as a pirate solely to keep winning, attain the highest glory, and prove his own existence.

He refused to live a muddled life simply as the son of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger.

In his first year at sea, he had indeed won plenty of glory and recruited numerous subordinates.

Yet he had never once engaged in pillaging, burning, or plundering, because he held himself to a strict moral standard.

He did not want to live in Roger's shadow or as the heir to a tainted bloodline; he wanted to live simply as Ace, a unique individual in his own right.

"Ace?"

Luffy looked at Ace in confusion, but upon seeing his brother's resolute gaze, Luffy nodded and walked back toward the restaurant.

"I'm sorry, mister. For the damage caused inside your shop..."

While Luffy obediently went to apologize, Ace's gaze returned to Rolan.

Since his perspective on Rolan had shifted, shouldn't he also reconsider those claims he had previously dismissed as mere prejudice?

"Smoker, head back to the warship. Leave Luffy and Ace to me; I'll handle them," Rolan said suddenly.

"I should go back first?"

Smoker froze, but recalling Rolan's usual style of execution, he finally nodded.

If anyone else had given that order—even if it were an Admiral—he would never have complied.

Leading the Marines away, Smoker glanced back every few steps.

Though he kept his thoughts to himself, he was intensely curious about how Rolan intended to deal with this crew member of the Whitebeard Pirates.

"Smoker has gone. Say whatever you want now."

Using Observation Haki to scan the surroundings and confirming that Smoker had departed completely, Rolan spoke in a calm tone.

"Everything you said just now... was it true?"

Ace stared intently at Rolan.

"First of all, Laffitte indeed died at my hands, and right before his death, I managed to extract some information."

"The Blackbeard Pirates have dropped from five members down to four. The captain is Marshall D. Teach, user of the Dark-Dark Fruit."

"The sniper is Van Augur, ability unknown."

"The fighting champion is Jesus Burgess."

"And the ship doctor is Doc Q, the Grim Reaper."

"Only four?"

Ace nodded slowly. This intelligence matched the results of his own investigations, including the fate of Laffitte.

"What about the other matter?"

Compared to the Blackbeard Pirates, Sabo was the one he cared about far more.

How could a person he had believed dead for a full decade still be alive, according to Rolan?

"Fourteen days ago, on Salvador Island, I crossed paths with Sabo and finalized a series of cooperative arrangements with him."

"His current identity is Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army, right-hand man to Monkey D. Dragon, and second-in-command of the entire organization."

"The accident ten years ago is when Dragon rescued him, but the ordeal left him with total amnesia."

"Had Vice Admiral Garp not mentioned the three of you to me, I never would have connected him to your sworn brother."

"Rest assured, Sabo has fully recovered his memories by now. Once his current mission concludes, he'll likely be searching the world for you and Luffy."

Rolan stated quietly.

"Sabo... is still alive?"