Chapter 164: Billionaire

On the street, Ace stared fixedly at Rolan. He had not expected this Marine Rear Admiral standing opposite him to possess Armament Haki.

For a Logia user like himself, Armament Haki was a formidable counter, capable of directly nullifying the immense advantage of elemental intangibility that Logia users relied upon.

"So, can we have a proper talk now?"

Rolan nodded and said, "Go ahead. What is your purpose in fabricating those lies? If this is Garp's request, you really didn't need to go to such lengths with me."

Ace said in a deep voice.

Seeing this, Rolan felt a twinge of helplessness.

No matter how earnestly he tried to explain, why wouldn't this guy believe him? This situation was turning out rather strangely.

Back when he met Sabo, that fellow had immediately believed what he said and successfully recalled Ace and Luffy.

"Rolan, have you guys already started fighting?"

Just as Rolan was pondering how to make Ace believe him, Smoker grabbed Luffy and dropped down from the sky.

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

Looking at Smoker and the struggling Luffy trapped within the smoke in Smoker's grip, Rolan helplessly massaged his temples.

This guy had terrible timing.

Ace already distrusted him, and now Smoker had captured Luffy. From Ace's perspective, wouldn't this look like he had planned to capture them all in one fell swoop?

"This guy runs pretty fast, but unfortunately, under my abilities, there's no way he could escape."

Smoker smiled rarely, but upon catching sight of Ace, the smile on his face vanished in an instant.

"Are these members of the Whitebeard Pirates? Portgas D. Ace, Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Grand Fleet."

"Ace?"

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

Raising his head to look, it was indeed that familiar face he knew so well.

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

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

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

After the greeting, his gaze grew solemn once more as he looked toward Rolan and Smoker.

He knew that if these two weren't dealt with right now, both he and Luffy would end up captured—and worse still, captured by that devil Rolan.

"Smoker, put Luffy down first."

Rolan shook his head helplessly.

Nothing seemed to be going smoothly today. He had originally just wanted to meet Ace, talk about Sabo, and incidentally build some rapport.

Instead, he first ran into Smoker, which in turn provoked a conflict between Smoker and Luffy.

Now things had reached a point where even Rolan himself had no idea how to proceed.

Glancing at Rolan, Smoker thought for a moment before slowly releasing his ability and setting Luffy onto the ground.

"It's you? The Marine who showed up with Grandpa at Orange Town back then."

Only then did Luffy notice Rolan's presence, and he said in surprise.

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

Ace asked, somewhat surprised.

"Ace, this is the Marine who captured me and handed me over to Grandpa back then! He even told me things like plunder and pillage are what real pirates do, and that scum like me couldn't even be considered pirates at all."

Luffy pointed at Rolan and said.

"Was I wrong, Straw Hat Luffy?"

Rolan shook his head, pointing at the restaurant nearby. "Take a look. Before you arrived, this restaurant was still completely intact."

"Because of you, what has it been reduced to now?"

Looking at the restaurant, which could essentially be called a ruin, Luffy suddenly fell silent.

His personality was straightforward, but he wasn't stupid; he understood what Rolan meant.

Luffy tried to formulate a defense, but with the words right on the tip of his tongue, nothing came out.

"Luffy, go apologize and pay the owner some compensation."

Ace looked at the restaurant, let out a sudden sigh, and seemed to harbor a somewhat different perspective on Rolan now.

From Rolan's perspective, it seemed pirates were not all cut from the same cloth.

Judging by the rumors he had heard in the past, every pirate targeted by Rolan was an unforgivable criminal.

Guys like Luffy, who merely called themselves pirates yet had never actually done anything truly bad, seemed entirely absent from that list.

Though he had set sail three years earlier than Luffy, Ace had always kept this principle close to his heart throughout his journey.

He became a pirate simply to keep winning, to gain the highest honor, and to prove his own existence—

rather than living in a daze merely as the son of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger.

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

Yet he had never once engaged in pillaging or plundering, because he held a strict moral compass within his heart.

He did not wish to live as Roger's successor, nor as the inheritor of a sinful bloodline; he simply wanted to live as Ace, a unique individual.

"Ace?"

Luffy looked at Ace in confusion, but seeing Ace's resolute gaze, Luffy nodded and walked 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 view of Rolan had changed, could some of those things he had previously chosen not to believe due to bias now be worthy of belief?

"Smoker, head back to the warship first. Leave Luffy and Ace to me to handle."

Rolan suddenly spoke.

"I should go back first?"

Smoker was startled, but recalling Rolan's consistent style of handling matters, he ultimately nodded.

Had it been anyone else—even an Admiral—he would not have given in.

Leading the Marines away, Smoker turned back to look every few steps.

Even if he didn't voice it aloud, he was immensely curious about how Rolan intended to deal with this crew member of the Whitebeard Pirates.

"Smoker has left. If you have something to say, say it directly."

Using Observation Haki to survey the surroundings and confirming that Smoker had departed completely, Rolan said calmly.

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

Ace stared at Rolan and asked.

"First of all, Laffitte did indeed die by my hand, and before he drew his last breath, I managed to extract some information."

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

"Sniper Van Augur, abilities unknown."

"Fighting Champion, Jesus Burgess."