Starting with two Kamui, they raised the flag of rebellion in One Piece.

Not long after.

Upon spotting Ace, the Spade Pirates members shouted and ran to the deck of Li Mingyuan's ship.

Although the Ace Pirates are not a large number of pirates, totaling less than ten people, they are considered one of the few "elite" crews. Similar to Luffy, they recruit crew members based on first impressions.

However, compared to them, Li Mingyuan's fleet only has three people, and his forces are at a significant disadvantage. Seeing the increasing number of pirates on the deck, Nami and Karina's expressions became even more tense.

"What should we do?"

"These pirates actually boarded the ship like that, and Li Mingyuan didn't stop them at all..."

Karina leaned close to Nami's ear and whispered worriedly, "Although he said he knew that pirate named Ace, according to him, the two of them are actually not familiar with each other at all. Isn't it a bit too risky for him to trust him so much?"

"Given this situation, it wouldn't be surprising if these pirates turned on us at any moment, not to mention there are so many of them. If something unexpected happens, we won't be able to fight back."

Nami sighed and could only reply softly, "There's nothing we can do. The captain has made his decision, and there's no point in us thinking too much. After all, if the captain doesn't stop these pirates from boarding the ship, the two of us can't stop them even if we wanted to. Now we can only observe the situation and see what happens next."

Nami turned around and looked at the chaotic group of people on the deck in front of her.

Her gaze held a hint of coldness.

Although Li Mingyuan had just explained some things about Ace to them and said that this group of people were not particularly vicious, in Nami's eyes, all pirates were the same. Even if a pirate wasn't that vicious, he was still a pirate after all, and she had no trust in these guys whatsoever.

However, what's troubling is that Li Mingyuan, who had previously shown no mercy to pirates, not only let that guy named Ace go this time, but he didn't even stop the pirates' crew. Even if she trusted Li Mingyuan's strength, it's only natural that she would feel uneasy right now.

We must be prepared and always be vigilant to retaliate.

"Although I don't know what that guy named Ace said to fool our captain, I won't fall for it."

Nami gripped the combination sticks tightly in her hand.

She also had the same small knife as Karina at her waist. Nami had quietly prepared herself. If the situation really deteriorated to the worst, she would risk her life to stab a pirate to death before she died so they could go together.

We will never give these guys the chance to act recklessly.

At the same time, Li Mingyuan looked at the pirates walking around on the deck, their faces showing enthusiasm as they greeted Ace.

At this moment, although Li Mingyuan couldn't tell who was who among these guys, he was quite certain that most of them should have names and surnames in the original work.

Because he vaguely remembered that as a popular character in One Piece, Ace not only had his own side story novel, but he also had a side story manga specially drawn by the author of Dr. Stone. It is said that a considerable number of Spade Pirates members appeared in that work, and there was also a beautiful female Marine who seemed to have feelings for Ace.

As evidence, there is the man currently standing next to Ace and talking to him.

"If I remember correctly, there was a masked guy in the Ace side story manga. And it was this guy who shared the Flame-Flame Fruit with Ace on the deserted island. However, because Ace ate it first, he gained the Flame-Flame Fruit's power, but because the masked guy ate it later, he only got to eat a fruit that tasted like shit and was extremely disgusting. He didn't gain any power at all. He was just a complete unlucky guy."

"It was only after Ace accidentally obtained the power of the Flame-Flame Fruit that he and the masked man used flames as a power source to escape the deserted island and formed the Spade Pirates."

Li Mingyuan sized up the masked man, lost in thought.

Because he still had some recollection of the plot regarding this unlucky old man, he had a slight impression of the character, just like the bandit Dick. However, unlike the bandit Dick, whose only memorable aspect was the name Dick, he only remembered the plot and nothing else about this masked man, so he couldn't recall his name at all.

Of course, these are not the main points. The main point is the crew that Ace recruited. From what I remember, they were mostly decent guys. Overall, they were a bit like Luffy. Although they called themselves pirates, they were more like adventurers and did not make a living by plundering and attacking.

Only a character with a name and a somewhat protagonist-like presence in the original work is qualified to be invited to his ship.

"Well then, isn't that enough of catching up?"

"Now that you've boarded my ship willingly, shouldn't you listen to what I have to say?"

With light, deliberate steps, Li Mingyuan approached the Spade Pirates, who had been chatting and laughing just moments before, his voice echoing among the crowd.

In an instant, the entire deck fell into dead silence.

The members of the Spade Pirates turned to look at the man approaching them. Deus, the leader, frowned slightly, feeling a strong presence accompanying him for some reason.

For some reason, everyone around stopped talking and focused their attention on the man in front of them.

"The Spade Pirates, I've never heard of such a pirate crew before. Your captain also told me he has no bounty. In fact, I don't remember his face being worth anything. So I've decided to make an agreement with him first, not to fight on the ship, to avoid everyone ending up at sea."

"But that's not the case. Just because your captain doesn't have a bounty doesn't mean you don't either. That's why I agreed to let you board. I want to see your faces for myself."

Li Mingyuan smiled and scanned the faces of everyone in front of him. "It seems that what you said on your ship is true. You are really just a group of unknown pirates. I will look forward to your future performance in terms of bounty."

Ace raised an eyebrow upon hearing Li Mingyuan's words, but before he could reply...

"Such arrogance! Are you trying to confirm our faces? The way you're talking makes it sound like you've got us figured out. Do you really think letting us aboard your ship poses no threat?"

Within the Spade Pirates, a female pirate stood with her arms crossed, letting out a disgruntled snort. "We only let you off the hook before because we weren't interested in ordinary ships. If someone provokes you to this extent, you can't object to actually retaliating with pirate tactics, can you?"

"Oh?"

Upon hearing the female pirate's words, Li Mingyuan chuckled and shook his head.

"Ace, how's the situation? Would you mind if I sparred with your crew?"

Li Mingyuan glanced at Ace beside him and asked, "It seems your crew members are quite curious about my strength."

"Forget it, Boncy, he's not an opponent you can beat."

Ace looked at the female pirate with a serious expression and furrowed brows, saying, "If we act recklessly, we might die."

After saying that, Ace walked up to the Spade Pirates and stood next to Li Mingyuan, slightly turning his body to block Li Mingyuan's view of the pirates.

Imperceptibly, the unusual heaviness in the entire space seemed to lighten considerably.

"I'm sorry, they don't know you're a bounty hunter yet. I only told them about our agreement, but even so, you are absolutely not allowed to lay a hand on my companions, whether it's a sparring match or anything else. If you try to harm my companions, you won't be allowed to do so. Once you break this agreement, regardless of whether you actually knew me before or not, our agreement will immediately be broken."

"Ace said in a deep voice."

Li Mingyuan did not directly respond to Ace's words.

He simply peeked out slightly, bypassing Ace's obstruction, and looked with a smile at the Spade Pirates behind him, saying, "Did you hear that? That's what your captain said. So, during your time on my ship, I hope you'll follow the rules and not cause trouble. I don't want a situation that anyone would want to see happen."

Upon hearing Li Mingyuan's words, the female pirate who had spoken earlier now had a rather unpleasant expression.

Conversely, the Spade Pirates, including her, who hadn't thought Li Mingyuan was anything special just moments before, now all looked serious. They could let other people's words go, but since Ace had personally acknowledged the man's threat, they were willing to believe Ace's judgment and think that the other party was not as simple as they had imagined.

They initially thought it was just a random ship they encountered at sea. Although they had some doubts and advised Ace not to act rashly, they were relieved after seeing Ace take control of the situation and board the ship. They believed it was just an ordinary passing vessel. However, upon closer inspection, things were not so simple after all.

Diuss, who was in the lead, couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

"Did your premonition come true?"

"I knew it. The guy who showed up on this Golden Island route couldn't possibly be an ordinary sailor."

While Li Mingyuan and the others were talking, Karina and Nami looked at the Spade Pirates in surprise. It wasn't until Li Mingyuan's conversation that they noticed there was actually a female pirate in this pirate crew.

Although female pirates are not uncommon in this era, and their brutality is in no way inferior to that of male pirates, normally speaking, a pirate ship that can accommodate such a seemingly magnanimous female pirate must be in a much better situation than an ordinary pirate ship.

After all, if it weren't for this, the female pirate's expression wouldn't look the way it does now.

Nami and Karina's most frequent targets for theft were actually vicious pirate crews composed entirely of men. If there were female pirates on the ship, not only would the atmosphere and treatment change, but the male pirates would also be much more difficult to control.

"I was too nervous just now, I didn't even notice."

Nami murmured, "Could what the captain just said be true? Is that guy named Ace really not dangerous at all?"

With some skepticism, Nami thought it over and finally made a decision.

She looked at Karina again and whispered in her ear, "Kalina, is there any lunch left? If not, go to the warehouse later and tidy up a bit more, and make some more as soon as possible."

"What do you mean? Prepare the meal, now?"

Karina looked at Nami with a puzzled expression.

"Can't you see? Judging from this atmosphere, if nothing unexpected happens, we should probably start to take care of this pirate crew a little, and we might even have to throw them a banquet or something."

Nami reluctantly said, "From my perspective, I really don't want to deal with these pirates, but since we've agreed not to fight for the time being, we'll at least travel together until we reach Golden Island."

"Traveling together? With these pirates?!"

Upon hearing this, Karina's eyes widened in shock. "A bounty hunter sailing with pirates? If someone were to take a picture of that, it would definitely be in the newspapers tomorrow."

"You're actually going to cook for a bunch of pirates? If you want to do it, you can. I don't agree..." Karina was about to loudly question Nami, "We agreed to drive away the pirate group, so why did you suddenly switch sides?"

But suddenly, Karina had another thought.

"Wait a minute! Come to think of it, isn't this the unexpected situation I've been waiting for?"

Karina suddenly realized something, her expression brightening. "If this situation continues all the way to Golden Island, and if these two groups disagree while searching for gold, wouldn't I have a chance to escape while things are in chaos?"

Thinking of this, Karina immediately took back what she had said. Under Nami's strange gaze, she wanted to laugh but dared not, and had to maintain a serious expression. For a moment, her expression was a little distorted.

If it were truly a pirate attack, it would have been something she desperately wanted to avoid. However, Li Mingyuan unexpectedly reached a temporary peace agreement with the other side, which turned what was originally a terrifying event into an opportunity that she could exploit.

As expected, the fate of the phantom thief Karina is not yet over!

"Fine, since Nami puts it that way, I'll reluctantly do it."

"But then again, what happened today was really unexpected."

In high spirits, Karina couldn't help but turn to look at the distance and say to Nami, "I thought that guy was a completely cold-blooded executioner, but I never expected to see him show mercy to pirates. I'm really impressed."