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

Before long, the banquet was drawing to a close.

Although the atmosphere was rather tense at the beginning, Li Mingyuan and the Spade Pirates did not end up in conflict. Their first encounter ended in a harmonious and satisfactory manner.

The drunken crew members were sent back to the pirate ship.

Under these circumstances, both ships quickly resumed their voyage and continued towards their destination, Golden Island.

After a hearty and unrestrained feast, some things remain unchanged, such as Li Mingyuan's status as a bounty hunter and the fact that he is still at odds with the pirates. However, while some things have not changed, there are also things that have.

Just like the pirates' attitude towards Li Mingyuan, and the composition of Li Mingyuan's ship.

After the drinking and feasting session ended, although Li Mingyuan had already told the other pirates not to forget to take the drunk Ace back and settle him in, just before the pirates were about to make their move, Ace, who was clearly fast asleep, suddenly opened his eyes drunkenly again.

Not only did he wave away the crew members who were helping him, but he also made a drunken rant about how since Li Mingyuan had already eaten his food and drink, he should also taste the food on Li Mingyuan's ship tonight.

This also meant that, unlike before, Ace and some of his crew remained on Li Mingyuan's ship and did not leave.

Even if Ace, who was completely drunk, was just rambling incoherently, his drunken words still carried the logic of a drunken pirate: since you ate my food, I also want to taste what your food tastes like, isn't that normal? Pirates don't have any selfless spirit of sacrifice; give and take is perfectly reasonable for pirates.

The other crew members initially thought it made some sense, so they naturally wouldn't take any forced evacuation measures against Ace, the drunkard.

Ultimately, through the negotiation of the vice-captain Deuce, Ace and the other two pirates were temporarily allowed to stay on Li Mingyuan's ship.

Li Mingyuan had no objection.

Although it was somewhat unexpected that Ace seemed to enjoy being on his ship, this was exactly what he wanted. If he could increase the time he spent with Ace, he would gain a deeper understanding of the other person.

How much of an impression this accumulates will, to some extent, determine the future outcome for the two people.

So, things proceeded in such a natural way. Li Mingyuan first arranged rooms for the pirates, and he himself temporarily stayed in a room near the pirates to keep an eye on them and prevent them from making any small moves. Putting that aside, Li Mingyuan also asked Nami to go to the deck to observe the surrounding situation to prevent the two ships from getting too close and colliding.

Afternoon, evening, night.

Everything that is happening is perfectly normal.

Ace, who remained on the ship, was able to enjoy Li Mingyuan's dinner with his crew as he wished. Incidentally, his second dinner gathering was also highly approved by the female pirate who was the temporary cook of the Spade Pirates. Although a lot of food was still consumed in this back-and-forth, it was much better than the Spade Pirates unilaterally consuming resources. She not only fully approved of this kind of gathering, but even felt that it would be fine to have one every few days.

After dinner, Ace, who was drunk again, finally gave up on staying on Li Mingyuan's ship and was taken back to his own pirate ship by the crew.

After seeing Ace off, Li Mingyuan returned to his own room.

After reflecting on the day's events and contemplating the future and present, I drifted peacefully into sleep.

Under these circumstances, another ten days passed quickly.

Golden Island is now within reach.

"Oh? The telescope can already see the island's silhouette?"

Hearing Karina's excited report as she suddenly rushed into the captain's cabin, Li Mingyuan put down his coffee, stood up, and looked at the scenery outside the captain's cabin through the glass.

A crimson glint flashed in his eyes, and a similar outline could indeed be seen.

"Thank you for your hard work, Karina. I'll go get Nami to take control of the direction now. You can go and rest."

Li Mingyuan nodded and said, "By the way, on your way back, knock on the doors of those foreign guests, especially the one who drank the most last night. Remember to ask him to come to the captain's cabin."

After saying that, Li Mingyuan turned his head to face the window, his gaze stretching outwards.

I don't know what he was thinking, but his expression seemed to carry a hint of reminiscence.

Seeing Li Mingyuan's appearance, Karina, who was originally happy about the upcoming arrival of her place of liberation, couldn't help but tease him, "What's wrong? You're calling Ace to the captain's cabin again? Seriously, you don't need to go to the pirate ship next door to find someone, you just look for him on our ship. You're always hanging out together, anyone who doesn't know better would think he's already one of us."

"Seriously, aren't you two a little too close? These past few days, it's been nothing but eating, drinking, and having parties. It's like the other person is always talking to you, and the room is almost never empty."

As Karina spoke, she subconsciously recalled the events of the past ten days.

Since the first day of contact with the Spade Pirates, apart from the initial tension, the atmosphere has been quite good for the past ten days. This is mainly because Ace often comes over and takes the initiative to have meals with his crew. The two ships have been traveling side by side at a steady speed for ten days, making Li Mingyuan's ship lively for all ten days.

For the first three days, Ace would have someone help him back to the pirate ship to rest after drinking every night. But later, whether it was because the two sides became more and more familiar, or because Ace really found it troublesome, he was too lazy to go back. After drinking, he would just sleep on the ship in the room that Li Ming had prepared.

Right now, Ace has a fixed room on Li Mingyuan's ship.

Incidentally, other pirates have also been frequently visiting their ship lately, with several people coming and going every day in rotation.

Upon hearing Karina's words, Li Mingyuan, who was still pondering how to save face for Karina once they arrived on the island and not frighten her too much before accepting her, turned around speechlessly and looked at Karina again.

"If you're really free, then find something to do."

"Hehe! It's rare that we finally have time to spend together, so don't say such cold things."

Karina elbowed Li Mingyuan in the side and said with a smile, "Thanks to your frequent contact, even Nami, who hates pirates, has some trouble getting used to it. Even if she's unwilling, she has to watch your interactions and she's becoming more familiar with the Spade Pirates."

"Originally, she wanted to kick these people off the ship, but I don't know when it started, her attitude seemed to soften a bit. Even if we bump into each other in the corridor, she doesn't give me a cold look anymore. If this continues, maybe one day she can cure Nami's aversion to pirates?"

Has this ever happened before?

After listening to Karina's account, Li Mingyuan was slightly surprised and pondered for a moment.

"It's already decided to go parallel with the Spade Pirates. Since we're going to make contact, it's only natural to get to know each other's captains better. I think I've handled things quite well lately, but I didn't expect Nami to notice."

"If it's the Spade Pirates, Nami's softened attitude is a bit surprising, but not entirely unexpected. After all, Karina, you've been in contact with the Spade Pirates for a while now, so you should have noticed by now, right? They're a bit different from ordinary pirates; they're more like adventurers chasing their dreams, and they don't make a living by plundering."

"Nami hates pirates, but in the end, it is precisely because she has been stealing pirates' property and dealing with pirates for many years that she has developed her own unique way of distinguishing what a 'pirate' looks like."

"As for curing your aversion, there's no real need for that. It's just something you're thinking about. You're probably waiting for Nami to be willing to contact pirates again so you can pull off a big heist."

Li Mingyuan glanced at Karina, raised an eyebrow, and said, "I advise you to give up this idea. Even if Nami really stops disliking pirates one day, she still won't be able to adventure with you."

"Hehe, I was just saying, don't take it too seriously."

Karina scratched her head, wearing an innocent expression, and deliberately laughed it off, saying, "After all, I'm leaving this ship today, so it's normal to think about the future a little, isn't it?"

Karina was surprised that Li Mingyuan could see through her subtext at a glance. At the same time, she was also a little emotional, thinking that she was about to leave the ship and that this might be one of the few opportunities to meet the man in front of her.

I've never met a man who understands me this well before, let alone a relationship where we can joke around so easily.

If it weren't for this form of staying here.

Perhaps she actually quite likes being here.

"Well then, Captain, you go ahead with your work. I'll go and make preparations for landing on the island!"

With that, Karina waved her hand and sprinted out of the captain's cabin.

Only a few words echoing in the wind remained, still lingering in the room.

Seeing that Karina came and went in a hurry, Li Mingyuan snorted, withdrew his gaze, and sat down in his seat to continue waiting for Ace and the Spade Pirates to arrive.

Karina's words touched him somewhat.

He reflected on the experience of spending the past ten days together.

"Before we knew it, we were almost at Golden Island. Time really flies."

Li Mingyuan sighed softly, his expression slightly regretful.

The kind of pirate that can even slightly change Nami's opinion of him must be quite something. In some ways, Ace and Luffy are actually the same kind of people. The more you interact with pirates like them, the stronger your feelings will be when you compare them to other pirates.

To be honest, Li Mingyuan felt quite happy during the ten days they spent together.

The ship was bustling with activity every day, seemingly filled with endless silly talk and pranks. In comparison, the boring twenty-odd days he had spent on the ship before seemed like an illusion. He had never imagined that the same seafaring life could be so different due to the different perceptions of the crew.

From this perspective, Li Mingyuan had to admit that it was indeed necessary to have someone on the ship with whom one could have a good relationship and talk to each other.

Especially men.

Although he and Nami have a good relationship, there are still many things to be careful about, especially since the direction he ultimately wants to develop a romantic relationship with her is love rather than friendship, which makes their interactions and actions quite different.

But if it's a man, the situation is different. He won't have many reservations when interacting with the other person, and can talk and laugh purely out of male friendship. Even if he says something silly or does something foolish from time to time, it doesn't matter.

Just like the way she interacted with Madara and Hashirama in her previous life.

"My relationship with Ace is pretty good right now. We can chat and laugh together, and we often sit together for drinks, which is very relaxing. But if Ace and his crew leave this ship, we'll go back to that boring sea voyage we started with..."

"Heh, if I had known it would turn out this way, maybe I shouldn't have gotten so close to Ace in the first place. I tried too hard when we were in contact, and ended up getting caught up in his rhythm."

Thinking of this, Li Mingyuan shook his head with a wry smile.

On the other side, inside the bed.

After Karina banged on the door several times, Ace, with his hair all messy and yawning, opened the door.

You'd never guess he was a customer.

Ace, with a sleepy look on his face as if he owned the room, mumbled, "What's going on? It shouldn't be lunchtime yet, right?"

"I've told you so many times, my head is throbbing right now."

Unfortunately, perhaps it was because I slept in too late and delayed it for too long.

When Ace opened the door, Karina, who had been there just moments before, was nowhere to be seen.

Ace looked left and right at the doorway, and just as he was about to close it to make sure no one was there.

"Wait, Captain! I was just looking for you! I didn't expect you to be awake!"

In the corridor, a hurried shout echoed in Ace's ears, "We've arrived at the legendary Golden Island! We can already see the coastline!"

"What?"

Ace opened his eyes wide in surprise and looked at what was in front of him.

He rubbed his ears and repeated uncertainly, "Golden Island, have we arrived?"

On the deck, Ace hurried along, not caring that he was still hungover, and excitedly rushed to the railing at the edge of the ship. He leaned forward and looked ahead, his hands gripping the railing.

Sure enough, what came into view was an island.

"Is this the island that Udon, the great golden pirate, ultimately disappeared from, and is now the focus of the entire East Blue?"

Ace pressed his hat against his head, a smile playing on his lips. "Just thinking about it is fascinating."

At the same time.

Just as Li Mingyuan and the Spade Pirates had gathered on the shore of Golden Island.

A shadow in a dense forest on the island.

"We can't find any clues at all. What's going on?"

The man, clad in golden armor and with a lion-like face, looked at the figure before him with a grim expression.