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

"Oh?"

Hearing the female pirate's words.

Li Mingyuan, who had just emerged from the dense forest, looked surprised.

"So it really is a gold rush? You've found the gold?"

Li Mingyuan walked to the side of the Spade Pirates, looked up at the wall of fire in front of them, and asked.

"No, it's not, but it's just a matter of time."

The female pirate shrugged, seemingly unconcerned, and said, "You've only just arrived, so you probably don't know, but this area used to be a castle. The guy fighting the captain inside was bombing the castle. Now that we've found the Golden Pirates' base, it's not too late to find the treasure."

The female pirate chatted and laughed, and the rest of the Spade Pirates were also optimistic about the future.

No one took the battle inside the firewall seriously.

Everyone was chatting, and the overall atmosphere was relaxed and pleasant.

Li Mingyuan saw this situation but was not surprised at all. While the Spade Pirates were indeed a bit too confident in Ace, their confidence was actually entirely justified.

Li Mingyuan estimated that if things continued like this, the battle would be over in a little while.

"I never expected that we would stumble upon Golden Island by sheer chance."

Li Mingyuan walked to the edge of the battlefield.

Looking at the pirate henchmen lying all over the ground in front of him, and the swordsman dressed as an Indian who he vaguely remembered.

He raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself, "In that case, the pirate who fought Ace inside is most likely the lion-headed guy from the movie. Although he's not bad, he's still far from being a match for the Logia-type Mera Mera no Mi (Flame-Flame Fruit)."

The Logia-type Flame-Flame Fruit has immense power, not only in the Four Seas but also in the first half of the Grand Line.

For Ace to truly suffer a setback, it would only be possible in a new world where powerful individuals with "domineering aura" would become increasingly prevalent.

These small fry are far from being any decent opponents.

"Um?"

However, just as Li Mingyuan was casually scanning the entire area, preparing to wait with the other Spade Pirates members for the battle to end, his expression changed instantly when his gaze inadvertently fell on a certain spot.

"This is..."

Li Mingyuan's eyes narrowed as he stared intently at the Indian swordsman lying on the ground.

Clearly visible, unlike the other fallen pirate henchmen, this swordsman had obvious knife wounds on his body, and not just one or two, but three neat scars.

Judging from the traces of blood spreading and congealing, the wounds were caused at almost the same time!

"How could this be? How is this possible?"

Li Mingyuan murmured in shock.

Despite finding it hard to believe the thought that had just popped into his head, Li Mingyuan turned around without hesitation and walked back towards the Spade Pirates.

Seeing Li Mingyuan return, the female pirate who had spoken to him earlier seemed a little puzzled and asked, "What's wrong? You look strange."

"Did you take care of the swordsman who fell over there? Or were there other people here before?"

Li Mingyuan looked solemn and asked earnestly.

"Haha, what? You could tell that?"

Upon hearing this, the female pirate put one hand on her hip and readily replied, "That's right! Just recently, another group of people were fighting these guys here."

"After taking care of the fallen swordsman, they even gave us a treasure map, saying it was a gift in return for our kindness, and then they left the forest together. It seems their target is—"

"Where are you going to be fed?! I haven't finished speaking yet!?"

The female pirate had only spoken halfway when Li Mingyuan turned around and leaped out without looking back.

Under the stunned gazes of the Spade Pirates and Nami, Li Mingyuan, due to his terrifying burst speed, almost became a phantom and disappeared into the forest. For a moment, a sound similar to a sonic boom was heard, and the ground around the female pirate shook violently.

Li Mingyuan sped off towards the coast.

He had never moved so quickly since arriving in the world of pirates.

Amidst the rapidly passing scenery, Li Mingyuan could even clearly hear his own heartbeat quickening.

"Three-sword style, you can't go wrong with it."

"It's Nonoloa Zoro!"

Li Mingyuan's eyes shone brightly, and he uttered the name in his heart as if he were certain.

Theoretically speaking, it's absolutely impossible for someone to be here.

However, in this world where many timelines converge in the real One Piece world, nothing is impossible. After all, Lionhead, who shouldn't be on Gold Island at this time, is currently fighting Ace.

How could there be so many skilled three-sword style swordsmen in the mere East China Sea, who could even defeat that swordsman dressed as an Indian!

Therefore, considering this, Li Mingyuan could be said to have made no assumptions about the others.

"Hurry, we might still make it...!"

Li Mingyuan's muscles tensed and accelerated as he rapidly performed calculations in his mind.

"From the time the explosion occurred at the original site of the castle to the time Ace arrived, there was at most an hour's difference between the two. Since Ace is still fighting the lion head, Zoro won't be gone for long."

"If it were now, I might be able to recruit Zoro onto my ship before leaving the East Blue!"

With this in mind.

Finally, after several minutes of terrifyingly fast running, Li Mingyuan arrived at the other side of the Golden Island coastline.

Before he could catch his breath, Li Mingyuan steadied himself and immediately scanned his surroundings.

It is clearly visible that there are still some remnants and garbage on the nearby shore. Obviously, someone was stationed here until recently, and it is highly likely that the lion-headed boat was stationed nearby.

however.

"Where's the boat?"

"Why can't we see their ships anywhere?"

Li Mingyuan stood on the beach, gazing blankly at the distant coastline.

Unfortunately, apart from the traces left on the beach, he couldn't see any boat anywhere.

Clearly, the ship had already sailed away.

This differs from his strong desire to see the other person.

Ultimately, our paths didn't cross, and we regretfully missed each other.

"..."

Li Mingyuan stood silently on the beach.

He adjusted his breathing, gradually calming his heaving chest.

For once, Li Mingyuan showed a look of disappointment.

If he hadn't encountered Zoro this time, there's a high probability that Luffy, the protagonist of the Straw Hat Pirates, wouldn't have had another chance to meet him before heading to the Grand Line.

Although Zoro still needs a considerable amount of time to grow and is not yet a powerful fighter to recruit, as a character he once greatly admired in the original work, some sentiments and memories cannot be judged simply by rational thinking.

"What a pity. If I had known Zoro was on this island, I wouldn't have spent so much time flirting with Karina."

"It seems that it was because I knew the truth about the so-called 'Golden Island' from the beginning that I was too careless about other things."

Li Mingyuan sighed deeply.

Golden Island.

The impressive-sounding name is nothing more than a mirage.

The truth about the so-called Golden Island is actually quite simple: it was indeed the last stop of the great golden pirate Unan, but apart from that, there was nothing else on the island.

Yes.

There is no gold on Gold Island.

Li Mingyuan, who had seen the movie, vaguely remembered that if there was a treasure map, in addition to finding the whale landmark on the island, he should also be able to find the castle that was just a feint, as well as the treasure point that was towering into the clouds.

But no matter where you find it.

The castle in Ulan and the treasure site in Ulan are all just a facade.

Before his death, Unan had already satisfied his adventurous ways and had given away all the gold.

Therefore, it's only natural that Karina wouldn't find the treasure even if she set up her base here. Not only Karina, but even Golden Lionhead or Ace's group, none of them could find gold on this island.

After all, there was absolutely nothing on the entire island.

Only the skeleton of Wu Nan remained.

For Li Ming, who already knew the truth, any unusual events on the island were meaningless. His real mission on the island was to deal with Karina, so he would naturally focus his attention and time on her and not bother to pay much attention to other things on the island.

Even when he was traveling with Nami before, the two of them strolled leisurely through the forest, and it took them quite a while to reach the scene of Ace's battle.

I never expected that I would miss the opportunity to meet Zoro because of this.

Regrettably, Li Mingyuan stood on the shore for a while longer, and after confirming that there was no further change in the situation, he had no choice but to turn around and start walking towards the dense forest again.

Meanwhile, the original site of the castle, which had long since been reduced to ruins.

"Ugh!!"

In a deafening explosion, the entire wall of fire collapsed, and a figure was sent flying backward and crashed into the rock wall.

Amidst the raging flames, only one figure remained standing.

That was Ace.

"Captain, are you alright?"

Seeing that the wall of fire had finally disappeared, the Spade Pirates members who had been chatting nearby suddenly swarmed around Ace, carefully observing him.

Although they all had complete confidence in Ace and were not worried about the outcome of the battle from the beginning, Edrag was, after all, a Devil Fruit user, and there was still some worry in their hearts, wondering if the other party had any special means to harm Ace.

Now that the battle was finally over, they all breathed a sigh of relief as they looked at Ace, who was completely unharmed.

"I'm fine, I'm sorry to have worried everyone."

"Could you move aside a little? I'd like to go over there and check on the situation."

Ace replied in a relaxed tone.

Immediately afterward, seeing Edrag being blasted away, Ace stepped closer to him.

"Ha ha……"

Edrago, embedded in the rock, was still panting heavily.

His once flowing lion's mane is now charred black, his body is covered in wounds, and blood is flowing from his head, staining half of his face red.

"You're really something. I've never seen anyone in the East China Sea who could fight me to this extent."

"You can block all my ranged attacks with sonic projectiles, but in close combat, you'll need to get even closer to your sonic waves."

Ace asked with a curious expression, "Just now too, you actually pushed yourself away on your own, didn't you?"

Edrag barely raised his eyes, his gaze still fixed fiercely on Ace.

"You've won. Since that's the case, you can do whatever you want with me."

Edrag sneered, "But even if you defeat me, you won't be able to get the gold without the treasure map..."

Before Edrag could finish speaking, a voice suddenly interrupted Ace and Edrag's conversation.

"Um, the treasure map you mentioned, is it this one?"

Edrag instinctively turned around, only to see a female pirate not far away waving her hand, holding something that looked very familiar to him.

It was a treasure map.

"Impossible?! Why would you have a treasure map?"

Edrag stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

But it wasn't until then that Edrag, regaining his senses, looked around and realized that none of his men were still standing nearby.

Even his right-hand man, Golas, is now lying unconscious on the side.

"Haha! Hahahaha!!"

Edrag was initially stunned, then burst into wild laughter.

"I can't believe that pirate hunter actually managed to defeat Golas! Excellent! Excellent!!"

Suddenly raising his eyes, Edrag's gaze sharpened, his expression ruthless. "But don't think you've won this time! Your mistake was letting me see the treasure map!!"

"roar--!!"

Aiming at the female pirate waving the treasure map, Edrag fired a sonic cannon, intending to kill her in a final gamble.

Still caught off guard, still unleashed an infinite combo in an instant.

However, Ace was prepared for this sudden attack that came without warning.

"Firefly Daruma!"

Before anyone knew it, the area around Edrag was already filled with green lights, which were the fireflies emitted by Ace after he approached Edrag.

At that moment, amidst Ace's deep shout, the green light spots exploded one after another.

In an instant, Edrag was engulfed in the burst of flames amidst screams of agony.

"Ugh!!"

Edrag was covered in black smoke, like a piece of charcoal, and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

As for the sonic cannon he just fired, its trajectory had already veered off course and disappeared into the sky after Edrag was hit.

Only after confirming that the opponent had completely lost his fighting ability did Ace finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"They're really tenacious. I didn't expect them to still want to fight even after things have come to this."

Ace frowned slightly as he looked at Edrag, who had rolled his eyes and lost consciousness. "But this is a bit troublesome. It seems we should just wrap things up as a precaution."

Ace dared to attack his comrade. If he hadn't intended to kill him before, now he was determined to finish him off in the style of a pirate.

Although it wasn't what he initially wanted, there was nothing he could do about it.

Ace slowly extended his hand, pointing his finger at Edrag's head, flames gathering between his fingers.