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

Just before Ace fired his musket.

"Wait a mininute!"

Suddenly, a voice came from behind Ace.

"Since you're going to kill him anyway, why not leave it to me?"

"Although I don't recognize the face from the East Blue, it's possible that it's a pirate from another sea. I can try to get a bounty later."

Ace suddenly turned around and looked behind him.

When he saw that the person who spoke was that familiar face, his tightly furrowed brows instantly relaxed.

"What's wrong, Mingyuan? Are you only arriving now? There's no more excitement for you to join in."

Ace waved with a smile, greeting Li Mingyuan who was not far away.

At that moment, Li Mingyuan emerged from the dense forest and returned to the scene, feeling a chill in his body.

Although it took some effort to go back and forth, it didn't take too much time given his speed.

Li Mingyuan walked past the other members of the Spade Pirates and went straight to Ace's side, looking at the unconscious Edrag.

"His whole body was almost completely burned, yet he was still breathing. What a vigorous life force!"

Li Mingyuan raised an eyebrow.

After confirming with his own eyes that the other party was indeed the lion head from the movie, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

If the other person wasn't Lionhead, then his act of specifically calling out to Ace would have been pointless.

Immediately afterwards, Li Mingyuan's attention shifted from Edrag and he turned back to look at Ace.

"I'm a little late. It seems you've already enjoyed all the excitement by yourself, Ace."

Li Mingyuan smiled faintly and said, "How is it, Ace? Are you satisfied now after getting involved in the Gold Saints' battle?"

"Heh, how could that be?"

Hearing Li Mingyuan's words, Ace adjusted his hat and grinned, replying, "We're pirates, and we haven't even found the crucial gold yet. How can we be satisfied so easily?"

"Instead of this, you'd rather take this guy's head?"

Ace pointed to Edrag beside him and said casually, "Although I originally planned to kill him here in the way pirates do, it wouldn't make sense to just hand him over to a bounty hunter for free."

"How about this? We'll wager this guy's head and fulfill our previous agreement here."

At this point, Ace's expression brightened, and his eyes were fixed on Li Mingyuan.

"Oh? Is it the agreement for the sparring match?"

Looking at Ace's expression, Li Mingyuan asked with interest, "Right here now?"

"Now is the time to make sense!"

"To be honest, the battle just now was quite intense as a warm-up, and I got a little carried away. If it ends so abruptly, it just doesn't feel right."

Ace chuckled, "If we consider the battle just now as an appetizer, isn't it more appropriate to serve up the main course now?"

As he spoke, Ace began squatting and stretching his legs to warm up and loosen his muscles.

It seems that they hadn't even considered the possibility of Li Mingyuan refusing.

Seeing Ace like this, Li Mingyuan was a little surprised, but he really didn't want to refuse. In fact, this way, he would save himself the trouble of taking the initiative to ask in the future.

"We just got back, and suddenly we're going to start fighting?"

"Honestly, he just fought a Devil Fruit user, yet he's still full of energy."

Li Mingyuan thought to himself.

Looking back, I saw the Spade Pirates members and Nami not far away.

He had suddenly left without explanation, and now he had returned as if nothing had happened. Everyone around him seemed a little confused, looking at him with slight hesitation, as if they didn't know whether they should go up and ask him a question.

After all, Li Mingyuan left quickly and returned even faster. To others, it would probably have been a short while. What important matter could he have handled in such a short time? Logically speaking, it was most likely just about Li Mingyuan's other female companion, who hadn't appeared before.

It all felt a bit strange, so it was difficult to ask.

As for Li Mingyuan...

He had already calmed himself down on the way back, so even now, looking at other people, he wouldn't feel any strange urge to vent his anger.

However, the battle with Ace was part of his plan from the beginning. This battle was crucial, and no matter what, he would inevitably use the power of those eyes.

So even though they had already been confused once before.

Unfortunately, he still has to baffle them one more time.

"Since you're in such a good mood, it's not impossible for me to agree, but there's something I need to make clear beforehand."

"Do you want to spar with me in my apparent state, or fight me in my true state?"

Gathering his thoughts, Li Mingyuan simply waved to the members of the Spade Pirates and Nami, signaling the others to come over. At that moment, he turned to Ace beside him and said something.

"What do you mean? Can you transform?"

Upon hearing this, Ace glanced at Li Mingyuan in surprise.

"If you only want to spar with me in my apparent state, then let's just start fighting now, without disturbing anyone around. But if you want to fight me in my true state, then that's a different story."

"I am much stronger in my true form than I am now, but I am also much more dangerous. It could very well involve the people watching around me, and I don't want anyone else to see it. So if you really want to witness my true strength, then my requirement is—you must dismiss everyone except my two crew members."

Li Mingyuan said nonchalantly.

Not long after he finished speaking, the others had already come to their side.

Nami and the Spade Pirates looked at Edrag, who was covered in charred soot, and marveled at him while also glancing at Ace and Li Mingyuan.

Inquiries could be heard from within the Spade Pirates.

"Is the battle over, Captain? Will it be dangerous for us to come over now?"

"That guy in the golden armor has indeed fallen, but whether he'll be in danger next is hard to say."

Esmo stroked his chin, seemingly lost in thought.

"Ugh! What kind of statement is that? It gives me goosebumps."

The pirate who had spoken earlier suddenly looked disgusted and retorted, "If there's danger, why don't you just handle it yourself? Isn't it more troublesome for us to come over?"

On the other side, after Ace finished speaking, Li Mingyuan's gaze also lingered on the people in front of him.

He clapped his hands lightly to draw everyone's attention to himself, and then said, "Your sudden rush out and return must have seemed a bit strange, but don't worry, it was just a small matter and has been taken care of."

"More than that, I have something to ask of everyone."

Yes.

That is, he wants to dismiss all members of the Spade Pirates except Nami and Karina.

Only Ace, his opponent in battle, was allowed to see the secret in his eyes.

Li Mingyuan concisely summarized his conversation with Ace and explained it to the Spade Pirates.

"In short, that's the situation."

"I really can't refuse your captain's invitation, so I might have to spar with him. However, it will likely be very dangerous, so I can't just stand by. If we do end up fighting, you can just take the treasure map and go look for gold first."

Li Mingyuan sighed deliberately, "It's a pity, it seems Ace might not be able to enjoy the fun of treasure hunting."

After listening to Li Mingyuan's explanation, the members of the Spade Pirates looked at each other in bewilderment, and the female pirate couldn't help but facepalm.

"Captain, here we go again. Aren't you being a bit too self-centered?"

The female pirate said irritably, "We just finished fighting, and now we have to start fighting again?"

"Hey, seriously?! I can't even watch the captain's duel with the bounty hunter?! Damn it! I'm definitely not going to sleep tonight!"

Some pirates even beat their chests in frustration, wailing, "If that's the case, couldn't you at least not have told me in the first place?!"

Being extremely free-spirited and with diverse personalities, the pirates reacted in various ways at this moment.

Faced with the captain's impending series of battles, some were indifferent and worried, while others seemed even more expectant than Ace.

Although they didn't think Ace was weaker than Li Mingyuan, to be honest, they had been curious about Li Mingyuan's strength for a long time. Now that the time had finally come for him to compete with the captain, some of them were already excited.

However, just as the members of the Spade Pirates reacted differently to this.

Nami stared blankly at Li Mingyuan.

"Wait, wait a minute?! Me? Captain, can I come along for your battle later?"

Nami pointed to herself, her face full of disbelief.

Her? A battle that even the pirates couldn't watch?

Is she trying to kill herself or something? Others might be implicated, but isn't she afraid?

"Strictly speaking, both you and Karina can go."

Li Mingyuan looked at Nami and said in a good mood, "Of course, that's based on the premise that Ace and I are fighting seriously. In reality, it might not be like that. However, if a battle really breaks out, you two crew members are still within my control."

"Two crew members... wait a minute, does that mean a maximum of two people can watch?"

Upon hearing Li Mingyuan's words, before Nami could say anything, the crew member who had been wailing earlier suddenly brightened up.

He turned sharply to look at Nami and quickly came closer.

"Miss, if it's possible, could you transfer your spectator spot to me?"

"You don't seem interested either. If you're willing, I'll give you half of my share of gold! What do you say?"

When the pirate suddenly appeared in front of her, Nami instinctively frowned and looked at him.

However, Nami's expression changed drastically after hearing the pirate's words.

"gold!?"

Nami's eyes lit up, and she couldn't contain her joy.

Then, just as Nami turned to the pirates with great interest, preparing to say something...

"cough!"

Suddenly, a cough came from beside Nami.

Nami froze instantly. She slowly turned her head and looked at Li Mingyuan beside her again.

"Of course, needless to say, trading is prohibited."

Li Mingyuan narrowed his eyes and said with an unfriendly expression, "You should understand, right, Na, Mei?"

As Nami heard Li Mingyuan pronounce her name word by word, her eyes, which had turned into money symbols, immediately returned to normal, and even her gaze seemed to become much clearer.

"Okay, okay, I understand, it won't be transferred."

Nami, looking deflated like a wilted eggplant, said, "Honestly, so stingy."

After saying that, Nami muttered something to herself.

However, Li Mingyuan pretended not to hear it and turned his gaze back to Ace.

Ace looked somewhat troubled, as if he hadn't quite decided what to choose.

After a while.

Ace gave up, slowly stood up from his crouching position, and looked helplessly at what was in front of him.

"It's a tough choice, but there's no other way since things have come to this point."

Ace said this to Li Mingyuan.

Immediately afterwards, Ace looked at the crew and smiled sheepishly.

"This is such a great opportunity, if we miss it, we may not have another chance for a long time, so I'm sorry everyone."

"I'll enjoy this battle all by myself!"

Upon hearing this, Ace immediately perked up, revealing a refreshed expression.

Instead, a chorus of complaints immediately arose from the surrounding area.

"I don't care! We're going to get going!"

Ace waved his hand dismissively, grabbed Li Mingyuan's clothes, and started running wildly towards the coast. Ace howled excitedly as he ran towards the castle.

Along with Li Mingyuan, the two disappeared into the jungle in no time.

Seeing this, Nami looked helpless, but she didn't want to continue hanging out with the pirates, so she had no choice but to bite the bullet and head towards the 'dangerous' battlefield as well.

Before leaving, the meticulous Nami left a note for the Spade Pirates crew, so that if Karina came looking for them, they could follow the directions to find Li Mingyuan.

After Ace, Li Mingyuan, and Nami all left.

Only the members of the Spade Pirates remained, looking at the mess left on the ground with some headaches.

"What should we do? This..."

"There's no other way. They were all guys Ace defeated, so we can't just leave them to fend for themselves."

The female pirate shook her head and snorted, "Isn't it always like this anyway? Let's just tie them up for now and deal with it when those two come back."

Golden Island, on the coast.

Ace led Li Mingyuan towards the edge of the island, eventually arriving at a somewhat remote place.

This is the coastline in the exact opposite direction from where Li Mingyuan was before.

"Once we get here, even if a fire starts, it can be extinguished in time."

Ace turned around and looked at Li Mingyuan.

At some point, his expression turned serious, and he said, "I made up my mind a long time ago. I don't want to regret my life."

"In that case, how can we miss such a rare opportunity?"

"Give it your all!"

Ace smirked and said confidently, "Let's finish the battle we couldn't achieve on the previous ship and see who's stronger!"