"Ace, where are you headed next?"
Cifer quickly changed the subject. The day he had run into Luffy and the others, he had been so busy eating, drinking, and having fun that he had completely forgotten about Vivre Cards.
"My next stop? I heard that guy showed up near Alabasta, so I'm planning to go take a look."
As one of the foremost examples of a one-track mind, Ace was easily diverted.
"I was thinking that if Luffy had already entered the Grand Line, we could meet up in Alabasta."
Ace scratched his head. After all, he had no idea whether Luffy had made it to the Grand Line yet. When he had been on Drum Island, he had specifically asked around.
But no one there had heard of a straw-hat-wearing pirate, so he had no choice but to leave them a message and depart.
As for whether Luffy would go to Drum Island—
Ace did not care. He had left messages on every island he had passed through or stayed on. Luffy was bound to land on one of them eventually.
"By the way, Cifer, why did you become a Shichibukai? A pirate as powerful as you should be heading to the New World to become a Sea Emperor, shouldn't you?"
"Or try becoming the Pirate King. Though the one who succeeds in the end will definitely be Old Man or Luffy, hahaha~"
Ace had originally wanted to ask Cifer why he had not joined them and had instead accepted the World Government's invitation.
But as he talked, he somehow started praising Whitebeard and Luffy again.
Nearby, Enel leisurely picked his teeth with a toothpick as he silently listened to their conversation. Nolan, washing dishes in the kitchen, was in an entirely different state.
This was something Nolan had