"Boss!" Before the small boat had even pulled alongside, Bilida gathered his strength and sprang from it, leaping high onto Ronglin's ship. He immediately saluted. "We've been looking for you so hard!"
"You brought so many people to find me? Where did you recruit all these subordinates?" Ronglin cared quite a bit about the number of men. "I remember when we parted last time, you only had a dozen or so people on your ship, didn't you?"
"Heh! Boss, you've become famous throughout the New World!" Bilida excitedly greeted Jinbe, Caesar, Jazz, and the others. In Bilida's eyes, those three had been among the first to follow the Boss, all veterans. At best, he himself was part of the second echelon's core. Whether the Boss still considered him core personnel was another matter entirely. "Everyone in the New World knows you seized the Pirate Alliance's territory and are now preparing to go to war with Kaido. Your name is much louder now, so lots of small pirate crews have rushed over to join us!"
Ronglin knew his reputation had definitely risen greatly lately, but what was this about people coming to join him on their own? He hadn't even shaken his mighty frame or flung Overlord's Aura around everywhere. People wouldn't join him for no reason, would they?
Seeing Ronglin's puzzled gaze, Bilida hurriedly explained, "Fire Fist is about to go to war with Blackbeard, so no one in that area dares stay there. One of the Four Emperors, Kaido, has his army pressing down on them and is ready to strike. Those small pirate crews either surrender or die, and even if they surrender, they'll still be cannon fodder later. So along the way, many small pirate crews came to join us in search of somewhere safe."
"That doesn't