"Divine Lord?!"
The strange form of address made Tsugikuni Yoriichi frown. One hand gripping his long sword, he quietly watched Tesoro.
His memories of this "Golden Emperor" were already quite vague. He had only recognized Tesoro because Tesoro had used the power of the Gold-Gold Fruit while fighting his enemies earlier.
As for the fact that he and Tesoro had once met at the Holy Land—
At the time, Tsugikuni Yoriichi's attention had been on the three Admirals and the Gorosei. Saving slaves had merely been something he did along the way. There was no way he could remember the faces of every slave.
He had never expected those people to repay him after escaping the Holy Land, so why would he commit them to memory?
Seeing the cool, detached expression on Tsugikuni Yoriichi's face, Tesoro realized that the other man did not seem to recognize him. He lightly patted his chest and hastily explained,
"My name is Tesoro."
"You saved me!"
"Mary Geoise! The Celestial Dragons!"
Tesoro lowered his voice and spoke in quick succession. He did not spell things out, offering only a few fragments of information, but they were enough for understanding to flash through Tsugikuni Yoriichi's eyes.
At the same time, Tesoro's words reminded Tsugikuni Yoriichi of something.
Golden Emperor Tesoro really did seem to have a history as a "slave."
It was just that the person who had saved Tesoro had changed from the Sun Pirates to Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi's gaze fell on Tesoro as he studied him carefully, then he gently shook his head.
"I am not the Divine Lord you speak of."
"You do not need to be grateful for my kindness."
"I merely did what I wanted to do."
As Tsugikuni Yoriichi spoke, he swept his gaze over the limestone cavern.