First Meeting

"???"

Gan Fall was a little confused. He had no idea where these two children had come from.

Judging by their appearance, the two children definitely were not from Sky Island, nor were they Shandians, because they had no wings on their backs. Instead, they looked very similar to the Blue Sea people beside him. But where had they come from?

From the direction, they had clearly walked out from inside Upper Yard. But for the past few hundred years, people from God's Guard had patrolled this place every day. How could Blue Sea people possibly have been hiding here?

Though he was puzzled, as the master of this place, Gan Fall had an obligation to help his guests resolve the issue. So he prepared to have his guards go and bring the two children over.

But just then, the Blue Sea man beside him, the one called Rayleigh, suddenly spoke.

"These two little guys are no ordinary kids..."

"Hee hee hee hee, Rayleigh, you sensed it too..."

Roger grinned as he spoke.

Rayleigh rolled his eyes at Roger. Though he did not have Roger's ability to hear the Voice of All Things, his Observation Haki was also top-tier, and he could easily sense the other party's strength, thoughts, and emotions.

But just then, Roger's sudden words left Rayleigh somewhat stunned.

"I actually can't hear that child's inner voice..."

"What... which one?"

After making sure he had not misheard, Rayleigh looked at Roger in shock, then looked into the distance.

"The red-haired kid..."

Hearing that, Rayleigh instantly looked into the distance.

He could indeed sense that, between the two boys, the red-haired child was the stronger one. In terms of physique, he was at least nearly ten times stronger than the blond one. Among the trainee crew members of the same age in their pirate crew, not a single one could compare to this child's physique.

But that was not strange. In the New World, children of this age with physiques like that were everywhere.

What truly surprised him was that this child could actually reject Roger's ability to hear the Voice of All Things.

He had just been about to say something when Roger could no longer hold back.

"Interesting. Let me go meet these two kids. They seem to have been waiting specifically for me..."

As Roger spoke, he sprang up with his entire body, and his figure appeared in the distance, on the land of God's Island.

Roger's sudden movement also drew the attention of the others on the ship. As Roger's favorite trainee crew member, Shanks asked Rayleigh curiously, "Uncle Rayleigh, what did the captain go off to do?"

"Roger, huh!" Looking at Shanks beside him, Rayleigh also suddenly thought of something and gazed into the distance.

"The captain found something interesting, so he went to take a look..."

As Rayleigh's words fell, everyone's attention was drawn over, and they also noticed the figures of the two children in the distance...

In the clear sky, the sun hung high.

"He's here..."

As Enel's somewhat tense words fell, a sound of something tearing through the air rang out in the sky. Along with it came a pitch-black speck descending from above, slowly growing larger and larger.

"Boom..."

Gol D. Roger's burly body descended from the sky and landed steadily in front of the two of them, less than ten meters away, grinning as he looked at them.

Even though Roger had a broad, carefree smile on his face like Luffy's at this moment, just the faint aura he gave off made Enel feel as if a thousand-pound burden had been pressed onto his body. The air began to grow viscous, and even breathing became somewhat difficult.

Before coming here, Enel had already learned from Ye Mu just what kind of person they were going to meet on this adventure.

Before this, he had felt no pressure at all. After all, although he was only eleven now, he was already close to invincible on Sky Island. Add in the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and his personality had become impossible to restrain, growing flamboyant and arrogant.

Across all of Sky Island, aside from Ye Mu, his elder brother, Enel looked down on everyone.

But at this moment, he suddenly understood why Ye Mu had seemed so excited and nervous when telling him this news.

In front of the man before him, Enel discovered that his former arrogance was simply as laughable as a frog at the bottom of a well. All the strength in his body was drawn away by this terrifying majesty. He did not even have the strength to lift a finger, let alone resist.

At this moment, it was as if a single passing breeze would be enough to knock him down.

Fortunately, just then, an arm suddenly pressed down on his shoulder, allowing him to recover from that terrifying state where his mind was about to be crushed.

Turning his head, he saw that Ye Mu's expression also looked strained. His brows were tightly furrowed, and cold sweat ran down his forehead, but clearly, he was not as pathetic as Enel. He could even support him.

While Enel felt grateful, he also looked at the man before him with lingering fear and could not help saying, "So... so terrifying... Is this the One Piece..."

"Are all Blue Sea people this strong..."

And just then, hearing the words "One Piece" in Enel's speech, a trace of solemnity appeared on Roger's carefree expression. He looked at the red-haired Ye Mu before him and said, "Impressive kid. You seem to know me..."

"Captain of the Roger Pirates, the future One Piece: Gol D. Roger..."

Ye Mu forced these words out with difficulty, and in an instant, the smile vanished from Roger's face.

Because the information revealed in Ye Mu's words was simply too much.

"Future... D..."

The word "future" alone had already shocked him enough, and the name of D was something he had never even told his most trusted vice captain, Rayleigh.

In Roger's mind, an unbelievable thought flashed into being, and he spoke.

"Kid, since you know I'm a pirate, you still dare stand in my way? Aren't you afraid I'll kill you...?"

Though Roger's words were terrifying, Ye Mu actually felt relieved.

In that instant, Roger seemed like a different person. The unbearably terrifying aura around him vanished, replaced by a gentle, sunny feeling like that of an uncle from next door.

"Of course I'm afraid, but when I think that this might be the only chance I'll ever have in the future to stand face-to-face with the One Piece, Roger, I really can't bear to miss it."

Ye Mu's words were simple, but Roger thought of many things, even connecting them to the terminal illness he carried.

"Of course, if I'm lucky enough to get the method for training Haki from the One Piece, that would be even better."

That, instead, left Roger a little stunned, but then he suddenly burst out laughing.

"Hahahahahaha! So that's how it is... What an interesting kid. I never thought that, in the little time I have left, I'd still get to see something this interesting... But my schedule is tight from here on out. I can't stay on Sky Island for long. How much you can learn will depend on your own ability..."

At that moment, without needing to think at all, Ye Mu agreed.

"No problem."

Being able to learn how to use Haki from the One Piece himself was worth it, no matter how short the time was.

"In that case, come with me. I'll introduce you to my crew. Maybe you'll even become friends in the future, who knows..."

With that, Roger's figure leaped up again and vanished before the two of them.

Ye Mu did not hesitate either, and said to Enel, "Follow him. This is our best chance..."

With that, one of them turned into flame, the other into thunder, and they followed close behind.

Even though Roger was a staunch believer in physical techniques, and even most of the people on his pirate ship were devotees of physical combat who sneered at Devil Fruits, when he saw two Logia Devil Fruits, so rare on the Grand Line, appear before him all at once—and each more precious than the last—he was still somewhat shocked.

The Flame-Flame Fruit... the Rumble-Rumble Fruit...

"What is this supposed to be, some kind of guidance from fate...?"

A very strange thought suddenly appeared in Roger's heart...