Green Bull's Challenge

"We're here!"

At Issho's words,

Lin Yan and Zephyr looked up.

Before them, amid the ancient forest, stood a thatched cottage.

The calls of birds, beasts, and insects echoed endlessly around it.

It was truly an ideal place to retire!

Without a doubt,

Green Bull was inside the cottage!

Lin Yan and Zephyr exchanged a glance.

They approached the cottage.

But just as they drew near,

From inside the cottage,

came a thunderous snoring sound.

"Hu~~ Hu~~ Hu~~~"

The snoring was as loud as a bull's roar, booming and piercing.

It was powerful and resonant; from the sound alone, one could tell its owner was no ordinary person.

However,

Lin Yan could not help but laugh.

That snoring...

How deeply asleep did he have to be?

Zephyr, on the other hand, was unsurprised.

"Green Bull has three hobbies: sleeping, beautiful women, and drinking!"

Issho knew Green Bull's preferences like the back of his hand.

"How do we wake him up?"

Lin Yan nodded and asked.

"Easy!"

Issho set the wine jar in his hand on a stone table, then gently removed the lid.

In an instant,

a rich fragrance wafted through the air.

The mellow aroma of wine spread throughout the area surrounding the cottage.

In less than ten seconds,

the snoring inside stopped.

"Bang!"

The door was flung open in the next instant.

Sunlight streamed inside, and a disheveled, poorly dressed man who looked as though he had just woken up stepped out.

He had long green hair, a toothpick between his lips, and an unruly expression. Muttering, he said, "Why does it smell so good?"

Having just woken up,

the groggy Green Bull had yet to grasp the situation.

But when he saw Issho, his lingering drowsiness vanished at once.

"Issho???"

The moment Green Bull saw Issho, he was overjoyed and hurried over in a few quick strides.

He grabbed Issho by the collar. "You bastard, what wind blew you over here today? Tell me, did you rack up a mountain of debt at some casino outside and come here to lie low?"

Dodging debt?

Lin Yan's mouth twitched as he inwardly wondered whether Issho was actually that sort of person.

Zephyr merely glanced at Issho.

He held Issho in very high regard.

Humble, courteous, modest, and a man of justice.

Who would have thought that even someone like him

had a stain on his record that could not be erased?

"Cough, cough, there are people watching!"

Issho panicked when Green Bull immediately exposed his embarrassing past. Don't bring up those old stories!

I'm Issho, after all. Don't I have any dignity?

"These two are..."

Green Bull also noticed Lin Yan and Zephyr standing nearby.

Soon enough,

he learned that they were guests brought by Issho.

Green Bull relaxed.

"Come on, let's go inside and sit!"

Green Bull invited them into the cottage.

However,

when they entered the house,

Zephyr and Lin Yan were left speechless.

The inside was covered in dust. A single breath would send dust flying throughout the entire room.

Even after they walked in,

the footprints they left in the dust remained clearly visible.

"This..."

Lin Yan and Zephyr looked at Green Bull.

"I've forgotten how long I've been asleep. Maybe three months, maybe half a year!"

Seeing that there was nowhere to sit inside, Green Bull scratched his head and spoke with slight embarrassment.

Upon hearing that,

Lin Yan was stunned for a moment.

He had slept for more than half a year?

Earlier, Issho had said that sleeping was one of his hobbies.

At the time, Lin Yan had not understood what he meant.

Now that he saw Green Bull in this state,

even he was slightly shocked.

He really...

did love sleeping!

"That's no problem!"

Issho waved one hand, and several massive rocks in the distance rose from the ground. Then, under the pressure of the Gravity Fruit,

the rocks were compressed into a stone table and stone chairs.

They were placed in the courtyard of the ancient forest,

giving everyone a temporary place to settle down.

After sitting down, Green Bull grabbed a jar and took several hearty gulps.

The clear wine slid down his throat.

Waking up to fine wine after a long sleep,

Green Bull could not have felt more delighted.

Next,

the group drank and chatted.

When Green Bull learned

that Lin Yan and the others had come to invite him to join their pirate crew,

"I was wondering why you, Issho, brought people here to see me. So you came to invite me into your pirate crew!"

Green Bull finally understood why they had come.

"We've been brothers through hardship. I don't want to hide anything from you. Whether you refuse or agree, I'll respect your choice!" Issho said calmly.

"Heh!"

Listening to Issho, Green Bull shifted his gaze to Lin Yan. "Not bad. You actually managed to convince Issho to join your pirate crew!"

Because he had slept for more than half a year,

Green Bull did not know who Lin Yan was.

But he knew full well how determined Issho had been to join the Marines.

Yet Lin Yan had persuaded Issho to switch sides and join the Seventeenth Division.

Clearly,

Lin Yan had some real ability!

"You flatter me. What do you think?"

Lin Yan looked at Green Bull and asked expectantly.

"Issho came here in person. If I don't give him face, wouldn't that make it hard for him to get by in the Seventeenth Division later?"

"I agree. I'll join your pirate crew!"

Green Bull agreed without a second thought.

He was different from Issho.

He had no obsession and simply went with the flow.

To put it bluntly,

as long as something interested him,

he could accept an invitation

from any faction.

However,

seeing how straightforward Green Bull was,

Lin Yan was startled. "That easy?"

After only a few words,

the future Marine admiral Green Bull had agreed to join?

"Of course it's not that easy. If you want to be my captain, there's only one condition: you have to be stronger than me!"

"Can you do that?"

The fighting spirit in Green Bull's eyes gradually intensified.

Clearly,

inviting Green Bull aboard would not be so simple.

"So that means..."

"We're fighting again?"

Lin Yan was speechless. Why did everything have to involve fighting and killing?

Wasn't it exhausting?

First Zephyr, then Issho, and now Green Bull.

They were all civilized people.

Couldn't they handle things in a more civilized way?

Of course,

although Lin Yan said that, his body was far more honest.

At the thought of inviting Green Bull aboard, his eyes gleamed as he said, "As you wish!"

Lin Yan could not possibly let Green Bull slip away.

He truly wanted to see

that after he poached both Issho and Green Bull,

when the Marineford War broke out and the Marines' strength was severely diminished,

who

would fill the two vacant admiral positions?

At that thought,

the smile on Lin Yan's face grew wider and wider.

"This spar ends at the right point!"

Issho took on the role of referee and created an arena for the two of them deep in the mountains.

"Fists and feet don't have eyes. You'd better be careful!"

Green Bull said with both hands in his pockets and a toothpick between his lips.

"Come on!"

Lin Yan crooked a finger at him.