Secrets

Without even moving a finger, she intimidated the injured Spade Pirates into unconsciousness. As for Ace... Ace, who had not eaten a Devil Fruit, was knocked out by a single Armament Haki kick.

A Shichibukai was indeed powerful.

Perhaps Ace, after eating the Flame-Flame Fruit, could have posed a tremendous threat to the Perfume Yuda. But in a one-on-one fight, Ace still had no way to battle Hancock.

Perhaps in a few years, Ace, who could fight Jinbe to a draw, would be able to battle the current Hancock. But right now... he was still far from capable.

Not to mention Ace before he ate the Flame-Flame Fruit.

"Tie them all up! Leo, are you all right?" the Empress ordered sternly. The moment she turned around, she became a concerned young girl in love as she asked Leo.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Hancock. And thank you, Sonia." Leo stretched his limbs, feeling as though he had flipped some strange switch today.

The feeling of Observation Haki just now had been utterly marvelous. The sensation of holding everything in his grasp had felt especially good. Combined with the thrill of high-speed bullets flying toward him and the feeling of knowing every detail about those bullets, it had been entirely different.

And that Conqueror's Haki just now...

The sensation had raised goosebumps all over his body.

"But Sister really did choose the right person." Sandersonia stood beside Leo and spoke in surprise.

"Even on Amazon Lily, many people can't withstand Sister's Conqueror's Haki. Yet despite being so frail, you're completely fine." Marigold stood to Leo's right, watching him. "Maybe you aren't just talking big. Perhaps you really do possess the bearing of a king."

"Conqueror's Haki..." Leo was still savoring that feeling, clenching and unclenching his hand as a bitter smile appeared on his face.

"I didn't come to this world to become an emperor... There has never been any savior, nor can we rely on gods or emperors..." He softly hummed lyrics from "The Internationale" as he slowly walked to Hancock's side and took her hand.

"To create humanity's happiness, we can only rely on ourselves. We must reclaim the fruits of our labor and let thought break through its cage..."

His eyes grew brighter and brighter. He turned to look at Hancock, and the two seemed to understand each other without words as they gazed into each other's eyes.

"Hey, are you going to kill me or torture me? Just get it over with!" Ace, bound tightly as he watched them flirt, had already woken up. Sitting by the railing in frustration, he looked at his companions, who had also been tied up and brought back, and finally felt relieved.

If they were dead, there would have been no need to tie them up. In other words, his companions had been captured, but they were still alive.

But was the gap between them really that huge? They had been completely wiped out...

A bitter smile appeared on his face. Right now, he felt just like Luffy on the execution platform—he had lost the bet and accepted his defeat.

"Portgas D. Ace." Leo released Hancock's hand, crouched before Ace, and flashed a brilliant smile.

"Roger's son, hello."

"!!!!" A terrifying expression appeared on Ace's face. He glared fiercely at Leo without saying a word.

"No way!!" The entire Spade Pirates cried out in shock. Clearly, they had known absolutely nothing about this. In fact, Ace had only told Whitebeard that secret long after joining the Whitebeard Pirates.

Not only the Spade Pirates, but everyone aboard the Kuja Pirates wore shocked expressions. No matter how little they knew of the world, they had heard of Pirate King Roger's great achievements. The fact that Pirate King Roger had a child was undoubtedly earth-shattering news.

Their exaggerated reaction was only natural.

"You... how did you know..." Portgas D. Ace was not the type to deny things outright. He admitted it without hesitation, and his expression turned dangerous. "Could you be with the Marines...?"

The Shichibukai had been incorporated by the Marines, so having a Marine overseer among them would have been perfectly normal. At this stage, pirates did not yet understand the Shichibukai system well enough, so such a thought was only to be expected.

"How could that be? The Marines and I are sworn enemies," Leo said with a laugh.

"Then how did you..." Ace could not understand. Only the Marines should have possessed that kind of intelligence network and capability—though in truth, even the Marines did not. Ace had only been discovered because he lost to Blackbeard, who revealed his background to the Marines in order to sell him for a good price.

That was what led to the later Marineford War.

Before then, his identity and secret had been kept extremely well. Otherwise, the Marines would have long since gathered Admirals and Vice Admirals regardless of the cost to strangle him in the cradle.

How else could he have roamed the seas for so many years and even become the commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division?

"I want to overthrow the current Marines, the World Government, and even the Great Pirate Era your father created. Can you help me?" Leo looked at him and asked with a smile, without untying him.

These pirates had astonishing recovery abilities. The wounds where they had been shot through had already begun to stop bleeding.

Ace frowned and looked back at his companions. They had awakened when they were tied up, and now they were even more alert. He turned back to Leo, unconvinced by his words.

That was only natural. No one would reveal their ultimate goal to someone they had just met—except revolutionaries.

With revolution, if you began with deception, all you would receive would be lies. You could never attract like-minded people to move forward together.

Leo understood this deeply, which was why he had always spoken frankly about his ideals without shame.

But he was also very cunning—he would not discuss them with just anyone.

For example, the Cutlass Pirates. He trained them, but he had never mentioned his purpose or goals.

If there was a reason, it was probably that the Empress and Ace were indeed more important than those Cutlass Pirates.

He could let the Cutlass Pirates go at any time, but as for Ace, if he refused to join, Leo would probably have to kill him.

That was the difference between them.

PS: Damn, it's 2 a.m. again. What the hell did I even do?