Initial Meeting

"???"

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

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

From the direction they had come, they had clearly walked out from within Upper Yard. Yet for the past several hundred years, God's Army had patrolled this place every day. How could Blue Sea people have been hiding here?

Though puzzled, Gan Fall, as the master of this place, had a duty to help his guests deal with the matter. So he prepared to have his guards take the two children away.

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

"These two little ones are far from ordinary..."

"Hehehehe, you sensed it too, Rayleigh..."

Roger grinned as he spoke.

Rayleigh shot Roger a look. Though he did not possess Roger's Voice of All Things, his Observation Haki was also among the very best. He could easily sense another person's strength, thoughts, and emotions.

But just then, something Roger said 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..."

Upon hearing that, Rayleigh immediately turned his gaze toward the distance.

He could indeed sense that among the two boys, the red-haired child was the stronger one. In terms of physique alone, he was at least ten times stronger than the blond one. Even among the pirate crew's apprentice sailors of the same age, none could compare to this child physically.

But that was not particularly unusual. In the New World, children of that age with such physiques were everywhere.

What truly surprised him was that this child could actually refuse Roger's Voice of All Things.

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

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

As Roger spoke, he leaped into the air, 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 aboard the ship. As Roger's favorite apprentice sailor, Shanks curiously asked Rayleigh.

"Uncle Rayleigh, what is the captain going over there for?"

"Roger?" Looking at Shanks beside him, Rayleigh seemed to suddenly recall something and gazed into the distance.

"The captain found something interesting and went to take a look..."

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

The sun hung high in the clear sky.

"He's here..."

As Enel's somewhat nervous words fell, the sound of air splitting rang out overhead. A tiny black dot descended from the sky, slowly growing larger and larger.

Boom...

Gol D. Roger's burly body dropped from the sky and landed steadily less than ten meters in front of them, smiling broadly at the two boys.

Even though Roger wore a carefree grin like Luffy's, the faint aura he gave off alone made Enel feel as though a thousand-pound burden rested on his body. The air itself seemed to thicken, and even breathing became difficult.

Before coming here, Enel had already learned from Ye Mu whom they would be meeting on this adventure.

Before that, he had felt no pressure at all. After all, though he was only eleven, he was nearly invincible on Sky Island. Combined with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's power, his personality had inevitably become arrogant.

On all of Sky Island, aside from Ye Mu, his elder brother, Enel did not regard anyone highly.

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

Before the man in front of him, Enel realized that his former arrogance was laughable, like a frog at the bottom of a well. Every ounce of strength in his body seemed to have been drained away by that terrifying majesty. He did not even have the strength to lift a finger, much less resist.

At that moment, it felt as though even a light breeze could knock him over.

Fortunately, an arm suddenly pressed down on his shoulder, pulling him back from that terrifying state where his mind had been on the verge of collapse.

Turning around, he saw that Ye Mu did not look well either. His brows were tightly furrowed, cold sweat running down his forehead, but he was clearly not as badly affected as Enel. He could still hold himself up—and support Enel as well.

While feeling grateful, Enel also looked at the man before him with lingering fear and could not help saying,

"So... so terrifying... Is this the Pirate King...?"

"Are people from the Blue Sea all this strong...?"

Just then, upon hearing the words "Pirate King" in Enel's speech, Roger's carefree expression gained a trace of gravity. He looked at the red-haired Ye Mu and spoke.

"Impressive, kid. It seems you know me..."

"The captain of the Roger Pirates, the future Pirate King: Gol D. Roger..."

Ye Mu forced those words out, and Roger's smile instantly vanished.

There was simply too much information contained in Ye Mu's words.

"Future... D..."

The word "future" alone was enough to surprise him. As for the name D, he had never even told Rayleigh, his most trusted first mate, about it.

An unbelievable thought immediately arose in Roger's mind, 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...?"

Although Roger spoke terrifying words, Ye Mu instead felt relieved.

In that instant, Roger seemed to become a different person. The crushingly terrifying aura around him vanished, replaced by the warm, sunny feeling of a friendly uncle next door.

"Of course I'm afraid. But when I think that this may be my only chance in the future to meet Pirate King Roger face-to-face, I just can't bear to miss it."

Ye Mu's words were simple, but Roger thought of many things, even making the connection to his terminal illness.

"Of course, if I'm lucky enough to learn the method of training Haki from the Pirate King, that would be even better."

That left Roger somewhat stunned, but then he suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hahahahahaha! So that's how it is... What an interesting kid. I never expected that, in the little time I have left, I would still encounter something this interesting... But my remaining time is tight, and I can't stay on Sky Island for long. How much you can learn will depend on your own ability..."

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

"No problem."

Being able to learn how to use Haki from the Pirate King was worthwhile no matter how short the time might be.

"Then come with me. I'll introduce you to my companions. Maybe you'll become friends in the future..."

With that, Roger leaped up once more and vanished from the two boys' sight.

Ye Mu did not hesitate either and said to Enel,

"Follow him. This is our best chance..."

With that, one transformed into flames and the other into lightning, following closely behind.

Though Roger was a staunch physical combatant, and even most of the people on his pirate ship were advocates of physical combat who looked down on Devil Fruits,

seeing two Logia-type Devil Fruits, so rare on the Grand Line, appear before him at once—and each more precious than the last—still surprised him.

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

"Was this some kind of guidance from fate...?"

A very strange thought suddenly arose in Roger's mind...