Though he was a little surprised by Shiki's enthusiasm, Xie Wen already wanted to know where his aerial base was, so of course he would not refuse the invitation.
"Jihahahaha!"
Shiki was delighted to receive Xie Wen's agreement. Originally, he had headed out to contact a few pirate crews he thought he could win over, but now...
Naturally, he would put off recruiting "cannon fodder" for a while and devote all his efforts to securing Xie Wen's support instead.
"In that case, let's head back! Just follow behind my pirate ship."
Shiki walked to the Dudu's railing and made a couple of grasping gestures with one hand. The Ark Maxim hovering in the distance immediately turned around, and then he floated off the Dudu's deck and flew toward his own pirate ship.
Worried that Xie Wen might misunderstand, he did not even suggest using the Float-Float Fruit's power to move the Dudu along with him, and he carefully kept his hands from touching the Dudu at all.
Xie Wen, who had been quietly watching for precisely this, relaxed a little. He had indeed been worried that Shiki might use his power to control the Dudu once they fell out later, but from the look of things, Shiki was quite sincere about wanting an alliance.
But wouldn't that make it rather awkward for him to turn on Shiki later?
After all, Shiki was even planning to give him his "prosthetic legs"!
Of course, Xie Wen would never actually let Shiki off over such minor favors.
Besides...
Shiki also had a Float-Float Fruit mystery box on him! So Xie Wen could only say "sorry" to him.
Xie Wen rubbed his chin and let out a theatrical sigh.
"Big Brother Xie Wen, are we really going to work with that old grandpa, meow?