Some time later, when Luffy and the others arrived nearby, they saw Xia Chen slowly walking towards them, holding someone in one hand.
" Xia Chen!!"
From a distance Luffy waved and shouted at Xia Chen.
"Hey, Luffy! How's it going over there?" Xia Chen greeted Luffy with a smile.
"It's a piece of cake. Don't you know who we are? Taking care of Doflamingo is a piece of cake for us."
Upon hearing this, Xia Chen raised an eyebrow slightly.
Oh dear, Luffy's started showing off now!
For some reason, Xia Chen felt that Luffy was becoming increasingly different from the character in the original work.
While he hasn't changed much in his impulsive, reckless actions, his skill in mocking enemies and showing off has improved far beyond what was shown in the original work.
Yes! That deserves praise!
A moment later, Luffy arrived in front of Xia Chen, pointed at the person in Xia Chen's hand, and asked, "Who is this person? Is he the one you were fighting just now?"
"Right!"
Xia Chen nodded.
"That was the guy I was fighting just now, but you know this guy too!"
"I know him too?" Luffy looked curious, then squatted down, reached forward, and lifted Sabo's head up.
The moment Luffy saw Sabo's face clearly, he felt a strange sense of familiarity, but he couldn't quite place it.
But after taking a few more glances, Luffy's pupils grew larger and larger.
"Who... who is he?"
Luffy's expression was one of utter shock, as if he had witnessed something unbelievable.
"That's right! It's Sabo!" Xia Chen said calmly.
"!!!"
"How... how is this possible?"
"Sabo... Sabo, didn't he already...?"
Luffy was still incredibly shocked and couldn't believe it.
"As you can see, this is indeed Sabo. As for why he didn't die, you can ask him yourself when he wakes up!"
With that, Xia Chen tossed Sabo to Luffy.
Luffy frantically caught Sabo, then breathed a sigh of relief before glaring fiercely at Xia Chen.
" Xia Chen, what are you doing? Can't you be a little gentler?"
Xia Chen glanced at Luffy, said nothing, and walked toward the group behind him, but after taking a few steps, he suddenly thought of something.
"By the way, Sabo should know about your father's death, so you can ask him about it when he wakes up!"
--
At this moment, somewhere along the Grand Line, in a place shrouded in mist.
A massive, eerily-looking island ship was wandering around here; it was Moria's Thriller Bark.
In the basement of a tombstone on the island, a muscular man sat atop a coffin, his eyes closed.
The next second, his tightly closed eyes suddenly opened, and two beams of light shot out from them.
A slight smile involuntarily crept onto his lips as he murmured to himself.
" Xia Chen? That really surprises me!"
He didn't understand when he had been exposed, because he felt that what he said made perfect sense!
And most importantly... Xia Chen actually knew so many things, including his identity and some more secretive things, such as Joy Boy!
This was undoubtedly something that piqued his curiosity greatly!
And just as he said, Xia Chen did not show any signs of being worn down by time, so Xia Chen was indeed very young, at least physically.
Imu now suspects that Xia Chen might be the reincarnation of some old monster. Having lived for an unknown amount of time, he certainly knows that such abilities exist in this world.
Furthermore, Imu became increasingly certain of this conjecture; otherwise, there would be no way to explain how Xia Chen knew so much.
He should have erased most of the records about these secret messages long ago!
But none of that matters now, so be it if he's exposed!
It has no impact on the overall situation.
Losing Sabo as a subordinate didn't bother him at all; on the contrary, he was incredibly excited.
He originally sent Sabo there to observe whether Xia Chen's fruit had Awakening.
Now that the goal has been achieved, losing Sabo is perfectly acceptable.
" Hades of the Pluton! I can finally obtain your power!" Rocks, also known as Imu, beamed with excitement.
Wasn't this the moment he'd been waiting for all this time?
From the moment he first saw Xia Chen Xia Chen being rescued from that big, fat, dark-skinned man, he had already been planning all of this.
That's right, Imu first met Xia Chen not on this Thriller Bark, but on Jaya Island.
He happened to be passing by that area when he sensed Xia Chen's Divinity aura, which excited him greatly!
He rushed over without stopping and witnessed the entire course of Xia Chen's battles, including the fight against the Blackbeard Pirates and later the battle against Golden Lion.
He then made another delightful discovery: the owner of the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika was also on that island.
Although the Divinity aura of the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika holder was not apparent at the time, because the Divinity aura is only released when the fruit is close to Devil Fruit Awakening.
But having been Joy Boy's rival, wouldn't he be familiar with his abilities?
At that time, the user of the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika was still far from being strong enough, and it was unknown how much further they had to go before Awakening!
However, Xia Chen already exuded a Divinity aura at that time, and in this world, besides the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika, there was only one other fruit that possessed a Divinity aura.
Hades, the Pluton!
So when the big, fat, dark-skinned man tried to kill Xia Chen, he intervened and saved Xia Chen.
Xia Chen was his prey; how could he possibly let Xia Chen die before he Awakening the fruit?
According to the information he knew, the owner of Pluton ' Hades Fruit needed to die once before it could be Awakening.
However, Xia Chen's Divinity aura was not strong at that time, and he could not guarantee whether Xia Chen would Awakening if he lost his life.
He had been waiting for someone to Awakening Pluton Hades Fruit for far too long; he couldn't possibly take that risk.
So he decided to wait and see, and make a plan after Xia Chen had reached a certain level of strength!
After that, he kept track of the Straw Hat Pirates ' news.
He was originally planning how to appear in front of Xia Chen and fool him.
Unexpectedly, after leaving the Sky Island, Xia Chen and his group went straight to the territory of his subordinate, Gecko Moria. What a coincidence!
What happened next was quite simple.
He then went along with it, releasing his aura to lure Xia Chen over, and told him some things about him and Rocks.
The truth and falsehood are mixed together, making it extremely credible! At least that's what he thinks!
I don't know why it's been exposed now!
Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Imu's lips.
"If the old plan fails, let's start a new one!"