A short man with a pockmarked face was standing on the shore not far from the Thousand Sunny, shouting loudly.
Xia Chen, of course, also saw this guy.
Hmm! Another guy I don't recognize, and he's got some nerve!
To be honest, Xia Chen didn't sense any aura of a powerful expert from this guy.
Xia Chen was certain that even if they brought out their ship's pet, Chopper, this guy probably still wouldn't be able to win!
He simply couldn't understand why someone like that would dare to challenge him by name.
However, since the challenger had come to his door, Xia Chen naturally wouldn't tolerate him. He flashed to the shore, about ten meters away from the man.
"!!!"
The man was so startled by Xia Chen's sudden appearance that he took several steps back, a bead of cold sweat trickling down his forehead.
Everyone:...
Are you serious?
Xia Chen was speechless. He suddenly realized that coming down to face this idiot was a mistake; he should have just thrown Flying Finger Pistol at him from a distance!
We really can't use any other methods, otherwise it would be like using a cannon to kill a mosquito!
It took the man a while to calm himself down, and then he looked at Xia Chen with excitement.
" Your Xia Chen the Sovereign! Do you dare stand still and let me hit you!"
Xia Chen:???
Everyone:???
Seriously, man! Are you kidding me? How could you say something like that?
Everyone present felt that this person might have some mental issues, otherwise he wouldn't have said something so stupid!
Xia Chen also slightly raised his hand, deciding to give this idiot in front of him a quick death!
Upon seeing Xia Chen's actions, the man opposite him was immediately shocked. He raised his hands in front of him and then released a white energy ball.
"Um?"
As if sensing something, Xia Chen paused in raising his hand, then his eyes emitted golden light as he stared intently at the energy ball heading towards him.
This energy ball posed no threat to him, but it was imbued with a... very advanced type of energy!
That's right! Very advanced! This word appeared directly in Xia Chen's mind the moment he sensed this energy.
Although he didn't know why this was happening, Xia Chen stopped what he was doing and quietly watched the energy ball hurtle towards him.
He wanted to see what this thing was!
As for whether there would be any danger, that was completely outside his consideration. Although this energy was very advanced, he did not feel that it would pose a threat to him!
Not long after, the energy ball struck Xia Chen directly, and then white light began to spread, enveloping Xia Chen completely. It was like the aura emanating from a character after Reanimation Jutsu in a certain anime.
Xia Chen!
Seeing Xia Chen get hit directly by the energy ball Nami couldn't help but shout, but Zoro calmly said:
"Calm down! It's obvious that Xia Chen is up to something again. Otherwise, how could that strange energy ball possibly hit him at Xia Chen speed!"
Nami thought about it and agreed; with Xia Chen's strength, there was no way he would have any problems!
So everyone spontaneously moved a chair to the edge of the boat and sat down to wait for Xia Chen to come up with something.
At this moment, the short man burst into laughter after seeing Xia Chen being hit by his energy ball.
"Hahaha... Xia Chen the Sovereign!"
"Arrogance is your biggest flaw! With your strength, you could definitely dodge my energy ball, but because you're too confident in your abilities, you didn't take it seriously!"
"And this... will plunge you into an abyss of no return!"
"I'll remember that. The person who takes care of you is named Gar! Haha..."
"Oh? Tell me, how did you manage to put me in such a terrible predicament?"
After observing the energy for a while without finding anything unusual, Xia Chen couldn't help but turn his gaze to the man in front of him.
"Hahaha... Considering you're about to disappear from this era, I'll tell you!"
"I am Devil Fruit User ate the Time-Time Fruit, which allows me to send myself or others to different time dimensions!"
"So... you should understand now, right? You're about to disappear from this era, hahaha..."
"So that's how it is, the power of time? No wonder!"
Upon hearing this, Xia Chen's face showed a knowing expression. If it was the power of time, then it wouldn't be surprising that he felt it was very advanced.
After all, this involves rules!
In fact, Xia Chen often wondered why the power of time could appear in this world. Theoretically, such a power shouldn't exist in this world!
But none of that matters now; all he knows is... he's going to try time travel!
That's right! Xia Chen didn't intend to disperse this power. In fact, if he wanted to, he could have easily dealt with it using his Haki.
But since we have this opportunity, why resist?
Time travel, that's a really fun thing!
Xia Chen turned to look at Luffy and the others, and said loudly, "I might disappear for a while, but don't worry about me! I'll be back when the time is right!"
After saying that, Xia Chen's figure was enveloped in the white light and disappeared from everyone's sight.
(⊙o⊙)...
"Um??"
Everyone on the ship immediately stood up. Zoro's figure vanished from the ship in an instant, then reappeared next to Gar. Shusui was unsheathed and placed around Gar's neck at some point.
"Tell me, why did Xia Chen disappear?"
Although they had overheard Xia Chen and Gar's conversation, they were unfamiliar with the Time-Time Fruit and didn't know its specific abilities.
Judging from Xia Chen's expression, he clearly understood. Based on what Xia Chen had just said to them, it can be inferred that Xia Chen deliberately allowed himself to be sent away by this guy's ability.
They weren't worried about Xia Chen's safety; the problem was that they needed to find out exactly what had happened.
The sharp blade sliced through Gar's skin, and blood flowed down his neck.
"B-Big Brother! Can you put down the knife and talk to me first?"
Gar said tremblingly, not daring to move an inch.
They were terrified that if they moved even slightly, they would be beheaded.
"Speak quickly!" Zoro's hand trembled slightly, making the wound even larger and causing more blood to flow out.
I'll talk! I'll talk!
"I ate it..."
Gar revealed his Devil Fruit powers to everyone in detail.
After he finished speaking, he looked at Shusui on his neck again and said, "Big brother! Put it down first! Otherwise, I'm getting really anxious!"
Zoro slowly put down Shusui, stroking his chin in deep thought.
At this moment, the rest of the group also came over. Sanji looked at Gar and asked calmly:
"At what point in time was Xia Chen teleported? And why did you come to challenge Xia Chen?"
"I... I don't know! I used all my strength to teleport him to a point in the past, but I don't know exactly how many years ago!"
"As for why I challenged Xia Chen the Sovereign, it's because someone gave me 500 million Beli, allowing me to use my abilities to teleport Xia Chen to the past!"
"That person assured me that Xia Chen would not dodge or avoid being teleported by me and would not attack me, so I came. Otherwise, even if I really wanted Beli, I wouldn't dare to come looking for Xia Chen!"
"It's really because I'm drowning in debt, and my Vivre Card is still in their hands. If I don't come, I'll be the one who dies. I have no choice! Dear brothers and sisters!"
Gar knelt down with a thud, looking at the group with teary eyes and saying...
"Bang!"
A dull thud was heard as Gar's body was kicked away by Nami.
"Who are you calling 'big sister'?!"
Then the group remained silent for a long time.
Zoro spoke up, "Since Xia Chen was teleported away voluntarily, it proves he was confident he could return!"
"We don't need to worry about him, and we can't control him anyway! Let's stick to the original plan and move on to the next island!"
"Anyway, he'll definitely come looking for us when he gets back!"
Zoro's words caused everyone to fall silent once again.
After a while, Luffy also spoke up:
" Zoro is right! Xia Chen definitely has his own plans! And with his strength, it's unlikely anything will happen to him. Maybe one day he'll come back to us!"
With that, Luffy and walked towards the Thousand Sunny, leaping onto the ship. He raised his hands and shouted, "Let's go! Everyone!"
--
Meanwhile, on Xia Chen's side...