Xia Chen's gaze turned cold, and he vanished on the spot.
The next second, everyone saw nothing but a dark blur flash past them, followed by a thunderous crash against the rock wall beside Twin Cape.
Everyone immediately turned around, only to see Xia Chen standing there motionlessly.
Nami couldn't help asking curiously, "Xia Chen, what was that dark blur just now?"
"Oh, that was Luffy!"
With that, Xia Chen vanished on the spot and sped toward Luffy.
Xia Chen stood quietly before the pile of rubble, looking ahead.
Before long, a sound came from the rubble. Luffy slowly climbed out and looked at Xia Chen, asking angrily, "Xia Chen, what are you doing?"
"What am I doing? I want to beat you up!"
With that, Xia Chen appeared in front of Luffy, coated his hands in Armament Haki, and gave him a beating.
Luffy was angry at being beaten for no apparent reason, too. He kept shouting and attacking Xia Chen, but the gap in their strength was simply too great. His attacks had absolutely no effect, and he could only take the beating.
A while later, the Going Merry pulled up to shore, and Zoro and Sanji hurried over to hold Xia Chen back.
"Xia Chen, stop! You'll beat Luffy to death if you keep going!"
Luffy was a complete wreck, covered in wounds. Xia Chen had beaten him until he had coughed up who knew how many mouthfuls of blood, leaving him utterly miserable.
Zoro watched Xia Chen gravely. He could tell Xia Chen was truly angry this time; otherwise, he wouldn't actually have hit so hard.
But he was also a little curious about what exactly Luffy had done to anger the usually good-tempered Xia Chen.
"Phew..."
Xia Chen let out a deep breath and slowly walked up to Luffy, who lay on the ground. Luffy was glaring fixedly at him, too.
"What were you about to do?" Xia Chen asked flatly, his voice carrying a chilling coldness.
"I wanted to go..."
"You wanted to fight Laboon, then use that to make a new promise with him so he'd stop ramming the Red Line."
"Huh?" Now Luffy was a little confused. Why did Xia Chen know what he wanted to do?
Since he knew what Luffy wanted to do, why had he stopped him? And even beaten him up!
"I have no objection to you fighting Laboon, but..."
"If I hadn't stopped you just now, you were going to tear out the Merry's mainmast, weren't you?"
At this point, the chill in Xia Chen's voice grew even more pronounced. He fixed his eyes on Luffy and roared angrily:
"Monkey D. Luffy, just what do you take our ship, the Going Merry, for?!"
Xia Chen's roar left everyone around him frozen in place. No one even dared to breathe loudly.
Xia Chen was terrifying right now. This was the first time they had ever seen him like this.
"Does the Merry not count as our crewmate in your eyes? If you want to fight, use your own fists! Why would you pull out the Merry's mainmast?"
Honestly, Xia Chen really couldn't stand this side of Luffy, which was why he hadn't been able to hold back from beating him up. He was the captain, yet he showed no care for the ship whatsoever.
It could even be said that much of the damage to the Merry had been caused by Luffy.
"!!!"
After hearing Xia Chen's words, Luffy froze. His anger vanished in an instant, and he kept replaying what Xia Chen had just said in his mind.
A while later, Luffy slowly stood up and looked at Xia Chen seriously. "Thank you, Xia Chen. You're right. The Merry is our crewmate. I should take care of it, not damage it!"
Xia Chen nodded. Luffy's willingness to correct his mistakes once he recognized them was a very good trait.
"Then what are you standing around for? Go make a promise with Laboon!"
"Oh, okay!"
With that, Luffy ran toward Laboon.
Although Luffy had looked quite miserable while Xia Chen was beating him, his injuries weren't actually serious and didn't affect his strength much.
Then Xia Chen turned back to the others.
"All right, let's watch from the sidelines. Sanji, sorry for the trouble, but go make something delicious. Nami wants some!"
"Miss Nami, is that true? Are you hungry?" Sanji immediately ran over to Nami and asked eagerly.
"Uh... yes!" Nami was taken aback at first, then nodded.
After that, two different scenes unfolded on Luffy's side and Xia Chen's side.
Luffy fought Laboon over there, while everyone else enjoyed delicious food and chatted over here, occasionally commenting on Luffy's battle.
Some time later...
Luffy and Laboon's fight finally stopped, but according to Luffy, their battle wasn't over. They made a promise to continue it once he had sailed all the way around the Grand Line.
"Hey! You guys are so unfair, sneaking food behind my back!" Luffy, who had just finished fighting not long ago, couldn't help complaining when he came over and saw what everyone was doing.
"Huh? Which eye of yours saw us sneaking food? Aren't we sitting right here eating out in the open?" Xia Chen asked in confusion.
"Hmm..." Luffy thought it over with his not-so-bright brain, then said, "That sounds like it makes a lot of sense!"
With that, Luffy ran over, too, grabbed some food, and stuffed it into his mouth.
First he had taken a beating from Xia Chen, then he had fought Laboon. Now he was practically starving to death!
During the meal, Crocus looked at Luffy and asked, "Straw Hat Boy, can you keep your promise to Laboon? Will you end up like that pirate crew from before?"
"No!" Luffy said firmly. Then he smiled and added something else.
"Unless I die!"
"I see..." Crocus pondered where he sat.
Just then, Xia Chen, who was sitting nearby, took a sip of coffee and said flatly, "Old man, it's not actually that the Rumbar Pirates didn't keep their promise. It's because... they're all dead!"
"How do you know that pirate crew's name?" Crocus was surprised once again.
"I told you before, I know a teeny-tiny billion bits more than most, so isn't it perfectly normal for me to know that pirate crew was called the Rumbar Pirates?"
"Hmm... when you put it that way, it really is very... normal, my ass!"
Crocus stared at Xia Chen with wide eyes. He even stood up and circled him several times. To him, Xia Chen now seemed to radiate mystery from head to toe.
He clearly looked like nothing more than a little brat, yet he knew so much.
Xia Chen slowly took another sip of coffee.
"Calm down, old man. Stop walking. You're making me dizzy, circling me like that!"
"Mm..." Crocus sat back down. He stopped dwelling on why Xia Chen knew so much and instead followed up on the previous topic. "Why did you say they're all dead?"
"Because..."