If someone could fly twelve thousand feet in the air like the Golden Lion, they would surely see this scene.
The fog in the Bermuda Triangle was like a "cake."
Divided in two with a clearing in the center as the point!
The two parts of the fog slowly drifted apart.
It should have been an astonishing force capable of dispersing any heavy fog, but for some reason, the two parts of the fog that drifted apart only created an opening; they did not completely dissipate.
It seemed as if… a power existed somewhere, unwilling to let the "entirety" of the Bermuda Triangle appear on this sea.
Such a scene naturally appeared incredibly strange and piqued much curiosity.
…Unfortunately, no one could see this scene from a third-person perspective.
An ancient proverb circulated in the East Blue: You can't see the whole palace because you are inside it.
It was the same at this moment.
The two men who had created this scene had already fallen back into the dense fog and had not noticed the abnormal "power" that influenced it.
After that clash, both the Golden Lion and Rowan were knocked back by each other's strength.
Their figures flew backward simultaneously, heading towards their respective ships.
Swish!
Thump!
The Golden Lion, wielding his twin swords and using his Float-Float Fruit ability to negate most of the force, hovered steadily on the deck of the Flying Pirates' ship.
"Tch, let's go again, again!"
The Golden Lion was clearly displeased with the "draw" just now.
He was, after all, a renowned great swordsman at sea; how could he be willing to draw with someone in swordsmanship?
…
On Rowan's side, however.
His figure descended from the sky, emitting countless grains of sand.
Those grains of sand first connected to the Four Seas Alliance's ship, and then the so-called "ropes" used for cushioning forcibly held Rowan's body.
At the same time, Rowan elementalized his body, once again dissipating some of the impact force, and finally his feet landed back on the deck of the Four Seas Alliance's ship.
"Hiss… Huff…"
Another clear and standard breath.
Rowan, with his upper body bare, twisted his shoulders and looked around, seemingly searching for something.
"Oh, found it."
Rowan lightly beckoned, and countless grains of sand spread out, seemingly retrieving something from the wreckage of the floating islands on the distant sea surface.
When those things drew closer, everyone realized that they were Rowan's usual golden light armor.
"Not bad."
Rowan put on the light armor piece by piece, releasing his unarmored state and returning to his usual elegant and natural posture.
Seeing this, everyone was naturally very puzzled.
Because the fog had been torn apart, they could see the situation on the Flying Pirates' ship not far away.
Neither the Golden Lion nor Rowan had determined a winner; strictly speaking, they didn't even have "strength left for one more fight," but rather had plenty of leeway!
Everyone had no doubt that even the clash that had torn through the fog of the Bermuda Triangle could be repeated several times or even more!
The outcome was undecided!
But Rowan had actually put on armor now, was it because that "state" couldn't be maintained?
No, no, no…
How could there be such a move in the world that decided whether a state was activated or not by "putting on armor"? That was simply unreasonable!
If so, then Rowan had judged that the unarmored state was no longer necessary?
Most Fish-Men had straightforward personalities, especially Hocka and Tiger.
"Mr. Rowan, do you want us to intervene?" Hocka asked in a deep voice.
Hocka's judgment was indeed not wrong, because at this moment, the Golden Lion's attention was entirely on Rowan, and the Flying Pirates' ship had rarely fallen into the sea.
Humans naturally had a disadvantage in naval warfare compared to Fish-Men.
Coupled with naval warfare experts like Hocka and Tiger, Hocka could guarantee that as long as Rowan gave the order, the Flying Pirates' ship would suffer heavy damage under the fierce assault of the Fish-Men!
But Rowan smiled and shook his head.
"No, there's no need."
Then, Rowan waved his hand, signaling the helmsman Fish-Man Jinbe, "Let's go, we're heading back!"
As soon as he said this, everyone was stunned for a moment.
Then, they tilted their heads, with question marks appearing above them.
"...What?"
Heading… heading back?!
Everyone couldn't believe their ears.
They had fought a world-shattering battle with the legendary pirate [Golden Lion] Shiki, and the power of their clash had even torn through the most iconic fog of the Bermuda Triangle.
The outcome was undecided, and they even had a clear advantage; why were they running?
Everyone simply didn't understand Rowan's decision.
—Except for one person.
[Sand Crocodile] Crocodile.
To be honest, Crocodile was a highly adaptable person. He was good at analyzing others' thoughts, whether they were enemies or allies.
Of course, Crocodile couldn't analyze Ryan Rowan's thoughts, as that mindset from eight hundred years ago was too strange.
However, when guessing Rowan's intentions, Crocodile had a good "principle"—
Always deny your first thought.
Then, remember what kind of person Ryan Rowan was.
What kind of person was Ryan Rowan?
There were many answers, including one point:
For Ryan Rowan, the "purpose" of every action was very clear.
So, what was the purpose of the Four Seas Alliance's action this time?
The answer was, of course, very simple.
It was to snatch the owner of the Pluton blueprints from the Flying Pirates—Fish-Man Tom!
Could it be…
Crocodile suddenly thought of something and began to pay attention to his surroundings.
And when he looked behind him, his pupils suddenly contracted.
At that moment, witnessing Rowan's battle with the Golden Lion, Crocodile had a similar feeling in his heart as the Golden Lion—
What a mix of calm and madness, that old fellow…
…
The lookout of the Flying Pirates shouted loudly.
"Captain, they seem to be turning around to leave!"
"What?!"
The Golden Lion, who was about to fight Rowan again, was stunned by the news, his eyes widening. "What did you say?"
Before the lookout could answer, the Golden Lion saw the Four Seas Alliance's ship unfurl its sails and head back at full speed!
"Wait… wait, wait!"
The Golden Lion had no idea what was happening.
And in the next second, the Golden Lion suddenly thought of something and shouted, "Where's Tom? Where is that Fish-Man!"
"Still here, Captain!"
The lookout responsible for monitoring Robin and Tom replied.
The Golden Lion turned his head and saw that Tom and Nico Robin were indeed at the stern, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Scared me to death; I thought they had secretly kidnapped that Fish-Man while I wasn't looking…
Wait!
The Golden Lion suddenly noticed a small shadow float past his eyes.
Sand?
Not good!
The Golden Lion suddenly rushed to Tom's side, reached out his hand, and pulled out a large handful of sand from Tom's soft belly.
Instantly, bloodshot veins filled the Golden Lion's eyes, and his pupils turned to look at Nico Robin beside him.
She had been talking with "Tom" the whole time, so she couldn't have missed the strangeness, unless…
The Golden Lion swung his blade and cut off half of "Nico Robin's" body.
As expected, like "Tom," it was all sand!
Because they were in the dense fog and during such a spectacular battle, the lookouts responsible for monitoring the two had not noticed their strangeness!
More importantly, the details of "them" were too perfect. Just by looking at them, apart from the difference in skin color, no other differences could be found.
Even a single strand of hair was identical!
"Tom" and "Robin" seemed to realize they had been discovered and waved goodbye to the Golden Lion with a smile.
Then, they turned into two pools of sand and drifted into the sea.
At that moment, the Golden Lion's roar could almost be heard throughout the entire Bermuda Triangle.
"RYAN—ROWAN!"
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