The bearded man straightened his slightly disheveled clothes, which had become messy from falling to the ground earlier, as he watched the scattered marines.
He then turned and walked towards Gu Yina and the others with a solemn expression.
He now had to ask these pirates for help.
This was because the town's ships were completely insufficient to accommodate all the island residents, and even the marine warships weren't enough.
Only by adding Kotaro's ships could they barely fit everyone.
Once they left the vicinity of Prometheus Island, they would be safe, even without provisions.
This was because Prometheus Island was only a day's sail from Loguetown.
Ahua and the other two, seeing the bearded man approaching them, displayed wary expressions.
With Kotaro not by their side, they felt a slight sense of insecurity.
"Hey! Marine, what are you doing over here?"
The bearded man ignored them, his gaze fixed seriously on Gu Yina. After a pause, his eyes gradually firmed.
He spoke to Gu Yina, his voice slightly stiff, "I know this request is a bit much, but only you all have the ability to help the town's villagers right now."
He paused, then with a "bang," knelt on the ground.
"Hey! There's no need to go this far!"
"Just say what you need!"
Ahua and the other two stared at the bearded man, their faces filled with surprise.
They couldn't comprehend what made this marine so fearful, or why he would stoop to kneeling before them, mere pirates.
The bearded man looked up at Gu Yina and pleaded loudly.
"Please, can you use your ships to transport the villagers away from this sea area."
"For the villagers?"
"This guy is truly a good marine!"
Ahua and the other two looked at the bearded man, unable to help but feel a hint of admiration.
Gu Yina quickly turned and helped the bearded man up.
She didn't immediately respond to the expectation in his eyes but instead asked.
"Do you know that golden figure?"
When Kotaro had shattered the meteor and didn't immediately return, but remained suspended in the air, she had sensed something was amiss.
The golden figure that appeared subsequently and could confront Kotaro must be an incredibly powerful individual.
Otherwise, Kotaro wouldn't be so serious, and this leading marine before them wouldn't be so terrified.
"I know him."
The bearded man recalled, and his face immediately showed a look of fear.
"This old guy is the legendary pirate from twenty years ago, 'Golden Lion' Shiki."
"He is the captain of the Flying Pirates, the fleet admiral of the Golden Lion Pirates, and a user of the Paramecia-type Devil Fruit, also known as 'The Flying Pirate.'"
"The Float-Float Fruit?"
Although the Golden Lion's string of titles was intimidating, Gu Yina was now most interested in the Golden Lion's devil fruit ability.
She looked at the bearded man and asked curiously, "Can you tell me what the Float-Float Fruit's abilities are?"
The bearded man quickly explained, "A user of the Float-Float Fruit, known as the 'Float Man,' can levitate themselves or objects in the air and fly. The Golden Lion can make anything he touches that isn't alive float in the air, including islands, and not just one island."
"Hey! Are you kidding me!"
Ahua leaned forward and asked in surprise, "You mean there are other islands up in the clouds?"
"Um... yes!"
Seeing the bearded man nod and give a positive answer, the three of them couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency.
"No wonder this guy is so terrified."
"Meeting a legendary pirate who throws islands around like toys, it's no wonder he's scared."
They hurriedly looked at Gu Yina.
Gu Yina had finally made up her mind.
She decided to leave this place first; staying here would only be a burden to Kotaro.
This kind of top-tier battle at sea was not something they could participate in.
In fact, even observing would require them to be a considerable distance away.
Seeing the villagers quickly gathering at the dock, they hurried to help usher them onto the ships.
Soon, all the villagers had boarded the ships.
With their sails hoisted, more than a dozen ships of various sizes, filled with villagers, along with marine warships, sailed rapidly towards Loguetown under the leadership of the Freedom and the marine warships. In the sky.
The Golden Lion had been smoking and smiling at Kotaro since he arrived.
His gaze on Kotaro was like a lion's, fixed on its prey.
Cold and merciless, mixed with a hint of curiosity, full of mockery and satisfaction.
He paid no attention to the villagers and marines evacuating the small island below.
In his eyes, the weak didn't even qualify for him to look at them.
Seeing that the Golden Lion didn't attack immediately, Kotaro was happy to take the opportunity to recover his strength.
After a while.
Feeling Kotaro's aura had recovered, the Golden Lion laughed loudly.
"Jajajaja...!"
"Silver-haired kid, how about joining my pirate crew?"
He had seen Kotaro's bounty poster in the latest newspaper that morning and felt it was almost fate.
As the "iq" drug continued to succeed, he could feel that the time for his comeback was drawing near.
Therefore, he had been drifting across the four seas lately, looking for pirates with potential and ambition to join his newly formed Golden Lion Pirates.
And he had happened to be drifting over the East Blue, only to find that the East Blue actually had a powerful great swordsman who had just set sail.
Moreover, this kid was still so young, and on his first voyage, he had already earned an incredibly high bounty of 70 million Berries.
Looking at Kotaro's young face on the bounty poster, it reminded him of that guy named Silvers Rayleigh on Roger's ship.
Both from the East Blue, both great swordsmen, and that guy was the first person Roger invited to join his crew, eventually being known as the "Right Hand of the Pirate King."
It made him start to believe that perhaps fate was guiding Kotaro to help him achieve his ambitions.
If he could get this silver-haired kid to join his pirate crew, it would be akin to Roger having Rayleigh.
He needed the other's strength, needed him to help him achieve his ambition of conquering the world.
So, after discovering that Kotaro's route was not too far from them, he had rushed over at his fastest speed.
And casually dropped an island as a test for Kotaro.
If he couldn't even withstand the island he casually dropped, then Kotaro wouldn't be qualified to receive his invitation and become his true comrade.
However, one thing he hadn't expected was that Kotaro would accept his test by directly shattering the entire island.
It was easy for a great swordsman to split his island, but to shatter it, that was no ordinary great swordsman.
And observing Kotaro's ability to stand freely in the air, it was not difficult to guess that Kotaro might also be a devil fruit user with aerial abilities.
This was exactly what suited his taste as a Flying Pirate.
He was the man who claimed he would rule the sea from the sky!