Rewind a few seconds.
Roa's wings flapped behind him, accelerating his descent, his ears filled with the whistling wind. His sharp eyes focused on Roger on the ground below. Because of his excellent vision, he clearly saw the surprise on Roger's face.
Heh heh, it's time for the T0 version to show its might!
"Roger! Foresee the future!" Roa laughed aloud.
Roger froze, then instinctively, red light flickered in his eyes. His expression became somewhat dazed. In the blink of an eye, this daze transformed into wild ecstasy.
"Then, let's end this war!" Blood-red lightning surged around the blade in Roa's hand.
"Come on! Youngster!" Roger shouted, laughing.
The next instant, Roa landed, slashing his blade across Roger's chest. This man, possibly the strongest pirate in the world, was directly sent flying by a single strike, blood spraying.
"What?"
In the distance, Rayleigh and Gaban, who were chasing and beating Golden Lion while keeping an eye on the battle, changed their expressions.
"Hey, what the hell is Roger doing?!" Gaban cursed, gritting his teeth. They, combining their full strength, couldn't do anything to Roger, yet now he was sent flying by a single strike from that brat!
Without any hesitation, both of them immediately abandoned Golden Lion and turned towards Roger's direction. It wasn't just them two who were startled; Buggy, secretly observing from a distance, instantly clutched his head and screamed, "Captain!!" Shanks, who had always been more mature and steady than his good brother, couldn't help but grip his sword tightly.
Captain!
However, they were clearly overly worried. Because soon, Roger was already running back, clutching his wound. There was a deep, slanted gash on his chest, blood still flowing. But Roger didn't care at all. He was just incredibly excited, yet forced himself to lower his voice and quietly asked, "Youngster, you didn't lie to me, did you?"
Looking at Roger's wound, Roa couldn't help but sigh. Roger hadn't even resisted, only using basic Haki defense, yet a full-powered strike only left him with such an injury? He was still quite far from truly top-tier powerhouses.
Sighing aside, Roa conspiratorially whispered, "Ohara is the holy land of history. If anyone on the sea can decipher the Poneglyphs, it can only be them, right?"
"Right, right, right! You're absolutely right!!" Roger nodded repeatedly, his face full of excitement. "Why didn't I think of that sooner! So, my ship is missing a historian!"
Go, Roger, go to Ohara. Roa nodded in satisfaction.
Then, wait two more years. Once you're diagnosed with a terminal illness, I can give you the rubbing of that stone tablet and let you become the Pirate King.
Hmm, if a historian from Ohara really did join the Roger Pirates, perhaps Ohara would receive a Buster Call even earlier.
"Roa! What did you do?" Kaido slammed down beside Roa. He looked at Roa, then at the wound on Roger's chest, then turned back to Roa in disbelief. "How did you do it?"
When he attacked Roger just now, he was sent flying by a rare Divine Thunder! Why was it Roger who was hit when it came to Roa?
Roa's face was inscrutable. "Because the wind, the wind of fate has blown. I merely rode upon it."
"Huh?" Kaido looked bewildered. What was this brat saying?
Meanwhile.
"Roger! Are you alright?" Rayleigh and Gaban arrived together. Both breathed a sigh of relief seeing Roger still lively and jumping.
It's good that he's fine— "I can't take it anymore!" Roger suddenly clutched his wound, saying in pain, "I'm severely wounded, let's retreat first!"
"What are you playing at?" Gaban's forehead twitched with a bulging vein. "Did that demon strike you silly? We're about to win!"
Where was he severely wounded? In a few more minutes, the wound would stop bleeding on its own.
"Anyway, if I don't get treatment soon, I'll die!" Roger shouted with full vigor. "The battle ends here! It's time to leave, fellas!" He suppressed his excitement, working hard to display a pained expression. "Rayleigh, Gaban, quickly inform everyone, we're setting sail!"
Truth be told, Roger was trying very hard to act, but acting is something that requires talent.
His acting feels inferior to Brother Kun's.
Rayleigh instinctively looked at Roa. He was 100% certain Roa was behind this. What exactly did this brat say to Roger? But, since this was Roger's decision.
"Alright," Rayleigh nodded. "But you'll have to convince this guy first."
"? Roger! Where do you think you're going?!"
Just then, Golden Lion descended from the sky, his voice filled with resentment.
Roa merely looked up at him and couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh, Uncle Shiki, you're quite fashionable."
Golden Lion was in a sorry state. His clothes were full of tears, and he had several wounds. He looked like he'd been thoroughly beaten. But at least there were no major injuries.
"Don't get in the way! Shiki!" Roger, who was feigning weakness with his chest clutched a second ago, instantly turned fierce, haki lightning sparking around him. "I have something extremely urgent to do—"
As if remembering something, Roger coughed twice. "If I hadn't been wounded by Roa, I definitely wouldn't let you off—cough, cough."
Golden Lion's gaze seemed to solidify. He looked at Roger in confusion, then abruptly turned to Roa, his eyes spitting fire. What did you do to Roger?
Roa also coughed. "Let's end it here, Uncle Shiki. There's no point in fighting any longer."
This was already considered bragging. If they kept fighting, they would only lose.
"What a joke! How could it end here?!" Golden Lion roared in anger. "I didn't commission you brat to come here to retreat!"
"Enough, Uncle Shiki," Roa sighed faintly. "Roger has already given enough face. Isn't a mutually damaging situation good enough now? If you don't know when to quit, it'll get ugly."
"Exactly!" Roger also agreed. "I'm already injured, Shiki, you bastard, don't push your luck!"
Golden Lion's forehead twitched with bulging veins. These two bastards, what do they take him for?!
"Hmph, in the end," Kaido snorted, crossing his arms, "wasn't it you who dragged us down when we were fiercely fighting Roger? If you could have dealt with Rayleigh and Gaban, why would it be like this?"
If it wasn't for this bastard Golden Lion being unable to hold off Rayleigh and Gaban, they could have had fun for a while longer! Though, of course, they still wouldn't have beaten Roger.
"—You guys!!" Golden Lion's eyes widened, his facial muscles twitching. Clearly, his Dao Heart was shattered.
This was outrageous! I called you two bastards here just to hold off Rayleigh and Gaban! And now you've not only stolen my opponent but are also pinning the blame on me?
"Alright, it's fine, Uncle Shiki, we'll come again next time," Roa couldn't bear to let the man who saw him as a disciple truly have his Dao Heart shattered. He spoke soothingly, "When I become strong enough to rival you and Roger, you find me another Mythical Zoan, and we'll come again. If it doesn't work next time, we can try a few more times. You just prepare a few more fruits."
"Hey, don't come again!" Roger grumbled. "I said I'm busy!"
Rayleigh shook his head helplessly. Although he didn't know what agreement Roa and Roger had reached, it was clear that Roger was honoring the agreement and didn't want to continue fighting.
"Then let's end it here, Roger, Gaban, go treat the injured."
"How disappointing!" Gaban snorted in displeasure, but since both the captain and vice-captain said so.
"Wahahahahaha! Setting sail!" Roger laughed heartily. He even specifically turned back and winked at Roa, as if to say, See? I'm good to my word.
Roa subtly gave him a thumbs up. Roa is so respected today.
"What exactly did you say to Roger?" Kaido asked Roa curiously, watching Roger and his two crewmates depart without hesitation.
Roa's face was straight and serious. "I asked Roger to give me some face and let me cut him once."
Kaido sneered.
"Bastard!!" Golden Lion trembled with rage.
But no matter how unwilling he was, with Roa and Kaido now slacking off, the battle was over.
"You should look for the reasons within yourself, Uncle Shiki. Ask yourself if you weren't trying hard enough." Roa flew over and patted Golden Lion's shoulder. "If you put in two hundred times the effort of an ordinary person, maybe you would have won today."
Regardless, Golden Lion's long-planned hunt ultimately ended in failure. Roa and Kaido ascended first, followed by Bullet and the others who had been covering Roa from above. The gloomy Golden Lion went to gather his badly beaten subordinates, then reluctantly flew into the sky. Along the way, he kept his eyes fixed on the large ship rapidly sailing away on the sea.
"Roger!!"
On the large pirate ship, now gradually moving away from the isolated island, Buggy nervously peered through a telescope at the sky.
"It's alright, Buggy. They won't catch up." Beside him, Shanks comforted him. "You're too timid."
"Who's timid?! The Captain's even injured!" Buggy yelled angrily. "What if the enemy takes advantage of this and ambushes us?"
Shanks chuckled, a kind of "how cute" smile.
That wound on the Captain's chest, does that even count as an injury?
"Wahahahahaha! Next, lads, to the West Blue!" On the deck not far away, a vigorous Roger laughed loudly.
The wound on his chest? Where was the wound? What's a mere scratch?
"So, Roger," Rayleigh finally asked the question he cared about most, "what did that brat tell you?"
"What did he say?" Roger's smile was radiant. He recalled what Roa said in the foreseen future: "Do you know Ohara?"
"The archaeological holy land in the West Blue?" Rayleigh immediately asked back.
"I've heard of it too. Are we going there, Roger?" Gaban chuckled, "Will the archeologist beauties be surprisingly attractive?"
"That doesn't matter," Roger looked at Gaban with a hint of disdain, then smiled excitedly. "Roa told me that the archaeologists of Ohara have been researching the Poneglyphs, and they probably have the ability to decipher ancient texts!"
"What?!" Rayleigh and Gaban's expressions instantly changed dramatically.
"Wahahahahaha, don't you think that kind of information is worth him cutting me once?" Roger laughed heartily.
"Is it real or fake? You weren't tricked, Roger, were you?" Gaban still looked incredulous. "Could it just be that brat making things up to get away?"
"They can both fly. If they wanted to escape, we couldn't stop them." Rayleigh, however, was very rational. "Moreover, when I fought him before, he said he looked forward to the moment you find the Great Treasure!"
"Oh! Could he be my fan?" Roger put his hands on his hips, somewhat smugly. "So my charm is that great!"
"More likely," Rayleigh pushed up his glasses, "that kid is plotting something."
"Haha, maybe." Roger scratched the back of his head. He possessed an ability called 'hearing the voice of all things,' which gave him a keen intuition. It was this intuition that made him believe Roa wasn't lying at that moment, and it was this intuition that made him feel Roa had a strong expectation of him.
"Anyway, let's go check out Ohara first!" Roger waved his hand spiritedly. "Roger Pirates, set sail!"
"Oh!!"
Splitting the narrative, back to the other side.
After returning to the floating island in the sky, the atmosphere became extremely oppressive. Golden Lion's face was gloomy, he said nothing, his eyes dark as he looked at the three cadres before him.
"Sorry, Admiral, we were... too useless—" Crusher Hyde was relatively fine. Thanks to his abilities, his injuries were mostly recovered, and he could apologetically lower his head and speak. The other two were in worse shape, covered in deep wounds, still unconscious on the ground.
"Good that you know your mistake!" Roa said regretfully, "If you could have held off Rayleigh for just one more minute, my plan would have succeeded! If only we could have captured Roger's subordinates, none of this would have happened! But seeing as you're so badly injured, I'll punish you with three cups of wine."
Golden Lion glared fiercely back at Roa. "Brat, shouldn't you give me an explanation?"
"I should be the one saying that! I was tricked!" Roa sighed. "Why did you lie to us, Uncle Shiki? You said if we could hold off Rayleigh and Gaban, you could handle Roger. But you didn't handle him at all, did you? I'm not asking for an explanation from you, but at least you should thank me. Now you can at least go out and say you had a mutually destructive fight with Roger. Otherwise, how embarrassing would it be to be beaten so badly by Roger and his crew that you had to scramble away with your heads clutched?"
"He just doesn't know his own limits." Kaido sat beside them, sneering somewhat mockingly. You, trying to handle Roger? You'll have to wait until me and Roa do it!
"Don't talk nonsense! If you two hadn't interfered, I would have already killed Roger!" Shiki roared in fury, truly feeling underestimated.
Roa paused, then spoke with a hint of pity, "Uncle Shiki, you can lie to me, but don't lie to yourself. Could you really have won? If you could win, would you be angry yet still follow us away?"
Shiki's anger froze on his face. Could he have dealt with Roger? Could he truly have killed Roger as he claimed? He couldn't find an answer to that question. The arrogant lion was, for once, somewhat dejected.
"Ultimately, it's just that you're too arrogant, Uncle Shiki, you underestimated the Roger Pirates too much," Roa flew over and patted Shiki's shoulder again. "But this defeat isn't necessarily a bad thing. It can definitely be used for next time!"
"Next time, we'll wait until I become stronger, or we find a few more powerful helpers. How about Whitebeard or Auntie Linlin?" He spoke casually, knowing Whitebeard and Auntie Linlin would never help. "If they can't, there's still Garp and the others. If all else fails, aren't there still many other masters in the New World? That guy Red is pretty strong."
"Hmm?" Golden Lion paused. "You said, Red?"
"Huh?"