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Chapter 40
When Vilin woke up, he found Olvia gazing at him shyly.
Looking at her blushing, bashful face, Vilin's body immediately reacted.
So he pulled Olvia into another round of "morning exercise."
One day later, Vilin finally got dressed.
With a refreshed, satisfied expression, he stored all the treasure from the vault inside his body.
Then he supported the somewhat weakened Olvia as they left the place.
Alabasta Kingdom, Yuba.
This was the largest trading hub in western Alabasta and the kingdom's premier hot spring island.
Out in the desert wilderness,
a luxuriously dressed young girl with long wavy blue hair was being pursued by several pirates.
Worry filled her eyes.
All her guards had been killed by the pirates.
Fortunately, she had sent a distress signal earlier.
Royal troops were already rushing to her location.
But her expression remained anxious.
One pirate was about to catch up.
Just as she fell into crisis,
suddenly she saw a handsome, heroic young man riding a camel toward her,
his arm wrapped around a woman with long white shoulder-length hair.
Soon she watched in shock as
the young man casually drew the long sword at his waist.
The blade sliced through the air.
Whoosh!
A green sword beam shot out from the sword,
flying straight toward the pirates.
Accompanied by more than ten muffled grunts,
the blue-haired girl watched in amazement as the pirates were sliced clean in half.
Her beautiful eyes looking at Vilin were now filled with wonder.
"Hehe, miss, are you alright?"
While the girl was dazed,
Vilin rode the camel right up to her.
When the blue-haired girl saw Vilin's warm, spring-breeze-like smile up close,
she couldn't help being captivated by his looks.
"Hello! My name is Nefertari Vivi."
"Thank you for saving me. May I treat you to a meal?"
Nefertari Vivi looked at Vilin's face so close to hers.
A faint blush spread across her pretty cheeks; her heart began pounding like a little deer.
Vivi's gem-like blue eyes were now looking at both Vilin and Olvia.
At that moment,
a cloud of yellow sand rose in the distance.
As the sand drew closer,
Vilin saw a squad of soldiers riding Super Karoo ducks approaching.
The leading officer saw that Nefertari Vivi was safe and finally relaxed.
He dismounted, saluted Vivi, then looked warily at Vilin and Olvia.
"Miss Vivi, thank you for your kindness."
"But I have urgent matters to attend to, so I must excuse myself. Until we meet again!"
With that, Vilin prepared to ride the camel away.
Seeing Vilin about to leave,
Vivi panicked and quickly shouted:
"Can you tell me your name?"
"Hehe, I'm Aitrias Vilin. See you if fate allows."
Vilin gave one last look at the girl who resembled Princess Vivi so closely.
Then he rode the camel off into the distance.
Watching Vilin's dashing, unrestrained figure disappear into the desert horizon,
Vivi's eyes filled with loss.
But she quickly adjusted her mood and murmured:
"Aitrias Vilin, huh?"
"This lady remembers you now. If you don't come find me later…"
"Then I'll go find you."
With that, Vivi couldn't help but break into a beautiful smile.
She giggled with a series of delighted laughs.
Nanohana was Alabasta's perfume-producing port city.
Inside a comfortable hotel,
after enjoying a hot bath to wash away all the desert dust,
Vilin headed toward the hotel lobby.
Reaching the lobby,
Vilin saw Rouge looking at him gently.
"Hahahaha! I missed you so much!"
Seeing Rouge so gentle, Vilin couldn't help laughing heartily.
He pulled her into his arms.
Looking at her shy expression, Vilin couldn't resist planting a kiss on her cheek.
Rouge giggled from his teasing.
Annie, standing to the side, pouted cutely, feeling neglected by her "big brother."
Seeing Annie jealous,
Vilin gave her a kiss on the cheek too.
Only after seeing her smile did Vilin lead all four women to sit on the soft sofa.
He took out several of the most beautiful gems and pieces of jewelry he had found and placed them in front of Rouge, Annie, Olvia, and Lilith.
The moment Vilin revealed the gems,
the four women's beautiful eyes were instantly drawn to the shimmering treasures.
Especially Annie.
She immediately put on a lovely necklace around her snow-white neck.
Seeing so many beautiful ornaments,
the women happily began choosing.
Soon, under their eager division, all the precious gems and jewelry entered their possession.
While the four women were immersed in joyful chatter,
Vilin's expression suddenly changed.
Through information from the plants,
he discovered a Navy warship heading toward Alabasta's port.
The warship's figurehead was shaped like a dog's head.
This was Garp's warship.
Seeing Garp approaching, Vilin's face instantly became serious.
He pulled out a Den Den Mushi and called Aurora.
Bru bru bru~
The call was quickly answered.
"Lord Vilin, is something the matter?"
Hearing Aurora's slightly seductive voice,
Vilin inwardly cursed little vixen before speaking seriously:
"Aurora, tell Aelria to get the Flying Bird out of the port immediately. Navy is coming."
"Gather all the crew and board the ship—retreat first."
"I'll buy you some time."
Hearing that the Navy was coming, Aurora immediately became serious.
"Understood, Captain."
After hanging up, Vilin breathed a sigh of relief.
"Annie, take Rouge and the others to the west pier to meet up with Aurora and the crew. I'll join you soon."
Seeing Vilin's grave expression,
Annie obediently took Rouge and the others toward the west pier to wait for the Flying Bird.
After watching them leave, Vilin headed toward the east pier.
He intended to intercept Garp and buy time for his crew's escape.
Nanohana Port, East Pier.
A dog-headed warship slowly pulled up to the dock.
When nearby pirate crews saw this distinctive Navy vessel,
they immediately panicked.
In an instant, every pirate rushed back to their ships and fled into the open sea.
No reason needed.
Everyone knew—that was Mad Dog Garp's warship.
Standing at the bow of his ship, Garp watched the scene and burst into loud laughter.
"Hahahahaha! I'll let you lot off this time!"
At that moment, Bogard ran over anxiously.
He reported to Garp:
"Vice Admiral Garp, we just received new intelligence."
"Right now, the Aitrias Pirates' ship has already left the port and is heading toward the west pier."
Bogard looked extremely urgent.
Everyone knew the Navy had sailed for nearly two months just to capture Vilin and reach Alabasta.
If Vilin escaped again, this entire chase would have been for nothing.
Hearing that Vilin's ship had fled, Garp grew anxious too.
Just as Garp turned to head toward the west pier,
he noticed on the east pier
a tall, heroic young man standing proudly.
His sharp eyes were fixed on their warship.
Flames seemed to burn within his gaze.
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