Chapter 404: The Pirate King Goes to the Dragon Ball World to Participate in a Martial Arts Tournament?

After accepting the thanks from the three brothers—Ace and the others—Lin Xuan looked at Luffy, suddenly had a thought, and asked a question: "Straw Hat kid, you've already entered the Grand Line, haven't you? How many companions have you found so far?"

"Of course!"

The moment Luffy talked about his pirate crew, he instantly grew proud and said: "Our pirate crew now has five companions in total, and they're all really interesting guys!"

That one sentence revealed this fellow's basic principle for choosing companions—interesting!

And in fact, according to the original plot, he did indeed end up gathering a bunch of strange and bizarre fellows as companions in the end.

Of course, none of this mattered to Lin Xuan. What mattered was that, based on what Luffy had said—currently they were five people—he could roughly guess the current locations of their companions, as well as the current point in the timeline.

However, because of the butterfly effect he had brought about, just how much the Straw Hat Pirates' voyage would change from here on out, Lin Xuan had no way of knowing either.

Afterwards, Lin Xuan directly drove them off, telling them to attend the banquet on their own, while he himself was going to properly enjoy the delicious food.

As it turned out, just as Ace was leaving with Staff Sabo and Luffy, they happened to run into Luo Jie and Lei Li, who had also come looking for Lin Xuan~.

He merely gave a cold snort, turned his head, and walked off, completely ignoring Luo Jie.

Luffy, on the other hand, the moment he saw Luo Jie, got so worked up that he wanted to challenge this former Pirate King and take his title, but ended up getting his head bashed hard by Ace—and was dragged straight away.

Clearly, the rift between father and son had not yet been resolved for the time being.

Luo Jie didn't take it to heart either, and casually sat down beside Lin Xuan on his own.

Lin Xuan glanced at him and said: "You don't seem to be in any hurry at all?"

"There's nothing to be in a hurry about! After all, I really did let him down. Whether he forgives me or not doesn't matter—as long as he's doing well, that's enough. Hahahaha…" Luo Jie said loudly, looking very open-minded and carefree.

It was unclear whether he was just always thick-skinned, or doing it on purpose, but his words actually reached the ears of Ace, who had already walked far away, causing Ace's figure to pause for a moment, before he resumed his steps.

As for Lin Xuan, he noticed that Luo Jie, despite clearly being a dead man, had actually learned from others to hold a wine cup, and while talking, was taking big gulp after big gulp of wine.

As a result, the wine simply seeped straight through his Edo Tensei body and spilled all over the ground—utterly wasteful!

However, upon remembering that this wine had been provided by Shanks' pirate crew, Lin Xuan naturally couldn't say much about it.

Lin Xuan simply asked: "Did you need something?"

Luo Jie scratched his head and said: "First, I want to thank you for giving me the chance to save my son this time. Second, I want to ask you a favor!"

"What is it?" Lin Xuan asked.

The normally brash Luo Jie actually put on a shy look and said: "I want to ask you, could you let me see Rouge one more time?"

"I thought it was something serious!"

Lin Xuan had originally wanted to wave his hand and say directly: "Such a small thing, don't bother me with it. Just go find Orochimaru directly—as long as he's willing to help you, your wish will naturally be granted!"

After all, using Edo Tensei on natives of the One Piece World didn't require Lin Xuan to do it personally; Orochimaru could handle it, and it wasn't exactly a big deal.

But just as the words reached his lips, Lin Xuan reconsidered—wait, Luo Jie surely knew that Orochimaru could perform Edo Tensei, so why did he still come looking for him?

Was it because he had already sought out Orochimaru and been refused, and so came to find him instead?

Or was it because he knew Luo Jie was Orochimaru's superior, and to avoid causing him displeasure, he came to Lin Xuan first?

Recalling how Orochimaru had just received a huge pile of Devil Fruits and immediately rushed off to study them, Lin Xuan felt the latter possibility was more likely.

But he somehow felt that Luo Jie didn't seem to have that kind of cunning!

He guessed that the reason Luo Jie had come to find Lin Xuan instead of going directly to Orochimaru was actually because Lei Li, who was by his side, had given him a reminder.

As Luo Jie's right-hand man back in the day, it was only natural for Lei Li to give Luo Jie a reminder. But Lin Xuan felt that since Lei Li was so fond of scheming, then from here on out, he shouldn't blame Lin Xuan for dragging him into this!

Thus, Lin Xuan directly swallowed back the words that had reached his lips, and changed them to a different version: "If I wanted to do it, it really wouldn't be difficult. However, the question is, why should I help you?"

The moment these words came out, both Luo Jie and Lei Li couldn't help but feel a bit dumbfounded.

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Luo Jie even said directly to Lei Li: "Lei Li, this isn't what you said it would be like!"

Lei Li's face was equally blank.

In his view, today had been a complete victory—under such happy circumstances, shouldn't Lin Xuan have agreed readily and without hesitation?

Seeing Lei Li's dumbfounded look, the corner of Lin Xuan's mouth couldn't help but curve up.

Lei Li saw Lin Xuan's ill-intentioned expression—how could he not know Lin Xuan was doing it on purpose?

But he could only brace himself and say: "President Lin, no matter what, we're comrades who fought side by side. Just grant Luo Jie's wish, will you?"

Lin Xuan chuckled and said: "Granting Luo Jie's wish isn't impossible, but you'll have to help me complete one thing first!"

"Complete one thing? What thing?" Luo Jie asked impatiently.

Lin Xuan paid no attention to Lei Li's feelings and said directly: "It's nothing much. I just plan to take some people to participate in a large-scale martial arts tournament, and I want the two of you to participate as well!"

Hearing this, Lei Li furrowed his brow, said nothing, and was only thinking about whether Lin Xuan might be trying to trick them.

However, Luo Jie didn't even think about it and said directly: "Just this? No problem, I agree!"

Lei Li: "……Hey hey, Luo Jie you bastard, could you stop making decisions for me on your own?"

He always felt that whenever he ran into Luo Jie, he was out of luck. Twenty years later, this bastard was still dragging him straight into a pit!

Looking at Luo Jie, after hearing his words, he actually patted Lei Li on the shoulder and said: "Don't say that. It's just a martial arts tournament. With your strength, are you afraid someone in this world could kill you?"

The corner of Lei Li's mouth twitched slightly.

However, he was still quite confident in his own strength. Perhaps there were quite a few people in this world stronger than him, but killing him wouldn't be that easy!

Yet Lin Xuan's next sentence left him somewhat dumbfounded.

Lin Xuan just chuckled and said: "I never said that martial arts tournament was being held in this world!"

Lei Li: "???"

Luo Jie: "???"

What did that mean again?