One hour later.
Ray, Luffy's group, Mikita, Bartolomeo, and the others gathered inside Shakky's bar on Grove 13.
Outside, the various forces that had officially aligned themselves with the Straw Hat Pirates stood by on high alert.
Here was the tally for the first half of the Grand Line's allied forces:
The Floating Artist Pirates: Nearly 1,000 strong.
In the recent clash with the Marines, they suffered 50 severe injuries, 200 minor injuries, and 2 deaths.
The Barto Club: 20 members, zero injuries.
The Flying Fish Riders: 100 members, 10 injured, and 15 flying fish lost.
As for Capone Bege's Fire Tank Pirates? Nami had already told them to get lost.
The Straw Hats had zero interest in allying with a disloyal, backstabbing crew.
...
Inside the bar, the atmosphere was a mix of relief and chaos.
Sanji watched with a heartache as Mikita received first-aid treatment from Chopper.
"Miss Mikita... I promise I'll make that bastard Kizaru kneel and apologize to you!"
Hearing this, Zoro immediately shot him a look of absolute disdain.
"You? The trash who got frozen solid by Aokiji in one move dares to boast?"
Sanji flew into a rage, his shark teeth showing.
"MOSS HEAD! I haven't even settled accounts with you yet! If you hadn't gotten lost and messed things up, would Miss Mikita have been so badly injured?!"
At this, the corner of Zoro's mouth twitched, but he couldn't fire back a retort.
It really was his fault.
In contrast, Mikita—now changed into a clean white dress—simply smiled.
She was genuinely thrilled that the Straw Hat Pirates had accepted her.
But what made her even happier was seeing the silver-haired man sitting quietly by the window.
She had finally found him again!
Trembling with nervousness, Mikita approached and stammered. "Ray-sama... may I follow you?"
Hearing this, Ray nodded in agreement, casually replying: "Your Devil Fruit development direction is correct. But focus on improving the timing of switching your body weight. Don't neglect your Haki training, either."
"No problem! I've been training according to your methods all along. I'll definitely do better in the future!"
Mikita understood exactly what Ray meant—she couldn't currently use Haki while simultaneously switching her weight.
If she wanted to cover herself with Haki, she had to adjust her weight rapidly right before touching the enemy, and then instantly reinforce her body with Armament Haki.
Only when both her weight-adjustment speed and her Haki-coverage speed synced perfectly could she deliver her absolute strongest attacks without breaking her own bones.
Otherwise, either the weight increase would trigger too early (killing her momentum and reducing the kinetic energy), or her Haki armor would be too thin (causing her body to shatter from the intense impact of her own strike).
She fondly recalled the night she parted ways with Ray in Alabasta.
That night, Ray had brought Chouchou along and privately explained the ideal development paths for both her and Gem's Devil Fruits.
Truth be told, back then, the two of them had been using their abilities incredibly poorly, despite having decent powers.
Because they had done various chores and run errands while following Ray, he had rewarded them with the secret to improving their strength.
Ray had never been stingy with his followers—just look at Cavendish.
His subordinates couldn't afford to be weak!
Since both Mikita and Gem had shown great improvement, Ray formally accepted them as followers today.
The Straw Hat Pirates needed a wider support network anyway.
As for their other new follower, Bartolomeo?
He was even crazier than Mikita!
He was currently running around the bar asking for autographs from every single member of the Straw Hat Pirates, vibrating with so much excitement he looked ready to get a massive nosebleed.
Rayleigh and Shakky watched these boisterous young pirates with relieved, nostalgic smiles.
It reminded them of their own wild youth.
Unfortunately, it was hard for their old group of legends to gather together like this anymore.
Puru puru puru...
Suddenly, the Den Den Mushi on the bar counter began ringing.
Rayleigh pressed the button, and Kuma's deep voice came through the receiver.
"There's unusual activity at the Red Line. Be careful."
Hearing this, Rayleigh and Shakky frowned deeply, while Ray narrowed his eyes in thought.
'The Five Elders? Or the God's Knights?'
...
Half an hour earlier.
On Zephyr's Marine Warship at Grove 30.
Aokiji glanced at the hundreds of small-fry pirates they had captured and tossed onto the deck.
He spoke in his usual lazy drawl.
"We've really lost some face this time, Borsalino."
Kizaru lay sunbathing on a deck chair, covered in bandages but looking completely unconcerned.
"I'm severely injured, how could I have lost face? but you, you're completely unharmed. How will you explain this mess to the Celestial Dragons?"
Hearing this, Aokiji showed no sign of anxiety.
"This was a special circumstance. We need to preserve our forces to deal with the Whitebeard Pirates."
"Oh, really?" Kizaru mocked. "Then let me ask you: what if the Five Elders argue that killing Ray now would be more beneficial for the upcoming execution of Ace?"
"Heh. My IQ is too low, i didn't think of that."
"Fine.... you're amazing alright."
Zephyr stood behind the two, watching his most famous former students bicker, and couldn't help but smile.
At least they were both alive.
But he was genuinely worried about Aokiji.
Although Zephyr could explain to the Five Elders that he had ordered Aokiji and Kizaru to retreat, Aokiji was technically the one leading this specific operation.
And given Aokiji's stubborn sense of responsibility, the kid would most likely take all the blame upon himself.
Just then, the Den Den Mushi in Aokiji's pocket began ringing.
Puru puru puru...
It was a black and gold Den Den Mushi—completely different from the pure gold Buster Call snail.
The black and gold variant was exclusively used by Admirals to communicate directly with the Five Elders, equipped with top-tier anti-eavesdropping capabilities.
At this moment, Aokiji, Kizaru, and Zephyr all wore grave expressions.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Aokiji answered the call.
Thus, half an hour later on the Red Line, several terrifying auras emerged.
They were immediately detected by Kuma, who had secretly infiltrated the area above the clouds.
…
As for the Supernovas... most had already hauled ass off the Sabaody Archipelago.
Hawkins, Urouge, and Apoo woke up from the rubble some time after the battle between Ray and Kizaru had moved.
These three had held their breath and feigned unconsciousness the entire time.
Naturally, they had witnessed the terrifying clashes between Mikita, Zoro, Ray, and Kizaru.
When Ray and Kizaru moved their apocalyptic battle to the distant sea, the three "unconscious" captains swallowed hard, scrambled to their feet and fled for their lives.
During their frantic escape, the three Supernovas were filled with profound regret.
'Were the Straw Hat Pirates really someone we could challenge?!'
If Kizaru hadn't shown up, all three of them would have been brutally killed by Mikita alone.
And even a fierce monster like Mikita was completely helpless against Kizaru!
Admirals are roughly on the same level as the Yonko, yet they had actually thought about waltzing into the New World to challenge the Yonko themselves?
Judging by Mikita's status as a mere follower of the Straw Hats, they likely couldn't even get past the minor officers under a Yonko crew, let alone the top executives!
And that Roronoa Zoro guy? He had exchanged blows with Kizaru for several minutes!
Regardless of whether Kizaru was holding back, they had personally felt the sheer, suffocating power of Zoro's attacks.
In terms of strength, they were completely outclassed.
Those flying sword slashes were no joke—one stray wave had nearly killed Apoo by mistake.
If he hadn't maintained his composure and stayed perfectly still out of sheer terror, he would have been sliced to ribbons.
After squinting from the rubble and observing for a long time, the three had reached a unanimous conclusion:
It was incredibly fortunate that Zoro had left to deliver that wounded civilian to the hospital, leaving only Mikita to deal with them.
Otherwise, all three of them would definitely be dead.
The kind of dead where you get sliced into eight neat pieces.
As for the subsequent clash between Ray and Kizaru? They couldn't even comprehend it.
The speed and power were so intense it was invisible to their naked eyes.
Ironically, they felt somewhat grateful to Zoro and Ray.
If those two hadn't shown up to block Kizaru's Yasakani no Magatama light barrage, the three of them would have been turned into glowing Swiss cheese.
Ah, they really brought this upon themselves.
Now properly humbled and severely frightened, the three captains returned to their respective pirate ships, immediately setting course for remote quiet islands far away from Sabaody Archipelago.
They decided it was best not to return to this nightmare of an island for a very, very long time.