Chapter 262 - 262: The lone red and Brook

However, Nojiko, who had some suspicions, stopped him.

"Alright, alright. This isn't Ace's main ship. If you head over there and people don't recognize you, they might think you're trying to provoke them."

Hearing this, Luffy grumbled, "Big brother Ace would definitely tell his Pirate Crew about me." However, he didn't insist on Franky bringing the ship closer.

Robin watched Nojiko's actions and looked toward the Argo.

Beside her, Sanji's figure gradually solidified from transparency. He rubbed his head and said with a strange expression:

"So weird. I clearly feel like that ship should be full of beauties, but why don't I feel like going over there?"

Hearing Sanji's words, Robin already had a guess about the origins of the group on the Argo: "It seems it's them. Is it about to get lively again?"

Looking back at the Pirate Paradise, she felt even more anticipation for what treasures this gathering would hold.

As they continued deeper, the small island hosting the Pirate Festival slowly entered the Straw Hat's vision.

The massive island was divided into three sections by rivers. On the island, countless Pirate Crew flags were planted, and all sorts of skull symbols came into view.

The Big Mom Pirates and Beasts Pirates, who had arrived earlier, also spotted the arriving Straw Hat and the Argo, which was disguised as the Spade Pirates.

Charlotte Smoothie, one of the Sweet Commanders, saw Jinbe on the Straw Hat's ship. She hadn't expected to encounter this traitor who had left the Big Mom Pirates here.

She immediately went to the shore and drew the longsword from her back, slashing a wave of sword energy toward the Straw Hat's 'going merry'.

Sensing the sword energy, Zoro drew the famous blade'Shusui' and slashed back with a wave of pitch-black sword energy toward Charlotte Smoothie's attack.

Before the two sword energies could collide, the figure of "the lone red" Patrick Redfield appeared in the air and intercepted both attacks.

"This place is still in the preparation stage; the climax hasn't begun yet. If the people of the Four Emperors start acting now, it will be quite troubling for us."

"Could you give me some face and wait until the festival officially begins before fighting?"

Although the Expo had no rules, if Charlotte Smoothie fought the Straw Hat now, the commotion would undoubtedly be too great.

Furthermore, his Observation Haki had already detected that the leader of the Spade Pirates behind him should be Hera, who had blocked him in Impel Down.

Charlotte Smoothie looked at the man who appeared before her. His extremely fast swordsmanship meant her Observation Haki couldn't even clearly see her opponent's movements.

"'the lone red' has arrived here too? Out of respect for you, I won't make a move at this time."

Jack of the Beasts Pirates watched Charlotte Smoothie back down. His eyes widened, and he was about to shout, "Who the hell do you think I am? When the ship pulls up—"

He was stopped by a headbutt from Ulti. Ulti pointed at Patrick Redfield in the air and said to Jack:

"This is a powerhouse of the old era, a legendary pirate on par with Roger, Whitebeard, and Golden Lion. Behave yourself."

Ulti truly lived up to being a user of the Dragon-Dragon Fruit, Ancient Model: Pachycephalosaurus. Even in her human form, the force of her headbutt was comparable to a cannonball.

She directly sent Jack, who wanted to charge again, clutching his head in pain.

Patrick Redfield looked at Ulti pointing at him and shook his head helplessly. "Sigh, pointing a finger at an old man like me can hardly be called respectful."

However, he had no intention of attacking; stopping the pirates' infighting was enough.

Just as he was about to leave, a familiar aura welled up in his heart. His Observation Haki suddenly pointed toward the skeleton on the Straw Hat Pirates' ship.

Observing Brook's aura, he suddenly thought of a memory from long ago, of the scene when he encountered the Rumbar Pirates as a child.

That specific scene.

He involuntarily flapped his wings and flew onto the Straw Hat Pirates' ship.

Beside him, Pato, the Tanuki Fruit user on his shoulder, watched his companion with a worried look as he acted strangely.

Brook watched Patrick coming straight for him and scratched his skull in confusion. "Why is he coming toward me? Could he be a fan of mine?"

Robin also noticed that Patrick harbored no ill will. Moreover, he had stopped the conflict between the Big Mom Pirates and their group, so she asked Brook:

"He couldn't be an enemy from when you were alive, could he? Did you never hear of him back then?"

Brook thought for a moment and said, "I had heard a bit about that brat Roger when I was alive, but the name Patrick... I can't quite remember it."

"However, it's possible he was a fan from when I was alive. Our Rumbar Pirates' music was very popular back then!"

"Then I wonder if you have any impression of this name: 'Pato'."

The tanuki on Patrick's shoulder turned to look at his partner, wondering why he was calling his name at this moment.

Brook's movements froze as a memory flooded into his mind.

"Are you... are you that boy from the port who was born with Observation Haki?"

At such close range, Patrick's powerful Observation Haki had already matched the skeleton before him with his former idol.

"I didn't expect that after so many years, you would end up looking like this."

Brook nodded. He also hadn't expected that after being a skeleton for so long due to the Revive-Revive Fruit's influence, there would still be someone from the same era who remembered him.

"After all, I've been through a lot. I became like this because of a Devil Fruit ability. But you, how do you look so young?"

Luffy and the others also looked over curiously. After all, the current Patrick didn't look like someone who had lived for that long.

Facing a member of his idol's crew, Patrick showed patience and explained:

"After leaving the sixth level of Impel Down, I found the Bat-Bat Fruit, Mythical Zoan Type, Model: Vampire. Now, I can become young by sucking blood."

Luffy's mouth hung open in amazement. "What an incredible fruit! Doesn't that mean you can stay young forever?"

Brook had already picked up his violin and began to play to celebrate the reunion with an old friend.

Luffy leaned right in front of Patrick and said, "Old man, do you want to join our Pirate Crew? Vampires are so cool!"

Patrick looked at the starry-eyed Luffy and patted the partner on his shoulder. "No, I already have my own partner. I won't be joining."

Chopper looked curiously at the tanuki. The tanuki jumped down from Patrick's shoulder, took out a leaf, and transformed himself into a reindeer as well.

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