Belial, Tregear, new members of the Straw Hat Pirates

The Straw Hat crew stared blankly at the scene before them: Duke Inuarashi's musketeer squad and Nekomamushi's band of swordsmen had met in the town.

"Long time no see, old cat demon," Duke Inuarashi said. "Life with one hand missing must be tough, right?"

"Old dog, long time no see," the cat viper chuckled. "At least it's better than losing a leg."

Although the two were greeting each other, it was obvious to anyone with eyes that their relationship was extremely strained.

“If those two start fighting, something bad is likely to happen.” Beria waved his hand. “I’ll stop them first.”

“Wait a minute,” Torregia said, “it seems we don’t need to.”

"why?"

"Look over there."

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Kin'emon, Kanjuro, and Momonosuke running towards them.

"Oh no, this is going to be terrible!" Usopp exclaimed in terror. "Stop it right now..."

"Fellow citizens!" Kin'emon shouted, "I am Kin'emon, a retainer of the Kozuki clan of Wano Country. I have come to find my comrade, the Mist Ninja, Raizo. Is he here?"

Upon hearing this, the Straw Hat crew was struck dumb, completely at a loss for what to do.

However, to everyone's surprise, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi knelt down almost simultaneously and said to Kin'emon and the others, "Lord Raizo is safe and sound."

"Wait a minute!" Belial said. "You've known all along that Raizo is here?"

“You guys almost died because of this!” Usopp said incredulously. “Why!”

The cat and dog laughed heartily upon hearing this, and Inuarashi said, "So what? We and the Kozuki clan are like brothers."

Nekomamushi patted Usopp on the head and laughed, "No matter what hardships we face, we will never betray our comrades to the enemy!"

Everyone was shocked by their willpower, and Belial couldn't help but mutter, "A bunch of stupid bastards."

Looking at the scene before him, Tregear's eyes were filled with complex emotions. He recalled the scene of his battle with Taiga, and Taiga's words echoed in his ears: "Tregear! This is the power between us comrades!"

“Come with me,” Inuarashi said. “I’ll take you to Lord Raizo.”

The group followed Inuarashi and Nekomamushi as they walked through the Whale Forest.

Luffy and Usopp were excited at the thought of meeting a ninja.

Usopp asked Belial, "Belial, do you have ninjas where you live?"

"I think there was one."

"really?"

"Yes, his name is Baltan. His nickname is Space Ninja, and he can create clones."

"Wow, a clone technique!" Luffy's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "I wonder what this ninja looks like?"

Belial and Tregear were also somewhat interested. Although they had seen it many times before, and Tregear even knew a little about the clone technique, this place was quite novel for them.

Momonosuke always felt somewhat uneasy while walking.

The cat viper opened a door, and everyone jumped down and walked down the steps.

Luffy and Usopp charged straight ahead, followed closely by Brook and Franky, who were also eagerly anticipating the arrival of the ninja named Raizo. They had even started imagining what would happen next.

Just then, everyone heard some sounds, which sounded like crying and shouting.

"Why not hand me over to the enemy!"

"Why are they all injured?!"

"Inuarashi, Nekomamushi! Are you trying to deceive me?!"

"Is that Raizo?" Luffy ran over, followed closely by Usopp, and the two of them were immediately stunned.

Immediately, everyone else was stunned, including Belial, and even the usually calm and elegant Tregear was stunned.

"What is this?!" everyone exclaimed.

"What the hell is this?!" Belial couldn't help but swear.

Toregia murmured, "If you hadn't told me, I would have thought it was a monster."

Before me stood an incredibly ugly man, with a face far larger than normal, lightning-like eyebrows, and a yellow crescent-shaped scar on his forehead. He had crab-leg-like hair, large front teeth, wore a blue kimono, and had huge purple shimenawa ropes tied around his shoulders.

“Belial,” Zoro said, “the ninjas from your area are also like this…”

“No!” Belial and Tregear said in unison.

Belial muttered, "The Baltan aliens aren't exactly handsome, but they're still better than this thing!"

At this moment, Kin'emon and the others had already run downstairs. Upon seeing Raizo, they couldn't help but burst into tears: "Waaah, Raizo, I'm so glad you're alright!"

"Kin'emon! Kanjuro! And Lord Raizo!" Raizo embraced them tightly.

But this scene gave everyone goosebumps. When Tregear turned his head, he found that Robin was looking at a red stone tablet.

Torregia walked over and asked, "What's wrong? Robin, what's going on...?"

Robin looked at the text above and said, "This is... the Poneglyphs?"

“Yes,” Inuarashi said.

"Then why is it red?"

"Because their functions are different," Inuarashi said. "The red ones are the main text of the Road Poneglyphs. They record the place that countless pirates flock to on the high seas: Laugh Tale!"

Upon hearing this, Luffy flew over immediately and asked, "Really?"

Beria said, "So, the address of Laftan Road is on this thing?"

Cat Viper shook his head and said, "No, to get to Laugh Tale you need to collect four Road Poneglyphs. These four Road Poneglyphs point to four islands, and Laugh Tale is located where these four islands intersect in an X shape."

“In other words, we still need to find three other Poneglyphs,” Tregear said. “Where are the other Poneglyphs?”

Inuarashi said, "Currently, apart from one piece whose whereabouts are unknown, the remaining two pieces are in the hands of two pirates."

"Who?"

Inuarashi and Nekomamushi were silent for a few seconds before saying, "The Four Emperors: Kaido and Big Mom!"

“Oh my! What a coincidence!” Belial laughed.

Luffy chimed in, "Alright, we've got something to do with them too! Let's just knock them out on the way and steal them!"

“I have no objection,” Zoro said with a smile.

Nami, Usopp, and Chopper were terrified. Nami exclaimed, "Are you kidding me?! That's one of the Four Emperors!"

"So what if we're Emperors?" Belial said. "Since we've chosen this path, we'll keep going no matter what!"

"Exactly! How can I become the Pirate King if I don't defeat them?" Luffy said.

Torregia said, "Actually, there's no need to bring the entire historical text; just take a look with the communicator."

“That works too,” Usopp said.

"I refuse!" Luffy said unhappily, "How can being the Pirate King be like this!"

"Are you kidding me?! That's one of the Four Emperors!"

"I do not care!"

Just as the two were arguing, Nekomamushi looked at Robin and said, "The Poneglyphs before us can only be deciphered by the Kozuki clan and scholars living in Ohara."

Inuarashi: "However, the methods used by the Kozuki clan to interpret the Poneglyphs and the contents of the stone tablets were lost by the time of Momonosuke's father."

"So right now, the only one who can decipher the Poneglyphs is you, Nico Robin!"

"If those important figures want to decipher the historical texts, they will stop at nothing to capture you!"

Robin was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, then smiled and said, "It's alright, because I already have a very powerful partner now."

“Of course,” Belial said. “If you want to touch Robin, you’ll have to get past us first!”

“That’s right, I’ll knock them away!” Luffy said.

The others also struck their own poses, all saying, "No matter what, we will do everything in our power to protect Robin!"

Zoro didn't say anything, but he did smile.

"What a reliable bunch of partners," Cat Viper and the others laughed.

“Alright, since that’s the case, let’s divide the work,” Torregia said.

"Division of labor? What kind of division of labor?" the crowd asked in confusion.

Torregia said, "Of course, we'll save Sanji."