Chapter 440

In the world of Van Pease, strength is closely related to continuous battles.

Without regular battles, a person's strength will begin to regress.

The will of armament and the will of observation will gradually weaken.

The Golden Lion and Gekko Moriya are the most striking examples of such a regression of power.

At its peak, Gekko Moriya dominated the entire Grand Line.

He caused a stir throughout the New World and broke into the Country of Vano, where he entered into a battle with the Pirates of the Beast, as a result of which he was personally defeated by the Kaido Beast.

This event made quite a lot of noise in the Country of Vano.

The power of Gekko Moriya at that time was beyond any doubt.

Although he was defeated by the Kaido Beast, he was obviously not that far from the strongest people of the New World.

But the fact is that Moriya lost his will, having suffered a cruel defeat at the hands of the Kaido Beast.

After that, he returned to the first half of the Grand Line and hid in the waters of the Florian Triangle, leading an idle life there, without constant battles with strong opponents.

Twenty years later, he could not even defeat the Straw Hat Pirates, becoming almost the weakest of the Shichibukai.

Whether it was willpower, physical strength, or something else, Gekko Moriya was very much weakened in all aspects.

The same goes for the Golden Lion.

After escaping from Impel Down, he hid on the flying islands for twenty years, without conducting any heavy training and without engaging in battles with strong opponents.

In the end, Shiki weakened to such an extent that he was defeated by Luffy, who at that time did not even master the will, becoming a disgrace to the three legends of the last era.

But the current Golden Lion is different.

After escaping from Impel Down, he disappeared for only a few years, and then returned to the expanses of the sea, having gone through several battles with strong opponents on the Grand Line and in the East Blue.

Shiki even got into a battle with the Hero of the Watch Garp, as a result of which he was able to successfully escape.

Although the current Golden Lion has weakened due to the loss of his legs, noticeably inferior to Roger and Belous at the peak, but he still has strength at about the level of an Admiral.

Aokiji had not yet reached the peak and had not become an Admiral, so although he could resist Shiki,he could not count on winning.

«...»

After flying out of the island, Aokiji hovered in the air with the help of geppo.

He looked at his opponent and abruptly fell down, preferring retreat to continue the battle with the Golden Lion.

It was initially very difficult for him to win, and after being ousted from the island, it became impossible at all.

It would be extremely stupid to conduct a dogfight with a Golden Lion with the ability of the devil fruit of soaring, relying on geppo.

In such a situation, there was no chance of winning at all.

"Hmm!"

The Golden Lion snorted coldly, looking at the fleeing Aokiji, and flew to his island, deciding not to give chase.

The invisible will of the armament that enveloped Shiki's entire body began to gradually weaken.

Initially, Aokiji was going to secretly infiltrate and hide on the Golden Lion Island, and then get in touch with the headquarters of the Sea Patrol, so that a special strike group would be prepared and sent there to suppress the Golden Lion.

Unfortunately, he was discovered by the Golden Lion.

But the penetration was not completely unsuccessful, because Aokiji managed to leave the 'signal den den mushi' on the Golden Lion Island.

The 'signal den den mushi' is able to continuously transmit data about its location to the 'receiving den den mushi'.

With the help of this den den mushi, the Sea Patrol will be able to control the movements of the Golden Lion, which will allow to prepare an effective plan for its capture.

The subordinates of the Golden Lion in East Blue are nothing more than a bunch of small fish that can be easily dealt with by the elite watchers of the headquarters, but the problem is that the huge Golden Lion fleet moves high in the sky, and not on the surface of the sea.

It is simply impossible to hunt this fleet until its location is clearly fixed.

In the past, the Golden Lion was an extremely problematic opponent even compared to Roger and Belous, and all because of the fact that thanks to his devil fruit ability, Shiki was the most slippery and elusive of the three legends of the last era.

If the Golden Lion had not launched a suicidal attack on Marinford, losing his mind because of the news of the 'capture' If there was a Golden Roger, then it would be extremely difficult for the Marine Patrol to catch him.

Pooh!!

Aokiji instantly froze the water around him, falling into the sea from a height of several kilometers.

He stood on the ice and looked around, lazily stroking his head: "Well, where should I go..."

During the battle with the Golden Lion, all the remaining den den mushi Aokiji were destroyed, so he lost the opportunity to directly contact the Sea Patrol.

"Forget it."

"I'll just go wherever my eyes look, ara-ra..."

Aokiji looked around once more and shook his head, realizing that he could not recognize his location, so he decided to just go in a random direction.

After a while, on his way, in the direction of two o'clock, the shadow of an island appeared on the horizon.

Aokiji immediately changed course slightly, heading straight for this island.

He quickly ran across the surface of the sea, freezing the water under his feet.

Phew! Phew! Phew!!

Aokiji's figure flashed over the surface of the sea, quickly reaching the island, and came ashore.

He briefly examined the shore and stepped deeper into the island.

It was necessary to first find out what kind of island it is and where it is located in order to determine the location of the nearest Marine Patrol base.

It is necessary to contact the headquarters as soon as possible!

After a while.

Aokiji sighed helplessly, looking around the village near the shore, because it was empty...not a single living soul.

"No one at all..."

He is not familiar with East Blue and will not be able to determine his location without receiving any information from the locals, so Aokiji immediately left the empty village, rushing inland.

The island did not seem small.

According to Aokiji, there may be at least five villages located here.

All the villages won't be empty, will they?

Soon Aokiji reached another village, but this time there was no need to enter it, because his eyes were attracted by figures sitting around a fire in a clearing nearby.

He immediately rushed to the fire.

But in the next instant, he froze in place, about a hundred meters from the fire.

Aokiji's entire body visibly tensed, and his eyes were twitching.

A very familiar young man with medium-length silver-white hair was sitting on the grass in front of the fire.

Next to him was a girl with silky black hair, cooking kebabs on a fire with the help of many hands.

Robin turned her head to look at Aokiji nearby, and politely said with a smile: "It's been a long time, Vice Admiral Aokiji."

«...»

Aokiji's expression became very tense and nervous.

Yeruashi couldn't help but smile as he watched the scene unfold out of the corner of his eye.

It's been quite a few years since Aokiji and Robin last met.

Now Aokiji was still the same Aokiji, but Robin was no longer the same little Robin.

This time, Robin was calm, and Aokiji was nervous.

Only the general impression has not changed.

Their behavior, as before, seemed very natural.