"A tangerine tree?" Linton subconsciously looked down and saw that he had indeed crushed a tangerine tree. There were still a few tangerines on it, but many had been squashed into tangerine pancakes by him.
Speaking of tangerine trees, Linton suddenly thought of someone. Looking up, he saw a somewhat familiar orange-haired, young-looking girl. It was indeed Nami, the navigator of the protagonist's pirate crew.
Looking around, Linton found himself on a ship, surrounded by the sea. Nami did plant tangerine trees on her ship, so it seemed he had fallen directly onto the protagonist's ship. This was a good thing. Following the protagonist meant high exploration value, something Linton knew from before.
Since Nami was already out at sea, it meant that at least three years had passed since his previous visit. But what was the exact time? Linton wanted to ask Nami, but before he could speak, a figure emerged from the side.
"Nami-swaaan! What happened?" Linton turned to see a blond, curly-browed man in a black suit rushing over, probably alerted by Nami's cry. This guy should be Sanji, the chef of the protagonist's pirate crew.
"This guy appeared out of nowhere and crushed my tangerine tree!" Nami shouted, pointing at Linton.
"What? An intruder? And he destroyed Nami's tangerine tree!" Sanji was furious. The tangerine tree was Nami's treasure, and she usually didn't even let anyone touch it. Now it was ruined? Hearing Nami's words, Sanji flew up and kicked towards Linton.
"Hey, hey, wait..." Linton wanted to say something, but it was too late.
"Enemy target detected, activating automatic combat mode."
As soon as the Battle Princess finished speaking, a black substance appeared on Linton's right hand, enveloping it. At that moment, Sanji's kick arrived, but Linton threw an uppercut, hitting Sanji in mid-air. Sanji spun twice in the air and crashed to the floor with a loud bang, motionless.
"Battle ended."
"That was really fast..." Linton looked at the unconscious Sanji. This was the fastest he had ever defeated someone.
Nami across from him didn't react either. She didn't even see what happened. One second she saw Sanji about to kick the opponent, and the next second Sanji was doing a somersault and falling to the ground. Linton's actions were too fast.
"Well... I didn't mean to, do you believe me?" Linton said, scratching his head.
"Help!" Nami screamed. "Someone's invaded, and Sanji has been defeated!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Linton quickly saw several figures rushing towards him. Within seconds, he found himself surrounded.
Linton was quite familiar with the people surrounding him. They were all members of the protagonist's pirate crew: Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook, plus Nami and Sanji, whom he had already met. Except for Jinbe, everyone was here.
Seeing these people, Linton roughly figured out the current timeline. First, Brook was already on board, which meant they had passed Thriller Bark. Second, Linton saw two people who were not part of the protagonist's crew on the ship. One was a blue-haired girl with a fishtail lower body, and the other was an octopus.
If he guessed correctly, this was the mermaid Camie and Hatchan. If they were on the ship, it meant that Luffy's ship was about to arrive at Sabaody Archipelago.
"This timing is perfect," Linton couldn't help but sigh. He didn't know if it was the System Princess who chose this specific time, but appearing at this point in time would make it much easier to gain points.
Just as he was about to make a plan, a sudden voice interrupted his thoughts: "Sanji, are you okay?"
The speaker was, of course, Luffy. Seeing his crew member defeated, Luffy was very anxious.
"Who are you?" Zoro also put his hands on his swords, ready to strike at any moment.
"Well... Don't come over, I really can't control myself sometimes." Linton said quickly. It was really something to start by attacking the protagonist's group. He was really worried that he would knock them all out in a while.
"Let go of Sanji!" Luffy roared.
"I'm not holding him." Linton facepalmed. "He attacked me first, and then I just countered casually and he fell. I didn't expect him to be so weak. Hey, ship doctor over there, come and take a look."
"Huh? You know me?" Chopper said in surprise.
"Yeah, the pet of the Straw Hat Pirates, with a 50-berry bounty..." Linton said.
"Thump!" Chopper fell to his knees.
"Damn it, let go of Sanji, or I'll send you flying!" Luffy continued to roar.
"Uh... I forgot about this guy's habit of not listening to people." Linton facepalmed again.
"Wait, Captain..." Robin, who was more level-headed, suddenly stopped Luffy. "Let's find out if he's an enemy first..."
"I'm not an enemy, okay? If I were, I would have already defeated all of you." Linton said.
"Then who are you, and what is your purpose here?" Robin asked.
"Let me put it simply, Ace is my nephew." Linton said.
"Huh?" Everyone was surprised.
"Wait! Ace is your nephew? That's impossible!" While saying this, everyone looked at Luffy, because Ace was Luffy's brother, and only he knew what was going on.
"I... don't remember Ace having an uncle?" Luffy scratched his head. "Wait, if you're Ace's uncle, then that means... you're my uncle?"
"Uh... I'm in a good mood today, so I'll accept you as my nephew." Linton thought for a moment and said.
"Wait a minute!" Nami couldn't hold back anymore. "You said you're Ace's uncle, which means you're Luffy's uncle, but how come he doesn't know who you are?"
"This guy doesn't even know who his own dad is, what do you expect him to know?" Linton said.
"This..." Nami was speechless. It was true that not long ago they learned that Luffy's father was the revolutionary Dragon, and Luffy himself didn't seem to understand this matter very well. Considering this, it didn't seem strange that he didn't know who his uncle was.
"So you're Dragon's brother?" Robin asked.
"I have nothing to do with the monkey family." Linton said, "But Ace is indeed my nephew. If you meet him, you can prove it... But now he seems..."
"What happened to Ace?" Luffy said anxiously. He had noticed something was wrong with Ace's vivre card earlier. "Do you have any news about Ace?"
"He should be fine. If something happens, I'll go save him." Linton said.
"That... Indeed, Ace shouldn't have any problems, I was just too worried." Luffy nodded. Ace had always been stronger than him since childhood, and he believed that Ace was just in trouble and would eventually be able to resolve it. At this time, he also trusted Linton. The reason was simple: Linton said that he would help if Ace was in danger, which made him think that Linton was a good person.
"What did you mean by that just now?" At this time, Robin noticed what Linton had said before, about having nothing to do with the monkey family, yet also claiming to be Luffy's uncle. Wasn't that contradictory?
"About this matter, I can't just talk about it casually, after all, it concerns the safety of my nephew." Linton said.
"Hmm?" Robin was puzzled.
"Anyway, I'm not your enemy." Linton changed the subject. "It was just self-defense just now. It's just that he was too weak and fell with one punch. I couldn't help it. Aren't you going to save him? I think he's quite seriously injured..."
Everyone almost forgot about Sanji on the ground. Chopper hurried over to check on him. After the examination, he said that it was okay. A few bones were broken, and he had fainted, but there was no danger to his life. He should be fine after a few days of rest.
Linton also thought that the people in the world of pirates were really unscientific. A few broken bones and a few days of rest would be enough. Fortunately, he was fine, otherwise Luffy would probably fight him desperately. Although the result would definitely be the annihilation of Luffy's group, Linton still wanted to follow the protagonist's group now. Otherwise, how would he know where Sabaody Archipelago was?
Chopper took Sanji down for treatment, but the atmosphere around Linton was still a bit stiff. Although Linton claimed to be Ace's uncle, not everyone would believe him just because he said so. Except for Luffy, who had a simple mind, the others looked at Linton with some suspicion.
"Ahem...nephew, where are you going?" Linton asked thoughtfully.
"Me?" Luffy, still not noticing that he had become a "nephew", saw Linton looking at him and said after a moment of thought, "Oh, we're going to the New World!"
"The New World, huh." Linton nodded. "The first time I met Ace was also at the entrance to the New World. Just like then, I also want to say that your current strength... is not quite enough."
(End of chapter)