Chapter 57
Ren and Shirahoshi sat on Nimbus, cheering Yamato and Hancock while eating the food Ren had prepared.
Garp and Rayleigh stared at them in disbelief. "What the fuck is happening? Did that shadow just leave like that?" Garp asked, scratching his head.
"Well… I don't know," Rayleigh sighed. "Nothing is normal around that boy. The moment he met with Hancock, her growth reached monster level."
What they didn't know was that in Pangaea Castle, Imu was also irritated by Ren. "Come on, don't be like that. It must have been boring living in this castle, right? Tell me your story already." Ren's clone bounced around the Empty Throne room.
Imu had killed hundreds of them in the past three days since the he returned to the Holy Land. Yet they kept coming back again and again. Even Saturn, Mars, and Peter could only sigh.
This was quite an odd situation. They had never faced someone like this before. And that cursed Devil Fruit… it was even more annoying than Nika.
"Oi, come on, just tell me. Why rule from the shadows for hundreds of years? Why protect trash like Celestial Dragons? Why give them so much power?" The clone kept asking, genuinely curious.
"Mu does not answer to others' questions," Imu replied in a cold tone.
"Then you ask, I answer," the clone said casually.
Imu paused. "Your Devil Fruit's name?"
The clone stopped. His face lowered slightly as he picked a strand of hair, transforming it into a staff. He spun it once and rested it on his shoulder.
He looked at Imu with a grin as he entered his human-beast form. "Hito Hito no Mi, Mythical Zoan, Model: The Monkey King, Sun Wukong."
His golden eyes glowed. Imu stared at him speechlessly. 'Was there really a need to make it so dramatic?' he wondered inwardly, but he memorized the name.
"Why create an empire?" Imu asked. The Gorosei stared, dumbfounded that their lord was casually asking questions—and that Ren was actually answering them.
"Well, not for any grand reason. I just don't like the slave part, so I had an idea. I just want a place where me and my waifus can live happily," Ren said with a smile.
Imu was silent. "That's it?"
Ren nodded. "Yap. So now tell me, isn't it boring staying in this castle all these years? Why build the World Government?"
Imu didn't answer. An image of a woman appeared in his mind, but he immediately suppressed it. "That reveals the Void History. Mu won't tell."
Ren's mouth twitched. "Are you a tsundere kid or what?"
"You dare insult Mu?" Imu narrowed his eyes.
Ren rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and a bonafide chuuni. How can you talk like that so naturally? If I talked like that, I'd be too embarrassed to even show my face."
Imu's demonic tail pierced the clone's chest. The clone disappeared into strands of hair.
Back on Sabaody Archipelago, Groves 5 and 10 were completely destroyed. Hancock and Yamato faced St. Nusjuro and St. Warcury.
{Return to the Holy Land.} Imu's voice echoed in their minds. Pentagram patterns appeared beneath them, and both disappeared instantly.
Yamato and Hancock pouted. "Come on, it was just getting fun," Yamato shouted in frustration.
Ren and Shirahoshi flew down from Nimbus. "You fought for three days. Stop whining," Ren said, rolling his eyes.
Yamato was about to protest, but she noticed Hancock was gone. "Hmm, where did—"
Her eyes landed on Hancock sitting on Shirahoshi's shoulders, eating meat while laughing and chatting with her.
"Oii! You traitors! How dare you eat without me!" Yamato shouted.
"Tsk, weren't you busy complaining about pointless things?" Hancock retorted.
"What did you say, you black-haired snake woman?"
"Say that again, white-haired wolf girl?" Both were about to start fighting again.
Just then, Ren picked Yamato up. "Okay, enough bickering. Now you will eat, and then we will head back to Wano."
"Ha-hay, put me down!" Yamato protested, her face turning red.
Ren smirked. "Wow, now you're getting embarrassed? So who was the one shouting earli—"
Yamato quickly covered his mouth. "Stupid Ren, shut up!"
Shirahoshi giggled at their antics.
Ren grinned as he jumped and sat Yamato down. He picked up a chunk of meat. "Say ahh."
Yamato puffed her cheeks. "I'm not a kid."
She still took a huge bite in anger and started chewing. Shirahoshi burst into laughter.
Ren smirked. "Just wait till we get back to Noah," he whispered into her ear.
Yamato froze, her face and ears turning completely red. Ren winked at Hancock, who winked back.
An alliance was formed, and Yamato's fate was sealed.
In the New World, near a kingdom, Onigashima rested. It was one of the territories under the Beast Pirates' protection. After leaving Wano, they had settled here.
"Lord Kaido, it looks like he caused quite a bit of chaos in Sabaody Archipelago. The Marines evacuated all civilians, and multiple conqueror's haki were detected," King reported.
"Wororororo, that kid really is something," Kaido laughed as he swung his kanabo. After losing to Ren, Kaido had been training.
Though his growth was slow at his level, he continued practicing relentlessly.
"Next time, we will decide everything," Kaido grinned.
King looked at him. "You're planning another war with him?"
"Wororororo, of course. Do you think I would let my son-in-law take Wano just like that?"
King's grip tightened on his sword. "How confident are you?"
"Thirty percent, maybe?"
King blinked. "That low?"
"Wororororo, you don't understand. This isn't his peak." Kaido stared at Ren's new bounty poster.
"Ren the Monkey King. Bounty: 6,000,000,000 Berries. Dead or Alive."
"This is just his beginning. By the time he reaches his peak, I won't be his match. So I don't have much time. One year at most."
A fierce battle lust burned in Kaido's eyes.
On the Red Force, Shanks stared at Ren's bounty with cold, expressionless eyes. "Was the prophecy even true?"
For the first time, Shanks questioned everything. The era had completely changed.
With this bounty, the destruction of Sabaody Groves 5 and 10, and Ren escaping alive, the pirates had gained a massive morale boost.
"Will the chosen one even have time to grow?" Shanks muttered.
Just as he expected, pirates across the seas were inspired. The era had begun to change far too quickly.
The Great Pirate Era was igniting earlier than Roger had ever imagined.