Hearing this voice, everyone looked towards the tavern entrance. A figure had already walked in from outside.
Black hair, black eyes, a faint, casual smile hanging on his lips. Though past middle age, he was at the peak of his masculine charm.
Nishikawa Makoto.
Behind him followed a group of women… Yukiko, Eri, Mrs. Yukinoshita, Mrs. Yuigahama, Utaha, Saeko...
"Senpai!"
Yu was the first to rush forward, his eyes reddening, his voice choked.
"You're finally back..."
"Hmm."
Makoto patted his shoulder.
"Good work."
"Not at all! It's an honor to serve you, Senpai!"
Yu shook his head vigorously, his tone as firm as if taking a party oath.
Ace also stepped forward, standing behind Yu. He looked at Makoto, his lips moving as if to say something, but in the end, he only managed, "Nishikawa..."
Makoto glanced at him and smiled.
"You've grown so big. Don't forget to call your mom when you're away. She's quite lonely."
Ace's eyes reddened slightly, and he nodded firmly.
Beam, more direct, threw himself forward, hugging Makoto's leg, tears and snot smearing his face.
"Chainsaw-sama! I missed you so much!"
"Alright, alright..."
Makoto picked him up, exasperated.
Four Gay Bros also gathered around. Teddy Devil rubbed his hands together with a fawning expression. "Boss! You're finally back! We missed you so much!"
Dolphin Devil nodded repeatedly. "Yeah, yeah, without Boss around, each day felt like a year!"
Gorilla Devil grinned. "A lot has happened over the years. We'll tell you about it slowly..."
Rabbit Devil squeezed to the front. "That Yukinoshita woman who left before, they..."
Makoto waved his hand, signaling them to be quiet.
"That's enough."
Meanwhile, Nami and Carina, who had been captured, along with Robin and Kalifa, who were seeing Makoto for the first time, were too nervous to speak.
Robin stood in a corner, hands clasped in front of her, lips tightly pressed, afraid that breathing too loudly would draw Makoto's attention.
Countless thoughts raced through her mind, 'This was the [King of the World]? The man who made the World Government, the destroyer of Ohara, quake in fear? If he had been around during the Ohara incident...'
Kalifa quietly retreated half a step, hiding behind Robin.
Her intuition told her that now was not the time to attract Makoto's attention.
Nami and Carina were handcuffed together. They exchanged a glance, both seeing fear in each other's eyes.
'That Ishigami Yu, who had killed Buggy and terrified Arlong and Krieg, was actually acting like a dog wagging its tail before this man?'
'Just how terrifying was this man?'
Makoto glanced at the pile of gold and silver treasures filling the tavern and asked with a smile, "What's all this?"
Yu stepped on Buggy's corpse, picked up the chest he had thrown away, opened it, and presented it to Makoto.
"Senpai, I gathered these people to collect some gifts for you in the East Blue."
He shot a fierce glare at Buggy's body on the floor.
"And this red-nose bastard brought me this kind of trash."
Makoto took the chest and opened it.
Not only Makoto, but Utaha, Megumi, and the others beside him also laughed when they saw the contents.
Inside was unmistakably a Devil Fruit.
And it was the first Devil Fruit they had seen twenty years ago… the Human-Human Fruit.
Yes, the one Chopper ate.
Even Makoto couldn't help but laugh.
He hadn't expected this most useless Devil Fruit to be so fated with him.
When he first arrived in the One Piece World, this was the first Devil Fruit he encountered.
And now, after time-skipping, which counted as crossing a second time, this was still the first Devil Fruit he came across.
'Speaking of which, now that this thing was here, what had become of the reindeer, Chopper?'
Makoto was a little curious but didn't really care.
At this moment, feeling he had lost his reputation, Yu kicked Arlong beside him.
"Where's your tribute?"
Arlong stumbled from the kick, kneeling on the ground, gritting his teeth but not daring to make a sound.
Itsuki said curiously, "I didn't expect to see fish-men here."
After Makoto had conquered Wano Country and renamed it the New Amazon Lily years ago, Neptune had led his entire race to relocate there.
Itsuki thought all fish-men had gone there.
Beam, who was often mistaken for a fish-man, explained, "There was a group of arrogant idiots who stayed on Fish-Man Island. They considered themselves a superior race to humans and so refused to leave."
With that, Beam glanced at the members of the Arlong Pirates.
"These guys are some of them."
Hiyori was instantly furious, her hand already on the hilt of her sword.
"Such behavior warrants death."
Hiyori moved to draw her blade and kill these 'ungrateful' fish-men.
Nami, cuffed in the corner, watched this scene with blazing excitement, thinking, 'Cut them down! Cut them down now!'
However—
Makoto raised his hand to stop her.
"Everyone has their own choices. Don't be so extreme."
He said with a smile.
To be honest, he thought this was quite good.
If Arlong, Hody, and those guys had gone to the New Amazon Lily, they probably wouldn't have caused much trouble, but it would have been annoying.
The fact that they willingly stayed on Fish-Man Island was actually a good thing.
Makoto exchanged a few more words with Arlong, asking why they had come to the East Blue.
Arlong lowered his head and answered honestly, "A few years ago, that bastard Tesoro came to Fish-Man Island and took it over. We couldn't get by anymore, so we came to the East Blue."
Makoto couldn't help but laugh.
In the original work, Arlong and his crew were broken by Kizaru and then came to the 'Weakest Sea', the East Blue, to be big fish in a small pond.
As it turned out, even with his butterfly effect, they still ended up here… but the person who drove them away had changed from Kizaru to Tesoro.
Seeing that Arlong and his crew weren't killed, Nami looked deeply disappointed.
"Enough bullshit. Hurry up and bring out the treasure."
Yu gave Arlong another kick.
Arlong was furious but didn't dare speak.
He thought, 'Wasn't it your master who asked me a question?'
But he dared not vent his anger on Yu, or else he would end up like Buggy's corpse lying nearby.
Arlong quickly signaled to Hatchan.
Hatchan quickly fetched a treasure chest and respectfully handed it over.
Yu took the chest and opened it.
This time, inside was another Devil Fruit.
It was overall orange-red, its skin pattern resembling burning flames.
Logia type - Flame-Flame Fruit.
Makoto looked slightly surprised at Ace beside him.
"You're not a Devil Fruit user yet?"
Ace glanced at the short blade tucked in his waist and said, "I mainly use swordsmanship and physical combat for now."
Makoto then remembered.
In the original work, Ace did indeed carry a short blade, but it was never shown being used in combat.
If that blade was his primary weapon before becoming a user, that made sense.
Makoto recalled something else and asked Ace, "Your father's Supreme Grade Blade, I remember it's with your mom. Why don't you use it?"
In the original work, what happened to Roger's Supreme Grade Blade, Ace, was unknown.
But because of Makoto's arrival, Roger entrusted the blade to Rouge before surrendering. Then, because Rouge was intercepted by Makoto, she was taken to the New Amazon Lily with it.
Hearing this, Ace's face contorted with intense hatred.
"I don't want to use that man's blade."
Makoto laughed and shook his head.
"This behavior of yours is just childish. That deadbeat father of yours owed you. Why wouldn't you use it?"
Ace's situation was very similar to the father-son pair of Sakaki and Silver from Pokémon.
Silver was also extremely dissatisfied with his father, even refusing to use Pokémon from Team Rocket, preferring to steal one himself.
In Makoto's eyes, this was a classic case of a child throwing a tantrum.
If you dislike your irresponsible father, you should squeeze him for everything he's worth, bleed him dry!
Hell, if he were Silver, he'd make sure to extort a legendary Pokémon team from Sakaki.