The Mink warriors tensed as one.
Musketeer barrels lifted a fraction. Forest sentries ghosted wider through the canopy. Tiny arcs of static crackled in the air.
Sabo didn't move.
Leona didn't draw.
Ace smiled.
"If I came to take it by force, I wouldn't be standing here talking."
His gaze swept the Mink warriors before the capital. His voice stayed level.
"The Eclipse found Zou. She can descend from the sky. I didn't train her guns on you. That's the respect I'm showing this country."
Inuarashi's eyes darkened.
The young man was too direct. Not negotiating. Laying both sides' positions on the table. No gentle guest act. No borrowed name from Roger or Oden to close the distance.
He was simply telling Zou: I have the power to break through. I chose to talk first.
Ace raised a hand and tapped his chest.
"I'm not a Kozuki man. I'm not here to carry Oden's will. Roger's path, I'll walk myself. The red Poneglyph's rubbing, I will take."
The faces of every Mink warrior shifted.
Wanda's grip on her sword tightened.
Ace didn't stop.
"The only question is whether I take it after fighting through Zou as an enemy. Or whether I sit down and talk with Zou as a future ally."
Wind swept the clearing before the capital. The forest went silent.
Inuarashi said nothing.
The man was arrogant. But because he was arrogant, his words carried almost no deceit. Inuarashi had met many pirates. Many men who buried ambition behind a smile. Ace wasn't one of them. He laid his ambition in the sunlight. Blazing, hot, almost hard to look at.
Inuarashi's voice came low. "What are you bringing to the table?"
Ace grinned.
"Kaido."
The air before the capital felt crushed under something heavy.
Kaido. That name was never just another Emperor to Zou. It was the enemy who killed Oden, stole Wano, scattered the Nine Red Scabbards. The shadow behind twenty years of rift between Inuarashi and Nekomamushi. The monster they had wanted to cut down countless times and could only bury the hatred back in their chests.
Inuarashi's voice went cold. "Do you know what you're saying?"
Ace smiled. "I do. His men, we've already killed. More importantly..."
He glanced sideways at the Flame Dragon staff in Sabo's hand.
Fine pink dragon-scale patterns rippled across the dark red shaft like living things, contracting faintly.
Inuarashi's gaze followed.
He was no master of Observation Haki. But that faint, coiling dragon pressure, he could feel it. Not an ordinary Zoan. Something carrying the scent of a Mythical beast.
Ace said flatly, "Kaido will come for me sooner or later. I'd rather go to him first."
Inuarashi didn't answer.
Pedro stayed silent.
Wanda stared at Ace, the shock still raw in her eyes. She had thought the so-called Fifth Emperor came to Zou to seize the red Poneglyph. But this man was fixed on something farther. The blue dragon coiled above Wano.
Inuarashi finally spoke. "The red Poneglyph is a treasure Zou has guarded for generations. Even if you are Roger's son. Even if you can hear Zunesha. It will not be handed over on your word alone."
Ace nodded. "I know."
Inuarashi's gaze was steady. "Kaido is not a monster you can defeat with passion and hot blood."
Ace nodded again. "I know that too."
Inuarashi looked at him. "Then what gives Zou reason to believe you?"
Ace didn't answer right away.
He lifted his head and looked toward the distant capital of the Mokomo Dukedom. Behind it, the vast forest. Below the forest, the long spine of Zunesha.
This country had waited too long on the giant elephant's back. Waiting for the Kozuki to return. Waiting for the prophesied hour. Waiting for a chance big enough.
Ace pulled his gaze back and smiled.
"Because I'm not here asking you to believe."
Inuarashi frowned.
Ace went on. "I'm here to give you a choice. Keep waiting for that Kozuki banner that still hasn't come. Or sharpen your blades before it does."
His voice finally dropped, heavier.
"When I move against Kaido. Follow."
Before the capital, every Mink went still.
The words were too heavy. Wanda forgot to breathe.
Inuarashi's hand tightened around his sword hilt, degree by degree.
He thought of Oden. The man who threw himself toward the sea without looking back. The wind on Whitebeard's ship. Roger laughing at the bow. That feeling, before the Oro Jackson sailed for the final island, like the whole era was about to catch fire.
This young man was too arrogant. Too dangerous. And too much like the ones who had once changed the world.
Inuarashi was silent a long time.
Then he turned toward the capital.
"Come with me."
Wanda stiffened. "Duke Inuarashi?"
Inuarashi didn't look back. "This isn't a conversation for the forest."
He paused. His voice stayed hard and level.
"And the matter of the red Poneglyph is not mine alone to decide."
Pedro lifted his eyes. He knew who Inuarashi meant. The Ruler of Night. Nekomamushi.
Inuarashi walked on.
"Portgas D. Ace. You want to talk about Kaido. You want to talk about the red Poneglyph. Then wait for night. When Nekomamushi is here too. Then we'll talk."
Ace watched his back and smiled.
"Fine."
"I'll wait until night. Not because Zou has the standing to stall me. Just because you Minks are interesting."
He swept his gaze over the warriors still watching, wary but unflinching, and his grin deepened.
"You generate electricity. Every citizen is a soldier. You're willing to raise guns in front of the Eclipse. Allies like that are a lot more interesting than a block of stone."
He stepped forward.
Sabo tugged his hat lower and fell in beside Ace. The Flame Dragon staff quieted in his grip, the pink scale patterns slowly receding.
Leona pulled her gaze from the Mink warriors.
Carina glanced at Pedro, then at Bepo, and closed her intel book with a thoughtful look.
Bepo still hadn't moved.
His eyes were fixed on Pedro. Too many questions. Where was his brother Zepo? Why hadn't he come back? Why had Pedro's eye looked like that when he heard Zepo's name?
Pedro met his gaze and said quietly, "When this is over. I'll tell you."
Bepo's claws curled tight.
Then he nodded. "...Okay."
The path to the capital opened.
Inuarashi walked ahead. Ace and the others followed. Mink warriors still tracked them with their eyes, but no one moved to block them.
The group passed through the forest, heading toward the capital of the Mokomo Dukedom.
Inuarashi didn't look back again.
But his eyes were heavier than before. He knew that from the moment Ace set foot on Zou, this was no longer a question of whether Zou wanted to receive a guest.
The young man had given them a simple choice.
Become allies in the coming war against Kaido. Or hand over the red stone and keep waiting on the giant elephant's back for a future that might never arrive.
And Zou had already waited far too long.
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