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Neji's voice remained calm and absolute.
"If you truly care about them, then letting them go with the Marines is the best choice."
He glanced toward the snowy shore.
"Besides… Smoker might be rough, but he's trustworthy."
Nami stiffened.
She still remembered Loguetown the smoke man who almost stopped their journey before it even began.
A small hand tugged at Nami's shirt.
"Big sis… can we go home now?"
A tiny boy stared up at her with hopeful eyes.
His older sister, frightened but protective, quickly pulled him into her arms.
Nami's heart sank. Their quiet, patient stares cut deeper than any sword.
But she forced a smile, gently stroking the girl's hair.
They deserved an answer. A real one.
She inhaled slowly, exhaled, and then looked at Neji.
"…Please keep your word. Make sure everyone of them gets home."
Neji didn't promise because he knew he couldn't promise something outside his power.
Instead, he silently summoned his puppets and began arranging the children's departure.
Chopper shuffled beside Nami, ears drooping.
He watched the kids pack their favorite toys with trembling hands, preparing to leave.
Each farewell felt like a punch to the chest.
Neji, meanwhile, had another matter to deal with.
He walked over to Kin'emon's reconstructed head, currently placed on a patched-up body of sorts, and grabbed him by the topknot.
"The samurai of Wano… What a bunch of idiots."
Before Kin'emon could shout, Neji casually tossed him into a pile of children's plushies.
The samurai sputtered furiously from inside the toy pile. "When I am whole again, I shall repay this insult tenfold! Mark my words!"
Neji ignored him completely.
---
He led Izumi into one of the few rooms with an intact window.
Frost clung to the glass.
Outside, Marines escorted the children aboard their ship, bundling them in blankets to protect them from the snow.
Neji sipped hot tea and stared at the icy horizon.
"You must have a lot of questions, Izumi."
Izumi nodded. "You… seemed to know them."
He handed her a cup and conjured a softer cloud-sofa for the two of them to sit on.
"This world… was my previous life," he said quietly. "I knew many people here. Smoker. Tashigi. The Marines. The pirates."
Izumi's eyes widened.
"Do you want to hear my story?" he asked.
She nodded again softly, shyly, sincerely.
"Mm."
Neji leaned back, gazing at the falling snow, and began.
He told her about life on the strange islands scattered across this world, about his early adventures.
His brutal marine training.
His graduation.
His posting as the guardian of Punk Hazard.
The tragedy four years ago.
The missions across the seas.
The Summit War.
And the final betrayal was the trap that led to his "death."
He adjusted a few details, of course, Some truths weren't meant to be spoken.
Izumi listened quietly, fully absorbed.
With every story, the world outside grew larger and stranger in her mind: dragons, Devil Fruits, sea kings, living islands, an endless ocean of the impossible.
By the time the tale ended, the children had been fully loaded onto the Marine ship.
Smoker was preparing to depart, still female, and Neji realized he hadn't changed him back yet.
He really didn't care, did he?
Neji shrugged, stood, and placed a hand on Izumi's shoulder.
A moment later, he vanished.
---
Neji appeared on the Marine deck.
The G-5 soldiers reacted instantly then just as quickly realized they stood no chance.
Phantom Clone.
A wave of shimmering illusions burst from Neji's body, each clone placing a hand on a marine's chest.
Mind after mind was cleansed, rewired, and ordered to forget.
Meanwhile, the real Neji strode directly toward Smoker and Tashigi.
Before they could react, he placed his hand on their foreheads.
Their eyes unfocused.
Memories dissolved.
He even cleansed the children's memories for their own safety erasing the horrors of Punk Hazard without touching their families or identities.
Then he withdrew and immediately stabbed Smoker with a new serum.
Liquid flowed.
Bones shifted.
Muscles thickened.
In seconds, the fierce, broad-shouldered vice admiral was back.
Neji dusted off his hands.
"All done. You should leave. When we meet again, your memories will return on their own. Take care of those children."
The crew moved with mechanical calm—still dazed from their mental reset and began maneuvering the ship.
Neji stood on the snowy shoreline until the ship vanished into the white horizon.
---
"Luffy and his idiots…" Neji sighed. "They've probably gotten lost again."
And indeed according to the original timeline, the lab should have exploded by now.
Doflamingo should have been arriving soon.
Smoker should've been crushed, only to be saved by Aokiji.
But now?
Nothing.
Everything had changed.
Neji returned to the lab and began outlining his reconstruction plans, Luffy and the others?
He'd let them wander until they found their way.
Momonosuke, now a little girl, was also somewhere in the base, but Neji wasn't particularly interested in Wano's politics.
Though he did want the Poneglyphs eventually.
Especially the red ones the Road Poneglyphs.
He'd never even touched one in his past life.
And Zou…
That was always the hardest to locate—perched on the back of a giant wandering elephant.
His musings ended when his puppets reported Luffy's group had finally arrived.
Took them long enough.
Neji brought Izumi along and approached the noisy scene.
The Straw Hats were unsurprisingly stuffing their faces with food.
It warmed something in his chest.
"Long time no see."
Luffy looked up mid-bite, cheeks stuffed.
"Hmm? Who are you?"
Neji tapped the table. "You're eating my food. What do you think that makes me?"
"Ohhh," Luffy nodded. "So you're a good guy!"
Izumi giggled softly behind her hand.
Zoro lifted a chunk of meat then yelped as a long hand stretched in and stole it.
He chomped down on air.
A beat of silence—
Then Zoro exploded and tackled Luffy, who had stolen the meat.
Within seconds, the two were brawling across the floor.
Sanji and Usopp got dragged in.
Furniture flew.
Nami finally punched all four of them unconscious.
Robin watched the chaos with her gentle smile, though her gaze lingered on Neji.
Something about him felt… familiar.
Then Kin'emon, finally with a working mouth and stomach, knelt dramatically before Luffy.
"Lord Luffy! Please help me find my son, Momonosuke! He must be somewhere in this laboratory!"
Nami lifted her head from her dessert.
"The kids were taken by the Marines already… maybe your son is with them?"
Lightning struck Kin'emon's soul.
He froze.
Then shot upright, bolting for the exit.
"I shall find you, Lord Momonosuke! No corner of this world will hide you from me!"
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