This wasn't a kiddie ride…
Open the door, I want off!
Rayleigh heard Ron's "virtual age vs. real age" explanation and lit up like he'd just attained enlightenment. "Brilliant!"
Ron only grinned.
That wave hadn't just steadied the steering wheel—he'd locked the doors and floored it at two hundred.
Rem blinked, half-understanding, then headed back to the kitchen with the dishes. Bodies and bodies and… something about coming out of fathers and mothers—yeah, some things still flew over her head.
After lunch, Rayleigh tucked a bottle of tiger-tonic under his arm and swaggered out of the tavern. At the door he tossed back a line:
"The fallen warrior will rise again and sound the horn for the final charge!"
Ron could only shake his head.
He's seventy—how much trouble can an old man want? He just wants to leave his youth… with Shakky.
"Ram, do me a favor and make Lucoa a set of clothes," Ron remembered suddenly. He glanced at Lucoa, then hastily added, "Make it the largest size."
Couldn't be helped. That figure was illegal. Even in the world of pirates, she was… explosive.
"Got it. I'll take Sis to buy fabric now," Ram nodded, scooped up the sunbathing Yoruichi, and left with Rem. In the old days, Ron wouldn't dare send the twins out alone—Area 13 on the Sabaody Archipelago was a lawless sprawl of pirates and slavers. But times had changed. On top of their oni bloodline, Rem wielded magma and Ram controlled flame. Add Yoruichi… even an Emperor would eat two open-palmed slaps before he took a second step.
Watching the three of them go, Lucoa brushed a lock from her brow and smiled.
"Mind if we add another staff member? I have a little friend who could use some time among humans."
"No problem," Ron said. "Though you should've said earlier. I'd have told the twins to buy extra cloth and make another outfit."
Lucoa shook her head. "She may not come. She's… busy fighting the gods right now. I'm not sure she'll survive."
"Tohru?" Ron asked at once—not a girl, strictly speaking, but a dragon.
If Lucoa was right, then the Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid timeline hadn't even begun.
Lucoa didn't look surprised he knew. "Yes. She's lost control. When that child came to me, I should have talked her down." For once, regret flickered through those always-laughing eyes. If she'd stopped Tohru then, none of this would be happening. But regret didn't rewrite battles already joined. Even a supreme deity like Lucoa wouldn't guarantee a clean escape from a war with the gods.
"Tohru will be fine," Ron said lightly. "Don't worry."
"You're sure?" Lucoa studied him.
Ron only smiled and nodded. The certainty in his eyes piqued her curiosity further. He knew too much—of her distant history, of Tohru's circumstances. Who was he, really? Just a bartender?
After a moment's thought, she let it go and teased instead, "Forget Tohru for now—worry about yourself. At lunch I could feel those twin sisters bristling at me. Oh, and the black cat too." Her lips curved. "That's why I waited till they'd left to bring up Tohru. Careful your backyard doesn't catch fire~"
Ron gave a helpless smile. Did she really not know the reason? That body of hers was a weapon of mass jealousy.
At that moment, the system chimed in his mind:
Ding—Guest Lucoa has finished confiding.
Related figure: Tohru will visit the tavern soon.
Rewards available from Lucoa: Dragon Magic, Dragon Physique. Choose one.
Ron frowned. "Only two? Where's the rest?"
Ding—Lucoa's godhead has been stripped; her divine power was erased accordingly.
…And even so, she'd piggybacked a cheap demon-summoning ritual to punch through dimensions and walk right in. Absurd.
"Dragon Physique," Ron decided after a beat. "Make it a skill book and stash it in the system vault."
Stored.
He wasn't about to fuse the power while Lucoa watched. Unlike Rayleigh, this woman wouldn't be fobbed off with a shrug and a smile.
Just then the bell over the door jingled.
Ding-ling…
Meanwhile, in the New World, a fleet of whale-shaped ships cut fast across the waves. From each mast snapped a skull flag crowned with a crescent mustache.
The Whitebeard Pirates.
On the broad main deck, a towering figure lounged in a massive chair, muscles knotted like old rope. Transparent tubes fed into that mountain of a body—strength caged by age and wounds.
Edward Newgate—Whitebeard. The Strongest Man in the World.
The division commanders had gathered, faces grave. Days had passed since Ace's lineage had been exposed. In all that time, no news from Sabaody—like Ace had vanished into air.
Blue fire split the sky and a pair of blazing wings descended. Marco folded them away and strode up to the old man.
"Got something good for everyone to see," he said, smiling.
"Quit the mystery. What is it?" Jozu grunted.
"You'll know when you watch." Marco set down a video transponder snail—the kind that had cost a small fortune from the World Economic News.
It played the devastation from the previous night: Teach's crew getting hammered by a nondescript middle-aged man and two little girls—one tossing meteors of molten rock, the other hurling a city-killer of flame. The tavern sign flashed by just once. The camera shook. Then—lasers from a man's eyes, explosions lighting half the island.
From first frame to last, jaws stayed unhinged. The deck fell dead silent. Questions tumbled through every mind.
Why did those two girls wield both the Flame-Flame and Magma-Magma powers? Who was that man? Did Teach die? Why didn't anyone finish the job?
After a long quiet, Whitebeard rumbled, "You find out who they are? Especially the man."
"We only traced the twins," Marco said. "They belong to a tavern not far from Rayleigh and Shakky's. As for the man—no records at all."
Whitebeard sat, thinking. "If we bring Ace home, we'll see the old friends… and drop by this tavern."
Drinking was the excuse. Deep down, he wanted to gamble—if that man and those twins would call him "old man," then what of it? The sea was wide enough for more family.
Ding-ling…
Back in the tavern, the bell chimed as the door swung open.
Ron looked up—then blinked.
A wolf stepped in. Upright. Wearing a patched melon cap and a yellow scarf. Big round eyes. A grin just a little too crafty.
…Well. This should be interesting.
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