"Ahhh, Michael truly lives up to his name. The moment he moves, the entire sea ripples with him…"
Gloriosa at the Cross Guild headquarters looked at the fresh intel in her hand and spoke with a smile.
"Do you even need to say it, Gloriosa?" Rayleigh, standing by the window, shook his head with a laugh. "He is Michael, after all."
"But using Wano as the stage… is that really fine?" Gaban asked while polishing his pair of axes at the side.
"Will Kozuki Oden agree? Even if Oden agrees, what about the other daimyo of Wano?"
"Gaban, you still haven't spent enough time with Michael." Rayleigh turned back to look at Gaban, who wore a puzzled expression.
"You only know his terrifying strength… but you don't know that what he's truly best at is persuasion."
"Persuasion?"
"Michael just has that kind of charm… weren't we all talked into forming the Cross Guild by him?"
"Are you sure that was because of his charm? And not his fists?"
"Of course… Back then, Michael wasn't anywhere near as strong as he is now."
"Tch, I nearly forgot." Gaban shook his head. "But this time, the Revolutionary Army hasn't made any big moves… it's the Navy that's started acting."
"For the Navy right now, the enemy isn't only the pirates."
Gloriosa said this as she handed the intel to both Gaban and Rayleigh.
The two looked down at the document—at the glaring words Dyna Stones—and their expressions changed instantly.
That kind of ultimate weapon, banned across the entire sea… had appeared on the black market!?
"Hey hey hey, this has to be a joke, right? The World Government is actually letting this kind of thing leak onto the black market…"
"That's why I said, the Navy has more than one enemy…" Gloriosa stretched her slender, pale waist.
"The World Government… is far more ruthless than you imagine."
"Then we…?"
"Of course we keep gathering intel and apply side pressure… It's not time for us to take action yet."
...
Michael originally wanted to sleep a bit longer.
But he heard that today, all the daimyo of Wano would gather at the Shogunate for a meeting.
And more importantly… among the attendees was an organization that screamed Kozuki Toki made this: the "Overseas Trade Promotion Association."
Michael wanted to see with his own eyes how far Toki had progressed with her reforms of Wano.
So Michael, accompanied by Yamato and Jack, joined the meeting.
At first, Michael's presence shocked all the daimyo.
But when they heard that Michael was Toki's adoptive father, although confusion flickered in their eyes…
They all accepted it openly!
"The one leading Wano down the path of reform, Kozuki Toki, came from over eight hundred years in the past… Compared to that, nothing else is too absurd for us to accept."
As the current daimyo of Kuri and former shogun of Wano, Kozuki Sukiyaki plopped himself right down beside Michael.
"So, should I be calling you in-law, Michael-san?"
Michael looked at the man who'd been dragged off his position as shogun by Kaido and Kurozumi Orochi, raising a brow.
"Call me whatever you want… Honestly, I'm not very good at being someone's elder."
"Ahahaha! Michael-san, you're quite funny!"
Whether compared to his son or his grandson, Sukiyaki far surpassed both of them in governance ability.
If not for the past incident that left him guilt-ridden and unwilling to rule again, Wano might be in a completely different state today.
Although Sukiyaki was a man of honor who cared deeply about protecting children, he also valued Wano's laws and order…
Meaning he was one of the old-guard supporters of isolationism.
So before Oden drove out Kaido, his relationship with Oden had always been bad.
Even now, Michael could still feel the awkwardness in Sukiyaki whenever he looked at Oden.
Yet toward Toki, Sukiyaki held absolute admiration.
That… was contradictory.
"If I'm not mistaken, as Wano's former shogun, weren't you always firmly in favor of isolation?"
"Ah, yes, back then I did believe that… Only by sealing ourselves off could we preserve what was inside."
Sukiyaki spoke with deep emotion as he looked at Toki seated at the head, with Oden acting like a stiff, intimidating mascot beside her.
"But Toki used real proof to change my mind. Today's Wano is stronger and more prosperous than before—nothing compares to that."
"But the latest news is that Kaido is gathering new allies to invade Wano again for revenge." Michael glanced at Sukiyaki.
"Doesn't that make you think isolationism would've been better?"
"Are you teasing me?" Sukiyaki laughed casually. "You say that as if Kaido didn't invade back when we were isolated."
Michael nodded.
Toki's reforms of Wano… truly inherited the essence.
This adoptive daughter raised by his future self… was absolutely born to rebel.
The entire meeting proceeded step by step under Toki's full control.
Michael's gaze swept across the daimyo, finally landing on the chairman of that Overseas Trade Promotion Association.
This plump, round-bellied man…
Gave Michael a constant sense of disharmony.
Frowning as he focused on him, he felt that this round, greasy-looking face resembled a…
Perfectly crafted mask.
Michael didn't know why he felt that way, but ever since arriving in the world of One Piece, he'd learned…
The most trustworthy thing was the intuition of this body.
And that man—called Chairman Nichimura—after sensing Michael's gaze, showed a brief flash of panic and shock in his eyes.
This man… had a problem.
But Michael wasn't about to cause a scene in front of Oden and all the daimyo.
That would be brainless.
So he whispered a few words to Yamato and Jack beside him. The two nodded seriously, then quietly slipped out.
"Hm? What are your subordinates doing?"
"Oh, young people get curious when they come to a new place. No need to make them sit here with us boring old men, right?"
"I didn't expect you to be so good at taking care of youngsters!" Sukiyaki burst into laughter.
"Speaking of raising children, I have plenty of experience—"
"Uh, let's not talk about child-raising right now… As a daimyo, could you maybe clean up the room full of beautiful girl figurines you've collected?"
"…Wait, who told you about that!?"
"…Of course it was Momonosuke, the kid you raised."
-----------
Fanfic is finished. 583 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg