"Young Master!?"
The moment that title came out, everyone in the Sky Pirates who had been watching the exchange was stunned. Charlotte Linlin, on the other hand, looked delighted.
From the name of the Cloud Fox, Lillilu, it was obvious that her master should be Rocks D. Xebec.
And now she was calling Yemu "Young Master." Didn't that mean Rocks was Yemu's...
All eyes turned to Yemu in shock.
That really was one hell of a secret.
"You're saying I'm Rocks' son?"
Yemu asked it bluntly.
But the fox called Lillilu did not answer directly. Instead, she asked a question of her own.
"Does Young Master care that much about the answer?"
"No..."
Yemu shook his head.
"Not that much. It's just that now that the riddle's been brought up, it feels strange not to get an answer."
"Is that so? Then I'm relieved. Still, unfortunately, I don't know the answer either."
"What do you mean?"
"Young Master's existence was kept under strict secrecy by Master. In the entire plan, both Linlin and I were only parts of Master's arrangement."
After saying that, the fox named Lillilu dispelled her Devil Fruit form and turned back into an ordinary little fox, lying down on the floor.
That only made Yemu even more curious.
"A plan? What plan?"
Lying on the floor with her mouth slightly open and her eyes half-closed, Lillilu looked at Charlotte Linlin and said slowly,
"I don't know either. The task I was given was only to protect Young Master and deliver Young Master safely to Skypiea. Once that was done, my mission was over. You shouldn't be asking me. Linlin knows more than I do."
"Mamamama... The excitement of uncovering a secret little by little really is thrilling."
Charlotte Linlin looked like she was waiting for Yemu to ask her, but Yemu ignored her and continued questioning Lillilu instead.
"You're saying it was you who sent me to Skypiea? But if I remember right, Rocks had already been dead for several years by the time I got there, hadn't he?"
"Two years and eight months!"
Lillilu gave the time precisely.
"I hid on the Island of the Gods for two years and five months, then spent two months getting to Jaya Island. There, I waited for the Knock Up Stream and successfully sent you to Skypiea."
But Lillilu's words did not clear up Yemu's doubts. They only added even more questions.
"First question. Why did you hide on the Island of the Gods for so long?"
"My Devil Fruit lets me hide my body so completely that even Observation Haki can't detect me, but it has one flaw. When I use the Domain of Death, my body can't fly. During Master's assault on God Valley, there were countless masters of Observation Haki there. Not just Garp and Roger. The one hidden deep within God Valley was even more terrifying. If I exposed myself carelessly, I would have been discovered very quickly. I couldn't take that risk, so I could only remain hidden there until the Celestial Dragons left and all of God Valley was destroyed."
"Is that so?"
What Lillilu had said revealed quite a few hidden secrets.
Clearly, Rocks had had a reason for taking Yemu, who had still been an infant, to God Valley.
But what exactly had that reason been?
Yemu could not make sense of it.
As far as he knew, the most miraculous thing about the Ope Ope no Mi was the immortality surgery.
But the story had never explained exactly how it was performed. Could it have had something to do with Yemu when he was still a baby?
Yemu was not sure, but he was not in any rush.
"Then my second question. Why did you have to send me to Skypiea? Wouldn't it have been better to hide somewhere and live in seclusion? Were you worried someone would discover my identity?"
"No."
Lillilu shook her head.
"There were four people involved in Master's plan, Master included. Master, Master's most trusted friend, Grins D.Leshan-sama, me, and Linlin. Master and Grins-sama both died at God Valley. Linlin made a promise with Master, so she would never reveal Young Master's identity. And if Linlin hadn't captured me with her ability and brought me here, no one would ever have found me. So Young Master's identity would never have become known."
"As for why Master wanted Young Master sent to Skypiea, it was because Master's hometown was on Jaya Island. When he was little, he was accidentally carried to Skypiea by the Knock Up Stream, and that was how he learned of its existence. That was also when I first met Master."
"Really? I never would've guessed that. So Rocks' hometown was actually Jaya Island."
"Yes. But no one knows that. Ever since Master was carried to Skypiea by the Knock Up Stream as a child, the people of Jaya Island believed he had died long ago. That's why no one knows where Master's hometown really was."
"I see. That answers another question. Then let me add a new one. The Grins who died at God Valley... he didn't die because he performed that surgery for Rocks, did he?"
The moment Yemu said that, Lillilu's vertical fox pupils shrank sharply.
She was clearly shocked.
Then she turned her head away and muttered in a low voice,
"I don't know!"
Even though that was still her answer in the end, her expression had already revealed enough.
"I understand. Then one last question. Since you say I'm your Young Master, why didn't you come up to Skypiea and take care of me after sending me there? Why did you send me up there alone? Weren't you worried that a six-year-old child might die up there?"
Lillilu's expression turned complicated. In the end, she still chose not to hide it.
"We don't know where things went wrong either. Maybe Master's idea was impossible from the beginning. In the end, Master's final plan failed. When Grins-sama handed you over to me, you were not alive. Even so, I still followed Master's orders and brought you to Skypiea. Perhaps I was hoping a miracle would happen. And now it seems a miracle really did happen, just not in the way Master wanted..."
"That's everything I know. If you want to know anything else, ask Linlin. She knows more than I do."
After saying that, flames wrapped around Lillilu's body, and she vanished from the cage.
Charlotte Linlin stepped forward again at that moment, smiling as she took the initiative once more.
"Mamamama... If you ask me, I won't tell you now. I already told you, I'll only reveal everything on the day the tea party ends. And I know more than you can imagine... Mamamama... Of course, if you truly don't care, then that's fine too. You can leave Whole Cake Island right now..."
"Is that so? Then I guess there's no helping it."
Although Yemu had already formed a few guesses about this so-called plan, he still had no clue at all about his own origins.
"I can stay, but I have one condition. When the tea party is over, Lillilu comes with me. If I'm her Young Master, then naturally I have the right to take her away."
"Hm!!!"
Charlotte Linlin's brows drew tightly together as she glared at Yemu in obvious displeasure.
"You brat really are greedy. Still, it's not like I can't agree. But I have a condition too..."
At that, Charlotte Linlin's face lit up with excitement.
"You've seen my daughters, haven't you? As long as you're willing to marry one of them, or even several, I won't mind handing Lillilu over to you..."