Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
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"What I'm asking is, who outranks who? The Chairwoman or the Regent?"
Zegion answered immediately and without hesitation.
"You do, of course, Kaito-sama."
"So my word carries more weight than Shizu's, doesn't it?"
"Your commands are supreme."
"Perfect. Then I've decided we're going to refine the report a little. What do you think we should do about that?"
Something in Zegion's posture went very still.
He was not a man built for this kind of problem. He looked at his direct superior, silently apologized to the Chairwoman somewhere deep in his heart, and spoke.
"...I understand."
Kaito looked at him with great satisfaction.
"Wonderful. Then I'll leave the refining to you."
A perfectly executed application of the principle: if you have subordinates, use them. Kaito handed the problem to Zegion cleanly, and if anything came of it later, well, that would be Zegion's problem to explain. He congratulated himself on being very clever.
"Kaito-sama, I... I cannot possibly..."
"I believe in you."
Zegion stared at him. If the order had been to kill someone, he would have done it without blinking. But revising an internship report? He would genuinely have preferred the killing.
Unfortunately, the boss had given him a task, and you did not hand tasks back to the boss.
The helpless Zegion went off to deal with the internship report, looking as though he were heading to his own funeral.
"Hehe! Kaito-nii really does always find a way. Zegion-onii-chan just keeps that same straight face and never says a single extra word!"
Ririka watched the whole exchange with open admiration.
"Ha! That's just how Zegion is. He's actually a good person at heart. Don't get the wrong idea about him."
Kaito had just finished tricking the man and felt it was only fair to put in a word for him.
"Oh, we don't have the wrong idea at all! We love Zegion-onii-chan! He's the one who chased that big oaf away!"
"Good. As long as we're all clear. Alright, time to head back before Shizu starts to worry."
"Hai! *n"
Some might wonder how Kaito came to be in the New World so suddenly when he had only just been in the Jura-Tempest Federation moments before.
The answer is his divine ability, [Flash Step].
The moment he arrived in the One Piece World, he used his divine sense to locate Ririka and the internship ship, then crossed the distance between them in an instant.
For Kaito, any corner of the world was effectively right next door, provided he wanted to go there.
This was precisely why Shizu had asked him to go find Ririka and the others in the first place. There was only one reason for it. Speed.
At that same moment, Shizu, who had only just arrived in the One Piece World herself, was making her way through the city with Treyni at her side.
"Treyni, this place looks a lot like Central City. It feels like a smaller version of it."
Shizu looked out at the lively streets, where faces from the Slime World mixed with faces from Alabasta.
"Haha! Well, it was put together quickly using space capsules, so naturally it borrowed from Central City's layout."
"It really did. Even the statues by the fountain in the square are the same ones."
Shizu looked at the statues of Kaito and Rimuru standing in the square and smiled, something fond and exasperated in equal measure.
"Hahaha! Speaking of which, I heard that those very statues have a habit of mysteriously vanishing in the middle of the night. Apparently it's become one of the seven urban legends of the Jura-Tempest Federation."
Treyni said this with a light laugh, one hand raised to her lips as though trying not to picture it too clearly.
"Ha! Obviously it's Kai-chan and Rimuru. Who else would steal their own statues? Rigurd just lets them get away with it."
Shizu shook her head gently, still smiling.
"Chairwoman, you really do know them."
Treyni said it without a hint of surprise. In truth, everyone in the Jura-Tempest Federation with any knowledge of the situation knew perfectly well who the statue thieves were. They had all simply agreed, without ever discussing it, that as long as the two of them were happy, it was nobody else's business.
A little way ahead, Aihara Enju had grabbed Vivi by the hand and was pulling her toward a shop at speed.
"Sister Vivi, this place sells the most popular things from the Jura-Tempest Federation! You have to come look!"
"Oh? Then I absolutely have to see this!"
"Come on, come on!"
From a distance, Shizu squinted at the girl doing the pulling.
"Is that... Enju?"
"It is indeed, Chairwoman. That's her."
Treyni was well acquainted with Aihara Enju. She was a fairly prominent student at Tokiwadai Middle School, and had also, somehow, ended up co-founding some peculiar organization with Storm Dragon Veldora.
Not that Veldora was ever properly in one shape or another these days. Still, as a Dryad, Treyni held genuine respect for him. He had been the one to shelter them when they lost Ramiris's protection.
"Let's go take a look. It seems she's made a new friend."
"Haha! Yes, let's."
Inside the shop, Aihara Enju had already found her target and was pointing at it triumphantly.
"Hmph! This is the limited edition collector's Rimuru nee-san doll! You normally can't get this anywhere. I had to ask around in so many places just to find out it was on sale here today!"
The doll in question was enormous. The price tag read 999 Tempest Coin.
"Eh? Rimuru? She's... this is..."
Vivi stared at the giant Slime doll, clearly trying to reconcile it with something in her head.
"Oh! I forgot, Sister Vivi, you don't know about Rimuru nee-san yet! Her true form is a Slime. Isn't she adorable?"
Vivi looked at the doll again with fresh eyes and found herself nodding.
"She really is. Excuse me, shop owner!"
The shop owner approached with unhurried, graceful steps. She was a woman in a floral kimono, and her smile was the kind that made customers feel immediately at ease.
"Welcome. How can I help you?"
"Please wrap this one for me. I'll take it."
"Of course. Will there be anything else?"
"Actually, something just came in. It isn't an original, just a replica, but I have a feeling you might appreciate it."
Before Vivi could respond, Enju had already leaned forward.
"Sister Tamayo, what is it?!"
"Come and see."
Tamayo led them both to a display cabinet filled with figurines in various poses.
"Wow! So many Rimuru nee-sans! And there's Kaito-nii too!"
Vivi's eyes lit up as she took in the shelves. Kaito and Rimuru in every expression and pose imaginable.
Tamayo reached into the cabinet and produced one particular figurine, holding it out for them to see.
Both of them immediately dissolved.
"Pfft!"
"Hahahaha! Kaito-nii got caught by Sister Sakuya again!"
And indeed, it was a replica of the pendant Kaito had given to Sakuya. Not a perfect likeness, as replicas go, but as a figurine it was genuinely well made.
"I want this one! Sister Tamayo, how much?"
"For Enju's sake, I'll give you a discount. Six hundred Tempest Coin, call it 599."
"Done! I'll take--"
A gentle voice drifted in from behind them.
"Enju, are these your new friends?"
Everyone turned toward the voice. Enju's eyes went wide.
"Shizu-sensei! Treyni-sensei!"