After thinking it through carefully, Ash realized he had never intended to conquer the world or reshape it. Yet ever since his arrival, the world had already begun changing.
With his current strength, he could easily overturn the entire world and rebuild it from scratch. There was no longer anything capable of stopping him. Still, because of his personality, he simply had no interest in ruling over anyone.
Almost everything that had happened so far had been pushed forward passively until it eventually reached this point.
Now that he thought about it, ever since returning from East Blue to Paradise, especially after he stopped traveling with the crew regularly, he had barely done anything proactive besides eating, drinking, and enjoying life.
But who said a reincarnated person had to build an empire and become some supreme ruler?
If not for the Devil Fruit Collection Task, what was wrong with wanting to live freely every day?
Still, one event after another had pushed things toward the current situation, while the Devil Fruit Collection Task continued hanging over his head.
Ash had no intention of breaking the promise he made earlier just because of some so-called future plotline. Since he had already decided to eliminate every pirate crew he encountered, then there should be no exceptions, whether it was the Beast Pirates or the Red Hair Pirates.
Besides, Ace and Luffy had already been taken away by Dragon and formed the ASL Brothers group. The future path of the so-called Pirate King no longer had much meaning.
So what exactly was he still expecting?
The truth was, Ash had never held any real expectations for the world of pirates.
Otherwise, he would not have searched so early for trustworthy companions only to spend most of his time lazing around afterward.
The reason for his frustration was simple.
The future had become unfamiliar.
His actions had changed too many things, causing the future he once knew to gradually disappear.
That certainty, the confidence that came from knowing what would happen next, was fading away.
But after counting the timeline carefully, even his original knowledge of the future only covered less than five years anyway.
And now, without the existence of the original Straw Hat crew's journey, how much of those five years could remain the same?
More importantly, with his current strength and influence, even if the future became completely unknown, nothing in this world seemed capable of threatening him or Cathay Village anymore.
So why was he still frustrated?
What exactly was there to worry about?
Why was he sitting around acting depressed?
Did food suddenly stop tasting good?
Was the amusement park no longer entertaining?
Or was he nervous because he was about to turn eighteen?
"Ehehehehe..."
After finally untangling the knot in his heart, Ash suddenly burst into strange laughter.
Kirk, who had just raised his third cigarette, nearly jumped from the unexpected sound.
The next second, Ash grabbed Kirk by the shoulder and instantly returned to the Dawn Ship.
"Everybody get up!"
"We're continuing the feast!"
Pini and the others, who were sleeping all over the courtyard of the Dawn Ship, were abruptly awakened by Ash's shout.
"Are you insane?! Stop yelling! We still have to sail tomorrow!"
"Sail later! Get up and party!"
Ash raised his hand and launched dozens of flaming bursts into the sky like fireworks, causing thunderous explosions to echo overhead.
After forcibly waking everyone, Ash dragged the still half-asleep crew back to Cathay Village while simultaneously summoning everyone stationed on the other ships.
A massive bonfire carnival was about to begin.
The members of the Dawn faction had no idea what kind of emotional struggle Ash had just gone through. They simply assumed the celebration was for defeating another Yonko crew, so they joined the festivities enthusiastically.
Only the Kirk siblings, who had witnessed Ash go from frustrated to excited within minutes, could vaguely guess what had happened.
After arranging for someone to move the Dawn Ship away from the waters near Elegia Kingdom, Kirk looked at Ash's excited expression and sighed helplessly.
Their captain might look childish sometimes, but if he wanted a massive carnival, then they would give him one.
"Damn it, the kitchen really is a chef's battlefield."
Kirk rolled his eyes at Ash before organizing people to prepare ingredients for the night's feast.
The battle at Elegia yielded six Devil Fruits.
Sole Task: Devil Fruit Collection Quantity [64/500]
...
The following day, the massive craters left behind from the battle on the former Music Island, Elegia, were reported throughout the World Economy News Paper.
The world quickly learned that the Dawn faction and the Red Hair Pirates had fought a major battle there.
However, both the Dawn Ship and the Red Force had already departed, and neither side appeared to have suffered heavy losses.
Since the battle took place within Whitebeard's territory, many forces speculated that both sides had reached a temporary stalemate. Fearing interference from the Whitebeard Pirates, they likely chose to stop after a brief exchange.
Even so, the implications shocked the entire world.
Just six months ago, it took three Warlords of the Sea working together to fight Kaido.
Now, in less than half a year, the Dawn faction had already become capable of clashing evenly with Red Hair Shanks.
As a result, the world's evaluation of the Dawn faction, especially its leader Ash, rose once again.
Naturally, Ash paid little attention to the outside world's reactions.
After resolving the frustration in his heart, he became even more carefree than before, spending every day drinking and eating with Sali and the others.
The carnival, originally planned to last only one day, continued extending repeatedly until it finally ended after an entire week.
It was not because Ash could no longer drink.
The monthly Sabaody Archipelago auction was approaching once again.
This time, Ash was far more proactive than usual.
First, he traveled with Sali and the others to Reverse Mountain to replace Perona's Hollow-Hollow Fruit.
After that, he headed to Carnival Island to replace Brook's Revive-Revive Fruit.
Finally, he returned to the Sabaody Archipelago to participate in the auction.
Just as expected, Ash spent a ridiculous amount of Berries once again and successfully acquired another Paramecia Devil Fruit, the Melt-Melt Fruit.
The task progress updated once more.
Sole Task: Devil Fruit Collection Quantity [67/500]
...
As Ash attended the auction in Sabaody, the members of the Dawn faction also returned to their respective territories to handle their own matters.
As a result, only two days had passed since Pini and the others returned to the Dawn Ship.
Just as Ash expected, the Whitebeard Pirates finally arrived.
Under the excuse of avenging Squard the Great Whirlwind Spider, Whitebeard, Edward Newgate himself, personally led the Whitebeard Pirates to blockade the Dawn Ship near a barren island not far from Elegia Kingdom.
Accompanying the Whitebeard Pirates were all thirty-seven allied pirate crews and over a hundred ships.