"Wow, there really is a city built on water."
Imu stood beside Michael, gazing at Water Seven—a city that had transformed into its current state due to the fall of the Great Kingdom—and couldn't help but marvel.
After all, Imu was essentially an inland dweller.
And in this world eight hundred years later, lifestyles had almost entirely shifted to those of islanders or peninsula dwellers.
Seeing the state of Water Seven didn't come as a surprise...
It was nothing more than partially submerged by water.
Yet it was precisely this environmental condition that made ships come and go more easily, ultimately helping Water Seven become the largest ship repair hub.
With the boost from Michael and the Sea Train, it eventually became known as the "Nation of Ships."
"If I'd seen this scene eight hundred years ago, I would've been too shocked to speak," Imu said with a laugh. "But after coming to this era, I've started to change... At most, I'd just find it novel now."
Michael and Imu walked ahead.
Behind them were Luffy himself and the trio with Uta.
The old geezers couldn't be bothered to disembark and simply went fishing on the ship instead.
Meanwhile, the other youngsters were sent by Michael to procure and replenish supplies...
The only issue with this ship was that there were far too many bottomless stomachs among them.
These graduates from the youth training program were all monstrous eaters—no joke.
After all, the minimum training standard for the youth program had been set according to the requirements of the SWORD Classified Special Forces.
So their successful graduation meant every one of them had fully mastered the Six Powers and, through that mastery, awakened Life Return.
But such exceptional physical conditioning required even more food to sustain.
And the biggest eater of them all was undoubtedly Luffy, who was currently trailing behind Michael.
However, because Luffy was usually too scatterbrained, tasks like supply procurement—which required at least a modicum of intelligence and social skills—always excluded him.
And since Luffy had no interest in fishing with the old geezers, he had no choice but to tag along with Michael alongside Uta's trio.
"Hey, isn't your crew a bit too small?" Uta whispered to Luffy. "A pirate ship this huge should have at least a few hundred crew members to look proper, right? But you guys don't even have twenty people in total!"
"Why would we need that many? On the sea, numbers don't necessarily mean strength," Luffy scoffed.
"Besides, the most important thing is that ordinary folks wouldn't catch our capta—cough—wouldn't meet our captain's standards."
Luffy nearly blurted out "Michael."
But in that instant, he caught the sharp glare Michael shot his way and immediately corrected himself.
Even someone as dense as him knew now wasn't the time to reveal the name "Michael."
"Then what about us?" Uta suddenly thumped her chest. "I didn't show it earlier, but I'm actually pretty strong!"
Luffy opened his mouth.
It was true—Uta did have some skills.
But they were only enough for self-preservation in that earlier situation. Expecting her to protect Kaya and Usopp at the same time would've been asking too much.
Honestly, letting them join the crew wouldn't be impossible. At the very least, they had impressive backgrounds... This was Red Hair's daughter, after all.
If they were actual, serious pirates...
But unfortunately, they weren't.
Just as Luffy—whose intuition far outpaced his intellect—was about to refuse after a couple of mental loops, Michael turned around and cut him off.
"Uta, are you saying you want to join our Old Geezers Pirates?"
"Although your pirate crew's name is really hard to describe... I genuinely want to join you! After all, you cured Kaya! This kindness must be repaid."
"...Are you here to repay kindness or seek revenge?" Luffy was rather blunt.
"Enough, Luffy. Any more would be impolite." Michael chuckled and nodded at Uta. "Of course you can join... but I'm very strict with my subordinates. Be prepared to be trained until you cry."
...
"Are you really playing pirate now?" Imu asked with a smile as she watched Luffy and Uta's trio enter a shop specializing in mid-sized sailboat repairs.
"Or have you thought up some new scheme?"
"Given our relationship, ask yourself—am I really that scheming?" Michael laughed. "But I do want to use them to achieve a goal everyone would be happy with."
"You mean recruiting that 'Red-Haired' Shanks? Based on current information, he's probably the strongest pirate on the seas right now, isn't he?"
Imu nodded.
By now, she had fully adapted to this era, assimilating all kinds of information and constructing a comprehensive mental database in her own way.
...
After all, she was once a queen.
If not for the fall of the Great Kingdom and Michael being sent back in time, the ancestor of the World Government might well have been this very Imu.
In terms of intellect and strategic vision, Imu even surpassed the likes of Sengoku and Grandma Tsuru.
Tsuru, for all her wisdom, still had limited perspective.
Imu, however, faced no such constraints.
Originally royalty, she later became a rebel fighting the Great Kingdom's tyranny, and now, after traveling over 800 years into the future, she was a pirate.
In terms of life experience, she was second only to Michael.
"Shanks isn't just the strongest pirate alive now—he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the greatest figures of the past," Michael said, his admiration for Shanks plain in his eyes.
"And most importantly, his personality suits my tastes perfectly... Oh, and strictly speaking, he's a descendant of the Celestial Dragons... which means you're his ancestor."
"...Wait, how did we suddenly end up here?" Imu blinked. "Don't slander me—I never had any 'Celestial Dragon' nonsense in mind."
"But he really could call you his ancestor... because his surname is Figarland."
"Figarland..." Imu paused. "Samir's descendant?"
Back then, the royal families were all interconnected.
Though Samir was Michael's scribe and attendant—and younger than Imu—he was actually her uncle.
"Of course, he himself couldn't care less about that identity," Michael shrugged. "But... it's the exact opportunity we need."
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