Chapter 532: Opening Wano's Borders
"Shanks!"
The young woman threw herself at her father with enough force to nearly knock him off his feet.
"Uta! It's been forever!"
Any trace of the legendary Red Hair vanished instantly. Shanks caught his daughter one-handed, hoisted her up by the armpit, and started spinning her in a circle.
"I'm going to fly off!"
Uta, celebrated singer under Tesoro's label and known across the world, shrieked at the top of her lungs. With only one arm, Shanks's grip on her balance was... optimistic at best.
"Captain, you idiot!"
The crew surged forward as one to rescue their beloved Uta from their captain's questionable parenting, pulling her safely back to solid ground. Then came the avalanche of questions - are you eating properly, are you sleeping enough, you look thinner, you look tired.
Standing nearby, Tesoro stared at Uranus with unblinking eyes. "So this is the ancient weapon. Remarkable."
"It is," Brett agreed.
"Can it actually use Haki?"
"Possibly better than you."
Brett left it at that.
It wasn't that surprising when you thought about it. His Sea King brothers could use Haki. Why not Uranus?
Tesoro had originally come to see the ancient dragon, but once he'd heard Shanks was here, he'd brought Uta along. The two of them hadn't seen each other in quite a while, and for all that Tesoro only called her his apprentice on his own authority, he genuinely cared about the girl.
Meanwhile, Shanks was being put on trial by his crew. The charges: causing Princess Uta distress.
Uta watched it unfold and laughed until her sides hurt. She adored Shanks completely, but seeing him squirm every once in a while was its own kind of joy.
"Wait, Shanks..." Rayleigh was staring at the Red Hair with an expression somewhere between shock and disbelief.
Don't tell me this kid already has a child. She doesn't look much younger than Ace. Shanks, what exactly happened after the Roger Pirates disbanded?
"Let me introduce you, Rayleigh." Shanks took his daughter's hand, smiling. "This is Uta. My daughter."
Rayleigh's eyes went wide.
"Nice to meet you, Uncle Rayleigh!" Uta greeted him with a bright smile. She'd grown up on Shanks's stories about the Roger Pirates. Rayleigh was hardly a stranger to her.
"Good girl." Rayleigh smiled with genuine warmth. Whatever the circumstances, she was Shanks's child.
"It's funny, actually," Shanks said. "In a way it felt inevitable - like fate had already written it. I found her inside a treasure chest."
Rayleigh blinked. Not by blood, then.
Then he burst out laughing. "Fate is right. Of all the ways to find a child."
After the battle at God Valley, he and Roger had found Shanks the same way. A baby inside a chest. History had a strange sense of humor.
"You must be Uta." Garp ambled over, grinning. "Luffy talked about you quite a bit."
"Luffy?" Uta's eyes went wide. "You're Luffy's grandfather?"
"Wahahahaha! Did that little runt tell you stories about me too?"
Uta's expression became carefully neutral.
How exactly was she supposed to tell him that Luffy had mostly described this man while trembling - something about being strapped to a balloon, hurled off a cliff, left in a forest. That didn't seem like something you led with.
"Hey, Shanks." Garp turned to the Red Hair. "Is Luffy doing all right?"
"Haven't seen the kid in a while myself," Shanks said easily.
"That's your fault, you know." Garp's voice sharpened, though the grin stayed. "You're the one who put that nonsense in his head about becoming Pirate King. Now the stubborn little fool won't think about anything else."
Shanks rubbed the back of his head.
"Doesn't matter much now," Garp said, tone dropping slightly. "The age of pirates is coming to an end."
Win this war, and the era of the great pirates closes with it. After that, there would be no Pirate King title left to chase.
Shanks and Rayleigh both went quiet for a moment.
"Luffy's going to cry when he finds out," Uta said, looking quite pleased about it.
"Luffy will find something else to chase," Shanks said, ruffling her hair. "The age of pirates ending doesn't mean the age of men setting sail for their dreams ends with it. That never stops."
Did you need to be a pirate to have an adventure? That seemed like a stretch.
"What would you even call them?" Brett asked, smiling. "Adventurers?"
"Not a bad word for it." Shanks laughed, easy and unconcerned.
Nothing lasted forever. Pirates included. But the will to chase something across the open sea - that was something people had passed down through every generation this world had ever seen.
"Either way," Brett said, "make yourselves at home here, Shanks, Rayleigh. I'll have everything arranged for you."
Rayleigh raised an eyebrow. "That sounds like a goodbye."
"I need to make a trip. Something important that can't wait."
"Understood." Rayleigh nodded. "While you're gone, I'll start organizing what Roger left behind - his notes on that technique."
"You still need more training?" Shanks looked genuinely baffled. "Brett, you're already past the point of reason."
"My opponent is Imu," Brett said simply.
That was answer enough. Against Imu, you brought everything you had. Every drop of strength you could develop before the final battle began.
"Unbelievable," Shanks said, and he meant it as a compliment.
Already this strong, and still pushing forward. There was something almost frightening about a person like that.
Brett left without delay, heading straight for Wano.
It was time. The moment to bring Pluton back into the world had arrived, and with Imu no longer making any effort to stay hidden, waiting made no sense.
It was time to open Wano's borders.
That part, he'd need Zunesha's help to manage.
He could probably break through Wano's encircling walls on his own at this point - that wasn't the issue. The issue was that he'd made a promise to Zunesha. Walking in and opening Wano without him would be taking something that wasn't his to take.
Joy Boy had given Zunesha that mission. Doing it in his place would just be awkward for everyone involved.
Best to find Zunesha first.