Orin also fell silent,
Although he really had gone to college, how could he possibly have a giant son?
The reason Sadgeo called him that was because the lineage factor had been set before birth,
Perhaps seeing Keek's restless stirring, Orin had no choice but to agree,
That he could try finding him an elderly partner from the Giant race.
...
On the other side,
The port of the Sabaody Archipelago.
Because this was the official port of the Sabaody Archipelago, whether pirate ships or noble cruise liners, or even Marine warships and World Government vessels, as long as they docked here, they were under official protection,
Of course, the price was extremely expensive,
Unless necessary, very few people would stop here.
"What?!"
"500 million Belly?!"
"Yes~"
The Sabaody Archipelago staff wore an all-business expression,
"You overstayed for too long, and during that period people kept trying to attack this ship, so we also charged a service fee, 500 million Belly is already the discounted price."
"If it weren't for Rayleigh-san vouching for you, your ship would've been auctioned off and cleared long ago."
"How could this be..."
Nami was on the verge of tears, even glancing furtively around,
She was already preparing to secretly sail away first.
"Hey, how about we secretly sail off..."
"After things cool down, we'll come back to pick up Luffy and the others..."
"Yeah, we can't pay."
The coward trio conspired.
But the staff clearly handled this kind of thing often and merely said calmly,
"If you refuse to pay, then I can only report it upward. Given that you're pirates with fairly high bounties, it might eventually reach Orin-sama's ears."
"We'll pay!!!"
With tears in their eyes, handing over the hard-earned treasure they had painstakingly saved, Nami's heart shattered,
They were already dealing with the richest person in the world—why was he still fixated on their few hundred million Belly?!!!
Just then,
In midair, three figures abruptly appeared and dropped straight onto the Thousand Sunny's deck.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch..."
"Luffy, Zoro, Sanji?!"
"Long time no see... but why did you suddenly fall from the sky?"
Chopper and the others were first overjoyed, then somewhat puzzled as they asked.
Zoro pushed the two aside and sat up,
"Ah... after we met Luffy, we ran into a strange giant. That guy was really strong. We were just about to start fighting when Sensei appeared and sent all of us flying."
"Sensei?!"
"Could it be..."
Upon hearing this, everyone's faces instantly turned pale,
Even though Usopp had grown a lot and become an excellent sniper, hearing the title of the world's strongest still made his legs go weak,
"W-we should set sail right now. The Sabaody Archipelago is way too dangerous!!!"
...
On the other side,
At another port in the Sabaody Archipelago, a massive pirate ship preparing to head into the New World was attacked.
"Are you kidding me? We're just about to head into the next leg of our journey!!!"
"Where did this Giant come from?!"
The camera pulled back to show a young Giant forcibly squeezing into the coated ship.
"Hee hee hee!!! Sorry—let me hitch a ride."
In just a few exchanges, he crushed the main ship's crew of the great fleet,
Sadgeo bared his teeth in a grin, forcibly boarding the ship and setting off toward Fish-Man Island.
Almost at the same time, two ships sank, slowly descending into the deep sea,
A figure sat on the port's edge,
Facing the evening breeze,
Sketching and scribbling in a notebook,
"Well then... let's see—does destiny lie with people, or with conditions?"
In Orin's little notebook,
A large stick figure stood facing a smaller stick figure,
"No matter the outcome, it's bound to be interesting~"
...
After a series of twists and turns,
The two groups gradually drew closer to Fish-Man Island.
Especially as they went deeper into the sea, the surroundings began to darken,
"Our king is coming."
"The time is almost here."
"This time it will surely work..."
Whispers that ordinary people couldn't understand—couldn't even hear—echoed through the deep sea,
"Who's there?!"
"Who's talking?!"
"Didn't you hear someone talking?!"
Luffy looked around in confusion,
"How could there be anyone here? This is thousands of meters under the sea!!!"
"You must've misheard, Luffy?"
"No... someone really is talking."
Luffy was certain, but he couldn't find the source, and his strange behavior also caught the attention of the ultra-giant Sea Kings,
"Is it just my imagination?"
"That human seems to have heard us talking."
"Come to think of it, over twenty years ago, there was a human like that who passed through here."
The Sea Kings didn't think much of it. In their long lives, they had seen far too many people and events, and they continued to wander.
Soon another great ship passed through the deep sea,
But they continued chatting as if no one else existed,
"Who's talking?!"
Another shout rang out, but the ultra-giant Sea Kings were already used to it, since there had just been another who could understand their words,
"Recently, there have been more and more humans like this."
"Yeah. There are too many monsters among humans—like that one in black who often comes and goes to Fish-Man Island..."
They spoke casually, but a curious ultra-giant Sea King cast its gaze over, then instantly widened its eyes,
Eyes as large as mountain ranges now bulged round, bloodshot veins spreading instantly,
Drawing the attention of the other ultra-giant Sea Kings.
"What's wrong?"
"That is..."
The others twisted their necks to look in the same direction, and with just one glance, they froze in place,
"Why?!"
"Joy Boy!!!!!"
"This feeling—it really is like him. Didn't he die?!"
"Could it be he didn't die? Did he deceive the mermaid princess?!"
"That's impossible!!!"
"Then why leave Noah here?!"
As emotions seemed to surge, under the rolling fury of these ultra-giant Sea Kings, currents of seabed turbulence began to churn,
"Hey, hey, hey!!! What's going on here?!"
The massive ship instantly became unstable, plunging deeper into the sea, its fate unknown.
"Find him!!!"
"Was the apology letter a lie?!"
"Go to Fish-Man Island!!! Find Joy Boy!!!"
The entire deep sea descended into chaos. Amid it, a tiny figure walked on, seemingly unaffected by the undersea currents at all,
Seeing this scene, it nodded slightly,
"Not bad. It seems that identical appearance, combined with the power of the Nika Fruit, plus the lineage factor of someone who truly inherited Nika's will, Really can achieve near-perfect deception..."
"Now I just don't know whether it can fool Imu."