"Eight hundred years ago?"
"Mm!"
"Six-Winged Angel?"
"Mm!!"
"Waiting for you in the future?"
"Mm!!!"
"Wait, I'm a little lost right now."
Michael held his head, his mind frozen from shock and barely functioning.
After a long moment, Michael finally lifted his head again.
"Ahahaha, I must have been dreaming just now, right?"
"No, Father, all of this is real." Kozuki Toki shook her head and said happily, "At first, I only thought you just looked a little like him… But then Hiyori started becoming obsessed with you, and crazily collecting all your merchandise. Only then did I begin to suspect… that this is the era you originally came from."
After several deep breaths, Michael gradually stuffed his sanity and intelligence back into his skull.
Summing up the situation now…
His future self, after fully awakening the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Beast Model: Seraph, would use some method—or encounter some accident—to travel back eight hundred years in time.
Then he adopted Kozuki Toki, who still bore the surname "Amatsuki" back then, and after she ate the Paramecia-type Time-Time Fruit, she sent him away during a moment of power runaway.
And the so-called "waiting for you in the future" was entirely because… of a time loop!
This… was a bit too ridiculous.
Did he not transmigrate into the One Piece world?
Michael wiped his face and looked seriously at Kozuki Toki.
Having "daughters" like Yamato and Hancock's three sisters—who were more than ten years younger than him—was already strange enough.
But now…
He had a daughter older than himself. That was hard to take.
"The me you knew… had already obtained a complete set of six wings?"
"That's right. A complete six wings—unparalleled in strength, like… a god."
"Since you're my 'daughter', then you should know that when it comes to so-called gods… I'm really not impressed."
"That was only a figure of speech." Kozuki Toki replied calmly. "Just like how you taught me all those thoughts about revolution and liberation. I remember all of it clearly, and I've expanded it throughout Wano as it is today…"
"Mm?"
Michael suddenly raised his head.
No wonder Wano, despite not completely eliminating its borders, had a livelihood surprisingly similar to the Four Seas…
So the one pushing internal reforms in Wano… was actually Kozuki Toki?
Thinking about it, that made sense. Kozuki Oden's brain—he could fight, sure, but governing a country? That was pushing it.
Everything suddenly became logical.
"This matter… do Oden and your children know?"
"Of course they don't… This is a secret shared only between me and Father." Kozuki Toki shook her head.
"Now I finally understand why Hiyori is so obsessed with your merchandise… I suppose she inherited my admiration for you?"
"What, admiration can be inherited now?"
Michael let out two awkward laughs, then fell into thought.
Based on Kozuki Toki's description, the loop was already complete.
He simply needed to awaken his Fruit in the future, then travel eight hundred years back.
But the problem was…
How exactly did he travel?
The Time-Time Fruit can only go backwards, not forwards.
And in the One Piece world, aside from that, there's no other time-travel method…
Unless…
His awakened Fruit granted him new abilities?
But that didn't make sense either.
If it were his own ability, why did he need Kozuki Toki's power surge to send him away?
Could it really be… just to complete the time loop?
Based on Toki's brief explanations, there was no way to deduce the details.
But Michael had one strength: when he can't figure something out…
He just says, screw it.
Based on the logic of the time loop, he would definitely return.
So he simply had to go with the flow.
Thinking that, Michael lifted his head again.
Looking at Kozuki Toki now, he suddenly felt… a sense of familiarity.
But the one thing unchanged was still his dislike for that brat Momonosuke…
Even though Toki educated her children well, the feeling was too deeply rooted in Michael's heart.
The original story's influence… was simply too strong.
"So next, should we tell your husband—my son-in-law?"
Once Michael fully accepted this setup, he opened up instantly.
He was even eager to see Oden's expression after learning the truth.
"Of course we have to tell him." Toki shrugged—an action identical to Michael's. "Sticking with you is definitely better than letting that fool make decisions himself… I'll prepare a banquet tonight. Father-sama, you must come."
...
"Um, is hiding here really okay?"
In a corner of the garden, Kikunojo squatted nervously in the very back.
Everyone who had just left earlier was now hiding behind the flower bushes in all kinds of poses…
Peeking at Michael and Toki's private moment.
Before Kikunojo finished speaking, he saw Toki suddenly hug Michael tightly.
He nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.
Then he saw Michael even pat Toki's back.
At that moment, Momonosuke and Hiyori both screamed.
"Guh! Mother! How could you do that!"
"Ah! Mother is too cunning! She's using her married-woman charm to strike first! I knew she was also a fan of Michael-sama! I know that look too well!"
Yamato and Jack lay flat on the ground, staring at Hiyori with disbelief.
What on earth… was inside this girl's head?
And even if those two idiots were naïve, Izo—don't you have Observation Haki!?
If you activate it, everything they said would be perfectly clear!
This was clearly a touching reunion between father and daughter!
Even Yamato couldn't bring herself to be jealous of such genuine emotion!
"Uh, Brother! Say something… Brother, why did you faint!?"
Izo, still kneeling on one knee, had lost consciousness.
"So that's why you fainted—you couldn't handle the truth!"
Jack calmly commented.
Just as everyone fell into chaos, two soft coughs sounded beside the flowers.
Everyone looked up—and the two who had been far away were now standing right in front of the flower bushes.
"You children… have been very naughty."
Toki maintained a polite smile, but from beneath her kimono…
She drew two short, broad swords.
Oto and Kogarashi.
Michael's mouth twitched. He now fully believed that Kozuki Toki… really was his daughter transported eight hundred years into the past.
Hiyori and Momonosuke lifted their heads, showing pleading expressions, trying to awaken a trace of Toki's maternal love.
"Um… Mother… could you spare our lives?"
"Come here and get reforged, you little kids!"
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Fanfic is finished. 583 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg