"My father?"
Inuyasha's attention was pulled back to the present by Ray.
He looked up at the handsome man's phantom in the sky, his eyes filled with confusion.
The day he was born happened to be the moment his father died.
Having lived for 200 years, he had never seen his father's face.
Though Ray was different from him, the image of their father had also become very blurry in his mind.
His father passed away during his youth, and their time together had never been long to begin with.
Moreover, Ray himself had undergone tens of thousands of years of training and battles before reincarnating and starting anew.
It had been too long since he last saw him—this powerful yokai whom he had deeply admired since his childhood.
The Great Dog Demon sensed that Sounga had chosen its master, and even as a remnant soul, he was greatly astonished.
Although he had fantasized that one of his two sons might subdue Sounga, it had remained just a fantasy.
Inuyasha was a half-yokai; even if he possessed a heart of protect, his power was insufficient.
Sesshomaru was too proud and arrogant who's constantly looking down upon humans—how could he speak of protection?
But today, his eldest son had truly opened his eyes.
Without hesitation, he had discarded Sounga to save the life of a human girl.
Placing others above one's own interests—that is what true protection means.
His son Sesshomaru had achieved it.
Then, the Great Dog Demon lowered his head to look at Ray below, but suddenly, he noticed something unusual.
The soul power of this son of his was incredibly dense.
It seemed even more ancient than his own soul.
Yet, he was undoubtedly his son.
After a moment of thought, the Great Dog Demon revealed a gratified smile.
"Sesshomaru, you've worked hard."
Ray nodded in response. "I'm sorry, Father, I couldn't save you."
The Great Dog Demon had long since passed away; the remnant soul before them was merely a consciousness he had left within Sounga.
Unlike Kikyo, there was no possibility of reviving.
"I have grown indifferent to life and death, but seeing you grow to this point brings me great joy. In the future, I'll have to trouble you to look after your younger brother."
At this, the Great Dog Demon turned his gaze to Inuyasha, his dignified face full of kindness.
"Inuyasha, I am sorry I wasn't there to watch you grow up."
Hearing this, Inuyasha showed no trace of blame. "Old man, though I used to hate you and resented you for not protecting Mother and me properly, after obtaining Tessaiga, I gradually understood. Also, I can take care of myself; I don't need Ray's help."
Hearing Inuyasha's reply, the Great Dog Demon smiled wryly, but at the same time, he noticed something unusual.
"Ray? Sesshomaru, is that your future name?"
Ray responded simply, "Just a substitute name i'm currently use. I'm used to it."
The Great Dog Demon laughed heartily. "No matter what, you are still you."
"Understood."
With this exchange, the Great Dog Demon's remnant consciousness grew even more illusory.
"Sesshomaru, please tell your mother for me that I am sorry. Inuyasha, your mother has already reincarnated; she is living well. I hope you don't repeat my mistakes."
As he spoke, a trace of longing appeared in the Great Dog Demon's eyes.
"To have one companion in life is to have no regrets."
With these words, the Great Dog Demon's form completely vanished.
Ray turned around, ready to leave.
At that moment, Inuyasha suddenly spoke. "Ray, from what the old man said, are you the future Sesshomaru?"
"It doesnt matter right?"
"I suppose so."
...
Half a day later, the group returned to the side of the Bone-Eater's Well.
Inuyasha looked at Ray with a somewhat reluctant expression.
"You're leaving again? Not planning to stay for a meal?"
Ray responded calmly, "I'll return after you defeat Naraku."
"Really?"
"Mhm."
"Hehe, it's a promise then, bro."
Inuyasha actually managed to call him "bro" without blushing or his heart racing.
Ray's eyebrow twitched slightly, he's still not quite used to it.
"I suggest you leave quickly. After I'm gone, Sesshomaru who likes beating you up will return."
Then the teleportation power activated, and Ray's consciousness dissipated from this world.
Half a minute later, a mournful cry came from near the Bone-Eater's Well.
"Damn you Sesshomaru, just try and kill me if you dare!"
"Hmph, you think I won't?"
"I'll fight you to the death!"
...
This time, the timelines between the two worlds had changed.
The flow of time in the Demon Realm and the one piece world was now completely synchronized.
According to Jaken's explanation, although the Demon Realm was an illusory world extracted and created from a past timeline, it was becoming increasingly real, and the system could no longer control the flow of time there.
Ray could accept his explanation.
Anyway, it was only one day—he would still make it back to the one piece world in time.
...
It was a pretty good day for Ray, but for Amazon Lily in the one piece world, it was tremendously chaotic.
Luffy had fallen into Pirate Empress Boa Hancock's bath, enraging the empress and causing all the soldiers on Amazon Island to hunt him down.
Naturally, Luffy had no intention of fighting these people without reason.
As one of the first members sent flying by Kuma, he was very worried about the situation on the Sabaody Archipelago and was single-mindedly focused on returning.
Mainly because his Observation Haki wasn't strong enough to cover the entire Amazon Island, otherwise he would have discovered that his crewmates had basically all arrived on the island.
Thus, in the capital of Amazon Lily, a comedy of beauties chasing a monkey unfolded.
Various arrows imbued with Haki were shot recklessly at Luffy.
He simply dodged left and right until he reached the city's edge, where he finally sensed his other crewmates' presence.
An excited Luffy madly rushed toward that direction.
Zoro and the others were speechless when they saw Luffy.
This guy always got himself chased everywhere he went!
Robin and Nami, standing beside Zoro, covered their mouths and chuckled—who knew what reckless thing Luffy had done this time.
However, upon seeing the beautiful female soldiers pursuing Luffy, Robin deduced that their current location was most likely the mysterious kingdom known as the Land of Women, Amazon Lily.
The ruler was the Shichibukai known as the Pirate Empress—Boa Hancock.
Zoro, Nami, and Robin had been sent by Kuma to nearby areas and happened to be not far from the city gate.
After reuniting with Luffy, the three of them began their escape.
Their mindset was, with important matters at hand, there was no need to make enemies here—shaking off their pursuers would suffice.
Yet despite running for half a day and thinking they had lost their pursuers several times, the women somehow managed to find them again.
Zoro speculated, "Probably they have something like eyes in the forest."
Nami shared the same thought.
On the Grand Line, where ability users were everywhere, all sorts of strange things could happen.
Thinking of this, Robin smiled, crossing her arms over her chest.
"It seems running away is just wasting more time. Luffy, how about we deal with them?"
Having been tempered through so many battles, Luffy naturally understood this logic.
He adjusted his straw hat.
"I'll handle it. If you three make a move, there'll probably be a lot of casualties."