Just as he was about to reach the bathroom, Is paused for a few seconds.
"…Forget it, I'll go to the hot spring instead."
Muttering to himself, he changed direction.
After a long day, nothing felt better than soaking in a hot spring. Wrapping a towel around himself, Is stepped into the water, leaned back against the edge, and closed his eyes to rest.
A few minutes later, faint footsteps sounded behind him.
Tilting his head back slightly, a barefoot woman came into view.
It was Roz·Meini.
"I… I thought you were in the bathroom…"
She murmured softly, then stepped into the hot spring with a hint of nervousness.
Is said nothing.
She stood there for a moment, slightly stiff, unsure of what to do—it was her first time like this with him.
More importantly, she had forgotten to ask the other maids what she was supposed to do first… and what came after.
Is glanced at her from the corner of his eye, saw through her hesitation, and adjusted his posture, turning toward the wall.
"Come over and give me a massage."
"Yes… yes, Master."
She walked over slowly, knelt down, and began massaging him.
…
Time passed quickly, and several days went by in the blink of an eye.
Life returned to normal for Is—training when it was time to train, relaxing when it was time to relax, and being lazy when he felt like it.
During these days, he also spent some time refining his Devil Fruit abilities.
However, most of his time was still devoted to strengthening his physique.
As for the Rocks Pirates, they were busier than ever—either on their way to attack allied nations or already in the middle of one.
One attack after another wasn't enough—they even split into teams to carry out multiple assaults simultaneously.
With the Marines increasing their efforts, things had calmed down slightly yesterday. But whether Rocks had truly backed off… only he himself knew.
…
Today was a special day for Is.
His excavation attempts were about to refresh.
With ten minutes left, he had already been staring at his status panel.
The moment the countdown reached zero, he didn't hesitate.
"Activate positioning mode."
"Ding. Activated."
Just like before, as the system's voice fell, a virtual map interface appeared before him.
Is examined it carefully.
The distance wasn't much different from last time—but the key difference was location.
Last time, it had been in the first half of the Grand Line.
This time…
It was in the second half—the New World.
The moment Tatsumaki heard about the trip, she was overjoyed—practically bouncing as she rushed off to prepare.
Meanwhile, Is contacted the World Government to arrange a ship and have it ready at any time.
…
"What? That kid Is is going out again? And not just that—the destination is the New World in the second half of the Grand Line?!"
Upon hearing the report, the bald elder shot up from the sofa and looked at the elder handling the Den Den Mushi.
"That's what was reported from below," the elder replied.
"Honestly, can't that brat just stay put for once? Always causing trouble for us," the swordsman elder sighed.
"The New World is far more dangerous than the first half. It's filled with vicious pirates. If Is goes there… it's too risky," another elder added.
"True. But if he insists on going, we can't stop him. All we can do is assign more Marine elites to escort him. We can't let what happened last time happen again."
The bald elder recalled the previous incident—his heart still trembled at the thought. They had nearly lost their chosen candidate.
"Honestly, ever since we got involved with that kid, he's been keeping us on edge. Can't he just stay quietly in Mary Geoise?"
"If he were that obedient, we might never have noticed him in the first place. Honestly, his current behavior isn't a bad thing."
"Enough chatter. Just get people assigned."
…
Half an hour later.
Marine Headquarters.
"No, Fleet Admiral, I've got tasks on hand. Find someone else. There are plenty of people in the Marines better suited than me. And besides, escorting Celestial Dragons is usually a job for Admirals, right?"
Garp scratched his head with an awkward grin.
The Fleet Admiral let out a sigh.
"The New World pirates have been keeping us extremely busy. The Admirals are all out on missions. Among the Vice Admirals, you're the only one I can trust. I'm counting on you, Garp."
The Fleet Admiral had a good relationship with Garp, Sengoku, and Kong—otherwise, he wouldn't be speaking so gently. Normally, it would've been a direct order.
"I really do have urgent matters, Fleet Admiral," Garp replied helplessly.
"That's not a problem. I'll assign someone else to your task. Besides, this Celestial Dragon isn't like the others. He's someone the Five Elders are focusing on—his character is quite good."
Hearing this, Garp paused.
"The one traveling… is Aurelius D. Virel Is?"
"That's right."
"Alright then. I'll go."
The moment he heard it was Is, Garp immediately agreed.
The Fleet Admiral was left stunned.
He had prepared a whole speech to persuade Garp—
and yet, before he could say any of it, Garp had already agreed.
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