The Return Journey: All Four Gathered

The day after the Void sailed away from the Whole Cake Island waters.

The sea was calm, and the sun was shining brightly.

Jin stood at the bow, his right hand pressed against the wooden plank of the ship's side. An invisible force spread from his palm, covering the entire keel of the ship. The ship first sank slightly, then suddenly rose upwards—the bottom of the ship broke free of the water, and seawater slid down from both sides of the keel with a splash. The entire Void hovered about three meters above the sea surface, and then continued to rise.

"Ten meters," Jin said.

The boat rose another five meters.

"Fifteen meters."

Kaido sat on the deck, still clutching the meat in his hand, and looked up at the sky. "... Was it you who flew the ship into the sky?"

"Yes, using a Devil Fruit ability."

Bullet stepped out of the cabin, saw the ship flying, and paused for a moment. "Are you trying to take it to the sky?"

"Even if it goes up to the sky, that's just the beginning." Jin withdrew his hand and turned to walk towards the cabin. "As long as I don't die, it can keep floating. It can go wherever it wants."

Kaido walked to the ship's side and looked down—the sea was dozens of meters below, white clouds drifted past the ship, and the sunlight shone on the deck, brighter than when it was on the sea.

"This is faster than in the water," Kaido said.

"Wind resistance is less than water resistance, so of course it's faster."

King sat down under the mast, dusted his hands off, and leaned against the plank, no longer touching the gunwale. Once he touched it, the ship would float indefinitely, requiring no further maintenance from him. Kaido stared at him for a moment. "Aren't you going to control the direction?"

"There's a rudder," Jin said. "I just let it float. How it goes is the helmsman's job."

Kaido turned to look at the cabin— Kuma stood at the helm, hands gripping the helm, eyes fixed straight ahead. The ship's direction in the air remained unchanged, its course pointing straight towards Hachinosu. Kaido stared for two seconds, then turned back.

Huijin emerged from the cabin, carrying the old book, and sat down by the ship's railing. The wind blew a few pages up, but she pressed them down with her hand and continued reading. Ash sat beneath the mast, neither speaking nor moving.

The Void had been flying in the air for most of the day. Its speed was almost twice as fast as it was on water. The wind blew across the deck, carrying the unique coolness of the high altitude. Kaido lay on the ship's railing looking down, occasionally seeing schools of fish leap out of the water, flash in the sunlight, and then fall back down.

"I like this height."

"Don't you need to use your abilities all the time?"

It floats on its own.

Kaido, finding the ability indeed convenient, and then fell silent. He leaned back against the ship's railing, looking at the sea below. After a while, he suddenly pointed into the distance. "There's a ship over there."

Jin looked in the direction he was looking. In the distance, on the sea, there was a ship heading towards the Void. The sails were black, with a skull and crossbones painted on them—a pirate flag, an unfamiliar symbol.

"It's a pirate ship." Bullet stood up as well. "They're not coming for us, they're just passing by."

"So what if I'm just passing by?" Lin Yuan stepped out of the cabin. "Let's keep going."

But the ship didn't go around it. It changed course and sped towards the Void. A man stood at the bow, holding a telescope, looked in the direction of the Void for a moment, then lowered the telescope and shouted behind him.

Kaido: "He's looking this way."

"Then let's wait for him to come."

As the ship drew near, the pirate at the bow looked up at the Void, which was hovering in the air, and dropped his binoculars. "A ship... a ship flying in the sky?!"

"It's a pirate ship!" someone shouted from the stern. "That flag—it's Lin Yuan from Hachinosu!"

"Lin Yuan? That guy with the 2 billion bounty?!"

"Two billion?!" Kaido looked down at them. "Why are you shouting so loudly?"

There was a moment of silence on the ship. Then the man at the bow, holding binoculars, looked up and shouted, "Captain Lin Yuan! We're just passing through! We mean no harm! We're just—just passing by!"

"Why are you shouting so loudly when you're just passing by?" Kaido took the Iron Club off his shoulder. "You think you can just say you're passing by?"

"We were just passing by! We saw the ship flying in the sky and took a curious look!"

"Are you done being curious?" Lin Yuan stood at the ship's railing. "If you're done being curious, then let's go."

"Go! Go!" the man shouted, turning towards the stern. "Turn around! Turn around now!"

The pirate ship quickly turned around and headed in the opposite direction, twice as fast as it had come.

Kaido watched the ship disappear into the distance, then sat back down on the deck. "They just got away like that."

"It doesn't matter," Lin Yuan said.

After sailing for another hour, the pursuing ships did not arrive, but three ships appeared on the sea—their sails were painted with naval insignia, but their hulls were not of the standard warship size; they were smaller and faster, resembling modified reconnaissance ships. The three ships were in a triangular formation, following the Void at a distance of about two kilometers.

Jin glanced at the three ships. "The navy is here."

"We see them." Lin Yuan stood on the ship's side. "They're measuring the course and speed; they have no intention of attacking, they're just following."

Kaido took the Iron Club off his shoulder. "Fight?"

"No rush," Lin Yuan said. "Let them follow us. They don't know what we did on Whole Cake Island, they only know we went there and came back. If we act now, it's like telling them 'we have something to hide.'"

"What if they follow us all the way to Hachinosu?"

"Then let them follow us to Hachinosu. If they don't leave once they're there, then fight them."

King stood atop the mast, his Observation Haki spreading out. "The people on board are wearing white suits. They're not ordinary Marines, they're CP."

"We absolutely cannot attack the CP," Lin Yuan said. "The CP won't launch an attack; they'll only keep records. If we do, the entire Marine Headquarters will know."

Three CP ships followed behind for about half a day, changing positions once along the way while maintaining a safe distance. Then, all three ships turned around simultaneously, sailed in the opposite direction, and disappeared into the distant sea.

Huijin stood on the ship's railing, watching the direction they had gone. "They're gone."

"Go back and report." Lin Yuan turned and walked into the cabin. "Keep going. Maintain course."

The following evening, the Void descended above Hachinosu and slowly landed on the harbor's waters. Its hull barely splashed as it entered the water, like a leaf falling onto the surface.

Ginny stood on the dock, holding an account book and a pen. Seeing Lin Yuan jump off the boat, she approached him. "I've confirmed the contents of all four rubbings. The coordinates are correct. The window of opportunity is late winter/early spring, lasting about a month. If you miss it, you'll have to wait until next year."

"That's enough."

Ginny opened the file in her hand. "There's one more thing. While translating, I discovered that the engraving techniques on the four Road Poneglyphs are not entirely consistent; they weren't carved at the same time. The one on Fish-Man Island is the oldest, and the one on the Big Mom's is the newest, with at least several decades in between— Joy Boy must have placed them in batches."

"Released in batches?"

"Perhaps. He placed them one by one, perhaps not even knowing how long he would live. Or perhaps he did it on purpose—scattering the four pieces in different places and entrusting them to different people to prevent anyone from taking them all at once."

Lin Yuan was silent for a moment. "You handle contacting the major pirate groups. Do you have any connections?"

"Yes," Ginny said. "Roger has a middleman who connects directly with Rayleigh. Whitebeard can just send messengers to his territory. Rocks can be reached by Slow Heartbeat. And Golden Lion has informants too."

"Content unified: All four pieces are complete, the route is in hand. If they want it, they can trade it for something. Let them name their price."

Ginny jotted down a few entries in the ledger. "Delivered within three days."

Three days later, the news was gradually delivered to the major pirate crews.

The Roger Pirates. Roger was sitting at the bow of the ship, drinking, when Rayleigh handed him a note. "Sent from Hachinosu, unsigned." Roger unfolded the note, read it, and smiled, "He's faster than me." Rayleigh: "What do you plan to do?" "What else can we do? Full speed ahead, to Hachinosu."

Marco, Whitebeard Pirates, handed a note to Whitebeard: "Pops, it's from Hachinosu." Whitebeard put down his sake bowl and looked at it for a long time. "That kid really collected them all. Let's go, but not now. Let's wait until he's ready."

Golden Lion did not reply immediately after receiving the note. But the next day, a reconnaissance ship departed from his territory, heading towards Hachinosu. He would not show himself, but would first verify the authenticity of the information. A pirate sending a reconnaissance ship to verify the route—this in itself was a statement: interested, but not in a hurry.

Rocks, his Slow Heartbeat, placed the note on the table. Rocks stared at it for a long time before speaking, "He's got guts. Let's see what price he asks for." He folded the note and tucked it into his pocket. Ochoku, sitting next to him, glanced at his actions and asked, "Aren't you going to step in?" "I'll wait until he sets his price. If I step in, the price will be lower."

At night, Lin Yuan sat on the top floor of the Castle, a glass of water in his hand, moonlight spilling onto the sea. Ginny came up and sat down beside him. "The messages have all been sent out. Roger's side has already made a move, Whitebeard is still observing, Rocks Golden Lion waiting for your offer."

Roger will be the first to arrive.

How did you know?

"He won't wait." Lin Yuan looked at the distant sea. "He's been waiting for a direction. Now that he has a direction, he won't wait."

So how do you plan to talk to him?

"He needs direction, I'll provide the direction. We'll see what he can offer us then."

"It's that simple?"

"It's that simple," Lin Yuan said. "The more complicated the negotiations, the easier it is for them to back out. A pirate's agreement can be summed up in a single sentence."

Ginny was silent for a moment, then asked, "What about the others?"

"They will come," Lin Yuan said, "but not now. Wait until the news spreads for a while longer, then they'll come to us. Whitebeard will send Marco to scout ahead and confirm the route before he personally intervenes. Golden Lion will wait until Whitebeard and Roger have both made their moves. Rocks— "

He paused for a moment.

"Rocks will wait until the very end. He needs to make sure everyone is there before he shows up."

Ginny: "So, are you planning to wait for him?"

"No need to wait. We'll leave at the end of winter; whether he comes or not is his own business."

Lin Yuan placed the water glass on his lap but didn't drink. On the distant sea, moonlight paved a silvery-white path that stretched into the distance.

"Everything needs to be prepared before the end of winter," he said.

(End of Chapter 96)