Road

In the blink of an eye, night arrived.

The banquet was held at Arlong Park.

Bonfires were lit throughout Cocoyasi Village, illuminating the entire park. The villagers gathered together to sing and dance, with countless kinds of food and drink laid out.

As the greatest contributor, Enel sat beside the bonfire and accepted toast after toast from everyone. By the end of the day, his face was nearly frozen from smiling.

Yet he still could not contain his joy. Compared to fear, heartfelt respect was what a god truly wanted!

Cifer sat alone in a corner, slowly drinking and eating meat. He liked seeing such lively scenes, but he did not particularly enjoy joining in himself.

As for the original protagonists and the others, being naturally sociable, they had already blended into the banquet.

Luffy and Usopp ate while fooling around with pairs of chopsticks, drawing bursts of laughter from everyone around them.

Zoro had originally been quietly sipping his drink, but Tashigi spotted the Wado Ichimonji at his waist and immediately pressed him about where the blade had come from.

When he found a woman who looked remarkably like Kuina chasing after him with question after question, he could not take it anymore and disappeared into some corner.

Sanji mingled among the cooks, helping prepare food while learning the strengths of dishes from different places.

"Buru buru~ buru buru~"

The Den Den Mushi in his arms rang at an untimely moment, and Cifer picked up the receiver.

"Dr. Vegapunk agreed to your request, but he cannot guarantee whether it will succeed."

Kuma's gentle voice came from the other end.

"It's fine. Something like this was never going to be easy to accomplish. All I wanted was for him to try."

Something that had never appeared in the original story was likely something one could only encounter by chance. No one could guarantee whether that genius scientist could truly develop it.

Cifer did not doubt that Vegapunk would give it a try.

One good thing about this world was that most notable people valued loyalty and trustworthiness. That was something Cifer liked very much.

"Bonney seems to have entered the Grand Line already. I'll have to trouble you to look after her... If possible, please do not interfere with her life."

There was a pause from the other end before Kuma spoke the latter half of his request.

As an incompetent "father," he could not stay by Bonney's side, but he still hoped that the path she took from here on would be one she chose for herself.

He hoped she would move toward the future she desired as a strong girl, without anyone interfering—not even him.

"..."

Cifer fell silent. After all, he had planned to bring Bonney aboard his ship, while Kuma was now asking him not to interfere with her life.

That clearly conflicted with his own plans. Kuma did not know it, but Cifer, with his god's-eye view, knew very well that Bonney had not set sail in search of some boring great treasure.

In a sense, what she sought was her own One Piece.

Everything Kuma had done had long since gone against what Bonney pursued, but the research on Kuma's body was nearing its end.

A few words from Cifer could not possibly make this man betray the World Government. He could not break the deal bought with Bonney's life.

If only I had transmigrated here earlier!

For the first time, Cifer had such a thought. Unfortunately, everything had already been set in stone. All he could do was take away Kuma, who still retained a trace of his memories, in the future.

"With that strange Devil Fruit ability of yours, you should be able to paw out your own memories, right?"

This time, it was Kuma's turn to fall silent. He had not expected Cifer to think of even that. After receiving an affirmative answer, the two made a plan.

Even when he hung up the Den Den Mushi, Cifer never answered Kuma's question. Perhaps, in Kuma's eyes, that had already been a clear enough answer.

Cifer did not intend to interfere with her life, on the condition that she learned what had truly happened.

Then, whether she chose to continue playing at being pirates or follow him would be her own decision.

"Are all the Shichibukai as strong as Hawk Eyes?" A figure sat down beside Cifer. The conspicuous moss-green hair made the newcomer's identity obvious.

"The seven Shichibukai naturally vary in strength. The wounds on your body were left by Hawk Eyes, weren't they? I ran into him at sea."

Cifer had not expected Zoro, the former Pirate Hunter, to come chat with him.

"It was him. One day, I'll surpass him!"

Zoro gently touched the bandages over his chest. Wounds on a swordsman's back were a disgrace; wounds on his front were glory.

"Among the current Shichibukai, none of you can handle even one of them."

Cifer did not consider defeating Crocodile through sheer plot convenience to be a true victory in strength, though he did not regard Crocodile as a threat at all.

"You still need to become stronger. If you want to reach the level Hawk Eyes and I have, wait until your Bounty reaches at least three billion."

The number shocked Zoro speechless. As far as he knew, not a single Shichibukai had ever reached such an amount.

But he did not believe this "Butcher" would say something baseless. That meant their true strength far exceeded the terrifying level represented by their Bounties before becoming Shichibukai.

"What a long road..."

He drank down a jug of warm wine, and neither of them spoke again.

The night passed until dawn.

Cifer and the other two decided to leave, while the Straw Hat Pirates chose to stay another day for certain reasons.

"What a shame. I was hoping to fight you, Cifer!"

Laughing carelessly, Luffy had no idea what sort of monster stood before him. A newborn calf feared no tiger, and that was exactly how he was.

"Monkey D. Luffy! I'll let you off this time. The next time we meet on the Grand Line, I hope your strength will be as tough as your mouth."

"On these seas, a small fry like you would not even meet the threshold to see me. Keep working hard."

Smooth sailing was not a good thing for them. When a confident mouse encountered a vicious Tiger Strike, there could only be one outcome.

Cifer did not mind teaching them a painful lesson at the final stop of Paradise after some time had passed.

"Shishishi, I'm the man who'll become the Pirate King!" The carefree Luffy paid no attention to Cifer's warning and continued smiling brightly.

"Strange. Why do I suddenly feel like beating this guy up?"

Enel looked baffled. He had never met the other man before, yet the moment they met, he felt that face was asking to be punched.

"Let's go!"

Cifer patted the pondering Enel. The three boarded the ship, and amid the grateful gazes of the people of Cocoyasi Village, the Little Ul set sail.

"Those people seem to be pirates too. Mr. Cifer, aren't you going to deal with them?"

The Straw Hat Pirates did not seem like bad people, but Tashigi was very curious why Cifer had not attacked them.

This man seemed never to show mercy to pirates.

"Haven't you seen plenty on this journey already?" Cifer took off his shirt, put on a pair of sunglasses, and lay on a beach chair on the deck, basking in the sunlight.

"This world is divided into black and white, but white has always been mixed with black, and black contains white."

"If you want to uphold the justice in your heart, you still have a long road ahead!"

Tashigi recalled Captain Nezumi's actions. Justice and evil did not seem to be determined by a simple identity.

Good and evil were determined by people.

"Mr. Cifer, please teach me how to become stronger!"

She walked in front of Cifer and bent at the waist in a nearly ninety-degree bow.

"Huh?"

Behind his sunglasses, Cifer looked utterly confused.

"If you want to get stronger, go find someone from Marineford. I don't know how to teach people."

He refused without hesitation.

His strength was all innate. He had no idea how to systematically teach someone else to become stronger.

Enel still had not grasped the knack of Armament Haki, and that alone was already enough to give him a headache. He was even considering finding someone who truly understood it to teach him.

"Besides, I'm a pirate. You're a Marineford Marine, and you want to learn from me?"

Cifer teased her. If Tashigi had never met him, she would have believed every pirate ought to be arrested, let alone sought instruction from one.

"I won't judge whether someone is good or evil based on their position anymore!" Tashigi's little face reddened, but she answered with her head held high.

Seeing that she was no longer lost, it seemed she had found the true justice in her heart.

"I'm hungry. Go cook."

"Yes!"