Coming to the Door to Cause Trouble

"Thoughts? I don't have any thoughts."

Ace's tone was flat, without the slightest ripple, as if he were looking at an insignificant ant.

"I hear that idiot in the straw hat is sworn brothers with the impostor who replaced me? You're asking what I think? In my eyes, the Pirate King was nothing more than dregs that had already been swept into the trash heap of history."

At this point, Ace withdrew his gaze and studied the sister before him.

"You went to all this trouble today and had Sanji use the Door-Door Fruit to bring us here. Surely it wasn't just to see off this little brat who's destined to capsize, was it?"

"Of course not."

Shirahoshi gave a soft laugh, the teasing look on her face fading somewhat.

She suddenly lifted her breathtakingly beautiful face and looked up at the endless azure sky.

Then she bloomed into an incomparably radiant, sweet smile, one that even carried a trace of fanaticism.

In that instant, she seemed to pierce through the endless clouds and space, meeting Ross's gaze across the void as he sat high above in the Cloud Palace.

"I sensed it... Father's gaze, filled with majesty and expectation, is watching this stretch of sea right now. As the directors of this grand play, we naturally have to give Father a fitting response."

"Huh? Dad's watching? Why didn't I sense anything at all?"

Sanji raised an eyebrow at that, but his fingers twitched as if he had been shocked, instinctively pinching out the cigarette he had only just lit. Quick-eyed and quick-handed, he stuffed the butt into his pocket, destroying the evidence.

In truth, Ross did not care whether he smoked or not. With their current extraordinary bodies, tempered through countless trials, let alone tobacco—even deadly poison could not