Senga withdrew his gaze; he had already gotten the answer he wanted.
During his exchange with Imu from a distance, he saw a pair of "eyes".
Those were a pair of red "Rinnegan," but the ripples within them didn't cover the eyes; there were only two rings.
Of course, Senga couldn't be certain based on appearance alone, but as someone with the Rinnegan, he could sense a familiar aura from those eyes.
That was the scent of "one of our kind".
However, this aura was very strange; it appeared and disappeared intermittently, and when it did appear, it was extremely weak, as if it had suffered some kind of trauma.
Senga lowered her head, seemingly lost in thought.
"It seems that Imu is hiding some secret."
Judging from Imu's reaction just now, he was indeed paying close attention to him at all times, but what made him so interested in him?
Is it merely because they are "of the same kind"?
As far as Senga knew, the Otsutsuki Clan had a very weak concept of clan members, but this Imu was so "caring" towards her, which could be said to have opened wide doors for her growth.
"Ten-Tails," "Otsutsuki," "care," "faint aura"
Keywords flashed through Senga's mind, and suddenly, a conjecture struck like a thunderbolt.
"He's planning to feed me to the Ten-Tails after I grow into Otsutsuki!?"
This conjecture Tianlai Novel Network, once it appeared, lingered in Senga's mind for a long time, and he felt that he had guessed Imu's thoughts quite accurately.
But there's still one problem: isn't Imu afraid that once he fully evolves into Otsutsuki, he won't be a match for him?
Based on that faint aura he just emitted, he probably couldn't even defeat his current self, so where did he get the confidence that he could be a match for his evolved self?
After much thought, there's only one possibility: Imu isn't Otsutsuki Clan. He was Otsutsuki, just like the relationship between Ōtsutsuki Isshiki and Jigen.
This explains why I felt that aura was so faint.
Imu's trump card is very likely to be using the "Karma" seal to temporarily gain the power of the Otsutsuki, thereby taking down himself.
If that's the case, it seems the Otsutsuki who carved the "Wedge" on Imu's body is definitely not weak; he's confident he can defeat himself when he first became Otsutsuki.
But regardless of Imu's true situation, his goal should be the same as Senga's: to feed him to the Ten-Tails so that it can eat the fruit and increase its power.
Perhaps Imu is even more anxious about Senga's evolution than he is about Chiga himself.
If it weren't for Senga's extreme pickiness about Devil Fruit and the inability to force him to swallow them by stuffing them into his mouth, Imu might have personally stuffed the Devil Fruit into his Rinnegan.
Senga naturally guessed that Imu wanted his evolution to be even faster, but he couldn't think of a way to deal with it for the time being.
Senga's evolutionary path will definitely continue, because even if he delays evolving, Imu will eventually lose patience and forcefully feed this incomplete Otsutsuki to the Ten-Tails.
Furthermore, since Imu is so confident that he can deal with an Otsutsuki, his strength is likely to be above his own.
Instead of going head-to-head with Imu with our current strength, it would be better to evolve and fight him head-on; that way, we'd have a much better chance of winning.
Senga refused to believe that the Rinnegan, having absorbed so much Devil Fruit power, wouldn't be a match for Imu after its evolution.
Now, he just needs to continue evolving according to the original plan.
Gathering her thoughts, Senga looked down at Brook and Laboon.
They had both calmed down, and Brook was teasing Laboon, which made Laboon let out a series of happy barks.
Seeing this heartwarming scene, Senga smiled, and her mood improved considerably.
Seeing Laboon's happy expression, Crocus was genuinely happy for Laboon as well.
Crocus thought to himself, "Looks like I'll never have to give Laboon a sedative again!"
At the same time, he couldn't help but look at Senga's back.
In the past, he only knew about Senga from the newspapers. He only knew that Senga's strength was terrifying and that he treated pirates the same way as Akainu, killing them without mercy.
However, Senga's actions today completely overturned Crocus's opinion of Senga.
This is a very humane Marine Admiral!
Both Brook and Crocus are true pirates. Crocus was even a member of Roger Pirates, which alone is enough to sentence him to death!
However, Senga still let him go and even helped Brook reunite with Laboon.
All of this seemed incredible to Crocus.
He couldn't help but think, if all the navy were like Senga, wouldn't Captain Roger's actions become a joke?
Thinking of this, Crocus's gaze toward Senga grew increasingly strange.
Senga's senses were incredibly sharp; he noticed Crocus's spying on him and turned around to say,
"Have you seen enough? What are you thinking about?"
Crocus was startled and quickly waved his hand,
"I'm sorry, I meant no harm, I just wanted to know your views on the world today?"
"Oh? Wasn't Roger supposed to have a clear understanding of this world? As one of his crew members, why would you ask me, a naval officer, this question?"
"Forehead..."
Crocus looked somewhat embarrassed, and he rephrased his question.
"So what's your opinion on pirates as a group?"
"Just a pile of marine debris."
"..."
Crocus's lips twitched. Senga's words had insulted him as well, but he dared not say anything more about it.
Fortunately, after thinking for a moment, Senga added,
"However, a few grains of gold can occasionally be found in a garbage dump."
Senga meant that among the large number of pirate crews, some have a good reputation.
These pirate crews don't bully civilians; their income mostly comes from treasures they find during expeditions.
Sometimes they would even help ordinary people solve their problems in exchange for payment.
In Senga's eyes, such a pirate crew was like "gold" in a garbage dump.
But gold and garbage are ultimately two different things.
Those pirate crews are only pirates in name; in essence, they are just a group of passionate explorers, and they are not the same kind of people as pirates.
If we're talking about representatives of two factions, one is the Blackbeard Pirates, who are true pirates in the real sense.
The other one is the Rumbar Pirates, to which Brook used to belong; they were explorers who operated under the guise of pirates.
Therefore, Senga's attitude towards these two groups of people was completely different.
Look at the Blackbeard Pirates. Before it was even formed, its members were all killed by Senga, and its captain, Blackbeard, also died at his hands.
Senga remained unmoved by this, because this was what he considered justice.