As he spoke, Imu unconsciously narrowed his eyes.
She could sense a special aura emanating from Gawain, an aura shared with her, a tangible testament to the will of the world residing within him.
Just as his destruction of the world had somehow earned him the world's attention and recognition, and he had truly transformed into Nidhogg, rather than just an ordinary Devil Fruit Awakening.
Just as one's strength comes partly from one's own will and inheritance, but a larger part comes from the gifts of the world.
I feed on pain and sorrow whenever I am alone.
Whenever he fulfilled Nidhogg Fruit's deeply hidden requirements.
He always exudes a unique aura that far surpasses Conqueror's Haki.
The Gawain before him did indeed exhibit similar traits.
As his own direct descendant, it's understandable that Gawain has such potential; this reflects Imu's confidence in himself.
After all, in tens of thousands of years, Gawain is the only child that Imu has personally conceived.
In the past, Imu has not been in a great hurry to perfect the Celestial Dragon's bloodline.
One year, ten years, twenty years.
Imu has time to wait, and there's no need to rush to take the children he's raised out.
In that case, Imu would only need to operate on Laugh Tale to slowly awaken the clones.
This time, however, it happened right after the Gawain Family had completely severed ties.
The situation has changed.
Having traveled from ancient times, how could Imu not know about the special prophecy originating from two generations of Nika?
In recent years, the prophesied time has clearly been approaching, Imu must ensure that all possible preparations are completed before the prophesied time arrives.
Because of this, Imu had to personally act as Gawain's culture dish, transferring life energy to Gawain's embryo through his body in order to bring Gawain into the world quickly.
In other words, other people's children are all quite small.
Imu gave birth to a young man who grew up in amniotic fluid until he was about twenty years old.
That is to say, Imu's physique is close to three meters tall.
Otherwise, she really couldn't do this kind of thing...
In conclusion
With his own legacy, Imu understands everything Gawain has accomplished.
Unaware of the existence of the Xianyang Palace, she concealed Gawain's mysterious and accommodating nature solely through her self-confidence.
Inexplicably strong?
My bloodline!
Unexplained chakra?
My bloodline was developed!
Inexplicably rapid increase in strength and various talents?
That's my bloodline!
Just a moment Imu, Im didn't notice anything unusual about Gawain.
But now...
She examined it carefully, then rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
After her fair fingers brushed across her eye sockets and gently massaged them, Imu took a deep breath and then looked up in astonishment!
Look carefully!
She finally saw it clearly!
She finally saw the will that was constantly swirling behind Gawain!
My intuition was right; that will was neither Nidhogg within me nor Nika's lazy rubber sprite.
Instead, it was... a colossal black bird, far larger than he had imagined, whose tail feathers alone covered countless islands, mysterious and beautiful beyond description, yet whose every frown and smile was indescribable!
The giant bird circled proudly above the planet, its gaze fixed firmly on Gawain.
She only had eyes for Gawain, and couldn't even be bothered to glance at the vast world around her!
She soared freely through the universe, but her movements appeared somewhat labored.
Like a bird trapped in a cage, the giant black bird seemed poised to crash into the Yoriichi Tsugikuni of the cage at any moment!
This world is indeed vast, but for the Dark Bird, it is far too small.
As it flew, the Dark Bird's tail feathers drooped and fell into countless areas of the sea.
In a daze, Imu saw the truth of everything.
The area where the Dark Bird's tail feathers drooped was all Gawain's direct territory!
For example, Dressrosa and Wano Country in the New World!
For example, the Goa Kingdom in the Four Blues East Blue!
For example, Alabasta in the Grand Line!
So, what exactly is this giant black bird that we've never seen or heard of before?
For tens of thousands of years, he had never been aware of the existence of this will, as if this will simply couldn't be bothered to see him.
We've now reached the point of armed conflict, but I've been misunderstanding my opponent all along!
He believed his enemy was the trace left by his old rival Nika.
He had initially thought the enemy would be some newly formed, thunder-based, legendary will or being, such as Takemikazuchi.
But now, a... bird?
Why is it a black bird?
In a short moment, Imu desperately tried to guess the characteristics of the giant black bird.
Just as those who cannot fathom the essence of her sorrow can never defeat her.
He strongly suspected that Gawain also possessed some kind of trait he shared!
Perhaps it's another emotion, or perhaps it's a certain belief.
But in any case, faced with strange totems she had never seen before, she felt she couldn't be more cautious!
Meanwhile, seeing Imu looking slightly bewildered, Gawain wanted to take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack.
However, upon hearing Imu's words, Gawain stopped what he was planning.
A bird?
Imu actually saw a bird he had never seen before on himself?
As he pondered this, Gawain closed his eyes and desperately tried to sense everything around him.
Could that bird be the one I thought it was?
Could it be that the real reason I can travel through countless worlds is because of the help that bird provided behind the scenes?
So, could that be the Great Qin totem that lingered behind the Xianyang Palace, the one that gave birth to the Shang dynasty, the one that sang like a phoenix on Qishan Qi, and ultimately the one that protected the Great Qin in achieving unification... the Dark Bird?
As he pondered, Gawain reluctantly realized that he was completely unable to sense the aura of the Dark Bird.
Perhaps only outsiders can truly observe the changes in oneself.
At this point, Gawain raised his Shusui.
Gawain shook his head slightly and said.
"Imu, the time for conversation is over. No matter what shadows linger over me, those shadows will always obey my will."
In the past, as one of the ancestors of seafaring humans, you indeed made great contributions to the continuation of the human race.
I would like to express my gratitude to you for this; it is something that someone who benefits from the status quo must do.
I will never forget everything you did for humanity. Even if I ultimately defeat you, I will, like you, continue to shoulder the responsibility for the survival of humanity.
You don't need to worry about that.
Only..."
As he spoke, Gawain swung his Shusui down suddenly, and the surging sword energy instantly rushed towards Imu.
Sensing the sword energy that was thousands of miles away, Imu briefly analyzed the situation before intelligently gripping the sword energy tightly once again.
Seeing that Imu was locked in a stalemate with his sword energy, Gawain shook his head and continued.
"However, while I respect your past efforts, I do not appreciate your actions."
You didn't do a good enough job, at least not to me. I think you're far from good enough!
I know that lunar technology is exceptionally advanced; perhaps with such technology, Moon People no longer need the so-called demographic dividend.
Vegapunk, a scientist ahead of his time, has yet to comprehend all the ancient technologies from antiquity. You ancestors with such terrifying technology are truly astonishing in some ways.
While a demographic dividend may be unnecessary, population density still holds a crucial significance.
Since ancient times, at least in your later eras, why has your planet never again possessed the astonishing technology of ancient times?
Have humans become less intelligent?
Or has the world stopped favoring humanity?
No, it's all because you excessively restricted human development, guiding and cultivating the humans who will land after you into the kind of foolish, relatively obedient, and even if their minds are ugly, they won't cause you too much trouble.
How can someone like that shoulder the heavy responsibility of tracing the course of history?
Even a talented person, if they want to realize their talents in intelligence and research under your deliberate control, must first try to break through your blockade of everything.
I couldn't help but think of my subordinate, Franky, who was also an incredibly talented individual.
But if I hadn't appeared and recruited him, he would probably have had to board a Pirate King's ship and try to defeat you completely by following the so-called Pirate King of the future, so that he could free up his energy to complete the scientific research work he was supposed to do.
Is permanently isolating and controlling a group truly suitable for future generations?
You may have your own understanding, but I absolutely disagree with it.
As you said, humanity is full of flaws, and no matter how hard you try, those you treat with care will always do things that displease you.
But in reality, it is precisely those dissatisfactions with everything that drive the continuous evolution of the times.
Just as our ancestors created pillows because they were dissatisfied with their sleeping positions.
By suppressing human discontent, you are also suppressing human potential.
You come from the moon, so you should understand the vastness of the universe.
But why do you insist on imprisoning humanity in the earthly world you speak of?
Is it simply because this planet is larger than the moon was in the past?
"Wouldn't it be bigger if we could just walk?"
As he spoke, Gawain drew his sword and charged forward, instantly reaching Imu.
Facing the blade that Gawain swung at him, Imu gripped Shusui tightly with both hands, stopping Gawain in his tracks.
Immediately afterwards, Imu's sexy shorts trembled slightly, and a pair of long wings emerged from behind Imu in the blink of an eye, the tips of which quickly pressed against Gawain's body.
Gawain's body suddenly split into countless tiny electric currents, as if it had been scattered.
As Imu flapped his wings, Gawain's body instantly solidified, and his Shusui even broke through Imu's control, landing on Imu's neck!
There was absolutely no question of control; Gawain went all out and slashed at Imu's neck.
Feeling the force of the blow, Imu shook his head bitterly.
"You really want to kill me? Is this kind of determination something I passed down to you?"
If so, then I am truly pathetic, like a mother with rebellious children. Am I destined to be unable to escape this fate?
How laughable, how utterly laughable! You were a weapon I created myself to deal with this world and the prophecy that followed.
But in the end, you were used by the world and became a blade that wanted to pierce me...
As for you, child.
Look at the moon in the sky. From your perspective, it's not hard to see that it has long since become barren and decaying, and even the most basic air no longer exists.
The ancient inhabitants who still live there, though alive, have long since transformed into the likeness of wild beasts.
And that, that's the consequence of overusing technology!!!