[Flender: Uta? Indeed, that little girl was the truly dangerous one.]
That was how pirate movies went: the power scaling was completely made up. Uta had nearly dragged 70% of the entire sea away from reality and into Eternal Dream.
Not to mention that she had revived the so-called legendary Music Demon. Even the Red Hair Pirates could barely suppress something that troublesome.
[Samuel Oak: The simplest solution is not to take that little girl to Elegia. If she never encounters the Music Demon, she naturally will not go berserk.]
[Zephyr: That is indeed the case. However, allowing something so dangerous to remain is not my style. That score needs to be dealt with.
Among the knowledge I obtained, there was not much concerning ancient technology, but there were many methods for dealing with creations like that demon.
The best method would be for me to bring Garp and the Red-Haired boy along to suppress that demon with Conqueror's Haki, then turn it into little Uta's power.
Pure defense is still too unreliable. There is no guarantee it will not be released again.]
[Flender: Truly maximizing the benefits. If it works, that would naturally be excellent.]
[Dumbledore: In that case, I happen to have an idea.]
[Zephyr: Oh?]
[Dumbledore: After combining the manuscripts of many sages and predecessors from magical history with my own breakthrough in magical power, I have recently been attempting to create new magic. I have already made some progress.
After hearing what you said, Zephyr, I now have many wonderful ideas that excite me.
I have already gained some insight into counter-curses for the Three Unforgivable Curses. One of them is very effective against that kind of mindless madness.
That Music Demon may be an existence similar to a Dementor, or perhaps something like a ghost. Either way, it cannot hurt to use it against them.
Combined with the Patronus Charm, perhaps I can create a Patronus that belongs solely to Miss Uta.]
In the Hogwarts headmaster's office, Dumbledore's eyes beneath his glasses gleamed brightly, so intensely that they were almost difficult to look at.
[Flender: Though I did not fully understand it, I roughly get what you mean. Headmaster Dumbledore, are you planning to "corrupt for good"—I mean, purify that Music Demon?]
[Dumbledore: Precisely.]
As expected of the White Wizard, Flender sighed inwardly.
That kind of reverse ruthlessness, combined with enhanced magical power and knowledge... Flender felt that Dumbledore would eventually be able to conjure spells from nothing in an instant.
With a wave of his wand, whatever he imagined would appear. For Dumbledore, that seemed far from impossible.
After all, magic was the product of the unbelievable and wild imagination.
[Samuel Oak: Now that you mention it, I seem to have an idea too. You all know that the Distortion World exists here, right?
Using knowledge from the Ancient Era, it is possible to extract the Distortion World's energy. There may be a chance to make any existence undergo a reversal in personality or energy.
If we used it on that Music Demon, could we turn him into some sort of angel?]
Professor Oak's imagination began to run wild. That might have been why he had chosen to become a Pokémon professor.
[Flender: Not a bad idea, but Professor, is it really possible? The last villain who tried to use the Distortion World's energy nearly caused two worlds to collide, did he not?]
[Samuel Oak: That is true. Do not worry, I will conduct preliminary experiments first.
But that will have to wait until much later. I have quite a lot on my plate right now.]
[Zephyr: Ahem, thank you, but let us wait until I find the blueprint that seals the Music Demon first.]
Though he was an old Marine, Zephyr was still far inferior to the three people in the group when it came to creating things.
Flender said nothing, but the forbidden knowledge he had inherited also contained methods related to brainwashing and reshaping. They were simply too "evil" to mention conveniently.
Zephyr believed the best outcome would be turning the Music Demon into power, but destroying it was also the safest option.
After waiting for quite a while, the topic finally came to an end. Professor Oak and Dumbledore reluctantly stopped offering their opinions as well.
Everyone in the Chat Group knew each other inside out, and they were the best people to vent to. They could say almost anything, allowing these two usually "highly respected" old men to speak to their hearts' content.
Zephyr closed the Chat Group and soon saw Garp laughing smugly.
Shanks lay weakly on the ground with his swollen belly, while Uta stood beside him, concerned yet disgusted. Luffy was also there, throwing his weight around under someone else's protection.
"Rooster won! Shanks, you are no match for Rooster! Hehehe!"
"Hmph, it was not you who won, Luffy! What are you so smug about?!"
"Rooster is my Rooster!"
The two children began arguing again for no apparent reason.
"Alright, alright."
Shanks rubbed his stomach and forced himself to his feet. He separated Uta and Luffy, then burst into laughter.
"This time, Mr. Garp, you won. But next time, I definitely will not lose."
"Hmph, Red-Haired brat, I will be waiting," Garp said dismissively.
Zephyr shook his head again. These two children...
At Mt. Colubo lived a bandit group called the Dadan Family. Though they were called bandits, they had long since retired and merely lived here.
Their leader was a female bandit named Curly Dadan. Ten years ago, Garp had entrusted Ace to this old friend of his to raise.
Today, the Dadan Family deep in the mountains had once again endured a round of chaos. Ace stuffed himself silly, made a racket, then went off to sleep on his own.
Dadan watched with a terrible headache. She cursed nonstop, yet instinctively began cleaning up after Ace and tidying the mess all over the house.
"You damn brat, and that damn old man too! He just shoved a child at me and told me to raise him. Why do I have to raise this kid of all people?!"
She scrubbed away stains while loudly cursing. Only after the floor was finally clean did Dadan straighten her aching back and let out a breath.
"Another exhausting day..."
With a heavy bang, the door to the bandits' den was kicked open.
"Hey, Dadan, I am here! Hahaha! How is Ace doing? Someone has something to discuss with him.
Oh, right, this is my friend Zephyr. He is a Marine admiral one rank above even me, and he will come arrest you and throw you in prison~
If you do not want to go to prison, this is my grandson Luffy. I will trouble you to look after him too."
"Huh?! You damn—cough, cough, Mr. Garp, what are you talking about? Ace has already gone to sleep, and you cannot just dump another child on me!"
Dadan instinctively wanted to curse him out, but when she saw that it was Garp, she immediately softened.
When she saw the broad, imposing Zephyr beside Garp, Dadan's momentum weakened by another thirty percent.
"Are you Mr. Zephyr? You are not going to arrest me, are you?"
Dadan forced a smile, while inwardly beating Garp to death more than a hundred times.
Zephyr raised his head and looked over the excellent mother before him, the one who dared to swing a club at Garp. He chuckled.
"Do not worry. It is just that old bastard Garp talking nonsense. You have done nothing wrong, so why would I arrest you?"
"That is good, that is good." Only then did Dadan pat her chest and relax.
"Hey, Dadan, what are you making so much noise about?!"
At that moment, the still-young Ace emerged from his room, rubbing his eyes, and caught sight of Garp.
"Damn old man, why are you here—ah!"
With a bang, Garp stepped forward and punched Ace, raising a steaming lump on his head.
"You little bastard, call me Grandpa!"
"It hurts like hell, you damn old man!"
Ace immediately clutched his head and cried out in pain, but his mouth remained as unyielding as ever.
Not far away, the instant Ace appeared, Shanks's gaze locked onto him without moving.
So this was the captain's child? He looked so much like him... my little brother.
A radiant smile spread across Shanks's face. Wonderful. This was wonderful indeed...
Before you continue