According to Whitebeard, they had originally planned to celebrate extravagantly for several days, but Su Lin was in a hurry to return.
Imu on the Void Throne had probably already started paying attention to this matter.
For now, it was better for Su Lin to keep his distance from the existence behind this Pirate World.
"You said you wanted Devil Fruits, but those things aren't easy to come by on short notice. These are what we have in stock." Whitebeard handed over three Devil Fruits with strange patterns, colored green, red, and purple.
"If you're willing to stay another month or two, finding ten wouldn't be a problem," Marco added.
"This is enough. Thank you." Dressed in the casual clothes he had arrived in, Su Lin accepted the Devil Fruits, glanced at them, and placed all three into his system space.
He might have gained more if he stayed longer, but Su Lin had only wanted to keep a few as collectibles. He had no intention of eating them himself, so a handful was enough.
None of these three fruits were listed in the encyclopedia, so the Whitebeard Pirates' commanders had never considered eating them. If they turned out to have ridiculous abilities, not only would they gain no combat strength, they might even acquire Weak Water's traits.
"Then we'll be going, Uncle Whitebeard." Luffy waved farewell to Whitebeard. "Ace, make sure you train hard~."
"Shut up."
"Sorry for the trouble, but please explain the whole situation to us of this era," Jinbe said to Whitebeard.
Over the past two days, Jinbe and Luffy had both been deeply satisfied, making up for the regrets in their hearts.
"Don't worry."
There was no telling whether their counterparts in this era would retain the memories of these past few days after they returned, so they left the rest to Whitebeard.
Red-Hair had already hurried off that morning because Su Lin had mentioned the current situation of a certain songstress to him the night before.
After Shanks heard it, he summoned everyone with a dark expression and immediately departed.
He had probably gone to save her.
"Come to think of it, instead of handing him over to Rayleigh for training, why not let this old man train him?" Whitebeard said, displeasedly picking at his ear.
One thing was one thing. To thank the Whitebeard Pirates for the Devil Fruits, Su Lin spent 100 points to exchange for a medicine. While it could not restore Whitebeard's youth, it could at least cure his old injuries and illnesses.
So Whitebeard had now set his sights on the Straw Hat Kid of this era.
"I can use that Kaido-style teaching method you mentioned too."
At worst, he could just use the blunt side of his blade.
When Jinbe heard this, he hurriedly persuaded Whitebeard to abandon the idea. It took a great deal of coaxing before Whitebeard agreed to send Straw Hat to Daughter Kingdom later and contact that fellow Rayleigh while he was at it.
But his expression clearly showed that he was only humoring him.
Su Lin watched from the side without exposing him. This point in time was already a complete mess anyway.
He could more or less guess what Whitebeard was planning.
"See you."
The three bade farewell to everyone inside the cabin. Together with Kid and Luo, who had been waiting nearby, they pressed their pocket watches.
It was just that no one knew what the other two would get up to after returning to this era.
Click—
The hands began rotating clockwise once more.
After Chaos.
Everyone returned to Wano Country, retaining the same poses and clothes they had worn when they departed.
Meanwhile, at that point in time in the other parallel world.
Inside Whitebeard's cabin, Whitebeard revealed a "sinister" smile as he watched several people wake up groggily.
"Just leaving him to Rayleigh would indeed be too wasteful."
"Pops." Ace covered his face, silently mourning the fate awaiting his little brother.
"This old man hasn't broken his promise. I simply don't plan to let Rayleigh teach him alone."
Whitebeard grabbed the noisy Luffy in one hand, opened the cabin door, and tossed him into the sky.
"Brat, training begins now!"
Back in Wano Country, Luffy stretched lazily in satisfaction.
[Zochet's Linear Pocket Watch] in Su Lin's hand had not disappeared. However, after being stored in the system space, it was now displayed as damaged.
The item description had changed.
[Zochet's Linear Pocket Watch (Damaged)]: The beauty it created had nothing to do with me in essence. It was only a dream—a dream that allowed me to embrace my shattered past and walk toward the future. A terrible present, a future with an unknown ending. The past was always full of regret and imperfection, while the future was always bestowed with expectations of fulfillment and beauty. In the end, I returned to the original line, struggling forward toward a future I dared not face... (Cannot be used)
Su Lin stared at the motionless pocket watch and fell into thought.
This pocket watch actually had considerable hidden value.
Forget it. He had already used it. With 22,153 system points, this trip had been a huge profit.
With a snap, he closed the pocket watch and tucked it into his clothes as a keepsake.
Its status said damaged, but that did not stop it from being used as an ordinary pocket watch.
Before it was used, the watch's hands had been still. When it was first used to return to the past, the hands moved backward. Now, they rotated clockwise.
The past was over. Just as the pocket watch said, one always had to face the future.
Using this pocket watch to get through the beginner phase had been worth it.
In Su Lin's view, 22,153 system points was a decent haul.
Su Lin had originally intended to go home immediately, but since he had rarely had the chance to come here, he figured he might as well eat, drink, and enjoy himself before leaving. After all, the enormous chunks of meat in the manga had always looked incredibly tempting.
But his appetite was nowhere near as large as Luffy's. People in this world seemed able to eat a lot. Giant grilled squid larger than half his body, as well as meat from unknown Sea Kings—these people could stuff it all into their stomachs.
Eating even one of those was enough to make him burst.
Not long after, amid Kid's grumbling, Luffy received the news that he had become a Yonko. Luffy did not care much, though, and dragged Kid along to continue the banquet.
Seeing that the group chat was somewhat quiet, Su Lin uploaded a photo.
Su Lin: [Image]
Under the night sky, a brightly lit town was filled with all kinds of fruit and food, while countless people celebrated.
Ye Fan: "You guys came back through time?"
Su Lin: "We returned two hours ago. It felt like entering a special dungeon in a game."
Xiao Yan and Ye Fan naturally understood what a game dungeon was.
Su Lin: "There's a banquet going on here. Back when I watched anime, I was always interested in the food with such amazing visual effects."
Ye Fan: "True. But I want to eat food from home even more."
After being sent to another planet, he spent every day pursuing Immortal Cultivation. What he ate was spiritual fruit, heavenly treasures, and various exotic beasts.
Those foods brought far better sensations to both body and mind than ordinary mortal food, but what Ye Fan missed was the feeling of home.
Especially Xiao Yan. Having lived two lives, he had nearly forgotten the food and scenery of Earth.
Ye Fan: "I want hot pot and soup dumplings @Su Lin."
Xiao Yan: "I want some too. @Su Lin"
Uh, judging by what those two meant.
Su Lin: "Delivery, or are you coming over yourselves?"
(End of Chapter)