-February 15, 8:00 a.m.
In the skies near Totto Land's waters, two atmospheric airships were heading toward Whole Cake Island.
They were the flying church, the Red Tears, and the steam-powered castle, the Ashen.
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Red Tears-
"Boss, I'm impressed you managed to get that Empress to stay quietly at home."
Reiju spoke from the first officer's seat, dressed in a white women's suit and looking every bit the secretary.
Yesterday had been the Great Angel and the Empress's wedding. Early this morning, Sephiroth had brought Reiju aboard the fastest vessel, the Wide-Area Silent Ship, and rushed to the rendezvous point.
They had just transferred to the Red Tears, which had been waiting there.
"...I originally planned to bring her."
Seated in the captain's chair, Sephiroth answered her question while looking at the data tablet in his hand.
"But now that she's pregnant, how could I possibly let her go?"
Sephiroth had originally planned to take Hancock along.
Given Big Mom's personality, she would most likely want to discuss a marriage alliance. But he had only married Hancock the day before, and now he was supposed to turn around and discuss another marriage?
That really wouldn't do, so he had explained the situation directly to Hancock and asked her to attend with him as his wife.
After all, bringing a female companion to this sort of gathering was perfectly normal.
And with Hancock's strength, as long as she didn't face Big Mom herself, who else could stand against her? Sephiroth wouldn't have much to worry about.
He hadn't expected her to actually get pregnant. The main clue had been her missed period...
It made sense, really. After making their relationship official, they had spent a month glued to each other... They had explored all sorts