"!!!"
Shanks, lying on the ground, suddenly opened his eyes and saw his supposedly "dead" companions gathered around him, grinning down at him.
He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes. Far from unintelligent, merely rather easygoing by nature, Shanks quickly realized what had happened.
"...Uta and all of you are safe. Thank goodness."
Naturally, Shanks would not blame his daughter. As he climbed to his feet, he said with both puzzlement and pride, "I never imagined Uta's power had grown this strong. She could even recreate Kaido, and I didn't notice a single fla-"
His words caught in his throat halfway through, because now that he was standing, Shanks had spotted a certain Sapphire Star who had "left and returned," along with his cats.
"Xie-Wen-!!!"
Shanks ground Xie Wen's name out between his teeth.
If he still could not figure out which Kaido he had just fought, he would have been far too stupid.
"Ahahahaha! You're welcome! Just doing what I should!"
The shameless Sapphire Star ignored Shanks's murderous glare and gave him a thumbs-up.
"I..."
Shanks nearly choked on the breath stuck in his chest.
But upon thinking it over, he had to admit with a wry smile that without Xie Wen's stunt, his relationship with Uta might not have improved so quickly...
Yes, having been fed the wrong information all along, Shanks had no idea that without Xie Wen and the Little Furball Cats egging her on, he probably could have earned Uta's forgiveness with a few kind words. There had been no need for all this trouble.
Unfortunately, he did not know.
So...
"He even has to thank us!"
That was what Xie Wen told the cats after returning to the real world.
Faced with the infuriating Xie Wen, who had nevertheless genuinely "helped"