"Captain."
King looked at Shane, just as he had when he first met the God whose every move changed the world in his youth.
Years had passed, and he had become an Admiral at Headquarters, but this man was still the strongest, invincible God in his heart.
"Captain, I'm still waiting to become your guard again."
Aokiji's words were not concise, and they were words he had thought about for a long time.
Looking back thirty years, the days when he and King fought across the seas as Shane's two guards could be called the simplest, purest time in Aokiji's life.
Now, having seen the world change and how unpredictable people could be, he finally understood what Shane had done back then.
Some things had to change, but people liked to cling to the past.
Those who had once been the Celestial Dragons' lackeys had now become new Celestial Dragons, just as they wished.
Yet they were fearful and uneasy, lacking the courage to truly call themselves gods, even as they grew increasingly arrogant in secret.
"You already have the power to bring justice to the world, and one day, I'll be too lazy to meddle."
Shane yawned.
Devouring the Devil Fruit Tree and the Heaven-Reaching Tree had truly been exhausting, nearly leaving Shane asleep for a hundred years.
Fortunately, he had made a few preparations before falling asleep and had awakened in time.
When Shane first woke, he had already become one with the tree, becoming the new God's Tree.
In the end, he had absorbed all its power and fused into a new life-form.
The Heaven-Reaching Tree had also become the Heavenly Tree, possessing the powers of levitation, invisibility, and storms to sustain the City of Heaven.
Would God lose interest in this world one day?
Neither Aokiji