Retribution sometimes comes swiftly. He hadn’t even had time to be arrogant for long before Kaido appeared behind him.
The stronger his subordinates, the happier Kaido was. Whether it was external wars or fighting him, only strong subordinates could perform better. So, upon hearing of their return, Kaido naturally came to see them.
Everyone in the Beasts Pirates knows what kind of personality Kaido has. Seeing Kaido obviously eager to spar with Queen, Setsuna didn’t hesitate to relay Queen’s words—although the message got a little distorted in the process.
It seemed like Queen had said it, but it was quite different from what he wanted to express.
“He also said that even Zeraora could only be his assistant!!”
“Stop spouting nonsense! When did I ever say that?”
Hearing Setsuna stoking Kaido, Queen hurriedly tried to explain himself, but just then, a familiar voice came from Setsuna’s hand.
[“But nothing happened, right? You should trust me, a mere Admiral is nothing. With Zeraora and me, it was more than enough! Muhahaha!”]
“A mere Admiral, these are your exact words! Isn’t that just saying Zeraora was simply there to assist you?”
“Why… why did you bring a recorder with you?”
Listening to the recording of his own voice, Queen felt Setsuna had planned this all along—who carries something like that around normally?
“Oh, this? I planned to play it for Zeraora, to let him hear how you tried to quibble with me. He’s defended you plenty, saying you were unaware, and now it can come in handy. Mr. Kaido, you heard him; he said it himself.”
Could Kaido be fooled? The answer was no, not when he was clear-headed. He could see Queen was just showing off.
But sometimes, he was willing to be fooled.
When a leader favors you, you might get promoted just for stepping into the office with your left foot first. When they don’t like you, no matter how well you do, you’ll still be targeted. Kaido now, subjectively, just wanted a reason to fight Queen.
So, no matter what Setsuna said, he’d find a reason to take Queen away. Setsuna had laid the steps right at his feet—he couldn’t just not step on them.
“Worororo! Come on, Queen, let me experience your strength. And by the way, I preferred your old look.”
With that, Kaido tucked Queen under his arm and carried him off, while Setsuna returned to her home in Kuri.
Compared to Queen getting skinny, Zeraora, who had been constantly on the move, hadn’t sustained any injuries. During this time after returning back, he had done some simple grooming.
He shaved off the fur that had been singed by magma, then used a technique similar to Seimei Kikan to regenerate it, leaving no trace of battle on his body.
Queen could do this too, but eating in that way would take away the joy of eating for him, so he chose the path of slowly gaining weight.
Meanwhile, Meowna and Wolff were looking at Zeraora’s new wanted poster.
“Daddy, you’re amazing.”
“Yeah, one, ten, a hundred…1.2 billion! Such a high bounty, much higher than Mom’s.”
Wolff counted the zeros on the poster, his eyes filled with admiration. At this age, children saw their parents as all-powerful, able to do anything.
Most of the qualified parents would become heroes in the eyes of their children.
Because they were Zeraora and Setsuna’s children, their understanding of things was different from ordinary people. Regular children would be told that everyone on a wanted poster was a villain, a bad guy, and they should stay far away from them.
As for the children of the Marines, they would likely want to bring such people to justice. But in the pirate world, such norms didn’t apply.
Even as the Beasts Pirates gradually became a special sort of regime, their identity as pirates wouldn’t change as long as the World Government existed.
For the members of the Beasts Pirates, a bounty has long been a symbol of strength. Without a high bounty, you’d be embarrassed to even hang around in the New World.
Moreover, the kids were also raised with the notion that the World Government and the Marines were enemies. To them, the bounty was simply the enemy’s acknowledgment of their parents’ power.
“What are you talking about? If we hadn’t settled down after having you two, our bounty wouldn’t be just this.”
“You’re back? So, what explanation did Queen give you?”
“Same as always. Here’s a recording if you’re interested. You can listen to it yourself. But he was taken away by Mr. Kaido, so he should be having a good time.”
Setsuna wasn’t entirely sure what exactly happened, but according to some rumors from the pirates on Onigashima, Kaido was in a very good mood that day.
As for Queen, things weren’t so easy for him. Although his Natural Gift was strong, he couldn’t use it in this environment—partly because the location wasn’t right and partly because his physical condition wouldn’t allow it.
If he used it one more time, Queen might really be drained dry.
…
Some time later, Yamato returned to Onigashima, bringing back a large bag of local specialties from her travels. While away, she was free from Kaido’s pressure and enjoyed herself immensely. But as soon as she returned to Onigashima, she spotted a familiar figure binge-eating in the dining hall.
Queen was busy trying to regain his old figure, already showing signs of rounding out, though he still had a bit to go to fully return to his former size.
“Uncle Queen, I heard you did something amazing! I even saw it in the newspapers while I was away.”
“Shhh! Miss Yamato, please don’t mention that again. I don’t want Boss Kaido to pay attention to me again.”
Seeing Yamato, who still looked fresh from vacation, Queen was filled with envy. From a status standpoint, Yamato should have been the one to attract the Marine’s attention, yet they had focused all their attention on him instead.
Thinking about this, his sorrow and indignation turned into appetite, and he began devouring the food in front of him, converting it into calories and storing them in his body.
“Oh, don’t be so down. Dad said he’s prepared a new gift for you this time, and you’ll probably like it.”
“Cough, cough… Lord Arceus has a gift for me?!”
Hearing Yamato’s words, Queen nearly choked on his Oshiruko, but he couldn’t hide his surprise as he asked her for confirmation.
Arceus rarely gave gifts to anyone, but whenever he did, it was always a treasure beyond imagination.
“Yes, I ran into Dad earlier, and he said you’ve had a rough time. According to Dad, being able to take all the blame is something no one has ever done before, so he thought you deserved a reward.”
“…”
Queen wasn’t sure how to respond to this bitter truth, but he was definitely looking forward to this gift. Whether it was power or something else, it was bound to be incredibly valuable. Even the Harvest ability that can be used to make the bananas on his chin grow faster was greatly useful.
Not to mention this mysterious gift.
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