"A great war, huh?"
Watching Ozz's figure drift farther and farther away, Kaido bared his teeth in excitement, then chugged another mouthful of booze.
"Now that's something to look forward to…"
…
Ozz left the Flower Capital, but he did not rush to leave Wano.
Near the border, in a small village, Ozz arrived carrying a bound figure dressed like a ninja. The moment he stepped in, he drew a lot of attention.
He did not care. He only planned to make a few quick preparations, rest a little, then set sail.
He had taken that Fire Dragon Torch head on. It was not fatal to him, but some fine injuries remained.
No matter how precise his Observation Haki was, he could not perfectly reconnect every nerve pathway. If you asked whether it hurt, then yes, it still hurt.
"Excuse me. Anyone home?"
Ozz did not bother with politeness. He walked up to one of the houses and knocked.
The door opened to reveal a beautiful woman with purple hair. She cautiously leaned out. At first, she was about to ask what he needed, almost reassured by his handsome face and gentle smile.
Then she saw what he was holding.
A bound ninja.
Her face drained of color in an instant.
Bang!
The door slammed shut.
"…"
Ozz raised an eyebrow.
Inside the house, the purple haired woman stumbled back in panic. A man who had been tending to a baby nearly jumped out of his skin.
He hurriedly set the infant down and rushed to support his wife.
"What happened?!"
"I… I…"
The woman tried to speak, but the moment she looked up, she froze.
Terror spread across her face.
Her mouth hung open. Her pupils trembled violently as she pointed behind the man.
The man turned, confused.
One glance, and his soul almost left his body.
In the room stood a tall man dressed in black, casually teasing a purple haired baby with one hand.
On the floor lay another figure, motionless.
A ninja.
"Tama!!!"
"Who are you?!"
The couple panicked. At this moment they did not care that Ozz looked like he could tear mountains apart. They charged forward anyway.
Ozz only glanced at them.
Both froze in place.
"Relax. I won't hurt the child."
Ozz truly had no malicious intent. He only wanted a place to rest before heading back out to sea.
Still, the name they shouted made him pause.
"Tama?"
This baby, barely born, was that Tama?
The purple hair, the mother, it all matched.
Ozz gently placed the sleeping Tama back into bed. Then he released the couple with a flick of his will.
"You've seen it yourselves. If I wanted to kill you, it would take nothing more than a look."
"So yes."
"I'm really just here to rest for a bit."
The couple slowly calmed down. His logic was brutal, but impossible to refute.
They could only choose to believe him.
"Then… alright…"
They left the room, still wary, cradling Tama close like they could shield her with their bodies.
Ozz shook his head. He did not mind.
At his level, rules no longer restrained him. Breaking into a random home was nothing.
If he truly wanted to, he could recreate anything he could imagine, no matter how ridiculous, how shameless, how far past the human line.
He could chase the most extreme thrills and the most vulgar pleasures.
His mind even brushed past the kind of absurd "collection game" fantasies people scribbled into certain magazines.
Robin, Nami, Hancock, Carrot, Shirahoshi, Reiju, Monet, Baby 5, Viola, Bonney, Stussy, Perona, Pudding, Tashigi, Kalifa, Vivi, Kujaku, Hibari…
If Ozz ever decided to be cruel enough, he could.
Easily.
But he did not want to.
Cheap pleasure was just indulgence and rot. At least for now, he still preferred games with scale. Games big enough to shake the world.
Ozz sat down in a chair and made himself comfortable. The Seagull King was unusually diligent, massaging his shoulders like a loyal attendant.
Ozz tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling.
Then, as if he remembered something, he glanced to the side.
On the floor, Shinobu lay immobilized, unable to move.
She was not pretty now, but a few years ago she had been considered a beauty.
Ozz narrowed his eyes.
"Hey…"
"Your Devil Fruit ability is called the Ripe Ripe Fruit, right?"
Ozz stroked his chin. To be honest, he did have thoughts about Shinobu.
Of course…
Not about her.
About her fruit.
Right now, he was still just a little short of being truly broken beyond reason.
Beating Admirals and Emperors was not a problem. Even against monsters worthy of the title "King", people like Captain Roger or prime Whitebeard, he was confident he would not lose.
But he would get hurt.
Badly.
Even Kaido, a meat tank of an Emperor, still took real effort to bring down.
But if he took one more step, if he truly pushed his raw strength to the level Rocks had once stood at…
Then even without the Warp Warp Fruit, Ozz could still kill an Admiral solo.
His future talent and his spirit would catch up. That was not the issue.
The issue was time.
He was too young.
He was only in his twenties.
If he had the body of his thirties or forties, then he could do what Rocks did.
March into the Holy Land alone.
And this time, he would not need to run.
He would stand there and trade blows with Im and the others like it was just another day.
And the Ripe Ripe Fruit had the ability to accelerate aging.
If Ozz wanted, he could force himself to "mature" straight to his thirties, even forties.
At that point, he did not even need to talk about anything else. Just the explosive rise in physique and strength would push his hard power to Rocks' level.
The true strongest creature of land, sea, and sky.
He could stand still and let Kaido fire off Fire Dragon Torch without even needing to counter with a finisher.
But…
Ozz remembered Momonosuke.
The only living example of someone forcibly aged.
Ozz desperately wanted absolute invincibility.
Only then could he toy with things like Im and Joy Boy, rather than being toyed with as a joke.
But if his growth ended up like Momonosuke's, if only his body matured while his Devil Fruit mastery and Haki remained stuck at the level of his twenties…
Then the price would be enormous.
Because in the world of One Piece, for normal humans, your forties were already the peak.
If he stopped using Pure Gold to freeze himself, he would start declining.
Just like Momonosuke.
Maybe if he had grown naturally, he could have become a true master, a swordsman overflowing with Haki like Oden.
Instead, he might only become a durable dragon that could take hits.
Ozz stared at Shinobu in silence for a long moment.
His gaze made her scalp crawl. Her thoughts tangled in fear and shame.
He kept looking at her… was he going to lose control and go beast mode?
In the end, Ozz shook his head.
"…Forget it."
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