"Great Leader, are you really heading back just like that? Why not stay and enjoy yourself for a while longer?"
Kenma stood on the coast of the Sabaody Archipelago, holding a stack of folded white paper in his hand, the black ink visible through the sheets. His gaze was fixed on the distant sea, and it took him a long time to snap back to reality.
Just moments ago, the entire Straw Hat crew had gathered and set sail once again. Aboard the newly coated Thousand Sunny, they had dived toward the deep, dark depths of the ocean.
The sound of Ace's voice brought Kenma back to the present. He looked at Ace beside him and nodded. "It is time to return to the Soul Society. Our business here is finished." He then asked, "What about you? Won't you meet with Luffy? Just once wouldn't hurt."
"No."
Ace shook his head, a carefree smile on his face. "Knowing that Luffy has found closure and that Sabo is safe is enough for me. I am a man who has already passed away; there is no need to leave too many lingering attachments for the living. Otherwise, I would only hold Luffy back from going further. Besides, I already had that skeleton pass on some words to him."
When mentioning his younger brother, the sharp edges of Ace's expression softened significantly. Seeing his resolve, Kenma stopped trying to persuade him. He shifted his gaze to Yakumi, who was standing nearby.
"Yakumi, I am leaving the Underworld and the sea of the living in your hands for the time being. Remember to pay close attention to those powerful individuals who are on the verge of death. I will arrange for some people to come over later."
Kenma had formed a contract with the Underworld and established a base there, which required a significant amount of manpower. With specific coordinates, the Senkaimon could now lead directly from the Soul Society into the Underworld. Yakumi and Ace, stationed in the Pirate World, could also use the Senkaimon to easily travel between the sea and the Underworld.
His instruction for Yakumi to keep an eye on the strong was, naturally, for their souls—and the Devil Fruits! While the souls would enter the Underworld, the Devil Fruits would normally transfer away to reincarnate somewhere else. Kenma needed to intervene at the moment of the ability user's death to intercept the Devil Fruit in advance.
He proceeded to brief Yakumi on several more details, and Yakumi nodded solemnly to every instruction. Seeing that the business was concluded, Shisui snapped his fingers lightly.
A wooden sliding door suddenly appeared in the space before them, glowing with a soft white light.
Click!
The door slid open, revealing the passage within. Kenma offered Yakumi a few words of encouragement before leading Shisui inside to return to the Soul Society.
Once Kenma and Shisui had departed, Yakumi breathed a sigh of relief. No matter how you looked at it, working alongside the top boss was never a relaxing task. He hopped down from a tree root and looked at Ace.
"Let's go as well."
"Oh, right!" Ace seemed to remember something, his eyes lighting up. "I know a bar that's pretty good. Since we're rarely here in the Sabaody Archipelago, why don't we stay for half a day? Come with me to check it out. I think the bar was called—The Rip-off Bar or something like that?"
Seeing Ace racking his brain to remember the name of the bar, Yakumi nodded. Working with his superior for the past few days had not only exhausted his body but had increased his mental pressure exponentially. After several days of accumulated negative emotions, he figured he could use this opportunity to reward himself for his hard work.
As the two walked down the street, Ace stroked his chin and asked, "By the way, Yakumi, do you know what was written on that stack of papers the Great Leader was holding? I noticed him keeping them in his hand the whole time, looking quite precious about them."
Yakumi spread his hands, a look of exhaustion on his face. "The thoughts of the masters are profound. How would a subordinate like me know such things? Forget it, why worry about it? Just do your own job."
The sight of Yakumi talking to Ace appeared incredibly bizarre to the surrounding people.
"Mama, look, it's that uncle talking to himself again."
"It really is that weirdo from a few days ago. Hasn't the mental hospital caught him yet?"
"Hurry, let's get away. He's mentally unstable; it would be bad if he suddenly lashed out!"
The surrounding crowds whispered and gossiped. The scattered voices reached Yakumi's ears, making his face turn red with embarrassment again. He looked at Ace, but Ace only shrugged innocently and spread his hands.
"I'm not wearing a Gigai right now. You're the one who forgot."
Yakumi immediately covered his face with his hands and fled the scene.
Inside the Senkaimon, Kenma and Shisui walked along the path constructed of reishi. Shisui glanced at Kenma and the papers he held, which were faintly translucent with ink marks. Driven by curiosity and seeing that Kenma seemed to be in a good mood, he asked softly, "My Lord, those papers... I saw you treasuring them so much. Do they have some special use?"
"It's nothing."
Mentioning the papers, Kenma's expression softened again. He glanced at Shisui out of the corner of his eye and, seeing his curiosity, explained, "They are 'blessings' I collected from the Straw Hat crew. You could call it a small surprise from this trip."
Shisui was puzzled. "In that case, you truly do appreciate Ace's brother and his crew... But from what I saw, though they have some drive, they don't seem to have any other special characteristics."
Kenma shook his head. "You wouldn't understand. It's simply to fulfill a past regret of mine."
As he spoke, Kenma waved the papers. One page was filled completely. Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan flickered for an instant, allowing him to see clearly in that brief moment. Although the characters had a sharp, aggressive edge to them, they were all names of techniques.
One-Sword Style, Two-Sword Style, Three-Sword Style...
Speaking of which, there was actually a Three-Sword Style? How was one even supposed to hold the swords? Surely it wasn't like Killer B of the Cloud Shinobi, who claimed to use an Eight-Sword Style but actually used a routine that looked more like juggling?
The two shared a brief conversation before crossing the relatively short spatial tunnel. They stepped through the Senkaimon exit and into a vast, empty hall.
"Lord Kenma, you're back!"
Inside the hall, aside from the Uchiha elites on duty, was Amanai Riko, who was sitting near the Senkaimon. She was currently playing with three or four Uchiha girls around her age. When the Senkaimon lit up, she immediately knew it was Kenma returning.
Seeing the girls gathering around, Kenma nodded. Riko then pulled him toward another Senkaimon gate. The girl puffed out her chest and tapped the pillar of the gate proudly.
"My Lord, look! I found an alien world too!"
Kenma was stunned. He turned his head to scan the hall. Where there were originally three Senkaimon pillars, there was now a fourth.
"When did you dig this through? I was in the other world these past few days and didn't grant you the power. Did you dig this up earlier?"
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]