...
Just as the father-daughter decisive battle was underway, below Onigashima, Luffy was brought to the shore by Law's Heart Pirates…
When they heard Luffy mumbling in a daze about wanting to eat meat, Law's crew directly gave all their food to Luffy lying on the ground…
His body was instinctively craving—not battle, not standing up, not any heroic feat related to the word "hero."
He just wanted to eat.
"Meat…"
Bepo held the last piece of dried meat, the white bear's paws trembling.
They had already brought out all the food from the Heart Pirates' reserve pantry.
But these things seemed useless no matter what, because all the food was being devoured by the bandaged boy in front of them like a whirlwind.
"It's gone… really gone…"
Bepo's voice carried a crying tone: "There's really nothing left…"
Luffy didn't answer. He was still chewing.
Or rather, his jaw was still mechanically moving, even though his mouth was already empty.
Those eyes were half-open, half-closed, pupils unfocused, consciousness seeming to hover on the boundary between wakefulness and unconsciousness.
"Damn it… How much does this kid need to eat?!"
Shachi scratched his head frantically, then turned and ran toward the cabin: "I'll go check the kitchen. There should be a few fish left in the freezer…"
Just as he was about to find more food for Luffy, his steps suddenly halted.
Because not far away, two disheveled figures had appeared.
It was Shinobu, and Momonosuke.
The former was covered in wounds, the latter in tattered clothes.
Under Kaido's pursuit, they had fallen from hundreds of meters in the air, swept up by giant rocks collapsing from Onigashima—yet they were still alive.
"Luffy… Luffy…"
Momonosuke staggered toward the boy lying on the ground. His voice was very soft, almost swallowed by the waves, yet carrying an emotion that had been suppressed to the limit and finally burst forth.
"I… I…"
Momonosuke originally wanted to say "I thought you were dead," but because of nervousness, he also wanted to say "Thank goodness you're still alive."
He also wanted to say "I'm sorry I couldn't help at all."
But all the words, the moment they surged up his throat, were overwhelmed by an even more turbulent tide.
Tears first slid down silently, then came uncontrollable sobbing, and finally loud wailing.
Momonosuke knelt beside Luffy, hands braced on the ground, his small shoulders heaving violently.
He cried without any dignity. Clearly Luffy was still alive, clearly he should be happy, clearly as the heir of the Kozuki family and the future shogun of Wano Country, he shouldn't lose composure like this in front of everyone.
But Momonosuke couldn't stop. Right now, he was ultimately just an eight-year-old child.
A child who had witnessed his country's destruction and family's ruin, yet was powerless to do anything.
A child bearing the mission of restoring his nation, yet couldn't even hold a sword steady.
A child who, moments earlier atop Onigashima, facing his father's killer, didn't even have the courage to stand straight.
"Waaahhh!!!"
Shinobu covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face, yet unable to make a sound.
"So noisy…"
At this moment, a hoarse voice scolded Momonosuke. Everyone froze. Luffy had opened his eyes at some point without anyone noticing.
His gaze was no longer the unfocused, scattered state from before. Now Luffy was truly awake, but his eyes were filled with displeasure…
He stared fixedly at the little brat crying his eyes out in front of him.
"Momo, why are you crying?"
Luffy's voice was still weak, his breathing still ragged; he even had to pant twice after every word.
Momonosuke was startled by the shout, tears still hanging on his face, snot already sucked back in: "I… I…"
"Aren't you the shogun of Wano Country?"
"Y… yes…"
"A shogun crying and sniveling on the battlefield—what kind of sight is that!"
Luffy's brows furrowed into a "川" shape, his expression as if he'd seen someone stealing his meat.
"Everyone is fighting. You're a general, aren't you? You can't cry."
Hearing Luffy's rebuke, Momonosuke froze. He thought of his father.
In his mind appeared the image of that man who had been boiled in oil for an hour without uttering a single groan.
The man who had never shed a single tear in front of him, yet hid all his gentleness inside the sword sheath.
"I…" Momonosuke's voice was still trembling, but the tears had stopped: "I just…"
"Do you still remember what you said the first time we met?"
Luffy suddenly asked, and Momonosuke obviously shook his head blankly due to nervousness.
"You said…"
Luffy paused, as if recalling: "You said you were a man who would become the shogun of Wano Country!"
He stared into Momonosuke's eyes, enunciating each word: "Haven't you already achieved that? So why are you crying?"
Momonosuke opened his mouth but couldn't speak.
"If you want to cry, wait until after we defeat Kaido, after Wano Country is liberated, after everyone has enough to eat…"
Luffy lay back down on the ground, gazing at the gloomy sky, his voice as soft as if talking to himself.
"Then you can cry all you want."
A sea breeze blew past. Momonosuke lowered his head, forcefully wiped his face, and nodded hard!
His voice was very small, but this time, it didn't tremble.
"I said, what the hell are you all dawdling for?!"
A sharp voice suddenly exploded from the edge of the crowd.
Caribou.
This man who looked strikingly similar to Wang Zhi of the Rocks Pirates was poking half his body out from behind a reef in an extremely twisted posture.
His expression was flipping repeatedly between constipation and joy, so conflicted that his entire face was scrunched up.
"That, um… Straw Hat kid…"
He stammered, fingers twisting together: "If you can't beat Kaido, then this old man will have to keep squatting in prison!"
Bepo warily shielded Luffy: "What do you want to do?!"
"What do I want to do? What the hell can this old man do!"
Caribou was both grieved and indignant. "This old man just wants… just doesn't want to squat in prison anymore!"
He took a deep breath, as if making some major decision, and suddenly spread his arms wide.
The next second, everyone present was stunned.
From within Caribou's body… no, from the countless tiny vortex-like cracks on the surface of his body!
Food poured out like a breached flood.
Not "some" food, but "massive amounts" of food.
"This, this is…" Shachi was dumbfounded.
Caribou raised his chin high, his face filled with the smugness of "come praise me."
His nostrils were practically pointing at the sky, and his voice rose eight degrees: "Hmph hmph hmph, you little brats, now you know this old man's power!
"The Swamp-Swamp Fruit is a truly infinite warehouse. There's nothing in this world that this old man can't store…"
"Gulp."
A swallowing sound.
Caribou looked down and saw that Luffy had sat up at some point without anyone noticing, stuffing piles of food into his mouth at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
His cheeks were puffed up like two balloons, chewing frequency fast enough to leave afterimages, swallowing almost simultaneous with the next bite entering.
"You—you should at least let people finish talking! Slow down, this is a whole month's worth of food for me!"
Caribou watched Luffy devouring voraciously and hurriedly expressed his pain at the other eating too much, but clearly no one paid him any attention.
Luffy's eating speed had transcended the realm of physical laws.
Ten seconds, thirty seconds, one minute.
The mountain of food Caribou brought visibly collapsed and disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye, converted into the boy's energy, spirit, and strength.
When the last piece of dried meat disappeared into Luffy's mouth, Luffy let out a long breath.
...
"No! Absolutely not!"
Not far away, Shinobu's voice was almost a scream.
She shielded Momonosuke, arms spread wide like a mother protecting her child.
Tear stains still hung on her face, but at this moment her eyes held only fear.
"Onigashima is too dangerous! You just barely escaped from that place with your life—how can you…"
"But everyone is fighting!"
Momonosuke's voice overpowered hers.
Not in volume, but in a kind of stubborn determination that had never appeared on this timid boy before.
"Mr. Zoro, Mr. Law, and everyone from the Straw Hat crew… and the samurai of Wano Country…"
Momonosuke said, his small fists clenched red: "They're all fighting with their lives on the line! How can I… how can I!"
His voice choked for a moment, but he forcefully swallowed it back.
"How can I desert at the last moment!"
Shinobu was stunned. She looked at the child before her.
This child who would tremble facing Kaido, who would shrink back facing strong enemies, who always instinctively sought support when facing difficulties.
At this moment, he was demanding of himself, asking her to help him become someone who could fight.
"Lord Momonosuke…"
Shinobu's voice trembled: "Do you know what the Ripe-Ripe Fruit's ability means?"
"I know."
Momonosuke's answer was unexpectedly calm.
"Once I use it, I won't be able to turn back."
He paused, lowering his head to look at his own small hands that couldn't even grip a sword hilt firmly.
"This body… will always be an adult's body."
Shinobu's tears burst forth.
"But your heart is still just a child's! You haven't properly enjoyed your childhood yet, you haven't…"
"I never had a childhood."
Momonosuke interrupted her.
His voice was very soft, almost carried away by the sea breeze.
"Ever since the day my father died…"
Hearing this, Shinobu could no longer speak.
She gazed at this child, at the clarity in his eyes that didn't match his age, and suddenly realized…
He seemed to no longer be that little boy she had to constantly protect behind her.
He had already made his choice. It was just that she had been unwilling to admit it.
"I understand…"
Shinobu closed her eyes, teardrops rolling down from her eyelashes.
"If this is Lord Momonosuke's resolve!"
She reached out and placed her hand on Momonosuke's head: "Then let me lend you a hand."
Ripe-Ripe Fruit, ability activated.
Light burst forth from within Momonosuke's body.
It wasn't the brilliant phenomenon of a Devil Fruit awakening, nor the shocking impact of Conqueror's Haki, but a more restrained, gentler, and more resolute transformation.
The so-called passage of time, in just a few seconds, flowed through his body like running water.
Bones lengthened, muscles filled out, the childish contours were polished by time into the sharp edges of youth.
But his heart hadn't changed. He was still that child who would cry in front of his father's grave.
He was still that child who would wail loudly in front of Luffy.
He was still that future shogun of Wano Country who, knowing his own weakness, still chose to stand on the battlefield.
"Lord Momonosuke…"
Shinobu knelt on the ground, tears blurring her vision.
She looked at the youth who had grown from eight years old before her eyes, at that face both familiar and unfamiliar, her throat as if blocked by something. A thousand words condensed into one sentence: "You look… you really look too much like Lord Oden!"
Momonosuke lowered his head, looking at his own hands that could finally grip a sword hilt tightly.
He was silent for a long time. Then he raised his head.
"It's still not enough." Momonosuke's voice no longer sounded like a child's.
"I still need—to become even stronger!"
The next second, everyone heard that dragon roar.
It wasn't Kaido's roar, that kind filled with violence, oppression, and enmity toward the world.
This dragon roar was clearer, purer, like an undercurrent beneath ice, like the first ray of light before dawn.
Bepo's knife fell to the ground.
Shachi's mouth fell open, forgetting to breathe.
Caribou plopped down into a crevice in the reef, looking as disheveled as if he'd seen a ghost.
Shinobu collapsed to the ground, but her eyes held a light she hadn't shown in twenty years.
And Luffy, seeing this scene, swallowed the last bite of meat in his mouth, slowly stood up, and walked over to the pink giant dragon on the shore.
Unlike Kaido's Azure Dragon, this dragon was more slender, its scales gleaming with a warm luster like cherry blossom shells. What was reflected in its dragon pupils wasn't fighting spirit or killing intent!
This was Momonosuke.
Outside the light screen.
The young Kaido and Big Mom had both lost their words. They stared at that pink giant dragon, at the boy standing before the giant dragon…
Both were dumbfounded!
Especially Kaido. His pupils reflected the posture of that pink giant dragon.
Dragon scales, dragon horns, dragon pupils, dragon whiskers, dragon claws—even the curvature of the dragon tail's curl…
Every inch of the outline was exactly the same as his future Azure Dragon form, as if it had split from the same body into another soul, only dyed a different color by fate.
"Exactly the same… Except for the color, it's exactly the same as this old man. That Vegapunk is a real talent!"
Earlier through the light screen, they already knew that what Momonosuke had eaten was something made by Dr. Vegapunk according to Kaido's lineage factor—a failure…
But right now, this giant dragon transformed from Momonosuke, aside from the color being different, looked basically exactly like Kaido!
In the light screen, even while lying there, that pink giant dragon was a colossal being!
Luffy looked up at it. The usually carefree him didn't mistake the person, didn't take a fighting stance, and didn't even unconsciously step back half a pace like the others.
The sea breeze blew his black hair into a mess. The edges of his bandages fluttered in the wind.
One second, two seconds.
"You're Momo, right…"
The pink giant dragon's body visibly trembled.
The mist of water swirling in those dragon pupils suddenly froze, replaced by excitement!
"...It is I."
The dragon's mouth opened slightly, the voice it uttered low and unfamiliar—the matured youthful timbre shaped by years.
But that phrasing, that tone, that seriousness that couldn't be changed even after becoming a giant dragon…
It was definitely Momonosuke!
Luffy grinned, that "I knew it was you" smile, simple to the point of naivety.
Shinobu cried while beginning to explain everyone's confusion. She had already cried until her voice was hoarse.
But she couldn't stop.
Because every time she looked up, every time she thought of that face, she couldn't breathe.
"What the hell are you crying about?"
Luffy's voice came from beside her, carrying a trace of confusion.
"Isn't this a huge success? Momo got bigger, got stronger, and can even turn into a dragon now… Shouldn't you be happy?"
Shinobu raised her head. Through tear-blurred eyes she met Luffy's curious gaze. She opened her mouth and only managed to squeeze out a few words: "It's nothing… I just remembered Lord Oden!"
With that, Shinobu lowered her head again, tears once more bursting forth.
She couldn't deceive herself, because that face… really looked too much like him.
So much that it made her heart twist in pain.
Shinobu thought she had already accepted the fact that Oden was dead. She thought the tears she had shed over these years had already washed that person's outline clean from the bottom of her heart.
But at this moment, when the grown-up Momonosuke stood before her, she discovered that face had never left.
Luffy squatted on the ground, watching Shinobu who was crying and laughing at the same time, watching Momonosuke clumsily trying to comfort her.
He didn't quite understand what there was to cry about.
Nor did he understand why everyone had suddenly gone quiet.
He only knew that Momo had gotten stronger. Momo hadn't run away.
Momo was going to join him in beating up Kaido.
That was enough.
Luffy, full and satisfied, stood up, patted the sand off his butt, and looked up at the pink giant dragon coiled on the shore.
"Hey, Momo! We should get going!"