Dimensional Chat Group: Speed-o'-Light

At that moment, the office door finally opened. Judge—whose expression usually shifted between grim and expressionless—actually walked out with an unconcealable joy on his face.

"Father?"

Seeing their father looking like a completely different man, Reiju and Yonji were both stunned. Reiju even forgot to keep up her silent eye-duel with Nami, hurrying to her feet to confirm whether Yonji's body had been swapped in the office.

"Ahem! Reiju, I've already reached an agreement with Fleet Admiral Kizaru. From now on, you'll be part of the Navy, and in the future, all those clone soldiers will join as well. You must take care of them on behalf of the Vinsmoke family."

With the hope of restoring his kingdom right in front of him, Judge even discarded his earlier plan of making vague promises and decisively left Reiju behind as a kind of 'hostage.'

If he hadn't already secured terms with Kizaru, Judge—whose mind was consumed by the dream of restoring his kingdom—might have even thrown aside royal dignity and ordered Reiju to "seal the deal" in the crudest way possible.

"What?"

Reiju was completely stunned. She had considered the possibility of staying by Kizaru's side, but leaving aside the troublesome rival Nami, the question of how to convince her father to abandon his "perfect tool" had always been the hardest problem.

But before she even came up with a plan, Judge was already in a rush to give her away to Kizaru.

"Huh?"

Nami was equally shocked. She had spent days coming up with countless schemes to prevent Reiju from staying, yet never imagined her trump card—Judge—would flip the script against her.

This turn of events actually lessened Nami's hostility toward Reiju. Having been abandoned by her parents from a young age, Nami couldn't stand seeing such a scene of 'fatherly affection.'

In her eyes, Reiju had suddenly become a pitiful girl abandoned by a father desperate to cling to power. If not for the fact she didn't want to cause trouble for Kizaru, Nami's fiery temper would have already driven her to stand up and denounce Judge.

Meanwhile, Yonji's face was full of joy. That annoying sister who always bossed him around was finally going to disappear! From now on, he'd be free to act as recklessly as Ichiji and Niji—it was perfect!

Even after Judge left with Yonji, Reiju was still trapped in a daze, torn between shock and secret delight.

"Don't be sad. A family like that isn't worth longing for!"

Nami took the initiative to hold Reiju's hand, comforting her with the gentlest voice she could muster.

From Nami's perspective, Judge was a heartless father handing over his daughter as a gift to a powerful figure, while Yonji was a cold-blooded little brother who, knowing his sister was being given away, felt no anger and only joy.

With such relatives, Reiju seemed far too pitiful. Compared to her, Nami—though never having met her real parents—still had her beloved adoptive mother Belle-Mère and her sister Nojiko.

"…You're right. There really is nothing worth clinging to."

But Reiju wasn't like Nami, the little girl sheltered from real storms by Belle-Mère, Nojiko, and Kizaru's protection.

From Nami's words and behavior, Reiju could easily guess what the girl was thinking—leaving her both amused and exasperated.

—

The New World, Totto Land, Whole Cake Island.

This island, shaped like an enormous cake and full of dreamlike colors, was the fearsome stronghold of the Big Mom Pirates.

To prepare for the upcoming Tea Party, the Big Mom Pirates gathered countless ingredients and delicacies from all over the world, both to entertain their guests and to provide for Big Mom herself.

Normally, the Tea Party was the day Charlotte Linlin looked forward to the most. Whether it was the delicious food or the precious gifts, both would leave her immensely satisfied.

Yet now, nearly under house arrest inside Cake Castle, Charlotte Linlin felt no joy at all for the approaching Tea Party.

The throne inside Cake Castle that once belonged solely to Big Mom had now been transformed into a towering seat, much like the temple-like throne room aboard the Overlord Ship.

Just below that throne, a step lower, sat the designated seats for Charlotte Linlin and Kaido—their places as the "highest-ranking combatants."

Of course, this arrangement was set by the pirates of the Beasts and Big Mom crews. In their minds, their captains ought to be Lord Boros's right and left hands—something like vice captains.

But Boros had no such concept as "deputies." Even the top combatants, whose lives and deaths he could decide at will, were nothing in his eyes. Groribas, whom Boros left behind in the One-Punch World, no doubt understood this all too well.

Fortunately, Boros didn't care how his subordinates viewed things. Even when these newly recruited underlings placed the two top combatants on seats only slightly below his own, Boros was completely indifferent.

"Kaido, you bastard! Why did you drag that guy onto my turf?!"

Sitting on a throne far smaller than the main seat, Charlotte Linlin stuffed herself with all kinds of delicacies while cursing loudly at Kaido, who was on the other side guzzling down liquor.

Every time she thought about how she had been enjoying cake and singing in Totto Land, only for Kaido—who had lost to Boros and become his underling—to forcibly drag her down with him, Charlotte Linlin's stomach twisted with fury.

The worst part was that she had no power to fight back against Boros. Even when her hunger pangs drove her into a frenzy, Boros would just beat her back to her senses. What angered her even more was that her own children, once they realized this, began cooperating with Boros to help keep her under house arrest!

"Shut it, old hag! If you'd actually fought like your life depended on it, would we have ended up like this?!"

Kaido roared back without hesitation. At first he had felt somewhat guilty, but after being berated day after day by Charlotte Linlin, the hot-tempered Kaido wasn't about to put up with it.

After days of mutual bickering, Kaido had even started ignoring the fact that he was the one who dragged Linlin down. He now believed it was she who had dragged him down.

If she had gone all out from the very beginning like he did, how could the two of them have been beaten so badly by that one-eyed monster?

And so the two former Emperors of the Sea sat there glaring at each other, hurling accusations—but neither had the will to actually fight.

Even Kaido, thick-headed as he was, had developed some self-awareness after being beaten countless times by Boros. As for Charlotte Linlin, after several failed attempts to resist alongside Kaido, she was forced to grudgingly accept reality.

Seated high on his throne, Boros paid no attention to the quarrel between his so-called "top combatants." In the past, Melzargard and Groribas hadn't gotten along much either.

Even if their quarrels really did escalate into a fight, Boros could always bring the situation under control with his overwhelming strength.

In fact, there had been several times when Kaido and Charlotte Linlin, in the middle of one of their arguments, suddenly found a moment of unspoken agreement and launched a joint rebellion against Boros. To him, it was a bit of fun.

After all, Boros was someone who had sailed across the universe for decades just to seek out a worthy opponent—he was never the type to get bored easily.

So when his two top combatants "occasionally" resisted, it was nothing more than a little amusement for Boros, a pastime to break the monotony as he waited for a true rival to appear.

The only shame was that, after taking too many beatings, Kaido and Charlotte Linlin had slowly "wised up." These days they mostly argued with words instead of blows. More than once, Boros thought they were finally about to clash, only to watch them grit their teeth and hold back at the last second. That, of course, left him somewhat disappointed.

And once Kaido and Charlotte Linlin noticed the look of disappointment in Boros's eyes, they became all the more determined not to throw the first punch—at the very least, never to be the ones who struck first.

After all, whoever threw the first blow was always the one to suffer the worst beating. Even with their legendary endurance, both Kaido and Charlotte Linlin had developed a genuine psychological shadow under Boros's fists.

Sitting high upon his throne, Boros soon closed his eyes again. Clearly, these two had no intention of fighting.

Still, Boros wasn't worried. With the personalities of Kaido and Charlotte Linlin, even if they knew they'd be beaten senseless, sooner or later they wouldn't be able to hold back.

Seeing Boros relax, the two Emperors let out a subtle sigh of relief. But almost instantly, they caught themselves and exchanged vicious glares again.

Charlotte Linlin tore savagely into a massive piece of roast meat, chewing as if she were devouring her worst enemy.

Kaido, unwilling to appear weak, tipped back his gourd and drowned himself in liquor. Since all the wine came from the Big Mom Pirates' stores, he figured he might as well drink as much as he pleased.

Just as the two Emperors of the Sea waged this strange little contest of wills, Katakuri—wearing his signature scarf—strode into the hall with long, confident steps. Completely ignoring his mother's furious expression, he dropped respectfully to one knee before the throne.

"Lord Boros, the guests for the Tea Party have already begun arriving. Preparations are complete. Do you have any further orders?"

Katakuri paid no mind to the hellish glare his mother cast at him. After witnessing Boros's overwhelming might firsthand, he had submitted completely.

He had even personally suppressed several younger siblings who failed to grasp the situation, and in doing so, despite Charlotte Linlin's threats, he naturally became Boros's most loyal hound.

Without Katakuri's cooperation, even if Boros had defeated Charlotte Linlin, it would not have been so easy to bring the Big Mom Pirates fully under his banner.

"I understand. You've done well… Do you want any reward?"

Boros had meant to dismiss Katakuri casually, but suddenly remembered that this top combatant was someone Kizaru had specifically asked to be spared.

Though Boros himself saw nothing particularly special about this subordinate who had so eagerly pledged allegiance, for Kizaru's sake, he didn't mind granting Katakuri a bit of favor.

°°°

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