"Wings?"
Michael was puzzled.
He had thought the wife of Wano's shogun was preparing for some kind of political confrontation with him...
But all she wanted...
was to see his wings?
What was so special about them?
"That's right, I want to see your Wings." Kozuki Toki repeated with utmost seriousness, "This is... very important to me."
"What!? Mother, you want to see Michael-sama angelic Wings!? Could it be you've also been captivated by Michael-sama beautiful appearance!?" Kozuki Hiyori exclaimed in delight, gripping her mother's shoulders.
"I'm not alone in this after all, ahahahaha!"
"What kind of nonsense is swirling around in that little head of yours?" Kozuki Toki reached out and tapped her daughter's forehead.
"This... is serious business."
Having said that, she turned her gaze back to Michael.
Her eyes brimmed with anticipation.
If not for their earlier conversation... Michael might have agreed with Hiyori's speculation.
But...
It was just showing his wings.
Michael didn't say anything more. In the next instant, the Wings belonging to a Seraphim appeared behind him.
Still two pairs of large wings and one pair of smaller wings that had only recently grown.
Gentle Holy light filled the air, a sacred sensation overflowing throughout the entire garden.
Nourished by the Holy light, the budding flowers bloomed instantly.
Kozuki Toki observed the changes around them, then fixed her gaze unwaveringly on the Wings behind Michael.
Then...
Her eyes gradually reddened, tears spilling forth.
"So... the legends are true, you truly come from this time..." Kozuki Toki murmured to herself.
Michael was taken aback.
Wait, what did that mean?
What "legends"?
What "come from this time"?
What exactly was Kozuki Toki talking about?
He understood every word individually, but strung together, they made no sense.
"Lady Toki... what exactly do you mean?"
"Kikunojo, Izo, take Momonosuke and Hiyori away for now. I need to speak with Michael alone."
Without answering, Kozuki Toki commanded the Izo brothers instead.
Michael frowned.
Everything unfolding now was completely beyond his expectations.
But seeing the clarity in Kozuki Toki's eyes, Michael was certain she hadn't lost her mind...
"Yamato, Jack, since Lady Toki has requested it, you should step aside for now too."
Jack and Yamato exchanged glances, but neither had ever questioned Michael's decisions.
So the moment he finished speaking, they followed Izo without hesitation, temporarily leaving the garden.
With everyone gone, only Kozuki Toki and Michael remained in the garden.
Just as Michael was about to speak, Kozuki Toki threw herself into his embrace.
The wife of Wano's shogun, nearly as tall as Michael, held onto him tightly.
The impact of this moment left Michael completely frozen.
His entire body stiffened instantly.
He even forgot to break free from the embrace.
Only when he felt Kozuki Toki's arms tightening around him did Michael regain his senses.
"Lady Toki, I..."
Michael was about to say he wasn't into married women and try to disentangle himself when he felt a dampness on his left shoulder...
Tears.
Simultaneously, he seemed to sense her agitation and... sorrow.
And at this moment, as if guided by some unseen force, Michael reached out and gently patted Kozuki Toki's back.
This gesture only intensified her emotions further.This resulted in Michael's clothes being soaked from his shoulders down to his waist.
Women truly are made of water...
Damn, she can really cry!
But jokes aside, faced with such inexplicable behavior, Michael found himself treading carefully.
He continuously emitted faint holy light to soothe Kozuki Toki's emotions.
He didn't know why he was doing this...
But deep down, he felt it was the right thing to do.
Slowly, Kozuki Toki stopped her silent tears and gradually calmed down.
Only then did Michael gently push her away with a bit more force.
"Lady Toki, I need an explanation."
"Don't call me Lady Toki! You can't call me that!" Kozuki Toki stubbornly shook her head, as if transforming from a mature general's wife into a willful young girl in an instant.
"No, no! Absolutely not! You must call me Toki!"
"Alright, alright, don't get worked up... Toki."
"Mhm!"
Hearing this address, Kozuki Toki's smile instantly pierced through the gloom of her tear-streaked face.
"Now, can you tell me what's really going on?"
Hearing this, Kozuki Toki glanced at the wings behind Michael and showed an expression of sudden understanding.
"What are you looking at?"
"Your third pair of wings... they haven't fully grown yet. That means you haven't truly awakened the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan: Seraphim Form."
Michael's eyes widened sharply.
Although he hadn't hidden his Devil Fruit abilities for a long time, only a few old-timers like Sengoku and Garp could accurately name his Devil Fruit.
So how did Kozuki Toki before him know?
Unconsciously, a hint of wariness crept into Michael's eyes.
This was... far too strange.
In the original story, though she was someone who had traveled through eight hundred years of time, she didn't have much of a unique storyline and mostly served as a background character.
To put it bluntly, there wasn't much depth to her character or background, and even the "eight hundred years ago" tied to her was vague.
Gentle, innocent, straightforward, empathetic, intelligent, and never weak.
She didn't put on airs, worked alongside the people, and was beloved by them.
The perfect daimyo's wife.
But the Kozuki Toki before him now... was almost entirely detached from her original setting.
Bold, fierce, and cunning...
"Just who... are you?"
At this moment, Michael's confusion and psychological pressure facing Kozuki Toki even surpassed what he felt when confronting the Five Elders.
There seemed to be a secret about her.
And this secret...
Was deeply connected to Michael himself.
"This goes back a very, very long time... Over eight hundred years ago, there was a little girl named Toki. Her parents died unexpectedly, leaving her to wander the streets as a beggar."
"Later, a six-winged angel descended from the heavens, took her in, and raised her into adulthood."
"Then one day, Toki accidentally ate a Devil Fruit... In her panic, her newly acquired powers went out of control."
"The six-winged angel happened to be within the range of her ability."
"Before disappearing, he told me..."
"He would wait for me in the future." Kozuki Toki wiped away her tears and gave Michael the brightest smile she had ever mustered.
"It's been eight hundred years since we last met..."
"Father."
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