"What happened to you two? Did you upset your mother again?"
At the banquet, Kozuki Oden looked at Momonosuke's bruised face and Hiyori's reddened eyes with confusion.
"Don't ask. Just know these two troublemakers were asking for it."
Kozuki Toki crossed her arms and sat beside Kozuki Oden, letting out a cold laugh.
Immediately, both children—and even Oden himself—shivered involuntarily.
"Sorry, kids. I can't help you this time." Kozuki Oden gave his children a thumbs-up and a sunny smile.
"I'd rather not become another victim of my wife's wrath."
"So we're expendable, huh!? You're the worst, Dad!"
Michael watched the family drama unfold, his lips twitching in amusement.
Honestly, aside from Kozuki Toki, none of them seemed particularly bright.
"Father, I apologize for this embarrassing display."
Kozuki Toki rubbed her temples wearily—a gesture she seemed to have picked up from Michael.
"Father? Who are you talking to—" Kozuki Oden instinctively asked before following Toki's gaze to Michael.
"...Huh?"
"Oden, do you remember when I told you I came from 800 years ago?"
"Of course... you're a Time Fruit user, you traveled from that era to the present."
"Michael... is the father who adopted me 800 years ago."
Kozuki Oden froze, his head tilting slowly to one side...
His eyes brimmed with pure, unadulterated confusion.
Seeing her husband's bewilderment, Kozuki Toki had no choice but to explain everything again from the beginning.
Twenty minutes later...
"So... future Michael went back 800 years, adopted you, then was sent away... Later, you time-traveled to the present, met Michael, told him about this, enabling him to return to the past again when the time comes?"
"Exactly! You finally get it!"
Kozuki Toki's voice was hoarse from talking.
She quickly downed a cup of tea.
So exhausting!
Meanwhile, Michael had been enjoying the show the entire time.
Honestly, as a bystander watching others struggle with temporal paradoxes...
It was downright hilarious.
"Which means I should call Michael..." Kozuki Oden looked up at Michael, his eyes filled with existential dread and exasperation.
"...Father-in-law?"
"That would be correct."
"You just gained a father-in-law..." Momonosuke muttered. "We got a whole ass grandfather..."
The banquet became a crash course in mind-bending revelations for Kozuki Oden.
Though initially skeptical, he adapted surprisingly faster than Hiyori and Momonosuke.
"Actually, I've had my suspicions for a while."
"After all, my wife wields two short broadswords identical to Shiki's..."
"I even wondered if they might be ancestors of his."
...
What was supposed to be a continuation of political maneuvering between Michael and Kozuki Oden became something else entirely.
However, due to Kozuki Toki's forceful intervention, the event completely turned into a family reunion.
And judging from Kozuki Oden's expression... he seemed rather pleased with the outcome.
By the time the banquet ended, Kozuki Oden was already calling Michael "Father-in-law" without the slightest hesitation.
"No problem! From now on, Wano Country will follow Father-in-law's lead! I was never cut out for governing anyway—Wano's current state is all thanks to Toki! Since everything was taught by you, Father-in-law, I can rest even easier!"
"Good son-in-law! But won't you feel lost without the power of a shogun?"
"Lost? I became Wano's shogun not for power, but because it was my duty!"
After delivering this bold declaration while pounding his chest, Kozuki Oden promptly passed out drunk.
Michael patted Kozuki Oden's head but got no response whatsoever.
"Jack, help carry him back."
Kozuki Toki didn't hesitate either, instructing Jack to take the drunken, snoring Kozuki Oden away from the hall.
Michael let out a hiccup.
"If there's nothing else, everyone can disperse..."
With that, he spread his wings and flew up to the rooftop.
Moonlight bathed the silent Flower Capital below.
Before long, the sound of shifting tiles came from behind him.
Michael turned to see Momonosuke clumsily climbing up.
"Momonosuke? Did you need something?" Michael asked deliberately.
During the banquet, Momonosuke had been eyeing him with an expression that suggested he had something to say.
That was precisely why Michael had come up here.
Sure enough, the kid had followed.
"G-Grandpa... isn't this spot a little dangerous?"
"You're in your twenties—climbing a roof shouldn't be a problem. Shouldn't you have a bit more manly courage?"
Momonosuke stayed silent, carefully sitting beside Michael.
Seeing that he wasn't speaking, Michael didn't press further.
After a long pause, Momonosuke finally couldn't hold back anymore.
"Grandpa, is it true that you were once the Marine's Great Inspector?"
"Yes."
"And now, you've really been expelled from the Marine and become the Revolutionary Army's Chief of Staff?"
"Correct."
"Then... you must know the legendary Revolutionary Army officer, Ivankov, right?"
"I do... Hm?" Michael abruptly turned his head. "Why bring him up all of a sudden?"
"You do know Ivankov!" Momonosuke stood up excitedly. "The strongest 'Queen of Kamabakka Kingdom' in history! His medical skills are unparalleled—he's saved people declared incurable by doctors and even rescued nations on the brink of collapse!"
His eyes shone with admiration and longing.
Michael instinctively rubbed his eyes.
Was... he seeing this right?
Momonosuke admired Ivankov?
Admired what?
His Death Wink? His giant face?
"Why... are you so interested in Ivankov?"
"Because I heard a rumor..." A dreamy look crossed Momonosuke's face. "They say Ivankov... can change a person's gender."
"That much is true." Michael didn't deny it. "As the Hormon-Hormon Fruit user, it's child's play for him."
"Really!?"
Hearing Michael give a definitive answer, Momonosuke looked at him with pleasant surprise.
Then, with a tiger's pounce, he performed a perfect dogeza, kneeling directly before Michael.
"Grandfather! Please! Ask Ivankov to turn me into a girl!"
"This is the one and only request of my life!!"
(Was about to fuck it and kill him in this fic my self ngl lol)