"(⊙o⊙) You guys finished the meeting already?"
When Bonney woke up, she was still lying in her father's arms, but they had already moved from the meeting hall to the Revolutionary Army's cafeteria.
And it was the smell of food that had lured her awake.
"Otherwise? Did you think our Revolutionary Army meetings would be that complicated?" Michael raised an eyebrow at Bonney.
"Despite our organization's size, most decisions come down to just Dragon and me. The advantage is that once we reach an agreement, things basically get settled... Not like the Marine back in the day, where every little thing required endless negotiations with the World Government."
Michael curled his lip, remembering scenes from his Marine days watching Sengoku and Tsuru wrangle with World Government officials...
There had been countless such scenes.
"I don't understand any of this, Uncle Michael."
Bonney flipped down from Kuma's arms, and only then did Michael notice she'd been maintaining her Float-Float Fruit's floating state the entire time.
For a competent Devil Fruit User, this would be considered basic control.
Shiki had been far more extreme—not just keeping himself perpetually airborne, but even dragging entire fleets into floating states.
But Bonney here was just a five-year-old kid.
Michael looked at her with quiet admiration...
Truly a little prodigy whose talent rivaled even Hancock and Yamato's.
Now, having obtained the even more powerful Float-Float Fruit, with the aptitude Bonney was displaying, restoring the fruit's former glory would be no challenge at all.
Though reaching the Shiki's peak level would be difficult.
After all, she lacked that crucial element—Conqueror's Haki.
But this was already more than enough.
She was, after all, the super-genius who'd become a Supernova by age twelve.
At her age, Luffy had still been wrestling tigers in the jungle.
Though... as this world's one true protagonist, Luffy's growth rate was explosive...
Reaching the world's pinnacle within three years of setting sail.
Michael reached out to pat Bonney's head before steering her toward the mountain of food...
Whereupon Ginny and Bonney began their mother-daughter performance.
Food devouring!
This scene had likely played out too many times in the Revolutionary Army's mess hall to shock anyone anymore.
Only Michael, who was always running around outside, watched the spectacle with fresh amazement.
"Honestly, just watching them eat makes me feel stuffed," Michael muttered to Kuma beside him.
"You've really suffered all these years, Kuma."
"I cherish every moment," Kuma replied with his usual gentle smile. "Ginny and Bonney are the most precious treasures of my life."
"I get what you mean... but next time maybe refer to them as people rather than objects," Michael sighed.
"Careful someone doesn't cancel you for objectifying women."
Kuma tilted his head in confusion.
But he didn't dwell on it.
From their first meeting over a decade ago until now, Michael had always spouted things he couldn't understand.
At first it seemed strange.
Eventually, he stopped caring altogether.
Habit makes things natural.
Meanwhile, Kozuki Rin, who'd been following Michael throughout, remained unusually quiet after observing the meeting.
Only after leaving the mess hall did she finally exhale deeply.
Michael turned around, looked at his newly acknowledged granddaughter, and sighed.
"Finally calmed down?"
"Y-yeah, sort of." Kozuki Rin crossed her arms, her brows furrowed with lingering conflict. "Even though I've spent these days learning the Revolutionary Army's ideals and principles in advance, hearing your conversation with the leader still feels… unbelievable. It completely overturns everything I was taught in Wano, yet it aligns perfectly with what my mother taught me."
"There's nothing unbelievable about it, Rin… This world should revolve around ordinary people, not those lofty Celestial Dragons. And as the Revolutionary Army—soon to merge with the N.E.W Marine—our mission is to overthrow them… and then find a way to ensure we don't become the new 'Celestial Dragons' ourselves." Michael spoke of the Celestial Dragons with rare calmness.
"As for why it aligns with your mother's teachings… well, duh. I was the one who taught her, and she clearly inherited my legacy. If you can master even half of what she knew, you'll already be a qualified Revolutionary Army soldier."
"Ensure… we don't become the new Celestial Dragons?" Rin tilted her head, confusion written all over her face.
"Aren't Celestial Dragons… born that way?"
"Of course not. The idea of inherent nobility is a lie in this world." Michael pointed at Kozuki Rin.
"You were once the eldest son of the Kozuki family, the heir to Wano's shogunate… but trace your ancestors far enough, and they were just wild men scrambling through the forests."
Rin's eyes grew even more bewildered.
But Michael didn't elaborate further.
Some things didn't matter whether she understood them now or not.
She would grasp his meaning eventually.
"Oh, right. I already sent Kuma to deliver a message to Wano… I expect Oden and Toki will come to drag you back soon."
"What!?" Rin jolted, her face twisting in exaggerated betrayal. "Grandpa! Am I not your favorite granddaughter anymore!?"
"It's an unfortunate necessity." Michael shrugged. "As a father, I have to take responsibility for my daughter… and Toki already has children of her own. If I don't clear this up with her now, she'll resent me later."
"You're such a wonderful grandfather!"
"Good luck, Rin! From now on, nothing will hold you back from spreading your wings." Michael gave her a thumbs-up.
"Of course, that's assuming you survive Toki's wrath."
With that, he left the distraught Rin behind and headed toward the training grounds.
Yamato and Jack—absent during the meeting, absent during meals…
There was only one explanation.
The two were fighting in the training grounds again.
For them, the greatest joy was asserting dominance as the other's "big brother" or "big sister."
The winner of their battles automatically earned the title.
Which meant, tragically… Jack had never been the big brother.
He was plenty strong in his own right, but alas…
His opponent was Yamato, the "Oni Daughter."