"Tsk tsk, this is truly incredible."
Imu blinked her crimson eyes, circling Kozuki Toki as if searching for any resemblance beyond appearance to the Toki of eight hundred years ago.
"Imu... could you stop spinning around me right now?" Kozuki Toki coughed awkwardly. "Sending you and Father away back then was completely unavoidable... If only my control over my ability had been stronger, I could've prevented the backlash..."
"No need to dwell on the past." Imu smiled cheerfully. "As if you could've sent me back anyway... The Time Fruit only allows travel forward, not backward, right?"
"Well, yes, that's true." Kozuki Toki sighed. "Though I knew I'd see both you and Father again eventually... Father is one thing, but from my perspective, the last time I saw you was decades ago."
"Decades..."
Imu reached out, gently brushing Kozuki Toki's cheek.
The Toki who had grown from a bratty child into a young woman under her watch had not only changed her surname and married but now had two daughters in their twenties.
"Time really does fly by."
"Save the lamentations about time's cruelty for later days," Michael interrupted Imu's impending melancholy, earning himself a reproachful look that bordered on tearful.
"Imu... stop fooling around. The most important thing now is to figure out who this so-called 'Lady Imu' in the World Government is—this self-proclaimed King of the World."
"Lady Imu in the World Government? King of the World?" Imu frowned. "A descendant of the Neronas? Or some impersonator of mine? And wasn't the original plan for the Twenty Kings to create a new regime of mutual oversight and checks? How could a 'King of the World' emerge?"
Kozuki Toki watched the two of them before finally letting out a long sigh.
"Father... I actually met that person seven years ago..."
"I knew from the start that while she used the name Imu, she couldn't possibly be the real Imu."
"But after meeting her, I discovered something even more incomprehensible."
Toki glanced at Imu, then at Michael, before shaking her head and revealing the true identity of this "Lady Imu."
"Father... that Lady Imu in the World Government, the one who attacked you with Uranus, the one who has cast the entire world under her reign of terror..."
"It's Lily."
"It's Nefertari Lily!"
"My sister... Lily."
Michael felt a daze in his heart upon hearing the name "Lily."
'Is it... that Lily?'
The Imu-sama who has been manipulating the world for over eight hundred years through the Celestial Dragons and the World Government...
Is Lily!?
Even though Michael had prepared himself for the truth, this answer still left him utterly shocked.
He had never imagined it would be Lily.
Even with Lily's alternate identity as Imu II, Michael still hadn't considered this possibility.
In his eyes, Kozuki Toki and Lily were two daughters with distinct personalities...
Toki was open-minded, while Lily was extreme.
Yet, even so, Michael never expected Lily's radicalism would drive her to become Imu-sama, ruling the world for eight centuries.
"...Wait, that so-called Imu-sama is... Lily?" Imu swallowed hard but immediately noticed something amiss.
"But how has Lily lived from eight hundred years ago until now?! She was just an ordinary human, wasn't she? Even giants only live around four hundred years—eight hundred is far too long!"
"The Perennial Youth Operation?"
"The Perennial Youth Operation."
Michael and Kozuki Toki spoke simultaneously—though Michael's tone was questioning, while Toki's was certain.
"How are you so sure?" Michael frowned. "Did you observe it, or..."
"Seven years ago, Lily told me herself."
After hearing the final answer from Toki, Michael felt he needed... to calm down.
...
"What!? Michael... has returned!? When!? Where!?"
When Garp learned this fact from his grandsons, he grabbed Luffy's shoulders in disbelief.
"Grandpa, aren't you overreacting!?" Luffy protested loudly. "I told you ages ago that Uncle Michael would be back soon!"
"Shut up, you idiot!" Garp's "Fist of Love" immediately hammered down on Luffy's head.
"If Michael didn't announce his return directly and instead had you inform the Angel Alliance's higher-ups, it means he must have some sneaky plan to use against the World Government..."
"Wow, Uncle Michael did say that... but how did you know, Grandpa?"
"Of course I knew! How many years have I worked with that brat Michael?! I found out back when he secretly teamed up with your dad behind the Marine's back! Not only that, I even know his ultimate goal!" Garp proudly thumped his chest.
"My lips are famously sealed!"
"Pah! You shameless old man!"
Garp's boasting earned him a scornful remark from another person in the office.
It was Sengoku, who had already stepped down as Fleet Admiral.
After cursing Garp, Sengoku stood up, ready to leave.
"Hey! Sengoku! No need to rush like that, is there?"
"Nonsense! It wasn't your son who inexplicably disappeared through time for seven years!!"
"Then at least wait for me!?"
Garp immediately chased after him out of the office.
Similar scenes played out among all the Angel Alliance's higher-ups in Marineford.
Reiju's team accurately delivered the news of Michael's return to the ears of the higher-ups.
Thus, similar scenes could be witnessed in every corner of Marineford.
"Captain Ginny, where are you headed?"
"Nothing much... just taking a stroll."
"Admirals Garp and Sengoku said the same thing earlier."
"Uh... anyway, just mind your own business!"
"Grandma Tsuru just said that exact phrase too."
"Enough! You're more nosy than me, the head of the intelligence division!"
Ginny kicked open the gate to the residential area and stormed inside.
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