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Haki clashed.
Two conquerors, locked in a brutal surge of will that tore apart everything around them.
The sky thundered. The sea raged.
A head-on confrontation—and they were evenly matched.
Jinbe was floored.
This young king was on another level entirely. To go toe-to-toe with Shanks, one of the Four Emperors, in a clash of Conqueror's Haki... just how strong was he?
Was he on the same level as a Yonko?
And he was still so young, his potential limitless.
A tremor ran through Jinbe's heart.
'Thank goodness King Neptune's gift was a valuable one...'
For a man of this caliber, no amount of goodwill was too much.
The pressure was immense, a physical weight that made Jinbe's chest ache. He staggered back a few steps.
And it wasn't just him. Mihawk and Shanks were also stunned. Jin was far stronger than they had anticipated.
Should they make a move?
The tension was a razor's edge. And then, a song drifted in on the wind.
It was Where the Wind Blows.
"Why does the scent of our play by the shore that day..."
"Fade away with the seasons long since passed..."
"When I sing that same old song..."
"I'm sure it will bring back all your memories..."
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The familiar voice, the familiar melody—it was a sudden, sharp memory of a time long past.
"Uta..."
The Haki pouring from Shanks vanished in an instant.
Jin also stood down.
Shanks turned and saw her—a familiar stranger, walking toward them, singing the song from all those years ago.
She stopped them.
Jinbe couldn't believe it. Who was she?
He watched in silence as the scene unfolded. He had stumbled upon something big.
But would he be silenced for it?
Jinbe wanted to leave, but his feet were rooted to the spot. He even held his breath, terrified of making a sound, of shattering the moment.
Shanks and Uta, finally reunited after that painful day on Elegia.
A tender moment between father and daughter.
Or...
WHAM!
Uta charged forward and smashed a "loving" uppercut into Shanks's jaw, sending him crashing to the ground.
Then, she proceeded to beat the ever-loving crap out of him.
It was... intense.
Mihawk and Jinbe's eyes were wide.
Mihawk cursed himself for not bringing a camera Den Den Mushi. A moment like this was a rare treasure.
Jin crossed his arms. All he needed was a bag of popcorn.
"Why?" Uta screamed, her voice choked with tears. "Why did you leave me? Why did you hide the truth? We were supposed to sail the seas together! It's not fair!"
She unleashed all the pain and sorrow that had been bottled up inside her for so long.
Her home had been the Red Force. She'd had her father, and a whole crew of uncles who adored her.
When they went off to fight, she'd guard the ship. They'd traveled to so many places. It was a turbulent life, but she had always felt safe, happy.
She had idolized him.
She hadn't called him "Dad," she'd called him "Shanks," because he wasn't just her father—he was her captain.
And then, her captain, the man she idolized most in the world, had abandoned her.
Abandoned her on the desolate island of Elegia.
She had told him she didn't want to stay. He had promised they would leave the next day.
But in a single night, he and his crew had destroyed the entire country and left her behind with some old man she had just met.
She had chased after them, through a sea of flames, but the ocean was filled with Marine warships.
They had sailed away, into the cannon fire, and had never once looked back.
Gordon, the man who had raised her, had told her that Shanks had used her to get close to Elegia, to destroy it, to steal its treasure.
She hadn't believed him.
She had thought there must have been a reason.
But he had never come back.
And the love she had for him had curdled into a deep, bitter hatred.
Shanks knew.
He knew that to Uta, the Red Hair Pirates were far more important than her music. So why had he left her?
To abandon a six or seven-year-old child on an island, to shatter her image of her "family"... it was an act of unimaginable cruelty.
To protect her?
But later, when he had become one of the Four Emperors, when he had more than enough power to protect her, why hadn't he gone back for her?
Any adult would have known that the destruction of Elegia had nothing to do with her. It was the work of the demon of the song.
For a child, the most important things are stability and a sense of security.
To be abandoned by her family, at a time when she was not yet strong enough to face the world... it was a despair she could not have possibly comprehended.
Shanks knew he'd screwed up.
He didn't fight back.
He just let her hit him until she was exhausted, until all that was left were her tears.
Only then did he sit up and pull her into a one-armed hug.
The truth was, he'd had no choice.
To defeat the out-of-control Tot Musica, he had been forced to use 'that' power.
But he had been terrified that Uta would be controlled by that man, just like him, that she would become a puppet, a destroyer.
And so, he had hardened his heart and left.
It wasn't until he had stolen that fruit, and Luffy had accidentally eaten it, that Shanks had finally made the decision to sever that connection.
But he couldn't explain any of this to her.
In the end, they reconciled.
No matter what had happened, their love for each other had never changed.
Jin, Mihawk, and Jinbe tactfully withdrew, giving the father and daughter their space.
Jinbe retrieved his gift from the wreckage and, while he was at it, helped the other guests who had been trapped in the manor. Mihawk also lent a hand.
Mayor Enru rushed over. Jin told him not to worry about him, to focus on the rescue effort and to assess the damage and casualties in the city.
A Yonko could afford to pay for the damages, right?
"A Devil Fruit??"
Jin looked at the shattered gift box. Inside, on a bed of velvet, was a Devil Fruit.
It made sense. The Ryugu Kingdom had ruled the ocean floor for centuries. Their treasury was bound to have a few rare items. And since eating a Devil Fruit would make a Fish-Man a "hammer" in the water, their demand for them was practically nonexistent.
Next to the fruit was a small tag.
[Spider-Spider Fruit, Model: Silver Spider]
A Zoan? Not bad. It was a gift, after all. He couldn't be picky.
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