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Almost the moment they regained consciousness after thawing, Kin'emon and the others reacted and looked toward Momonosuke's original position.
But their shout changed mid-way.
Where Momonosuke had been, a black-haired man in his thirties or forties had suddenly appeared, while the young lord had vanished without a trace.
"Momo... became an uncle!!"
Hearing the commotion, Luffy also looked over hastily and immediately shouted in disbelief at the scene before him.
Usopp and Chopper punched Luffy and said, "No matter how you look at it, that's impossible!! Aokiji must have taken him away!"
The Red Scabbards spoke anxiously, but as they prepared to give chase, Denjiro used his Observation Haki on the middle-aged man lying on the ground, and his expression changed immediately.
"This man has Lord Momonosuke's aura!"
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Denjiro grabbed the unconscious man, and Ashura Doji stepped forward, slapping him several times to forcefully bring him back to consciousness.
"This..." Seeing Ashura Doji redden the man's face with powerful slaps, King Riku was stunned by the sound. He was about to speak with a strange expression but was interrupted by the wailing of the now-awakened man.
"Uwaaaaah!! It hurts so much!!"
Momonosuke woke up without understanding what had happened, but feeling the burning pain on his face, he cried out again with a childlike reaction—despite now having the appearance of a middle-aged man and a slightly changed voice.
The gruff crying only made the samurai-spirited Kin'emon and the others frown.
"A man in his forties who still cries at every turn is simply a disgrace to manhood!" Ashura Doji shouted in disgust.
Hearing Ashura's disgusted tone, Momonosuke finally assessed his situation. Finding himself surrounded by Raizo and the others, he covered his painful face and asked, "Ashura? Raizo, why did you...my voice?!!"
Before finishing his question, Momonosuke, who first noticed the strange voice, instinctively covered his throat. Then he realized not only his voice but his entire body had thickened like an adult's.
Momonosuke was so frightened that he broke away from Raizo, who hadn't been restraining him with much force. Only then did the full realization hit him—he had grown up!
"What... what's happening?!!" Momonosuke yelled in horror.
"That's exactly what I wanted to ask you!" Kin'emon exclaimed, pulling Momonosuke back. "Where did they take Lord Momonosuke? Why do you have his aura?!"
Momonosuke, equally confused, immediately responded, "I AM Momonosuke! Kin'emon! What happened to my body?!!"
His words made everyone's expressions change as they exclaimed in unison, "What? You are Momonosuke (Young Lord)?!"
At this point, King Riku interjected, "He is indeed the boy from before. This transformation was caused by the people from the Sky Kingdom."
With King Riku's statement and the nods from other royal family members, the Straw Hats and Kin'emon's group accepted this explanation.
Yet looking at the middle-aged Momonosuke before them, they struggled to reconcile this image with the eight-year-old child they knew.
Except for Luffy, both the Straw Hats and the Kozuki retainers felt a strange disconnect, especially Ashura Doji, who had just scolded him harshly.
The age change raised questions about protocol—Momonosuke now appeared older than many of them. Should they continue calling him "Young Lord"?
As for the Sky Kingdom's actions, the alliance between the Straw Hats and Red Scabbards was even more confused, especially learning that they hadn't rescued Doflamingo. Given their relationship with the Sky Kingdom, this couldn't be a good sign, but unable to find answers, they could only set it aside for now.
Beyond Momonosuke's transformation, Kuzan's display of power—nearly defeating the entire alliance single-handedly—had dampened the previously cheerful atmosphere of the celebration.
King Riku also lost his previous enthusiasm after hearing Alex's message delivered by Lilith.
Ultimately, to avoid the Marines who were coming to arrest Doflamingo, the Straw Hats and their allies bid farewell to Dressrosa after gathering some supplies.
Back on their voyage through the New World, Brook began playing his piano, using music to dispel the gloom from their recent defeat.
However, compared to music, the newspapers dropping from the sky spread news of their encounter with Kuzan even faster.
"The newspaper's here! Come see if there are new bounty posters!" Usopp called, shaking the papers, and everyone immediately gathered around.
"This time we defeated a Shichibukai and caused such a big commotion—our bounties should increase by at least 100 to 200 million."
"How is that possible? Doflamingo's bounty was only a bit over 400 million."
"Anyway, let's take a look!"
After much discussion, they finally spread the bounty posters on the lawn at Chopper's urging.
The first thing catching their eyes was Enel's reward: 380 million Berries!!!
Sanji's bounty: 380 million Berries!
Brook's bounty: 200 million Berries!
Franky's bounty: 220 million Berries!
Chopper's bounty: two hundred Berries!
Hughes' bounty: 100 million Berries!
Usopp's bounty: 200 million Berries!
"Hey, hey! Why am I suddenly worth 200 million Berries?! I don't want to be that conspicuous!"
"Damn it, my bounty is still same as long-ears!"
"By the way, Sanji's poster still has that 'Alive Only' condition."
"Two hundred?... Two hundred?!!"
Everyone looked at their bounty posters with mixed reactions!
The commotion didn't stop until they saw Luffy's wanted poster.
Luffy's poster used a painted image rather than a photograph, but unlike Sanji's previously unrecognizable sketch, this painting was remarkably accurate—almost as if captured by a camera Den Den Mushi.
"So there's such a big difference between artists?!" Sanji recalled his experience with bitter resentment.
"No, I think it's pretty similar," Usopp reassured him. "Look, this artist even painted Luffy's obviously black hair as white."
After this consolation, Usopp looked at the bounty amount.
"Ten... Million... billion... 1.3 billion berries?!!!!"
As he counted and finally processed the number, Usopp's voice of disbelief echoed across the entire deck.