After staying in Zou for almost three days, the Dream Crew finally left the giant beast Zunesha.
However, Reina didn’t go with them. She was still young and knew she wasn’t much help on the ship.
So, with great reluctance, she waved goodbye to everyone.
The Dream Ship returned to the sea. As they looked up at the enormous body of Zunesha fading into the distance, a feeling of awe filled their hearts.
"Let’s go. Head for Dressrosa!" Ryuen gave the order without hesitation.
Right away, Hogg turned the ship’s wheel hard, and the Dream Ship shot forward like an arrow, heading straight for the Kingdom of Dressrosa!
Just then, three black messenger birds flew down and landed steadily on Ryuen’s shoulder.
"What happened?" After the birds flew off, Ryuen’s face showed a thoughtful look, which caught Nami’s curiosity.
Nojiko and Robin also turned to look at Ryuen, while the others kept doing their tasks.
"News just came in about the movements of the Beasts Pirates, the Big Mom Pirates, and the Red-Haired Pirates..." Before Ryuen even finished speaking, everyone else stopped what they were doing and turned to him all at once.
This was about the major powers in the New World, so of course they all wanted to know what was going on.
"Kaido has already sent King and Jack from the Beasts Pirates out to expand their territory. Right now, only Kaido and are still in Wano."
"But Luffy and his two allies learned Ryuo Haki from someone in the quarry and managed to escape from Wano’s quarry."
"Now it looks like they want to take down Kaido first, so Wano’s situation is a bit of a mess." Ryuen began by explaining what was happening in Wano.
"What else?" Nami asked eagerly.
"As for Big Mom’s crew, Katakuri and Smoothie are taking over land that used to belong to the World Government. The rest are staying in Whole Cake Island. Big Mom herself is busy preparing for a tea party."
"As for the Red-Haired Pirates, they’ve already left Elbaf. There’s a Road Poneglyph in Elbaf, and they’ve taken it. Now, they’re rushing straight toward Wano." Ryuen shared the news brought back by the three intel birds.
"You said there’s a Poneglyph in Elbaf, the land of giants?" Robin immediately caught the key point.
"Also, back then Roger’s crew stole a Poneglyph from Big Mom. If I’m not wrong, Big Mom still has one of the Road Poneglyphs."
"And don’t forget, Shanks used to be on Roger’s ship—he definitely knows where the four Road Poneglyphs are!"
"He already got the one from Elbaf and is now rushing to Wano. That probably means there’s one in Wano too! So this time, he’s likely after the Road Poneglyph in Wano!" Ryuen laid out his thoughts all at once.
"This feels strange. Shanks has known how to get to Laugh Tale for a long time, so why is he only making his move now?" Hogg asked, clearly confused.
"I think it’s got something to do with us. Right now, the New World—"
"It’s not just the New World. The whole sea is tense. Ryuen killed Saturn, one of the Five Elders, the top of the world’s power."
"That made a lot of ambitious people start getting ideas," Nojiko said quietly.
"I feel like Shanks has just been waiting for the right moment. Now that the sea is in chaos, this is the chance he’s been waiting for," Daisy said firmly.
"He’s a descendant of the Celestial Dragons, after all..."
"Ryuen, do you really think he’s trustworthy? Or can we really believe that what he’s showing is how he truly feels?" Nami couldn’t shake the feeling that Shanks was hiding something.
The others agreed with her.
Mainly because Shanks actually is a Celestial Dragon, and from the Figarland family too.
That made everyone feel uneasy.
Ryuen thought for a moment, then shook his head. "It’s too early to say for sure. But even if he’s up to something, it doesn’t matter—I’m watching him 24/7."
After hearing that, everyone felt a bit more at ease.
"Ryuen, so that means the other three Road Poneglyphs are in Elbaf, Wano, and with Big Mom?" Robin asked seriously.
"That’s what I think. But now that Wano is starting to fall apart, I should go ahead and grab the one there first." Ryuen said it casually.
There are a lot of birds as smart as people—and plenty that can move like them too.
So he planned to leave this job to the birds!
After Ryuen finished, Robin finally felt a bit more at ease. After all, Laugh Tale is tied to the hundred years of lost history she cares about the most.
"But Ryuen, when are you planning to tell them about Shirahoshi? When the Sea Kings show up to help, they’ll definitely freak out," Nojiko asked, curious.
"Yeah, Ryuen, Shirahoshi is Poseidon. How are we supposed to explain that later?" Leah added.
"And what about Fish-Man Island? King Neptune said they want to live back on the surface. Why don’t we let them move to the Calm Belt?" Follow current novels on novel·fıre·net
"The Calm Belt is ruled by the Sea Kings—basically, it’s their natural home," Anya said.
Ryuen felt a bit helpless. These guys weren’t trying to think things through at all—whenever they didn’t understand something, they just kept asking questions.
"People will find out about Shirahoshi being Poseidon eventually. But we should hide it for as long as we can. Now isn’t the right time to reveal her identity."
"As for King Neptune saying they want to return to life on the surface—that depends on how the Fish-Men themselves define that."
"But the way I see it, they don’t just want to live on the surface. They want to be part of human society—or at least be treated as equals by humans."
"If they just wanted to live on the surface, that’d be easy to fix. Like Anya said, the Calm Belt is basically made for them."
"But it’s clearly not that simple." Ryuen shared his thoughts with everyone.
"You make a good point. I wonder how long it’ll take us to get to Dressrosa. Violet said they’re planning a big welcome for us." Daisy remembered how excited Olivia was during their last call with Violet.
"I bet you’re thinking about the food in the Kingdom of Dressrosa!"
Kuina gave Daisy a sideways glance and bluntly exposed her true thoughts.
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