The South Blue was calmer than King expected.Not in the sense of weather—there, the ocean swelled and heaved with the same casual power as anywhere else—but in the way the air itself carried no weight of tyranny, no constant hum of danger like the Grand Line.
It was almost soft. Too soft.
From several thousand meters up, his obsidian wings cut silent arcs through the thin air. Below him, the scattered emerald islands looked like someone had tossed coins into a sea of glass.
On the far horizon, Sorbet Kingdom stretched across a series of low hills and white beaches, its capital hugging the bay like a child clutching a blanket.
King angled his flight path, the sun glinting off the black feathers that blended into charred, scaled skin. He'd been in the South Blue for less than an hour, yet his mind already mapped its geography with cold precision.
The island just thirty minutes north of him was his fallback—remote, sparsely populated, and large enough for a landing without notice.
Kuma was already there.
The mission itself was clean, simple.Remove the handler.Secure Bonney.Deliver to Kuma.
It would have been even simpler if the Cipher Pol agent had been anyone else. But the blonde woman trailing Bonney through the capital's markets wasn't a fool.
King had followed her for two days now, circling above cloud cover, dipping low at night to watch their routines. Her stance screamed training, and her eyes swept every crowd like a predator.
He banked right, descending slightly, enough to catch sight of the pier district. Noon bells hadn't rung yet. The streets were crowded but not yet frenzied, and the air smelled faintly of citrus and salt.
Bonney appeared near the waterline, bright against the pale boards of the dock, skipping ahead of her minder with a child's reckless energy.
Pink hair caught the sunlight like spun sugar. Even from this height, King could read the raw edges in her gait—too light, too hurried, the way a caged bird might hop just shy of its bars.
The woman shadowing her kept close, always within arm's reach. Cipher Pol training in every step. She laughed when Bonney turned to speak, but her smile never touched her eyes.
King tucked one wing slightly, spiraling higher. Patience. Two more blocks, and they'd cross the open park near the seawall. Fewer civilians. Cleaner angles.
His eyes tracked them like a hawk sighting prey. Bonney's face—rounder now than the last time he'd seen her in passing—was still too young for the world she'd been dragged into. Kuma's daughter.
The thought stayed buried under layers of discipline, but it was there, a faint coal glowing beneath the ash.
When the pair reached the park, King was already positioning above the rooftops, the sun directly at his back. Shadows stretched long across the grass.
The blonde paused, scanning the horizon. King saw the tell—her shoulders shifted, weight easing onto her back foot. She'd sensed something.
Good.Let her.
King folded his wings and dropped.
The wind roared past him, hot friction licking along his skin as the city rushed upward.
Below, Bonney's eyes widened, her gaze lifting toward the shape blotting out the sun.
The woman moved—fast. A hand darted toward her coat.
Conqueror's Haki burst from King in a crushing wave. The air warped, the grass at the park's edge bending away from him as if recoiling.
The Cipher Pol agent froze mid-step. Her pupils shrank, and she staggered, knees buckling under the weight pressing against her mind. King's boots slammed into the ground between them before she could recover.
One blow—nothing fancy, just a brutal, short hook to the temple—dropped her where she stood.
Bonney flinched back, small fists clenching, eyes already narrowing in a way far too sharp for her age. He didn't need to guess what would follow—she'd attack first, think later.
His palm caught her forehead before she could move.A measured strike—not enough to harm, just enough to send her crumpling into his arms, unconscious.
No hesitation. No theatrics.
King slung Bonney over one arm, grabbed the woman by her collar, and leapt skyward. His wings unfurled, propelling him upward so fast the park shrank to a green blot.
Within seconds, Sorbet Kingdom was a receding memory beneath the haze.
The thirty-minute flight to the fallback island passed in silence, broken only by the rhythmic rush of wind.
Bonney's small weight was negligable, not even a burden to him, light but steady. The Cipher Pol agent dangled limply from his other hand, hair whipping in the slipstream.
The island appeared ahead—a jagged crescent of dark rock and dense forest.
As King descended, he caught sight of a figure waiting at the shoreline. Massive. Broad-shouldered. A Bible clutched in one hand.
Kuma.
Even from above, the sight pulled at his very heartstrings as a fan of One Piece Two years apart. 'A father who had been denied his daughter but accepted it all in order for her to be safe.
He willing gave up his humanity so that she could have a chance to live, to simply live a normal lifespan.
This man even after becoming a machine, was a great father. For his daughter who had been carried like a pawn between enemies, he silently sacrified his blood, his tears and eventually his mind and personality.
This was truly a Father'.
King landed with a controlled thud, sand shifting under his boots. He let the Cipher Pol agent drop unceremoniously to the ground, he still had use for her yet. Not sparing her another glance he then stepped forward and placed Bonney gently into Kuma's enormous arms.
________________________________________
Kuma's POV
The air smelled of salt and wet grass.Kuma had been sitting beneath the skeletal remains of a half-collapsed watchtower, his massive frame folded in a way that made him seem almost harmless.
The ruined island was quiet—too quiet—except for the occasional gull and the whisper of waves curling into the shore.
He had been waiting here for days, because King had told him to wait, and because the one person who could make waiting worth it might finally be coming.
He had replayed her face so many times in his head that he worried the memory would fray. The tiny scowl, the way her pink hair always seemed just a bit too untamed, the sharpness in her voice that always softened at the edges when she was tired.
He had not seen her in two years. Two years of cold steel and orders that weren't his own. Two years of being a weapon instead of a man.
The wind shifted.
It was faint, but Kuma felt the pressure in the air change—a ripple far above, like something large cutting through the sky. His head tilted up. He didn't need to squint to see King descending from the midday glare, one arm holding something small, another form slung over his shoulder.
The sun burned bright off King's black wings. The shadow that swept over Kuma felt like a chapter being turned.
When King landed, the ground cracked. The force of it sent grit skittering over Kuma's boots. The tall Lunarian said nothing—just laid his cargo down gently: first the unconscious woman in a Cipher Pol coat, then a limp, pink-haired girl who couldn't be more than twelve.
Kuma's eyes locked on her. His chest tightened in a way that felt… foreign after so long.
"Bonney," he rumbled. His voice was too low, too gravelly, but it still cracked when he said her name.
She stirred, eyelids fluttering. Her gaze was foggy at first, unfocused… and then she saw him. For a heartbeat, she didn't move, just stared—mouth open, disbelief warring with hope.
"Papa?" Her voice was so small it barely reached him.
Kuma swallowed hard. Yes. It's me. It's always been me. But words felt like they would shatter if he tried to force them out. So he opened his arms instead.
She was on her feet before she even realized she was moving. She crashed into him with all the force her little frame could muster, her fingers curling into the thick fabric of his coat. He felt her shaking against him, her tears soaking into the seam of his chest.
His own eyes burned. He'd forgotten that could happen. The world blurred at the edges, and a single tear slipped free, cutting a warm track down the cold skin of his cheek. He hadn't thought he had that left in him.
For a long moment, they didn't speak. There was no need. Her heartbeat thudded against his ribs, and he let himself memorize the rhythm. Two years gone, but she still fit against him like she always had.
When she finally whispered, "I missed you," it was like being given back a piece of himself he thought the World Government had stolen forever.
"I missed you too," he said, and his voice—soft, broken—was more human than it had been in years.
The wind gusted again, carrying the salt and the warmth of her hair. Kuma closed his eyes for just a second, allowing himself that single indulgence before the world demanded they move again.
When he opened them, King was already nodding toward the sea. It was time to go.
Kuma didn't let go of Bonney. Instead, he raised his massive paw-shaped hand, the pressure building until the air shimmered.
The bubble swelled outward, wrapping them in its impossible softness. Bonney's grip tightened, but she didn't pull away.
Then—fwump!—the air folded, and the world bent. The sea, the ruins, the island—all vanished into a blur of white spray as Kuma sent them soaring back toward Egghead in a single paw-shaped burst.
________________________________________
Arriving at egg head King only took a few minutes to collect himself before having Kuma send him off to North Blue where he would search for Trafalgar Law who hadn't yet set sail to the Grandline as it was still 1521.
Law, Luffy and Kid would set sail the next year and eventually cement themselves as supernova, rookie pirates that made a big impact in that year.
While King was in transit via the Paw force bubble, Shinobu was spawning her babies.