Though Michael desperately wanted to comment on how slapdash this solution seemed...
Imu herself was quite satisfied with the name.
Most importantly, this name left no room for speculation.
It also marked the moment when the rebel army, led by the Nerona Kingdom and its allied subordinate kingdoms, would begin confronting the Great Kingdom head-on.
Imu had been counting down the days for this moment.
Among the party heading to Alabasta, aside from rebel soldiers, Michael also brought along Joy Boy, who had made significant progress in his training.
Now, beyond serving as a spiritual symbol, his combat abilities had skyrocketed.
Though not as absurdly rapid as Luffy's growth, it was no slower than Michael's own youthful progress.
By the standards of eight hundred years later, Joy Boy would now rank among the Admiral-Emperor tier.
But... Joy Boy was also the only one besides Michael who could reach this level.
This left Michael feeling somewhat...
Perplexed.
After all, Imu undoubtedly possessed some mysterious Devil Fruit ability...
Yet throughout these four years, while trying to tempt him into missteps, Imu had employed many... inappropriate methods.
Like during sweltering weather, inviting Michael to handle rebel affairs by the poolside... then "accidentally" falling in, with conveniently disappearing swimwear becoming a recurring scenario.
Though occasionally distracted, Michael had noticed something more significant.
Imu... showed no fear of seawater. On the contrary, she swam with elegant, effortless speed.
This realization left Michael... unsettled.
Something seemed to contradict his fundamental understanding.
This became the core reason Michael had maintained his principles, resisting the seductive queen's advances all these years...
When facing people or situations beyond one's control, the best approach isn't keeping distance—but maintaining intimacy while always staying just outside the danger line.
"Father, seriously, you've been brooding ever since we left Nerona Kingdom..." Toki strode casually beside Michael, the dried wood and cherry blossom blades already hanging at her waist.
"So what exactly is troubling you?"
"Adult matters. No butting in from brats." Michael pointed irritably at Lily. "Look at Lily—so quiet! Now that's a properly composed child!"
"Calm? She's anything but calm." Toki smirked mischievously. "She's just despairing because from now on, she'll have to live under the name Imu the Second... feeling like her life is completely hopeless."
"Imu is still your aunt after all... practically your only blood relative left." Michael sighed. "So what exactly do you dislike about her?"
"She's too close to you! That shameless woman... acting like a fox in heat every day!" Lily gnawed viciously at her thumbnail.
"And now she's using this name to suppress me, trying to completely exclude me from the competition!"
Listening to Lily's words that sounded both like an answer and a soliloquy, Michael silently extended a hand...
And delivered a sharp slap to the back of the little girl's head.
"Who taught you to speak like that!" Michael's expression turned uncharacteristically stern as he looked at Lily sitting in the camel cart.
"Moreover, I've told you many times over the years—just like Toki, you've always been like a daughter to me... So shouldn't you at least call me father by now?"
"Why must it be daughter!? I'm twelve years old now! In six more years, I can marry you openly and properly!"
"Openly my foot!" Michael's face darkened as he retorted. "I prefer mature women, okay!? And even if we disregard that, even if I didn't prefer mature women, I couldn't possibly marry someone I see as a daughter! Can you just give up on this already!?"
"I won't!"
"You father-defying, rebellious brat!!"
Michael nearly choked on his own breath.
Normally it's three-to-five-year-olds that even dogs find annoying...
Yet Lily somehow managed to combine that obnoxiousness with teenage rebellion at twelve!
Watching the sulking Lily and Michael lamenting his family misfortune to the heavens, Toki quietly sidled up to Joy Boy.
"What's up, Toki?"
"Sigh, it's reassuring to have someone like you around," Toki sighed. "To be honest... sometimes I feel so normal that I stick out like a sore thumb among all these freaks."
...
This elite force, assembled from the strength of twelve nations, obeyed Michael's every command without question.
If he ordered them east, they wouldn't dare go west.
If told to chase dogs, they wouldn't slaughter chickens.
And the method to gain such prestige...
Was descending before them like a true deity from the heavens.
Unlike eight hundred years later, Michael didn't unify the hearts and minds of the current rebel forces by constantly correcting their ideological perspectives and political awareness.
Instead...
He resorted to every trick in the book—deception, fraud, you name it.
There was no choice—time was tight, the mission critical, and the right environment lacking...
After all, this was an era before even the Marines and pirates existed.
In short, he painted a grand, enticing vision for all parties to happily swallow.
By the time they came to Michael demanding fulfillment of these promises...
Michael would likely have already said sayonara and returned to over eight hundred years later.
And for this, besides time itself...
The Time Fruit was needed.
For so many years, Michael never stopped searching for the Time Fruit.
But it remained as elusive as finding a needle in a haystack.
"All troops, listen up! Enter Alabasta in batches... and don't forget, you're now merchants from the Kingdom of Nerona!"
After issuing orders to his officers, Michael set off toward Alabasta's capital, Alubarna, with Joy Boy and two youngsters in tow.
Though their age group made them somewhat conspicuous, the guards stationed outside the gates by the Great Kingdom were far from thorough in their inspections.
Upon seeing someone around his age, they merely checked for wings on their backs before letting them pass.
After all, Michael's wanted poster was one of a kind in the world...
Devoid of any clear frontal photos, capturing only his back or fleeting afterimages as he sped by.
Yet this was already a significant breakthrough.
The earliest wanted posters had been purely text-based.
"Alright, you can go in now..."
The guards waved Michael and his group through.
Then exhaled deeply in relief.
"Oh my god! Finally, it's almost time to go home... When's the next shift of guards coming?"
"Hey, old-timer, I heard this time, many of the legendary... gods are coming to station in Alabasta!"
Michael feigned a pious expression, drawing hearty laughs from the guards.
"The Lunarian Race might not be gods to us... but to you, their kind really isn't much different from deities."
Michael chuckled along with a naive grin.
His laughter was genuine, from the heart.
These so-called "gods" of the Lunarian Race...
Were in for a world of suffering!
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