Besides Crocus, who arrived on a whale the day after the invitations were sent, the other guests only managed to get there by the afternoon of the third day at the earliest.
There was no help for it. Amazon Lily's geographical location meant that simply attending this wedding had a fairly high barrier to entry.
For ordinary small-time pirates, they wouldn't even be qualified to cross the Calm Belt.
The first to arrive was Red-Haired Shanks. Compared to the great pirates of the New World, the Red Hair Pirates, who spent their time in the West Blue, East Blue, and the first half of the Grand Line, were indeed closer.
This group was clearly visiting Amazon Lily for the first time, and they were all quite excited.
Shanks, Benn Beckman, Lucky Roux, and other old acquaintances of Naruto immediately wanted to go find him for a drinking contest. However, the soon-to-be-married middle-aged man had already lost his freedom to drink.
Moreover, as the main figure of the wedding, even though many professionals were handling the details, Naruto still had to personally arrange many matters. So, the drinking would have to wait until the wedding day or after.
"It's really not easy…"
Beckman shook his head and sighed, watching Naruto use Shadow Clone Technique to juggle various tasks at once.
"Good thing we're all single!"
The chef, Lucky Roux suddenly spoke up, causing Shanks and the others to nod in agreement.
Then, they all looked at Yasopp, who was nodding along with them.
"Huh? Why are you guys looking at me?"
"You're the only one among us who got married and had a child."
Mentioning this, Yasopp initially wanted to brag about something, but then he thought of certain things and suddenly fell silent.
The other old comrades also realized.
Yasopp had left his wife and child in Syrup Village to pursue his so-called 'dream of freedom', and as a result, missed seeing his wife Banchina one last time.
Even though his son Usopp didn't blame him for it, the man had never really resolved this knot in his heart, something the other old members of the Red Hair Pirates more or less knew.
Even if Banchina herself had supported Yasopp, even if Yasopp often thought about his family, what was left undone remained undone. Ten thousand words couldn't change that.
Sensing the mood turning somber, Shanks suggested.
"Speaking of which, didn't Naruto say his son was already born? Want to go see him?"
With this topic, everyone shifted their focus. Regardless of whether they genuinely wanted to go or not, they voiced their agreement.
"Let's go, let's go! Let's go see!"
"I wonder if he'll be a little rascal like Luffy."
"Naruto's kid should be a bit more stable than that boy Luffy, right?"
"That's hard to say. Have you forgotten Luffy's father?"
Talking and laughing, they headed towards the 'family quarters'.
Perhaps because both Shanks and Naruto were picked up by Roger, this kind of atmosphere had been passed down from the Roger Pirates to the Red Hair Pirates.
This could be seen in Naruto taking in Karin and Shanks taking in Uta.
Back in Windmill Village, these guys had also set aside their pride as great pirates and played with Luffy, who was less than ten years old. It was enough to show how much they liked kids.
For guests like them, who Naruto considered close friends, access to the Kuja royal residential area wasn't restricted.
Of course, seeing the child of the 'Kuja Queen' wasn't that easy either. They still had to wait outside for word to be passed.
However, perhaps because Stussy was coordinating the latest underworld intelligence with the [Golden Emperor], she didn't have the time to deal with this immediately. So, the Kuja warrior responsible for relaying the message hadn't reported back yet.
After waiting for over ten minutes without anyone coming to escort them, the Red Hair Pirates started getting restless.
They were like that.
Although these men were in their thirties or forties, most of them had the temperament of youngsters. In non-combat situations, they were no different from 'big kids'.
"Hey, I don't think this is a good idea."
Beckman, the more composed one of the group, put up a token protest as the others dragged him into 'infiltrating' the family quarters.
But it was futile.
"Should be just ahead."
"Hey, did any of you bring a toy?"
"You guys didn't prepare gifts?"
"I thought you guys would!"
They whispered, shifting blame onto each other, but didn't slow down.
They were, after all, an elite crew of all-stars. Even a newbie among them was a super-rookie who could face Whitebeard without flinching. In terms of skill, ordinary elite Kuja warriors were no match for them.
However, just as these big guys were running around playfully in what looked like a garden area, they suddenly stopped in unison.
They'd been discovered.
It wasn't surprising. Although they called it 'sneaking in', it was more for fun, so they hadn't bothered to hide their presence.
They knew Naruto was aware of their every move and was tacitly allowing it.
But that didn't mean just anyone could spot them.
"Wow, they're all kids."
Lucky Roux couldn't help but gulp, speaking with a nervousness he didn't understand.
The reason was simple: as soon as they appeared nearby, eight figures turned to look at them.
One of them had white hair, wings on its back, and bore a striking resemblance to the Pirate Empress Hancock. It was the Seraphim, [Medusa].
The other seven children were very unfamiliar to Shanks and his crew.
Each had unusual features: some had horns on their heads, some had tails, some had wings but only one, and one had an extra eye in the middle of its forehead.
These seven were the children Naruto had rescued from Amado.
Strangely enough, these children had been completely silent during their journey from the Ninja World to the One Piece World. They were like puppets, doing nothing but following Naruto.
However, when they got close to Adam, they showed their first special reaction.
Perhaps because they had somehow inherited a 'part' of Naruto's power, these children seemed instinctively drawn to Adam, a genuine 'child body'.
When they approached Adam, special markings appeared on their napes, similar to those inside the Seraphim.
Unfortunately, neither Naruto nor Stussy understood this phenomenon. It was Medusa who told them not to worry, putting them at ease.
In Medusa's own words:
'They have become siblings too.'
It was a bit cryptic.
But trusting the Seraphim, Stussy allowed the children to stay near Adam. Though she didn't understand the principle, she guessed these children, like the other Seraphim, had been 'called' by Adam.
After learning from Naruto that the seven children had lost their memories, their pasts, and didn't even have names, Stussy decided to give them new names.
Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Raguel, Ramiel, and Lucifer.
Yes, whether due to whimsy or some other reason, Stussy named the seven children around Adam after the seven Archangels from mythology.
And it turned out that there might be some symbolic connection between 'Archangels' and 'Adam'. After she gave them new names, the children began to show reactions beyond just staring blankly into space.