Under the warm orange light, the family was having dinner together.
Shano buried his head in eating voraciously. After letting go of his past troubles, everything he ate tasted better, and the pile of plates in front of him grew higher and higher, almost reaching the ceiling.
Belle-Mere had already eaten her fill and leaned with a slender cigarette by the door, smiling at the scene.
This child's appetite has become increasingly exaggerated; eating hundreds of pounds of food in one sitting has become commonplace. She has expanded the kitchen and built a small wooden hut next to it specifically for storing ingredients.
The problem of meals has been solved.
But there's still the matter of clothing...
Belle-Mere was a bit troubled. The stores she most frequently visits now, besides the grocery store, are clothing shops.
Almost every month or two, Shano's body grows a bit taller and wider, and the clothes she makes herself can't keep up with the pace. She has to buy large batches of ready-made clothes to supplement.
But winter is approaching, and handmade sweaters are always warmer; the question is, what size should she make?
She's wracking her brains.
Shano, who was trying to fill his belly, was also pondering a similar issue.
His physique, compared to peers, is indeed a bit abnormal. His scary muscles are intimidating to enemies but not so convenient in everyday life.
For instance, when eating, he doesn't dare to move his buttocks. If he moves slightly, the chair beneath him creaks noisily.
The bathtub is unusable, so he bathes by spraying himself on the lawn.
The doors at home have been modified as much as possible, but for those that weren't modified, he must sidestep and bow his head carefully to pass through.
"If only I could have two forms, a normal form and a combat form, like Frieza..."
Shano silently thought to himself.
...
In the following days, Shano was busy wrapping things up.
Having dealt with the Ah Long Pirates, a few new challenges arose.
First, what to do with the treasure on the ship?
Ken and Scar had checked and found over three billion Bellies.
Shano wasn't a saint. If Ah Long had gotten the riches on the Grand Line, he wouldn't bother going so far to investigate and return it. He simply took it with a smile.
But the tragedies occurred right next to the several island villages, especially Kesha Town, which was turned into ruins with heavy casualties due to inability to pay. He couldn't remain indifferent to that.
After thinking it over, annoyed by the hassle, he simply entrusted it all to Uncle Ken.
Ken would contact the surrounding villages and towns to return the wealth to its rightful owners, with any surplus used for Kesha Town's rebuilding.
This act, along with the prior feat of defeating the Ah Long Pirates.
Instantly elevated his reputation in Cocoyashi Village to new heights.
Casually strolling through town, shop owners on both sides would enthusiastically greet him, and by the time he walked down a street, his hands were full of things everyone insisted he take.
However...
Ultimately, it was his two younger sisters who benefited, stripping him of everything when he got home.
Besides, Ah Long's Pirate Ship was now his.
But that's easy to handle; with a bit of modification and cleaning, removing the pirate flag and Shark Tooth Head Crash, it turns into a very fine civilian ship.
The family's Orange Garden business is thriving now and they really need a large-capacity transport ship.
The last issue is where to claim the bounty on these pirates.
Ah Long had a bounty of 20 million Bellies and Croobi had 9 million Bellies.
Hachi, Qiu, and other leaders also had millions, totaling over 80 million Bellies.
Shano was already quite wealthy and wasn't interested in earning more.
But not claiming the heads feels like a waste, and after all, the money is rightfully his.
So he simply looked for the nearby nautical chart from a book he bought for Nami, cut off the heads of these Fishmen, and prepared to head to the nearest Navy Branch to claim the bounty.
The closest Navy Branches were two.
One is Northwest, Branch 16.
The other is Southeast, Branch 77.
No need to mention Branch 16.
Shano asked Belle-Mere to contact some of her former colleagues.
Upon learning the current base leader had just assumed the position last year and is a Colonel named Mouse, he directly abandoned the idea of claiming the reward at Branch 16.
And Branch 77, Shano had some vague impressions of this branch.
It seems that in the original timeline, the warship that dared to shell Ar Long Paradise belonged to Branch 77.
The base commander might have changed, but is undeniably more reliable than Mouse.
"So you want to set sail tomorrow morning to Branch 77?" At the dinner table, Belle-Mere wasn't pleased, "It'll take four or five days round trip."
"Uh, maybe not four or five days, but over half a month," Shano replied, "Last time I made some friends at sea, planning to visit them along the way."
Incidentally, squeeze a round of resources; that's actually more important.
"Half a month?" Belle-Mere widened her eyes but sighed after thinking it over, "Suit yourself, just make sure you return soon."
In the past, she worried about Shano's safety at sea alone, but now?
Belle-Mere snorted. With a whole pack of Pirates from the Grand Line taken down, who else in the East Sea could be her son's match?
Don't think she wouldn't boast like Nami usually does, but inwardly, she's proud beyond measure to have such a son!
"Bro, I wanna go too!"
"Me, me, and me!"
The two sisters suddenly raised their hands eagerly, making Belle-Mere squint, her face turning instantly disapproving.
But Shano smiled: "Let them come along too, they've been cooped up at home for too long. It's good for them to see the world."
The two little ones looked pitifully at Belle-Mere.
"..." Belle-Mere raised her hand to her forehead helplessly, "Alright, but one condition—when outside, you must listen to your brother. If you come back and I find out you've been naughty, don't think about going out again!"
"Yay!"
Nojiko and Nami cheered and clapped to celebrate.
"Then it's decided; this trip's navigator will be handled by me, the great I!"
Nami smugly rubbed her nose with her thumb, "Who knows more about this stuff than me?"
"I'll be the helmsman!" Nojiko lifted her chin, "I can ride a bike, operating vehicles is my forte!"
Child, you're riding a kid's bike, and begging me to modify it with two extra wheels.
Shano speechlessly patted these two little heads.
"Stop daydreaming, this time we're sailing the Ah Long Pirates' big ship. I've already hired professional helmsmen and navigators from the village to help, several of Scar's people will come along too. You can observe and learn, but don't think about hands-on involvement."
Nojiko and Nami's cheers turned into wails:
"Eh—why is it like this—"
...
The next day quickly arrived.
The group, ready and set, prepared to head to Branch 77. Shano stood on the deck by the railing, waiting for his sisters to board while taking out the nautical chart to confirm this voyage's route.
"Branch 77 and Shimotsuki Village are in the same direction, making it easier to save time. As for going to Goa Kingdom, the terrain there is familiar to Scar's men and they can help me quickly find Luffy."
While contemplating, he suddenly heard Nami's shout from the shore: "Hey, Bro! Look, a big ship is coming! That symbol... wow, it's a Navy warship!"
A warship?
Shano perplexedly lifted his head, following the sound to look.
Sure enough, at the distant sea surface, there was indeed a warship sailing towards Cocoyashi Village.
On the white sails, besides the Navy's iconic scale-seagull emblem, the black characters "16" were prominently waving in the wind.