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Jura-Tempest Federation · The Following Morning
Bang!
"I refuse to accept this!"
Milim slammed both hands on the table and glared around at everyone present.
"Milim, you're going to accept it. Otherwise, we won't play with you."
Kaito said this without even glancing up, entirely unmoved.
"Why?! All I wanted was to go and explore on my own!"
Milim fixed him with wide, tear-filled eyes. That wobbling lower lip would have shattered most people on the spot.
But Kaito was Kaito. Milim's entire arsenal of pitiful expressions had a success rate of exactly zero against him.
"Ha! Don't even try it. It won't work on me."
The Iron-Faced and Ruthless Kaito declared her tactics ineffective without a flicker of hesitation.
To be fair, it wasn't that he was heartless.
He was simply operating on the well-founded concern that if Milim went off on her own, the entire world might not survive seven days.
It definitely had nothing to do with worrying that Milim would destroy everything before they had a chance to have any fun. Absolutely not.
After all, they weren't... good people... Pfft... They weren't bad people either!
"Waaah, woo woo woo... Kai-chan is a meanie... woo woo... I'm never speaking to you again!"
Kaito: 'What is she, six?'
Everyone watched Milim sob at full volume with zero regard for her dignity and quietly stifled their laughter.
"Milim-sama. Here, pudding."
Milim's crying cut off the instant she saw the pudding Sakuya set down in front of her. The speed was frankly impressive.
She picked up the spoon, took one bite, and her tear-streaked face broke into a look of pure bliss.
"Mmm mmm... As expected of Sakuya's pudding. So good!"
"Kaito-sama, who are you planning to bring to the new world?"
Kagaya, seated in the first chair on the left, asked in his quiet, measured way.
"Anyone who wants to come can come. This time I'll be opening a permanent Dimensional Gate between that world and this one."
"That world is mostly ocean. I'll head over first and build a small continent, and then you can bring the reserved construction capsules over."
"We're going to establish a new Jura-Tempest Federation city in that world."
Kaito sat at the head of the table and walked everyone through what made this world different from the others.
"The Dimensional Gate can be made permanent? Does that mean Kaito-sama won't have to open it manually every time from now on?"
"It can actually be permanent?"
"This is truly..."
The room went quiet with collective shock.
This was no small thing. Previously, any travel between worlds had required Kaito to personally open a gate each time, which meant they couldn't fully make use of the resources in other worlds. Kaito was the leader of the Jura-Tempest Federation. His subordinates couldn't go knocking on the boss's door every time something needed doing.
And they absolutely would not, if they could manage it themselves. The unspoken rule among the top brass was to never bother Kaito or Rimuru unless there was truly no other way.
It was the reason every single member of the senior leadership was also a card-carrying member of the Do-Nothing Organization. They had all been thoroughly spoiled by their subordinates.
But with a permanent connection between worlds, the possibilities were essentially limitless.
"Speaking of which," Shizu said, suddenly straightening up, "has our city ever actually been given a name?"
A brief silence.
"That's... true."
"We've been so busy we completely forgot."
"Oh! Then let's name it now!"
Rimuru said eagerly, her expression bright with excitement.
"Right then. Everyone, put forward your suggestions."
Kaito leaned his chin on his hand and waited.
"I propose Demon City!"
Milim shot her hand up.
"Milim, you are not a member of the Jura-Tempest Federation, so your suggestion is invalid. Rejected."
Kaito delivered this without hesitation.
"Woo woo..."
"Next."
"I propose we call it Kaito and Rimuru!"
Rigurd announced this with extreme excitement barely contained beneath a solemn expression.
"Rejected! What a terrible name! Rigurd, please attend some cultural studies classes at the Academy."
Rimuru rejected it before Kaito could even open his mouth.
"How about..."
"Rejected."
"Then what about..."
"Rejected."
"..."
Suggestion after suggestion was shot down. The names being offered were, charitably, not workable.
Just as Kaito was starting to think that if all else failed they could simply call it Central City as in the original story, the Jura-Tempest Federation's chief strategist and general affairs officer, Kagaya the Omnipotent, spoke quietly.
"Since everyone seems to want to combine Kaito-sama's and Rimuru-sama's names in some form, how about simply Central City?"
"Central City...? Actually, that's not bad."
"That works."
"As expected of Kagaya-san."
Kaito looked at Rimuru.
"What do you think?"
Rimuru's face lit up. She raised her hand and gave a firm thumbs-up.
"Totally OK!"
"Then it's settled."
"From this day forward, the capital of the Jura-Tempest Federation shall be named Central City!"
The room nodded in agreement.
"Alright. I'll head over first with the Royal Knights to set up the Dimensional Gate. Once it's ready, everyone else can come through."
"One more thing. We're going to keep finding new worlds, so I want to open a dedicated alternate dimension to serve as a transit hub for all the Dimensional Gates. Thoughts?"
"That's a sound plan. It will make managing travel between worlds considerably easier down the line."
Kagaya nodded.
"Then that dimension shall be called the Dimensional Hub. Decide among yourselves who gets permanently stationed there."
Kaito looked around the table.
"Anything else to discuss?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing here either."
"Then the meeting is adjourned."
One Piece World · Open Sea
The vast blue ocean stretched out in every direction like an enormous sapphire, its surface stirred by the sea breeze into a gentle, rolling shimmer. The only sound across the whole expanse was the cry of seagulls, as if performing a grand private concert for no one in particular.
Well. That's the poetic version.
The actual scene was a fairly unremarkable stretch of open water with a handful of seagulls circling above, each one apparently compelled by some deep instinct to screech at regular intervals to confirm its own existence.
Just as one of them opened its beak to go again, a hand shot out and snatched it from the air.
"Make another sound and I'll roast you. Are we clear?"
The seagull looked at the young man holding it and nodded frantically.
"Good. Squawking away like that, you're driving me mad."
He let it go. The seagull fled as though its life depended on it, putting as much distance between itself and this human as physically possible, and quietly resolved to find its relatives working as News Coos and have this man blacklisted at the earliest opportunity.
"Kaito-sama! So this is the new world?! It's simply marvelous!"
Diablo, dressed impeccably in his butler's tailcoat, radiated the particular joy of a man standing at the edge of the unknown.
As someone who genuinely loved exploring uncharted territory, being able to set foot in a new world entirely was, for him, a delight second only to serving Rimuru-sama.
"Ha! You'll love this world, Diablo."
Kaito smiled at him.
"Then... let's start right here..."