Thousands of miles away from Dressrosa.
On the walking giant elephant, the island of Zou.
The battle had already lasted for several days and nights. Led by Jack, the Beasts Pirates had invaded Zou in full force to find Raizo, a retainer of the Kozuki Clan.
"Hand over Raizo!"
As the rulers of this land, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi clearly did not want to clash directly with an Emperor.
"Hey, pirate!"
"We are not hiding anyone from the Kozuki Clan here. If you don't believe us, then search wherever you want!"
"Just don't hurt the people of this country!"
Inuarashi roared loudly.
But Jack, who had transformed into a mammoth and wore a straight fringe over his forehead, simply could not listen.
What was he mumbling about?
All he heard was that they had not handed the man over.
According to his way of thinking, if they could not hand him over, then they were hiding him. Why would he care whether they actually had him or not?
"Die!"
The battle continued for days and nights. Inuarashi and Nekomamushi took turns fighting.
Until a certain man appeared.
"What's this... you still haven't finished fighting?"
Footsteps echoed from the center of the city on Zou.
"Hm?!"
Both sides, who had been locked in battle, froze at the same time.
For some reason, they all looked toward the distant street.
It was a figure with long black hair.
He had just gone inside the Whale Tree and taken something from within. After thinking it over, he decided it could serve as a game prop in the future.
"Sorry. I'll have to borrow that stone for a while..."
The moment Jack saw the newcomer, his pupils contracted violently.
It was Ozz.
"Why?!"
"How could you possibly be here?!"
Bloodshot veins appeared in Jack's eyes. Clearly, he still remembered what happened when he first faced Ozz more than a decade ago.
Even with the recovery power of his Ancient Zoan Devil Fruit, it had taken him a long time to heal from that encounter.
Although the Mink Tribe lived on the elephant's back, they often read newspapers. More than that, Ozz had once been a companion of Kozuki Oden.
Inuarashi stared blankly at Ozz.
The last time they had met was after Oden was boiled alive, when Kozuki Toki died.
"Lord Ozz..."
In Ozz's hand was a red cube the size of a Rubik's Cube. Its surface was covered in intricate patterns, like mysterious writing.
"That's!"
"The Road Pone..."
Inuarashi was about to say something, but immediately shut his mouth.
Many years ago, the Roger Pirates had come here to make a rubbing of the Poneglyph, and Ozz had come with them.
But he never expected that when Ozz came again, he would take the entire Poneglyph away!
This was not allowed, but...
Looking at Jack, who was drenched in cold sweat even as one of Kaido's All-Stars, what were they supposed to do to stop him?
Gritting his teeth, Duke Inuarashi did not even dare bare his fangs.
After all, no matter how one put it, Ozz had shown them kindness.
There were even reports saying that after Lord Oden died, Lord Ozz had fought Kaido. Although Lady Toki still died in the end, that debt could not be erased.
And Ozz was not the kind of person who would use past favors to demand repayment.
He had simply come to stroll around and pick up a few props he might use later.
Whether it was because he wanted to have some fun on Zou or because he had taken something from them, by all rights he should lend a hand.
And so...
"Gah!"
A mouthful of blood sprayed out.
The King of Getting Beaten went online once again.
Ozz stood in place and yawned as he watched Seagull King kick Jack so hard that his kidneys almost came flying out.
As for the small fry from the Beasts Pirates, they were the kind of goods that fell in piles with a single slap. There was absolutely no chance of some ridiculous Bat-Man plot happening here.
For the next few days, Ozz lived quite comfortably on Zou.
Mostly because it was novel.
There were not many Minks on the sea. Aside from Minks like Bepo under Law's command, who had wandered outside due to chance, most Minks lived on Zou.
Even though Ozz controlled the Underworld, he had not seen many Minks. The few he had seen were mostly male Minks with pronounced beast traits.
Because they were strong in battle, they appeared on the sea.
But in truth, they were quite cute too, weren't they?
Because he had saved Zou, many female Minks came over to "Garchu" him. Occasionally, there were males too, but Ozz kicked them away.
Among them, Carrot suited Ozz's taste the most.
That night, the Mokomo Dukedom was still holding a banquet.
Ozz held a glass of orange juice and happily gulped down a few mouthfuls. Then he looked at Carrot, who was gnawing on a carrot beside him.
"I remember you Minks can transform, right?"
He was rather curious about it, since he had never seen it before.
He had few chances to see Minks in the first place, let alone their Sulong form.
And no matter what kind of Mink it was, after transforming into Sulong, their coolness rose by several levels.
If Ozz had been a Mink, he absolutely would have learned how to switch into Sulong anytime and anywhere.
After all, transformation had always been a man's romance, right?
"Sulong?"
Carrot froze when she heard this.
"They say that can only happen at night, and only under a full moon."
"A full moon?"
Ozz stood by the balcony and looked at the half moon in the sky. He rubbed his chin.
Why did it have to be full?
Shouldn't the important factor be the moonlight shining on the body?
In other words, as long as the moonlight was strong enough, it should work, right?
Thinking of this, Ozz held his cup in one hand and stretched his other hand toward the sky.
Space twisted.
The moonlight that had originally scattered evenly over the world suddenly bent in midair, pouring straight toward the balcony.
For a moment, the surroundings became as bright as day.
Carrot stared blankly at the sky, her eyes dazed. White light actually began to glow from her body.
"Oh~"
Ozz took a step back, lightly swirling the cup in his hand, his face full of curiosity.
It actually worked?
First, her fur began to grow thicker. Her fluffy hair and tail danced in the wind.
Her eyes turned into a handsome black sclera with red pupils. Large amounts of white lightning erupted around her body. A casual palm landing on the balcony left cracks spreading across it.
Her teeth became sharp and full of aggression.
Yet Ozz acted as if he did not notice any danger at all, observing this transformation of violent beauty.
Crackling lightning struck Ozz's body, but it vanished as if it had hit the ground.
That dangerous beastly aura, in front of Ozz, was no different from an angry little kitten with its fur puffed up.
He admired the appearance of Sulong Carrot.
"I just wonder whether humans can also gain a transformation ability. After all, humans are animals too..."
"I wonder if Vegapunk can make that?"
At this point, Ozz was already treating Vegapunk like Doraemon.
"As long as there's unlimited funding, Vegapunk can definitely make anything happen, right?"
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