"Michael, I know you just went through a big battle... but you didn't tell us that fight also messed up your brain, did you?"
Ginny sighed and looked at Michael.
"Weren't you the one who said you were going to gather all the officers for a meeting? Then why did you walk in here carrying a durian?"
"Even if you're older than me I guess it's my duty to teach you some manners!"
Michael casually tossed the durian toward Ginny.
"How can you talk about me like that?"
"What did you just—ah! It's spiky! You sneak attacked me!"
"Careful not to drop that fruit... that's the legendary Float Float Fruit."
The moment Michael said that, the once lively meeting room in Baltigo instantly went quiet.
Everyone turned instinctively toward the multicolored durian lying on the table...
"That's... the Float Float Fruit?"
Ivankov leaned forward, staring at the notoriously ugly fruit among the Devil Fruits.
"Wait, how did you get that? Didn't you just kill Golden Lion a few days ago? Don't tell me... you've learned how to extract Devil Fruits!?"
"What are you thinking? Of course that's impossible."
Michael rolled his eyes.
"It was just luck... after I finished off Golden Lion, the Float Float Fruit happened to reappear inside a durian stored aboard the Seraphim."
"That's some ridiculously good luck, don't you think?"
"Well, maybe there's a bit of fate in it too."
Michael patted the swords hanging at his waist — Oto and Kogarashi.
"Most of Golden Lion's legacy, I've already forcibly inherited. Maybe the Float Float Fruit felt it would be rude not to follow along."
He shrugged.
To be honest, if he hadn't already eaten a Devil Fruit, the Float Float Fruit would've been the perfect choice.
But now, all he could do was find someone else suitable to eat it.
However, when he glanced around the room...
He realized—there really wasn't anyone suitable.
To be precise, everyone with strong potential to develop a fruit already had one.
Among all the officers present, the only one without a Devil Fruit ability was Shimotsuki Kōshirō.
But—
"Golden Lion's Float Float Fruit, huh? Sounds powerful."
Kōshirō narrowed his eyes, smiling faintly.
"But... I really have no interest in anything outside of swordsmanship."
"I see..."
Michael nodded, then simply set the Float Float Fruit down beside him.
"Then we'll leave it for later. No matter how strong a fruit is, it still needs the right person to bring out its full power."
After saying that, he looked toward Dragon, who had been silent the entire time.
"You can begin."
At that moment, Michael felt someone tugging at the hem of his cloak.
He looked down—
A little girl with pink hair, looking almost identical to Ginny, was climbing up his leg with both hands and feet.
It was none other than five-year-old Bonney.
"Well, if it isn't our little Bonney!"
Michael reached down and lifted her into his arms.
"Michael-san has some important things to discuss with everyone, okay? Be a good girl and stay quiet for a while, alright?"
"Mm!"
Bonney nodded adorably and reached out a tiny hand toward him.
If it had been any other kid, Michael might not have known what to do—
But this was Bonney.
The future "Big Eater" supernova herself, who had inherited Ginny's appetite perfectly.
Michael reached into Jack's ever-present backpack and pulled out all kinds of food.
Soon, the little foraging beast was satisfied and temporarily quiet.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the meeting room gradually turned serious again.
"The Grand Line Army has revived the name of the Revolutionary Army through Lulusia... next, the East, West, North, and South Armies should also move into the Grand Line."
"We've already discussed this," Ginny said as the East Army's commander.
"The East Army is already en route to the Grand Line. But we can't commit everyone to the front—East Blue is our largest logistics base. We'll need at least a third of our troops to maintain the supply lines."
"I've already thought about that," said Michael.
"We can get Alabasta and Germa to help. They've got plenty of manpower right now and can fully take over the logistics burden. And you all know my relationship with Alabasta and Germa... they're our ironclad allies. No need to worry about loyalty there."
He nodded toward Ginny.
"But I want you to handle this personally."
"Of course." Ginny nodded. "I'll head out as soon as the meeting's over."
After Michael finished, all the other officers began dumping the pile of problems they'd been holding back.
With both Dragon and Michael—the two main leaders—present, it was best to get everything settled now.
Within five minutes, the two of them were buried under an avalanche of issues.
After all, leading a revolution basically meant living with your head tied to your belt—
No matter how many problems there were, that wasn't what scared them.
What was scary was when people didn't speak up about them.
At first, the matters discussed were mostly serious ones.
But soon enough, all kinds of petty yet annoying issues started piling in too.
"I know it's tricky, but if a local civilian and a Revolutionary Army member want to get married, can't the local office just handle it?"
"What? The one in love is a princess of the local kingdom?"
"You idiot! If a royal can live normally in our territory, it means they're fair and love their people. Just let them marry! We're the Revolutionary Army—we're here to overthrow the World Government's tyranny! If we start discriminating by status, how are we any different from them?"
"What? The princess fell in love with another girl?"
"Uh, I mean, sexual orientation is a matter of freedom!"
Michael sighed.
Truly, nothing in the world of One Piece could surprise him anymore.
The meeting carried on in full swing...
But he had forgotten one thing.
The food he'd given little Bonney earlier wasn't enough for the small glutton.
Still, being an understanding little girl, Bonney decided not to bother Uncle Michael during his meeting—
She would hunt for food on her own!
And then... her eyes landed on the Float Float Fruit sitting beside him.
But what could a five-year-old possibly know about Devil Fruits?
To her, it was just a weird-looking durian.
So Bonney rubbed her hands together, cracked open the spiky shell with ease, and found the fruit inside—
The entire thing was solid fruit pulp!
She had never seen a durian like that before, and it didn't even smell bad!
Curious, she opened her mouth wide and stuffed it in whole.
Gulp.
"Ugh... so gross..."
And thus, little Bonney—the girl who could eat anything that didn't stink—gave her honest review.
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Fanfic is finished. 583 chapters in total on p@treon/tambeerg