April 5 Listening to songs in the pavilion (struck out), lying flat
April 7 Lying flat
April 8 Lying flat. Sakura is so soft. I mean her hands, obviously.
April 9 Lyin… searchable offense. How can I be like this. I am going to train with the blade.
April 10 Lying flat. Suzu is usually cool and quiet, but she looks adorable when she gets shy.
April 11 Lying flat
April 12 Flat
…
Morning light poured through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Sakura and Suzu had everything ready.
On the left, Sakura offered a cup of black tea at the perfect temperature.
On the right, Suzu carried a tray of piping-hot pastries fresh from the oven.
Behind him, a soft pillow shifted to the most comfortable angle at the slightest touch.
Kael narrowed his eyes, feeling himself melt.
Keep this up and forget drawing a sword, he suspected he would lose the will to stand up from the lounger.
"Ahhh…"
He let out a long sigh filled with righteous fury at his own decline.
"Lord Kael, are today's sweets not to your taste?"
Suzu tilted her head. Worry touched her cool features.
"No. The sweets are excellent." Kael waved weakly. "The problem is me."
Back on the Oro Jackson, every day was either chatting with Rayleigh, getting dragged into drinking and mischief by Roger, or shouting ora ora ora with Jabba.
Now look at him. A feudal lord hollowed out by wine, wealth, and soft living.
No. This could not go on.
Kael's eyes snapped open and he sat up.
The sudden movement startled the twins.
"My lord?" Sakura asked in a small voice.
"I need to go out." Kael rose and loosened stiff joints. "You two hold the fort. Karon too."
He remembered.
By this point in the timeline, Gecko Moria was headed for the greatest defeat of his life in Wano Country.
Right now he should still be a high-spirited captain who believed in his strength and his crew, ready to challenge the "Hundred Beasts" Kaido entrenched in Wano.
Then his crew would be annihilated by Kaido and he would be crushed without mercy.
After that he would never recover, turning into the gloomy shut-in on Thriller Bark who made a zombie army out of stolen shadows.
A textbook case of how to fail upward in the worst possible way.
Kael rubbed his chin.
Karon was excellent at administration and corporate culture, but in a straight fight he was not quite there.
If Kael's influence was going to grow, he needed a few hitters at the front door.
Before Moria collapsed into himself, a timely pull might be useful. Maybe Moria's crew had some promising seedlings too.
Besides…
Kael's gaze deepened.
Wano Country. Kozuki Oden.
That man who drank and adventured with them aboard Roger's ship. How was he now.
When Oden left the ship, Kael had warned him that Wano's waters ran far deeper than they looked.
Hopefully that earnest samurai had taken at least a line or two to heart.
"Karon."
The voice was not loud, yet it filled the villa clearly.
In under ten seconds Karon gusted in and executed a perfect ninety-degree bow.
"Lord Kael. Your orders."
"I am leaving for a time. A few months at best. No guarantees." Kael kept it short. "You run the house as usual. Keep an eye on the two girls."
"Yes. Please rest easy. I will bow and scrape until my last breath. I swear to protect your foundation."
Kael had no patience for ceremony. He finished his instructions, stepped to the balcony, and let a ripple of force bloom underfoot.
His figure became a streak of light and shot into the sky.
The three left behind traded looks.
Sakura and Suzu wore starry-eyed awe. Karon clenched his fist and proclaimed again at full volume.
"Respectfully seeing Lord Kael off."
…
The New World, in the latter half of the Grand Line.
A pirate ship flying a tusked skull flag sailed smoothly over swells.
On deck, pirates drank and bragged, the mood easy and loud.
"Captain, we hit the jackpot this time. That petty kingdom set us up for years of fun."
"Hahaha. Next island I am finding the finest woman and the strongest liquor."
A figure dropped from the sky without warning and landed lightly on the rail of the bow lookout.
A soft thump. Every gaze snapped over.
"Who?" The thick-jawed captain lurched up.
Kael did not answer, merely glanced over the ship's build. Solid enough. It would do.
"Hey, kid. How did you get aboard?" The captain drew a cutlass and pointed at Kael.
Kael finally looked at him and lifted one finger.
The man had no time to react. An irresistible force slapped his chest.
He flew like a kite with a snapped string, crossed half the deck, and arced neatly into the sea without much of a splash.
Dead silence claimed the ship.
Bottles and blades clattered to the planks.
Kael brushed his hands together as if he had done nothing of note.
"Good. The heading is correct now." He turned the rudder, then faced the stunned crew with a kindly smile.
"Destination Wano. Any objections."
The pirates shook their heads so hard they became rattles.
"Excellent. Make way."
Kael: I am a remnant of the old era. In the New World I ride whatever ship I like.
…
A few days later the ship eased into a hidden cove.
Kael spared his "tool" pirates any further distress and stepped alone onto that closed country's soil.
Wano's customs were a world apart.
Distinctive eaves and beams. Kimono-clad swords on every hip. The air itself felt ancient and pressed down.
Kael found a town and slipped into a roadside noodle shop.
"Owner, one tempura soba."
"You got it. Please wait a moment."
There were few in the shop. At the next table, two ronin drank and chatted.
Kael ate while the entire conversation passed cleanly into his ears.
"You hear. Tomorrow is the fool lord's dancing day again." Contempt thickened the first swordsman's tone.
"Of course I heard. It has been two years now, right. Once a week like clockwork. Biggest joke in Wano." The other laughed, drawing a few low snickers from neighboring diners.
"Shh. Keep it down. Do not let the Akazaya hear."
"What is there to fear. They are stray dogs now. Trail after that fool all day long and throw away a samurai's pride."
"True. Lord Oden used to be a hero. Now… the name of the Kozuki is ruined by one man."
"No kidding. They say he is protecting the people. Nonsense. He is a coward clinging to life."
…
"Oden, remember. Yielding and compromise alone do not buy peace. They feed the enemy's fire. Some foes cannot be moved by reason or sincerity."
"Hahaha. Kael, you worry too much. If I am strong enough, I can protect everything. I am Kozuki Oden."
…
Kael's intolerance for foolishness flared.
The pitiable often have something hateful at the core.
You discovered the Way in the morning. You could have sailed back to Wano by noon, found Kaido by sundown, and cut him down.
You tell me you lost with two kings and four twos in hand.
At worst make a call. What are the Roger Pirates and Whitebeard Pirates for.
You insisted on becoming a legendary simmering stew and turned yourself into a hot-pot human pillar.
Enough. Kael had done his part. Oden's fate was on Oden.
Let go of the savior complex. Respect other people's destiny.
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