"Garp, Roger, and you, newcomer—please, hurry up and kill me!"
Rocks' inner voice still echoed beside their ears. Garp and Roger both looked confused, turning to each other to ask whether they had heard it clearly.
"Uta, go to Rayleigh's side first," Cain said in a low voice.
"Although I know all of this is an illusion, the man in front of us is a true overlord. Even if this is something that already happened, I still want to give him a more dignified ending."
"But!"
"It's fine. I'm strong, remember? And didn't you want to spend time with Shanks too? Don't let what's happening on my side disturb you. Don't worry. I'll come back safely."
"Mm… all right. Before I go, I'll heal your injuries first."
Uta respected Cain's choice and lightly waved her hand. In the next instant, the wounds on Cain's body healed completely.
It was a miraculous sight, though this was her world, so that much made sense.
But there was one key point: when Cain had entered dreams before, Uta's healing had no cost because he had only entered as a dreamer.
Now, however, he had entered with his physical body.
This kind of treatment should not have worked.
Yet for some unknown reason, Cain's injuries had healed in a strange and impossible way.
The effect completely defied common sense.
Even more strangely, neither of them felt anything different. Uta had paid no price, and Cain felt no abnormality either.
The moment Uta left, Rocks launched another violent attack.
Cain hurriedly shouted to Garp and Roger.
"THIS GUY IS BEING CONTROLLED! DO WHAT HE SAID! NO MATTER WHAT, WE HAVE TO TAKE HIM DOWN! LISTEN CAREFULLY—USE CONQUEROR'S HAKI! FULL-POWER CONQUEROR'S HAKI!"
…
The two Rayleighs and two Shakkys had already withdrawn together to the Oro Jackson, while the crew members were busy carrying treasure onto the ship.
At this point, the young couple had already accepted that the old man and the mature woman before them were their future selves.
Afterward, young Rayleigh settled young Shakky down, then rushed back onto the island with Gaban to look for their captain.
Just then, Uta suddenly appeared.
The crew members immediately went on guard, and thankfully, with the two Shakkys present, the tense situation was quickly calmed down.
After all, the battle was far too intense. Someone suddenly appearing on the ship had genuinely startled them.
Then the crew members continued running back onto the island to move more treasure.
At present, only young Shakky, future Shakky, old Rayleigh, Gloriosa—who had burrowed into Roger's room and was doing who knew what—Uta and the baby in her arms, and that thing hanging from the ship were left aboard.
Old Rayleigh walked forward and instinctively studied the red-haired baby in Uta's arms.
He could not help but sighing.
"My, my. You actually found Shanks. Looking at him really does bring back memories. Oh, right."
As Rayleigh spoke, he ran over to a treasure chest and said to everyone,
"Come take a look. I still remember that this was the treasure chest where we found Shanks back then."
Rayleigh opened the chest in front of everyone, only to discover another identical baby sleeping inside!
The little one seemed to be woken by the noise, rubbed his eyes, and then burst into happy laughter.
"W-What's going on?"
Uta looked at the baby in her arms, then at the child inside the treasure chest, her face full of disbelief.
"There are two Shanks!"
"HAHAHAHAHA! HOW NAÏVE. MISTAKING SHAMROCK FOR SHANKS IS SIMPLY TOO FUNNY!"
Somers, who had first been beaten badly by young Rayleigh, then had all four limbs cut off by old Rayleigh before being bound in Seastone and hung from the ship, laughed wildly.
Uta looked at the baby in her arms in confusion and said,
"So the child I'm holding is called Shamrock, and the one over there is Shanks? Wait, if this is true, then that means…"
In reality, there really was someone who looked exactly like Shanks.
Uta's eyes darkened.
With a wave of her hand, all of the Seastone chains around Somers vanished, and he was pulled through the air to float in front of her.
The Seastone here was effective, but it had no effect on Uta.
In the next second, several metal pipes abruptly appeared before her, all aimed directly at Somers.
"Tell me everything about this Shamrock you mentioned."
"Oh? You still don't know your own identity, do you, Saint Figarland Uta? What's wrong? Did Shanks not tell you? He is a Celestial Dragon. Saint Figarland Shanks."
Somers laughed loudly as the wounds on his body healed and his four limbs gradually grew back.
He completely ignored Uta's shock and stood up directly, looking at her with a grin.
"And Shamrock is his twin older brother. What? He didn't tell you that either? What a poor girl. We've all heard about what happened to you. You were abandoned by him for so long, yet you know nothing."
"His brother is a Celestial Dragon, and so is he. Heh. And you, who share the same bloodline as him, are naturally a Celestial Dragon too."
The silent Uta could not understand his train of thought at all.
She was clearly a child Shanks had picked up.
How was she a Celestial Dragon?
This guy's brain had probably rusted!
So this was the level of the World Government's intelligence?
'Heh.'
Yet when Somers saw Uta fall silent, he continued speaking on his own.
"Think about the identity you should have had. You are a god, a god who belongs in the world above. Yet Shanks abandoned you and betrayed you, making you lose that lofty status and trapping you in this filthy lower world."
"We came this time to bring you back to the Holy Land. What's wrong? Are you stunned by the surprise? If it were me, I'd be beyond thrilled."
Somers carried the unique arrogance of a Celestial Dragon, treating that identity as the supreme privilege.
Hearing those words, Uta felt no joy whatsoever.
Instead, her expression grew darker than usual.
Even if she was still dissatisfied with what Shanks had done back then, he was absolutely not someone this bastard was allowed to slander at will.
Besides, since when were those stupid pigs known as Celestial Dragons worthy of being placed on the same level as Shanks?
Seeing the metal pipes around Uta, Somers instinctively shifted a few steps away from them.
He glanced at old Rayleigh, who looked ready to attack at any moment, then looked back at Uta.
Seeing that she had not acted for quite some time and had even allowed him to dodge, he mistakenly believed that after hearing about her identity, Uta had chosen his side.
His words became even more reckless.
"Do you see now? These mortals are ultimately unworthy of standing with gods. Shanks lost his mind because he was deceived by these filthy lower-world insects. He walked down the wrong path and drowned himself in this dirty lower world, completely forgetting his own identity."
"I've noticed it already. This world, all of these things, are your ability, aren't they? Truly marvelous! What do you say? As long as you come with me and capture them all, with the identity I just mentioned and your strength on top of it, you will obtain a status even more noble than ordinary Celestial Dragons."
"As for Shanks, he abandoned his own identity, so he is no different from those ants and filthy insects. Since he abandoned you, he is no father of yours. Return to the Holy Land with me. That is where your family is. That is where your true relatives are!"
Somers stared at Uta, waiting for her to make a decision.
Rayleigh slowly closed the lid of the treasure chest containing Shanks and tightened his grip on his sword, ready to deal with this man at any moment.
"You."
The moment Uta uttered that word, she immediately covered Shamrock's eyes tightly with both hands.
In the blink of an eye, several metal pipes came crashing down, directly punching multiple holes through Somers' body.
He tried to flee, only to discover he could not move. In a hurry, he raised Armament Haki to defend himself and formed thorns to block the attack, but they were like paper, unable to stop anything at all.
Several copies of Shanks' sword, Gryphon, instantly appeared around Uta, all aimed at Somers' head before stabbing into it one after another.
If one blade was not enough, then two.
If two were not enough, then three.
In the end, Somers stood rigidly in place.
As Uta poured alcohol little by little into his brain, he gradually fell into a vacant, idiotic state.
Then Uta shouted furiously,
"WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO TALK ABOUT SHANKS, GRANDPA RAYLEIGH, SHAKKY-NEE, AND THE OTHERS LIKE THAT?!"
Rayleigh and Shakky instinctively took two steps back, the same thought appearing in both their minds at once.
'So Uta was actually this terrifying?'
However, Rayleigh and Shakky suddenly realized that Uta had done all this for their sake.
In the blink of an eye, the shock they had felt from Uta's actions vanished completely, replaced by a heart full of emotion!