2 weeks later.
Lucas sat on his throne in a large hall inside the Flower Capital's castle.
He had his fist on his cheek as he frowned deeply, seeming annoyed with something.
Nami smiled and walked up to him.
"Are you still irritated about what happened 2 weeks ago?"
"Of course I am! I nearly had that bastard Kaido and that damn guy killed him off instead!"
Lucas gritted his teeth in irritation as he recalled what happened 2 weeks ago.
That time, he had finally cornered Kaido. Even saying some cringe-worthy lines...then suddenly, that bastard appeared!
That guy who keeps calling himself his brother, Lucius!
"Why does that guy keep popping up everywhere like a damn bug!?"
Lucas felt his head hurt every time he thought of that guy.
Is it because they look so similar to each other? Maybe.
Lucas didn't like the idea that his doppelganger or whatever is running around doing whatever and causing everything he knew about the story to collapse.
While Lucas didn't know the original version of the Wano arc, he was definitely sure that Lucius is never a character that is part of the original story.
The idea that there was this character created by his own actions of killing Blackbeard is unsettling to Lucas.
Lucas felt like he can handle all these One Piece characters such as Crocodile, Enel, Aokiji, Akainu, Kizaru, Doflamingo, Kaido...because deep in Lucas' heart, he only saw them as characters in a story that he read numerous times in the past.
There was this...unconscious confidence when facing against them.
But this Lucius...is different.
In any case, Lucas didn't like this feeling.
He swore, after everything's been settled, he'll definitely find that bastard and deal with him immediately.
Sensing Lucas' irritation, Nami chuckled wryly.
"It's been 2 weeks already. Stop thinking about it. More importantly, when are you going to marry Robin, Shogun-sama."
"Gh-!"
Lucas choked in his own spit when he heard that.
"Stop it with the shogun already...I'm done being shogun! Let Momonosuke take over already!"
"Haha. No can do~ Momonosuke's still a child after all and technically, you are recognized as his godfather. Meaning, you're the only one who can fill in the sit right now!"
"Give me a break…"
Lucas sighed.
Nami smiled and looked out the window where she saw Luna playing with O-Tama and O-Toko.
Seeing Luna's happy expression, she smiled brightly and laughed.
"Luna certainly likes being a princess. Why not just retire and be shogun?"
"But…"
"Don't worry about us. Even without you, we already beat up Big Mom alone you know? Luffy and the others are already so strong...there's no need to keep worrying about us."
Lucas smiled.
Suddenly, the doors opened and a large figure appeared. Behind her were four more figures dressed in beautiful kimonos like Nami.
"My lord, Lady Robin, Hina, Hiyori, and Yamato have arrived."
The large figure bowed gracefully with a smile. She was none other than one of Kaido's Flying Six Fellows, Black Maria!
2 weeks ago, when Kaido was unexpectedly killed so anti-climatically, Lucas was angry.
Seeing that there are still surviving members of Kaido's men, he wanted to go and kill them to vent his anger. However, they were pretty much already beaten up by Luffy and the others who had fought them.
Knowing that even killing them wouldn't vent his anger, he did something unexpected.
He remembered O-Tama's ability and tried it out. Since her ability worked on animals, and since these guys are basically half animals...then...would it work?
Lucas didn't know, but he tried it anyway.
The result was a huge success!
No matter how loyal they were once to Kaido, they were now completely loyal to Lucas instead!
This had caused Lucas to feel speechless instead as he was only trying it out. He didn't think that it would really work.
OP! O-Tama's ability...is so OP!
But after finding out that it worked, Lucas became even more irritated.
AHHHHH!!! I COULD'VE USED THAT CHEAT ABILITY ON KAIDO INSTEAD!!!
Is what he was thinking since then.
Lucas sighed once again when he remembered this.
He ignored the flirty look that Black Maria's giving him and focused on Robin and the others instead.
His gaze landed on the last person and caused him to sigh once more.
Yamato. Despite the boyish name, she is actually a woman. More than that, she's also Kaido's daughter!
When he initially found out about her existence, Lucas was shocked.
That Kaido...actually had such a beauty of a daughter!? Who the hell is her mother!?
Lucas was very much curious about it. And also scared…
Anyway, Lucas thought that Yamato wanted revenge for her father's death so he was prepared to kill her or maybe use O-Tama's ability on her as well to see if it will work. However, this Yamato girl was actually…
"Akaoni-sama~"
...A die-hard fan of him…
Lucas' head started to hurt. It was already annoying to have Bartolomeo being his fan, and now there's another one…
Frankly, Lucas didn't know what to do with her so he just ignored her since then.
He once again focused his attention on Robin.
"Robin, you're here."
Robin smiled and approached Lucas beside him.
"Luffy and the others are all having fun in the city. Why don't you join them?"
"Sigh, forget it. There's still plenty of things to do. Especially now since we're going to be opening up Wano."
"So it's finally happening?"
Hiyori's face lightened up as she asked.
The Wano country is considered a closed country to the outside world. It is one of the very few countries that aren't a part of the World Government.
In the past, it was Oden's wish for the gates of Wano to be opened to all and connect with the world.
Lucas also knew this which was why he hasn't strongly refused the seat of shogun.
Lucas nodded at Hiyori's question and smiled.
"Un. Now that Wano is now an open country, we will now need to participate in the Reverie which occurs every four years. I think it is still a bit early for that, however, too many things had happened recently that the World Government deemed it was necessary to hold the Reverie now."
Nami chuckled at that,
"Well, we were the ones mainly causing those happenings though. Hahaha!"
"When will you be leaving?"
"In two days. I'd take you guys with me but...I think there are other places where you guys need to be."
Robin nodded.
"Yes. We already found the Road Poneglyph in Zou and here in Wano. Since we were in a hurry, we weren't able to search Big Mom's base so we need to head there soon to get a copy of the poneglyph. As for the remaining one…"
"Unfortunately, I don't know where the last one is. Roger never told me and I also didn't ask. But isn't that what Luffy would want?"
Lucas laughed.
"Go and have your adventures. You all are plenty strong enough. I believe you all can do it. Find One Piece."
Nami and Robin looked at each other and smiled.
"Of course!"
"Once we have everything, we will come back for you to finish the last part of the journey. Together."
"...Yeah. I'll be waiting."
Lucas sighed in his heart.
He felt that he had truly come a long way…
From being picked up on the sea...to now...it had been a long journey to get here.
Lucas looked out the window and watched Luna play with the others.
"Don't worry about Luna. I'll take care of her."
"Hmph! You better!"
"Also...Robin."
"Hm?"
"Will you marry me?"
Robin and everyone were surprised by the sudden question.
In the end, she smiled and nodded as tears of joy appeared at the corner of her eyes.
"Yes!"
Hearing her confirmation, Lucas felt relieved even though he already knew the answer. He looked towards Hina and held her hand.
"Hina, I already told this to Nami and Robin before, but I wanted to be able to marry you separately instead of at the same time. That's why...when the time comes...will you also marry me?"
"...No."
"That's goo-...wait, what?"
Lucas froze in shock.
Suddenly, Hina showed a rare smile and gave him a kiss.
"Hina was joking. You already know Hina's answer."
"...Geez, my heart almost stopped, you know!?"
"Hehe."
Everyone laughed at that.
Then, there was Yamato who was feeling a bit left out.
"Me too! Me too!"
"...No."
"Agh-!?"
Yamato clenched her chest as if she was struck by an invisible arrow.
However, she soon recovered a second later.
"Ahahaha! That was a joke, right?"
"No."
"Kuh-!?"
Another arrow pierced her!
Lucas rubbed his forehead.
Can't this girl read the mood!? Actually, why is she even here again!?
Look, even Hiyori is blushing in Yamato's shamelessness!
Soon, the news was passed on to everybody and there was a great feast that night along with a grand wedding.
The next day, it was time for the Strawhats to leave.
Lucas stood at the docks with Luffy in front of him.
Luffy seemed to be in deep thought as his head was lowered.
"So...we are separating again...Lucas."
Lucas sighed remembered the first time Lucas left the crew.
Back then, in order to prevent Admirals from dealing with the Strawhats, Lucas left to join the Shichibukai.
When they finally got back, Lucas was once more separated from them through time.
Then, they separated once more when Luffy dealt with Z.
And once more when Lucas left for Wano.
Come to think of it, Lucas sure has been leaving them a lot these days that it didn't feel weird anymore.
Thinking of that, Lucas chuckled.
"It isn't permanent. I'm sure...that once the road has been cleared...we will all meet once again. And journey together to the final destination."
Hearing that, Luffy raised his head and met his gaze.
Lucas smiled.
"But that won't be the end. There will surely be a new adventure after that...and another...and another! After all, isn't life full of adventures?"
"Shishishishi! That's right!"
Luffy laughed and turned around.
He jumped to the ship and shouted to the rest of the crew.
"Time to set sail!"
"Aye, captain!"
The sails started to unfurl as it moved.
Luna walked towards Lucas and grabbed his hand.
Smiling, Lucas bent down and lifted Luna to sit on his right shoulder as the two of them watched the Strawhat crew leave Wano.
At the distance, onboard the Millions Sunny. Luffy raised his left arm to the sky. Although the mark they once drew on their wrists were long gone, Lucas knew what that gesture meant.
He similarly raised his left arm to the sky and Luna also copied him.
Beside them, O-Tama and O-Toko didn't know what it meant. However, they thought it looked cool and also copied it.
Soon, the others did the same.
Momonosuke, Hiyori, Kinnemon, Denjiro...everyone raised their left arm to the heavens as they bid farewell to the Strawhat crew.
After a while, Lucas dropped his arm and turned around to face everyone.
"Everyone! Tomorrow, Wano will join the council of the World Government, the Reverie! At that moment...Wano will be officially open to the outside world!"
"Yeaaahhh!!!"
"So stop lazing around and get to work!"
"..."
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AN: So! I know the battle ended so abruptly but I was really having a hard time writing the battle scene. Especially when I don't know Kaido's movesets. I've been thinking about it a lot which caused the delay of posting then I ultimately decided to scrap it and turn it into a flashback which I can do anytime.
I think you all have noticed with the 'tone' of this chapter that the story is really nearing its end. Some loose ends are about to connect. With the Reverie, we will once again see Vivi, Shirayuki, Rebecca...and we'll be moving the stage to the Mariejois!
It is also getting harder to write this story as I've been lately thinking of other story ideas. Here are some that I've been thinking of writing:
Aliens Arena. A sci-fi story with aliens and intergalactic wars or something. Also a Hunger Games-like deathmatch kind of scenarios.
A VRRMMO story where MC makes the VR game himself after being tired of waiting for a real VR game to be released. It is more of a slice of life kind of story since MC won't be impacting quests, contests, and ranks to stay fair as the creator.
A Marvel fanfic. I have this idea of a Cop Hero or a Villain MC who doesn't want to be a villain...
Anyway, that's all.
Oh, also, Tsuru will meet Lucas again in next chap to those who are wondering.
See ya next chap!