Chapter 123 - 123: Meeting the Emperor!

…

*Meanwhile, in the New World.*

Extremely high up in the sky, at least twenty floating islands could be seen quietly suspended in mid-air amidst a sea of clouds.

And on one of them, Hancock and Marie, and Sonia could be seen discussing some matters. 

After a little talk, Edam told Hancock that after dealing with all the problems, he had the intention to move all these islands near Amazon's lily.

And he stated that she could do anything she wants there. So she brought her sisters here to discuss it.

"Oh, maybe we could build another colosseum?"

"Hmm, yeah, why not…" 

"We can even build a second, a third…" Mariegold said and then asked Hancock. "And what does Edam-nii think of it?"

"Umm…" Hancock looked toward another floating island where Edam was sitting cross-legged.

"Do not disturb him, he's learning how to make those islands float, though he seems to have gotten the hang of it already..."

Edam was against a cherry tree, and his hand was carefully feeling the ground.

"Maintaining these pieces of land in the air is easier than I thought, thanks for the hint, Yamote." 

"Hehe, no need to thank me, my lord…"

Concerning Yamote, he had asked the latter what it wished to do since it was only thanks to him that he succeeded in coming back to this world. But his answer was only that he wants to follow him for now. Though he did have a wish, which was to retrieve a scepter of his, located somewhere on the Other Side.

Since then, Yamote would follow him everywhere and give him a lot of advice.

… 

After Sonia and Maria went back, Hancock flew into Edam's embrace while he was sitting against a tree, pressing her head on his ċhėst as he slowly passed his hands through her hair.

"I can't believe you stole those floating islands…" Hancock who was in Edam's arms said with a bit of fun in her voice. "You bad boy…"

"Bad boy huh, should I remind you who turned Whitebeard's men into stones? In terms of boldness, I clearly pale in comparison... " Edam said with an amused expression.

"..." Her face was one of embarrassment and guilt. "Ahem, that's not the same…"

"Is it?" Edam smiled. "But anyway, it's so beautiful, of course, I had to take it, he was making bad use of it, I will instead use them to chill around, hehe…"

"So beautiful huh? You always take beautiful things away. Let's hope that you won't steal women in the future…?" Saying this she eyed him suspiciously and pinched his cheeks.

"Umm, Nah, too bothersome to deal with, you're better in every way..." Edam smiled and kissed her cheeks.

"Good answer… I would have turned all of them to stones…" Hancock smiled sweetly but appeared sinister somehow.

Edam laughed softly with a wry expression and ċȧrėssed her face. "How evil…"

"Heh, sorry for being evil and beautiful…" She lifted her head proudly and lay back in her arms.

"You... arrogant and sneaky princess… take this..." With that said, Edam tightened his arms around her and launched a lot of tickles.

"Ah-, no, forgive me, I was only joking!" Hancock wriggles in his arms while holding her laughter in.

"Then, go ahead and laugh!" Edam smiled evilly and continued fiercely and even used his fatal weapon being his Tickling Assault Monkey Tail skill!

"Ah-, Haha, hahaha..." Not able to restrain it any longer, her lovely laughter rang out to Edam's pŀėȧsurė as he continued to make her laugh until she eventually fell asleep in his arms with a sweet smile on her tired face.

Edam watched her with a faint smile as he ċȧrėssed her long hair and kissed her forehead.

Closing his eyes, he asked in his mind.

'Yamote?'

'Yes? How can I help you, Lord?''

'I have a request…' With that said, Edam opened his eyes and quietly looked at Hancock who was in his arms. 'Help me find a solution to erase the tattoo on her back, please…"

'Oh…'

…

And just like this, time flew by quietly and rapidly as the archipelago of floating islands flew in a direction.

…

…

*Meanwhile, in a certain part of the New World*

Sailing on the seas quietly, a huge ship resembling a white whale could be seen going in a certain direction.

"Hey, guys we will soon arrive at Ace's fleet location…"

"That damn female Sea Warlord, daring enough to attack our brothers, just wait a bit, after we reunite with Ace, she will pay for that…"

"Where is Doma…?"

"Hah, that idiot is still sulking at his defeat to Ace!"

"Hey, Pops, did you see that? Shiki the Golden Lion was caught by the Navy Yoi…" A blonde-haired man with a rather sleepy look on his face said as he held a newspaper. 

"He was caught again? Gurarara…!" 

An old man replied and laughed out heartily while sitting on a huge chair placed in the middle of the ship's deck.

"Yeah, he was caught by some youngsters from the Navy!"

"Really, Marco? How is that…" A big guy near asked.

"It's true, here look…"

"Gurarara! How pathetic! Gurarara!" The old man who was sitting was extremely sick since he had a lot and a lot of machines connected to him, with two nurses taking care of him.

"Hmm…?" The blonde-haired guy released a small sound as he browsed through the Newspaper and stopped at some pictures. 

"Oh, old man Shiki was defeated by a relatively new guy in the Marine, and is from some rumors the Hero Garp's grandson." With that, a lot of people gathered to take a look.

"He's rather young…"

"The news may be exaggerated to give some visibility to the young ones…"

"Yeah right? It should be that…"

"Garp's grandson you say?" Whitebeard said, his attention drew in.

"Yup!"

"Haha, that's interesting, the writers are calling him, the Monkey King, because of his monkey tail and King because-…" The blonde-haired guy laughed as the newspaper was taken by a black-haired guy. "Ah- hey I'm not finished yet-?! You…"

"The Monkey King? Hmm, I would have liked something else… Like, the Destroying Ape, or God Ape or simply Beast King, it's better right?" The certain black-haired guy asked the people around.

"Well, yes, it's true compared to Monkey…"

"Yes, it's true, but it makes it sound rather childish…" 

"However, Beast King is like an insult to the Emperor Kaido…" A guy pondered and then looked at the Black-haired guy.

"...Hmm, that's strange, I never saw you before…" Someone said as he looked at the black-haired guy.

"...now that you say it, me too…" Another one said toward the black-haired guy.

"...wait a minute…"

"..." They all began to sweat a bit before exclaiming out loud.

"Who the hell are you!?" 

They all yelled and drew their swords out in a hurry and tried to cut him down but…

Swing!

He appeared a bit away, as a sort of Diamond-man charge at him like a furious bull.

Boom! Peng!

"...?! What?!" The diamond guy exclaimed out loud.

The black-haired guy had simply stopped him with one hand and laughed in amusement. "Heh, Diamond Jozu…"

One must know that stopping the Diamond-man was no easy task.

"Hehe…" The guy disappeared in a flash leaving an afterimage of himself on the spot.

The intruder was of course Edam!

He instantly appeared sitting on a sort of balustrade, facing the sitting Whitebeard, and scrutinizing him with a faint smile as his feet swung back and forth with his tail waving in the air, seemingly enjoying the moment. 'This old man give off an overwhelming feeling…'

"Hello, Emperor of the sea, Whitebeard…" He smiled and greeted him. "I'm Monkey D. Edam… a pŀėȧsurė to meet you…"

Whitebeard's eyes darted on him scrutinizing him too as a smile formed upon his face. "Garp's grandson…"

"You're one arrogant brat, huh, to come on my ship without announcing your arrival…" 

"Ah, well, I'm sorry for that, but contacting an Emperor is so hard…" Edam shrugged his shoulders off.

"Oi oi oi…" The blonde-haired guy named Marco then came and positioned himself in front of Whitebeard. "You can't just speak like that with the King…"

"...?" Edam looked at the latter.

"First of all, how did you come here, where is your ship…?" Marco asked and took a glance around not seeing any ships.

"Oh, that…well…" Edam smiled slightly and pointed at the sky with his finger. "I came from the sky…"

"The sky…?" The answer stunned them all as they then looked at the sky.

"What?" Marco exclaimed rather surprised.

"Yeah, you're not the only one who can fly, Mr. Phoenix…" Edam pointed at the sky again as the crew took another glance.

However, as they did this…

"What the…!?" amidst the clouds, numerous floating islands suddenly showed up, down enough to be seen but still too high to be touched.

"...Hoh? Isn't that Shiki's islands?" Whitebeard said as he took a glance but no more than that.

"But, anyway, brat, what are you here for huh? Do you want to take my head? Do what the Navy can't?" Whitebeard asked with an interested expression.

"Well…" Edam smiled faintly and then added with bright eyes. "I won't hide that I would have liked to fight you at your prime… but not in your state…"

"You cheeky brat..."

"And your crew seem to love you a lot…" It was true, and maybe the first thing he noticed when he arrived on this ship. The atmosphere here was very different from other pirate ships, it was homely and comfortable, looking like a family house instead of a pirate ship.

He already knew that Whitebeard was known to care a lot for his sons, but it was only when one got to see it that they can truly understand it.

The gaze of every pirate was filled with respect and filial love whenever they would look at Whitebeard, showing how incredible this man was.

"Plus I mean it, I came here to apologize on behalf of the Sea Warlord who attacked your comrades…"

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Marco asked curiously.

"She didn't mean to attack your pirates, that's it, ahem, here…" With that Edam waved his hand around and spatial gates appeared and delivered around fifty stone statues.

"Guys!"

"It's them, it's truly them!"

"Yes, I recognize Uru's ugly face…!"

…

"They are completely fine… we only need to turn them back… so…?"

Whitebeard pondered before a small smile took place and he said with his rough voice.

"Fine, you came here with good intentions, brat If you return my sons back into one piece, I can let bygone be bygone…" Whitebeard said very seriously, giving priority to his men's lives.

"However…"

"...?"

"If you dare play any deceptive tricks and play with my son's lives…" Saying this, Whitebeard's eyes sharpened as from his body, a frightening and crushing pressure emanated out of him.

Boom, Boom...

"..." Faced with this, Edam's instinct kicked in and his conqueror's haki went to clash with him.

"Not bad, kid, you're not all talk…"

"Thanks." Edam smiled a bit. "And, also I cannot possibly hurt my brother's father and new family right?"

Whitebeard "...?"

"What?"

"Your brother? In this crew?"

"Yeah, my brother, my little brother, what, don't tell me he never spoke about me?" Edam asked, a bit hurt in his heart. 

"But who the hell is your brother?"

"Oh, he was recently made commander of a second fleet or something like that..."

"... You mean to say that your brother is…" Marco asked unbelieving.

"Yes, his name is Ace-…" Just as Edam finished his sentence, some guys yelled.

"It's Ace!"

"Ace is back!" 

Some guys announced it very out loud as a top-naked guy with a hat on his head and Whitebeard's mark on his back jumped onto the ship's deck. Some flames were bursting out of him when he jumped.

"Ace!"

"Welcome back!"

"Yo guys! What's up? So, are we going to avenge the guys…?" Ace didn't even notice Edam who was sitting not far away.

"Uh… about that…" Some of them had strange and awkward expressions as they glanced at Edam.

Curious and following the others, Ace turned his head toward Edam as his eyes widened instantly.

"E- E- Edam?!"

"Yo, been a long time isn't it? Ace…" Edam smiled.

...

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Sigh, I was sick for days now and could only write it now, sorry.