Return to the Pirate World

"Finally back… The Pirate World still feels freer." Yota sat on the ship, breathing in the fresh sea breeze and air as he took a huge bite of the Pirate World’s distinctive giant bone-in meat.

"Especially when it comes to food—the meat in the Pirate World is so good!"

Things in the Naruto World had basically come to an end. At most, Yota could go back later and harvest the ninjutsu Red Queen had compiled.

In fact, Yota’s ninjutsu had already improved enormously. He barely needed hand seals anymore when using various escape techniques, and the miniaturized Susanoo he had wanted from the very beginning had also been completed. His ninjutsu abilities and his Pirate World abilities were gradually forming their own system.

From here on, any further progress would only come through painstaking effort and advancements in ninjutsu across the entire Shinobi World.

It was precisely because he could not gain much more in the Ninja World for the time being that Yota had left and returned to the Pirate World.

Besides, he had finally thoroughly disrupted the plot of the original Naruto World. Most importantly, the Sage of Six Paths had abandoned his plan to release Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. Therefore, Yota no longer had to worry about the passage of time in the Naruto World after leaving it, lest he return to find a whole bunch of Ōtsutsuki Aliens.

"According to Tree Diagram’s calculations, the awakening of my Devil Fruit abilities seems to be closely tied to the Pirate World’s environment. Developing Devil Fruits is easier in the Pirate World."

"If the Munch-Munch Fruit and the Dark-Dark Fruit could awaken…"

"Still, there’s no Natural Energy in the Pirate World, so I can’t use Sage Mode. And without being able to absorb Natural Energy, if I stayed in the Pirate World all the time, my lifespan would probably be much shorter than in the Naruto World."

As Yota was mulling it over, a wave of cries suddenly rose from the bow, and the entire ship began to rock.

"What’s going on?" Yota froze slightly before walking over.

Yota was still aboard the Fourth Division’s flagship. He had not yet decided what to do next.

"What a huge elephant! Is that the legendary Zou? The home of all the Mink Tribe?"

Yota reached the bow and looked up, immediately spotting a gigantic mountain in the distance. Its four legs resembled pillars supporting the heavens, while its enormous body was like a small continent. It was the legendary home of the Mink Tribe—the giant elephant, Zou!

At that moment, the elephant seemed to be migrating. With its slow steps, enormous waves surged across the sea, causing the ship to sway continuously.

"It’s so huge! I wonder what this giant elephant tastes like? The legendary Elephant Trunk is supposed to be the ultimate delicacy!"

Thatch stared at the legendary giant elephant and spoke with an excited expression.

Damn! Had Ship-Landing King possessed you or something? You want to taste Zou’s Elephant Trunk? Do you not know what happened after that Ship-Landing King tasted Elephant Trunk?

Even Yota, at his current strength, would find Zou… well, it would probably take him more than ten hours to deal with it.

Still, this was the Mink Tribe’s homeland. Yota was not about to kill Zou just to eat Elephant Trunk.

Fortunately, Thatch was only talking. He was not an idiot. Even Whitebeard would not provoke a sea beast like this if he encountered one.

However, upon seeing Zou walking through the sea, Yota seemed to remember something. His body shot into the sky as he flew toward the giant elephant.

"Hey? Yota, what are you going there for? Don’t tell me you really want Elephant Trunk—I was joking!" Thatch shouted in surprise. Yota rolled his eyes. "Don’t worry, I’m not an idiot. I’ll be right back."

"That’s good… Huh? Since when could this guy fly?" Thatch breathed a sigh of relief, only then realizing that Yota was not using the air as footholds to rise into the sky. He was flying directly through the air.

A short while later, Yota returned. He did not seem to have done anything, except that he held a small slip of paper in his hand.

"That’s a Vivre Card. Did you place a Vivre Card on Zou?" Thatch asked in surprise.

"That’s right. I put the main card of the Vivre Card into Zou’s subcutaneous tissue, then healed its wound."

"That way, it’ll be easy to find this giant elephant again in the future."

"I see." Thatch looked somewhat surprised. "Come to think of it, the Mink Tribe really is hard to find. Having an exact location like this isn’t bad."

That’s not all. The Mink Tribe has a Red Poneglyph too, Yota thought to himself.

Naturally, he would not say that aloud. Otherwise, even with Zou constantly moving across the sea to evade others, the Mink Tribe would probably never know peace again.

"By the way, little brother Yota, you seem to have grown quite a bit taller. And I feel like your presence is different too. You could even fly just now. Did something happen?" Thatch asked curiously.

Yota coughed softly. "I don’t know what happened either. It feels like my strength suddenly improved a lot. Maybe I’ve just been training diligently lately."

Thatch nodded as if he understood. "So that’s how it is!"

People in the Pirate World were all somewhat careless. Thatch was already considered quite observant for noticing that Yota was different, yet after hearing Yota’s perfunctory explanation, he immediately believed it.

After the giant elephant Zou slowly departed, the Fourth Division’s ship continued onward. Following a round of patrols, it returned once again to the vicinity of Whitebeard’s Moby Dick.

Having already obtained the Dark-Dark Fruit, Yota no longer had any need for the Fourth Division. This time, he found an excuse to leave Thatch’s Fourth Division.

What Yota naturally had in mind now was going directly to trouble Kaido. With his current strength, at least none of the powerful figures openly known in the One Piece World were his match. Thus, he was preparing to officially begin hunting for Devil Fruits, and the Fourth Division had now become a burden. Naturally, he would not continue following them.

However, Yota did not intend to set sail alone—the One Piece World was unknown how many times larger than the Naruto World. The New World alone was probably no smaller than the entire inhabited territory of the Naruto World, and its ever-changing weather left most people utterly baffled.

Though he was now powerful enough to ignore almost all harsh weather, with his level of sailing skill, finding a destination would likely be extremely difficult.

Therefore, he at least needed to find a reliable navigator. That person also needed some strength, so they would not be killed by the aftermath of battle.

"Hmm… Wait! I remember Ace being a pretty good navigator! And he and Yamato have always wanted to go to Wano Country and cause trouble for Kaido, haven’t they?"

"Looks like this time, I’ll have to join forces with Ace and Yamato again!"