Gratitude, Party and Interference

__________ POV Narration __________

And just like that, a legend had returned to his prime.

Whitebeard flexed his muscles, feeling them fill with strength as his entire body was once again filled with youth.

His mind was sharper than ever, his willpower honed by decades and decades of mastery, now put to use in the body at its physical prime.

The old men that Bonney turned back were empowered to the point where they even surpassed their prime for that one reason.

After all, while the body withered away, either from sickness, disease, or torture, the willpower only grew stronger.

Now, Whitebeard was deserving of his monicker even more so than in the past.

'The Strongest Man'

While Whitebeard's power was still running wild, Francisco stepped in front of Bonney, shielding her without much issue. By just flaring his willpower slightly against that of the Strongest Man.

After a few seconds, the Quake Man stopped laughing, although his excitement had not died down one bit.

He only stopped because he realised that his outburst would further damage his home.

"Haven't felt this good in decades!" Newgate spoke out as he turned his eyes towards his full head of hair. Lucious, wavy and soft golden hair!

Oh, how he had missed it...

"Pops!" From the side, Ace essentially charged into him.

Had he been older, maybe he would've been pushed to the ground, taken by surprise. But now?

Ace simply felt as if he had run into a wall, his face mushing against Whitebeard's gigantic forearm, as the Quake Man chuckled a bit when seeing his son's excitement.

"I have a lot to thank you for, Enel... Bonney... Francisco... This warrants a celebration!" Whitebeard turned and looked towards the two people that made his return possible.

"I didn't do all that much in this instance..." Francisco smiled at his old friend, he then turned around and looked at Bonney and Enel.

The Sky King also shrugged.

"I can't exactly take credit whenever Bonney uses her powers for our cause...

I was more or less a form of transportation this time around, and Francisco helped you previously on his own initiative..."

Enel shook his head.

He did arguably play a very important role in Whitebeard's 'revival', as there was no other ship fast enough to cross the distance from the Sky Islands to Sphinx Island in such a short time.

Shiki could've likely made it in time with his devil fruit, but that didn't mean Enel's presence didn't help at all.

Inwardly, Enel was well aware that he was the whole reason such a string of events could even happen. The whole reason Whitebeard was alive even, but he didn't feel like trying to take credit for it.

"It's settled then! We're throwing a party for Missy here!" Whitebeard laughed again and patted Bonney on the back, which almost plunged her facefirst into the ground if not for Francisco catching her.

"Watch it dipshit! You need to get used to being strong again..." Guzman spat out as he pulled Bonney back to her feet without much struggle from her.

"Also, I'm not sure if calling her 'Missy' is accurate... She's probably older than you." Enel also decided to add as he turned around.

Whitebeard blinked a few times, before looking down at Bonney who just seemed annoyed at being ousted as an old person again.

'Figures... Someone with this kind of power wouldn't really die unless they wanted to...' Newgate just shook his head and started walking towards the town, with the others trailing behind him.

Ace was essentially singing Bonney's praises in the background as Francsico stepped up to Whitebeard's side.

"You know... We'll have to spar soon..." Whitebeard was the one to say it first, eager to test out his strength.

"Of course..." The Legendary Swordsman just nodded as the two of them continued walking.

Meanwhile, the situation a few meters behind them wasn't as quiet.

"I can't believe it! Weren't you in the supernovas as well?!" Ace asked as he looked towards Bonney, who he just now found out was an old lady.

"I still am! I wasn't exactly a pirate in the past..." Bonney just looked to the side and continued walking, clearly not willing to go deeper into her past.

Ace was also not insensitive enough to pry too much. He could tell she didn't want to speak about it, so he stopped speaking. He just thanked her a few more times.

Eventually, they passed by Vista's grave once again.

Whitebeard stopped and looked at it for a few seconds, before shaking his head.

'I was too weak back then... But now? I won't let such a thing happen ever again...'

He continued to walk forward after that. He knew better than to dwell on the past for too long. It wasn't the first time he had dealt with a loss after all.

Ace and Bonney, who were trailing behind them, also stopped. And Ace decided to ask a rather strange question...

"Say... Bonney... Do your powers also work on the dead...?"

The Young Pirate's voice sounded more serious than ever as he looked at the grave of his former comrade and crewmate.

"... No, unfortunately. They don't. My powers only affect living things..." Bonney shook her head and spoke in a rather soft tone.

If Whitebeard heard their exchange, then he sure didn't react to it in any way.

It was to be expected after all. No Devil Fruit power was perfect. Bonney could only affect those that were alive, and only at a physical level.

That was the limit of her power. Albeit, it was still an extremely powerful ability...

Ace simply nodded, somewhat expecting that answer, before the two of them continued trailing behind Whitebeard and Francsico.

By the time they reached the town, the Whitebeard Pirates and residents of Sphinx Town were already preparing a huge feast.

They had heard Whitebeard's laughter, and some of the doctors had checked the scene out already.

Their father, their hero, was now healthy once more. Healthy and more powerful than ever.

The news spread out like wildfire among the people living on Sphinx Island, and they got to work in the very next second.

Whitebeard smiled once more as the people of the island gathered around him. Without any hesitation, he raised his fist to the sky.

"Seems I'll be hanging around a bit longer!" Newgate roared as the people around him started cheering loudly.

And just like that, the party stated.

The cooks brought out the food, the barmaid brought out the drink. And the people started dancing.

Enel didn't feel like dancing this time around, so he mainly just ate and drank like a pig.

It had been a while since he had deviated from his training diet after all, so he decided to indulge himself a bit.

The people of Sphinx were rather excited to meet him, his reputation had clearly proceeded him. But not all that many people approached him.

A small girl did come and thank him for saving Whitebeard. He just laughed it off, patted her head, and told her to go off to her parents and not worry about such things.

Eventually, someone else approached him... Someone he had been expecting.

"Do you have a moment, Enel?" Ace looked a bit worse for wear. He looked like he had fallen facefirst into a bowl of food, which was likely what had happened.

"Indeed I do..." Not to say that Enel looked much better, the Sky King had to wipe his face before getting up and following Ace to a more secluded part of town, out of sight.

"... I can somewhat guess why you brought me here..." Enel sighed as he crossed his arms.

"... Yeah... I wanted to thank you. For everything you have done..." Ace immediately took a deep bow.

The Young Pirate was many things... He was somewhat arrogant, brash, willful, and maybe even stupid at times... But he was not ungrateful.

"Thank you for saving me and Pops back in Marineford... Thank you for saving Luffy as well... Thank you for bringing Bonney here... There are so many things to thank you for, so much that I am embarrassed to speak about all of them..."

Enel just looked at Ace, not interrupting him in any way.

"I just want you to know... That if you need help with anything in the future, just tell me! I'll get it done for you!" Ace finally allowed himself to raise his gaze once more, he confidently patted himself on the chest and gave Enel a wide smile.

"Sure thing... But first off... How is Luffy faring?" Enel asked as he returned that smile.

Ace's eyes seemed to shine at the mention of his brother. He immediately started going off, talking about how much progress Luffy had made while the two of them were sparring.

"By the end, it was hard for even me to keep up with him!" Ace smiled as he remembered his little brother's 4th Gear.

"... It's good that the two of you motivated each other to grow so much. You'll need all the strength you can get... The world is surely not becoming any easier."

The two of them continued speaking for a while, and Enel also finally learned what had happened with Luffy's ship.

Originally, it was supposed to be protected by Kuma for two years, but Kuma was taken directly to the Holy Land.

Enel had pondered about it a few times, but he didn't concern himself with it too much. Especially not to the point where he felt the need to go and check it himself.

Apparently, Rayleigh had made sure to protect it. He paid some people to look after it alongside Shakky.

They were apparently able to just hide the ship underwater by coating it and tying it to the island. A solution that, admittedly, was a lot simpler than Enel had expected.

After that, Ace went back to the party, where he ended up falling asleep on the dance floor while eating.

Every time, he just woke up and continued like nothing happened. No one reacted either, since everyone was used to his antics at that point.

Enel didn't return to the party. Instead, he climbed up onto the roof of a building and just observed the situation for a while.

'Such a loud environment... It's been a while. But I'm too tired.'

The Emperor then just sighed and leaned against a chimney, falling asleep with his arms crossed and head raised to the sky.

While the people of Sphinx Island were celebrating, the seas were not as calm...

Waves were spreading all around in another part of the New World, and the head of a gigantic snake reared from the waters.

Seaweed and algae hung off of it, its scales were as dark as the night sky and its eyes weren't even opened.

'The World has become so unpredictable... To think it needs my direct interference to go on...'

Lazily and casually, the gigantic snake spat out a gigantic figure on the shores of a random island, before submerging into the depths once more...

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Hope you liked the chapter!

We on 200 now, pretty good

This one was shorter, but a bit of celebration was in order.

Also, you can ignore that last part of the chapter, nothing important, tehe

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