Chapter 489 - 489: The Pirate World’s Most Serious Father Is Back

Cyrus looked down at the figure kneeling before him and gave a small nod.

"You've recovered well."

"Yes, my lord. I possess High-Speed Regeneration."

The Arrancar before him was Ulquiorra.

When Aizen fused with the Hōgyoku, Ulquiorra had tried to stop him and nearly been beaten to death for it.

Even so, he hadn't failed completely—before the fight ended, he had managed to evacuate every Hollow still inside Las Noches.

"Come on. There are still a few things you'll all need to decide for yourselves."

Ulquiorra rose and silently followed Cyrus toward the Rose Hunter.

When they reached the ship, however, Cyrus glanced toward one side and frowned slightly.

"There are a little too many of them."

"Lord Cyrus, hasn't everything outside already returned to normal?"

Starrk approached with a much more relaxed expression than before.

He had witnessed the world entering another cycle with his own eyes.

At first, he had genuinely believed everything might disappear forever, which had left even someone as laid-back as him uneasy, but now that the world had restored itself, most of that concern was gone.

He had even spotted several familiar Menos again near the edge of the great forest.

Cyrus understood immediately. "So?"

"Some of them might choose to stay here."

"That works out nicely."

Cyrus leaped onto the ship, and the second spatial barrier he had erected around the Rose Hunter dissolved at once.

Robin greeted him with an amused smile. "Looks like things turned out differently from what you told us."

"You always prepare for the worst. Assuming everything will definitely end well is how people get themselves killed."

"That's true." Robin nodded, then looked toward the restored world around them. "Still, this result isn't bad."

"They were only imaginary creatures anyway. If they disappeared, they disappeared."

Hancock folded her arms as she spoke, though there was a slightly strange edge to her voice when she looked at Robin.

Baby 5, on the other hand, barely seemed interested in what became of this world. "Lord Cyrus, what are we doing next?"

"First, we're going home."

Robin's eyes widened immediately. "Home? You found it?"

"Yeah."

Cyrus nodded.

"Is it the same passage we came through?"

Hancock's attention shifted instantly. She was clearly just as curious about the route connecting two different worlds.

"No. The passage we used to get here wasn't permanent. It was only a temporary fissure that happened to form between two neighboring worlds."

Seeing their puzzled expressions, Cyrus continued, "That still tells us something important. The two worlds were already close enough to touch. Unfortunately, I'm not strong enough yet to simply tear open a stable path between them whenever I want."

Robin, Hancock, and Baby 5 all looked like they wanted to roll their eyes at the idea of Cyrus describing himself as not strong enough.

"I'm planning to stabilize the passage I found and turn it into something permanent. I'll also bring some of the Arrancar back with us."

"Bring them back?"

Robin hesitated. "Now that this world has recovered, do they really need to leave? If all you want is their combat strength, the Hunter Guild already has more than enough. And the Hollow that guided us here suffered obvious problems after entering our world. You said it was because our world lacked the kind of spiritual energy this place has."

"That's exactly why I want to reinforce the passage permanently."

Cyrus understood the problem better than anyone.

He raised a hand, and flames formed above his palm before shaping themselves into a moving diagram.

A small vortex appeared in the center, with differently colored streams of energy flowing into it from opposite sides and forming a stable circulation.

"Once the passage is reinforced, some Reishi from this world will naturally flow into ours. As long as I don't bring too many Arrancar across, that amount should be enough to sustain them. I also need their presence on the other side to help keep the passage stable."

Hancock's eyes suddenly brightened. "If the passage really becomes permanent, then…"

"Then we can send Hunters here later."

Cyrus nodded. "This world's power system still has some useful things worth studying."

Robin quickly returned to the question she cared about most. "Then did you find a way to reach other worlds too?"

"You could say that."

Cyrus thought for a moment before nodding.

"But the pirate world is far more complete than this one, so actually putting that method into practice may take some time."

He waved the matter aside and walked toward the railing. Below, a large group of Arrancar and several Vasto Lorde-class Hollows had gathered near the ship.

"Starrk, let them choose for themselves."

Cyrus called out before turning back toward the three women.

"You should get ready too. We'll be leaving soon."

Robin, Hancock, and Baby 5 nodded and went their separate ways, though there wasn't much to prepare. They had brought little with them and had no need to carry anything substantial back.

Cyrus, meanwhile, sensed a familiar presence lingering at the edge of the great forest.

Aizen.

More specifically, the Hōgyoku-fused Aizen.

He hadn't approached any closer. From the distance he maintained, it almost seemed as though he had come merely to see Cyrus off.

…

The Calm Belt remained much as it had always been.

The rise and fall of powers across the world had little effect on the world itself, and nowhere was that more obvious than in this vast stretch of sea rarely visited by humans.

A black vortex suddenly appeared above the ocean.

It expanded rapidly, and the spatial disturbance around it violently disrupted the normally still waters, raising enormous waves.

Beneath the surface, Sea Kings that had been swimming lazily moments earlier panicked and fled in every direction.

Then an ornate ship slowly emerged from the widening vortex.

The Rose Hunter dropped the remaining distance and crashed onto the sea below, sending water exploding upward around the hull.

"Mr. Issho's ability really is useful at times like this."

Robin rested one hand against the railing and wiped seawater from her face.

Then she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, drawing in the familiar scent of the ocean.

A smile spread across her face before she could stop it.

Strictly speaking, they hadn't been away all that long, yet returning still gave her the strange feeling that an entire lifetime had passed.

The Arrancar who had come with them were even more overwhelmed.

They stared across the seemingly endless ocean in stunned silence.

Nothing remotely like this had existed in the world they came from.

"Let's go."

Cyrus looked across the sea.

"First we'll let everyone know we're back, then we'll see what happened while we were gone."

He raised one hand and extended his index finger.

A tiny golden point of light shot from his fingertip and streaked straight into the sky, leaving a thin golden trail behind it.

Once it reached an enormous height, the light suddenly expanded and transformed into a massive golden fireball.

In an instant, a second golden sun appeared in the heavens.

The entire world seemed to brighten.

Countless people looked up in astonishment at the newly appeared sun, and the same thought surfaced almost simultaneously in minds across the seas.

'He's back.'

…

In the New World, a massive ship cut steadily through the waves.

Whitebeard, looking far healthier than before, was in the middle of a banquet with his sons when he suddenly shot to his feet and looked toward the sky.

The entire celebration fell silent a moment later as everyone else noticed the golden sun overhead.

Whitebeard stared at it for a long moment.

"He's back."