Chapter 492 - 492: The Finale! Taking the First Step Into the Multiverse!

It took Crocodile a long time to finish reporting everything that had happened while Cyrus was away.

They hadn't actually been gone for very long, but the world had changed so drastically in that short period that problems had surfaced everywhere.

In the past, whenever something went wrong, the World Government had always been there to take the blame.

Now the World Government was gone, and it had disappeared so suddenly that all the problems it had once suppressed, redirected, or simply taken responsibility for had erupted at once.

Crocodile watched Cyrus throughout the report, but his expression barely changed.

He looked no more concerned than he had before the briefing began.

Crocodile sighed inwardly.

'As expected of the Chairman.'

Even with this mountain of problems dumped in front of him, Cyrus didn't seem bothered in the slightest.

Maybe he already had a solution.

"There's no avoiding this sort of thing."

Cyrus waved a hand.

"Change takes time. At least the foundation is there for things to improve."

"That may require the Hunter Guild to change its role somewhat."

Crocodile carefully tested the idea.

Cyrus gave him a look.

"Do you not have enough work already, or do you think you still don't have enough authority?"

Crocodile's expression stiffened before turning into a bitter smile.

"My apologies, Chairman. Old habits."

"The world doesn't belong to you, and the Hunter Guild was never meant to become another World Government."

Cyrus leaned back.

"Besides, there's already a perfectly useful organization trying to handle that kind of thing."

Crocodile immediately knew whom he meant.

The Revolutionary Army.

They had been dragged into the recent conflict along with everyone else, but that hadn't stopped them from making significant moves of their own.

"And I probably won't be staying in this world for very long."

Cyrus rose from his seat.

"What direction things take from here will depend on how well the rest of you work together. Talk to the Revolutionary Army and the Marines. Figure out who handles what and divide the responsibilities properly."

"You're leaving again?"

Crocodile's eyes widened.

"You just got back. Is it the same place as before?"

"Not this time."

Cyrus shook his head, then remembered something else Crocodile needed to know.

"There's another matter. I stabilized the passage connecting this world to the one I just visited. I need you to assign people to guard it."

Crocodile stared at him.

"You stabilized it?"

His surprise quickly turned to disbelief.

"You mean we'll be able to travel to another world whenever we want? Even us?"

"That's right."

Cyrus nodded.

"I'll also be working on a way to reach other worlds later. If everything goes well, there may eventually be more passages like this."

Crocodile was visibly shaken.

If things continued in this direction, the changes brought by access to other worlds might rival the fall of the World Government itself.

"You have time to think it through properly. Other worlds won't necessarily resemble this one at all, and their power systems may be completely different."

Cyrus paused before adding the more important reason he had established the route.

"Some of those power systems may work here as well. Send people over to experiment and learn, but keep the numbers limited."

"Understood."

Crocodile nodded heavily.

Even he couldn't suppress his curiosity now. Part of him wanted to cross over personally and see what this other world was like.

More importantly, as long as the Hunter Guild controlled access to those passages, its position would become almost impossible to shake.

Cyrus himself had issued the order, so even if other factions learned about the routes, Crocodile could simply invoke the Chairman's name.

Whether Cyrus was physically present or not, everyone else would still have to think very carefully before causing trouble.

"Go handle your work. Same as before."

Cyrus waved him away.

"As for cooperating with the Marines or anyone else, you can make those decisions yourself."

"Understood."

Crocodile turned to leave, but after taking two steps, he stopped.

"Chairman, what should we do about the pirates still operating across the seas? And the ones committing piracy while pretending to represent the Guild?"

"Handle them however they should be handled."

Cyrus answered without hesitation.

"All right."

Crocodile left.

Piracy was simply part of the environment of this world.

Completely eliminating it was nearly impossible unless technology eventually advanced to the point where authorities could reach almost any location in the world within an extremely short period of time.

With Vegapunk around, though, perhaps that future wasn't actually so far away.

Still, none of that mattered much compared with what Cyrus himself was planning.

The moment he returned to this world, he knew that his era of traveling across the multiverse was finally about to begin.

His strength could continue growing.

Of course, that also meant he would eventually encounter worlds with vastly higher ceilings than anything he had seen so far.

There were beings out there capable of destroying universes with a gesture and creating new ones afterward.

Compared with monsters like that, Cyrus's current strength was nothing extraordinary.

So he would have to choose his destinations carefully.

While considering that, Cyrus turned toward the door.

"Come in."

Zoro and Kuina entered.

Cyrus smiled and gestured for them to sit.

"Looks like you two improved quite a bit while I was away."

He hadn't watched them fight yet, but the change in their presence was already enough to tell him that much.

"We've been sailing with Master Mihawk the whole time."

Zoro answered honestly.

"We caught a lot of pirates, along with people pretending to be members of the Guild."

Cyrus smiled.

"So can you beat Mihawk now?"

Zoro's expression immediately stiffened.

"Uh… no."

He shook his head.

"You'll get there eventually."

"Definitely."

Zoro nodded with absolute seriousness.

"I'm going to become the world's greatest swordsman."

Then his enthusiasm faded a little.

"But I'll probably never catch up to you."

"Catch up to me?"

Cyrus laughed and beckoned them forward.

"Come on, then. Let me see how strong you've become. Who knows? Maybe you really will have a chance someday."

"Really?"

Kuina, who had remained quiet until then, immediately stood with an excited expression.

"Nope."

Cyrus burst out laughing at the look on her face.

"But I'll have Crocodile arrange for the two of you to visit somewhere later. You might be able to improve even further there."

He headed outside first, with Zoro and Kuina following close behind.

A moment later, Cyrus's voice carried in from outside.

"Hey, you—Enel! Keep building that Ark of yours. Who would've guessed the damn core was actually up in the sky? I'm going to need it later!"

(The End)