"I know—" Yukiko nodded as she answered Ren, her gaze drifting toward the ship. But the next second, she froze in place, her body turning to stone as if she had been petrified, her sentence left unfinished.
"T, this is… a b, baby?" Yukiko's eyes widened, and she could barely speak coherently.
What lay before her was a woman with very long ears, holding a tiny baby in her arms. The baby's earlobes were also long.
"T, this can't be… can it be Ren-danna's child?" Yukiko said in a daze, feeling as if her heart had been dealt a massive blow.
It had only been a little over two months. How could her Ren-danna already have a child?
And the child's mother was neither Yuriko nor Molly, but a woman she didn't know at all.
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Ren couldn't resist reaching out and tapping her head.
Where was she supposed to get a child in just two months?
"Miss Yukiko, this isn't Ren-danna's child," Yuriko said with a smile. "This child's name is Enel. Ren-danna found him on the Sky Island. He believes the child has great potential, so he plans to bring him back and raise him."
Yuriko skipped over the subject of Enel's mother, after all, bringing her back was just an afterthought.
Only then did Yukiko breathe a sigh of relief. "That's a relief."
To suddenly bring back a child like that was a terrifying thought. However, looking at the woman holding the child, who seemed a bit awkward, Yukiko couldn't help but picture what it would be like if she and Ren had a child in the future.
"Would it be a boy or a girl? If it's a boy, what would be a good name for him?" Ren: ...
"Stop your wild thoughts." Ren cut off her muttering.
After all this time, Yukiko still had this habit of losing herself in thought when she was with him. However, Ren had no plans to have children for the time being.
"Yukiko, I'm going back to rest for a bit. Has anything happened during this time?" Ren pinched the bridge of his nose; he was still a bit tired.
Amaterasu appeared beneath his feet, lifting everyone present into the sky. Compared to an island, this many people was almost no drain on him.
"Yes! I've had them prepare a meal and hot water. Or would Ren-danna prefer the hot spring?" Yukiko asked quickly.
"Let's go to the hot spring." Ren thought for a moment and decided to soak in the hot spring to relieve his physical fatigue.
"I'll have the servants bring the prepared food to the hot spring right away." Yukiko quickly took out her conch to contact the main estate and gave all the necessary orders.
Then, Ren sat on the cloud and closed his eyes to rest. Although his eyes were closed, he could still sense his direction perfectly.
Seeing that Ren intended to rest, Yuriko主动 walked over, knelt beside him, and gently lifted his head a little, placing it in her lap.
Taking the opportunity, Yukiko sat down next to her little admirer, Molly, and asked about the things that had happened to them during this time.
"Molly, tell me everything you saw on this trip! Ren-danna must have done so many incredible things, right?" Yukiko lowered her voice, her eyes sparkling.
She even took out paper and pen, planning to write down everything Molly said.
She had regretted not being able to go to sea with Ren for a long time, and now she desperately wanted to know about Molly's experiences overseas. Just now, Yuriko had mentioned the Sky Island.
Could it be that islands floating in the sky actually existed?
If they did, how did they stay up in the air? It couldn't be that there was someone under every single island holding it up, right?
Not everyone could accomplish something as great as Ren-danna.
Molly was also very enthusiastic and began telling her story vividly. However, she wasn't a very good storyteller and started from the very beginning, including how she had run to the coast first and waited for a long time for Ren and her mother, Yuriko, to arrive.
"And Mom smelled weird and was sweating a lot. Honestly, Mom's body is too weak. She was actually sitting in the sky flying and still sweating!" Molly said.
Yukiko's face flushed as she turned to look at Yuriko, who was sitting on the cloud. She clearly saw Yuriko's body tremble slightly upon hearing Molly's words.
'Silly Molly.' Yukiko couldn't help but shake her head. Molly was really clueless in that regard.
It wasn't the first time, yet she still couldn't even catch her mother sneaking a snack.
Skipping that topic, Yukiko had Molly continue, picking out the most exciting parts to write down. This included using Conqueror's Haki to instantly knock all the pirates unconscious, the wondrous sights of the Sky Island, the four-hundred-year promise between the Shandians and Noland, and their four-hundred-year war with the Sky People.
These were all incredibly romantic.
And Ren's personal exploits were described by Yukiko in the most vivid detail. A casual strike that killed the giant Snake God, a single glance that routed a thousand soldiers, lighting the lamps of Shandora, and the mythical Floating Island!
"So amazing, so there's such a thing as an Island Cloud? Isn't that just like Ren-danna's Amaterasu?" Yukiko said in amazement.
"The world overseas is so vast!"
"That's right, that's right!" Molly quickly nodded, then said expectantly, "Ren-danna said this is only a tiny fraction of the world's countless sights. There are so many more sights and strange people we haven't seen yet!"
"I'd love to go see it too," Yukiko sighed.
Molly reached out and hugged her, saying cheerfully, "Come with us next time!"
Yukiko nodded, then pushed her away and leaned over the cloud to start polishing what Molly had said. She wrote so vividly, as if she had been there to witness it all.
Molly also curiously looked over, and upon seeing the content, she instantly became unhappy.
"Why are there only things about Ren-danna instantly killing the giant snake and the Sky Island people? What about me? What about my heroic battle against the 'God' of the Sky Island? My glorious feats as the beautiful and powerful warrior Molly!" Molly demanded, her eyes wide.
She couldn't believe she had told Snow so much, her throat even getting dry, and yet this woman had deleted all of her contributions.
"This is the biography I'm writing for Ren-danna, of course your part is just a passing mention, Molly." Yukiko cleared her throat twice to hide her embarrassment.
"This is not a passing mention! You didn't even mention me at all!" Molly pouted.
She felt that the Yukiko sister she had once admired the most had changed.
"Yukiko sister, you're too much! How could you do this!" Molly questioned loudly.
Her battle with Gan Fall was a brilliant performance, and yet Yukiko didn't even mention it, which made her furious.
"Quiet down, don't disturb Ren-danna's rest!" Yukiko quickly jumped up and covered her mouth.
Although Molly was instantly subdued by Yukiko, she still stubbornly glared at her with her eyes.
"Alright, alright, I'll add you in." Yukiko conceded.
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