Patch shoved his hands in his pockets, smirking just enough to hide the shake in his voice. "I've watched him every day. Donut wasn't just… playing peasant. He was breaking his back on those ships, selling every bolt and hull he built, so we could eat. He didn't spend a single coin on himself."
Patch looked at the King now, his street-born sharpness clashing with royal weight. "He wasn't hiding, he was surviving with us."
Donut finally looked up, and there were tears streaming down his face. Not from fear this time... from something more complicated. Relief? Shame? A mixture of both?
"I'm sorry," he said, and it wasn't clear who he was talking to. His father? The guards? The kingdom he'd abandoned? "I'm sorry, I just... I couldn't... the pressure, the expectations... I wasn't strong enough---"
"You have a Manifest Stage Soul Anchor! You awakened it at age twelve! You were the youngest Admiral candidate in three generations!" The King's voice cracked like a whip, and for the first time, emotion bled through his regal composure.
"And I couldn't control it!" Donut's shout made the building shake, literally shake, his Admiral Force leaking out in waves of barely suppressed power. "I hurt people, Father! Every time I swung Mountain's Grief, something went wrong! The fissure at the Academy wasn't the first incident, it was just the worst one! I was terrified I'd kill someone!"
The King's jaw tightened. "So you ran... you abandoned your responsibilities, your people, your birthright---"
"I abandoned a throne I never wanted!" Donut was standing now, all seven feet of him, and despite his tears, despite his trembling, there was something new in his voice. Something that hadn't been there before Lone Einstein had crashed into his life. "I never asked to be born a prince! Never asked for this power! I just wanted... I just wanted to be---"
"What?" The King stepped closer, and the temperature seemed to drop. "What did you want, my son?"
"I wanted to be brave enough to choose my own path."
The silence that followed could have smothered stars.
Then Lone stood up.
He walked past the royal guards, who tensed but didn't stop him, past Reina whose hand went to her fallen sword, past the King himself, whose eyes widened fractionally, and stood next to Donut.
He barely came up to the giant's elbow.
"Hey," Lone said, looking up at his first fleet member with that frighteningly empty smile. "You chose your path already, remember? You chose to join my fleet. You chose to be brave."
Donut looked down at him, this impossible boy who'd defended him without hesitation, who'd seen all his weakness and fear and decided it didn't matter.
"I... I did, didn't I, Captain?"
"Yep!" Lone turned to face the King, and despite the difference in their stations, despite the twelve elite guards, despite the sheer overwhelming presence of royalty, he met the King's eyes without flinching. "Sorry, old man, but Donut's part of my fleet now. He's gonna help me reach Layer Zero and throw the biggest party in history!"
The King stared at this scrawny, tattered, impossibly cheerful child.
Reina had her sword again. "Your Majesty, give the word and I'll---"
"You'll do nothing." The King raised a hand, and Reina froze. His eyes never left Lone. "You're the one who defeated Hotdog's crew. The Uncrowned Admiral who fell through seven layers without dying."
"Oh, you heard about that?" Lone scratched his head. "Yeah, that was really scary. But the Rift spat me out so it worked out!"
"You made my son smile."
The statement hung in the air.
Lone blinked. "Well... yeah? Smiling's good. Why wouldn't I make him smile?"
"Because no one has made him smile since he was born." The King's voice was soft now, so soft the guards had to strain to hear it. "Not his tutors, not his physicians, not his friends from the Academy... not even me." He looked at Donut, and for just a moment, the King's mask cracked, revealing a father who'd lost his son long before he'd disappeared. "I have spent three years searching every layer, every floating island, every merchant vessel and pirate haven. Spent the kingdom's resources, called in every favor, threatened every information broker from here to Layer 8,000."
He turned back to Lone.
"And you found him eating noodles in a restaurant."
Lone's face split into a grin. "The noodles here are really good! You should try some! Donut's paying, oh wait---" He paused, the gears in his head turning. "Wait. If Donut's a prince, and princes have money, and he's been paying for everything..." His eyes went comically wide. "That's why you had so much money!"
"We established that already!" Patch screamed.
"But I just got it!" Lone looked absolutely delighted by this revelation, as if he'd solved a grand mystery. "Man, having a prince in my fleet is super convenient! We can buy so many snacks!"
Donut made a sound between a laugh and a sob. "That's... that's what you're concerned about? Snacks?"
"Snacks are important!" Lone said seriously. "Can't reach Layer Zero on an empty stomach!"
The King watched this exchange, watched his son, his terrified, broken, lost son... actually laugh. Watched the way Donut's posture straightened slightly when near this strange boy. Watched how Mountain's Grief pulsed with something that almost felt like... contentment.
He made a decision.
"Reina," the King said quietly.
"Yes, Your Majesty?"
"Sheathe your sword."
"Your Majesty, with respect, the Crown Prince---"
"Is exactly where he needs to be."
The restaurant exploded into chaos.
"Your Majesty, you can't---" Reina started.
"The Succession---" Another guard began.
"The Kingdom Needs—" A third protested.
"SILENCE." The King's Admiral Force flared, just for a moment, and everyone... guards, patrons, even Tamura felt the weight of a man who'd climbed to Layer 7,000. Who'd earned his crown not through birth but through sheer, terrible strength.
The silence was instantaneous.
"My son," the King said, turning to Donut, "made a choice. Perhaps not the choice I would have wanted, perhaps not the choice the kingdom needs. But it was his choice." He approached Donut, reached up---he had to reach up, his son was so much taller, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "And I have spent three years realizing that I failed you. Not because you ran, but because I never asked what you wanted. I only told you what you should want."
Donut's tears fell freely now. "Father, I---"
"You don't have to apologize." The King's voice was rough with emotion he'd suppressed for too long. "But answer me this, are you happy?"
Donut looked at Lone, who was watching with unusual seriousness. Looked at Patch, who'd stopped panicking and was listening intently. Looked at the restaurant, where he'd been accepted not as a prince but as just... Donut.
"I'm terrified," he said honestly. "I'm still scared of my power. Still scared of failing. But for the first time in years... I want to try. I want to see where this path leads."
"Then that's enough." The King squeezed his son's shoulder once, then stepped back. He turned to Lone, and this time, he bowed... just slightly. "Lone Einstein. I entrust my son to your care."
Lone saluted, completely wrong, his hand at the wrong angle and position. "I'll take good care of him, Old Man! We're gonna reach Layer Zero together!"
"See that you do." The King straightened. "However, I have conditions."
"Oh?" Lone tilted his head. "What kind of conditions?"
"First, you will accept a royal communication device. Donut will report his safety once per week, or I will hunt you down personally."
"That's fair!" Lone nodded agreeably.
"Second, you will accept a fleet stipend. If my son is going to travel the layers, he'll do so with proper supplies."
"WAIT," Lone's eyes lit up like suns. "Does that mean more money for snacks?!"
"Oh ancestors help us," Patch muttered.
"Third---" The King's expression grew serious. "You will protect him. Not as a prince... but as a member of your fleet. Can you do that?"
Lone's vacant cheer vanished, replaced by that frightening clarity. "Already was gonna do that, he's my fleet member. I protect my fleet."
Their eyes met, the King who'd climbed through countless layers and sacrificed everything for duty, and the boy who'd fallen through the sky chasing an impossible dream.
The King nodded slowly. "Then we have an accord."
He turned to his guards. "We're leaving. Reina, you'll deliver the communication device and stipend by tomorrow."
"But Your Majesty---"
"That's an order."
Reina saluted, though her expression said she thought everyone involved had lost their minds.
The King's light platform reformed beneath his feet. He began to ascend, his honor guard following, but before he passed through the ceiling, he looked back one last time.
"Donut," he called down.
"Yes, Father?"
"Make me proud. Not as a prince... as yourself."
Donut's smile could have lit the entire layer. "I will. I promise."
The King rose through the ceiling, his honor guard following like a constellation of disciplined stars. The wooden beams and tiles folded back into place with the same geometric precision they'd opened with, sealing away the sky.
The restaurant remained silent for exactly five seconds.
Then it exploded into the loudest celebration Layer 7,841 had ever witnessed.
Tamura emerged from her kitchen with a bottle of wine that looked older than most of the patrons, shouting about how a prince had eaten at her restaurant. Other diners were laughing, crying, toasting, someone started playing a fiddle that materialized from nowhere. Patch had his head in his hands, muttering about how his life had become insane in the span of a single meal.
And Lone Einstein?
He had already sat back down and was inhaling bowl number thirty-seven.
"Captain," Donut said, still wiping tears from his face, "did you... did you understand what just happened?"
"Yep!" Lone said through noodles. "Your dad visited, gave us money for snacks, and said you can stay in my fleet!"
"That's..." Donut laughed, the sound wet and genuine and free. "That's actually a perfect summary."
"Also," Lone swallowed, then fixed Donut with a serious look. "You're still just Donut to me. Prince Donut sounds weird. Just... Donut. Okay?"
The simplicity of it, the absolute, straightforward acceptance... nearly broke Donut all over again.
"Okay," he whispered. "Much better."
"Perfect!" Lone raised his bowl. "To the fleet! To Donut who's secretly rich! To Patch who's gonna map everything! And to me, who's gonna be the God Admiral!"
"TO THE FLEET!" The restaurant roared.
Patch finally looked up from his hands, a grin spreading across his face. "You know what? Sure, why not. I've already lost my mind, might as well lose it completely. Count me in."
"YEAH!" Lone cheered. "Okay, so tomorrow we head to the next Rift! Donut, can you carry supplies? You're really strong!"
"I... yes?"
"And Patch, you scout ahead and make sure we're not falling into any traps!"
"That's actually reasonable tactical planning," Patch said, sounding surprised.