Chapter 376: Timeline Correction?
Senzu Beans were genuinely invaluable to the chat group. Going forward, in any group quest that turned into a war of attrition, everyone could just carry a dozen or so beans in their pocket at all times.
Stamina running low? Badly wounded? Pop a bean, and boom — HP full, MP full, instantly.
Enemies who saw that happen would probably want to give up on the spot.
A dozen Senzu Beans in one person's pocket meant that person could realistically fight a months-long war of attrition without ever missing a beat.
Ryū himself, after all, could already go a straight fifteen days of nonstop combat without eating a single bean. Give him one, and that stretched to a full month. Three or four, and he was looking at over two months of continuous fighting.
Enemies faced with that would probably despair on the spot — the kind of reaction where you just want to turn tail and run, muttering something about hacks under your breath.
Handing the Senzu seeds over to Yukari to cultivate had turned out to be exactly the right call. Gensokyo had no shortage of spiritual energy to begin with, and Yukari's own knowledge base ran unbelievably deep.
A youkai sage who'd lived several thousand years — who could say what she'd picked up along the way? Growing a batch of Senzu Beans was apparently well within her wheelhouse.
She'd had help besides — her two shikigami, plus Sakura, who'd been staying in Gensokyo and could step in to look after the beans whenever Yukari was away.
During the whole Void Beast operation in the Naruto world, for instance, it had been Sakura, Ran, and Chen handling the beans in Yukari's absence.
And, against all odds, they'd done a genuinely excellent job of it — a 95% germination rate on the seeds.
If Korin ever found out about that number, he'd probably choke on his own blood. The man had spent centuries trying to improve Senzu Bean yields with only marginal success.
Meanwhile, the Dimensional Chat Group had just needed one wish granted by Shenron to multiply the germination rate several times over.
Given that, the actual yield down the line was bound to be enormous.
Not that the group had any intention of keeping the cultivation method secret from Korin, either — he'd generously handed over a hundred-plus beans to them, after all, and had once taught Master Roshi personally. In a sense, Korin counted as something like a friend of the group by now.
Sharing the method with him cost the group nothing, and it might even expand the total growing operation, pushing overall Senzu Bean production even higher.
Kaguya-sama: It's kind of hitting me now — is there anything Yukari-nee can't do? Magic, healing, chess, and she's apparently great at video games too.
Kaguya-sama: Basically a walking jack-of-all-trades. That's probably what "top-tier" actually means. When do I get to be as impressive as Yukari-nee?
Terrible Tornado: Once you're as impressive as Yukari-senpai, little Kaguya, you can just go make a move on Admin-sama directly. Lovely.
My True Form Is Cola: Wait, whoa, is that actually Kaguya-senpai's plan this whole time? Though... thinking about it, that does track.
Crazy Diamond: Why is Admin-sama this popular with the girls, seriously. If this were a light novel, Admin-sama would 100% be the villain.
RawrSoFierce: ...Hold on, why would I be the villain in that scenario?
Crazy Diamond: Because only the villain gets away with flouting the law and collecting a whole harem for himself.
Crazy Diamond: The protagonist's usually some useless shut-in type — sure, he racks up plenty of admirers off sheer "gentleness" alone, but by the endgame he always finds some excuse to turn every single one of them down.
Edward Newgate: Josuke, you've been reading way too many of those useless-shut-in-protagonist light novels from Japan, haven't you.
My True Form Is Cola: Wait, old man Whitebeard reads Japanese light novels too?
Edward Newgate: Gurararara, dabbled a little, that's all — need something to fill the time when I'm bored and not in the mood to hit the Arena.
Edward Newgate: Borrowed a whole stack from Eriri kid a while back — only made it through a third of them so far. Two-thirds still to go.
Senbei Is So Tasty: Never thought I'd see the legendary Whitebeard reduced to a home-bound light novel enthusiast.
Edward Newgate: Gurararara! Life on the sea's a young man's game these days — an old man like me just keeps up with the Dimensional Chat Group instead.
Senbei Is So Tasty: Fair enough, honestly... makes me want to hand in my resignation and retire on the spot.
Senbei Is So Tasty: Can't find a decent excuse to do it, though, and with all three Admirals being problem children in their own right, I've got no idea who I'd even hand the whole mess over to.
Admiral Kizaru: Objection, Sengoku-san — only two of the Admirals are problem children. I'm the normal one!
Edward Newgate: Gurararara, out of the entire Marine HQ, you're the single biggest slacker I've ever laid eyes on.
Admiral Kizaru: Ahem... let's keep this between us, shall we. Some things are better left unsaid.
My True Form Is Cola: Kizaru-ojisan used to be part of the group's own salted-fish crowd — expecting him to be "normal" was never on the table to begin with.
Senbei Is So Tasty: Borsalino, you claiming to be normal, not a problem child — does that mean you're volunteering to inherit my job?
Admiral Kizaru: Eh?? Wait, no — no no no! Scratch that, I take it back, I am absolutely a problem child!
RawrSoFierce: Pfft... that walk-back speed rivals Yukari's.
"..."
Fair enough, honestly — expecting Kizaru to shape up and take over Marine HQ made about as much sense as hoping either of the other two Admirals would do it instead.
Given how thoroughly Kizaru phoned it in, if he ever actually became Fleet Admiral, the entire Marines would probably be a disaster within six months.
Come to think of it, if Sengoku actually did step down, wouldn't that set off another Kuzan-versus-Sakazuki clash — and cost Kuzan another leg in the process?
Not out of the question, either. Of the three Admirals, Sengoku would obviously rule Kizaru out as a candidate for the top job entirely.
That left just Kuzan and Sakazuki. Sengoku would probably back Kuzan, the World Government would probably back Sakazuki, and the two of them would likely settle the matter with a fight — same as canon.
Was that some kind of timeline correcting itself?
Hmm... though Ryū figured, honestly, that at this point the One Piece world's trajectory had drifted too far to ever really snap back into place.
Blackbeard was already dead. Sengoku, Whitebeard, and Kizaru were all chat-group members now.
Which meant a whole slate of the story's most iconic beats were simply off the table for good.
The Battle of Marineford — Marine HQ versus the Whitebeard Pirates — was never going to happen. Not a chance. So whatever "correction" the timeline was supposedly attempting, it wasn't going to matter much in the end.
☆☆☆
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