Everyone stared at the collapsed Garp on the ground but, in a rare moment of collective understanding, not one person stepped forward to help him up. Instead, they subtly shifted away from him, each pretending not to know the idiot.
Rimuru sipped his drink, unfazed. This kind of peaceful afternoon wasn't something to waste just because of one fool.
Unfortunately, life rarely goes as planned.
Shion, who had been standing nearby watching the group lounging by the poolside, sighed and walked straight over to Rimuru.
"Lord Rimuru, as a king, it's not quite right to delegate all your responsibilities to your subordinates," Shion said with exasperation as she plucked the sunglasses off Rimuru's face. "And as for the rest of you—your world was just recently liberated. Aren't you all a little too free now?"
"Well, with people like you around, I can relax, can't I?" Rimuru replied with an awkward yet polite smile.
Shion shook her head and scooped Rimuru up into her arms, plopping down on a lounge chair and rubbing him vigorously.
"Speaking of which, have you all finished your work?" Rimuru asked, eyes squinting in relaxation. He didn't resist her kneading hands—he'd gotten used to this kind of treatment from Shion over time, and Shuna was the same way.
"Mhm, not much left to do," Shion said, still enjoying the moment. "This country is just too peaceful. There's nothing for us to worry about."
"Really?" Rimuru looked pleased. After all, this was his kingdom. A harmonious nation was something to be proud of.
"Oh right, there's one more thing I wanted to tell you all," Rimuru said as he squirmed out of Shion's arms and stood up. "I recently changed the recruitment method for the guild."
"Huh? Recruitment?" everyone looked puzzled.
"Yup, here's how it works." Rimuru pushed up his imaginary glasses, putting on a serious face. "The Gate of Worlds requires a coordinate to travel between dimensions. Automatically locating coordinates takes a lot of time and energy. So, I decided to scatter a bunch of guild invitation cards into the dimensional rift. Anyone who finds one and meets the criteria will become a guild member. Once they join, we can extract the coordinate of their world from them and use the Gate of Worlds to travel there. Pretty smart, huh?"
"Oh, that's actually a clever system," Shion praised.
"But wait, what if someone gets an invitation card but doesn't meet the entry standards—and just hides the card instead?" came a familiar, overly critical voice.
It was Garp, who had somehow gotten back up. As the undisputed king of contrarian nitpicking for over fifty years, his objections were annoyingly on point and hard to refute.
Everyone: "...…" (－_－||)
Rimuru shot him a fierce glare but chose to ignore him. "Anyway, there's one more thing I need to announce. I've decided to build a guild headquarters. It'll make it easier for us to organize events and meetings, and help with day-to-day communication. What do you think?"
"Yeah, we definitely need a gathering spot," Shion agreed.
"For sure," Sengoku nodded. "It's not ideal to always hang out at Rimuru's place."
"I agree," Whitebeard chimed in seriously. "Rimuru's house is a bit small. Like, take this pool for instance—barely enough for dipping your feet, let alone swimming."
Are you and Garp long-lost brothers or something?
"So, where are you planning to build it?" Roger asked.
"Heheheh," Rimuru said smugly, "I've already decided. Right over there." He pointed toward the distance.
Everyone turned to follow his finger.
In the very center of the city stood a colossal ancient tree, thousands of meters tall. Its massive, vibrant canopy covered the city in shade and radiated life.
"Oh!" Roger's eyes gleamed. "Now that's a good spot. Building our HQ on top of the Tree of Life? Smart move."
The Tree of Life—something Rimuru had once won in a lottery—possessed near-limitless life energy. Those living beneath it were constantly nourished, growing stronger, immune to diseases and curses. If even its base was this powerful, one could only imagine the intense life force at its crown—perhaps even enough to form Liquid Life itself!
"As expected of Lord Rimuru," Shion said with admiration. "So, when do we start construction?"
"We'll wait a few more days," Rimuru said mysteriously. "There's still a small matter I need to take care of first. Once I'm done, we'll build it together."
"What kind of matter?" Shion asked curiously.
"Secret~" Rimuru said with a mischievous smile.
Just then, a system voice echoed in their ears.
"Ding-dong… Mission: Let Freedom Ring Across the Seas — Completed. Rewards are now being distributed."
"Oh, it's finally done!" Sengoku and the others were visibly excited. Their world had undergone a complete transformation, and they were truly happy with the results.
"Wow, Sengoku, check it out—I got… 500 crystals?" Garp frowned. "Did I miss a zero?" He looked again, multiple times. Nope—just 500.
"Be grateful," Sengoku said with a sigh. "We were part of the old World Government. If we hadn't turned things around and rebuilt the Navy, we wouldn't have even gotten that."
"Roger, how many did you get?" Garp asked, gritting his teeth.
"Meh, nothing special. Just 8000. Pretty low, huh?" Roger said with a smug face, clearly provoking him.
Garp's fury reached boiling point.
At that moment, a notification rang in Rimuru's ears.
"Ding-dong… Congratulations! You have received the following rewards: 40,000 Crystals, 1x Ultimate Enhanced Devil Fruit, and 1x Lucky Grand Draw."
"Ultimate Enhanced, huh? Sounds interesting," Rimuru said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He tapped open the reward menu.
"Congratulations! You have obtained the Devil Fruit: Space-Space Fruit (Ultimate Enhanced Version)."
"Lucky Draw Result: Origin Flame."