Time Skip, March 16 (Note, that in the canon timeline, this is when Luffy and the others met Aokiji, but that wasn't happening in this timeline since… well, Kong and Dragon actions}
"Look who's awake." Seated in a chair, Kong calmly closed the book he was reading and looked over at Big Mom, who was slowly regaining consciousness. People in this world really did recover far faster than in Kong's past life. Big Mom had only been out for a day, and though she couldn't even move a finger, she was awake.
"Why didn't you kill me?" she asked, ignoring the pain that came with speaking. Her eyeball shifted, locking onto Kong, who had jumped up and landed on her nose. Kong wasn't short by any means, but compared to her massive size, he barely matched the span of her palm.
"Why? My dream is to overthrow the World Government. I want you to join me in that dream, and in return, I'll support yours. It's an equal trade," Kong said, making Big Mom's eyes narrow.
"You're just like Rocks," she replied, her voice laced with anger—but there was a flicker of fear in her eyes as the memory of Rocks surfaced.
"No, there's only one Kong. That Rocks guy? He's nothing like me. But now that you've brought him up… who is Rocks?" Kong asked with a smirk, watching her reaction.
"Rocks D. Zebec was a pirate who had some of the world's most notorious pirates as his crewmates, Kaido, Big Mom, Whitebeard, and many others. He defeated them all and had them to join his crew. He was the Gol D. Roger of his era, so powerful that Garp and Roger had to unite just to take him down," Zed said calmly, causing Kong to glance at him with interest.
"That's why Garp is known as the Hero of the Marines. On that day, Rocks tried to steal a treasure guarded by the World Government, and the two were forced to act. I wasn't part of that battle myself, but I can tell you this, Whitebeard wasn't the strongest back then, and he isn't the strongest now," Zed added.
Kong frowned, falling into thought for a moment, then sighed as he turned his gaze back to Big Mom.
"What is your goal? Your Conqueror's Haki hasn't faded… so you're still fighting for your dreams," Kong said, his gaze locked on Big Mom.
"I want to create a utopia… one where all races can live together in harmony," she said softly.
Kong fell silent, stunned. It was only then he realized why she had so many children from so many different races—she wasn't just building a family. She was trying to give birth to her vision of a utopia.
"You'll never make that dream come true," Kong said, unfazed by the glare Big Mom shot at him.
He continued, his tone sharp. "I did some digging into your past. You're a lot of things, but a good leader isn't one of them. You're still a child at heart—a twisted child who could kill her own and still think she's a good person. But you're not. You're ugly, fat, insane, delusional… and dumb."
His expression twisted in disgust. "You force people to marry you like you're some kind of prize."
Big Mom's eyes went cold, chillingly so.
"I don't like that look on your face. Change it," Kong said, his voice colder than before as his glare locked onto Big Mom. A hard slap followed, landing across her face with enough force to silence the room.
Instantly, her expression shifted—less like a fearsome emperor and more like a little girl who'd just been struck by her father.
"I take back what I said. I'm not asking," Kong said coldly. "From this moment on, the Big Mom Pirates are under me. Do something stupid—like weakening my new forces—and I'll kill you myself. The Big Mom Pirates don't need you anymore. They have me."
Big Mom nodded, fearfully and without a word.
'She really does have the mentality of a child… I should be strict with her,' Kong thought, smirking inwardly, though his eyes softened a moment later.
"Sleep and rest. I'll be leaving for a while," he said gently. "I need to head to Paradise and start my journey all over again. I have to locate all of the Poneglyphs—only then can I uncover more about the Void Century."
Big Mom said nothing, simply listening in silence.
"I'll have one of your children call me if you act up. I promise—if I have to come back because you're misbehaving, I'll give you the beating of a lifetime. Am I clear?" Kong asked, rising to his feet.
"Y-yes," Big Mom replied weakly. Kong said nothing else and walked out, leaving behind a stunned and speechless Zed.
"How long until she can move around?" Kong asked the doctor who had been overseeing Big Mom's condition.
"About a week," the doctor replied respectfully.
Kong nodded, deep in thought. A week was a long time, especially with pirates and Marines likely on their way, eager to find out what was going on.
Enel had created a powerful storm to shroud the island and even disrupted the island's magnetic waves to ensure no one could find it. But those measures wouldn't last forever, especially once Enel left.
Once word got out about Big Mom's condition, countless enemies would seize the opportunity to strike. So, what should Kong do? He wanted to leave, but at the same time, he needed to ensure that all of Big Mom's territory remained protected—at least until she was strong enough to defend it herself.
"We leave tomorrow. I need to get some training in," Kong said, walking off to find a quiet place.
What did he want to train? Simple—cloning. If he could create a clone that held even fifty percent of his strength, it would be more than enough to stay behind and oversee things in his absence.
He was a fast learner, and by tomorrow, he expected to have mastered the art of cloning. Hopefully, the clone would remain active even when he was thousands of miles away. For that to happen, he needed to spend every second pushing his cloning ability to its absolute limit.
So he did just that—creating dozens of clones from his own body. In theory, each one was the real Kong. There wasn't a single fake among them. With every new clone, his strength was split between them… but as he trained, that drawback began to fade.
At high speed, Kong was learning how to reduce the loss of power per clone, while also increasing how far they could operate from him without issue.
Like this, the day passed quickly, and soon, morning came.
Now, Kong stood at the center of Whole Cake Island, surrounded by hundreds of clones. Each one was focused entirely on training, pushing the limits of their shared devil fruit. Every clone carried 85% of his original strength. They could perform every technique Kong could, but at 85% output.
"Is there a limit to how many clones you can create?" Zed asked, stunned by the sea of Kongs spread across the island, all locked in training. Since the clones were made from Kong's own body, all their progress would return to him once they vanished—converted into energy and reabsorbed.
"The limit is 1,200," Kong said with a shrug. "But then again, the clones can each make 1,200 more."
He scratched his head, clearly still confused by his own devil fruit. He knew the 100x cheat was in play, but he wished he had a clear list—something that explained exactly what fruit he had eaten, and how the cheat was affecting it.
"I see…" Zed muttered, watching one of the clones thrashing in the water—well, not swimming exactly, more like trying to learn how to.
Kong suffered a 100x drawback from water compared to others, but it seemed to come with a strange benefit: the potential to one day overcome the weakness entirely. He believed it was tied to his 100x cheat—water affected him more severely, but in exchange, he could eventually nullify the weakness through training.
And with hundreds of clones all focused on that exact task… it was only a matter of time.
(A/N: When MC creates 1,200 clones, his strength drops to 85% of its original. The fewer clones he creates, the more of his original strength he keeps. For every 80 clones he created, his strength drops by 1%.
Remember, he has yet to tap into his devil fruit capability truly, he is still like Luffy. But unlike Luffy, whose devil fruit doesn't have a hybrid form, MC Devil does, plus an awakening. In this novel, Luffy Gear 5 will be its hybrid form since I believe Gear 6 is his devil fruit true awakening.}