“I shall go to my death.”

The words Roy heard Rocks speak in Linlin’s memory seemed to become ever clearer to him now.

He did not know exactly what the overlord of a bygone era experienced in his final moments.

But he could almost be certain now.

At the end of his life, Rocks entered the Room of Flowers, and there… swung his sword at the God of this world.

Just as those who knew him understood—he did not choose to walk peacefully into death, but instead committed an act that could only be called rebellious.

But the question was…

“What exactly did he do?”

Simply finding Imu before dying to vent the anger in his heart?

“No…”

Roy quickly dismissed this guess—if it was just for that, based on what he currently knew of Rocks’ personality, he wouldn’t have tried to drag Whitebeard along with him.

“Since he chose to involve Whitebeard, and even invited Linlin and Kaido, it means he had a reason that compelled him to perform this final dance.”

“He must have accomplished a goal in the Room of Flowers… a very important goal!”

Thinking of this, Star Lord turned his head to look at Whitebeard.

“Did he say what he was going to do in the Room of Flowers?”

“The Room of Flowers?”

Hearing this, Whitebeard raised an eyebrow instead—he knew quite a few of the world’s secrets, but he truly didn’t know of the Room of Flowers’ existence.

“Mm… it’s the divine domain of ‘Imu’. He is that ‘monster’ that appeared at God Valley!”

Star Lord calmly revealed this sea-shaking news—by now, he no longer needed to hide anything in this regard.

“Imu…”

Whitebeard was clearly hearing this name for the first time as well: “To think that kind of monster actually has a human name…”

He smiled and said this, but then proceeded to answer Roy’s question.

“He didn’t say where he was going. He only said he was going to his death, to add another layer of weight to the ‘World’s’ shackles.”

“He asked this old man to tell you his ending, and revealed nothing beyond that.”

“This old man even thought for a time that the guy might still be alive, and kept watch over the vicinity of the Red Line for a period afterward…”

Speaking of this, Whitebeard’s words sounded almost like sleep-talking.

Yes.

Just like Golden Lion Shiki refusing to believe Roger would be caught, forcibly invading Marine Headquarters.

For guys like Roger and Rocks, people would always hold out hope.

Even in the greatest crisis, they might just survive.

Even facing the most terrifying enemy, they might just win.

But…

“He died.”

Whitebeard calmly stated this fact.

“His fruit ability has already reappeared in the world—eight years ago, a pirate named Diez Barrels obtained that fruit.”

A Devil Fruit reappearing in the world meant the death of its original user.

Only in this way would the ‘wish’ symbolized by that fruit return to the world’s cycle.

This was the iron law of this sea.

And hearing this, Star Lord remained silent.

But beneath the mask, Roy’s eyes held some doubt.

Diez Barrels?

He felt like he had heard this name somewhere before.

A moment later, it clicked.

Diez Barrels—he had seen the man in the Marines’ intelligence files.

A former Marine Rear Admiral who betrayed the Marines after brutally murdering commoners and attempting to silence his colleagues.

Of course, this wasn’t the crucial point.

The crucial point was that this man… if he remembered correctly, was also a key character in a certain plotline from the original story.

It was he who found that most expensive fruit in the entire world, which was ultimately eaten by Trafalgar Law, one of the Supernovas of this era.

“The Op-Op Fruit?”

Roy asked in a low voice.

“Mm.”

Whitebeard nodded calmly.

Thus, Roy finally confirmed the fact.

Rocks was the user of the Op-Op Fruit.

“That makes sense…”

And after fitting this piece into place, Roy immediately found that it all checked out.

Looking at Sky Island, the Abyss, and the Gates of Justice in the original story, Rocks’ slashes could cause exaggerated cutting effects.

And coincidentally, after a user of the Op-Op Fruit deploys their ‘ROOM’, they can easily slice open everything inside the operating room—in the original story, after Law awakened his fruit, he could even casually slice through Sea Prism Stone and Big Mom’s ‘Iron Balloon’. Slicing open the Gates of Justice and even the entire Abyss would naturally be no problem either!

Besides that, the user of the Op-Op Fruit can swap the positions of objects within the operating room at will, achieving an effect similar to teleportation.

This also perfectly matched the exaggerated mobility Roy had witnessed from Rocks on the Abyss.

“He was the user of the Op-Op Fruit, and must have developed the ability to its absolute limit—his ‘Operating Room’ was most likely large enough to expand across a vast distance, which is why he could complete teleportation over such a range in an instant!”

Of course, these things themselves weren’t the most crucial part.

What was truly the most important was the Op-Op Fruit itself.

“There is a high probability that Queen Lily’s fruit was also the Op-Op Fruit, and Rocks was its next user…”

Roy didn’t know if this was a fated coincidence, or if Rocks had done it intentionally.

But clearly.

“He said he was going to add another layer of weight to the world’s ‘shackles’—just like Queen Lily.”

“He most likely went and did something similar to what Queen Lily did, or at least through the same fruit ability, made the ‘shackles’ she left on Imu even more solid.”

Thinking of this, an inexplicable emotion arose in Roy’s heart.

Davy Jones fell in the mist, Joy Boy died on the final island, Queen Lily left a cenotaph, and Rocks drank a farewell wine.

Generation after generation, one after another, the heroes of the sea stepped forward to take the place of those who fell, allowing the hope of this world to endure until today.

“…Thank you for telling me all this.”

At this moment, Star Lord spoke calmly.

Whitebeard shook his head: “It’s just an ‘agreement’ with that guy.”

Saying this, a trace of complexity flashed in Whitebeard’s eyes.

He could tell that Star Lord clearly had certain guesses regarding the things he had shared.

But just as he told Rocks in the past, Whitebeard had no intention of asking.

After fulfilling his agreement with Rocks and informing Roy of his ending, he smoothly shifted the topic: “Besides that… this old man also wants to talk to you about Teach.”

Roy wasn’t actually surprised.

He had long guessed that Whitebeard would bring up Teach.

“Are you referring to the fact that he is Rocks’ son?”

So at this moment, Star Lord also spoke directly.

“…So you did know.”

Hearing this, Whitebeard’s expression turned serious.

But immediately after, he nodded, casually picked up his wine cup, took another sip, and exhaled a breath heavy with alcohol: “This old man met him at the port of the Lulusia Kingdom—he said he wanted to become a pirate.”

Whitebeard said this, and the scene from that time resurfaced in his mind.

“Please, I have nowhere else to go!”

“My mother is missing, and my two younger sisters have both been killed—you know my bloodline, it is a forbidden bloodline… I want to inherit my father’s ambition!”

“No matter what, I must become a pirate. Please let me join!”

The Blackbeard of that time pleaded like this, like a sorrowful child who had lost every last relative.

But…

“Thinking about it now, perhaps this old man was deceived.”

Thus, Whitebeard closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he looked at Star Lord once more.

“Rocks told this old man—after he survived God Valley, he went back to the Lulusia Kingdom once… That is Alice’s hometown, and also the place Rocks agreed to meet her.”

“That was also the ‘starting point’ of him fulfilling his agreement with you.”

As Whitebeard’s words reached this point, Roy was slightly stunned, but after thinking about it, he understood.

Up until now, he still wasn’t entirely sure what had happened at God Valley.

But now, he could locate the starting point on the ‘Rocks action route map’ in his mind.

After surviving God Valley, this great pirate first went to the Lulusia Kingdom—in that country located in the first half of the Grand Line were the wife and children he had saved from God Valley.

At the same time, Roy also realized something else.

That was…

“Rocks most likely told Alice, and even Teach, about ‘Star Lord’!”

This was almost inevitable—there was no reason for Rocks to hide his decision from his wife and children.

One had to consider: even after Roy had investigated for so long, there were actually not many people who clearly knew of Star Lord’s existence over these thirty years—Whitebeard knew, Roger knew through Whitebeard, and Imu and the World Government knew.

But now, it was highly likely that another name would be added to this list.

That was Marshall D. Teach.

And in fact…

“This old man feels that Rocks most likely told Teach about you.”

Whitebeard at this moment also reached a conclusion similar to Roy’s.

Back then, toward his old friend’s son, Whitebeard couldn’t harden his heart.

Out of consideration for his bond with Rocks, he allowed Teach to bear the name ‘Whitebeard’.

And over these past years, Teach’s behavior had always been simple and honest, his identity as Rocks’ son kept hidden.

But…

“This old man could tell he had ambition—this old man originally thought he had most likely inherited that guy Rocks’ will…”

Whitebeard spoke frankly.

It was Roy who was somewhat surprised instead.

He had originally thought Whitebeard was truly kept completely in the dark by Blackbeard.

But looking at it now, that was clearly not the case—the experienced and perceptive Whitebeard had long seen through Teach’s deeply hidden ambition.

He had merely thought it was a natural manifestation of being Rocks’ son.

Until not long ago.

“Teach ‘died’.”

Whitebeard twitched the corner of his mouth, his eyes turning cold: “He blew up the ship going to collect supplies, and personally killed several ‘family members’.”

Just as mentioned before.

Everyone in the Whitebeard Pirates was family to each other.

Even ordinary crew members on a supply ship responsible for purchasing materials were members of the Whitebeard Pirates.

It wasn’t until Marco brought back this news that Whitebeard finally realized.

“Teach indeed inherited Rocks’ ambition, but he is not his father!”

Whitebeard said in a deep voice.

Just like the Rocks Pirates of the past.

Rocks had an ambition known to the world, and was willing to use any means necessary and conceal his identity for that ambition.

But attacking friends and comrades, breaking promises—that man wouldn’t have done such things even if it killed him.

Teach was different.

“Rocks mentioned to this old man the curse borne by the Davy clan.”

“From their cursed bloodline, strong ones and ambitious schemers will always be born—because the Davy clan is ‘hope’, and also ‘original sin’.”

“And Teach—that guy might be a ‘Davy’, but he is not a ‘D’!”

As Whitebeard’s words reached this point, Roy’s eyes were razor-sharp.

He had long known of the Davy clan’s specialness.

But in this conversation with Whitebeard, he gradually became even more aware—this specialness might not just be symbolic, but possessed a truly tangible ‘meaning’.

“Davy Jones had an ‘agreement’ with Imu.”

“He was the first person to help Imu, and also the last person to resist Imu—so the Davy clan is indeed ‘hope’ and also ‘original sin’.”

And the current Roy naturally understood.

To the ‘Imu’ of the past, whose power was at its peak, the special significance Davy Jones held for Him was in itself enough to become power—each of the initial twenty kings received a unique ‘contract’ bestowed by Imu, so what Davy Jones obtained could certainly only be greater!

And these things, which were both power and curse, were most likely hidden within the Davy bloodline.

So whether it was Rocks or Teach, as Davys, they were both extremely powerful and outstanding.

But the difference was… Rocks was a ‘D’, the ‘Davy’ who chose to resist the world.

And Teach was not a ‘D’, but that very first kind of ‘Davy’—an ambitious schemer.

So…

“What this old man wants to tell you is, if you and your subordinates encounter Teach…”

At this moment, Whitebeard looked at Star Lord.

“Stay vigilant. He is a dangerous man.”

☆☆☆

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