From Roger, Garp hadn’t managed to get any useful information. Forget obtaining any information, he had instead become the “trusted minister entrusted with a final request” by Roger.
Among all the members of the Roger Pirates, Roger had ultimately chosen to tell his rival about his wife and child. The thought left Garp extremely irritated.
If Roger’s reasoning was that they had both seen that shadow together at God Valley back then, then there were several other people he could have entrusted. Whitebeard, for example, would have been just as suitable.
If it was because of what they had witnessed at the end which was closer to the truth, such as seeing the controlled Rocks, then there was also Nereus.
Roger and Nereus weren’t particularly close, but he himself was a Marine…
Should he report this directly… or agree to Roger’s request and take care of the orphan left behind…
“What a mess…”
Garp kicked the prison gate off its hinges and then walked out of the Marine base in Loguetown with a face full of resentment.
Garp knew the prison couldn’t hold Roger. Even wearing handcuffs and without a weapon, Roger’s own strength was monstrous.
To Roger, the prison was little more than decoration. If Roger truly wanted to escape, only Garp and Sengoku could stop him.
The surrounding Marines said nothing and simply began repairing the gate in silence, looking remarkably practiced at it.
These Marines weren’t the original garrison stationed in Loguetown. They had arrived together with Garp and belonged to the recruits under his command.
Aside from Bogard, whose strength was unknown but who could somehow involve himself in battles of any level, the ordinary soldiers had practically maxed out their repair and construction skills.
Having to deal with the collateral damage caused by Garp on a regular basis, they were already veterans at such work.
They assumed Garp had gotten upset after talking to Roger and had vented his frustration by kicking down the gate.
While smashing things when angry wasn’t exactly good behavior, it was perfectly normal for Garp. Their Vice Admiral Garp would sometimes ignore a perfectly good doorway and deliberately smash through a nearby wall just to make a cool entrance.
According to him, it was more intimidating that way.
“Vice Admiral Garp too… What’s there to get angry about with a pirate who’s about to die?”
“Even so, that’s Vice Admiral Garp’s longtime rival. Maybe… he’s just not satisfied with how things ended.”
The soldiers aboard Garp’s warship had spent years helping him chase Roger. Even if most of the time they were little more than background participants, it didn’t change the fact that they had been involved.
When news of Roger’s capture arrived, Garp hadn’t been there. So in the minds of these Marines, someone else had accomplished the thing Garp had always wanted to do. It was only natural that he would be unhappy about it.
After that, Garp never visited the prison again.
Meanwhile, Loguetown began receiving important figures from all over the world.
Paradise, New World, Four Seas…
Anyone who received the news gradually made their way to Loguetown, hoping to personally witness the end of Roger, the Pirate King.
Time would not stop because someone arrived late. Even though many people couldn’t reach the town in time due to the vast distances involved, Roger’s execution day still arrived as scheduled.
Unlike the Grand Line, where seasons were determined by islands and divided into sixteen seasonal variations based on Spring Islands, Summer Islands, Autumn Islands, and Winter Islands, the climate of the Four Seas was relatively normal.
Today, however, Loguetown seemed slightly hotter than usual.
The sky was a brilliant blue, and the sunlight was dazzlingly bright, yet a stifling heat lingered over the town.
Part of it came from the weather, but another part came from the massive crowds.
In Loguetown’s central plaza, aside from the path that the Marines had isolated from the prison to the execution platform, every surrounding area was packed with ordinary people eager to watch the spectacle.
The windows of the buildings on both sides, and even the rooftops of nearby low-rise houses, were crowded with people.
The oppressive heat already made people irritable, and the packed crowds only intensified that discomfort. Minor conflicts broke out constantly, and no one knew how many fistfights had already erupted among the masses.
Most of the Marines, however, focused their attention on the direction from which Roger would soon appear. Only a small number remained to maintain order.
In most cases, a single shout was enough to stop any disturbance. Under these circumstances, the Marines really would open fire.
This sort of crowding mainly affected ordinary people. Anyone with a certain degree of strength naturally had a clear space around them that others didn’t dare approach.
Nereus himself was a perfect example.
Though he appeared to be doing nothing at all, it was as if an invisible city wall surrounded him, creating a vacant area around his position.
“Make way, make way…”
Any spot with a clear view of the execution platform had long since been occupied. Those who arrived late had no chance of squeezing in. If they wanted to get closer, all they could do was try to push their way forward little by little.
At the very least, the presence of the Marines prevented any large-scale stampede from occurring.
At the end of the street, a boy wearing a green jacket and sporting short white hair was pushing his way forward through the crowd.
His small stature actually worked to his advantage, and he ultimately managed to squeeze through the gaps between the spectators’ legs.
The boy was none other than Smoker, who had yet to join the Marines.
The rumors he had been hearing these past few days had become increasingly outrageous. Some people were even claiming that after reaching the final island, Roger had gained possession of the entire world.
Smoker had come here to see for himself what kind of man Roger really was.
“What is so special about this execution?”
Amphitrite’s focus was different from everyone else’s. She didn’t care about the Pirate King or anything of that sort. Roger’s life and death meant nothing to her.
What she really wanted to know was what Nereus intended to do. If he planned to break Roger out, he certainly wouldn’t have brought Chloe along.
And as for collecting that so-called debt…
Roger was about to be executed, yet Nereus had never left the mother and daughter to act alone. He couldn’t possibly stop the execution at the last moment and demand repayment in front of everyone, could he?
“Some things can’t be explained in just a few words. Just think of it as one of my small hobbies. A new era will begin here today, and besides… there are quite a few interesting people gathered here.”
Looking around, Nereus spotted many young yet familiar faces.
Dracule Mihawk, with eyes as sharp as an eagle’s, though at this time he was merely a challenger honing his swordsmanship across the world.
Donquixote Doflamingo, still gathering strength and not yet having entered the Grand Line.
Crocodile, still of vigor and high spirits, had not yet gone to challenge Whitebeard.
Gecko Moria, who still valued his companions and had yet to hit a wall called Kaido, eventually becoming an overweight recluse obsessed with researching zombies.
Some were already wanted pirates, while others had not yet set sail. Yet all of them had gathered here because of Roger alone.
As Nereus’s gaze swept across the crowd, he even made eye contact with some of them, showing that they had noticed his presence as well.
And unlike the ignorant newcomers who had gradually forgotten about the monster of the past, these people had at least heard some stories about him.
“What a powerful presence… a pity he’s not a swordsman…”
Despite saying that, Mihawk instinctively gripped the hilt of the sword on his back. It wasn’t a swordsman’s intuition urging him to draw his blade, but the survival instincts of a living creature.
“Fuffuffuffu, quite a few important figures have shown up. If he hadn’t reached an agreement with the World Government, his bounty would probably be even higher than that Pirate King’s…”
Doflamingo wiggled his fingers as though calculating something. As for Crocodile and Moria, they didn’t even pay attention to Nereus.
They were both still in the phase where they believed themselves to be invincible and unmatched beneath the heavens.
Even when faced with monsters from the previous generation, they felt no fear. In their eyes, the only reason those people had higher bounties was because they had gone out to sea earlier.
That mindset wouldn’t change until they received a brutal lesson from the New World.
As the hands of the clock in the plaza slowly advanced, the time of the execution finally arrived. Accompanied by the rattling of chains, the protagonist of this execution gradually entered everyone’s field of vision.
From the sound of the chains alone, it was obvious how heavy the restraints were. Even among the heavy shackles specially prepared for death-row prisoners, these were among the heaviest.
An ordinary person’s ankles would likely have been rubbed raw and bloody.
Yet even though Roger’s condition was already beyond the help of medicine, it made no difference to him.
Whether shackles or chains, they served only as psychological comfort for everyone else.
To ensure that everyone could see clearly, the execution platform had been built exceptionally high, allowing one to overlook nearly half of Loguetown.
Looking down at the densely packed crowd below and the reporters carrying cameras and equipment, Roger’s lips curled into a satisfied smile.
Everything was unfolding exactly as he had envisioned.
Even before Roger ascended the platform, the executioners had already been waiting there.
The oppressive heat mixed with their inner anxiety left them drenched in nervousness, beads of sweat continuously rolling down their foreheads.
The man they were about to execute was not some ordinary pirate, but Roger, the Pirate King. No one could guarantee that everything would proceed without incident.
It wasn’t as if they had never heard stories about prison breaks before. Whenever such things happened, the executioners were usually the first people killed.
Still, procedures had to be followed. According to protocol, one of the executioners asked:
“Do you have any final words?”
Hearing the question, Roger raised a wrist weighed down by heavy shackles.
“Can you take these off? They’re itchy.”
The sudden movement startled the executioner, as if he feared Roger might use the chains as a weapon.
“No!” The executioner refused without hesitation.
“Come on, it’s not like I’m going to run away. Why so serious?”
Roger spoke casually, as though he had never expected the request to be granted.
“Forget it. Since it isn’t Garp watching over me personally, this is pretty boring.”
When no one responded, Roger looked thoroughly disappointed, as if he found the entire execution rather unsatisfactory.
He then sat down cross-legged and urged the two executioners.
“Hurry it up. Let’s get this over with.”
Throughout the entire process, the smile on his face was perfectly visible to everyone.
The executioners had carried out countless executions. They had seen pirates weep and beg for mercy, curse and spit insults, or remain silent until the end. They had witnessed all kinds of reactions before death, but this was the first time they had ever seen someone smiling.
That faint smile sent chills down their spines.
They raised their long blades, eager to finish everything as quickly as possible.
At that very moment, a voice suddenly shattered the silence from within the crowd.
“Hey, Pirate King! Where did you hide your treasure? Is it in the Grand Line? You must have found it, right?! That legendary ONE PIECE!”
“The one and only One Piece…”
“Shut up!” Someone tried to stop him, but it was already too late.
The instant people heard Roger respond, the entire scene erupted into chaos.
And Roger finally delivered the declaration that would usher in a new era.
“You want my treasures? If you want it, you can have it all! Go find it! I left everything I own there—at the end of the Grand Line, on Laugh Tale!”
“Don’t speak!”
The executioners shouted as they abruptly raised their blades, attempting to carry out the execution immediately and cut Roger off.
Yet they suddenly felt an unknown force binding their entire bodies.
The execution swords they had wielded for half their lives refused to descend no matter how hard they tried. All they could do was watch helplessly as Roger finished his final words.
BOOM!
The instant Roger’s voice fell silent, a deafening clap of thunder exploded across the skies. Dark storm clouds rapidly gathered from all directions, blotting out the sky.
In an instant, torrential rain poured from the sky!
The cold blades finally pierced Roger’s body, and blood gushed forth, flowing down the execution platform. But the declaration the Pirate King made before his death—the proclamation that ignited a new era—had already echoed throughout Loguetown’s plaza and been deeply engraved into the hearts of everyone present.
Roger’s blood stained the execution platform, flowing outward together with the torrential rain. The executioners on the platform were completely dumbfounded, standing there in a daze, unsure what to do.
They didn’t even know whether this execution should be considered a success or a failure.
“Did you use Dance Powder?”
The sudden downpour surprised Amphitrite. It felt as though Nereus had secretly used this “weather weapon.”
“No. That guy was the sea’s favored child. Perhaps… this is fate.”
The blood was diluted by the rainwater. Even the blood on the execution platform was washed away completely.
The World Government’s execution method left horrifying wounds in both the chest and abdomen, resulting in an enormous amount of bleeding. Combined with the cover provided by the rain, no one noticed where all that blood had gone.
Not even Amphitrite, who stood right beside Nereus, realized that the spilled blood seemed to have found a new destination.
A dark crimson sun hung overhead. Everything around was tinted in shades of dark red. The river of blood roared as it always had. Lying on a patch of grass, Roger touched the wound on his abdomen, only to discover that it had already healed.
“So this is the world after death… Doesn’t seem too bad.”
“Yo, Roger. I’ve been waiting for you for quite a while.”
“Rocks? Why is it you? Back then, you were the one who begged us to kill you. And the one who actually did it was Nereus.
Debts have their debtors and grievances have their owners. Even if you’re here to collect a debt, you shouldn’t be looking for me.”
‘What a line. Makes me want to go out and see this era again.’
That was what Rocks had intended to say. Yet Roger’s train of thought completely choked him off. After countless thoughts condensed together, only four words remained.
“You idiot…”
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