Truth of the World

"Damn it!"

Nusjuro roared in fury. He had struck Roger down, but it was already too late.

A moment later, Warcury arrived. His face twisted in anger as he saw the massive warship begin to tremble.

As members of the Five Elders, both of them understood exactly what this warship represented. However, whether it could be fully deciphered didn't matter. Lord Imu possessed a trump card far beyond this.

A power capable of cleansing the world.

To them, this warship was nothing more than a devastating weapon of mass destruction. Its secrets were irrelevant. Otherwise, they wouldn't have given the order to destroy the entire island if necessary.

What truly enraged them wasn't the warship itself. It was the fact that Roger had played them.

They were the Five Elders—figures standing above all, ruling from the highest seat of power. Even if they didn't care about the warship, even if they chose to shatter it themselves and toss it aside like trash, that didn't mean he had the right to touch it.

And Roger? He had waited for the perfect moment, slipping in while they were distracted by battle, entering their domain, and destroying their possession.

That was what truly infuriated them.

A man beyond their control…

Murderous intent surged from both elders as they stepped toward Roger. But he didn't seem to care at all. With a slight movement, he pushed himself off the wall and landed on the ground effortlessly.

"How about we head outside first? This place is coming down." Roger grinned, his carefree voice echoing through the underground chamber.

As if nothing had happened at all. As if none of this concerned him in the slightest.

And just as he had said, the warship's shaking grew more intense. A violent surge of energy swelled within, becoming more and more unstable.

The two Elders shot Roger a dark glare but suppressed their killing intent—for now. They were a hundred meters underground. If they got buried here, it would be troublesome. Besides, the real priority was eliminating Rocks.

That so-called special ability user who had joined Rocks was actually one of their own, someone the World Government had intentionally released.

Now, their plan was just one step away from completion.

"Hmph. We're leaving."

After a brief standoff, Nusjuro let out a cold snort and turned away. Warcury followed, his expression equally grim.

Roger, on the other hand, let out a hearty laugh and strolled toward the passage. As he reached the entrance, he paused for a moment, then continued forward. But after only a few steps, he stopped again.

Slowly, he turned back to look at the warship. The grin on his face was gone. In a quiet, sincere voice, he said, "I'm sorry."

Then, he turned away once more, his signature wide grin returning as if nothing had happened.

Rumble!

The energy within the warship raged uncontrollably, and the underground chamber began to collapse.

...

Battlefield on the surface.

Boom!

A towering golden Buddha, a hundred meters tall, was sent flying backward. It crashed straight toward the two Five Elders who had just stepped onto the battlefield.

Warcury saw this and stomped his feet, launching himself into the air.

"Ha!"

With a fierce, almost demonic expression, he slammed his palm onto Sengoku's back. A loud shout erupted from his mouth. Using the force of his arm, he steadied Sengoku's spiraling trajectory.

The golden Buddha landed with a heavy thud, its feet carving deep trenches into the ground.

"Sengoku, go secure the perimeter," Nusjuro spoke as he wrapped his cursed blade in Haki.

Warcury also grabbed the front of his suit and yanked it off, tossing it aside. His fists crackled with Haki, ready to fight.

"Understood."

Sengoku deactivated his Buddha form and let out a long breath. He responded calmly, then turned and headed back to his previous post.

Earlier, after Roger and the two Elders left, Kong and Garp had quickly fallen into a disadvantage. Sengoku had no choice but to join the battle, though his presence only improved the situation slightly.

If the two Elders hadn't returned when they did, Rocks might have broken through the encirclement and charged underground.

There was no denying it—Rocks was unbelievably strong. This only strengthened the Five Elders' resolve to eliminate him.

Pirates fighting among themselves didn't threaten the World Government. In fact, it made their rule even easier. The more chaos pirates caused, the more the world's nations would rely on the Marines and the World Government for protection.

There were powerful countries in the world, but they were few and far between. And those with Conqueror's Haki, every single one of them was a one-in-a-million warrior, born to dominate.

The only way to make such pirates submit was through overwhelming force. And Rocks had accomplished just that.

Golden Lion, Whitebeard, Big Mom, Captain John, Ochoku—these notorious pirates all followed his lead. That was what made him truly terrifying. Most of the world's top pirate forces were under his command.

A ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any moment. Rather than waiting for it to go off and suffer the consequences, it was better to detonate it themselves.

As for whether Rocks could overthrow the World Government? The Five Elders had never even considered it.

Pirates were ultimately just rogues with limited vision. They only knew bits and pieces of history from scattered texts, biased records that barely scratched the surface. Yet they truly believed they had uncovered the world's ultimate truth.

How laughable. They had no idea of the World Government's true foundations.

And now, just a single rumor of an ancient weapon—a mere fragment of a broken past—had driven Rocks to risk everything.

But that was exactly what they wanted. One false lead and Rocks had gathered all his forces. Everything was proceeding exactly as planned.

For eight hundred years, the cycle had repeated itself—heroes, tyrants, conquerors rising from the seas, only to be crushed and forgotten.

Every few decades, a new overlord would emerge, uniting a majority of the pirates and challenging the World Government's rule.

Some were bold, some ruthless, some cunning, some savage—but in the end, they all met the same fate.

Death.

Rocks was not the first.

And he would not be the last.

Decades from now, only a handful of aging pirates would still remember his name. A few decades more, and even that memory would vanish completely. No one would know that a man named Rocks once stood at the peak of the world.

And then, in time, another would rise to take his place—repeating the same story all over again.

"Die, Rocks."

The voice of Nusjuro was devoid of emotion, like a judge handing down a final sentence.

With a single slash of the cursed blade, the sky itself was cleaved in two.

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