That shard was near the center of the sun disk, about 50 meters off the ground, but Roger jumped right up to that height.
But just as he was about to touch the Shikon Jewel shard, he suddenly felt a chill on his back!
Because he sensed someone right behind him, staring at him!
He felt that if he touched the shard, the person would attack him. So Roger, who had jumped up, dropped straight back down.
Rayleigh had already turned around and looked at the person who suddenly appeared behind them.
The two of them stared with puzzled looks because the person who appeared had green skin and a third eye on his forehead!
Three-Eyed Clan?
But why did he look so much like the Zero from before?
And there were all those green-skinned bodies lying at the door and in the earlier ditch—the man before them felt just like them.
"Please don't remove it," the three-eyed man said. His words even carried a hint of begging.
"If you take it, there's no way to hold back the darkness inside anymore."
"You're... Zero?" Roger said without thinking.
At first sight, he thought it was an enemy. Zero had left a deep mark on Roger, after all, and he had even made a huge beast like the Kraken.
When this man, so close to Zero in looks, showed up, Roger naturally saw him as one of the same kind. But his words made sense and held no threat, which sparked Roger's interest.
"Zero?" A shadow of sadness crossed the three-eyed man's eyes. He shook his head. "I was meant to become Zero, but I escaped in the end. Back then, I was Number One..."
"Number One... Sounds like you and that Zero go way back." Rayleigh asked with caution. He was not as easy to fool as Roger. In a weird place like this, he knew better than to trust strangers right away.
The three-eyed man, Number One, gave a bitter smile. "Yes, Number One has always been the backup for Zero. But... I want nothing to do with that group now. I fled from there and swore to guard the Ascension Altar with my life."
"Now I've turned my back on humans and the dark ones too. I have nothing left and am no one, so I have no name. I'll spend forever here alone and won't let anyone try to use the power of the Ascension Altar again."
"So you're going to stop us?" Rayleigh said with a cold laugh.
"I can't stop you; you're too strong." Number One shook his head. "But I'd rather destroy this Ascension Altar than let you take it. The group has experts like Tunfo, but they still can't take it back from me. I've set traps all over this cave and the altar."
"If I have to, I'll blow this place to pieces!"
Tunfo?
Roger had no idea who that was, but it had to be someone powerful. Number One wasn't weak himself, just not on their level.
In general, for someone with powers like Number One, even after taking a monster cell, their strength isn't top-tier. It's more like officer level.
But you can take more than one monster cell. Sure, the more you take, the more your body resists it and the weaker the effect, but it still builds more power.
After taking two monster cells, Number One reached high officer strength. That would put him on the level of a top commander or one of the three big threats later on—strong stuff.
Roger figured from his power and words that Tunfo was tough, since guys like Number One weren't common out on the seas.
"Easy there. We're just curious about this place. We don't have to have that Shikon Jewel shard." Roger shrugged.
"You said you were supposed to be Zero but turned on the group. So your old crew must have done something big by now, right? Something huge just showed up in this world."
"Yes, Aatrox is back. No one could stop his return. He won't quit until he turns the whole world to ruins and wipes out all life," Number One said quietly.
"And his first move is to destroy the Ascension Altar. No one can block that."
"You seem to know a lot. Can you fill us in?" Rayleigh asked. "We want to stop that guy. He's your enemy too, isn't he?"
"Stop him? No, no one can. Even the wizards long ago couldn't. They had to use dirty tricks to seal him away, but that just made him furious."
"Not so sure about that. If folks back then could lock him up with sneaky ways, it means he's not unbeatable. People today can do the same—seal him or even take him down!" Roger said with full seriousness.
Truth is, he was probably the one in this world who felt Aatrox's power the deepest, but that didn't scare him. He was set on being the freest man alive!
Number One locked eyes with Roger. Roger's stare was so steady that Number One let out a soft sigh at last. "Fine, if you really want to hear it."
He turned slowly and headed out. Roger and Rayleigh trailed behind him, walking along the outer wall once more.
"A few years back, because of the wars in this country, a bunch of us fled to the remote hills and wilds."
Roger and Rayleigh knew the state of this nation. It wasn't nonstop war, but pretty close—fights over resources raged almost year-round.
Win a battle, and life got better. Lose one, and it was tough going.
"We were sick of the fighting. We decided to leave our home and head deep into the mountains to build our own hidden paradise."
Number One gazed ahead with a look of memory, at the outer wall. He spoke softly. "But what we did was like betraying the country. We were all fit and young, ready to fight for them, so they wouldn't let us leave. Armies tracked us from behind the whole way."
"We were just regular folks; how could we shake off the chase? But right when we were out of options, about to get caught and sink into total despair, a man stepped out from the sun. No—in our eyes then, that was a god."
By now they were at the spot with the first two murals, and Number One's story seemed to match the images.
In the murals, a god was stepping out from the sun too.
"That god... made a pact with us!"
----
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