The air atop the Red Line burned red with smoke and ruin.
The once-golden spires of Marie Geoise now stood cracked and blackened, their ivory towers bleeding flame and ash. The city of "gods" trembled, its silence broken only by the faint echoes of fleeing footsteps — nobles, soldiers, slaves, and ghosts all running from the same storm.
And at the heart of that storm stood Nyx D. Ada.
Her red dress whipped in the wind, the emblem of her crew — the crescent and the skull — flickering in the firelight. Her crew gathered behind her, their breaths heavy, their bodies bloodied, yet their eyes locked on the same horizon.
Bullet's arms hung loose, knuckles still steaming. Mihawk stood beside him, blade in hand, Yoru reflecting the red sky.
Enel hovered slightly above the ground, faint sparks tracing his skin. Fisher Tiger stood silent, his chest rising with fury and awe.
Behind them, Lilith held her denden mushi steady, recording every word, every breath — the truth no one was supposed to ever see.
And then, the air shifted.
From the cracked gates of Pangaea Castle, a shadow stepped out — smooth, deliberate, ancient.
Imu.
Bare feet brushed the broken marble, each step light yet echoing like thunder. The shape was human but wrong — too still, too quiet. The very world seemed to recoil. Even the fire bent away.
The Five Elders, still reeling from their battle, froze instantly.
Saturn dropped to one knee. Mars and Ju Peter lowered their heads. Even the proud Shepherd and Warcury went pale, eyes locked on the figure before them.
"Y-Your Majesty," Saturn stammered, his voice trembling. "Why have you—"
"Silence," Imu said softly.
The word cut through him like glass.
No one dared breathe.
Ada's eyes hardened. "So… the ghost finally steps out of its cage."
Imu turned their gaze toward her, eyes dark as the void. "You should not exist, Nyx D. Ada."
The voice was calm, almost kind — but underneath was venom, deep and cold. "Your kind were meant to vanish long ago."
A slow, crooked smile spread across Ada's lips. "Funny. You said the same thing in God Valley, didn't you?"
She took a step forward, heels cracking the marble beneath her. "But I guess I've always been bad at doing what I'm told."
Imu's head tilted slightly. "Still clinging to your mortal arrogance, I see."
Ada's smirk faded. Her tone grew quiet. "No. I'm clinging to memory."
Behind her, her crew exchanged looks — Mihawk tense, Bullet scowling, Lilith swallowing hard as she kept the camera steady.
Ada's eyes stayed locked on Imu. "When I sailed with Roger, I learned the truth. About this world. About the thrones you built, the lies you dressed as divine order."
A flicker crossed Imu's face — the faintest hint of disdain. "And what truth is that?"
Ada stepped closer, her shadow stretching across the cracked tiles. "That everything you call 'holy' is built on corpses."
Imu's tone remained level. "You speak as if you understand the weight of eternity. You are a pirate — a child of chaos, born to sink."
Ada smiled faintly. "Maybe. But I'm also a daughter of something you failed to drown."
Imu's brow lifted slightly, a rare crack in their calm. "And what would that be?"
Ada tilted her head. "You already know. But let me remind you."
The air shifted — heavier, colder. Even the flames outside the castle seemed to dim.
The Five Elders turned toward her, alarm etched across their faces.
Saturn's voice trembled. "Don't— don't speak that name."
Ada ignored him. Her eyes glowed faintly crimson. "I have a question for you, Imu."
"Speak," Imu said, their voice barely above a whisper.
Ada's words cut the silence like a knife.
"Who are you more afraid of?"
She paused, letting the weight of it hang between them.
"Davy Jones… or Joyboy?"
The world seemed to stop.
Even the rubble stilled.
The Five Elders froze. Their faces went pale.
"You—" one of the Elders stammered, "you dare speak those names—!"
Ada ignored him, her gaze still locked on the silent figure atop the throne.
"You've spent centuries hiding the truth," she said. "Calling yourself gods, while erasing the ones who came before you."
Mihawk's gaze flickered with sudden understanding. Bullet frowned, confused.
Fisher Tiger's gills flexed — he could feel the tension thickening the air, heavy with something ancient.
Imu's face darkened. "You dare—"
"Oh, I dare," Ada said, voice low and sharp. "Because I've seen what you've done to keep their names buried."
"You speak of relics," Imu hissed. "Dreams of men who failed."
"Failed?" Ada stepped closer, her expression cold. "No. They were erased. And there's a difference."
Lilith's hands trembled as she kept the camera trained on them, recording every word.
Even Enel, usually smirking, had gone quiet.
Imu's eyes narrowed. "You speak as if you know Joyboy."
Ada's voice softened. "I don't just know him. I carry his blood."
Imu's composure faltered for the briefest moment.
"…What?"
Ada's gaze sharpened. "You might have known him as the first pirate — the fool who tried to free the world. But you never knew his full name, did you?"
"His name was forbidden," Mars growled. "That name has no place in this world."
Ada ignored him. Her voice rose slightly, carrying through the burning hall.
"His full name… was Nyx D. Joyboy."
The words echoed — powerful, clear, unstoppable.
The marble beneath their feet cracked.
The world itself seemed to shudder.
The crew froze, disbelief etched on every face.
Bullet blinked, stunned. "What did she just—"
Lilith's lips parted, whispering as if repeating a prayer. "Nyx… D. Joyboy…"
Mihawk's fingers tightened on Yoru. His eyes, usually unreadable, now gleamed with faint awe.
"So that's the bloodline she carries…"
Ada's voice trembled — not with fear, but with the force of truth.
"Joyboy — the man the world called a dreamer — was my ancestor. The line of Joybot didn't die. It endured. Hidden, waiting, watching your false thrones rot."
Imu's face finally cracked. Their calm shattered into raw, silent fury.
"You lie!" they screamed, the word warping the air. "That bloodline was exterminated! The world itself was remade to erase it!"
Ada laughed — low, sharp, cutting through the chaos.
"Then I must be your favorite ghost."
Her gaze hardened again as she turned back to Imu. "But Joyboy wasn't the first to stand against you, was he?"
Imu said nothing. The silence itself was answer enough.
Ada's voice became like a blade. "Before Joyboy — before the Void Century — there was Davy D. Jones."
The Elders gasped audibly.
Even the fire seemed to recoil at the name.
Ada's tone deepened, each word striking like thunder. "The first king of the world. The man who ruled before the World Government existed.
"The one you betrayed, slaughtered, and buried beneath the sea."
Her crew froze, the revelation rippling through them.
"Davy… D. Jones?" Enel whispered. "The sea devil himself?"
Ada's expression softened — but only slightly. "Not a devil. A man. A king. The first to bear the Will of D."
She raised her hand, pointing at Imu.
"And you— A Demon were the one who stole his throne."
Imu's eyes flared crimson for an instant. "You know nothing of that age!"
"Oh, I know enough." Ada's voice cut through his fury. "I know that when he fell, you rewrote history. You called him a monster so no one would remember the truth — that he was the first ruler, and the first D."
She began to walk toward the throne, her steps echoing through the ruined hall.
"Then came Joyboy — his opposite. The man who sought to free the world your so-called 'king' once ruled. My ancestor."
Her hand clenched. "Two lines. Two legacies. One born from the sea's vengeance… one from its hope."
She stopped only a few feet away from Imu, who stood frozen in their shadow.
She raised her hand, the light of her fruit gathering in her palm.
The air trembled. The Elders shifted uneasily — as if they already knew what was coming.
Ada's tone then sharpened.
"Rocks D. Xebec wasn't just a madman chasing power. He was a remnant — the last of another forgotten bloodline."
The crew stiffened.
Bullet frowned. "What the hell are you talking about?"
Ada looked toward him, her expression calm but heavy.
"Just like I carry the blood of Joyboy…" — she turned back to Imu —
"…Rocks carried the blood of Davy D. Jones."
Gasps rippled through her crew. Even Mihawk's usual composure cracked.
Fisher Tiger took a step forward, disbelief written across his face. "You mean the sea devil himself? The one who cursed the depths?"
Ada nodded once. "The myths were twisted. Davy Jones wasn't a demon — he was a man. A King, like Joyboy. Two halves of one storm."
She clenched her fist, the light in her palm brightening.
"Joyboy sought freedom. Davy Jones sought vengeance. Their clash tore the world apart. And after they died, their bloodlines went into hiding."
Her eyes locked with Imu's.
"But both lines survived."
The room went deathly silent.
Even the flames outside the shattered windows seemed to falter.
Ada's voice rose — steady, clear, echoing through the broken throne room.
"The line of Davy Jones lived through Rocks D. Xebec — and his ambition was born from your lies. You destroyed his world, just as you destroyed Joyboy's. You turned men into monsters — and called it peace."
She said. "He tried to take back the throne his ancestor built. But he failed… because of you."
The Elders' faces twisted, a mix of fear and fury.
One spat through his teeth, "Blasphemy!"
Ada's eyes flicked toward him. "Truth."
Her voice cracked like a whip. "You all feared him. You fear me. You fear anyone who carries the Will of D — because you know what it means."
She raised her hand again, light gathering at her fingertips — the glow of her fruit, pure and deadly.
"It means your world was built on a lie."
The tiles beneath her cracked, wind roaring through the broken windows.
Her voice rose over it all, clear and ringing:
"The first king you worshipped was not divine. He was Davy D. Jones, a king with the heart of a god and the wrath of the sea. And the man you feared most — Joyboy — was his antithesis. His rebellion."
Imu trembled, their voice a whisper of fury. "You will not speak that name again—!"
Ada stepped closer, unflinching.
"I already have."
The light from her hand cast her shadow over the throne — a dark crown against the red sky.
A pulse of energy erupted from Imu's body, shaking the hall. The Elders stumbled back, eyes wide. Even the crew shielded themselves as the ground split open beneath their feet.
The throne behind Imu — the Empty Throne, symbol of a godless world — cracked down the center and fell apart in two perfect halves.
The crash echoed like thunder across the land.
Ada didn't flinch. Her dress rippled in the shockwave, her eyes gleaming in the flicker of firelight.
Ada's hair whipped in the rising wind, her tone unwavering.
"I know enough. Enough to see that both of those legacies — Joyboy's and Davy Jones' — are still alive."
She smiled coldly.
"Both their descendants walk this earth. And both sides… remember what you did."
Behind her, Bullet exhaled slowly, voice low and uneasy. "You mean— there's someone else? Someone from that line?"
Ada didn't answer. Her eyes stayed locked on Imu's.
"That's for him to reveal when the sea calls again. But remember this, Imu—"
She pointed her hand toward the cracked Empty Throne.
"You might rule the surface… but the sea still remembers its kings."
Lightning cracked through the burning sky above them. The shattered throne groaned, splitting further.
Ada took a single step closer, the air vibrating with energy.
"You feared Joyboy's dream," she said. "You feared Davy Jones' wrath. But now, their blood stands before you."
"You thought you killed a bloodline," she said quietly. "But you only created a storm."
Behind her, Bullet straightened, veins pulsing with adrenaline. "Heh… this is insane. You're saying you're descended from this Joyboy himself?"
Ada didn't look back. "That's what they didn't want anyone to remember."
Fisher Tiger exhaled slowly, awe in his tone. "No wonder the World Government fears you…"
Mihawk's eyes lingered on Imu. "And now their fear stands before us."
Imu's fury boiled over, their shadow rippling like a storm over the broken marble.
"You dare speak the name of that traitor in my world? You, who were supposed to die with Rocks? You, who defy the order I have built?"
Ada's expression turned cold, eyes sharp as daggers.
"Order?" she repeated softly. "You call this order? You built heaven on the backs of the oppressed."
Her boots echoed across the shattered tiles as she took another step forward.
"Rocks tried to destroy you once… but he didn't understand what he was fighting."
Her gaze narrowed, voice heavy with memory.
"He thought he was fighting gods, when in truth— he was fighting you."
Imu's eyes flickered. "And you think you're any different?"
Ada's voice dropped lower, like thunder before a storm.
"I am."
Imu's voice trembled for the first time — not with rage, but something deeper.
"…Impossible."
Ada smiled faintly.
"Maybe. But so is surviving your 'divine order.'"
She raised her hand, energy flaring like the dawn.
"And that's exactly what I've done."
The world erupted in light — the pierce-fruit's energy streaking across the hall, shaking the throne and shattering centuries of silence.
And in that blinding instant, as the firelight carved across Ada's defiant face, the truth of the two lines — Nyx D. Joyboy and Davy D. Jones — returned to the world that tried to erase them.
The blood of freedom and vengeance had met once before.
The Five Elders stepped forward, desperate, shouting.
"Your Majesty, please—! Let us end this pirate before she spreads—"
But Imu raised a hand, silencing them instantly.
Ada took one final step forward. The gap between them now only a few meters — centuries of lies, hatred, and history compressed into that single space.
Ada's voice carried across the broken hall, low and steady.
"You wanted the world to forget the name Nyx D. Joyboy."
She leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing.
"Too bad the world's about to remember."
The flames flared once more, climbing toward the fractured throne as the ancient marble trembled underfoot.
And in that moment — amid smoke, ruin, and history burning alive — the bloodline the world erased stood defiant again.
The child of Nyx had returned.
And heaven itself began to fall.