The bloodline of the Pirate King was, under the worldview of the One Piece world, indeed an extremely important identity.
From what Ren understood, most people blamed the disasters that came after the Great Age of Pirates began on Pirate King Roger himself.
It was because of his instigation that countless people had left their homes and set out to sea in pursuit of the Great Treasure.
And yet Ren saw things clearly.
The main reason most people left their homes was because they could no longer survive in their homeland.
Or rather, they could not live well. They had no chance to become owners of the means of production, and could only remain producers for their entire lives.
That kind of despair, where one glance was enough to see the end of your future, was what drove them to risk their lives and become pirates in pursuit of a better life.
But most people would neither realize nor be able to realize that truth.
Compared to hating the World Government, or even kings and nobles, hating a Pirate King who was already dead—and who had, in practical terms, brought about disaster—was the easiest choice.
And that identity itself held added value.
If Ace were to reveal his origins and prove who he was, then countless pirate fans devoted to the Pirate King would gather under his banner. He could very likely become the core of a pirate force close to the level of a Yonko.
Reputation was also extremely important.
Even Ren himself had to chase fame in order to gain a louder "voice."
Because of that, Ren understood clearly that the Marines would never let Ace go.
So even if Issho learned this secret, he still would not do anything.
Because in his eyes, the Pirate King's bloodline truly did need to be extinguished.
Of course, there was one other person who knew this secret ahead of time.
Marine Admiral—Aokiji, Kuzan!
After Ren dismissed his clone and returned to the room on Level 0.5 to rest and recover, a call from Kuzan came through on his Den Den Mushi.
"You really stirred up quite a commotion this time."
On the other end of the line, Kuzan spoke in a low voice. "Even I've already gotten word of it over here."
"The way you're saying it, I almost thought I'd beaten Kaido."
"Don't get too full of yourself, Ren. If a Yonko were that easy to defeat, they wouldn't have stood tall for decades without falling."
"Hearing that from one of the top Admirals serving the strongest hegemonic force on the seas makes it sound kind of ironic.
In your strategy, aren't the Yonko basically millstones used to grind down other troublesome pirates?"
Ren pointed out the essence of the current situation.
"If they weren't strong enough, why would Marine Headquarters allow them to become the emperors of the New World?
It was precisely because they were too difficult to deal with that the Marines chose to go with the flow and shape the New World into what it is today.
That grand strategy didn't exist from the very beginning. It only emerged in response to the times."
Kuzan's expression on the other side turned somewhat complicated, a bottle of pear liquor still hanging loosely from his hand.
He was emphasizing the strength of the Yonko, but not just because it was an old, well-known fact.
He was trying to tell Ren—and himself—just how unbelievable this whole matter really was.
The man on the other end of the line had only made his debut what, barely half a year ago?
And it had only been close to two months since they parted ways in Mock Town.
Yet now, Ren had already reached the point where he could clash head-on with Kaido, survive, and withdraw safely.
The news was so shocking that by the time it reached him, many Marine officers believed it was just another wildly exaggerated rumor.
Most pirates were like that. Exaggerating achievements for fame was perfectly normal.
But Kuzan, who had dealt with Ren before, understood something.
Given how troublesome Ren had already been in Mock Town, coupled with the terrifying growth potential he had displayed—something Kuzan could only describe as unprecedented—
It was entirely possible for him to accomplish something that completely defied common sense.
And the "common sense" in question here was being measured against monsters on the level of the Yonko.
Even prodigies like Kaido and Charlotte Linlin had not started out invincible.
Which one of them had not gone through a long period of tempering before obtaining the power they now possessed?
It wasn't just the Yonko. Kuzan himself was the same.
And because of that, he understood better than most that Ren—who, just a year ago, had merely been a general store owner in the East Blue and had never even trained—
Possessed a growth rate and potential so monstrous that they surpassed imagination.
"So what you mean is, Marine Headquarters will hunt me down without reservation?"
Ren smiled, clearly reading the meaning behind Kuzan's emphasis.
"That's something Headquarters will have to decide."
Kuzan shook his head. "At the end of the day, an Admiral is only the highest fighting power. We hold great authority, yes, but we still aren't the true decision-makers.
I called you only to confirm whether this incident is real, and to discuss that deal."
A deal.
A very normal thing, in itself.
But if one side of that deal was a Marine Admiral, and the other was a pirate the Marines regarded as a thorn in their side—
Then it became something else entirely.
Put bluntly, it would be called collusion between Marines and pirates. Put more nicely, it would be called a tilt in allegiance.
Fortunately, Admirals had extremely high authority. At least on Kuzan's side, there was still no one who could truly supervise him.
In order to understand the prophecy Ren had made back in Mock Town, Kuzan had chosen to establish a channel of communication with him.
And through that, he had obtained plenty of information that proved Ren really was a prophet.
For example—
The internal slaughter within the Whitebeard Pirates, which had not yet happened at the time but later came to pass.
Ace's true heritage, the fuse that would ignite the Marineford War, and the inevitable great war itself.
And the role Donquixote Doflamingo played in Dressrosa.
The first three could be viewed as one matter, and since they were beneficial to the Marines, Kuzan had naturally not interfered.
He had only quietly turned his attention toward them, watching as the events Ren had spoken of unfolded one by one.
And with every event, the identity of "prophet" became harder and harder to refute.
So much so that, in order to shift his focus, Kuzan decided to interfere in the matter of Dressrosa instead.
Using Tsuru—who had deep entanglements with Doflamingo—as an intermediary, he interfered in the intelligence side of things.
That was why Doflamingo, right up until the moment of his death, never managed to obtain detailed intelligence on Ren's group.
Only after the Donquixote Family was destroyed did the complete information on Ren's group "belatedly" arrive in the hands of World Government officials.
Kuzan knew very well that this was exactly what Ren had wanted him to do.
But because of his own heart, and because of the constraints placed on the Marines' position, Kuzan had chosen to fall for it for a little while and eliminate a cancer like Doflamingo.
And now, with a strange complexity in his heart, Kuzan wanted to reach an even better outcome.
Since he had already established contact with a "pirate," then he might as well use this opportunity to do even more things that the Marine position made inconvenient.
Before becoming this lazy, he too had once burned brightly.
"You did help me a lot on the intelligence front. Doflamingo was missing a great deal of information."
Ren nodded without denying it. "So, what do you want from me?"
"Kill one man. It'll benefit you too."
"Who?"
"Edward Weevil. A bounty hunter and pirate. He's extremely powerful and has spent years moving through the underworld.
Of course, that isn't the important part. The important part is that his name has appeared on the nomination list for the Warlords of the Sea."
Kuzan's voice turned cold. "I don't want to see that happen."
"Oh? Because he killed Zephyr's students? Because that Marine generation was reduced to only two survivors?"
"...You can even see that?"
"I'm a prophet, Kuzan."
"If possible, I'd really like to deny that."
"Some tracks of the future can't be changed, Kuzan. And besides, that's also your opportunity.
If you can really seize the position of Fleet Admiral from Akainu—
Heh. Though I've already predicted your defeat."
Ren's lightly mocking voice was especially grating.
"So you're agreeing?"
Kuzan clenched his fist.
For a brief moment, he had the urge to punch that bastard right through the Den Den Mushi line.
"What do I get in return?" Ren asked.
"Our deals are cyclical. If I do something for you, then you do something for me in return.
Good faith is the only way to maintain stability. After all, there's no real foundation of insurance between us."
"As for the matter of the Warlords of the Sea, I'll lend you a hand."
Kuzan answered decisively. "If you kill Edward Weevil, it will make your appearance on the list much more reasonable.
After all, that's always been the image you've projected. Since you couldn't become one of the Warlords, you targeted the Warlords instead.
But sometimes, too much is as bad as too little. What you've done may also be seen by the World Government as provocation.
Especially your feud with Red-Haired Shanks. I don't know why the World Government's Cipher Pol Agency is so concerned about it.
But clearly, the priority they place on increasing efforts to kill you is greater than the priority of making you one of the Warlords."
"What about the list itself?" Ren asked after thinking for a moment. "If a list that hasn't been announced yet gets leaked, wouldn't that be troublesome?"
"I'm an Admiral."
"All right then..."
Ren carefully considered Kuzan's proposal.
First of all, the fundamental reason he had built this communication channel with Kuzan was to desensitize this Marine Admiral to him.
In other words, through constant contact—and by using intelligence Kuzan could not refuse as the price of so-called transactions—Ren was steadily lowering this Admiral's threshold of sensitivity toward him.
From a scientific perspective, this was called desensitization.
Repeated exposure, adaptation, increased intensity, and then repetition—until the subject became completely accustomed to the thing in question.
Which meant that all of Ren's current actions toward Kuzan were aimed at one final goal:
After Kuzan failed in his bid for Fleet Admiral, he would be able to come smoothly under Ren's command.
Joining Blackbeard was worse than joining him, wasn't it?
Secondly—
If he carried out the deal and killed Edward Weevil,
Then there was a very high chance Zephyr would not leave the Marines to establish the NEO Marines.
Because Edward Weevil was precisely the culprit who had severed one of Zephyr's arms and killed the students of one Marine class, leaving only two promising talents alive.
It was because that man became one of the Warlords of the Sea that Zephyr left the Marines in furious disappointment.
But thinking about it more carefully—
For an old Marine like Zephyr, a man who would go so far as to establish a new Marine force for the sake of his ideals...
Was it really possible that he would join Ren's team just because of an invitation?
If he thought seriously about it, the answer was obviously: probably not.
Just as Zephyr had refused to surrender or flee until the very end, this was a man with his own convictions and bottom line.
And Ren's group, branded by the World Government as pirates,
Would have a very hard time recruiting a former Marine Admiral like him.
Once he had thought that far, Ren already had his conclusion.