Another one of the Five Elders pushed the door open and walked in, frowning as he looked toward Saturn, who was seated on the sofa.
"Did something happen?"
"Nothing… just a small issue."
Saturn frowned and lowered his hand as the pain in his mind faded away.
Had something happened just now?
"If nothing is wrong, come to the meeting. An unexpected matter has come up. Roger's bloodline was not severed."
"What?!"
Saturn shot to his feet in shock, throwing those strange, out-of-place sensations to the back of his mind.
He should have remembered those things.
Yet under the interference of some power, he had forgotten them.
And vanishing along with them was everything related to the person known as Bartholomew Kuma.
Earlier—
On the surface of Punk Hazard, floating ten thousand meters high in the sky.
Because the matter was too urgent, Ren used the Angels of Glory to bring Sugar back, even though she had only just left not long ago.
Sugar and Monet had officially become Ren's tools not long before this.
No matter what he ordered them to do, they would not resist.
After all, their Young Master was still suffering in that hell.
Ren only needed to say, "You wouldn't want anything to happen to Doflamingo, would you?" and he could make use of Sugar without issue.
He casually found a research facility to serve as the place where Kuma would be liberated.
"I've already explained the general requirements."
Ren released the double restraint on Sugar and said indifferently, "If you try anything clever, I won't just count the mistake against you. I'll count it against your Young Master too."
"…"
Sugar said nothing. She only glared fiercely at this demon who was urging her on.
Then she silently stretched out her hand, indicating that she was ready.
She had no idea why Tyrant Kuma, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, had appeared here.
But Sugar knew very clearly that she had no right to choose.
Even if she tried some trick, under these extreme circumstances, it would be exposed instantly, and what awaited her would be a miserable end.
Most importantly, it would affect the Young Master as well.
"This is…"
Kuma looked at Ren somewhat nervously.
"A Devil Fruit ability. Do you know about the Dressrosa incident? The toys there were caused by her Devil Fruit ability.
"She can turn you into a toy, thereby erasing everything related to you from other people's memories.
"And that is only the first step. The second step is this."
Ren shook the hourglass in his hand. He had already decided to completely destroy the hourglass in exchange for Kuma's liberation.
"You should know how I escaped from Kaido and Kizaru. That power of being forgotten is the second step.
"To ensure that nothing unexpected happens, there is also a third step. The money you brought is required for that third step."
The "money" here referred to the thirty billion Beli that Tesoro had handed over to Kuma.
Just as he had said, he would quickly raise funds again to invest in Ren.
And Kuma had delivered the money very well.
"…I'll leave everything to you."
Kuma did not quite understand, but he deeply trusted Ren as a "prophet."
If there was anyone in this world he could trust unconditionally, it was probably only this prophet before him—this man who had proven himself correct.
"Don't worry."
Ren nodded, then began his preparations.
He recharged all the money Kuma had brought into the Dimensional Roulette, then began drawing.
Yes.
Drawing.
This was not because he was impatient to obtain something, but because he wanted to add another layer of insurance to this operation.
Sugar's Devil Fruit ability could erase other people's memories related to Kuma.
But Devil Fruit abilities did not necessarily always take effect.
Powerful Haki could resist the influence of such Devil Fruit abilities.
Unfortunately, among those who knew of Kuma's existence, there was one person with powerful Haki and extremely high authority.
Even if everyone else forgot Kuma, as long as he did not forget, any measures taken against Kuma could still be unraveled.
That person was one of the Five Elders—Saturn!
If Ren had not seen the Egghead Island storyline, he really would not have been able to confirm this fact.
The Five Elders, who stood at the pinnacle of the world's power, second only to Imu, were monsters who could become dark bosses the moment they stripped off their clothes.
Saturn's appearance among them could probably be described as a "hellish gyūki."
Although Ren did not know his exact level, Saturn was definitely no weakling.
To ensure that nothing unexpected happened, Ren decided to add another safeguard.
First, he drew from the Golden Roulette once, then threw the prize he drew into the Sea Offering.
.
[Sea Offering Judgment… Great Success!]
[An Interesting Object]
[Fulfillment—Triggered!]
.
The Diamond Roulette spun and tossed out a streak of radiance.
In the end, what appeared in Ren's hand was a red box.
It looked somewhat like an incense donation box from a temple. The most ridiculous thing was that there was even a QR code on it.
Ren froze for a moment, and the Dimensional Roulette's data refreshed.
.
[Limited Wishing Machine]
[Origin: Doraemon / ??]
[Type: Rule-Based Creation]
[Description: A creation obtained by an unknown existence through research on an individual Doraemon. Its fundamental purpose was to create an Infinite Wishing Machine.
However, due to numerous obstructive factors, the attempt was declared a failure, resulting only in the Limited Wishing Machine.
Because the unknown existence was destroyed, this creation has fallen into its current state.]
[Effect: Insert "money" to make a wish. Whether the wish succeeds depends on the scale difference between the amount of money inserted and the wish itself.
Note: The scope of the wish cannot exceed the effective range of the Limited Wishing Machine.
It cannot overturn the laws of physics, transform something into energy out of thin air, or make an ordinary person instantly become a superhuman.
It can only take effect on events that are already happening. For example, if a volcano is about to erupt.
By inserting money and making a wish, one may accelerate the eruption speed of the volcano or increase the scale of the eruption.
This operation may be personally interfered with and manipulated by the wish-maker.
However, if the volcano is not in an eruptive state, then no matter how much money is inserted, the wish will be ineffective.
Note: If the wish fails, the money inserted will not be returned.]
[Cost: "Money"]
[Remark 1: A currency used by more than one hundred million people may be regarded as "money."]
[Remark 2: Chips may be regarded as "money."]
.
It was an extremely subtle item.
The scope of its wishes was limited only to "things currently happening," and there was no exact reference for the amount of money needed.
If one wanted something to happen faster, yet the money invested failed to reach that invisible standard…
Then after failure, the previously invested money would not be returned.
In other words, this was the type of wish where once the money went in, it never came back.
Either you gambled and turned a bicycle into a motorcycle, or you went all-in and ended up selling yourself into the sea as a young model.
Anyone who was not rich simply could not afford to play with it. At first glance, it seemed like a useless, tasteless item.
But in reality, if one did not understand how to parse the wording carefully, one would never grasp the terror of this prize.
From a certain perspective, this really did count as a wishing machine.
For example—
If one wished for a forest fire to break out, and it would not have happened in the first place, then the wish would fail.
But what if… one tossed a cigarette butt into the forest first?
If one manually added the "cause," could it successfully produce the "effect" of a forest fire?
Or—
In a peaceful place, if one used certain methods to stir up internal discord,
then wished for war to break out there, would it produce the "effect" that war would happen there?
Ren did not have an answer, but he believed this was inevitable.
Up until now, none of the prizes that had come from the Diamond Roulette had ever been trash.
As long as certain conditions were met, they could transform into abilities that could be called bugs.
The effect did not say that one could not manually create the cause!
A wishing machine like this, capable of producing an effect as long as there was a cause, could, in some sense, destroy the world!
Of course—
The premise was that he had enough "money."
The fact that the Dimensional Roulette's chips could be used as money did not surprise Ren.
He had observed from the very beginning that when the Dimensional Roulette consumed Beli, what it was really consuming was the concept of money.
And this concept had to be a currency acknowledged by people on a worldwide scale.
'With this thing, Kuma's side should be stable. And it may not necessarily even be used.
'The power released after the hourglass is destroyed should not be weak… Still, I can't underestimate others. Only by preparing a fallback can things be considered secure.'
After thinking this through, Ren looked at the Dimensional Roulette's data.
{Chip Balance: 28.9 billion}
{Diamond Roulette Progress Count: 17}
No matter what, he had already pushed what he could do to the limit.
Next, it would depend on who came out on top!
Sugar touched Kuma, activating the power of the Toy-Toy Fruit and turning Kuma into a bear plush toy.
She did not set a contract. The killing intent beside her scraped across her face like a blade.
A ferocious black-and-red phantom emerged behind the dazed Ren, its cold, ruthless blood-colored eyes staring at her.
Everything was declaring one fact—
The slightest movement, and she would die without even a grave!
'Has it started?'
Ren held his blade in one hand, his gaze falling on his own palm. Chinese characters were written there.
Words that only he could understand revealed the complete plan.
He had forgotten "someone," but he still remembered the ability of the Toy-Toy Fruit.
Moreover, under the agitation of the Haki within his body, the influence caused by this Devil Fruit ability was rapidly weakening.
If his Haki were a little stronger, he too would be able to break free from the influence of the Toy-Toy Fruit.
At the same time, those who had once come into contact with Kuma began forgetting the relevant memories one after another.
The first to forget were ordinary people. No matter how they resisted, they were utterly powerless before an effect that took less than half a second to take hold.
Before one's Haki reached a certain level, no one could escape the unreasonable influence of a Devil Fruit ability.
The people Kuma had once helped, met, or heard of all forgot those past events.
Only the strong could sense that something was wrong. Yet before they could do anything—
Crack—!
Amid a crisp shattering sound, Ren crushed the Forgotten Hourglass without hesitation.
The hourglass was destroyed.
The Erasure trait was triggered!
The spilled sand transformed into a surging gray-white color, vanishing as though it possessed life.
Only its user could sense where it had gone.
Along the records of words.
Along the records of memory.
Along everything connected to him.
It went to erase anything and everything related to [Bartholomew Kuma].
At the same time,
Ren took out the red wishing machine and madly poured chips into it in place of money.
The wish began.
'Bartholomew Kuma will be forgotten. Only Ren, Vegapunk, Bonney…'
Name after name was spoken. He did everything within his power to ensure the environment after Kuma was forgotten.
A good man should not have guns pointed at him.
Nor should he lose everything he loved!
(End of Chapter)