A crisp metallic clink rang out, like gold coins striking against gold coins, piling up until they formed a golden sea.
The price was that his chips vanished at an astonishing speed.
At the same time, Ren's field of vision kept rising, entering the Limited Wishing Machine's fine-control state.
He saw them—the powerful figures who had once fought Kuma.
The Toy-Toy Devil Fruit's power could not affect them at all. Their Haki would automatically activate and exempt them from its effects.
However, the power of Forgetfulness descended, strengthened by the Limited Wishing Machine.
That power of Forgetfulness had already reached a level far beyond what it had been during Dressrosa.
Onefold?
Twofold?
Numbers like that were far too small. At the very least, it had been amplified tenfold—even a hundredfold!
That terrifying force made the strong forget alongside the Four Seas, the Grand Line, the New World, Skypiea…
Everyone was forgetting memories that were no longer permitted to exist.
The chips on the account total jumped wildly, and the crisp clinking of gold coins made one's heart tighten.
Every second, tens of thousands of chips were consumed.
At the final moment, Ren's gaze arrived at the Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
He stared at this "divine kingdom" standing atop the Red Line, his perspective constantly drawing closer before plunging downward.
Buildings no longer existed in his eyes. The power of the wish allowed his sight to pierce through space and time, landing inside a magnificent, resplendent palace.
He saw him.
The chief culprit behind half a lifetime of Kuma's tragedy—Saint Saturn!
Saturn was incomparably furious. He had already realized that he was being affected by a Devil Fruit ability, and had even broken free from the power of the Toy-Toy Devil Fruit.
The words spilling from his mouth were enough to make one's heart tremble. In less than two short minutes, he had determined that the source was Ren!
But… unfortunately for him.
Ren, who treated everything with caution and constantly warned himself to remain vigilant, was even more cautious, even faster, and possessed even greater decisiveness than he did!
At this moment,
a surging will descended above the palace, replacing the original sky of this divine kingdom.
Those crimson eyes, as though transformed into the sun and moon, were the manifestation of the will of the heavens.
The world seemed to change completely, turning from a divine kingdom into an abyss.
Everything sank into pitch-black darkness. Only those crimson eyes occupied all existence.
He cast down his gaze, meeting the equally furious Saturn's eyes.
Within the latter's body, power was surging, on the verge of erupting. If released, it would undoubtedly overturn the entire palace.
And yet, time seemed to freeze at this instant.
The decisive will echoing through the sky transformed into a decree at this moment.
"Your evil deeds end here—in the near future, I'll take it back a hundredfold!"
Gold coins shattered!
Burned!
In exchange, the power of Forgetfulness expanded wildly, then fell mercilessly toward the final target.
"You bastard… how dare—"
Saturn's furious voice was strangled in his throat. A terrifying force crawled into his mind along memories, words, and images.
Everything that had established a connection was ruthlessly erased. Even what he had just seen disappeared along with it.
The will entrenched in the sky sighed.
"Six billion…"
Ren said regretfully, "You really are troublesome. But this ends here…"
His voice receded into the distance. The power of the wish brought Ren back to his original position.
When the influence of the wish's power faded, all abnormalities vanished as if they had been nothing more than an illusion.
The palace doors opened, and the Five Elders who walked inside frowned.
"Did something happen?"
"Nothing… just a small issue."
Saturn frowned and lowered his hand. The pain in his mind receded.
It felt as though something had happened just now.
"If there's nothing wrong, come to the meeting. Something unexpected has occurred. Roger's bloodline has not been cut off."
"What?!"
The news was so abrupt that even Saturn rose to his feet in surprise.
He followed the Five Elders out and arrived at the conference hall to hear the situation.
Then—
"Zehahahaha! How about it? This person carries enough weight, doesn't he?"
Blackbeard's wild laughter echoed through the receiver.
Just now, he had used the defeated Ace to make a deal with the World Government.
Hand over Ace = let him become a Warlord of the Sea.
"If it can be proven that he truly is the son of the Pirate King, then granting you a position among the Warlords of the Sea is not impossible."
One of the Five Elders looked at the Den Den Mushi before him and slowly said, "But if there is no evidence, then the mere fact that you dared waste our time will be enough to sentence you to death."
"Zehahahaha! How terrifying. As expected of the Five Elders standing at the pinnacle of the world.
"Since I dared say such a thing, there's no way I wouldn't have evidence.
"You can send someone over to verify it however you like, but it has to be done according to my method.
"I don't want to experience a cell in the great prison of Impel Down."
Click—
The call ended, and the Five Elders looked at one another.
Saturn broke the silence. "It seems it should be true. I did not expect that the operation back then still allowed this remnant to survive.
"How disappointing, this generation's Fleet Admiral."
"Sengoku actually did an acceptable job. The pregnant women on Baterilla who matched the timeline…
"Anyone suspicious was killed. The current Fleet Admiral is loyal enough to the World Government,"
Saint Marcus Mars shook his head. "However, the next successor needs to be considered carefully."
"If his position is suitable, it should still be Akainu."
Saint Topman Warcury frowned and said, "However, Kuzan is more highly regarded within the Marines."
"In the end, we are the ones who make the decision, not those employees."
Saturn said indifferently, "Preparations must begin. Since Ace is of the Pirate King's bloodline, there is no reason to let him go.
"In the final analysis, Roger's bloodline is the same as the Buccaneer Race—a bloodline that has committed a grave sin.
"If Roger had not used his death to open the Great Pirate Era, we would not have needed to create a grand strategy, much less allow the Four Emperors to appear.
"We would only have needed to wait slowly, watch slowly—and let everything return to the end ordained by us.
"Unfortunately, humanity always produces fools like this. Joy Boy, Roger… both brought us additional trouble.
"If this remnant is left unchecked, perhaps he will become the next Roger."
"In that case, there will be a war, correct?"
Saint Shepherd Ju Peter pointed out the key issue. "As for Ace, I imagine everyone here understands his position and identity.
"We once extended an invitation for him to become a Warlord of the Sea, yet he chose to join the Whitebeard Pirates.
"If Ace is to be executed, that aging Whitebeard in the New World will certainly not stand by and watch his sworn son be put to death."
"Hmph. Pirates are lawless creatures by nature."
Saint Ethanbaron V. Nusjuro sneered. "But in the end, he is merely an old and fading 'strongest.'
"He is no different from the other so-called 'strongest' figures who have appeared over the past several hundred years.
"Humans grow old and decline. The so-called strongest are nothing more than summer insects speaking of ice. With the slightest carelessness, they vanish without a trace."
"The strength of the Whitebeard Pirates alone is insufficient to defeat the Marines.
"The only thing that needs consideration is the possibility of the Four Emperors uniting. That would bring us additional trouble.
"It might even startle that person, and that would be our failing."
Saint Topman Warcury quickly followed the point of "executing Ace," thinking through the possible future developments.
"No, the Four Emperors will not unite. Red-Hair has not yet shown signs of betraying his own bloodline.
"He is not someone who can be persuaded so easily, and the Four Emperors are hardly comrades walking the same path."
Saint Marcus Mars shook his head, believing that possibility to be slim. "Those villains are not the kind of people who would sacrifice themselves for others."
"Then begin preparations."
Saturn set the tone.
On the other side, Teach, who had just hung up the call, revealed a ferocious smile and looked toward the battered man beside him.
"Sorry, Ace. Who told you to refuse to join my crew and insist on making me pay a price?"
At the end of his gaze, Ace, with black hair, ordinary skin, and freckles across both cheeks, glared at him with deathly intensity.
"Why… do you know about this…"
It should not have been possible. How could Teach know about this?
Ace remembered that he had only ever told Pops about it, confessing his origins that night.
He had done it to ask Pops what he thought of him, the son of his enemy—but why… why would Teach know?
"Zehahahaha! Well, about that…"
Teach pulled out something shaped like a shell. "A Recording Dial from Skypiea. It can record sound. Pretty amazing, right?
"That night, you and Pops weren't the only ones still awake. I've never once fallen asleep, you know."
"…"
Ace's pupils shrank as he thought of the rumors about Teach.
The gentlest and least ambitious commander in the Whitebeard Pirates, and at the same time, a monster who "never slept."
The former was false.
But the latter was true!
"How unfortunate, Ace. We'll be seeing each other again very soon."
Teach gave Ace no chance to keep speaking. He casually took out a piece of cloth and stuffed it into the other man's mouth. "For my dream, I'll have to ask you to die!"
At this moment, there was not the slightest trace of gentleness in Blackbeard's eyes. It was as though a flame burned within his pupils.
That was ambition.
That was aspiration.
And that was a dream!
Just like when he killed Thatch!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Six billion. Tch. Sure enough, buying insurance was the right choice, huh?"
Ren stared at the light screen of the Dimensional Roulette. The wish just now had burned through a full six billion chips.
It was an absurdly huge amount.
After all, the Ope-Ope Fruit's price from the World Government was only five billion Beli.
Especially since he had already used the Toy-Toy Devil Fruit's ability.
Ordinary people capable of remembering Kuma basically no longer existed. In terms of sheer scale, the number had already been reduced to its utmost limit.
In other words, the erasure trait activated through the destruction of the Forgotten Hourglass should not have wasted too much power.
But thinking about it carefully, what he had just erased were the relevant memories of a group of powerful figures capable of breaking through the influence of a Devil Fruit ability and remembering Kuma.
After that, he had even directly faced off against one of the Five Elders, Saturn, and erased Saturn's related memories in an overwhelming manner.
The former group had at least reached the level of advanced Armament Haki. Even in the New World, each of them would be considered a mighty figure.
As for the latter… he was outright a late-stage boss in the One Piece storyline.
He was an opponent only Gear Fifth Luffy would face. His abilities were also extremely bizarre, and his level of strength should be enough to exchange blows with Kaido.
Whether he could win or not… that was hard to say.
Most importantly, behind Saturn was Imu, whose exact situation was completely unknown, but whose strength was absolutely on the level of a final boss.
One of the elements Ren had added to his wish was that Imu must not notice anything.
With that calculation, six billion seemed… acceptable after all.
(End of Chapter)