From this test of the Limited Wishing Machine, I can confirm that as long as enough money is supplied, it can influence beings on the level of the Five Elders and Imu.
In other words, I've gained another ultimate killing move.
And it suits someone like me, someone who likes to advance step by step with every move prepared. It can provide a convenience close to manipulating fate itself.
The downside is that its demand for money is far too high. Fortunately, Tesoro's side will continue providing funds.
As long as I continue to display enough results afterward, making him willing to stake everything on me…
Perhaps even support on the scale of hundreds of billions may become possible.
Ren summarized the results of this operation, then turned his gaze toward Sugar.
"Undo your Devil Fruit ability."
Sugar hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she still did not have the courage to try using it as leverage.
She dispelled the effect of the Toy-Toy Fruit, and the bear toy transformed back into Kuma's original form.
Then…
The hidden memories resurfaced once more.
Ren's mind went blank for an instant. Memories related to Kuma returned to his mind.
At the same time, similar situations occurred all across the world.
Grand Line—Baltigo, the White Soil Island.
Bonney, who was in a room somewhere, suddenly froze. A massive flood of memories about Kuma resurfaced in her mind.
Her Haki was not strong enough to exempt her from the effects of the Toy-Toy Fruit. Only now did she realize what terrifying thing had just happened.
She had forgotten her father! She had forgotten Kuma!?
"Dad… what happened!?"
Bonney instantly became frantic and began searching for the Revolutionary Army members to find out what was going on.
At the same time…
Those Revolutionary Army members who had not been within the range of the power of Forgetfulness suddenly remembered their former comrade in a daze.
"Kuma… Right, what's going on? What just happened?"
"A Devil Fruit ability? But why was it undone again…?"
The officers noticed the situation as well and began reporting it upward.
And at that very moment, the commanders and Dragon had just started a meeting.
"That just now… was a Devil Fruit ability, wasn't it?"
Betty frowned, took out a cigarette, and held it between her lips as she confirmed the situation with the others.
Although this was only a connection between Den Den Mushi, because it involved Kuma and the matter of being affected by a Devil Fruit ability, practically everyone was linked into this meeting room.
"Yes. But I was exempt from it. I don't know what happened."
Dragon's voice carried confusion.
At that moment, Lindbergh suddenly said, "Speaking of which, Kuma asked me to help remove the surveillance devices on his body."
"What, what?"
Morley's coy tone carried a rare trace of urgency.
"Was he planning to escape from that experiment?!"
"Most likely, but I don't know who could help him."
Lindbergh said, "We looked into that matter before as well. Because it involved a large number of civilians, as well as Kuma's own wishes…
"And on top of that, the difficulty of the matter was simply far, far too high. So we gave up on it early and stopped bringing it up.
"What just happened was either an action taken by the World Government…
"But if it were, I don't think that Devil Fruit ability's effect would have been memory loss.
"Or else, someone helped Kuma and tried to use some method to help him escape his predicament.
"As for who could currently do that, I can think of one possibility.
"Karasu, what do you think?"
"I'm on my way. My Observation Haki did indeed sense a familiar presence earlier."
Karasu's cold voice rang out, accompanied by the sound of rushing wind.
Everyone in the meeting room fell silent, waiting for Karasu's later report.
Lindbergh and Morley could not help holding their breath, as though anticipating a certain voice.
And very soon…
A voice different from Karasu's tone, one filled with gentleness and lightness, sounded.
"This is Kuma. Everything is fine for now. Tell Bonney not to worry. I'll go see her very soon. This time, nothing will ever separate us again."
"Was it him?"
Betty suddenly asked.
"I am deeply grateful for the helping hand he extended, for bringing me out of that hellish predicament.
"I believe I must repay this kindness that was nearly the same as giving me a new life."
"Congratulations, Kuma. I hope your future unfolds as you wish."
Dragon spoke at just the right time. Along with him came the voices of the other Revolutionary Army commanders.
They sincerely congratulated Kuma on his liberation.
After all, they had originally been comrades of the same faction, once fighting together for the same ideal.
Had it not been for their respective responsibilities and that rational restraint so cold it was almost cruel…
Perhaps among the four people present, several would have helped Kuma at any cost.
Unfortunately, things that never happened could not be treated as reality.
"Goodbye, Kuma."
After offering his congratulations, Lindbergh immediately added those words.
Dragon, Morley, Betty, and even Karasu, who was right next to Kuma, echoed him.
Kuma fell silent… as though hesitating over what to say.
In the end, what he truly spoke was still gentle.
"We are friends. We will meet again. Ren also believes we will meet again—for the sake of his ideal."
At this point…
The influence brought by the Toy-Toy Fruit faded away from the Revolutionary Army's side.
Betty lit the cigarette between her lips and watched as the Den Den Mushi in the meeting room disconnected one after another.
At this moment, the comrades on the other end of the line were surely filled with complicated emotions, just like she was.
"So… we still lost one person, huh?"
She took a deep breath, burning away a third of the cigarette, then slowly exhaled a large cloud of smoke.
It was as though she wanted to exhale the self-blame, guilt, helplessness, and sorrow of the past all together.
"But this is fine too. Although he is no longer a comrade, at least we're still on the same front."
Yes.
In that brief conversation just now…
It marked the "end" between Kuma and the Revolutionary Army, and also the beginning of their relationship as "friends."
Betty did not think there was anything wrong with that.
The current situation had certainly been caused by that rational restraint that was almost cruel, but that restraint had also been established through the mutual understanding between them.
If they enjoyed the benefits brought by that restraint, they naturally had to bear the price it brought as well.
It was true that she and the others had worried for Kuma, raged for him, blamed themselves for him, felt guilty for him, and grieved for him.
But that still could not change the fact that, as comrades, they had done almost nothing.
Whether while Kuma was still part of the Revolutionary Army, or after he left the Revolutionary Army, that had remained true.
Indeed.
Kuma was a good man. A gentle man.
He would not become angry at them because of these things, and he would understand their difficulties.
However, no matter how good a person was, he could not possibly be a puppet of the Revolutionary Army, sent away or summoned back at will.
He was a person. A living, breathing person.
He could feel sorrow, anger, fear, powerlessness, and even more so, despair.
When someone truly reached out and pulled Kuma from despair, it was only natural for that person to receive his repayment.
"I must repay this kindness that was nearly the same as giving me a new life."
That sentence was Kuma's farewell.
After that moment passed, he was no longer a comrade.
He was a friend loyal to someone else.
Even though Betty understood this result clearly, she still could not help taking out a sheet of paper, writing down what she wanted to say, and sending it over through the fax function.
"You did beautifully, Mr. Prophet.
"You accomplished what we were unable to do. Truly… thank you.
"At least now, I no longer have to worry about remembering something and then being unable to sleep for the entire night.
"Truly, truly, thank you, Ren.
"If anything comes up, you can come directly to me."
When the Fax Den Den Mushi spat out the document, Ren saw those words.
Along with it came faxed documents from different sources. Their contents differed, but all of them expressed gratitude toward him.
Betty's went without saying.
Morley said that he could help Ren with one thing.
It would count as his thank-you gift.
Lindbergh said Ren could make a request of him, whether to invent something or improve something.
He would do his best to accomplish it as thanks.
Karasu asked whether he had any troubles, since he happened to have a little free time recently.
And the final document was from Dragon.
There was only one sentence inside.
"I heard you're looking for ways to use Conqueror's Haki? I know a little. I can teach you."
Unexpectedly…
By helping Kuma escape his predicament, Ren had obtained gains far beyond what he had anticipated.
"You people are surprisingly interesting."
Ren accepted the gratitude without the slightest politeness, then replied to them one by one.
Afterward, he continued manipulating the Limited Wishing Machine and began trying to guide another event into taking place.
"Make Vegapunk feel guilty and wish to make amends."
The chips on the Dimensional Roulette panel began jumping again, rapidly decreasing in units of ten thousand.
At the same time, Ren's vision rose higher, heading toward the Blue Sea.
His perspective continuously drew closer, finally stopping over a solitary island in the sea.
The appearance of this island was extremely unusual.
Or rather, it did not match the era of the One Piece world at all.
In the original story, it had been described as a future five hundred years ahead.
At the bottom was the ordinary land base of a normal island, but the architectural style was extremely peculiar. It was basically similar to futuristic sci-fi architecture.
High-rise buildings could be seen everywhere. From Ren's perspective, he also glimpsed many vacuum tubes still under construction.
But what drew the most attention was the enormous sphere built upon Island Cloud.
It was difficult for him to describe this place in words, and he did not have the time to do so.
The power of the Wishing Machine brought his perspective into the enormous sphere, going deeper and deeper until he finally saw an old man.
His appearance resembled Albert Einstein. His cheeks were flushed, and his hair was gray-white.
On his head was a cap shaped like an apple-tree branch, while his enormous tongue hung from his mouth all the way down to his abdomen.
He had slender legs, and on his feet were shoes with a peculiar shape.
He wore a white research coat with "SSG" printed on the back, as well as a floral shirt.
This person was the long-renowned—Vegapunk!
He did not seem to sense anything unusual and remained focused on continuing his experiment.
Before Vegapunk stood an enormous cylinder.
Inside the glowing green glass column was a developing embryo.
"A Seraphim?"
A faint ripple passed through Ren's will. Then the power of the Wishing Machine began to take effect.
Below…
Vegapunk, who was conducting the experiment, was not as calm as he appeared on the surface.
I was affected. A Devil Fruit ability… Kuma?
I ran tests just now. Those bastards seem to have already forgotten that such a person ever existed. The written records were also erased by an unknown force.
However, the experimental data and clone bodies did not disappear abnormally…
Memories and records related to Kuma himself were erased, while things that were not so directly related continued to exist?
At this moment, Vegapunk was thinking about what had happened not long ago.
(End of Chapter)