The next day, the world was completely ignited.
"The End of an Old Era!"
"Whitebeard Edward Newgate Dies in Battle!"
"Marineford Vanishes from the Map!"
"Marine Suffers Heavy Losses!"
"The Man Who Inherited the Tremor-Tremor Fruit Is!!!"
"The Grand Treasure That Restores Youth!"
"One Piece Truly Exists; After Twenty Years, the Legendary Pirate Whitebeard Confirmed Its Authenticity Again!"
"Just How Much Influence Does Four Emperors Red Hair Have?"
"The Bloodline of Revolutionary Dragon and the Bloodline of the Pirate King, the Blood of Sin, Have Already Formed an Alliance."
"Blackbeard Teach, a New Four Emperors? The Beginning of a Legend!"
"A New Era Is Coming, Marine Urgently Recruits!"
"The Worst Generation Has Arrived!!!"
Morgans was practically insane; various news stories that would normally make the front page were mostly filtered out now.
Finally, he decided to produce a super special edition, with Whitebeard's final silhouette at Marineford as the cover... In the Nicuss Empire's conference room, a rectangular table stood.
Hathaway sat at the head of the table, flanked by various Nicuss nobles, each with Morgans' latest magazine in front of them.
Cigar and cigarette smoke filled the entire conference room; Hathaway could only see blurry shadows of the people sitting at the far end of the table.
"Queen Hathaway, could you tell us what His Majesty Nero's plan is exactly?"
At Lord Holio's prompting, Loerke was the first to ask.
"Lord Loerke, what do you mean? His Majesty Nero has been very quiet lately, doing nothing at all."
Hathaway looked up, indicating she didn't understand Loerke's meaning.
"It's strange precisely because His Majesty Nero has done nothing: the Marineford War, Roger's son, Garp, Sengoku, Revolutionary Dragon's son..."
"Wouldn't it be normal if His Majesty Nero went to participate and caused a big ruckus?"
"When a child is quiet, they're definitely up to mischief. While that might be a bit disrespectful, applied to His Majesty Nero..."
"Half of the people here have grown up with His Majesty Nero, Queen Hathaway. We know His Majesty Nero quite well."
"That strange black mud, and the demonic power His Majesty Nero has occasionally displayed since childhood—how could we be completely unaware?"
"Nicuss is no longer the isolationist empire it once was; the intelligence system on the sea is already well-established."
Everyone spoke one after another, all certain about Nero's personality. In a place where the whole world's attention was focused, how could Nero not be present?
Hathaway's eye twitched. Your Majesty Nero, your image is truly deeply ingrained... But she really wasn't clear about this kind of question; Nero had always been evasive whenever this topic came up.
What was certain, however, was that in the future, His Majesty Nero would undoubtedly have a battle far surpassing the Marineford War.
But Hathaway truly couldn't imagine who could rival His Majesty Nero now.
So the so-called war might very well be a slaughter... But why in the future? Hathaway had no idea what timing Nero was waiting for.
"I'm not entirely clear on the specifics, I only know that His Majesty Nero is waiting for something. And the only thing certain is that the timing might be related to Nika."
Hathaway's words sparked a heated discussion among those present.
"Sun God Nika is an ancient deity," Lord Holio said after a moment of silence.
When he spoke, everyone stopped their discussion. The Nicuss Empire also worshipped Nika, but there were not many records concerning this deity.
"The Nicuss Empire has not always remained strong. Five hundred years ago, due to the mistakes of the Sixth Emperor, Nicuss experienced an unprecedented decline."
"To resist the invasion of neighboring countries, the Sixth Emperor at the time made contact with outside forces, and it was that contact that brought the Nicuss Empire its belief in deities."
Lord Holio recalled with difficulty: "Sun God Nika, the Warrior of Liberation. Legend says he possesses the ability to make everyone smile and unite."
"It wasn't until the Eighth Emperor that Nicuss adopted the tradition of divine right, and His Majesty Nero is the Tenth Emperor. Our country actually doesn't know much about Nika."
"Liberation? Sounds like challenging the existing order, an enemy of the World Government?"
Hathaway mused. Nero had already seen the distant future. What role would the Nicuss Empire play in this matter?
"Ah, this old man isn't too clear either, but the documents left by the Second Emperor once recorded a man very much like Nika."
"The first pirate in the world was a man named Joy Boy, and he was suspected to be a user of the Nika Fruit."
Hathaway's pupils constricted. She slapped the table and stood up, losing her composure. Joy Boy? There are records in Nicuss?
"Lord Holio, please tell me everything about this man's deeds!"
"Oh... Oh! No problem," Lord Holio was surprised. Hathaway actually had such moments. It seemed Joy Boy was the key to the problem.
"Nicuss has always kept to itself since ancient times, so it doesn't actually know much about Joy Boy."
"It's just that the Second Emperor once went out to sea, and his logbook briefly mentioned a few things."
"There was once a huge kingdom outside Nicuss, formed by the alliance of twenty countries. Even the strongest First Emperor was unwilling to clash with them."
"At that time, the First Emperor was still on the throne, and the Second Emperor met a man named Joy Boy at sea. He was then fighting that huge kingdom."
"He had the ability to make his body and external objects soft and elastic. Oh, right, like rubber—"
At this point, Lord Holio's eyes widened. Like rubber? That son of Revolutionary Dragon!!!
He looked at Hathaway, who nodded slightly, confirming his guess.
"These truths are all recorded on Raftel, and only His Majesty Nero and the Pirate King's crew have reached it."
Hathaway felt that this time she was truly close to the answer—the truth that Nero had been troubled by, yet also anticipated, for so many years.
"After that, the Second Emperor quickly returned to Nicuss. The records of what happened afterward are very vague."
"All that's known is that the huge kingdom disappeared, Joy Boy lost, and caused immense damage to the world. After that, it's the imperial history of the Second Emperor's ascension."
Hathaway fell silent: "So, the outside world was almost destroyed, and we don't even know the detailed situation?"
Lord Holio also felt a bit awkward hearing that: "Ahem... At that time, the First Emperor and Second Emperor were both unparalleled in strength, and no one would deliberately provoke Nicuss, nor did those few have any plans for outward expansion."
"What happened at the time should still be clear to the First Emperor and Second Emperor, but these documents are all recorded in Old Nicussian."
"They gathered dust in the deepest part of the library for several centuries, and a significant portion is missing. His Majesty Nero dug them out when he was a mischievous child."
Hathaway: "..."
Speechless. Raftel is in my house?
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