The first half of the Grand Line, the capital of the Blacksteel Empire.
Sunlight fell over the steel city, recently freed from war and tyranny.
In the past, the air here always smelled of smoke and blood, and black smoke from the factories often covered the sky.
Now, the city looked different.
Giant trains ran across the wasteland, and busy trade caravans moved through the wide streets. At the port, merchant ships bearing the seagull logo of the G-17 Branch were loading and unloading mountains of cargo.
There was no war.
There was no famine.
The "Tyrant" Friedrich, who had once launched invasions without hesitation, was already "dead."
The current Blacksteel Empire was a model member state in the eyes of the World Government. It was a rich country merchants wanted to enter.
This was the peace Aiden had helped bring to the country.
Deep inside a seemingly ordinary private manor in the capital's administrative district.
Thick curtains blocked most of the light, keeping the large study dark all year round. The air smelled of old paper and ink.
A thin man with a straight back sat behind an old wooden table covered in blueprints and reports.
He wore a plain, rough shirt. A cup of cold water sat next to his hand.
Though his hair was gray, his hidden life over the past half-year had helped him recover from the exhaustion he had carried on the throne. He looked healthier than before.
His back stayed straight. Even now, the ministers around him still lowered their heads when he spoke.
This was the former king who had supposedly been "executed by justice" in the eyes of the world, Tyrant Friedrich.
Now, he acted as a shadow, protecting this country in secret.
Knock, knock, knock.
Rapid knocking broke the silence.
Before the man inside could answer, a trusted minister pushed open the door to the secret room.
He was usually composed, but now he rushed in without even wiping the sweat from his forehead. He tightly gripped a sweat-soaked newspaper in his hand.
"Your Majesty... something happened!"
"Don't panic."
Friedrich did not look up from the report.
"As long as the sea route of the G-17 Branch remains open, and as long as that man is still there, the sky won't fall."
The minister swallowed hard. He spread Morgans' newspaper on the table with shaking hands and pointed to the photo on the front page.
"It's exactly... that man who has an issue."
Friedrich looked at the newspaper.
A second later, his hand stopped over the paper.
He grabbed it. His rough thumb rubbed the striking front-page headline again and again.
"A Celestial Dragon Executed! Marine Rear Admiral Aiden Shakes the World!"
In the photo, the young Marine Rear Admiral Aiden held twin swords while surrounded by lightning. He stood alone against the Marines' strongest support forces that had arrived—Sakazuki and Borsalino.
Although the photo was printed in black and white, it still made the old man's fingers tighten around the paper.
"Heh... hehe..."
Friedrich gave a short laugh.
Then another.
Soon, he was laughing openly, and his laughter filled the study.
"Hahahaha!! Good! Good kill!!"
"I knew it... I knew he would never be willing to be anyone's watchdog! I knew he would break this fake order sooner or later!"
Friedrich stood so quickly that the chair scraped back.
He pushed open the closed window.
Clatter.
Bright sunlight flooded in, lighting up the mountains of documents and files in the study.
"Aiden..."
The old man looked past the busy streets, toward the lively city outside.
For a moment, he remembered the night that had changed everything.
"You gave this country a way to survive. You helped us clear the false charges of 'Ancient Technology.' You let us make money while standing on our own feet, instead of biting people like dogs just to pay the Heavenly Tribute..."
Tears ran down Friedrich's face.
He had not cried even when he was forced to step down and fake his death.
"Now you are in trouble. If we people of Blacksteel don't even dare to make a sound, how can we call ourselves men? How can we call ourselves the Country of Steel?"
"What is the World Government doing now?"
Friedrich turned back to the minister.
The minister quickly lowered his head and reported.
"I'm afraid... they are going to hold a public trial for Rear Admiral Aiden. They might even... execute him."
"Trial? Execution?"
Friedrich's hand closed around the newspaper.
"They want to touch our benefactor? Did they ask for our permission?"
"Go! Contact the current king attending the Reverie in the Holy Land right now!"
"Tell him to protest to Marine Headquarters as the King of the Blacksteel Empire!"
"Make the wording tough! Tell him not to just act like a crybaby and beg!"
"Tell them that Rear Admiral Aiden is the benefactor of our Blacksteel Empire, and he is the cornerstone keeping this golden trade route alive."
"We don't care if a Celestial Dragon lives or dies, and we don't care about the World Government's laws."
"We only know that if anything happens to Rear Admiral Aiden, or if he faces any unfair trial..."
"The Blacksteel Empire will cut off all steel supplies to the outside world indefinitely!"
"If they want to test the hardness of Blacksteel, we will play with them to the end!"
...
Water 7, Tom's Workers.
Inside Dock One on the giant Scrap Island, sawdust flew around like snow.
The air smelled of tung oil, fresh wood, and the sea breeze. That was the smell of shipwrights at work.
Tom, the huge Fish-Man shipwright, was leaning over a ten-meter-long blueprint. His large hands held a tiny charcoal pencil as he frowned at a difficult section of the design.
Beside him, a young Iceburg was commanding a group of shirtless workers. They chanted as they used a pulley system to hoist an incredibly heavy Blacksteel rail.
In a far corner, a teenage punk with a blue pompadour—Cutty Flam—was holding a blowtorch and hammering away at a pile of scrap metal.
He was tinkering with his brand-new Battle Franky. He looked bored with the sea train project going on nearby and muttered, "I'll find a chance to destroy that thing sooner or later."
"Tom! Tom!!"
Hurried footsteps broke the organized busyness inside the dock.
The current mayor of Water 7, the fat old man Barnes, who was usually always smiling and friendly to everyone, ran in panting heavily.
He ran so fast that his top hat was crooked. He waved a sweat-soaked newspaper in his hand, running as if something terrible had happened.
"Tahahaha! Barnes, why so panicked? Did the Aqua Laguna arrive early?"
"It's worse than that!"
Mayor Barnes rushed up to Tom. Out of breath, he slapped the newspaper onto the sawdust-covered table. His face had gone pale.
"Look... look at this! Rear Admiral Aiden... he killed someone! And he killed a Celestial Dragon!"
"What?!"
Tom snatched the newspaper.
When he clearly saw the headline and the photo of Aiden standing in the ruins, the charcoal pencil in his hand snapped and was crushed into powder.
"That idiot... this is too reckless!"
Although Tom cursed out loud, his grip on the newspaper tightened with worry.
"Killing a Celestial Dragon... he is a true man..."
"Whoa! That guy is totally super! He actually took out a Celestial Dragon?!"
Franky struck an exaggerated pose.
"Shut up, Cutty! Is this the time for that?!"
Iceburg put down his tools and walked over. He hit Franky hard on the head.
Iceburg did not laugh.
"Those are the World Nobles, the descendants of the Creators. The Marines definitely won't be able to protect him. The World Government will tear him apart."
"So what?!"
Tom slammed his hand onto the thick oak table.
The force was so great that the blueprints and tools bounced half a meter into the air, making the entire dock seem to shake.
"A true man would never watch his benefactor die!"
"If that kid Aiden hadn't opened up the steel supply from the Blacksteel Empire, our sea train project would have stopped long ago because we lacked steel! That is the hope connecting our future, and he helped us keep it going!"
"Not to mention..."
Tom turned his head and looked past the dock's giant gates toward the calm blue sea outside.
"The Aqua Laguna from two months ago..."
No one in Water 7 had forgotten that night.
It was supposed to be a night of citywide celebration. Countless residents and shipwrights had gathered on the low coast to sing and dance. But no one expected that year's Aqua Laguna to come so violently and without warning.
Giant waves tens of meters high had pressed toward the defenseless crowd like a wall of water ready to swallow the coast.
In that moment, whether they were partying tourists or drunk shipwrights, people froze.
Just when everyone thought the festival was about to turn into a massacre, Issho appeared.
He simply pulled out a portion of his sword cane. Purple gravity waves shot into the sky and forced the tsunami back into the sea right before it swallowed the crowd.
That night, human strength pushed back nature.
"If Aiden hadn't sent that man named Issho to stop it, how many people celebrating on the coast would have survived that night? Would we even be standing here talking right now?"
Tom turned around.
He stood in front of the workers.
"Barnes, use your name as mayor to unite the foremen of Docks One through Seven, and send a joint letter to the Marines!"
"Tom... this... this is rebellion..."
Barnes wiped his cold sweat, his legs shaking.
"So what if it's rebellion?!"
Tom slammed the table again.
"Tell them that if they don't release Aiden, Water 7 will immediately stop all repair and maintenance work on Marine battleships! All docks will stop working at once!"
"And!"
Tom pointed at the sea train prototype under construction.
His words carried through the entire dock, ringing between every beam.
"They want to arrest a true man? Then tell them to get ready to swim when they hunt pirates from now on!!"
...
The sky island ten thousand meters in the air, Upper Yard.
This was a paradise above the clouds.
Upper Yard, once known as the "Island of God," was a primitive and wild forest. Now, it had changed.
In a cleared open space, a brand-new library made of white cloud bricks and old wood stood tall.
On the rich island cloud in front of the library, a giant tree sapling was growing strong under the sun and mist. It was still young, but it was already taking shape.
That was the descendant of the Tree of Knowledge.
It was the hope of Ohara.
"Mom! Mom!"
Robin shouted from the cloud beach.
Little Robin tightly gripped a wet ball of paper. She stumbled as she ran back from the cloud sea beach.
After living a carefree life on the sky island for over a year, Robin had grown a lot taller. She was no longer the skinny, helpless little girl from before.
But right now, her cheeks were red from running, and she had lost one shoe.
"Robin? What's wrong? Why are you running so fast? Be careful not to fall."
Olvia, who was sorting old documents under the shade of the tree, looked up. She caught her daughter in her arms as Robin rushed to her.
Nearby, Professor Clover, who was playing chess with the giant Saul, pushed up his glasses and looked over with a smile.
"Run slower, little Robin. There are no bad guys chasing you up here."
"It's... it's Aiden!"
Robin held up the ruined newspaper, tears already running down her face.
"Aiden... he seems to be in danger! The newspaper... the newspaper is full of his name!"
Hearing Aiden's name, everyone stopped what they were doing.
That name belonged to the man who had saved them from Ohara.
Olvia quickly took the newspaper and carefully opened it.
Though the text was blurry and the photo had yellowed from the seawater, Aiden's figure standing in the ruins was still clear to see.
"Oh my god..."
Olvia covered her mouth. Tears poured from her eyes, and her body shook.
"He killed a Celestial Dragon... the judgment of justice..."
Professor Clover leaned in and read the words with a trembling beard.
"He didn't hesitate to draw his sword against a World Noble to protect civilians..."
"That young man... he's still the exact same. Whether facing a Buster Call or a Celestial Dragon, he always stands on the side of the weak."
"He is a hero! A true hero! He's also... a foolish kid."
Saul wiped his tears and let out a booming cry that made the leaves around them fall.
"Dereshishishi! Waaah... I knew it! Aiden is the best! But he must be in a lot of danger right now!"
"Mom..."
Robin pulled Olvia's clothes.
"Will Aiden get arrested? Can we... can we go save him? Just like how he saved us?"
Olvia crouched down and hugged her daughter tightly, hiding her face on Robin's small shoulder.
She looked down at the cotton-like sea of clouds.
She knew they were too weak right now.
They were so weak that they could barely protect themselves, let alone interfere in a storm of that level.
"Robin, listen to me."
Olvia wiped the tears from her daughter's face and spoke carefully.
"We are still too weak right now. Going down wouldn't help him. It would only make us a burden and distract him."
"But you have to remember today."
"Remember this man who dared to draw his sword against gods for the sake of justice. Remember everything he did for us."
Olvia pointed at the growing Tree of Knowledge sapling behind them. Its green leaves moved in the sunlight.
"You must grow up fast. Just like this tree, plant your roots deep and pass down knowledge. We have to find all the erased history and hidden truths."
"That is the best way to repay him."
"When the storm passes, and when we have enough strength..."
"I promise I'll take you down there. But until then, all we can do is trust Aiden. We must believe that he will keep creating miracles like he always does."
A sea breeze moved through the sapling's leaves.
...
A World Government member state in the North Blue that was caught in war.
A war against tyranny was in full swing here.
The sound of cannon fire rang out in the distance. Smoke filled the air between the ruined walls.
The air smelled of gunpowder and blood. Although the Revolutionary Army had not yet grown to its future size, they were already planting hope in desperate countries.
Inside a temporary command base made from the basement of an abandoned church, a few oil lamps flickered in the wind. They lit up the world map on the wall with shifting light.
"Dragon! Look at this!"
The hurried sound of the door opening broke the quiet in the room.
The tall and heavily built Bartholomew Kuma entered faster than usual.
Ginny followed behind him, waving her arms around.
"What's wrong?"
The man sitting behind the old wooden table slowly looked up. He wore a dark green cloak. The dark red square tattoo on his face stood out under the dim light.
The leader of the Revolutionary Army, Monkey D. Dragon.
"It's Aiden! That Marine Rear Admiral, Aiden the Reaper!"
Ginny spoke first. She slammed the wrinkled newspaper right in front of Dragon.
"He killed a Celestial Dragon! He really killed one! Blew him to bits! Right in the Kalga Kingdom!"
"What?"
Dragon stopped moving.
For once, he did not answer right away.
He quickly picked up the newspaper. Using the light of the oil lamp, he read the article line by line.
"The Kalga Kingdom... to stop the Celestial Dragons' 'hunting game,' to protect five hundred and twelve innocent civilians..."
He stayed on the line about "executing a Celestial Dragon" for a long time.
"Killing a Celestial Dragon, huh..."
Dragon smiled with admiration.
"This man... he rejected my invitation back then, saying he would walk his own path. But the facts prove that he is freer than most people on this sea."
"This is a true revolution. He is using actions to do what we have always wanted to do but haven't been able to achieve yet."
"Of course!"
Ginny nodded hard. She spoke as if she had done it herself.
"Back in the Blacksteel Empire, if he hadn't stepped in and knocked some sense into this idiot Kuma, we might have never ended up together in this life. And... he also indirectly gave us a huge batch of weapons, letting us arm more of our comrades."
"Dragon."
Kuma, who had been quiet, closed the Bible in his hands and spoke.
"We owe Aiden a great debt. Also, the justice he practices—the courage to draw his blade against the strong for the sake of the weak—is exactly what our Revolutionary Army is fighting for."
"A person like that shouldn't die under the blades of his own people. He especially shouldn't become a sacrifice in political struggles."
Dragon put down the newspaper and stood up. He walked over to the wall with the world map.
His finger slowly traced over the red dots on the map. He finally stopped on a black skull symbol located in the Calm Belt—Impel Down.
"If the World Government is going to deal with him, they will definitely send him to Impel Down or take him straight to Mary Geoise for trial."
Dragon turned around. His cloak shifted as he moved.
"Pass down the order."
"Activate all our hidden spies inside the Marines. Keep a close eye on Marine Headquarters' movements. I want to know Aiden's escort route immediately."
"If they really plan to take Aiden to Impel Down..."
Dragon clenched his fists.
"I will personally lead a team to intercept them in the Calm Belt!"
"Even if it means exposing our base, even if it means fighting an Admiral... that man is worth the risk!"
"Hee-haw!"
A figure with a giant purple afro and heavy makeup suddenly jumped out from the shadows.
Ivankov blinked his huge eyes. He spun a glass of red wine in his hand with a playful smile.
"What if the interception fails, or if he's already locked up? Dragon-boy~"
"Impel Down is a hell you can't escape from once you go in~"
Dragon looked at him but said nothing.
"Alright, alright, I get it."
Ivankov shrugged helplessly. Then he grinned wider and showed his white teeth.
"Looks like I'll have to go to that hell early and throw a party!"
"Don't worry, I'll find a way to sneak into Impel Down. If needed, I'll dig an escape route for him right out of those iron walls! After all..."
"If a man with that much guts died in a dark place like that, this sea would be way too boring!"