"Miss."
Rowan's voice rang out.
"A country's been destroyed. Their bodies are afflicted with the incurable Amber Lead Syndrome."
"Children older than five can already remember things."
"I think they'll become stronger because of what happened today, won't they?"
As soon as the words fell, Annie was the first to step forward from among the children.
"M-Mister... I want to stay."
Rowan rubbed her hair.
Soon afterward, all six children over the age of five who had not yet become bedridden chose to remain.
The younger children were taken into another room by the nun.
She herself came back out, looking at Annie and the other children with concern.
"Then..."
"Are you ready?"
The moment Rowan finished speaking, the collapsed Barrels hurriedly shouted:
"D-Diez... Diez Barrels!"
Barrels?
The name wasn't particularly familiar.
Just like Rowan couldn't remember the name of the idiot who had once tried to sell the Op-Op Fruit for five billion Beli.
However, he did remember that fool's son.
"Hmph."
Rowan kicked him over onto his back.
Then he asked,
"Your son..."
"His name is Drake?"
Barrels froze.
For a moment, he was completely bewildered.
Why would the Cloaked Man know his son's name?
After all, Drake was only fifteen years old right now.
So,
"You bastard!"
The sudden burst of anger left Rowan somewhat confused.
But he had already received his answer.
Clearly, the man before him was indeed the future pirate who would attempt to sell the Op-Op Fruit.
The former North Blue Marine officer.
At that moment, all the scattered clues connected.
Barrels, a North Blue Marine, had been assigned by the World Government to help seal off Flevance.
By chance, he discovered the Op-Op Fruit inside the church.
So he deceived the nun, promising to help everyone escape.
And if Rowan hadn't appeared...
Then after obtaining the fruit, Barrels would have killed everyone in the church, children included.
He would later desert the Marines and become a pirate.
After laying low for a while, he would eventually learn the true value of the Op-Op Fruit.
And then...
This Devil Fruit that originated from Flevance would ultimately be eaten by the sole surviving orphan of Flevance:
Trafalgar Law.
As the pieces came together, Rowan thought even further ahead.
According to Vegapunk's theory from his memories, Devil Fruits were manifestations of humanity's dreams and desires.
During this period, the doctors of Flevance were likely displaying the strongest collective will imaginable.
The fruit passed through many hands.
Yet in the original timeline, it still ultimately ended up being eaten by Law.
And Law was the only ordinary survivor from Flevance.
So was Law eating the Op-Op Fruit an inevitability?
With that thought in mind, Rowan raised a hand.
Whoosh!
A Flying Thunder God kunai flashed through the air.
A cold gleam sliced across Barrels' neck.
The tremendous force cleanly severed his head from his body.
"Death is not the end."
"No one I kill gets to keep their secrets."
Rowan stood and looked toward Annie.
"If you don't want to be oppressed..."
"Then while holding onto your convictions, you must also be capable of taking action when necessary."
At the same time, inside the Room of Authority at Mary Geoise.
Saint Saturn spoke first.
"The Amber Lead Syndrome outbreak in Flevance has already begun."
"It will take a sufficiently long period of time before all those insects forget about Amber Lead Syndrome and resume mining Amber Lead once again."
"At the time, you must have been very young."
Saint Saturn's voice remained calm.
The World Government's information network was vast.
Although they did not know Rowan's true identity, they had long since pieced together many clues.
A child who survived God Valley.
A mysterious figure who appeared repeatedly around the Revolutionary Army.
A space-type ability user.
A masked man known only as "Mr. Spark."
All of these fragments pointed toward the same individual.
Inside the church at Flevance, Rowan looked at the Den Den Mushi.
"Very young indeed."
"Young enough that when I watched my companions die, all I could do was hide."
"Young enough to understand what kind of creatures the Celestial Dragons truly are."
A faint smile appeared beneath the mask.
"Then again, perhaps I should thank you."
"If God Valley hadn't happened, perhaps I would never have seen how rotten this world really is."
Silence filled the Room of Authority.
The Five Elders showed no emotional reaction.
To them, the death of a few slaves decades ago was no different from stepping on ants while walking.
Saint Warcury finally spoke.
"You called us merely to reminisce about the past?"
"No."
Rowan's answer was immediate.
His gaze swept across the church.
The children.
The nun.
The sick.
The desperate people outside who still believed they had been abandoned by the world.
Then he continued:
"I called because I wanted someone to witness this."
"Witness what?" Saint Peter asked coldly.
"Witness hope."
A few of the Revolutionary Army members nearby couldn't help smiling.
The Five Elders remained expressionless.
Hope?
Such a meaningless word.
For eight hundred years, countless people had spoken of hope.
Every single one of them had eventually been crushed.
"You believe these insects can change the world?" Saint Saturn asked.
"They already are."
Rowan replied calmly.
"Five months ago, the people of Flevance believed their kings would save them."
"Then they discovered their kings had abandoned them."
"They believed the World Government would help them."
"Then they discovered the World Government wanted them dead."
"They believed the surrounding nations would show mercy."
"Then they watched their children get shot at the border."
"The moment they understood all of that..."
"They began to think."
"And once people begin to think, your rule starts to crack."
The atmosphere inside the Room of Authority grew colder.
The Five Elders finally understood why the Revolutionary Army was different from pirates.
Pirates stole.
Pirates killed.
Pirates created chaos.
But pirates never taught people to question authority.
The Revolutionary Army did.
And that was far more dangerous.
Saint Nusjuro slowly rested a hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Then tell me, Revolutionary."
"What makes you think you'll succeed where everyone else has failed?"
Rowan laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to be heard through the Den Den Mushi.
"Because eight hundred years ago..."
"Someone almost succeeded."
The room fell silent.
For the first time, a flicker of killing intent appeared among the Five Elders.
The Void Century.
The Great Kingdom.
Joy Boy.
These were names that should never be spoken.
Rowan continued before anyone could interrupt.
"And because every time you erase a country..."
"Every time you burn a library..."
"Every time you kill people for learning the truth..."
"You prove that you're afraid."
Saint Saturn's eyes narrowed.
"Afraid?"
"Of course."
Rowan looked at Annie and the other children.
"Power never fears weakness."
"It only fears something capable of replacing it."
Outside the church, distant gunfire echoed through the streets of Flevance.
Revolutionary Army units were already engaging the cleanup forces.
The evacuation had begun.
A young revolutionary rushed into the church.
"Mr. Spark!"
"The eastern district is secure."
"The first civilian evacuation route is open."
Rowan nodded.
"Good."
Then he turned back to the Den Den Mushi.
"Anyway."
"The purpose of this call wasn't to debate philosophy."
"I simply wanted to inform the five of you that the people of Flevance..."
"...are no longer yours to kill."
A crushing silence followed.
Then Saint Saturn spoke in a low voice:
"Do you believe you can save everyone?"
"No."
Rowan answered honestly.
"Not today."
"Not tomorrow either."
"But every person we save is one less corpse for your statistics."
"And every survivor is another witness."
"A witness who will remember exactly who tried to murder them."
The Den Den Mushi's expression darkened.
"Then enjoy your little victory while it lasts."
"We have eight hundred years."
Rowan's eyes narrowed slightly beneath the mask.
"And we have tomorrow."
Click.
The call ended.
The transformed Den Den Mushi returned to normal.
For a moment, the church was completely silent.
Annie looked up at Rowan.
"Mister..."
"Were those really the people who wanted us dead?"
Rowan looked at the frightened faces around him.
Then he nodded.
"Yes."
The children fell silent.
A few of them clenched their fists.
Outside, the sound of revolutionary soldiers organizing evacuations continued.
The battle for Flevance had only just begun.
Saint Saturn looked at the Den Den Mushi. "One year old? Or two? At that age, you shouldn't have remembered those memories after growing up. Yet your hatred toward the World Nobles is obvious to the naked eye."
From the Den Den Mushi, Rowan chuckled softly. "So are you regretting not killing me back then? Or do you think that because of that hatred, I'll throw myself into Mariejois?"
Saint Saturn pondered for a moment before speaking. "We have always been very curious about the ability you've displayed. Devil Fruit abilities are restrained by Seastone and seawater, yet neither seems to affect you."
"This caused our operation at Sabaody Archipelago to fail, and because of that, Saint Rodnaz was killed by you. Even Borsalino of the Marines, with the power of the Glint-Glint Fruit, couldn't stop you."
"You truly are a troublesome..."
Before he could finish, Rowan interrupted him through the Den Den Mushi.
"I think I already made myself very clear just now, didn't I? There should be quite a few arrangements in Mariejois specifically for dealing with me. Do you really think I'd throw myself into a trap?"
"Before being locked in Seastone handcuffs, the Warp-Warp Fruit's ability was much more convenient than mine. Yet in eight hundred years, there has never been any record of an enemy who invaded Mariejois and managed to leave alive."
At this point, the conversation finally contained the only truly meaningful exchange.
Before this, neither side had answered anything important. Every sentence had been an attempt to extract information from the other party.
Saint Saturn had even intentionally kept bringing up Rowan's teleportation ability, subtly conveying the impression that the World Government had no effective countermeasures against it.
But was that really possible?
If it were truly that simple for them to be helpless, then after eight hundred years, the Celestial Dragons should have been wiped out long ago.
"Then..."
Saint Peter's voice sounded.
"Did you redirect the communication to us just so you could use the Flevance incident to show off?"
"Tch."
Behind the mask, Rowan's eyes narrowed.
"The pain and despair of Flevance are just like God Valley twenty-one years ago. Those things... are not something to be used for showing off."
"As far as I know, the World Government learned a hundred years ago that Amber Lead ore causes heavy metal poisoning, and that the toxin can be passed from mother to child, with the onset period growing shorter with each generation."
"Just like twenty-one years ago, when the Celestial Dragons used an island's population as rabbits for a hunting game simply because of a field trip."
"As a survivor of God Valley, I want an answer."
In the Room of Authority, Saint Nusjuro, the most hot-tempered of the Five Elders, immediately spoke.
"As insects, insects should—"
Before he could finish, Saint Saturn's cane struck the floor.
"Bang!"
The crisp sound cut off the rest of his words.
Saint Saturn spoke. "So this is your purpose? Or perhaps the purpose of the Revolutionary Army?"
The Den Den Mushi imitating Rowan remained silent.
At that moment, Saint Nusjuro, who had only gotten halfway through his sentence, also realized something.
"From our perspective, you're merely a child. So you won't understand that everything the World Government has done has been for the stability of this sea."
Saint Saturn paused briefly before continuing.
"Compared to pirates, who pursue revenge and create chaos, you are the true source of disorder."
"Recording this malicious conversation is meaningless. The World Economic Journal would never allow it to be published, and even if it were published, what would it change?"
His tone was completely calm, as though he were merely stating a simple fact.
Rowan remained silent for a moment.
"Do you know?"
Rowan's voice echoed through the Den Den Mushi.
"When the first glimmer of dawn begins to appear, it is also when the darkness is deepest."
"We insects, whose lives should have ended long ago, are now risking everything for the arrival of that dawn, you fools!"
Click.
The Den Den Mushi was hung up.
Inside the church in Flevance, Rowan tossed a corpse outside.
The call had served many purposes, but only two core objectives had truly been accomplished.
The first was to make it clear that he fully understood the dangers waiting for him in Mariejois, establishing that he would not recklessly walk into a trap. This would help pave the way for future infiltration plans.
The second was recording the entire conversation.
Although the Den Den Mushi used to contact the Five Elders was only a secure anti-eavesdropping model capable of transmitting audio but not video, Rowan's side had recorded the entire exchange.
This footage would later become teaching material for Revolutionary Army instructors, alongside recordings of the rescue operation in Flevance.
As for the other goal, probing for information about Mariejois's defenses, the Five Elders had revealed absolutely nothing.
Letting out a breath, Rowan stored away the recording Den Den Mushi.
The footage would need to be copied later at the research facility in Baltigo.
Knock knock knock.
"Come in."
The church door opened.
The nun stepped inside and bowed slightly.
"Sir. The children are ready."
"However, the boy who said he was going to bring his little sister still hasn't arrived."
Once Rowan had deduced Barrels's identity through the mention of Drake's name, he had also realized the child the nun was waiting for was most likely Trafalgar Law.
In Rowan's memories, Law could be said to have inherited the will of all Flevance.
And now, after wandering through countless hands for several years, the Op-Op Fruit would ultimately return to him and cure the only surviving victim of Amber Lead Syndrome.
So had the fruit appeared in Flevance because of the collective will of the doctors?
Then why had it appeared in the church?
A desire to save people?
After several months had passed, even the doctors who had once been full of confidence were beginning to lose hope as their spirits crumbled.
"The child may already have been found by our people."
"The Revolutionary Army will search all of Flevance for survivors and bring them safely to the evacuation points."
As Rowan spoke, he stepped outside and looked at the children carrying small packs and those lying on makeshift carts.
"You should leave first."
"After all, if those five old bastards decide to be ruthless enough, this place might disappear entirely before long."
Disappear entirely?
The nun froze for a moment but did not ask further questions.
Soon afterward, Rowan instructed everyone to hold hands.
As always, he reached out and rubbed Annie's hair one last time.
Then everyone vanished from the church.
Mariejois, Room of Authority.
"You were too cautious, Jaygarcia."
Saint Nusjuro finally broke the silence.
"They have no way of broadcasting this conversation to the entire world."
"And that bird who runs the World Economic Journal doesn't understand the implications of these matters anyway."
"It doesn't matter."
Saint Peter glanced at the Den Den Mushi on the table.
"An insect remains an insect."
"Even if this conversation became known to the entire world, it would amount to nothing."
"Though it seems that insect won't be coming to Mariejois anytime soon."
Nusjuro frowned.
"It has been many years since a pest dared act with such arrogance."
"If we can confirm his presence in Flevance, perhaps we could—"
Saint Saturn shook his head slightly.
"Flevance is not Wano."
"If the Revolutionary Army occupied Wano, they would have difficulty relocating in a short period of time."
"But a small city like Flevance is different."
"By the time we finished seeking Lord Imu's approval, they would already be gone."
"And more importantly..."
Saturn's gaze hardened.
"If that attack were used on Flevance, the Amber Lead deposits beneath the country would also be reduced to dust."
The room fell silent once more.
To the Five Elders, the people of Flevance were worthless.
The country's mineral wealth, however, still had value.
And for now that value outweighed the life of a single troublesome revolutionary.
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