Don't Put Mother in a Cup

Rouge was still alive when you let him go.

Garp looked up from his Den Den Mushi; half of the wall behind the table had collapsed, and rubble was falling on his uniform shoulder.

How do you know the Throne is going to take away her memories?

The transit order was split into two copies.

Mo'er lay on the long table in the Tavern, A Hui pressed on his wound, and the doctor recut the bandage that had just been wrapped.

One document required him to receive Roger's dying Echo, while the other was to be used after Roger's death.

What was written in the second document?

"Find the woman who carries your bloodline, collect pregnancy records, and erase memories related to the child."

Ace's Den Den Mushi didn't move.

Someone called out to him, but he didn't respond.

Lin Qi looked at the narrow sheet of paper on the table.

What happens to a person after their memories are removed?

She'll forget she was ever pregnant.

What about the body?

"The production records are zeroed out, the World Government can continue to investigate, but it can't find any testimony that she actively protected the child."

Garp asked, "Rouge held out for twenty months, but the Throne still hasn't found her."

"Found it once."

There was silence again from the naval lines.

The Den Den Mushi of the Sengoku turned to Mo'er.

Which day?

"Eleven months after Roger's execution."

"Place."

"South Blue, outside Baterilla."

Garp stood up from his chair.

Sengoku raised his hand to block him.

"Listen to the end first."

"Get out of my way."

"If we rush into the South Blue now, the events of twenty-two years ago will not change."

"I know!"

"Then sit down."

Garp looked at the arm blocking his way, and after a few moments, he dragged the chair out of the rubble, but did not sit down.

"Mo'er, continue."

"The Throne sent an unnumbered medical ship, carrying the Memory Extraction Cup."

Are you on the ship?

"No, that recording was later added to the Total Echo."

"Who stopped them?"

"Transfer Subject."

Ace finally spoke.

"Did he bring it to the South Blue from the Calm Belt?"

He heard Rouge's cries for help and used Roger's Echo left at sea to find his way there.

"Does he know my mother?"

"I don't know him."

"Then why did you save her?"

She said one thing.

Ace brought the Den Den Mushi closer.

What did you say?

Mo'er looked at the Straw Hat, his lips moved twice before he made a sound.

Don't put my child in a cup.

A Hui knocked over the water bowl on the side of the long table.

Water trickled down the table to Mo'er's side, and he tried to block it with his bent index finger, but to no avail.

The Den Den Mushi.

The people behind Ace retreated, leaving him alone standing by the ship's railing.

Did she know at the time that the World Government was going to erase her memories?

"The people on the hospital ship told her that she could live if she handed over her memories related to you."

She didn't pay.

"No."

"What about the person whose luck was changed?"

He took over the extraction procedure for Rouge.

Lin Qi picked up the narrow piece of paper with the number written on it.

"So he carries Rouge's memories."

"Only take a portion."

Which part?

"The portion of the Throne that has already been secured includes Roger, the children, and Garp."

Garp slowly loosened his grip on the table.

"Rouge still recognized me later."

"The Transfer Subject sent the memories back."

How should I deliver it?

"Straw Hat."

Luffy lifted the brim of his hat.

"It's that again?"

"Roger's Echo reverberate across the sea, Straw Hat is the most reliable receiver. Rouge's lost memories travel back to the South Blue along that Echo."

Ace asked, "How was she able to keep it a secret until she gave birth to me?"

"The memories that were sent back are missing a name."

Whose name?

"Your."

Ace gripped the Den Den Mushi's casing.

"She forgot my name?"

You didn't have a name back then.

She called me Gol.

Garp, speaking from the Navy's perspective, said, "After Rouge gave birth to him, her first name was Gol D. Ace."

That's the surname she left you.

Why was it later changed to Portgas?

"Because in the memories of going back, Roger's name was removed once, leaving a blank."

At this point, the doctor gestured for Mo'er to stop, A Hui immediately brought the bowl of water to his lips.

He drank too quickly, and the water he choked on stained his collar red.

"Stop talking."

A Hui took the bowl away.

"If you tear again, the doctor won't have anywhere to stitch you up."

"Still one step away."

"There's a twenty-two-year difference; there's no rush."

"It's urgent now."

Mo'er pointed to the computer.

If you turn the cup upside down, the curve of the Moving Island has already rotated halfway.

The ink mark that originally indicated the passage north of Amazon Lily in three days has been soaked in water, and the date is getting shorter.

Vegapunk checked twice.

"Its movement speed has increased; it has received Ace's name."

On the sea chart Nami unfolded, the Blank area was moving closer to Amazon Lily.

At the current rate, it will take at most a day and a half.

Lin Qi asked, "Why does the name speed up the island's progress?"

"The island's investigation is still searching for Roger's bloodline; Ace just responded."

Can it be withdrawn?

"The response has been sent to the route."

Ace placed the Den Den Mushi on the deck.

"Then let it come to me."

Marco blocked his way.

"What you up to?"

"I left the Moby Dick and steered it out to sea."

"Pops just ordered the entire army to set off ahead of schedule. If you go to the Calm Belt alone, it's like handing your head to the Throne."

"It's looking for me; staying on the ship will help it find everyone."

Whitebeard's voice echoed across the deck.

"Ace, come back."

"Pops."

I said, "Let's go back."

"That island holds my mother's memories."

"That's why you absolutely cannot go alone."

"That's my business."

"When you call me 'Pops,' it's no longer just your business."

Ace stood at the ship's railing without turning around.

She endured it all by herself for twenty months.

"I know."

I don't even remember her voice.

"Then go and bring the sound back."

The naginata in Whitebeard's hand fell onto the deck, and long cracks appeared on the wooden planks on both sides.

"The Moby Dick can't get into the Calm Belt. I'll send you to someone who can. Until then, if you dare to step off the ship, I'll personally tie you back to the dock."

Luffy picked up the Den Den Mushi.

I'll go too.

"Straw Hat Kid, you'd better keep your hat safe first."

"It's no longer tight."

Chopper had just untied half of the Red Knot when it suddenly came undone and fell into Luffy's palm.

The child's voice, hidden within, shifted from the Straw Hat to the Red Knot.

Ace doesn't come, Mother will wake up.

Luffy held the Red Knot to his ear.

Who is the mother you're referring to?

"The mother of the island."

Does she have a name?

"It's been taken."

"Please get it back for her."

"I dare not."

"Why?"

She'll look for the child when she wakes up.

Who to look for?

The cries of many babies echoed from the Red Knot.

One sound after another, piled up on the still water of the Calm Belt, where there were no waves.

Mo'er broke free from A Hui's hand and sat up on one side.

"Put the Red Knot far away; that's not a child's voice."

Chopper brought an empty wooden box, Luffy didn't put it in.

How many people are inside?

Red Knot did not answer.

The Moving Island on the computer screen flipped over.

The bottom of the island is not the shell of Sea Kings.

A dense array of Black Cups is embedded in a massive body, each cup containing a record of an infant's life.

The sound of instruments turning pages came from Vegapunk's circuitry.

"These are the birth records that the World Government took away twenty-two years ago when it investigated Roger's bloodline."

The Sengoku stood before the crumbling wall.

That investigation involved all children born in the South Blue in the months closest to the expected birth date.

How many people?

No figures have been released.

"What about the internal figures?"

The Sengoku did not refer to the documents.

He remembered that number.

One thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven.

The Red Knot in Luffy's palm began to heat up.

Amidst the chorus of sobs, the child finally uttered the name he had kept hidden for twenty-two years.

I am number one, nine hundred and sixty-eight.

Ace asked, "Who are you?"

I have no birth record.

There will always be a mother.

She's below the island.

The computer screen continued to scroll down.

The abdomen of the body, covered by Black Cup, revealed a suture line that stretched for tens of meters.

The same name is engraved in a square in the middle of the suture line.

Within the empty frame that had been empty for twenty-two years, old characters emerged stroke by stroke.

After recognizing the first word, Mo'er reached out and pushed the doctor away.

"Turn off the screen."

Lin Qi didn't move.

"Why?"

That's not an island waiting for rescue.

You just said there were living people there.

"Have."

"Then we have to go."

"Lin Qi, it keeps moving because the people below are looking for the place where they were born."

Finish the last stroke in the name box.

An old medical bill belonging to the World Government covers the computer screen.

[Experimental Mother: Portgas D. Rouge]

Garp shoved Sengoku aside and grabbed the Den Den Mushi.

"Nonsense, she's dead!"

The child inside the Red Knot stopped crying.

A small section of the sutures on the abdomen of the Moving Island subsequently tore open.

The female voice coming from inside was so weak that each word was spoken with a long pause.

"Garp."

Give me back my child.