She Wasn't Rouge
Don't answer her.
Mo'er leaned against the long table, blood seeping from the edges of his newly changed bandages. A Hui raised her hand and pressed down on his shoulder, pushing him back onto the table.
Garp held the Den Den Mushi and ignored it.
"You just called my name."
The female voice on the computer responded after a long pause.
"Garp."
"Rouge has never called me that before."
The sutures on the Moving Island's abdomen opened again, the Black Cups embedded in its massive body collided, and the baby's cries traveled along the lines into the Tavern.
Lin Qi reached out and covered the old letter next to the computer.
"Garp, what do you want to ask?"
Ask her something only Rouge knows.
Sengoku stood in front of the broken wall, his outstretched hand still blocking Garp.
"Don't use personal memories to confirm your identity; the medical bills are waiting for you to claim them."
"I recognize her voice."
"A voice can be extracted from memory."
"So you want me to pretend I didn't hear you?"
"Let me show you clearly first: is she a living person, a record, or something pieced together from Throne?"
The Den Den Mushi) delivered Sengoku's words verbatim into the Tavern, and the medical bill on the computer screen turned the page accordingly.
[The identity of the Experimental Mother is being confirmed]
[Witness: Monkey D. Garp]
Garp stared at the words, his fist pressed against the edge of the table.
"I'm not sure."
The woman's voice came again.
You promised me.
Garp's hand tensed, and a piece of the table corner fell off his palm.
What did you promise?
"Let my child live."
A hurried footstep came from Ace's end, and Marco moved the Den Den Mushi back half a foot.
"Ace, don't come any closer."
She was talking about me.
"She might be waiting for you to say that."
"My mother did indeed entrust me to Garp."
Sengoku, sealed archives of investigations in the South Blue were opened.
"Rouge wasn't the only one who knew about this. The search team back then investigated everyone who might have come into contact with Roger. Garp taking the child might already be recorded in the Throne's records."
Garp turned to him.
No one saw me take Ace away.
"Records don't necessarily come from what we see."
Mo'er coughed up a mouthful of bloody water, his finger still pointing at the screen.
"That's exactly what the Experimental Mother experiment is all about. It doesn't need to know where the child is hiding; it just needs to piece together the mother's train of thought and then follow the direction the mother would be searching for."
Lin Qi enlarged the medical bill.
What does the phrase "Experimental Mother" mean?
The sound of paper turning and instruments flipping through Vegapunk's circuitry could be heard.
"I need to see the next page; the identity section at the beginning is blocking the structural description."
"Is it possible to bypass the confirmation process?"
"You're the one who sets the question, you ask."
The Black Cup on the computer spun halfway around, and the child hidden in the Red Knot immediately shouted out.
"Don't ask who she is."
Luffy placed the Red Knot on the brim of his hat.
"Why?"
"If you ask, she'll say it's Rouge."
"That's exactly what she wrote."
"The written name will grow into her body."
Luffy held the Red Knot in front of him.
"Can a name grow into a body?"
"With each piece of her mother's memory that is found, she gains another piece."
Chopper Luffy's arm.
"Ask him if that body is the original one."
"No need to ask."
The child inside the Red Knot shrank deep into the coil.
"That belongs to many people."
Only Mo'er's breathing could be heard in the Tavern.
Lin Qi looked at the densely packed Black Cups at the bottom of the screen.
"Those 1,967 birth records, each one carries the mother's memories?"
"Some only have sounds, some have blood, and some have the action of holding a child."
What did Rouge leave behind?
"Twenty months."
Vegapunk stopped the instrument.
"I see."
Nami immediately asked, "What do you understand?"
"The World Government couldn't find Roger's child during a normal pregnancy, so they need an Experimental Mother model that can simulate an abnormal pregnancy. Rouge's 20 months of physical records are exactly the core material they lack."
"So they used her as Experimental Mother?"
"The identity field records the main sample used by the Experimental Mother model, and does not mean that the body belongs to Rouge."
Garp did not sit down.
Why does she recognize me?
"You were among the memories that Rouge had taken from her."
A female voice came in from the computer.
"Garp, it hurts."
Garp closed his eyes once, and when he opened them again, his gaze fell on Lin Qi.
"Set a question."
Are you sure?
Ask her if she's a victim, not if she's Rouge.
Lin Qi opened the Q&A page, and part of the empty Sky Screen lit up again.
[Question: When a life is pieced together from the memories and bodily records of multiple victims, can it receive independent protection when its identity is unknown?]
[A: Takeover by main sample name]
[B: Takeover by World Government Experiment Number]
[C: Awaiting confirmation from the original record owner's family]
[D: First, treat as an independent victim and prohibit the forced inclusion of any names or kinship ties.]
Akainu's choice was the first to fall.
[Navy Seat: D]
Sengoku looked at him.
"This time it's quick."
"Sakazuki" was not explained.
The Navy Seat's confirmation stamp covered the medical form, and half of the text regarding identity verification was cut off.
Dragon then chose D.
Makino placed her hand on the Villager Seat.
"She's crying out in pain, let's stop the pain first."
[Civilian Witness Seats: D]
Lumi and Buggy's votes fell one after the other.
Buggy was still checking the fines that had been allocated to him last time when the stamp slammed onto the table, making it bounce.
"Let's get this straight, the cost of independent protection can't be borne by me again."
You don't have to vote.
"That won't do. What if the other seats push the fees onto me?"
Five seats passed.
The name "Rouge" on the medical report has been removed from the name box and moved to the main sample source column.
The previously obscured structural details are finally revealed.
[Experimental Mother: Unnamed]
[Main sample source: Portgas D. Rouge]
[Supplementary Samples: 1,967]
[Purpose: To simulate all possible scenarios a mother might have in search of her child]
Garp loosened his grip on the edge of the table.
The female voice on the computer was still calling him.
"Garp."
"I'm listening."
Where is my child?
"I don't know who you're looking for."
"You took it."
"I only ever took one child with me; he has his own mother."
The abdominal sutures stopped expanding, and the crying subsided.
Ace retrieved the Den Den Mushi.
"She used my mother's memories, can I talk to her?"
Mo'er turned his head to the side.
"Don't reveal who you are yet."
"If I don't admit it, will she stop feeling pain?"
"Once you admit it, the island will treat you as the result of all the mothers' search."
Ace's breath was pressed against the Den Den Mushi.
"We can't let her keep looking."
"You want to be the child of 1,967 people?"
"I want her to know that the child Rouge protected survived."
Whitebeard's naginata was held horizontally in front of Ace.
"Get them out of there first, then we can talk to whoever we're talking to."
"Pops, she's listening right now."
"Then let her hear clearly that you have family. You don't have to risk your life just because someone calls for your child."
The female voice on the screen remained silent for a long time.
"Family."
Ace looked at Whitebeard.
"Yes, I have family."
Where is your mother?
She's dead.
"No."
The woman, dragging the sutures along her abdomen, slowly turned to the last page of the medical report.
"The Death Record of Portgas D. Rouge, incomplete."
Garp picked up the Den Den Mushi.
Release the records.
"Give me back my child first."
Which child?
The Black Cup embedded in the back of the Moving Island splits in the middle, revealing a slender body.
He had Red Knot wrapped around his chest, the same one Luffy had in his palm.
The female voice did not call Ace again.
Give me back the number 1968.