The Blank Rouge Left Behind

Put the cup back into the sea.

As soon as Garp's words were delivered, the woman in the Black Cup let out a cry.

Don't leave me.

Boa Hancock did not loosen her grip on the Seastone net.

Nobody wants to abandon you.

He's going to put me back.

He meant to put you back in the sea, not that he wanted you back in that body.

"There are hands in the sea."

A row of black handprints emerged from beneath the Kuja patrol boat, converging along the bottom of the boat towards the cup in the net.

Boa Hancock raised her hand.

"The entire boat retreats, ensuring the net doesn't fall into the water."

"Snake Princess, the Sea Kings are behind us."

"Change course, and weave between the two snakes."

A crew member answered the Den Den Mushi, the Kuja ship tilted to one side, and the Seastone net rose accordingly.

The new name at the bottom of the Black Cup is still being developed.

Lin Qi asked, "Who wrote the name?"

Little Patch replied, "Mother."

"Experimental Mother?"

"She found her memory, so she wrote the name of the master sample on the cup."

Garp's fist slammed onto the filing cabinet.

"It's fake again."

Ace spoke.

"There might be some truth to it."

"She is not Rouge."

"I know."

"Don't go over there."

"I didn't move."

Whitebeard's naginata was still held in front of Ace.

"You've moved your foot three times already."

"Pops, you don't need to count even this."

"Marco is counting."

Marco leaned against the ship's railing.

"I didn't count, it's because you broke a plank every time you moved it."

Lin Qi combined the writing on the bottom of the cup with the medical report.

"Vegapunk, can you find out how much of Rouge's memories are in the cup?"

We need a problem that the Experimental Mother won't know about in advance.

Robin took the call over the line.

"Test with incorrect memories."

Garp looked at the Den Den Mushi.

How to test it?

"Please provide one thing that exists in the Throne Records but Rouge herself couldn't possibly know, and another thing that only she knows. The former is to determine whether it accessed official files, and the latter doesn't need to be revealed."

"I will not interrogate her about her affairs."

Ace said, "Then I'll do it."

Garp turned to his line.

What do you know?

I don't know anything about her.

"How do we measure it?"

Ask her who named me.

The Sengoku opened the archives.

"The official record identifies him as Gol D. Roger."

Ace stared at the Den Den Mushi.

"I heard my Pops say that Roger left me a name, but Rouge changed her surname after giving birth to me."

Robin asked, "Which part do you want to test?"

Ask her why her name is Ace.

Garp did not stop him.

Boa Hancock moved the Den Den Mushi above the Black Cup.

Ace asked over the phone, "You just wrote Rouge's name, so do you know who named me Ace?"

The woman in the cup cried for a while.

Roger.

Why was this name chosen?

"Because that's the name of his sword."

The Sengoku period archives were closed.

"The official record ends here."

Ace continued, "Did Rouge agree?"

The sounds from the Black Cup were intermittent.

"Agree."

Garp pushed the stones off the table.

"Wrong."

What's wrong?

She insulted Roger.

Ace hadn't expected this answer.

What are you cursing about?

"I don't know her exact words, but that day she was holding you and only said that the bastard even named his child after his own things, and then added that Ace sounded alright."

The woman in the glass repeated, "She agreed."

Garp took the Den Den Mushi away.

"This is a file, not her."

One stroke of the characters "Rouge" at the bottom of the cup has been removed.

A female voice then came from the Experimental Mother's abdomen.

"I remember."

What do you remember?

The child's name is Ace.

Ace brought the microphone closer.

Who told you that?

"I."

"Who are you?"

"Mother."

Which mother?

The Black Cups on the Moving Island rang simultaneously, and a chorus of female voices joined in with the same reply.

"Looking for the child's mother."

Mo'er reached out and grabbed A Hui's sleeve.

"Don't let Ace keep asking; it's using him to complete the production records."

Lin Qi turned off the Ace audio track on the Public Line, keeping the one-way reception on.

"It can't hear you now."

Ace tapped the Den Den Mushi twice.

"Open."

"Wait first."

It already knows my name.

Knowing someone's name and hearing it from you in person are two different things.

"I'm not sure, so it will just keep piecing together those mothers' memories."

"You've confirmed it; it will put you in all the records."

Whitebeard took the Den Den Mushi from in front of Ace.

Lin Qi did the right thing.

"Pops."

"I'll remember what you want to say and give it back to you when you're ready to speak."

"Those are my mother's memories."

"Therefore, we must not allow it to be transformed into something else through your words."

Garp sat back down in the chair with half of its back missing.

Rouge left a Blank.

Lin Qi looked at him.

What Blank?

Surname.

"Portgas?"

"She took Roger's name from you, but she didn't decide for you how you'd face Roger in the future."

Ace listened from the other end of the line without interrupting.

Garp continued, "I asked her if she wanted you to never know who your father was, and she said she wouldn't choose for you."

Robin asked, "Has this sentence entered the official archives?"

"No."

Are you sure?

"At that time, only she, the old man, and the newborn Ace were in the house."

Sengoku said, "I've never heard of Garp either."

Because it has nothing to do with you.

"Now we're connected."

"Right now, it's all about saving lives."

Lin Qi wrote the problem on an offline sheet of paper, without connecting to the Sky Screen.

"If a mother, in protecting her child, refuses to decide for the child whether to inherit the father's name, can this memory serve as a verification of Rouge's own will?"

After reading it, Garp pressed down on the corner of the paper.

"Don't write Rouge's name."

Lin Qi crossed out the name.

"So?"

"Can."

Vegapunk receives the paper via a separate line and then sends the verification content into a cup in the Seastone network.

The Black Cup fell silent.

After a few moments, the woman in the cup said, "I won't choose for him."

Garp looked up.

There's more to come.

"Let him grow up."

"Besides."

"Let him curse Roger himself."

Ace's laughter leaked in from the other end of the disconnected line, short and nasal.

Garp raised his hand to cover his eyes.

"That's correct."

The characters "Rouge" on the bottom of the Black Cup have completely faded, leaving only a small red mark.

Vegapunk's instrument flips through pages continuously.

"The cup does indeed contain a true memory that was not recorded in official documents."

"Can it be removed?"

"Yes, but once it's removed, the independent consciousness within the cup may lose its support."

Boa Hancock immediately said, "No."

Garp did not object.

Lin Qi asked, "Can it be copied and preserved?"

"The content of the memory can be retained, but the consciousness that forms when it is stored cannot be copied."

The woman in the Black Cup understood.

Am I going to die?

Chopper caught Den Den Mushi.

"No, we'll protect you first."

"Who I am?"

You don't have a name yet.

Am I Rouge?

Chopper looked at Lin Qi.

Garp answered first.

You have a memory of her, but you are not a replacement for her.

"Then who am I?"

Boa Hancock holds the Seastone net.

You can choose later.

Has the baby been born yet?

Rouge's child was born and has grown up.

A soft clinking sound came from the glass.

"Then I don't need to look anymore?"

You don't need to look for her.

The red mark in the Black Cup slowly peeled off, turning into a small piece of text.

Let your child choose their own path in life.

Ace's line was reconnected.

He stared at that sentence for a long time.

"This memory is left to her."

Garp asked, "Aren't you taking it with you?"

"She lives off this."

"This was left by Rouge."

"So we can't let someone else have nowhere to live just to make me listen to a word."

The woman in the Black Cup asked softly, "Who is Ace?"

Ace held the Den Den Mushi in front of him.

"A child who has grown up."

Will he insult Roger?

"Meeting."

"That's good."

The cup on the Seastone net stopped struggling.

The black handprints north of Amazon Lily also receded from the sea surface.

Vegapunk finished recording the data, the instrument displayed another page.

"Wait a minute, the Experimental Mother is modifying the search criteria."

Nami asked, "Did it abandon Ace?"

"No, it just heard the verification message indicating production completion."

The sutures on the abdomen of the Moving Island closed slightly, while the Black Cups covering its entire body turned outwards one after another.

One thousand nine hundred and sixty-seven women's voices began to inquire.

What should I name my child?

Each time a question is asked, a name box appears on the surface of the sea.

The final box appeared next to Ace's name.

There is no mention of number one thousand nine hundred and sixty-eight.

It contains two new characters.

[Unborn]