Words Twenty-Six Years Late

The light on the Sky Screen changed.

The golden background slowly faded, replaced by a softer, warmer hue, like the last rays of sunlight falling on the sea at dusk.

Then a figure appeared.

The figure stood in the very center of the Sky Screen, tall and broad-shouldered, wearing the exact same smile he had worn twenty-six years ago.

A handlebar mustache.

A long black coat.

A hat.

Gol D. Roger.

It wasn't a picture, an image, or a recording.

It was a holographic projection.

He stood there as if he were truly standing behind the Sky Screen, his eyes looking out over the whole world.

The whole world fell silent at once.

Aboard the Red Hair Pirates' ship, the cigarette in Benn Beckman's hand fell onto the deck. He didn't pick it up.

Shanks stood at the bow, his whole body leaning forward, his fingers gripping the edge of the gunwale.

In a corridor at Marine Headquarters, Garp had forgotten all about his Marine cap. He leaned against the wall, staring wide-eyed at the projection on the Sky Screen, his mouth open, unable to say a word.

On Level 6 of Impel Down, Ace heard the commotion coming from the surrounding cells. The old prisoners who had seen Roger were making all sorts of noises: some screamed, some cursed, and some laughed.

But Ace couldn't hear anything anymore.

He raised his head, looking through the cracks in the ceiling of his cell at the faint golden light filtering in from outside.

His father, whom he had never met, stood in that light.

Roger stood on the Sky Screen for three seconds without saying anything.

His gaze moved slowly, as though he were checking something, or perhaps adjusting to the feeling of being pulled out of another timeline.

Then the corners of his mouth curved up.

Just as they had every day of his life.

He spoke.

"The thing I've always been worst at is talking seriously."

His voice echoed through the skies of the world. It had a distinctive quality, like grains of salt in the spray thrown up when waves struck a reef: rough and forceful, yet every word was light.

"So I might not say this very well."

"Bear with me."

He paused for a beat.

"First, Rayleigh."

In the Sabaody Archipelago, Rayleigh sat at the foot of a wall, head raised and both hands braced on his knees.

His fingers were trembling.

"Partner."

Roger's voice came down from the Sky Screen.

"Did you follow my coffin?"

Rayleigh pressed his lips tightly together.

"I bet you didn't."

"If you had gone, you definitely would have tried to stop me."

"You couldn't have stopped me, but you would have tried."

"Then I'd have had to take time to deal with you, and we'd have had to fight. Afterward, you'd have stood under the Execution Platform, black and blue, watching me get executed. That would've been an ugly sight."

Roger's smile didn't change.

"So you were right not to come."

"But I looked for you seven times."

"In the last ten seconds before the execution, I looked into the crowd seven times, trying to find that white head of yours."

"I didn't find you."

"I regretted that a little."

His voice paused for a beat on the word "regretted."

"What I regretted wasn't that you didn't come."

"It was that I didn't get to tell you in person."

"More than twenty years. Counting from the day we set out from Rhode Island, you followed me for more than twenty years."

"I've lost count of how many fights you helped me fight."

"I've lost count of how many messes you cleaned up for me, too."

"You spent the best years of your life following me around on the sea."

"I never once thanked you."

Rayleigh's fingers dug white marks into his knees.

"It wasn't that I didn't want to."

"I thought you already knew."

"That we didn't need to say it to each other."

"But now that I think about it, it has to be said."

"Because if you don't say it, the other person might really think you don't care."

Roger's voice softened a little.

"Rayleigh, thank you."

"Without you, I wouldn't have made it to the first island on the Grand Line."

Sitting at the foot of the wall, Rayleigh doubled over, pressing his forehead against his knees.

His shoulders heaved violently, but he clenched his teeth, refusing to make a sound.

Luffy stood beside him, looking down at Rayleigh without speaking.

He reached out and gently placed the straw hat on Rayleigh's head.

Rayleigh's body swayed.

He raised his head, the straw hat perched on it, his eyes full of tears.

He looked at Luffy, his lips moving several times before he finally said just one thing.

"Just like your captain."

"Neither of you knows when to do something like this."

On the Sky Screen, Roger's gaze shifted in another direction.

"Next, Shanks."

In the New World, aboard the Red Hair Pirates' ship.

Shanks stopped breathing.

"Kid, have you grown up yet?"

Roger's tone changed, becoming more casual, as though he were speaking to a younger member of his own family.

"You must have grown up, right? You're a captain now."

"I left you a whole pile of messes. How have you been handling them?"

He didn't wait for an answer, because this was one-way.

"You used to cry all the time on my ship."

"You'd cry at the drop of a hat."

"Rayleigh would scold you a little and you'd cry. You'd cry when Buggy outdrank you, and you'd even cry listening to Oden tell stories about Wano Country."

"Crybaby."

The corners of Shanks's mouth twitched. It was impossible to tell whether he was smiling or making some other expression.

"But you're a good kid."

The casual note in Roger's voice grew a little lower.

"I gave you that hat, and I don't know who you gave it to."

"But whoever got that hat from you must be someone good."

His smile changed then, its broad curve becoming smaller and quieter.

"Thank you for passing it on for me."

"Whoever you gave it to."

"Tell him for me to wear it well."

Shanks turned his face toward the sea. The sea breeze whipped his red hair into a mess, covering most of his face.

Benn Beckman stood behind him without approaching.

All he heard was a very brief sniffle, broken apart by the wind.

On the Sky Screen, Roger's gaze moved again.

"Old man."

In the corridor at Marine Headquarters, Garp clenched his fists.

"You chased me all my life and fought me all my life, and in the end, you agreed to what I asked of you."

"You helped me raise my son."

Roger's voice paused there for two seconds.

"I know you hate me."

"Because I threw a hot potato at you and made you raise the Pirate King's child while wearing a Marine uniform."

"I can guess how much you've had to put up with in your life."

"But I had no other choice."

"In the whole world, you were the only Marine I could trust."

"In the whole world, you were the only person I could entrust my son to."

"So, thank you."

"This debt is too great for me to repay."

"But I hope you know that your place in my heart is the same as Rayleigh's."

With his back against the wall, Garp slowly slid down until he was sitting on the corridor floor.

His Marine cap had fallen beside him, but he didn't pick it up.

Staff Officer Tsuru walked over and stood beside him for a while, then sat down against the wall as well.

The two old people sat side by side on the corridor floor, watching the Sky Screen together.

Staff Officer Tsuru said nothing. She simply took a handkerchief from her pocket and placed it on the floor between them.

Garp glanced at the handkerchief but didn't take it.

Five seconds later, he took it.

On the Sky Screen, Roger's gaze shifted in one last direction.

His smile changed more than it had at any other moment.

It didn't grow smaller. It grew deeper.

That depth spread from the corners of his mouth to the corners of his eyes, every line on his face taking part in the expression.

"Finally."

His voice grew soft.

"My child."

On Level 6 of Impel Down, Ace's body went taut as a bow.

"I don't know what you look like."

"I don't know what your voice sounds like."

"I don't know what you like to eat, whether you're afraid of the dark, or whether you have friends."

"I don't know a single one of those things."

"Because I was gone before you were born."

Roger's voice paused for a beat on the word "gone."

"I heard you asked Garp whether you should have been born."

The chains of Ace's handcuffs clashed violently in the darkness.

"The answer is yes."

"Not because you're my child."

"But because your mother gave her life to bring you into this world."

"She thought you should be born."

"Her opinion matters more than mine."

Roger's smile took on a gentleness then, unlike any expression he had shown before, like the calmest layer of water on the surface of the sea.

"My child, I owe you more than I owe anyone."

"You're the only person whose name I never even got the chance to say."

"So this thank-you is the biggest one of all."

"Thank you for being born."

"Thank you for living until now."

In the darkness of Impel Down, Ace curled up in a corner, his forehead pressed against the cold stone wall, his whole body trembling uncontrollably. The chains of his handcuffs rattled nonstop, like bells shaken by a storm.

His mouth was open, but no sound came out.

Liquid seeped from his tightly shut eyes, ran down his cheeks, and dripped onto the surface of the Seastone Handcuffs with a barely audible sound.

In the neighboring cell, Jinbe closed his eyes and pressed his fists against his knees.

He said nothing, because at this moment, no one needed to speak.

On the Sky Screen, Roger's holographic projection began to turn transparent.

His time was up.

During the final three seconds as he faded, that smile remained on his lips, and his gaze swept across the entire world through the Sky Screen.

His lips moved one last time.

The Sky Screen enlarged the movement of his lips.

Everyone saw the words.

"This era is in your hands now."

The projection vanished.

Like the last ray of sunlight over the sea sinking beneath the water.

The Sky Screen returned to its golden background.

The whole world was silent for a long, long time.

In the tavern, Lin Qi watched the global emotion data panel. Every figure had stopped at its peak, as though even the data itself needed time to process what had just happened.

He tossed the empty beer can into the trash and took a new one. He opened it, but didn't drink.

He watched the warm light gradually fade from the Sky Screen, his finger circling the beer can's pull tab twice.

"The top ten regrets are over."

His voice was much softer than usual.

"From Thatch to Roger, ten people."

"Ten regrets."

He leaned back in his chair and looked at the prominent notification on the system panel.

[The Top Ten Regrets series has concluded]

[System recommendation: Given the major shift in the world order and the extensive rewriting of the Paramount War timeline, the question setter is advised to start a new countdown series to stabilize the world line]

He stared at the notification for five seconds.

"Stabilize the world line."

He muttered to himself.

"Fine."

His fingers slid across the panel as he browsed the system's list of recommended topics for a new series.

His gaze stopped on one option.

His expression changed, shifting from subtle reflection to a state more familiar to him.

The corners of his mouth curved upward.

A light appeared in his eyes.

The light of someone who lived for entertainment.

"This one's good."

He pressed confirm.

On the Sky Screen, the text of a new preview slowly formed in the night sky over the entire world.

[New series preview]

[Countdown: The ten greatest hidden truths of the pirate world]

[The first truth will be revealed in thirty minutes]

[Hint: This truth concerns a kingdom erased from history by the World Government, and a hundred-year period that everyone was forbidden from knowing about]

The whole world erupted.