Even now, even after he had lost most of his crew, lost almost everything, Shanks still held to that belief.
Roger had not been wrong. The one at fault was that sick world.
Someone had to use blood to smash the shackles of the old order before they could create the perfect world they dreamed of, even if innocent people were hurt in the process.
"Father's killer?"
Ace let out a scoff. There was no warmth in that soft laugh, like a breath of white mist exhaled on a winter night, gone in an instant.
He wore the everyday uniform of a Marine admiral, a crisp red suit that gave him an air of imposing righteousness.
On that face that looked seventy percent like Roger's, not even the slightest trace of Roger's flamboyance and reckless abandon could be found.
"The World Government did execute my biological father. But Ross was also the benefactor who saved my mother, who dragged her out of hell. More than that, he was the lifesaving benefactor who gave me life and taught me to become a man."
Ace turned his head, his pitch-black eyes staring coldly at Shanks's profile.
"If you don't love someone, don't get involved with them. If you can't protect them, don't bring me into the world. How were Roger's actions any different from Yasopp's? Leaving behind an orphan and a widow to face the whole world's manhunt while he went off to fulfill his so-called greater cause."
"You pirates are all a pack of selfish lunatics deep down."
Shanks's Adam's apple bobbed. He fell silent.
The holographic screens in the square were still playing on loop, their dim light sweeping over half his face hidden beneath the hood.
The thunder in the distance had drawn a little closer. The humidity in