A Major Event! Roger's Execution

Inside the prison of the Loguetown Marine Branch.

Several soldiers in brown execution uniforms arrived before the sealed cell and coldly addressed the disheveled, skeletal man within. "Goldo Roger, it is time for your execution!"

Yes, the man sitting in the cell, looking neither fully human nor ghost, with his hair hanging loose around his face, was the legendary Pirate King, Gol D. Roger...

He had reached the final stage of terminal illness. Even if Bian Que himself were alive, he would keep his distance at the sight of him and cry, "How has this man managed to survive until now in such a severely diseased body?"

Yes, any skilled doctor who saw Roger as he was now would be horrified. In their eyes, someone whose illness had progressed to Roger's stage should have died long ago~

"Ha ha, hahaha..."

The skeletal Roger suddenly burst into laughter after hearing the soldiers outside the door. Combined with his terrifying expression, it left the soldiers feeling unsettled and chilled to the bone!

"Roger, don't even think about trying anything!"

"For your execution, Fleet Admiral Kong, Vice Admiral Garp, Admiral Sengoku, and Admiral Zephyr are all here! Even if your Roger Pirates had not disbanded and every one of them came to Loguetown, they would never be able to turn things around against the strongest lineup of our Marines..."

The soldier in charge of the execution warned Roger.

"Ahahaha..."

"Don't worry! They won't do anything."

"Even if they come, it is only to see their captain off on his final journey. Nothing more!"

As Roger spoke, he slowly rose from the cold floor of the dungeon.

"Uh..."

Roger's movement frightened all the soldiers outside the door into taking half a step back.

"Heh, it's time for the execution, right? Let's go!"

Roger grinned broadly as he looked at the soldiers who had retreated in fear of his presence.

"Damn it! A mere pirate dares toy with us..."

The soldiers were angered into humiliation by Roger's words.

Roger's openness and their fear made for a stark contrast...

It filled them with a profound sense of disgrace!

They were clearly officers of the World Government. They were the righteous ones. Yet now they feared an evil thief—wouldn't that make them the laughingstock of the world?

Even if that thief was the greatest of all thieves beneath the heavens...

Still, for officers to fear criminals was a complete reversal of order. It was intolerable~

Fortunately, this man was about to be executed...

No matter how rampant evil became, justice would always prevail~

"Clank, clank, clank..."

After the soldiers worked that out, they opened the iron door holding Roger. Then, with extreme roughness, they yanked him out of the prison. Perhaps only by doing so could they preserve their pathetic self-respect~

They then escorted Roger, whose hands and feet were bound in thick chains, toward the crude execution platform outside. The chains scraped against the bluestone floor with a series of piercing screeches...

The distance from the prison to the execution platform was not far...

Before long, Roger was escorted onto the platform by two soldiers.

The moment Roger appeared atop the execution platform, a sea of voices roared beneath him.

"Roger! Kneel!"

The two soldiers stood on either side of Roger and forcefully pressed him down onto the platform with a dull thud.

"Hahaha..."

Yet what no one present had expected was...

Roger was clearly about to die, clearly about to be executed, yet there was not the slightest trace of fear in his eyes. There was only one word to describe him: unrestrained!

Roger knelt on the execution platform and laughed loudly. That unrestrained laughter in the face of death deeply shocked every hero and bold soul below the stage.

"Die, you damned Roger!"

"Justice will prevail! The Marines will prevail!"

"Damnable pirate..."

"Roger, do you know how many people in this world lose their homes and families to pirates every day? You most evil Pirate King in history, hurry up and die!"

But beyond the bold souls shaken by Roger, there were also countless ordinary people who hated him. In truth, they knew nothing about Roger himself...

The reason they were so furious was that everything they knew about Roger, the Pirate King, came from the World Government's smear campaigns.

"Ahahaha..."

Roger merely laughed and paid them no mind.

"The execution begins!"

Seeing that the time had come...

Sengoku, the current Marine Admiral who had been guarding below the platform, gave the executioners above a slight nod, signaling that Roger could be executed.

"Click~"

As Sengoku's words fell...

The two executioners began following procedure, adjusting the blades in their hands.

"Roger! You know, don't you?!"

"As the Pirate King, you must know, right?"

"The legendary Great Treasure! One Piece!"

Yet just as Roger was about to be executed, one of the citizens witnessing the execution below suddenly seemed to lose his mind and shouted at Roger atop the platform.

"Heh~"

As soon as the man finished speaking, a sharp glint flashed in Roger's smiling eyes. The smile on his face grew even wider.

"Not good! Execute him! Execute him now..."

Sengoku seemed to have realized something. Cold sweat poured down his forehead as he shouted at the two executioners atop the platform.

"Want my treasure? If you want it, I can give it all to you! Go find it! I left all the treasure in the world there, at Raft..."

Before Roger could finish, the cold blades fell. Bright red blood instantly stained the entire execution platform, and Roger, who had been laughing, immediately lost all life and collapsed to the ground.

"Did we, did we make it in time?!"

Below the platform, Sengoku, who had been preventing the Roger Pirates from causing trouble, was drenched in cold sweat. He turned and stared intently at the crowd who had witnessed Roger's execution.

"OH!!"

Yet the next second, an earthshaking roar suddenly erupted!

One cry after another flooded Sengoku's ears. "It exists! The legendary Great Treasure, that One Piece, exists! Pirate King Roger said it himself! He left everything there, on the final island, Raftel!!"

As those cries rang out, ship after ship raised skull-and-crossbones pirate flags and set sail for the unknown seas...

Just like Gol D. Roger had once done when he departed from Loguetown!

"Damn you, Roger! Even in death, are you determined to deny this entire era peace and tranquility?! You evil bastard..."

Sengoku's body trembled as he watched the people descend into frenzy because of Roger's words. After cursing Roger, he roared at the Marines beside him, "What are you standing around for? Stop them from going to sea! And did you see any reporters from the World Economic Journal just now? You must stop them! They absolutely cannot publish Roger's words as the selling point of a newspaper! Otherwise, the whole world will fall into chaos..."

"Yes, Admiral Sengoku!"

As Sengoku finished speaking, the Marine soldiers immediately sprang into action.

"Ahahaha..."

As for Garp, who had come with Sengoku, he was currently clutching his stomach and laughing uproariously.

"Garp! We are now standing at the point where this era could descend into turmoil. One wrong move, and the entire era will stampede out of control! How can you still be laughing here..."

Sengoku roared at Garp.

"I just think we were all played by that old bastard Roger!"

"He knew long ago that he could not survive, so he deliberately let us capture him~"

"It was all to use the public execution as an opportunity to usher in an era of chaos~"

Garp answered Sengoku.

"Bastard! You know that, and you are still laughing?"

Sengoku's eyelid twitched slightly.

"Don't worry! As long as I am here, this era will not descend into chaos!"

"Don't forget, we Marines also possess the strength of a new generation!"

Garp crossed his arms before his chest. Roger's final words did not rattle him in the slightest. Zephyr's Marine training camp had produced quite a few talents over the years. Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Kuzan were all monsters among monsters~ Their futures could rival Sengoku and him, perhaps even surpass them! The strength of a new era had to be met with the strength of a new era. The old era was destined to be eliminated...

"Bastard, those are two different matters..."

Sengoku grumbled as he began his work.

Unfortunately, Sengoku was still one step too late. Roger's words had already been carried across the world by the World Economic Journal's recording devices, countless urgently printed newspapers, and seagulls flying to every corner of the globe...

The era had begun to run wild! It could no longer be stopped...

"Damn it!"

Below the execution platform, amid the misty drizzle, fifteen-year-old Shanks and Buggy—two men who would one day have a chance to contend for the throne of Emperor of the Sea—were huddled together, wiping away tears as they shouted, "Captain Roger! Captain Roger, how could you die?!" and similar cries.

After a while, Shanks looked at Buggy and invited him, "Buggy, come with me! Let's form our own pirate crew together. I'll be the captain, and you can be my first mate and navigator!"

"Don't joke around! Who wants to be your partner?!"

"Hey, Shanks! Starting today, we are rivals..."

"One Piece! I don't plan to hand it over to a bastard like you..."

Buggy snorted after glancing at Shanks's sincere face. Then he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away through the drizzle in dejection.

Although Buggy and Shanks had grown up together, as time passed, Buggy realized that the gap between them was only growing wider...

He could no longer keep up with Shanks!

Before Shanks completely left him behind, he would leave first!

That was better than falling into despair because he could not keep up with Shanks, or even becoming dead weight that prevented Shanks from going further...

Shanks was a monster!!

Although Buggy hated Shanks from the bottom of his heart!

If there was anyone in this world who could truly inherit Captain Roger's will, it had to be Shanks. At least, that was what Buggy believed...

"So I failed? What a shame..."

Shanks sighed helplessly as he watched Buggy leave.

"Fufufufu..."

"Is this the fate of those who oppose the gods? Even a bearer of the Will of D as powerful as Pirate King Gol D. Roger ultimately ended up like this?"

"The World Government? The Marines? Pirates? It seems that standing with any side would not serve my interests! If I could stand between them, then fufufufu..."

Doflamingo, wearing gaudy red sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, a black suit jacket, gray dress pants, and a deliberately chosen red tie solely to see Roger off on his final journey, silently paid his respects to the dead Roger before beginning to calculate his own future.

"Hey! Crocodile, want to cooperate?"

After paying his respects to Roger, Doflamingo shoved his hands into his pockets and prepared to leave with his arrogant stride...

Yet after merely taking one extra look through the crowd, he spotted a delicate-faced young man who looked almost like a girl, but wore his hair slicked back.

The instant Doflamingo saw the young man, his lips curled upward. He approached him on his own and extended the most sincere invitation of his life.

"Go eat shit, Flamingo..."

The delicate-faced young man responded by raising his middle finger at Doflamingo.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk~"

"What a pity~"

Doflamingo only smiled faintly and said nothing else.

Just as Doflamingo and the young man stood back-to-back, preparing to leave...

Two figures in white blocked their path.

"Hm?!"

Doflamingo's expression changed at once when he saw the white-clad figures blocking the way.

"CP0?!"

Having once been one of the Celestial Dragons, Doflamingo naturally recognized the identity of the people in white. He furrowed his brows in confusion. Doflamingo did not seem to understand why CP0, which obeyed only the World Nobles, had come to block their path...

"Flamingo, is this your doing too?"

The delicate-faced young man seemed to know Doflamingo's identity well...

The instant he saw CP0, he concluded that they were connected to Doflamingo.

"This time, it really isn't me..."

Doflamingo furrowed his brows and lightly shook his head.

"My master, the great Shaya Saint Figarland, wishes to meet with you both~"

"Do not be too quick to refuse, former Donquixote Doflamingo Saint..."

"And Mr. Crocodile, whose name resounds throughout the New World, who fought the Heir of the Demon, Douglas Bullet, for days without a victor..."

The two CP0 agents introduced themselves directly to Doflamingo and Crocodile.

"Oh? You mean Shaya? That young master of the Figarland family?"

"Since it is an invitation from the Figarland family, I should go meet him in person. Otherwise, it would be somewhat discourteous..."

Doflamingo raised his brows slightly upon hearing Shaya's name and spoke with interest.

"Huh? Another Celestial Dragon? All Celestial Dragons can go eat shit! I'm not interested..."

Unlike the sensible Doflamingo, Crocodile was far more hot-tempered.