The Secret of D

"Hmph, even if you hadn't asked, I would have brought it up."

The Elder of Diplomacy gave a disdainful smile, and the other Five Elders around him smiled just as contemptuously.

Amid their cold laughter, the Elder of Diplomacy began.

"As for why pirates have run rampant, heh.

Eight hundred years ago, the war ended, and the World Government was officially established.

After that, our ancestors, together with the nations that had fought for a century, buried most of the bloody history of that hundred-year war.

Though the century-long war had caused us great suffering, the common people of the many kingdoms suffered even more. No one wished for peace more than they did.

But there was always a small group who thought otherwise.

In Wano Country, the Kozuki Clan always believed that ending the war and forming an alliance was the betrayal of Wano Country by the hundred nations of the world.

So, the Kozuki Clan secretly carved Poneglyphs that recorded history!

If not everyone wanted to conceal it, could a history personally witnessed by every single person truly vanish into thin air?

Could matters known by the entire world eight hundred years ago truly be so easily erased by us Celestial Dragons?

That was the hatred of several generations, along with the memories of every one of them!

The reason we were able to hide history was simply that, compared to hatred, the nations of the world wanted peace more!

They set aside their obsessions and abandoned their hatred and memories, all to embrace the peace that had been absent for so long.

But as time passed, and the older generation in every nation who had lived through the war gradually died, the selfish actions of the Kozuki Clan ultimately sparked a new wave of resistance.

Around seven hundred and forty years ago, the flames of war once again spread across the world.

Because of that, we had no choice but to adopt some special strategies.

At first, we sent soldiers to roam the world in small groups, making themselves active near nearly every island.

We did not seek to suppress the local kingdoms. We only sought for them to cause enough harassment and trouble for each nation, thereby tying down their military forces and preventing any country from easily raising the flag of rebellion.

But after a few decades, the soldiers we had sent out had long grown accustomed to a life of wandering and plundering. They changed from soldiers into genuine pirates.

We did not use forceful measures against that, because we had only one enemy: every nation in the world!

Whether they were pirates, soldiers, or even the Revolutionary Army.

As long as they could bring trouble to the nations of the world, we could let them be!

At the same time, we undertook a truly massive project across the entire world.

To thoroughly solve the fundamental problem of inconvenient transportation, which made it difficult for central authority to control local regions, we decided to, between every island in the world...

Build a grand infrastructure project called the Continent Bridge!

Starting seven hundred years ago, the Continent Bridge plan had never ceased. Countless workers were thrown into the project.

For a full seven hundred years, all the way until today, that project had continued through wind and rain without ever stopping!

It was so in the past, it was so now, and it would remain so in the future!

And before the Continent Bridge was fully completed, before we had the means to conquer every nation in the world at once and swiftly dispatch troops to suppress rebellions on every island.

The existence of pirates was necessary.

Pirates scattered throughout the world would place enough pressure on the nobles of every nation, deepening those nobles' dependence on the World Government.

That pressure would also make the nobles more eager to seek our protection, and that protection would make them more willing to hand over the taxes they ought to pay—the Heavenly Tribute.

For seven hundred years, that situation had continued. Though there were occasional bumps along the way, the overall situation had never changed.

Until..."

"Until the appearance of the former Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, right?"

Gawain's eyes lit up. He had thought of many things, so he interrupted the Elder of Diplomacy and asked softly.

Hearing his question, the Elder of Diplomacy gritted his teeth and said viciously.

"That's right.

For the previous seven hundred years, though pirates had also emerged one after another, under our guidance, they had been distributed exceptionally evenly.

Aside from some great pirates occupying that narrow region of the New World, the Four Blues and the Grand Line had enough pirates to put pressure on every nation.

That pressure was not especially great, but it was never small enough to be ignored. We maintained that situation with exceptional stability.

Before Roger, whether it was Rocks or any other great pirate.

None of them had shaken that stability.

Until Roger appeared!"

The Five Elders must have hated Roger to the extreme. The Elder of Diplomacy spoke with feeling, practically grinding his teeth.

"The Pirate King, heh. After seeing the history of that vanished hundred years on that island where the secret was buried, he probably thought he had truly made some great decision, didn't he?

It was precisely his declaration about the Great Treasure before his death that caused this sea—perhaps not good, but at least stable and possessed of basic order—to completely lose its original order!

Young people and pirates from the Four Blues answered his call and rushed toward the so-called treasure he spoke of, all flooding into that tiny corner known as the New World!

You may not understand this kind of disaster. I will properly explain to you what kind of trouble the excessive loss of population caused for this world and for the islands of the nations in the Four Blues!

This matter..."

"No need!"

Gawain suddenly interrupted the Elder of Diplomacy.

"I can imagine the harm caused by this phenomenon!"

As he spoke, Gawain smiled bitterly.

Of course he understood that sort of trouble, because in some ways, it was much like the place where he had once lived.

Pirates rushed into the New World in droves, hoping to make a fortune, while the dangers of the New World caused most of them to fall along the road ahead.

On the islands of the Four Blues, most people capable of going to sea were young adults in their prime.

Since Roger's death, too many young people from the Four Blues had taken the path of piracy, never to return!

Wasn't that exactly like northerners leaving their homes in huge numbers and heading south? Whether they went elsewhere to work or struggle, weren't they all doing it to make money or simply survive?

And once young people left their homes...

Wouldn't that leave the people back home unable to drink sweet well water?

Just imagining it, Gawain could see that scene.

After losing a large number of young and able-bodied men, the proportion of elderly people in the Four Blues increased, births declined, and productivity fell.

Yet while productivity fell, the pressure of the Heavenly Tribute—the taxes—did not decrease.

Wouldn't the common people of the Four Blues end up under multiplied pressure?

And beyond that pressure, combined with what the Five Elders had said earlier, Gawain could also think of other effects brought about by the Great Pirate Era.

In the past, most pirates entrenched in the Four Blues came from the local islands. With them keeping things in check, the nobles governing those islands would not exploit the common people too cruelly.

After all, the local bandits were right nearby. If they bullied the wrong people, wouldn't they get beaten to death?

And wouldn't the mass departure of local pirates cause ordinary islanders to lose a certain invisible yet absolutely real protective force?

For countless years, the Celestial Dragons had collected the same amount of Heavenly Tribute from every island and every nation.

Then why did the lives of common people grow harder and harder, while the nobles of the affiliated nations spent more money on Sabaody Island every year?

And since ancient times, the various Marine branches established in the Four Blues had assigned their Marine personnel based on the number of pirates in the local seas.

But when the Great Pirate Era arrived, the pirates of the Four Blues changed from semi-fixed criminals operating within certain areas into pirates who did nothing but run.

Every pirate focused on charging forward. They rushed toward Reverse Mountain, toward the Grand Line, toward the New World!

Who still cared about the Marines of the Four Blues?

As a result, the branches in the Four Blues grew weaker and poorer. Pirates who only fled could no longer serve as a steady source of achievements for branch Marines, and branch commanders had no accomplishments to speak of, making promotion difficult.

That created the absurd situation where a branch and its commander could remain stuck in the same place for decades without any chance of advancement.

Gawain knew what that would cause: the rapid corruption of the Marines in the Four Blues.

Just like when Luffy and the others were in the East Blue, whether it was Morgan or Nezumi, corrupt and degenerate Marine officers were everywhere.

But once Luffy and the others reached the Grand Line, such phenomena became much rarer. Aside from those with connections, spies from other factions, and mentally deranged lunatics.

The quality of Marines in the various G-numbered branches of the Grand Line was vastly higher than in the Four Blues.

Thinking of that, Gawain raised his head and gestured to the Five Elders.

"Believe it or not, I can probably understand what you haven't yet said.

As for those matters, I don't think a solution can be found in a short time.

Compared with problems that cannot be solved immediately but whose answers are already known, I prefer exploring new unknowns.

So, can you tell... tell... me, what exactly... is the Will of D?"

"Hmph, heh, ahahahahahaha!!!"

Hearing Gawain's question, the Five Elders all burst into laughter.

"Gawain, you still can't shake off the temperament of youth!

You just insist on pursuing those so-called secrets to the very end!"

This time, the Elder of Military spoke. Holding his long sword, he teased Gawain.

"If the so-called Will of D were truly some terrifying secret, would we really allow Garp, a descendant of D, to become the greatest hero in the entire Marine force?

Were we truly fools, to the point of not dealing with a bomb right before our eyes?"

"Uh..."

After hearing the Elder with Sword say that, Gawain immediately felt that something was off.

He truly had been too hasty!

Normally, he should not have acted this way. No matter how curious he was, he should have remained calm according to the situation.

But now...

Gawain recalled what he had felt just now, and a moment later, he understood the reason for everything.

His internal organs were growing increasingly painful. The pain had merely been suppressed by his earlier tension, so he had failed to notice it.

Once he was no longer tense, and even began probing the hidden secrets of the Pirate King's world to satisfy his curiosity.

His injuries surged up. He grew dizzier and dizzier.

For a moment, his vision actually blurred.

Fortunately, in his increasingly blurred vision, the Elder of Military smiled and spoke.

"The so-called Will of D. Do you think it means freedom, dreams, or death?

No, no, no. Not every inheritor of D pursued those things!

Look at every inheritor of D you have met, then look at those irritatingly cheerful smiles on their faces.

Their wide, grinning mouths, their brilliant smiles as though they knew nothing of human suffering—weren't they a huge D?

They once established a nation called D. Then they drew a giant smiling face upon its flag and named that nation the Kingdom of Joy.

But though they brought us some trouble, they were still not worthy of becoming the enemy we feared most.

We are Celestial Dragons. We have never feared any single nation, no matter how powerful that nation may be!

The only thing we worried about was all the affiliated nations of the world joining together once more and launching a full-scale confrontation against us!

As for the current inheritors of D, yes, some of them are indeed not weak. But that is not because of any talent. It is merely because they love to smile.

People who love to smile are cheerful and optimistic, resilient and tenacious. Neither failure nor setbacks can easily crush them completely.

Should such people be weaker than others?"

On the soft sofa, listening to the Elder of Military's explanation, Gawain's vision went dark, yet his heart rejoiced.

At last... he had heard the secret he had cared about most before coming to this world!

Beside him, the Elder with Sword still wanted to say something.

But before he could open his mouth, the Elder of Diplomacy, seated on the same sofa, shoved him aside.

"Damn it!" The Elder of Diplomacy roared. "I got so carried away talking that I forgot about Little Gawain's injuries!"

Beside him, the Elder of Culture immediately cried out.

"Hurry and urge Kizaru to bring Kuma over at once!

If anything happens to Little Gawain, we may have to kneel before Lady Imu for an entire year!!!"

If Gawain could have heard those final words, who knew what he might have thought.

But unfortunately, he could no longer hear anything.