"Three-Sword Style? The pirate hunter Roronoa Zoro, whose dream is to become the world's strongest swordsman?"
"Interesting..."
"But his strength is so weak. He really doesn't excite me."
"Hawk Eyes—Mihawk?"
"The man standing at the pinnacle of all swordsmen in the world? I wonder whether his slashes are sharper, or my body is harder."
"But what about Fidelard? Captain Shiki?"
"With their swordsmanship, aren't they also men standing at the pinnacle of the world?"
At that moment, intense doubt rose in Ares's heart, along with a faint sense of foreboding.
"Gol D. Roger?"
"The Pirate King?"
As time passed and episode after episode of the anime aired, the story eventually reached the day Roger was executed.
Ares suddenly had a bad feeling. "If Gol D. Roger became the Pirate King, then... does that mean Captain Rocks failed?!"
His mood grew somewhat heavy.
"Shiki, Newgate, and Ochoku—what happened to them in the end?!"
He desperately wanted to know the answer, to know what the ultimate fate of the Rocks Pirates would be.
Days passed. As episode after episode of One Piece aired, the appearances of Garp and Whitebeard Newgate gave Ares his answer.
He understood. The events in the anime took place many years later.
"Newgate... has already become the captain of his own pirate crew. Family..."
"Was that his dream?"
Ares could not help recalling every little bit of his contact with Whitebeard Newgate. He was an exceptionally bold and generous big brother who had taken great care of Ares and patiently taught him.
But as the Summit War continued, events gradually moved toward a tragic conclusion.
"No!!!"
When he saw Whitebeard Newgate betrayed by his own "son," Ares's soul instantly turned pale with shock.
Then he saw Whitebeard embrace "Squard" and choose to forgive him.
"Newgate..."
Newgate's broad-mindedness deeply