River of Death

Drip... drip...

The sound of water dripping reached his ears. Rocks suddenly sat up, opened his eyes, and gasped heavily as he surveyed his surroundings.

Blood had gathered into a river, dyeing everything around him a dark red. Faintly, he could still see the image of God Valley in the sky.

"Garp... Roger... Nereus... I should thank you for stopping my rampage, but this really was a... terrible ending."

His memories surfaced one by one as Rocks began recalling his final moments.

"But where is this... I'm already dead... so this is... hell?"

"If you want to go to hell, I can point you in the right direction."

"Nereus?!"

That familiar voice startled Rocks. When he turned around, he found that a lavish-looking chair had appeared behind him at some point.

Nereus was sitting there, yet Rocks had not noticed when he had appeared.

"My senses really have weakened after death... But how did you die too? With your ability, you shouldn't be here even if you died dozens or hundreds of times.

"And you... after doing so many good things, ending up in hell with me seems a little unfair."

"You have a lot of questions. Simply put, you're dead now, but not completely dead. This isn't hell.

"This is a space created by my ability. Most of the people I've killed are here. I call it the River of Death."

The River of Death, the river of the dead. The reason Nereus always absorbed his opponents' blood after killing them was this: blood was the currency of souls, and also their vessel.

Those drained dry by Nereus would have their souls enter the River of Death, becoming part of it and subject to Nereus's commands.

If necessary, every soul could become a substitute death for Nereus. Even if someone exhausted all their strength to kill Nereus once, he would still revive at full health.

Unless they first slaughtered every soul within the Blood River.

Nereus did not explain exactly what the River of Death was, but Rocks had his own sense of it. He could feel that his strength seemed unchanged, and he could still wield his original combat power.

"Tell me... you didn't prepare this long ago, did you? Planning to pull me into your River of Death to increase your strength?"

Rocks looked at Nereus, seemingly feeling that this handsome fellow had a wicked streak. Other pirates coveted treasure, but Nereus seemed to covet souls.

"No, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Originally, I only wanted to study how to kill those ghostly things. I didn't expect you to be the one controlled.

"But it did bring me good news. That ability affects the body, but it seems that dying once clears it away.

"Garp and Roger were vague about it. How exactly were you controlled?"

This was Nereus's final test result. Whether it was the members of the Holy Knights or the controlled Rocks, Nereus could sense something similar within them.

The difference was that Black-Turn Domination had tainted Rocks's body, while the Holy Knights seemed to have had their souls tainted.

In theory, pulling those souls into the River of Death and destroying them would kill them completely.

But in that situation, if he absorbed the controlled souls, their master, Imu, would notice.

Nereus did not want Imu to know he possessed this ability yet.

Whether it was the Five Elders or the members of the Holy Knights, they were all expendable to Imu. Killing a few would bring little gain and would instead make Imu more wary.

So he had not done that. Before gaining the ability to kill Imu outright, he still needed to keep a few cards hidden.

Rocks's body had been tainted, but his soul remained clean enough. That was why he had been drawn into the River of Death.

If Rocks could provide a more detailed answer, it would also help Nereus refine his deductions.

"I can't explain it clearly. It's complicated, but I'll give you one warning: it's best not to get hurt by that thing. That ghostly thing in Mary Geoise... isn't easy to deal with."

Rocks recalled it for a moment, but in the end, that was all he could offer.

He could be certain that Black-Turn Domination could not be used whenever its wielder pleased. Certain prerequisites had to be met before it could be used, but Rocks did not know what those conditions were.

"Maybe you're right. It really does require a long-term plan. As for that person's situation... I'll tell you once I've thought it through."

"You're in a state of death now. Do you want me to set you free?"

Control of the River of Death rested in Nereus's hands. Since he could draw souls in, he could naturally also release them and return them to freedom.

As for whether that freedom meant dispersal, reincarnation, or something else, Nereus did not know.

"Set me free... I only have one question. Does your plan include getting rid of that rat king hiding in the gutter?"

"Of course."

"Then forget it. Those bastards set me up like that—I'm not going to let it go so generously. I'll just lend you a hand.

"When the day comes that you're ready, remember to remind me, Nereus... 'Captain.'"

When he said "Captain," Rocks's tone became strange, as though he were teasing him.

The comparison was not far off. In this flowing river of blood, Nereus was the only one capable of controlling its current, so calling him the "captain" here was not strange.

In any case, Rocks intended to remain here for now and wait for the decisive battle Nereus had mentioned.

Nereus would not refuse power of this level. The two had reached a new round of cooperation.

With a shift in thought, Nereus's consciousness left the River of Death within his body and returned to rain-soaked God Valley. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, as though he were suppressing something.

Before Nereus left the River of Death, Rocks had said one more thing: he asked Nereus to warn Harald. Imu seemed to be preparing to make a move against Harald.

As for his wife and child, Rocks did not mention them. He knew that after his death, the Rocks Pirates would inevitably fall apart. A monster like Nereus, meanwhile, might draw the World Government's attention.

Asking him to look after them would only bring greater trouble.

But in Nereus's view, it merely meant that every pirate on Beehive Island had their own sexual frustrations. The others were fixated on Shakky, while Rocks might have been fixated on Harald.

After all, the giant was always among those Rocks could not stop thinking about.

"Huff... huff... Say, Garp, after this, you probably can't stay in the Marines anymore, right? Want to join me?

"And Nereus, why don't you consider it too? I've always wanted a Fish-Man companion."

Though he had not collapsed from exhaustion, Roger was in poor condition, gasping heavily. Yet he still had the leisure to recruit Garp and Nereus.

It seemed that as long as the two agreed, Roger would not care about what had happened before.

"What kind of joke is that? If I quit, who's going to protect the soldiers?"

Garp rejected Roger's offer. Nereus showed no intention of acknowledging the invitation either, beating his wings and flying off into the distance.

As for Rocks's corpse, Nereus did not touch it. Rocks's soul was already within his River of Death, so the body was no longer important.

Besides, Rocks had been the primary target of the God Valley Incident. If they could not find Rocks's body, it would instead create unnecessary trouble.

Roger also withdrew with the aid of his companions. Though they had briefly joined forces, they would still be enemies the next time they met.

Thus, the God Valley Incident in West Blue came to an end.

The incident was classified as an S-rank top-secret event. Marine Headquarters, Marine G-11 Branch, and CP6 retained limited records of it.

Apart from that, the list of participants in the "Hunting Game," its venue at God Valley, its geographical location, area, and population information were all erased.

Casualties caused by the incident—unknown.