Voyage to Water 7

The agreed meeting place with Diumil and the others, Water 7, lay in the first half of the Grand Line.

Setting out from the West Blue, the closest direct route was to cross the Red Line.

But that was clearly unrealistic for Annus and his group.

The Red Line was a ring-shaped continent encircling the entire planet, famous for the red soil covering its surface. In the area where the Holy Land Mary Geoise stood, it even reached a height of ten thousand meters, far taller than ordinary islands and extending above the clouds.

A sailboat that relied on wind power had no chance of climbing a mountain of that scale without external assistance.

Therefore, if Annus and his group wanted to reach Water 7, they could only honestly take Reverse Mountain. Only with the aid of Reverse Mountain's Upward Current could they cross the Red Line and enter the Grand Line.

Come to think of it, if they had been in the East Blue or South Blue, they could have entered the first half simply by crossing the Calm Belt.

Unfortunately, the Calm Belt adjacent to the West Blue and North Blue separated them from the latter half—the New World.

Several weeks had passed since the God Valley Incident, yet there was still only one related news report. Its general contents described how the Marines had defeated the evil Rocks Pirates in the West Blue and achieved a great victory.

Garp, in particular, had been portrayed as a "hero" who had single-handedly defeated both the Rocks Pirates and the Roger Pirates. It was clear that the World Government was working hard to create an image of a "savior."

Yet throughout the entire article, the name of the incident's location, God Valley, was never mentioned even once.

"Those gutter rats are as good as ever at twisting black into white... Garp single-handedly defeated Roger and me?"

Rocks lay on a beach chair and casually tossed the newspaper to a pirate beside him.

The pirate hurriedly caught it, then fawningly lit a cigar for Rocks.

After a period of recuperation, Rocks had gradually recovered and no longer looked as weak as he had when Black Transformation Domination was released.

Yet he still chose not to leave the ship. Instead, he planned to reach the destination with Annus, then decide what to do after reuniting with his wife and child.

"How could the World Government possibly publicize a pirate victory? By the way, has Dragon read that newspaper?"

Annus, who was lying on another beach chair and basking in the sun, was not surprised by this at all.

Since he did not have a habit of smoking cigars, the pirate attending him opened a bottle of red wine, poured it into a prepared glass after letting it breathe, and did not forget to toss in a few ice cubes.

Over the past several weeks, the pirate ship they had seized at God Valley had crossed Reverse Mountain and entered the first half of the Grand Line, drawing ever closer to its destination.

During that time, Annus had never given up on recruiting Dragon. The two had negotiated many times, but Dragon consistently showed resistance and refused to become Annus's "messenger."

If Annus's vision of "a world without Celestial Dragons" had not been impossible for Dragon to ignore, this righteous young man would likely have left the ship long ago.

"Wororor! That brat read it! His expression was quite something! Too bad you didn't see it..."

Rocks laughed. "Come to think of it, you really came up with something wild! Recruiting Garp's son as your subordinate? Are you planning to cultivate a Marine spy? If Garp finds out, he'll definitely want to kill you."

Though he said that, Rocks greatly admired Annus's idea.

It had to be this crazy! This was the kind of man he acknowledged!

"Kill me? That depends on whether Garp can do it. As for being a spy... even if I were willing, Dragon probably doesn't want to return to the Marines anymore," Annus said.

After talking with him for the past few weeks, Annus believed he had come to understand Dragon's inner world well enough.

Dragon's image had gradually changed from the Revolutionary Army's leader and "Sweating King," who had existed only on paper in the original timeline buried in his memories, into a living, breathing human being.

He could be afraid, blame himself, feel regret, feel fear...

Annus took a sip of red wine, suddenly rose to his feet, picked up the newspaper Rocks had tossed onto the table, and headed toward the cabin.

"Where are you going?" Rocks asked.

"To talk to him again."

"Wororor! You really won't give up!"

Ignoring Rocks's teasing behind him, Annus walked straight into the cabin.

"Grrr..."

The moment he opened Dragon's door, a sour stench hit him. Several portions of food on the floor had spoiled after being left untouched for too long.

"What are you here for again? My answer won't change no matter how many times you ask..."

When Dragon saw Annus enter, he covered his growling stomach and turned his back on him.

"Did you read the newspaper?"

Annus casually set the newspaper aside and dumped the spoiled food into a wooden bucket.

"Tch, so what if I did? Do you think that can shake me? No matter how disgusting those big shots are, I can never work for pirates!"

Despite Annus's tireless attempts over the past several weeks to tempt and recruit him, Dragon had always held firmly to his bottom line.

He believed that no matter how corrupt and dark the upper ranks of the World Government and Marines were, it was not a reason for him to side with even more evil pirates.

Pirates have never hidden the harm they do to the people! And the World Government at least values human lives on the surface...

This was Dragon's deeply ingrained belief.

"How many times do I have to tell you? The Rocks Pirates have already disbanded. Right now, my status is no different from that of an ordinary person."

"Ordinary people don't order those pirates to raid islands along the way for supplies!"

Dragon suddenly became agitated again.

Annus sighed softly. "You're hurting me, Dragon... I never ordered the pirates aboard this ship to plunder anything.

The supplies on the ship were all bought with the treasure the pirates aboard seized at God Valley. You don't need to resist by starving yourself, either."

Dragon froze upon hearing that. Then what had he gone without food or water for these past few days for?

"How could pirates possibly buy things?"

"Must pirates rob everything they want? By that logic, do Marines always protect the people? Then how were those natives of God Valley captured?"

Dragon was left speechless. He opened his mouth, wanting to argue something, but ultimately fell silent.

That's right... At God Valley, we personally fired tranquilizer rounds into those residents' bodies...

"And why do pirates plunder treasure? Isn't it to use it? Having enough treasure to buy what they want is the ultimate goal."

As a circulating currency, Berry was regarded as the unit of measure defining the value of goods across these seas.

For most people, the reason they went to sea as pirates was that they could not earn enough Berry and were swept along by overwhelming pressure to survive.

Although pirates usually acquired treasure through force and plunder, that treasure had to be spent eventually. Otherwise, what was the point of having it?

Gold itself had no inherent value. Gold was merely a somewhat unusual stone.

It was only because humans bestowed value upon it that gold came to be regarded as treasure.

"You think I am a pirate, so you refuse to associate with me. At the end of the day, you're merely prejudiced against the profession of 'pirate.'"

But it was only a profession.

Just as there were scum and degenerates in the Marines, clinging to ordinary people at the bottom like leeches and sucking their blood, there were also kind people among pirates.

Their numbers might be small, but you could not deny that they existed.

I may not be a kind person, but I know my heart is not bad. Since setting sail, I have never killed anyone uninvolved. Everyone who died by my hand deserved it.

Now I have washed my hands of it. I will no longer engage in piracy, and even if I take action from now on, I will not target ordinary people."

Annus spoke at length, but Dragon was absent-minded. Seeing this, Annus said no more. After leaving behind one final sentence, he left the cabin.

"It seems my words have already touched your soul... One day, you will understand, Dragon. Only with my support will you have the ability to change this world...

Or rather, this is the only way for you to save several decades of struggle for the revolutionary cause.

I'll have someone bring you another meal later. Stop making things difficult for your stomach."