Everything in the world was bound by cause and effect. Two things that seemed utterly unrelated often had an inevitable connection beneath the surface. When one vanished, the other would come to an end as well.
Everyone wanted events to unfold as they had predicted. But as pieces on the board, all they could do was submit to fate. Those outside the game could use their own hands to break the chain of cause and effect and make their moves.
The One Piece World Loa inhabited was that chessboard, but Loa himself was not the player.
As before, a piece on the board could only ever be a piece. The moment he stepped into the One Piece World, the role of player was cut off from him, endlessly and without end.
This was Between Dreams, a place as vast as the universe. Countless Illusion Realms were born here and destroyed here. As its guardian, the Golden Dragon had stood here for countless ages. He had long since lost his initial interest in the birth and death of those worlds.
Where did destroyed Illusion Realms go? Where were new ones born?
Those questions had troubled the Golden Dragon for so long that he had grown tired of seeking their answers. More than tired—he had begun to hate everything around him.
Those Illusion Realms, forever appearing and disappearing, were like the most irritating mosquitoes, buzzing without pause and constantly circling in his mind.
Why must I protect this place?
And why don't I want to leave?
The Golden Dragon could not answer those questions himself. He simply repeated the same task: identifying the travelers who broke into this place.
Then he stuffed them into Illusion Realms one by one as nourishment, allowing those realms to continue existing.
Some reached the pinnacle of