101 Chapter 100

That day, after the live transmission of the situation in the Impel Down was abruptly cut, the entire world fell into panic.

What happened after? Did Smoker survive? What of the others—the Marine legends who decided to side with him? What happened?!

People enraged, that once again ones above were trying to hide the truth from them. They raised their weapons up and roared,

"UNTIL WHEN MUST WE BE FOOLED BY THE WORLD GOVERNMENT?!!"

"MY 5-YEAR-OLD SON!!! JUST BECAUSE THE SOUND OF HIS STOMACH GROWLING REACHED THE CELESTIAL DRAGON'S EARS, HE WAS SHOT 16 TIMES...!!!"

The torches were lit aflame and held up, brightening up the night. Perhaps it was the sense of hope brought by the miraculous victory that Smoker brought against the seemingly invincible Blaise. They, with the previous helplessness nowhere to be found, united altogether and brazenly charged at the castles, Government-affiliated buildings, and many other wrong-doers with authority.

Many World Nobles will be forced to run, eventually settling in the tightly guarded Mariejois. Many kingdoms will fall into that of anarchy, however, the civilians will be granted temporary peace and freedom rather than chaos, because...

"...What a day."

...There was Monkey D. Dragon and his self-proclaimed Revolutionary Army in the middle of all these uproars, ensuring that the civilians' hostility doesn't go to a self-destructive extent.

"I've never seen someone as insane as you, Smoker. To think father will be willing to side with you..."

Dragon, sitting at the intact wall of one ruined castle, said as he sternly observed the Lulusia kingdom laid out all around him. Eventually his eyes landed on one area that was inhibited by the current king of Lulusia and the past traitor of the Revolutionary Army... Seki.

He, with countless spears impaled all over his body, was hollowly gazing at the thin air, dead.

Dragon, back in the past, shouted at Garp, filled with immense disappointment at his father. And back then, Garp replied with a grim expression,

"...So you changed, father, along with many changes brought by him."

In the end, Dragon came to smile.

__________

Deep in the sea, there was one strange-looking submarine with two propellers at the back—seemingly made out of stones and bar-like metals, was travelling through. It was quite large in size, and considering how the excessively heavy stones were by no means ideal for creating a submarine. And as such, its speed being astonishingly fast didn't make any sense.

And inside this absurd submarine, Shiryu was found sitting and leaning against one wall helplessly, desperately clinging to his life. In his sight, there were two people in prisoner's uniform.

"To think I'd be holding hands with the likes of you..." First was Byrnndi World, the man of huge arms, comparatively thin legs, and a W-shaped mustache.

And,

"Shut your mouth, weakling."

Standing with an oppressive Conqueror's Haki was Douglas Bullet, glaring at World with a frown. World grimaced in response—of how strong his Observation Haki perceived Bullet as. Bullet proceeded to speak,

"If not for your More More fruit being needed to speed up this thing, I would've left you dead in that place."

Bullet then grinned in a crazed manner, having the veins popped out of his forehead. He leaned in at World and said,

"Kahaha! That look of terror in you... remember that feeling. The day you forget the fear... will be the day of your death."

"..."

World, glared back at Bullet with all his might, however, was forced to retract as soon as he came to sight the latter's psychotic eyes.

From the middle of the ongoing situation in the Impel Down, Bullet, Shiryu, and World—the three of them safely managed to get away... to who-knows-where.

__________

In a dark room, Ochoku was found looking at a messy chess board filled with all the necessary pieces. The black pieces and white pieces were mixed all over the board, indicating that the game was ongoing. However, there was no one sitting across, and this man, humming in thought, moved a white knight—taking one black pawn out.

"So far, everything has been going according to the plan... with the exclusion of the attempt to gain the Op Op fruit. Garp's appearance back in the North Blue, and managing to sight Shiki... it was one ridiculous coincidence, but a reality nonetheless."

He gripped on one black rook and lifted it up,

"As expected, Kaidou—that war maniac—moved after receiving the information regarding Whitebeard. Kaidou's movement was then anonymously informed to Big Mom by us, and she personally travelled to Wano for the purpose of stealing the Road Poneglyph."

Black rook took down the white knight.

"This way, even if Shiki was also present, writing down a copy of said Road Poneglyph, Kaidou will likely attack Linlin prior to Shiki—whose whereabouts will be unknown unlike her."

Lifting up one white pawn, Ochoku moved it by one space.

"Meanwhile, while Linlin is out, John is to invade the Whole Cake island and steal a copy of her Road Poneglyph. Though that Katakuri seems to have gotten quite strong from what I heard, it should be of no problem for him. Linlin won't have time to process what exactly happened, or track John down, for she'll be busy dealing with Kaidou."

Then, Ochoku looked at the black queen that hasn't moved a single space yet.

"Coupled with the copy of the Road Poneglyph from Fish Man island, which I attained years ago, there only leaves one more for us to find, as well as a tool that can decipher the ancient language."

He reached for the black queen, and slowly lifted it up.

"...And speaking of ancient language... there was the Ohara incident, wasn't there? The tree of knowledge was burnt down, and the slip of information that I managed to get, is that..."

<Vegapunk. It looks like he's gone to the Ohara. I mean, of course, as the world's greatest scientist and one of the most intelligent human beings on earth, it must be saddening to witness the loss of such vast knowledge, as well as the world's greatest historian—Dr. Clover.>

"...Of course, of course. He may have gained nothing. But, I'm a curious man. In that size of a brain, just what kind of knowledge is he hiding?"

Within this dark, the black queen was laid two spaces away from the white king, putting the white side in check. Ochoku grinned,

"And the new island—Egghead from what I heard, is in the process of being constructed... to conduct researches that may be conflicting with ones ongoing in Punk Hazard."

In the underworld, this man is known as the enigmatic 'Id,' the most influential broker among the criminals.

__________

In the East Blue, there lies a huge island that goes by the name 'Dawn.' This island, harbouring countless people ranging from average civilians, World Nobles, vile criminals, and more, was Garp's hometown.

"...Gol D. Roger? You mean Gold Roger? You asked if we know him...?"

And here, in one hoodlum of the Dawn island, stood one 4-year-old boy. He, possessing the characteristics of black hair, similarly black-coloured eyes, and freckles on his cheeks, was standing across many adults, ones who seemed to be full of dissatisfaction and anger for the world.

"Yes! Of course we do! The so-called Pirate King! Oh, the filthy criminal who's been executed in front of the whole world! Claiming that a stupid thing like One Piece exists!"

The boy listened with a plain expression on his face, of how much hatred they had for the Pirate King.

"Do you not have any idea how much trouble pirates are causing around the whole world right now?! All of that is Gold Roger's fault!"

"Listen, alright?! We'd all be better off if that man was never born! He's the worst kind of scum there ever can be! A pain in the ass when he was alive, and even more now that he's dead!!"

"If there is a child of his, that one better keep hiding forever and die early!! Hmph, since the father didn't fully pay for his sin, the next generation must do so!!"

A strange surge of anger rose in his heart. Hearing the negative words from the adults one by one, the plain expression on him slowly broke.

"Hmm?! What's that face for?! What are you getting all mad for, boy—"

The boy jumped,

PUK—!

engaging himself in a feud against them—all of a sudden.

"AAAHHHH!!!"

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, RUNT?!!"

As the blood spilled, sprinkling all over the boy as he threw punch after punch, pouring out all his anger, the voices from the past spoke in his mind,

<Roger?! Don't go running your mouth off with a filthy name like that, boy!!>

Being surrounded by the mountain bandits and other criminals, learning vulgar words before all else, and coming to learn just how hated his biological and now-deceased father was... from the birth itself, the life has been a hell to this boy.

After punching all over his surroundings without any rationality whatsoever, the boy came to stop, huffing rapidly. The adults, with multiple having fell down and few still standing, gritted their teeth and glared at the boy murderously. Finally, one man, whose nose is bleeding, charged and punched forth,

"Freaking devil child! Die—"

before his fist was casually caught by someone—one who suddenly appeared in front of the boy and shielded him from the hostile glares of the adults.

"—e-eh?!"

Towering over the nose-bleeding man with a height much taller, this white-haired man silently stared at the former lazily.

Thud.

Then,

Thud. Thud. Thud.

One by one, the adults all around suddenly fell unconscious, sending the boy into a deep confusion. The lousy town abruptly became a silent and ghost-like tow, for no one was able to combat the unfathomable willpower of this mysterious white-haired man.

And in this state, this man, in front of the boy, spoke,

"...Is Gol D. Roger a pirate? Yes. Did he commit wrong-doings that ultimately caused many to suffer? Yes, those are facts that can't be denied. However,"

The man then turned, meeting the boy's eyes with his hazel-coloured ones,

"child shouldn't be responsible for bearing all punishments that his father deserves. Anyone who curses upon an innocent child... is a scum as malevolent as the Pirate King himself. Heh, in the first place, you shouldn't be asking questions like that to these brain-dead fools."

Leaning down, the man held his hand out at the boy,

"You're Ace, right?"

The boy, gulping in nervousness, took a step back and asked out of caution, "W-Who are you...?"

The man, not bothered by the boy's antics, chuckled,

"Your gramp's disciple. The name's Smoker."

The boy, Ace, frowned, "...So you smoke?"

"What? No."

"Then why introduce yourself as smoker?"

"...? My name's Smoker, and I don't smoke."

"So you're a non-smoker then."

"Yeah."

"And your name is Smoker."

"...Okay, kid, can we get this over with?"

"Smoker who doesn't smoke? What the hell... that's like, ugh,"

"...Hey—"

"kinda like that one dude whose name is Al but gets drunk from one sip of ale, or that other girl named Barbie who tries to act like she's in twenties but is in sixties in reality, or—ew! That guy over there's peeing all of a sudden! What the hell! Disgusting!"

"Haa..."

Smoker, grabbing Ace by the back of his shirt, lifted him up. With the previous anger and depression forgotten, Ace began to chatter all that he could think of, leaving Smoker to grumble as they casually walked away from the ghost-like hoodlum.

"So, where are we going?" Then, Ace asked,

"New home," And Smoker replied.

"Why?"

"Long story short, your gramps and I are wanted now."

"…WHAT?!!"

__________

[4 Years Later...

May 11th, 1510]

"...Fuck."

Sitting in the office of Fleet Admiral, one that previously belonged to Sengoku, was Sakazuki, cursing in distress.

In front of him, there was a mountain of paperworks, all of which being the urgent reports sent from all around the world.

*34th Branch partially destroyed by the assault from the Amogus pirates! Estimated time of restoration is anticipated to take long, and will require to…*

*Big Mom and Kaidou clashed for the 154th time, in the Lala island! As many civilians as possible were evacuated, but at least thousands were calculated to have been caught in the crossfire!*

"Fuck. Fuck. Fucking fuck fuck. Fuck this shit."

Sakazuki, usually the man of cold and calm demeanour, was currently losing his mind. And sitting at some distance away was Borsalino, relaxing in his seat and watching Sakazuki's endeavour with amusement.

"How scary~"

Then, Borsalino's eyes, drifting away from Sakazuki, landed on one bounty poster attached on one wall,

*'White Hunter' Smoker. Wanted Dead or Alive. 3,700,000,000 Beli.*

"Hm~"

Shrugging, Borsalino then proceeded to take a sip from a cup full of coffee, seemingly unbothered.

The past 4 years, since the traitors' successful escape, the world's been in a turmoil. Even more, after the shocking raid of Mariejois by one fish-man named Fisher Tiger and subsequent establishment of the Sun pirates, the nervousness among the Celestial Dragons and distrust in Marine has consistently been rising.

Smoker, now branded as one of the world's worst criminals, was amusingly hailed by the public as a hero, with him having disclosed the true face of the World Government. Though the World Government still stands, the tide of the world began to flow in a strange direction—way in which no one is able to predict what will be happening next.

However, did Borsalino care? The answer was no, because… he got a pay raise last month~

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