"Brother Rorschach, you're saying this woman is the person who caused all this disaster?"
On the shattered ground above the basin, Hibari looked at the red-dressed woman lying on the ground, a hint of surprise on her face.
Hibari's astonishment wasn't without reason.
Even Rorschach himself, upon seeing the woman—Rose—revert to her human form after her death, felt an unavoidable ripple of emotion.
Lying on the ground before them was a woman in a long red dress.
She was incredibly beautiful, with a gentle face and closed eyes. She showed none of her former malice or resentment and looked as if she had simply fallen into a peaceful sleep.
Her height and figure were similar to Hibari's, making it impossible to connect her to the giant, thousand-meter-tall, mountain-sized human-faced spider from before.
On the ground, with Rose's body at the center, there were bottomless, flesh-filled holes, each several dozen meters in diameter, spaced a few hundred meters apart. These were clearly the passages leading into the body of the gigantic sea monster beneath their feet.
It seemed that Rose had used these eight flesh-and-blood channels piercing the giant spider's body to control it, moving it across the sea. She used her abilities to influence people's minds and create dream memories to abduct people and establish this Insect Country, which she completely controlled.
It was for this reason that she had found a unique way to dramatically increase the size of her Mythical Zoan form by absorbing the flesh and energy of this giant sea king.
This was an extremely wicked form of parasitic symbiosis.
"How many survivors are left on the island? I think we need to move all of them off this uncontrolled island as quickly as possible," Kuzan said, looking at the constantly writhing and contracting flesh-and-blood holes at his feet. "I can feel it struggling, trying to break free from the ice and dive into the deep sea. And... "
He looked up at Rorschach and said seriously, "Your graduation assessment is over. Come back to Marineford with us this time."
"Alright."
Rorschach nodded.
This time, he didn't refuse.
He had already called the headquarters.
During the call, Sengoku's expression instantly became extremely grave when he learned that the mastermind behind everything here was Spider Queen Rose.
The reason was simple.
Rose had two identities: one as a member of the Rocks Pirates and another as the lover of Shiki the Golden Lion.
Based on their multiple battles and skirmishes with the Rocks Pirates in the New World back then, they knew that Rose held a very high position in Shiki's heart.
Although seventeen years had passed since Shiki's prison break, and rumors had long circulated that the legendary pirate who had cut off his own legs might have died in some forgotten corner, the Marines—as Shiki's biggest enemy—couldn't take these rumors as truth until they had definitive proof of his death.
What if, through some channel or a Vivre Card, Shiki learned of Spider Queen Rose's death? There was no telling if the man who had disappeared for seventeen years would reappear on the seas.
In fact, at this very moment, Sengoku and the Marine General Staff in Marineford were already feeling uneasy.
Shiki the Golden Lion was not an easy opponent to deal with.
When he single-handedly invaded Marineford, he shattered the entire headquarters and caused thousands of elite Marine casualties, even with Sengoku and Garp fighting him at full strength.
His abilities, swordsmanship, and Haki were all at the absolute peak of the world.
His Float-Float Fruit ability, which could easily lift islands dozens of kilometers in size into the sky and create terrifying tsunamis hundreds of meters high, posed a threat to the Marines comparable to Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit.
Even with a ship's rudder stuck in his head and his own legs broken off.
Therefore, to be safe, the Marines had to be prepared for a potentially terrifying war at any time.
And this war, which might not even happen, could involve more than just Shiki...
"Is there no hope of saving these people?"
On the ravaged ground, Zephyr, holding a sleeping baby, looked at the human-faced spiders covering the area, a look of unbearable sadness in his eyes.
In front of him, Law was using a scalpel to peel Enel from a black-furred spider he had fused with.
Enel's face protruded from the back of the spider, which was larger than a table, while the rest of his body from the neck down was integrated into its flesh.
However, perhaps because the fusion time was too short, his body was still intact when Law cut open the spider.
As the last disgusting pieces of flesh clinging to his legs were peeled away, Enel practically fled the spider's body, transforming himself into crackling electricity and zapping himself repeatedly to try and erase the smell of blood and the unforgettable nightmare he had just experienced.
Enel had never imagined he would one day be fused into a black-furred spider.
It was truly a nightmare.
Taking a towel that Bepo handed him, Law wiped the sweat from his brow, stood up, and followed Zephyr's gaze toward the ground covered with human-faced spiders. He shook his head with a look of pity.
"There's no saving them. As you just saw, Enel's fusion time was less than half a day, and it still took a long time to separate him from that spider. These people have been fused for much longer. They're different from those whose bodies were covered in silk and whose appearances and sizes were changed. These people were likely specially modified for combat."
The empty ground was filled with human-faced spiders as far as the eye could see, roughly estimated to be over twenty thousand.
This meant there were over twenty thousand victims here.
"If it's just a matter of time, we can have more Marine doctors come and deal with them, or we can take them back to Marineford..." Zephyr didn't want to give up.
These were the lives of more than twenty thousand people.
They weren't just a cold number; they were the lives of innocent people.
"It's not a matter of time," Law sighed, knowing that a simple explanation might not be enough for Zephyr's compassionate nature. He walked directly to a spider lying on the ground and drew his sword, Kikoku.
"ROOM."
A swirling aura radiated from his hand, enveloping the human-faced spider on the ground.
The spider's table-sized body floated up, suspended in mid-air as Law wiggled his fingers.
Then, Law flicked his wrist and swung his long sword.
Swish. Without a sound, the body of the beautiful girl-faced, black-furred spider was sliced in half horizontally by Law's sword.
Although they knew this was just the effect of Law's Ope Ope no Mi and wouldn't directly kill the person, the surrounding Marines couldn't help but feel a sense of shock from watching it up close.
Rorschach and Kuzan also walked over, joining Zephyr to examine the human-faced spider that Law had sliced open.
"Look," Law said, waving his hand to change the orientation of the severed spider's cross-section, showing it to them. He pointed to the flesh that was already completely intertwined and inseparable from the woman's body.
"This woman's body has been completely integrated into this black-furred spider. They are essentially a single entity now. The woman gets food through the spider, and the spider digests the food and gets energy using the woman's internal organs. Furthermore, her consciousness has completely dissipated. Even if we spend the effort to successfully separate her from the spider's body, we would end up with a person in a vegetative state who would require a lot of resources to maintain. No, saying she's a vegetable is putting it too lightly."
Law shook his head, put the woman's severed body back together, and returned her to her position as the spider lying on the ground.
"She can no longer be considered a human; she's a completely new, modified creature—a human-faced spider."
He turned his head to look at a heavy-hearted Zephyr. "So, give up, Teacher Zephyr. We can't save them."
Everyone fell silent.
After a long while, Zephyr sighed, handed the baby in his arms to Hibari, and, in a hoarse, old voice, instructed the Marine soldiers:
"Gather all the survivors on the island. When the support warships arrive, take them all and leave. This island isn't stable and could sink into the deep sea at any moment. Let's hurry."
"Yes, sir!"
The soldiers took their orders and left.
A few days later, the Kirin sailed through the Calm Belt toward headquarters.
At the bottom of the mast behind the captain's quarters, Kuzan was lying on a deck chair with a black eye mask over his face, seemingly sound asleep.
"Uncle Kuzan, I really envy your ability to sleep anywhere, even in the Calm Belt where Sea Kings might launch a surprise attack at any moment."
Rorschach walked over with two bottles of sake in his hands, plopping down into a wicker chair next to him and looking at the drifting clouds.
"It's because I have capable guys like you around that I can rest easy," Kuzan said, pushing the eye mask up and squinting at the glaring sun. He reached out and took the two bottles of sake Rorschach offered him.
"Huh? You're not drinking?" Kuzan asked, confused.
"No, hehe, I was just hoping you could help me chill it. It tastes better cold," Rorschach said with a chuckle.
"Aralala, should I say you know how to enjoy yourself, or that you're good at bossing people around?"
Kuzan was speechless. He took one bottle and touched the bottle in Rorschach's hand with his index finger. A wisp of cold air surged from his fingertip, and Rorschach immediately felt the sake in his hand rapidly chilling.
"Okay, okay, any more and it'll turn into a popsicle," Rorschach quickly said, pulling his hand away. He twisted open the bottle Kuzan had chilled and chugged half of it.
"Ugh, so good!"
A look of pure enjoyment appeared on Rorschach's face.
Kuzan watched him, shaking his head.
"Rorschach, you're a real drunkard now. I remember back in the North Blue, you got completely wasted after just two cups of sherry. And that time at headquarters..."
"I can't help it. If I don't practice, I'm afraid I'll get beaten up again for saying the wrong thing," Rorschach said with a laugh, clinking his bottle with Kuzan's.
Then, he watched as Kuzan chugged the entire bottle, his Adam's apple bobbing. Rorschach's mouth twitched.
This guy Kuzan was even more extreme than he was—he was definitely a drunkard.
Kuzan, having finished the bottle, casually tossed the empty bottle from the deck into the Calm Belt.
"Hey, hey, Uncle, littering isn't a good habit. That bottle can be recycled. If you sell it to Uncle Deno's tavern in Marineford, you can get ten Berries for it."
Rorschach waved his hand, and the bottle that had disappeared from Kuzan's sight flew back, landing upright at Rorschach's feet. Kuzan was left speechless.
Are you serious?
An old, uh, no, a middle-aged and a young man, both with similar builds, lay side-by-side in the afternoon sun, enjoying the beauty of the Calm Belt.
Zephyr wasn't on the ship.
A few days ago, when the support warships from headquarters arrived at the Insect Country, he took the survivors to the G-2 Marine base.
The mental state of the residents was still a big problem and required treatment from specialists.
Without a doubt, headquarters would send Black Horse over.
Rorschach turned his head to look at Kuzan, who had fallen silent again after drinking. He couldn't help but ask, "Uncle Kuzan, is something on your mind?"
Kuzan opened his eyes and looked at Rorschach. He stared for a long time, making Rorschach feel uneasy.
"Uncle Kuzan, don't look at me like that, I'm getting scared," Rorschach said, swallowing.
Kuzan was silent for another moment before speaking in a low voice. "Rorschach, honestly, I'm finding that I've been underestimating you. Your growth is truly... beyond my expectations. It's been less than two years since I saw you in the North Blue, yet you've grown to a level that even I wouldn't dare to underestimate."
"Uh... Uncle Kuzan, you're making me blush," Rorschach said, scratching his head awkwardly.
"It's the truth," Kuzan said, lying back down and looking at the vast sky. "Not just you, but the people around you have also changed dramatically since they left Marineford."
Kuzan was speaking the truth.
He was genuinely shocked when he reunited with Rorschach on the Insect Country island.
It had only been about three months since Rorschach left Marineford for his graduation assessment.
Yet, Rorschach and the Marines he led had already made significant progress.
Putting Rorschach aside for a moment, Kuzan thought the boy's aura alone was already comparable to that of an emperor's first mate in the New World.
And how old was this kid?
On the Kirin, Law and Hibari had both awakened two types of Haki and, having been tempered by many battles, had grown into excellent, self-reliant Marine officers.
The Marine soldiers, including Pamela and Bepo, had also made huge strides in their mental fortitude and strength.
And Rorschach's ship also had a highly promising Logia user with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
Oh, and Kuzan almost forgot, Hibari was a Logia user, too.
In the short few days he had been on the Kirin, Kuzan had seen the absolute trust and obedience in the eyes of these Marines for their superior, Rorschach. He saw their fanatical admiration.
It wasn't hard to imagine how highly they regarded this young Marine.
In the future, when these people fully matured, they would become Rorschach's strongest foundation in the Marines.
Although all Marines fought for justice, their different interpretations of justice often led to the formation of different factions.
Kuzan could almost foresee a new Marine faction, led by Rorschach, rising with an unstoppable momentum.
Although the people on this ship were all very young, their potential was so great that even Kuzan couldn't ignore it.
It could be said that these young people would become the future of the Marines.
And that was precisely Kuzan's biggest worry.
The future direction of this new generation of Marines, led by Rorschach, would depend entirely on the boy's attitude toward justice.
Although Kuzan had seen Rorschach's resolve in multiple battle reports, what if the boy eventually went down the same path of destructive justice as Akainu?
If that were to happen, the Marines would face a war of unprecedented intensity, an endless war.
Who knew how many Marines, civilians, and pirates would die in those high-intensity conflicts?
Kuzan did not want to see such a hellish scene come to pass.
He had already witnessed a similar event more than ten years ago in Ohara.
It was after that incident that he and Akainu had a complete falling out.
That man, who championed "Absolute Justice," would destroy everything, including himself, to achieve his goals.
And to this day, Kuzan still couldn't see through the man, who was usually without expression.
He didn't know if Akainu was truly willing to be a loyal dog for the Celestial Dragons.
Or if he would carry out his bloody "Absolute Justice" to the end.
But no matter which it was, Kuzan didn't want to see either.
Rorschach was saved by Akainu himself and was also involved with his daughter, so becoming the man's son-in-law was almost a certainty.
If, one day, Rorschach decided to join his father-in-law in destroying the world, wouldn't the Marines be finished?
What?
You think Rorschach won't marry Hibari?
Are you kidding? They're already sleeping in the same room. If Rorschach were to abandon her, he'd have to consider whether he could withstand a volcanic eruption of magma.
Seeing Kuzan, deep in thought and silent again, Rorschach's heart sank.
Could it be that Kuzan found out I took Robin away?
That shouldn't be the case.
He thought he had been very discreet about it.
The only people present were him, Vivi, and Robin herself.
Recalling Dragon's sudden appearance in Alabasta, Rorschach had already figured out that he came for Robin.
He figured Robin was probably with Dragon at the Revolutionary Army now.
As for whether she would join the Straw Hat Pirates later, Rorschach didn't know.
Thinking about Kuzan's connection to Robin, Rorschach hesitated but decided to tell the truth.
Kuzan had done him a great service, saving his life and teaching him, and he couldn't forget it.
Rorschach didn't want this respectable Marine Admiral to become estranged from him over this matter.
So, he sat up straight and looked at Kuzan, who had already closed his eyes, ready to go back to sleep. "I'm sorry, Uncle Kuzan. What I did was wrong. I let Nico Robin go with Dragon without your permission."
"What? You let Nico Robin run off with Dragon??"
Kuzan, who had been about to go back to sleep,'s eyes instantly widened.
(End of Chapter)
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