"Yeah, why was he in such a hurry?"
Rosse's lips curved slightly, "Pressure from the World Government? Instability within his crew? An opportunity for a heavenly hunt?"
"Maybe those were part of it, but there was an even more important reason."
At those words, Kaido's tiger eyes locked tightly onto Rosse, "To reach the level you're at now, what exactly does it take?"
He had realized something wasn't normal.
Rocks was in a hurry, Roger was in a hurry, and when Golden Lion heard Roger had turned himself in, he went crazy with urgency too.
Only Whitebeard, who pursued something different, seemed the most normal.
When this group of people reached that critical threshold, almost none of them could keep a calm heart.
'Why is that?'
"Destiny," Rosse spoke the two words lightly. It was also his deeper understanding of this realm after climbing to it with the help of his "cheat."
The realm he now stood in was beyond the specifications of this world.
Without his cheat, the only way to reach it wasn't talent, wasn't effort, but being chosen by heaven and earth itself.
In short.
Destiny.
"Destiny? Tch. So you're saying to reach your level, it's decided from birth? Then why did Golden Lion and Rocks bother working so hard?", Kaido sneered.
It wasn't that he didn't believe Rosse, it was that he couldn't, and wouldn't, accept it.
If what Rosse said was true, then what did everything he'd fought for amount to?
When the moment of destiny arrived, he might as well just surrender. The chosen ones would be destined to be strong, and he'd just be an ant relying on his own effort.
"What do you think destiny is?", Rosse smiled and asked back, while glancing at Gion.
At S-rank, body, Haki, and Devil Fruits could all be pushed to their limits.
But to reach SS-rank, it wasn't about understanding the powers themselves, but about grasping the meaning within them, condensing one's true will.
That was his realization in recent days. Though he himself didn't count, his rise had been forced by cheats, his sheer numbers pushed beyond limits, letting him fight on par with SS-rank.
"Predetermined, unchangeable," Kaido gave his answer. This was what most people believed.
In this world, there was the idea of bloodline inheritance.
The strong birthed the strong. Kings birthed kings. The Celestial Dragons birthed Celestial Dragons.
This logic was deeply ingrained, even Kaido agreed with it.
Destiny was like bloodline: predetermined. If it was predetermined, it couldn't be changed. It was marked into one's birth.
"Destiny…", Because Gion had been by Rosse's side for so long, her thoughts had grown bolder.
Especially when Rosse had just looked at her like that, it sparked a new suspicion.
"What if destiny doesn't mean a person's future height, but a kind of mission or status? For example, if Rocks could have overthrown the Celestial Dragons and become the true king of the world…", She didn't continue saying words of treason. Because she saw the approving look in Rosse's eyes, that meant her guess was right.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Her guess had already been bold enough, but to think it was true.
If Sora had been here, maybe she could have analyzed even more. But Gion only longed for that realm, she didn't think further.
But just because she didn't, didn't mean Kaido didn't.
He too caught Rosse's recognition, and his eyes widened as he turned to him, "The highest throne of the World Government… was never empty?"
Back then, the twenty kings had jointly founded the World Government. Because it was a joint founding, they had set an empty throne at the top, declaring to the outside world that no one should sit on it, because the world did not need a king.
And beside that throne stood nineteen weapons, symbols of the nineteen families who became Celestial Dragons.
But thinking carefully, it was terrifying.
If for 800 years, that throne had never been empty, then the one sitting there… what kind of existence had they reached?
Just imagining it made Kaido's whole body go cold.
Someone as strong as Rosse, and yet the World Government had always had someone, possibly surviving for 800 years?
"That throne has never been empty. Many people know that, just not you," Rosse smiled.
"No, that doesn't add up!", Kaido lowered his head, glaring at Rosse, "If Joy Boy reached that level by following destiny, and the one on the throne seized destiny by defeating Joy Boy and unifying the world, then how did you do it?"
"Did the one on the throne die?"
"No. After the Holy Land incident, the highest building symbolizing authority wasn't damaged. That person acted."
"Back then, you weren't as strong as now… I investigated your history. Against Redfield, you and Sakazuki teamed up and fought for a long time to take him down."
"If you had your current strength, that wouldn't have taken so long."
"Even if you were hiding your power then, your promotion must have happened around that time."
"No, in fact, with your ability, the Holy Land incident must have had your shadow behind it…"
"Let's take a bold guess. In the Holy Land incident, you gained the most benefit, you completed your promotion."
"So what conditions let you seize destiny?"
Kaido's words grew more and more excited, like he had uncovered Rosse's deepest secret.
At the same time, his mind was spinning at full speed.
Normally he acted like a drunk brute. But among pirates of his level, his brain was second to none.
Even compared to Marine strategist Tsuru, he wasn't weaker. He might even be stronger.
With his mind racing, Kaido quickly hit on the key point.
He suddenly glanced at the altered red stone, then looked at Rosse in shock, taking a deep breath, "The Age of Gods… was orchestrated by you!"
"And that story, that Devil Fruits gathered from people's wishes, each one representing a god. That's fake… no, wait."
Kaido suddenly pulled out his gourd and took a heavy swig.
With alcohol fueling him, his thoughts grew even sharper, "Maybe part of it is true, but one point is definitely fake!"
"Sea God! The fruit you ate absolutely wasn't high enough to match Joy Boy's level. And the tale about the Sea God's daughter being the Sea King, made up, just to raise your fruit's status."
At this point, Kaido suddenly burst into mad laughter, "Hahahahaha! You bastard! You actually relied on deception, on changing how the world saw things, to fake the effect of destiny! Hah, you really are a bastard!"
The more he analyzed, the more convinced he became of his own deduction.
And at the same time, he admired Rosse's boldness even more.
Everyone else fought to seize destiny.
But Rosse had fabricated destiny with lies, forcing it into being.
The difference between the two… was like a chasm as wide as heaven and earth.
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