Hearing the black-haired young man speak so lightly, the members of the Roger Pirates all twitched at the corners of their mouths.
Darren's talent and strength hardly needed an introduction.
In less than two years, he had gone from a rookie first setting foot on the Grand Line to a top-tier monster who could clash head-on with legends like Roger and Whitebeard—and walk away unbroken.
Yet even that terrifying combat power wasn't what frightened people most.
Beyond his overwhelming strength, he possessed a razor-sharp mind and a predator's sense for strategy.
Matched with a ruthless, ends-justify-the-means mentality…
Anyone who ended up in his sights—whether person or organization—was guaranteed sleepless nights and endless headaches.
For a brief moment, the Roger Pirates silently mourned for the World Government, offering it a second of wordless sympathy.
Then, despite themselves, their lips curled faintly.
At that moment, Crocus walked over, drying his hands with a clean towel.
"Zephyr's condition has stabilized."
"Kureha's skills haven't dulled at all. Her surgery cleanly removed all the infected and necrotic tissue."
"The situation wasn't as hopeless as it looked. The medicine I prepared has largely suppressed the spores running through his system."
"From here on, he just needs time—rest, recovery, and his own immune system will have to do the rest."
"That's beyond what medicine can control."
He sat down beside Rayleigh. Before he could reach out, someone silently pressed a bottle of sake into his hand.
"Thank you for your trouble, Dr. Crocus," Darren said, his tone sincere.
Crocus glanced up at him, smiled, and took the sake.
After a deep swig, he shook his head. "Even if Roger hadn't opened his mouth, I would have stepped in. Since Kureha sent you my way, I couldn't just turn you down…"
"Besides," he added, looking at the peacefully sleeping former Marine Admiral with a soft, fleeting smile, "'Black Arm' Zephyr has always been a man worthy of respect."
Hearing that, the rest of the Roger Pirates remained surprisingly quiet. No one objected.
Compared to other Marines, Zephyr was someone they simply couldn't bring themselves to hate.
He never strayed from his convictions. Even when facing the most infamous pirates, he still spared their lives when he could, clinging stubbornly to his belief that every person deserved a chance at redemption.
A man like that demanded respect—even as an enemy.
All the more so for the Roger Pirates, a crew of wanderers who treasured freedom and romance above all else.
Darren pressed his lips together, about to speak, but Crocus waved him off with a chuckle.
"No need to thank me. I didn't save him for your sake."
"It's just a shame I couldn't do anything about his arm… Compared to a monster like you with your 'Indestructible Body,' the human body is pathetically fragile."
He tipped back his glass, then rose and walked toward the Oro Jackson moored at the shore.
Darren hesitated for a moment, then lifted his own bottle and downed it in one long pull.
Sensing the shift in mood, the others quietly drifted away, one after another.
And so—
Beside the crackling bonfire,
only two men remained, sitting across from each other.
The two most dangerous criminals in the world.
"So, you really crossed blades with those five old monsters, huh?" Roger laughed, casually tossing Darren another bottle. "How'd it go?"
His eyes were clear and sharp now, without a hint of the fool he'd been pretending to be moments earlier. His wild hair and beard, paired with the mud-streaked red captain's coat, lent him a rough, unrestrained charisma.
"Yeah. They're stubborn bastards," Darren said.
He caught the bottle, flicked his finger, and the cork shot out like a bullet, burying itself in the ground with a spray of dirt.
He lowered his gaze to the amber liquid, frowning slightly.
"No matter how badly they're injured, those strange black flame-clouds let them regenerate. It's like they can't die at all… Is that the kind of thing you were facing at God Valley?"
Roger burst out laughing.
"Not quite. Things at God Valley were a hell of a mess."
"At first, I just wanted to settle things with Rocks. Then Garp barged in, and before I knew it, we were fighting side by side."
"Rocks' crew was stacked with monsters back then."
"As for the Gorosei, I only remember one of them attending that 'Hunting Festival' as an observer."
Darren's eyes narrowed. "Saint Jaygarcia Saturn."
"That's him," Roger nodded.
"To be honest, I was stunned. I never imagined an ability like that could exist in this world—invulnerable to attack, practically 'undying.' Or maybe it wasn't even a Devil Fruit ability at all…"
"Of course, I never fought him directly. I only saw him from afar."
He scratched his head and chuckled.
"So I never figured out what that power really was."
"My eyes were on Rocks back then. Nothing else."
At the name, Darren clearly saw the heat flare in Roger's gaze, battle lust kindling like a bonfire.
Rocks D. Xebec—the legendary great pirate who once ruled the New World and aimed to become "King of the World."
Even Sengoku, for all his bluster, had admitted: "Perhaps he was the first and strongest enemy Roger ever faced."
Though, knowing Sengoku's habit of exaggerating his enemies' threat, Darren took that evaluation with a grain of salt.
"Rocks wasn't the one who erased God Valley, was he?" Darren asked suddenly.
Roger blinked. "What makes you say that?"
Darren tipped his head back slightly, squinting at the Pirate King. His voice dropped, steady and low.
"I've collected a lot of information. More than you'd think."
"God Valley was massive—many times the size of Felsek Island, or 'Godfall Island' as people call it now."
"But after that battle, the entire island vanished from the map. Gone without a trace."
"That level of destruction… even I have a hard time believing it."
He pointed first at Roger, then at himself.
"Splitting the ground, blowing apart an island… you and I can manage that. But wiping an island clean off the sea? That's another thing entirely."
"I don't buy that Rocks had that kind of power."
"If he did, not even you and Garp together could've stopped him."
"So, Roger…"
"What really happened on God Valley that day?"
"Or to put it another way—what final trump card is the World Government still hiding?"
To be continued...