Red-Haired Shanks hadn't expected Loki to flip moods so quickly.
Just moments ago, he had been putting on an air of profound mystery, but the moment he heard the name "Rocks," it was as if he had been injected with adrenaline, instantly becoming exhilarated.
And after the excitement came...
Uncontrollable sobbing and thrashing about.
Well, being tied to a tree, he couldn't exactly thrash, but if he were to be untied, this guy would undoubtedly do so without hesitation.
"You had that kind of history with Rocks back then, and I can understand your admiration for him..." Red-Haired Shanks wiped away a cold sweat, "but the current Rocks has lost almost all his power, understand? He's not exactly helpless, but compared to you, he's just a weakling now."
Loki froze.
Rocks... lost his power?
That Rocks, who wanted to become the King of the World... lost his power!?
"No, no, no, that's absolutely impossible!" Loki's voice was laced with confusion and anger, "You're lying to me! After Rocks disappeared back then, I searched almost the entire world and couldn't find him! Now that he's returned, he must be setting out once more on his path to become the King of the World!"
"Why would I lie to you? What would I gain from it? Have you forgotten why I dragged you back from the sea in the first place? Wasn't it to protect an idiot like you? Or do you think being targeted by the Celestial Dragons would end well for you?" Red-Haired Shanks snorted coldly, "Even if Rocks hadn't weakened, do you really think he could stand a chance against Michael now?"
"Rocks... was the strongest."
"In the past, that statement might have held some truth... but now, there is no Rocks—only Michael."
Shanks' words were sharp and cutting.
But Loki had no retort.
In truth, no one understood better than him that even Rocks at his peak would have been no match for Michael.
For anyone to share an era with Michael... was an inexplicable tragedy.
But...
"Shanks, if you know the truth of what happened back then, then you should know that I'm not the so-called 'Cursed Prince,' much less the 'Kingslayer'..."
"That's not for me to decide." Shanks shook his head and left one final remark before walking away,
"In any case, Michael and the others are bound to come to Elbaf... when that time comes, your fate will be in their hands."
Loki watched Shanks' retreating figure and didn't continue his outburst, gradually calming down instead.
Though Shanks hadn't released him, the information he had brought gave Loki hope.
His memories swiftly returned to decades ago...
"Hey! Rocks! Take me with you!"
"I didn't come to Elbaf to find some brat like you..." Rocks turned back to look at the oversized kid,
"Don't make me say it again!"
"Then..." Loki tightened his grip on his massive club, "fight me and prove it!"
What followed was a one-sided beating.
The young Loki lay on the ground, mouth full of blood.
Though it looked brutal, given the Giants' incredible vitality and physical resilience, it was little more than a minor injury.
"Isn't it unnecessary to use swords against a child? You're the captain of the Rocks Pirates." The young Whitebeard, watching from the sidelines, said with a smile, "Isn't this a bit too much like bullying?"
"Shut up... Newgate."
The scene from his memories remained vivid in his mind.
Leaning against the Adam Wood, Loki murmured to himself:
"Was I... simply born in the wrong era? Is it really that simple?"
"How... utterly frustrating."
...
Mary Geoise, Pangaea Castle, the Flower Room.
In this space that belonged solely to "Imu-sama," Lily stood silently.
Before her were the same flowers and plants from over eight hundred years ago, and that straw hat that once belonged to Joy Boy.
"Michael, I'm about to destroy the entire world..."
"Why haven't you appeared yet?"
"Could it really be, as Toki said... that the Michael from before was the real Michael? No! I refuse to believe it! How could Michael possibly die under something as insignificant as Uranus..."
"As the backbone of the Marines and the Revolutionary Army, after Michael vanished under Uranus's attack, they didn't wage an all-out war against the World Government. Instead, they united as the Angel Alliance and began a prolonged struggle... It's as if they're waiting for someone to return."
Lily continued speaking to the straw hat.
From beginning to end, in her eyes, there was only one person she loved, one destined sister, and one eternal friend.
Michael, Toki, and Joy Boy.
Yet now, among these three, only Toki had arrived in the present through her Devil Fruit's power.
Lily, already teetering on the edge of madness...
Was drawing ever closer to that breaking point.
But after speaking, as she stood before the straw hat, blood suddenly trickled from the corner of her mouth.
"Imu-sama!" Nusjuro, her attendant, stepped forward. "You... should rest."
"I know my own body's condition." Lily coldly glanced at Nusjuro. "For over eight hundred years, this has happened periodically... I'm used to it."
"But... alas." Feeling the weight of Lily's gaze, Nusjuro could only let out a long sigh.
"Imu-sama... why does the Immortality Surgery conflict with the power of the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Demon, forcing you to rely on a woman of the same bloodline without Devil Fruit abilities to sustain your life every century?"
"Perhaps... this is fate?" Lily raised her head as sunlight streamed through the glass dome, spilling into the Flower Room.
"Forbidden power and eternal life may inherently clash... After all, according to the intelligence we later obtained, no user of the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Demon has survived more than ten years after consuming it."
"This isn't fair... Imu-sama, this isn't fair."
"Nusjuro my loyal servant... The greatest fairness in this world is being unfair to everyone." Lily shook her head.
"And... it's not like there's no solution. That princess from Alabasta back then, what was her name? Nefertari Chichi? But that doesn't matter anymore. By sheer coincidence, she ended up eating the Sand-Sand Fruit... From that moment on, she was no longer my target."
"Now... I want her."
Lily casually threw a dagger that embedded itself in the photograph on the table.
Nefertari Vivi.