The gaunt man in the wheelchair the one who looked as if he had little time left was Uzumaki Nagato.
He was also the user who had invited Amakawa Kumo to answer: "Let the World Know Pain."
His expression shifted through several shades before he calmed.
"I'm fine, Konan," he said. "I just saw some… startling takes on that Super-Dimensional Zhihu platform."
Konan knew about it.
A few days ago, when Nagato had first found the platform linked in his mind, he had told her.
At first, they suspected some extraordinarily high-level genjutsu.
But after testing it, they realized it wasn't that simple.
By their best guess, the platform connected multiple worlds.
Nagato had seen many posts that didn't fit their world at all.
They hadn't confirmed it yet, and Nagato was still probing what the platform could do.
"Nagato, what did you see that shocked you?" Konan asked.
"There's someone called Kumo," Nagato said quietly. "He wrote that I'm being led around in circles and don't even know it while thinking I'm amazing. He called that… pitiful."
GASP!
Konan drew a sharp breath.
Ever since Yahiko died and the power of Nagato's Rinnegan erupted, he had become the "god" of the Rain Country and no one had dared speak to him like that.
Even Konan's attitude toward him had shifted over time.
But someone was claiming Nagato was being toyed with and calling him pitiful?
"Who could possibly manipulate someone as strong as you are now?" Konan muttered, voice low.
"He probably understands my strength," Nagato said with a rueful smile. "I spelled it out."
He summarized how he had postured on the Super-Dimensional Zhihu, laid out his Tailed Beast Weapon Peace Plan, and invited analysis.
Konan's eyes widened.
"Nagato, that's far too risky! We still don't know what this platform really is. If it was made by someone in the shinobi world, you just leaked our plan."
"There's that risk," Nagato admitted. "But there's a benefit too. I did it on purpose to test whether the platform is genuine."
He frowned. "So far, the test hasn't told me enough."
"What are you thinking?" Konan asked.
"I'm wondering why this Kumo says I'm being played," Nagato answered. "And why he called me pitiful."
"Maybe he's bluffing," Konan said after a moment. "Talking nonsense."
"I don't think it's that simple," Nagato said, shaking his head.
"Did he say anything else?" Konan pressed.
Nagato repeated Kumo's answer verbatim.
Konan blinked, baffled. "I understand 'thanks for the invite.' But what does 'in One Piece' mean? Are 'pirates' just… pirates? Or a place named One Piece? And who are the 'Pirate Empress' and the 'Seven Warlords of the Sea'? I've never heard of them."
"The 'Pirate Empress' sounds like a person perhaps a woman monarch," Nagato said. "As far as I know, among the daimyo, only Snow Country has a woman daimyo. You could stretch that to an empress. As for the 'Seven Warlords,' maybe a government rank in Snow Country?"
"If you truly care, we can send people to investigate the Snow Country," Konan offered. "But if the platform really links other worlds, what he said likely isn't from ours. An investigation might find nothing."
"Investigate anyway," Nagato decided.
"I'll arrange it now," Konan said, and left.
Alone, Nagato turned Kumo's words over and over.
The line about being led around and feeling proud of it lodged like a thorn.
Unbidden, a face rose in his mind the man who claimed to be Uchiha Madara.
…
Meanwhile, in the One Piece world, Kumo had reached the palace council hall just in time to see a boy in a straw hat.
It was none other than Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist from Kumo's memories.
Inside the chamber stood Boa Hancock's two younger sisters and a number of warriors from the Kuja Pirates.
Seeing Kumo's gaze settle on Luffy, several Kuja warriors dropped to one knee.
"We were incompetent," they said. "We allowed this man to breach our borders. Please punish us, Lord Kumo!"