Ace… is going to die!
That predetermined ending of death was like a black bolt of lightning, instantly shattering all of Lucian's remaining hopes.
As someone who knew the story of One Piece inside and out, he could feel himself slowly stepping into the very plot he had once only watched.
Lucian wanted to change that ending!
But what could a weakling who couldn't even activate his own system possibly do?
Wait for the story to unfold, then be dragged into the meat grinder of the Marineford War and die without a sound?
No!
Absolutely not!
The broom in Lucian's hands snapped with a sharp "crack."
He hadn't crossed into this world just to relive that same helpless despair.
He was here—
—to change the original ending, to stop that unbearable tragedy from happening again!
System energy: zero.
Summoning: unavailable.
But the system was still inside his head.
This golden finger of his hid a power great enough to shake the world.
And the key to unlocking that power—the one and only "super energy pack"—was at this very moment sitting on the huge chair at the ship's prow.
Edward Newgate.
He couldn't wait any longer.
If he waited until Ace was dragged to the execution platform, until nothing could be undone, he would have lost his last chance forever.
He had to obtain a brand-new identity—right now.
An identity that would let him escape his menial status, let him move freely on this ship, even let him… openly approach Whitebeard!
Then—
He suddenly raised his head. His gaze cut through the silent crew on deck, locking precisely on the direction of the prow.
There, the First Division Captain, "Phoenix" Marco; the Third Division Captain, "Diamond" Jozu; the Fifth Division Captain, "Flower Sword" Vista… nearly all the division captains were gathered around Whitebeard.
The atmosphere was as heavy as iron.
They were discussing something.
Or rather, arguing about something.
This was the perfect moment!
The only chance!
Lucian let the broom fall with a "clang" onto the deck.
The sudden, sharp noise drew frowns from a few nearby crewmen.
But Lucian no longer cared.
He straightened the incongruous T-shirt he wore, took a deep breath, and strode straight toward the very center of this world—the ship's prow.
"Hey! You, the deckhand! What are you doing?"
"Stop! That's not a place you're allowed to go!"
Shouts rose behind him, but Lucian ignored them.
In his eyes there was only that towering figure.
Marco and the others had noticed the reckless boy charging forward, their faces showing displeasure and wariness.
Jozu even took a step forward, his massive body like a wall, ready to block this fool at any moment.
And yet, just when everyone thought he was about to crash into Pops—
Lucian's legs gave out about ten meters away from Whitebeard.
"Thud!"
With a heavy sound, he dropped into a flawless full-prostration, bowing deeply, his forehead striking the hard wooden deck.
The entire process was crisp and decisive, full of ritual.
The Oscar-worthy performance began!
Silence fell instantly.
Every captain froze.
The cigarette dangling from Marco's lips fell to the floor, unnoticed.
Vista's signature twin moustaches trembled ever so slightly in shock.
Even Whitebeard himself—those eyes that surveyed the seas—showed a flicker of surprise.
And then—
Something even more shocking than his sudden bow happened.
"Waaaah—!"
A heart-wrenching wail erupted from Lucian's throat, raw and mournful, filled with boundless grievance and despair.
He lifted his head, his once-handsome face now completely overwhelmed by tears and snot, drowned in "sorrow."
Beadlike tears streamed endlessly from his eyes.
"Pops!!"
Lucian cried with every ounce of strength in his body, his voice like a cuckoo's blood-cry.
Crawling forward on his hands and knees as he sobbed, he humbled himself into the dust.
"Pops! I finally… I finally found you!"
He sobbed so hard he could hardly breathe, as though pouring out a lifetime of pent-up grief.
"My home… my family… they're all gone!"
That single sentence made the captains, who had initially found it funny, suddenly grow serious.
"Home?"
Whitebeard's deep voice rumbled, tinged with some unreadable emotion.
Lucian seemed to draw immense courage from that word. His crying grew louder. He stretched out a trembling hand, pointing toward some far-off place on the sea.
"It was pirates!
Those vile pirates killed my entire family!"
At those words, the surrounding gazes shifted.
Marco's eyes became razor sharp.
Jozu's diamond fist clenched unconsciously with a crackling sound.
The temperature aboard the Moby Dick seemed to plummet.
Lucian caught this shift instantly, thinking inwardly, 'It worked!'
But on his face, the performance only deepened, his cries even more soul-rending.
"They… they said they were acting under Lord Kaido's orders, expanding their territory… My father, my mother… to protect me, they were all killed! Waaaah…"
He kowtowed as he howled, his forehead soon swollen red.
"Ever since I was little… ever since I was little I've grown up hearing your legend! You are the greatest man on these seas! The father of all orphans!"
"They all say that only the Whitebeard Pirates' flag is a true symbol of justice! That to become your son is the greatest honor on these seas!"
"I escaped… I risked my life to escape… My only hope was to find you! I just want to beg you in person for one thing!"
Every word he shouted, every syllable, seemed to be wrung from his very life.
He poured all his fear of death, all his anxiety about the future, all his rage at fate into this earthshaking performance.
Right now he wasn't acting.
He was that pitiful soul, his home destroyed, clinging to Whitebeard as his last straw of salvation.
He was that orphan driven to the brink, forced to beg for a shred of mercy in the most abject posture.
First Division Captain Marco stared blankly at the boy crying like a child on the deck. He had seen countless people try to join the Whitebeard Pirates—some for fame, some for power, some for shelter.
But like this… so extreme, so pathetic, so… sincere—he had never seen anyone plead to board the ship this way.
He couldn't find a trace of falsehood in that grief-stricken wailing.
The surrounding crew had long since stopped treating it as a spectacle.
Sympathy, pity, and a deeper hatred for the Beasts Pirates flickered on every face.
Lucian cried until his heart felt like it was being torn apart, his throat nearly hoarse.
He raised his head high, his tear-blurred eyes brimming with hope as he looked up at that unscalable mountain, and with the last of his strength he voiced the boldest request of his life:
"Pops!"
"I'm begging you!"
"Please… make me your son!"