When Marco heard those words, his entire expression froze.
"No way… is that true?"
The moment the words left his mouth, he already felt it was an overreaction. After all, if he could transmigrate into this world, then Imu possessing something like magic no longer seemed impossible.
Imu looked at him with an indifferent gaze.
"It seems my deduction was correct. You are not from this world. At the very least, your soul originates from a higher dimensional world. Otherwise, your growth would not be possible at such a speed."
Marco's fists tightened instantly.
His greatest secret had been exposed.
The fact that he was a transmigrator was something he had never intended for anyone to discover. Now that Imu had seen through it, a surge of anger rose within him.
But at the same time, a strange thought surfaced in his mind.
Who exactly was he?
Logically speaking, he was Marco. His previous life name, Julian Mercer, no longer meant anything. That version of him had already died after sacrificing himself to save a woman who never deserved it.
He died, and he came here.
So he was Marco now.
Completely.
Body and soul.
As for the original Marco, he had either vanished or been fused with him.
Imu continued calmly.
"Then it is as I expected. You are not the original Marco. I do not know what soul you carry, but I am the ruler of this world. I will not allow an outsider to exist beyond my control."
Marco suddenly let out a cold laugh.
"An invader? So I'm an invader now?"
His tone carried both anger and ridicule, yet for a brief moment, he found no words to properly refute her claim.
Imu did not stop.
"Once this truth is revealed, what will your so called allies think? The Phoenix Pirates, your commanders, your enemies. How will they view you then?"
Marco's eyes narrowed slightly.
He had never considered that question.
Not because it was unimportant, but because the idea of transmigration itself was too absurd. Even if he spoke it aloud, no one would believe him.
At that moment, a faint black aura began to swirl around his body.
Imu's voice softened, almost persuasive.
"Why resist me?"
"Join me. With your strength and my knowledge, we could rule this world together. We could even transcend it, explore other worlds, and acquire their power, their magic."
She tilted her head slightly.
"And I am not unattractive, am I?"
"If you agree, I can become your wife. Together, husband and wife, this world would belong to us."
For a brief moment, Marco stared at her in silence.
Strangely, the thought crossed his mind that the idea was not entirely unreasonable.
His reason for opposing the World Government had originally been tied to system missions anyway.
So after that… what was left?
Power? Freedom? Maybe enjoyment?
But that fleeting thought was quickly interrupted.
Marco suddenly snapped back to awareness.
His eyes dropped.
From his feet up to his waist, his body was already wrapped in dense black matter.
"What the hell is this?!"
"Hm, so you noticed," Imu said calmly.
But the softness in her voice was gone.
In an instant, her expression turned cold.
The magic circle beneath Marco's feet lit up, and countless black tendrils shot upward, wrapping around his body.
Each tendril carried dense Haki, binding him tightly.
Marco's flames erupted violently as he roared.
"You sneaky woman!"
Imu's gaze turned dismissive.
"Insects will always be insects. No matter how strong, it changes nothing. You are no different from Joy Boy."
"Disappear into the dimensional void."
The magic circle erupted with blinding light.
Marco's body was swallowed completely.
In the next instant, silence returned.
Only a deep crater remained where he had stood.
Imu slowly sat back upon the Void Throne.
Maintaining that spell had taken an enormous amount of preparation and stored magic power. Now that it was complete, everything had gone according to plan.
"Next are the rest."
"After this is over, this world will be purified completely."
Meanwhile.
Marco's consciousness drifted through endless darkness.
It felt like his entire body was spinning without end, as though caught inside a collapsing space.
A single white light remained ahead of him, flickering faintly.
After an unknown amount of time, the spinning finally slowed.
The light expanded.
And the world changed.
Tall buildings.
Strange moving metal machines.
A modern city.
Marco's eyes widened.
"Am I back in my original world?"
But something felt wrong.
His body was transparent.
He looked down.
A soul form.
"System, are you there?!"
A mechanical voice immediately responded.
[Host has experienced a space time distortion event. System has expended 10,000 attribute points to stabilize trajectory and relocate host to the original world timeline.]
Marco frowned.
"Original world timeline?"
The system continued.
[New mission issued: Revenge.]
[Eliminate the woman who caused host's death in the previous life.]
[Reward: Unknown.]
Marco's expression changed slightly.
The woman…
The memories began returning more clearly.
Before the Pirate world.
Before everything.
He had died saving her.
A woman who had betrayed him.
As fragments of his past life flooded back, Marco's expression darkened.
So this was the unfinished resentment the system had mentioned.
And then he noticed something else.
He was not standing still.
He was floating.
Following someone.
A woman walking ahead on the street, completely unaware.
Marco's pupils tightened.
"…It's her."
===
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