Vivi watched Rowan from the side with her black eyes open wide.
She had never seen the ancestor like that before.
From the moment Rowan came out of the tomb, he had left many deep impressions on others.
To Crocodile, Rowan was an arrogant but powerful monster.
To Cobra, Rowan was a great emperor worthy of the name of Alabasta's ancestor.
But to Vivi, Rowan was an ancestor who was sometimes strict, sometimes gentle like a breeze, and even a little childish.
He could clash with the World Nobles for the sake of Igaram and his wife, and he would also excitedly participate in the fish-man's traditional games.
In short, Vivi enjoyed being with her ancestor, and she thought that he must have been very popular eight hundred years ago!
But Vivi had never seen Rowan's current expression before.
It was a kind of... how should she describe it?
Desolation? Loneliness? Helplessness?
And even a bit of "of course."
...
Rowan picked up the cover that he had casually put down and gently turned it face down on the table.
Then, he turned the first page of paper face down as well.
This way, when he finished reading these documents, all the documents would be neatly arranged in order and could be easily filed away.
Rowan didn't want to keep holding a pile of papers to read, so this was indeed a good way to be lazy.
He smiled helplessly: "Are you happy now that I've done this?"
"..."
No one answered him, but Rowan seemed to be mentally prepared and didn't care.
He waved his hand, signaling the three people standing to come over and study this draft plan left over from eight hundred years ago with him.
Full name: The Four Seas Alliance.
Crocodile couldn't help but click his tongue.
"Tsk, what a waste of time..."
Even so, he still leaned over, even standing in the best spot for viewing.
After all, even he would be curious about the ideas proposed by a "genius" from eight hundred years ago.
And when he saw the official content of the draft, his pupils couldn't help but tremble slightly.
It wasn't just Crocodile, even Cobra standing beside him couldn't help but breathe heavily.
The content of the third page of the draft was also very simple, just a self-talking complaint.
Complaining about what?
Complaining about the concept of "World Government" itself!
Nefertari used the same handwriting to write on the third page:
"Recently, more than a dozen kings of different countries gathered together and jointly proposed an idea called 'World Government'."
"They are trying to unite more than a dozen countries to form a huge political organization, and each country will send representatives as the supreme leaders above the royal families of each country."
"They also sent people to lobby me, but more accurately, they want to get my support and let me talk to Rowan, so that the Alabasta Empire can also participate."
"...Heh!"
"I don't need to listen to the advice of cowards who don't even dare to face the emperor of the empire directly, do I?"
"And more importantly, I think this 'World Government' plan is not good."
"War, endless war..."
"The sea countries' battle has continued for too long, so long that everyone wants to end this era."
"Although at first glance, the emergence of the 'World Government' can gather a powerful force to end this painful era, this idea has a fatal flaw—"
"People."
"People change."
"Admittedly, once the World Government is established, it will attract countless countries suffering from war to join, and this powerful force will stop the war, thereby achieving the 'peace' we have been expecting for a long time."
"But at the same time, the emergence of the World Government is also artificially creating a 'peak of power' on this sea."
"It doesn't matter how many people are at the peak."
"Whether it's one person, ten people, or a hundred people, the peak is the peak, above everything in the world."
"There will always be people who want to stand there."
"To this end, they will spare no expense."
"And beneath the peak of power are layers upon layers of stairs."
"In this era, people are eager to end the long and painful war, so no one will notice this."
"But if a period of time passes, perhaps several hundred years..."
"The rulers at the peak of power will do everything possible to maintain their position, rather than the world itself."
"The nobles under the peak will be corrupted by power, and most of them will degenerate into maggots of this world."
"Ordinary people, life as usual."
"This is the most terrible thing!"
"Ordinary people have no power to change everything, and their only commonality with the nobles is that they are both human beings!"
"I think, at that time, perhaps this world will still be 'peaceful', but many people will try to break away from the control of the World Government and become so-called criminals, right?"
"There will always be a chance to trigger a new era."
"A war? A speech? A person? A goal?"
"I don't know, but that era will always come one day."
"So, Rowan, I know that you would never bother to join any World Government, so I drew up another path with everyone."
"Its name is: The Four Seas Alliance."
The third page ends here.
Rowan was about to turn to the next page, but Crocodile and Cobra simultaneously and subconsciously pressed down on Rowan's hand.
"Ah, sorry."
Cobra breathed heavily and said slowly, "Ancestor, please let me calm down for a moment."
Crocodile didn't speak, but his pupils were trembling and his brain was racing.
At this moment, they finally realized just how much weight Rowan's description of Nefertari as a "genius" carried!
Eight hundred years ago, in an era when the World Government was still in its infancy, she was able to see through the inherent flaws of the World Government system!
Now, the facts eight hundred years later prove that Nefertari's judgment was correct.
The "Five Elders", who are at the peak of world power, take maintaining the rule of the World Government as the core of all their actions.
And the World Nobles under the peak of power have become maggots that countless people are angry about, but dare not speak out against.
As for the common people.
They have always been like this, and will be like this for the rest of their lives.
Perhaps it is painful, perhaps it is happy, but ultimately they can only be like this.
But as Nefertari said, change has arrived!
And this is precisely what shocked Crocodile and Cobra the most.
There will always be an opportunity that will ignite a new era.
This is the "prediction" left by Nefertari eight hundred years ago.
Now, this prophecy has already been realized nine years ago!
Sea Calendar 1498, East Blue, Loguetown.
The words of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, before his death opened up this magnificent new era!
"Do you want my treasure? You can have it all if you want it, go find it! I've left all my treasure there!"
The Great Pirate Era begins!
Unbelievable.
A person who lived eight hundred years ago, after only hearing about the embryonic structure of the World Government, was able to predict the future eight hundred years later!
Looking at the surprised Crocodile and Cobra, Rowan suddenly felt very happy.
"I told you, he's a genius."
Then, Rowan turned the page over and carefully studied the draft.
Nefertari was indeed a genius, but even a genius could only predict the general trend of the world, and was powerless when it came to the details.
What's more, this draft was expected to be used eight hundred years ago, so a lot of data has already been invalidated.
This includes the geographical locations, power relationships, and military reserves of many countries at that time...
Historians may be very interested in this data, but that is not what Rowan needs.
He extracted that data and only left the theoretical part of the "Four Seas Alliance."
Rowan needs to combine it with the current era and reorganize it.
And when he turned to the last page of the draft, he suddenly found a piece of paper clipped inside, which was obviously inserted later.
Rowan opened the piece of paper.
On it was still Nefertari's familiar handwriting, but it had less gentleness and more tiredness.
That gentle and refined man rarely used rough language in writing.
"Rowan, you're really not a good guy."
"The burden you're carrying is too heavy, and several of us almost died trying to lift it."
"You should have told us sooner, so we could have let you rest."
"You're really not a good guy, really."
Nefertari's neat handwriting, travelled through eight hundred years of time, and reappeared before everyone's eyes.
"There's something I have to apologize to you for, don't get mad."
"We, um, can't lift it up anymore."
"Although we discovered some very interesting 'things', the investigation can no longer continue."
"I won't change my attitude toward the 'World Government' system, but I have no choice but to join, after all, this country is already too tired, we cannot fight..."
"I know you don't like the title of king, so you will always be the emperor of the empire, and I'll be the king!"
"I'll go find you for a drink in a few decades!"
"..."
The handwriting slid all the way to the end, leaving the last few words.
The last few words, with force penetrating the back of the paper —
"I'm not convinced."
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