"Gahahahaha…!"
"Forty years later, and you still don't dare acknowledge Rōmu's existence? So even your so-called justice has its guilty conscience!"
Floating high in the air, arms folded across his chest, the Golden Lion Shiki threw his head back and laughed in open mockery.
Whitebeard had come today to save Ace.
But Shiki and Kaido were different.
They had come for one purpose only—
To settle accounts with the Navy once and for all.
The moment Shiki spoke, the already restless battlefield erupted again.
"Who exactly is this Rōmu?! Why do all these legends know him?"
"Yeah—and it feels like Roger, Kaido, and Shiki all respect him… even fear him!"
"Did the higher-ups hide something from us?!"
Young Marines looked around in confusion.
At most, they remembered that before his execution twenty-plus years ago, the Pirate King Roger had shouted Rōmu's name.
But the deeper truth—the events of forty years ago—was known only to a handful of aging veterans.
Some of those veterans opened their mouths to speak… then shook their heads and stayed silent.
Even now, the truth was forbidden.
If they spoke, punishment would follow.
Across the world, the live broadcast stirred the same turmoil.
"Who is Rōmu? What is the Navy hiding?"
"He must've been some huge pirate!"
"Huge? Roger was huge—and they never erased him!"
"Compared to this guy, One Piece means nothing!"
"You youngsters wouldn't understand. You didn't live through that era."
"What are you even talking about?!"
The older generation in the crowd spoke only in vague hints, glancing nervously at the Marines maintaining order nearby.
The mystery only deepened.
Who was Rōmu?
High above the sea, on the massive floating wooden island—
A cluster of terrifying figures watched the broadcast.
Gild Tesoro rolled the heavy gold rings on his fingers and sneered.
"Look at those Marines squirm. They don't even dare say the Boss's name."
If Rōmu hadn't saved him back then, Stella would have been dragged away and destroyed by the Celestial Dragons.
To Tesoro, the World Government deserved only ruin.
"Foolish mortals," Enel said coldly, picking his ear. "Trying to hide a god's radiance."
Ever since meeting Rōmu, Enel had never again called himself a god.
Only Rōmu deserved that title.
"The Government's style hasn't changed," Redfield murmured elegantly, resting both hands on his umbrella-sword. "They'll deny him until the end."
He looked down at Marineford with quiet amusement.
"I wonder what expressions they'll make… when the Boss appears."
"Hehehehe! I can't wait!" Bartolomeo bounced with manic excitement. "When Senpai shows up, those Marines are gonna faint on the spot!"
The gathered monsters all narrowed their eyes and laughed.
Each of them had suffered under the World Government.
They had waited decades for this day—
To tear the regime apart with Rōmu at their head.
Only Brook was staring at the screen with grave concentration.
"That female Marine vice-admiral… very nice figure. Those… proportions are extraordinary. I feel strangely nostalgic."
A collective sweatdrop formed across the group.
This skeleton really had no brain.
…Literally.
Rōmu merely chuckled.
"I told you," he said lazily, reclining atop the giant red flower throne. "In one of the novels I read, the main character always appears last."
He wasn't bothered that the Government had erased him from history.
After all—
To rule openly while the masses worship you, the first step is always rewriting the past.
Marineford.
"So… the cover-up finally can't hold anymore."
On the execution platform, Sengoku exhaled slowly, face grave.
Beside him, Kong, Garp—and even the Five Elders—shared the same tension.
"Reveal the truth," said the bald Elder in the kimono quietly.
"What?!"
The others turned sharply.
"Rōmu is dead," the kimonoed Elder said coldly. "The masses remember only the final victor. We will be that victor."
But in his heart, another thought flickered:
Expose him—then erase him completely.
The others did not sense his hidden motive.
But the logic was sound.
People were forgetful.
Even if Rōmu had once been a monster—
He was gone.
And today, they would prove it.
"Fine," the bald Elder in black said with a sneer. "Announce it. Shatter these fools' illusions."
"After today," the blue-suited Elder added, stroking his beard, "no one will ever dare invoke Rōmu's name against the Government again."
On the platform below, Ace's pupils trembled.
Is that legend… real?
Ever since he first boarded Whitebeard's ship, he had heard drunken stories of a man named Rōmu.
Whitebeard always said the same thing:
"That guy… was the strongest in the world. One man could overturn the entire Navy."
No one had believed it.
Because it sounded absurd.
Whitebeard only spoke of him while drunk.
So everyone assumed it was exaggerated nostalgia.
But now—
The Navy's reaction…
The Five Elders' fear…
Could it all be true?
Ace stared upward in stunned disbelief.
Then Sengoku stepped forward again.
He raised the Den-Den Mushi.
His voice boomed across Marineford—and the entire world.
"Yes."
"There truly was a man named Rōmu."
Shock exploded everywhere.
Even Whitebeard, Shiki, and Kaido paused.
Sengoku continued:
"Forty years ago, Rōmu attacked a Heavenly Tribute transport vessel, slaughtered the Celestial Dragons aboard, and later defeated former Admiral 'Black-Arm' Zephyr."
"He committed crimes beyond measure."
"Worse still—he hung the Dragons' corpses from the ship's mast and paraded them across the Hachinosu seas in open defiance of the World Government."
The Marines below stood frozen.
Killed Celestial Dragons.
Displayed their bodies.
Defeated an Admiral.
What kind of monster…?
In their minds, Rōmu instantly became some grotesque demon with multiple limbs and towering height.
Even the pirates were stunned.
On the Moby Dick—
Marco's pineapple-haired head snapped toward Whitebeard.
"T-that… that's the Rōmu you talked about when drunk?!"
Jozu, Vista, and the others swallowed hard.
They were pirates.
They were fearless.
But slaughtering Dragons and parading corpses?
That crossed into madness.
Whitebeard roared with laughter.
"Gurararara! That's nothing!"
"The things that bastard did to terrify the Government for forty years go far beyond that!"
The commanders froze.
Had their captain's drunken boasts… been truth?
Every head turned toward Sengoku in burning anticipation.
Even Ace's execution faded from their thoughts.
On the walls, the Seven Warlords reacted differently.
"A man like that actually existed?" Moria muttered blankly.
He massacred civilians without blinking.
But Celestial Dragons?
He'd never even imagined it.
Because Admirals hunted Dragon-killers.
He had never believed anyone could survive that.
But Rōmu had.
And more.
Blackbeard's eyes gleamed with twisted ambition.
"Rōmu… once my plan succeeds, I'll surpass you. I'll become the greatest villain in history."
Yet his gaze soon returned to Whitebeard—
Burning with greed.
The others—Mihawk, Doflamingo, Hancock, and Kuma—wore faint smiles.
Especially Hancock.
Hearing her beloved's legendary deeds, her eyes turned pink with hearts.
Then Sengoku spoke again.
"After these events, the Government raised Rōmu's bounty to 1.5 billion Beli."
"But instead of retreating, he escalated further—joining the most dangerous organization of that era: the Rocks Pirates."
Sengoku's glasses flashed.
If the truth must come out—
He would control how it emerged.
"With Rocks D. Xebec, Whitebeard, Shiki, Charlotte Linlin, Wang Zhi, Silver Axe, and other criminals, Rōmu attacked the Celestial Dragons' sacred site—God Valley."
"He was ultimately defeated and killed by the joint forces of then-Fleet Admiral Kong, myself, Garp, and several top fighters."
Sengoku's jaw tightened.
He left out Roger.
He left out the truth of Rōmu overwhelming them.
He left out the thirteen god-level beings.
But even this half-truth was enough.
Silence fell across Marineford.
Across the world.
A stunned, suffocating silence.
Because for the first time—
Humanity realized there had once existed a man
who had shaken the world itself.
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