The early morning sun shone across the deck, bright enough to make anyone facing it narrow their eyes.
Empty wine barrels from the night before rolled back and forth across the wooden boards as the ship rose and fell with the waves. They made dull thumping sounds.
Banks lay spread-eagle beside the ship's wheel. He held his tambourine in his arms and snored loudly. He seemed to be having a pleasant dream, with a smile on his face and a little drool at the corner of his mouth. However, a few dried tear tracks still remained on his cheeks.
The other crew members were also sleeping wherever they had fallen. Spot lay draped over a thick rope. Chord used his violin bow as a pillow. After everything that had happened the night before, these rough men slept without a care.
The ship had been sailing smoothly through the night.
After Banks and the crew drank themselves unconscious one after another, the ship followed a steady ocean current toward their destination, Eru Island.
According to their original agreement, once they docked at Eru Island and delivered Aiden and Tia safely, the Wine Pirates' work would be finished, and the two groups would part ways there.
They had already left the burning ruins of Binta Island behind.
However, the waters around the ship still carried signs of what had happened there.
The fast current had carried wreckage from Binta Island all the way out here. Large pieces of charred wood, fragments of broken instruments, and even burned, torn flags struck the hull as they drifted past, making dull thudding sounds.
On the horizon ahead, the massive outline of Eru Island was already faintly visible through the morning fog.
...
At the same time, in the lower cabin.
Aiden fell into an empty abyss without sound or light.
In his dream, Aiden found himself standing on an unfamiliar slab of cold, hard black stone. He had suddenly appeared in this dead silent space, watching everything unfold before him.
Ahead of him, a seemingly endless flight of steep stairs rose toward the dome. At the top, a giant Empty Throne seemed to float in the darkness.
Nineteen figures knelt beneath the throne.
Aiden could not see their faces clearly. He could only make out their luxurious clothes and the crowns resting on their heads.
Yet these kings, who should have ruled their own nations, now knelt like servants at the bottom of the steps. Their posture was humiliating, and their bodies trembled violently before the throne.
Then, within the thick darkness, an impossibly large eye slowly opened.
Expanding rings spread across its pupil like ripples on water.
The giant eye showed no human emotion. There was no anger or pity in its gaze. It looked down at the nineteen crowned figures as though they were nothing more than possessions under inspection.
The pressure from that gaze became almost physical. Even the surrounding darkness seemed to bend and twist beneath it.
Suddenly, the giant pupil shifted.
Its gaze pierced through the layers of darkness and fixed directly on Aiden in the distance.
The eye locked onto him. In that instant, a violent impact struck Aiden's mind. Immediately afterward, a distant whisper seemed to drift toward him from the darkness...
"Hah!"
On his bed in the lower cabin, Aiden suddenly opened his eyes and gasped for air.
There was no sign of an enemy attack around him, nor could he detect any hostile presence. Yet cold sweat covered his forehead. The shirt on his back was completely soaked and clung uncomfortably to his body.
Ever since he inherited Roger's Observation Haki, his senses had far surpassed those of ordinary people. His mind was so strong that he rarely even dreamed normally, yet he had just experienced a nightmare so clear that it felt real.
"Damn it..."
Aiden sat up and rubbed his throbbing temples. His heart was still pounding inside his chest.
That moment of eye contact had felt too real. Just before waking, he had vaguely heard a sound, but no matter how hard he tried to recall it, only a faint, throbbing impression remained in his mind.
He sat in the dim cabin and breathed heavily for some time before finally bringing the sudden fear under control.
Although he was awake, that strange feeling remained in his mind, leaving him deeply unsettled.
Aiden turned his head and looked at the pocket watch on the nightstand.
It was still early. Dawn had probably only just begun outside.
"Forget it. It was only a dream."
Aiden muttered to himself, rolled over, and pulled the blanket over his head. He decided not to think about it anymore and went back to sleep.
...
At the bow, Tia stood alone. She had gotten up very early, or rather, she had barely closed her eyes the night before.
The sea breeze tossed her long aqua-blue hair around her face. Her light blue eyes, usually calm and dignified, were now bloodshot from exhaustion.
Whenever she closed her eyes, the flames of Binta Island and the wreckage floating across the sea returned to her mind.
Above all, she kept seeing the Alabasta sun flag flying through the smoke. The image remained burned into her memory.
"It's me... I got them killed."
Tia gripped the rough wooden railing so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
If she had not chosen to run away, the Alabasta army would not have lost its commander, nor would it have become a weapon used freely by that person.
But if she had not left, her entire sense of self would have been erased. She would have become an obedient puppet who followed every order. Alabasta would still have become a weapon in that person's hands.
She thought back to the night before she left Pangaea Castle.
The kings who had sat in the same hall with her entered that room. When they came out again, their eyes were completely empty.
They had once been ambitious, cunning, and intelligent, but in that moment, they had all become hollow shells who knew only how to bow, obey, and give thanks.
The ritual was called a "gift," but it was really an "erasure."
Whenever she remembered that scene, a sharp, needle-like pain ran through her arm.
She knew that if she had not escaped that day, she would no longer be Nefertari Lily. She would have become nothing more than a puppet.
Tia slowly raised her head and looked across the vast sea toward her distant homeland.
The only way out of this hopeless situation was to find Joy Boy and prove that she could be useful before it was too late.
That was her only hope of saving Alabasta and herself.
However, the closer she came to her destination, Eru Island, the more her uneasiness grew.
She knew too well what "that person" was capable of.
If even the kings of twenty countries could be manipulated like puppets, how could someone like her escape so easily?
Along the way, even after surviving the Desert of Death and passing through the Death Corridor, where there was almost no chance of survival, the feeling of being watched had never truly disappeared.
Imu seemed to be watching her struggle from far above, patiently waiting until the last moment to take away every remaining hope.
"Please... even if you only let me reach my destination..."
Tia prayed.
At that moment, the wind around the ship suddenly stopped.
Not only the wind, but even the sound of the waves striking the hull disappeared. The ship, which had been rising and falling with the current, became motionless on the smooth sea.
The temperature dropped sharply, and every breath instantly turned into white mist.
"What's going on?"
Banks, who was lying on the deck, suddenly shivered and scrambled to his feet. He rubbed his eyes and grabbed the cutlass at his waist.
His years of experience at sea told him that something was wrong, and his skin prickled.
Nearby, Spot the mink's fur instantly stood on end, and an uncontrollable growl escaped his throat. The Fishman sailor's legs trembled. Their bodies reacted with fear before they even understood what was approaching.
From deep within the thick fog came the sharp sound of a hull cutting through the water.
Swish—swish—
A ship emerged from the fog.
It was a strange single-masted vessel. Its entire hull was black, and the surface of the wood had a metallic shine.
There were no sails hanging from its mast, yet on this windless sea, it sailed straight against the current at a perfectly steady speed.
The figurehead was a headless angel statue with its hands tied behind its back by iron chains.
Only one person stood on the empty black deck.
The man wore an old, elaborately designed suit of silver armor. Carved into the chest was an emblem of a crescent moon crossed by a longsword.
His hair was a deep, striking red. It flared outward on both sides, forming the shape of a crescent moon.
He had not adopted a combat stance. He simply stood quietly at the bow. One hand rested at his side, while the other lay on the guard of the rapier at his waist.
His face showed no emotion. There was no joy, anger, sorrow, or any other feeling in his eyes.
The two ships slowly approached each other and finally stopped side by side, less than ten meters apart.
His gaze fixed directly on Tia at the bow.
Then he spoke.
"Lily, have you caused enough trouble?"
Banks, who had been gripping his cutlass and preparing to fight, stopped in the middle of the movement.
"Lily...?"
Banks's eyes widened as he turned toward the woman who had been calling herself "Tia."
He remembered the day on deck when the crew joked that Alabasta had started the war out of greed for land and water, and the woman's sudden, violent reaction.
At the time, Banks had assumed she was simply a citizen who felt fiercely loyal to Alabasta.
But now, after hearing the red-haired man call her "Lily," everything fell into place.
Nefertari Lily.
The Queen of Alabasta.
So... that day, she had not been defending someone else. She had been defending herself, her country, and the reasons she had never been able to tell them.
"You... you're the Queen of Alabasta?"
Banks muttered, his cutlass almost slipping from his hand.
Tia did not answer him.
Her body shook violently before the man in front of her.
Figarland Garling.
The Blade of the Gods, responsible for eliminating anyone who "deviated from order."
But she did not take a single step back.
She gritted her teeth, stepped forward, and placed herself between Garling and the still-stunned Banks and crew.
Garling's fingers rested lightly on his sword handle.
"Imu's patience is limited."
"Come back with me. Accept your fate and the glory that belongs to you."
Garling offered no further explanation. In his mind, there was no difference between a person and an object. As long as he brought them back, everything would return to its proper place.
"I won't go back."
Lily's voice trembled, but every word came out clearly.
"I will never... become like that."
Garling frowned at her answer.
His gaze finally moved away from Lily. He looked over Banks and the trembling crew members holding their weapons as if they were already dead.
"Is this what you rely on to reject me?"
There was no mockery in Garling's voice.
"This is not a wise choice. Since you refuse to return on your own..."
Garling pressed the sword with his thumb, exposing an inch of polished steel from the sheath.
"Then I will remove this trash that gives you the illusion of freedom before taking you back."
"Imu said it was enough for you to return alive, but arriving at the ritual without an arm or a leg would still be inappropriate."
...
In the darkness of the lower cabin, Aiden sat cross-legged beside his hammock.
Aiden could clearly hear everything happening on the deck above: the sounds, the dialogue, and even their breathing.
When he heard the names "Lily" and "Alabasta," his expression changed.
Although he had guessed that Tia's identity was not simple, he had never imagined that he had accidentally found Cobra's ancestor.
His thoughts began to race.
The woman who had nearly died of thirst in the desert, whom he had brought onto the ship, was actually Nefertari Lily, the queen who refused to become a Celestial Dragon eight hundred years ago?
The absurdity of the situation and the feeling of standing inside history struck him at the same time.
"No, this timeline doesn't match at all."
Aiden frowned and recalled fragments from the manga he had read in his past life.
According to legend, Queen Lily refused to move to Mary Geoise after the World Government was established—meaning after the war had completely ended. She refused to become a Celestial Dragon and then mysteriously disappeared while returning to Alabasta.
But now, the Great Kingdom had not been destroyed, the war was still raging, and the Twenty-Nation Alliance continued slaughtering people on the front lines. Why would Queen Lily break away from them already and flee alone across the desert?
And why had she not gone to Alabasta? Why had she hired him to take her near Wano Country?
Countless questions tangled together in his mind. Instead of becoming clearer, the history he knew had become even more confusing.
Aiden was not the kind of foolishly kind person who involved himself in everyone else's problems.
Given his current situation, and knowing that Lily was an important historical figure tied directly to these events, his best choices were either to leave immediately or remain hidden and refuse to interfere.
As for the man above with that powerful presence...
Even though Aiden was in the lower cabin and had not seen the man's appearance himself, the Haki concentrated around his sword, combined with his mention of "Imu," made his background easy to guess.
A swordsman that dangerous, someone who handled Imu's dirty work, had to be an important figure in history. If Aiden stepped in for Queen Lily and killed him, what consequences would follow?
How much would history change?
Reason warned him to remain hidden. As a time traveler, the safest choice was to let history continue along its original course.
Even if the price was allowing the woman above, who had called him for a month, to be taken away against her will.
Aiden closed his eyes.
In the darkness, he did not see some uncertain future.
He saw the Karga Kingdom.
He saw King Cobra standing in front of Akainu.
Although they were not related and had no personal ties, and Cobra had nothing to gain from helping him, the king had still shown Aiden genuine kindness without expecting anything in return.
Aiden always repaid every favor several times over. He hated trouble, but he never forgot a debt or the people who had wronged him.
"The bloodline of the Nefertari family..."
Aiden opened his eyes.
His hesitation and careful weighing of the risks disappeared, replaced by brutal determination. He slowly rose and stretched his neck, producing a sharp crack.
"Fuck history. I'm right here, right now, and I'll decide what I do."
His expression hardened.
"I don't care whose ancestor you are, and I don't care about your identity."
"But I won't let anyone drag Cobra's ancestor away in front of me."
Aiden did not go up to the deck, nor did he draw Oto or Kogarashi.
He remained standing in the darkness, slowly raised his head, and looked toward the deck above.
He completely released the Conqueror's Haki he had been holding back.
...
On the deck.
Garling had run out of patience.
He gripped the sword handle with his right hand, and the rapier rang clearly as it left the sheath.
A sharp pressure from his Haki instantly locked onto Banks. Banks's entire body stiffened. To his horror, he discovered that he could not move even a finger.
The difference in strength had completely paralyzed him.
The sword in Garling's hand moved slowly through the air. It did not raise even the slightest current.
He would eliminate the witnesses first, then take the target away.
Lily closed her eyes in despair.
But in the instant before the blade struck, everything seemed to stop.
A falling wood chip seemed to freeze in midair before Garling's eyes. Without warning, the calm sea suddenly sank into an enormous depression.
The sky darkened.
The early morning light disappeared.
The gray-white fog was torn apart by an unseen force. The clouds began to spin violently, forming an enormous purple-black vortex directly above the ship.
Rumble!
A deep, heavy hum descended over them. The pressure struck their minds and made their vision go black.
Immediately afterward, the surrounding world began to give way beneath the pressure.
Black-red lightning spread wildly through the area for several kilometers.
Crack—crack—
The clouds seemed to split the sky open.
The once-clear sky vanished behind a massive, swirling vortex of broken clouds.
The sea roared beneath the pressure. The surface within a thousand meters was pushed several meters downward, forming a massive bowl-shaped depression.
"Ugh!!!"
Garling's face went pale as he prepared to swing his sword.
His drawn rapier stopped in midair under the crushing pressure of the Haki around him.
A vast and violent will pressed heavily against his shoulders.
The muscles in his arm bulged under the strain, and his joints creaked beneath the pressure. Sweat ran down his forehead and soaked his red sideburns.
For the first time, genuine fear appeared on his normally emotionless face.
He fixed his gaze on the closed cabin door of the Freedom.
There was complete silence behind it. No voices, roars, or movements came from inside.
There was only the rising Haki that continued shaking the sea.
In this world, who could possess Conqueror's Haki of this scale?
Who could turn his will into physical force like this?
Garling raised his head with difficulty. His eyes widened in recognition.
"Impossible..."
"Joy Boy?!!!"
Only that man.
Only Joy Boy, the man who even troubled Imu, possessed strength that could not be mistaken for anyone else's.
Aiden offered no explanation.
He simply stood in the shadows of the lower cabin and released his Conqueror's Haki without holding back.
It was nothing more than a warning.
Garling bit the tip of his tongue and used the pain to regain control of his body.
He was an extremely dangerous executioner, but he also knew when to retreat.
If the person behind the cabin door truly was Joy Boy...
Then remaining there would be suicide. The God's Knights were willing to fight to the death for order, but they would never throw away their lives without reason.
"It's impossible... Davy Jones could never let you appear here..."
Garling muttered in disbelief.
He did not look at Lily again.
He yanked the thick rope back with his right hand, pushed himself away with his legs, and drove the rapier into the deck. Armament Haki instantly wrapped around the entire ship. Bracing himself against the pressure crushing the area, he activated the black vessel's mechanism.
Boom!
The seawater behind the stern exploded. The black vessel shot through the waves like an arrow, its hull covered in cracks and seawater pouring inside as it retreated at full speed into the thick fog.
Soon, it disappeared without a trace.
...
A few minutes later, the pressure began to fade.
The red-black lightning filling the sky vanished. The opening between the clouds slowly closed, and the surface of the sea returned to normal, as though the terrifying scene had never happened.
Only the cracked wooden boards on the deck proved that everything they had witnessed was real.
Banks collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily. His clothes were completely soaked.
Tia's legs gave way, and she almost fell.
Everyone instinctively turned toward the entrance to the lower cabin.