"Forgive my presumption in disturbing you—it is a grave offense," Saturn began, his tone steeped in reverence, each word carefully measured. However, I have just received some information of importance—something that may be of interest to you. I dared not make any judgment on my own, and so I have come to seek your guidance."
"Oh?" Imu's slightly magnetic voice echoed again within Saturn's mind. "What information?"
"I am currently en route to God Valley, a non-affiliated nation in the West Blue, accompanied by the Holy Knights and a portion of the Celestial Dragons..." Saturn replied through his thoughts.
The moment "God Valley" was mentioned, a faint trace of displeasure came from Imu.
"To dare usurp 'the name of God' is already a capital offense. This time, extinguish their light, Saturn."
"I had precisely the same intention," Saturn responded immediately.
He then continued, "The reason I have personally come this time is because I learned that descendants of the Davy Clan are hiding on that island. Through recent investigation, I have confirmed this."
"And this is what you wished to tell me? Such trivial matters?" Imu murmured with slight dissatisfaction.
Clearly, although Imu did intend to wipe out the Davy Clan, in his eyes, these powerless remnants were nothing more than ants.
Hearing that tone of displeasure, Saturn grew anxious and quickly explained, "No—such trivial matters would never dare disturb your peace. However, the Marines have just delivered intelligence: that man from back then… that unforgivable pirate, Rocks, is also heading toward God Valley. If nothing unexpected occurs, we will encounter him there. This is a matter of great importance, and I dared not delay in reporting it."
"Rocks!" Imu's tone suddenly rose, tinged with suppressed fury.
"You have done well, Saturn." Compared to the Davy descendants, Imu clearly placed far more importance on Rocks, and no longer regarded Saturn's report as a disturbance.
Before Saturn could say anything further, Imu continued, "Saturn, I will be watching you at all times. Prepare yourself to receive my descent at any moment. This time… I will personally extinguish that irritating light called Rocks!"
"Yes. I shall obey your divine will, Imu-sama," Saturn replied respectfully.
The connection between their minds was severed shortly after.
Saturn opened his eyes, his gaze deep as he looked out at the sea beyond the window. He murmured softly, "Rocks… for eighteen years, I have been watching you. Now… are you finally worthy of becoming a piece on the board… to be weighed?"
...
On the other side, Valthior had been following Admiral Kong closely, curious to see what kind of arrangements he would make.
Kong, however, was having a headache. He made several Den Den Mushi calls, issuing instructions to Sengoku, Zephyr, and other Marine officers.
It wasn't that he was summoning them all to God Valley, but rather ordering them to prepare for the coming storm. After all, while intelligence confirmed that Rocks and Roger were heading toward God Valley, what if they suddenly changed plans halfway and launched some other major operation?
If all Marine forces were concentrated at God Valley and Headquarters was attacked and overrun, who could take responsibility?
Listening to these calls, Valthior gained quite a bit of insight. He began to understand the underlying logic of Marine strategic deployments—what triggered their decisions, how their thinking operated. From small details, broader patterns could be inferred; in the future, he could use this knowledge to anticipate Marine actions.
But as Kong continued making call after call, Valthior showed no sign of losing interest or leaving. This made the Admiral increasingly uncomfortable.
As far as he knew, Garp happened to be on vacation in the West Blue and could arrive soon as reinforcement. For something this big, he absolutely had to inform him. But with Valthior standing right beside him, Kong didn't dare make that call—it was extremely awkward.
He couldn't delay any longer. After a moment of hesitation, Kong made his decision and dialed Garp's Den Den Mushi.
It was picked up quickly—and before Kong could even speak, Garp's teasing voice rang out.
"Kong, huh? I heard you're babysitting those trash Celestial Dragons for some kind of event. Got time to call me—"
An opening move straight out of hell.
Kong nearly crushed the Den Den Mushi in panic. Before Garp could finish, he roared, "Shut your damn mouth, Garp!"
At the same time, he nervously glanced at Valthior.
To his surprise, Valthior burst out laughing.
"So that's Vice Admiral Garp? Hahaha! He really is interesting. I've heard he's quite dissatisfied with us Celestial Dragons—but I didn't expect him to be this unrestrained, calling us 'trash' outright?"
On the other end, Garp froze.
Wait—there's a Celestial Dragon there?
Did I just get Kong in trouble?
Even he felt a bit uneasy now.
"Saint Valthior, I deeply apologize—Garp absolutely didn't mean it that way. I'll make sure to discipline him properly so that in the future—" Kong hurriedly tried to explain.
But Valthior waved it off.
He didn't care. In fact, he himself believed that most Celestial Dragons were trash—and the remaining few were the worst of the worst, beasts among beasts. Only a very small number were exceptions.
"Hahaha, no need to be so tense. Don't worry, I won't take offense. Honestly, Vice Admiral Garp's personality is quite amusing. Perhaps we'll have plenty of dealings with each other in the future…" Valthior said with a laugh.
He had already decided—at God Valley, he would break away from Mary Geoise.
And driven by his curiosity about the Void Century and Laugh Tale, he planned to join the Roger Pirates afterward.
At this stage, only the Roger Pirates could lead him to uncover that secret.
This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment decision—he had been planning it for years.
That included learning how to decipher the ancient script.
After all, the Roger Pirates didn't just accept anyone—especially not a Celestial Dragon with unimpressive strength. For a crew that followed an elite route, there was no reason to recruit him.
Not to mention, taking in a Celestial Dragon would likely provoke endless trouble from the World Government. As for Shanks—that was a complete accident.
So no matter how one looked at it, the chances of Valthior being accepted by the Roger Pirates were practically zero.
But if he could read the ancient script…
That would be a different story.
At present, the Roger Pirates were already searching for the final, unknown island—what Roger would later name Laugh Tale.
However, although Roger could hear the Voice of All Things, he still couldn't decipher the ancient script. They had struggled with this for a long time, until they eventually learned of the Kozuki clan and sought help from the Whitebeard Pirates, ultimately recruiting Kozuki Oden, who could read the script.
Only after Oden joined did the Roger Pirates truly gain the ability to reach Laugh Tale.
But now, Kozuki Oden was still unknown to the world.
Valthior intended to take his place in the Roger Pirates—his role, his significance.
After all… he genuinely couldn't stand someone as foolish as Kozuki Oden.
If given the chance, he even wanted to kill him.
No grand reason—just pure personal bias.
As for Garp—if everything went according to Valthior's plan and he successfully joined the Roger Pirates, there would definitely be plenty of chances to cross paths with him in the future.
After all, if Shakky was the "succubus" who captivated the great figures of the seas, then Roger himself was Garp's personal "succubus."
Their story of "he runs, I chase" was known across the entire ocean.