Somewhere in the seas of the New World.
Aboard the Oro Jackson.
The entire Roger Pirates crew had basically turned into useless slackers sprawled across the deck, with the sole exception being Bullet, who was still crazily training himself. He swung around a terrifyingly massive barbell with enough force to stir violent gusts of wind. If his grip slipped even slightly, the thing would probably fly straight across the deck and smash Shanks to death on the spot.
As for why the Roger Pirates had collectively fallen into such a lazy state...
The reason was simple.
For the time being, they had completely lost their direction.
Their trip to Elbaf could not exactly be called fruitless, but in the end, all they had obtained was another Road Poneglyph. Meanwhile, their original "Care for the Elderly Giant" plan had completely collapsed, leaving them still missing the final Poneglyph needed to reach the last island.
Because of this, after leaving Elbaf and parting ways with Shiki, the Oro Jackson had simply been drifting aimlessly with the currents.
At this point, nobody aboard even knew where they had drifted to anymore.
"Spencer... hurry up and use your incredible information network to help us find the last Poneglyph already..." Roger groaned while lying across the deck like a puddle of mud, twisting around in boredom.
"Shut up, I'm thinking," Spencer replied while flipping through a contact list connected to his various informants, trying to figure out who might actually possess useful information.
Gaban hung upside down from the mast, swaying back and forth in the sea breeze like a dried salted fish. Every now and then he would let out a miserable howl while repeatedly calling out Ripley's name.
Meanwhile, Rayleigh sat directly beneath the mast chatting sweetly with Shakky over a Den Den Mushi, acting as if he were deliberately rubbing salt into Gaban's wounds. The sight irritated Gaban so much that he nearly wanted to drop down and die together with him on the spot.
At the edge of the deck, Valthior sat silently with an empty fishing rod in hand.
There was not even bait on the hook.
As time passed, his expression became increasingly dark and gloomy, and every so often he would glance toward Sunbell, who was sitting nearby drinking porridge.
"Why are you staring at me with that weird look?" Sunbell finally could not help asking.
"Please, Sunbell," Valthior said with complete sincerity, "I've never begged anyone in my life before, but could you pretend to be a fish and bite my hook just once? I also want to experience the joy of fishing..."
"I couldn't come up with something that ridiculous even if I deliberately tried to pick a fight with you!" Sunbell roared angrily.
"THIS IS SO BORING!!!" Roger suddenly shot upright from the deck and shouted excitedly,
"Let's call Shiki and tell him we've decided to join forces with him! Then once we trick him into coming over, we can beat the hell out of him for entertainment!"
The instant Roger finished speaking, Gaban lost his grip with a loud smack and fell directly from the mast.
Rayleigh, who seemed to have already activated Observation Haki in preparation for exactly this moment, instantly dodged aside without hesitation and allowed Gaban to slam face-first into the hard deck.
"Bastard..." Gaban muttered while rubbing his head painfully before looking toward the others. "Honestly, forget about searching for the last Poneglyph already. Why don't we just head straight to the final island, take a commemorative group photo, and disband afterward? I want to go back to Elbaf already..."
"You idiot, stop talking like that!" Roger immediately cursed at him. "We're only missing one final Poneglyph! Don't you have obsessive tendencies or something!?"
Right at that moment, the Den Den Mushi on Valthior's body suddenly rang.
On this ship, aside from Rayleigh and Valthior, everyone else's Den Den Mushi was basically decorative furniture, so the sudden ringing instantly attracted the entire crew's attention.
"Lord, hurry and answer it already!"
"Who's calling you?"
"At this point, even if the World Government suddenly assigned us a mission, I'd gladly accept it just to relieve the boredom!"
Ignoring the lazy idiots around him, Valthior calmly pulled the Den Den Mushi from his coat. After glancing at it, surprise flashed across his face.
"It's Professor Clover."
"Quick, quick, quick! It might be about a Poneglyph!" Roger leaped up instantly, rushing over to Valthior's side. "Answer it!"
"Even if it's not about the Poneglyphs, maybe it's related to Valthior's daughter or something," Gaban added while eagerly crowding over as well. "That'd still be entertaining enough!"
Without wasting any time, Valthior immediately answered the call.
"Professor, what's the matter?"
Although he had previously learned from Spandine about the fact that Olvia had given birth to his daughter, Valthior had never once taken the initiative to contact the scholars up to this day. He acted as though he was entirely oblivious to the matter, a restraint that Roger and the others frequently teased him for, saying he was truly capable of holding back.
In truth, part of his reasoning was that Valthior wanted to see exactly what kind of attitude Olvia and the others would maintain regarding this affair—whether they would choose to conceal it from him or not.
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Professor Clover's expression became somewhat complicated after hearing Valthior's voice, but he still spoke calmly.
"Valthior, it's been a long time since we last contacted each other. How have things been recently?"
"Lately, I've been exceptionally irritated." Valthior replied immediately. "We're only missing the final Road Poneglyph now, but no matter what we do, we just can't find it. What about your side? Have you uncovered anything useful? Care to share?"
Throughout the entire exchange, he never mentioned Olvia even once.
"What a coincidence," Clover replied. "The reason I contacted you today was actually to confirm a lead with you. Based on our investigations into numerous ancient records, we believe there may be a Poneglyph hidden on Vanti Island in the New World. Have you already been there? Has the Poneglyph there fallen into your hands? If so, could you share a rubbing with us?"
"Are you certain there is a Poneglyph located there?!" Valthior's eyes immediately lit up.
"There shouldn't be any mistake," Clover answered. "According to the records, it has supposedly been preserved by missionaries for generations."
Vanti Island was rather famous within the New World, primarily because it was an island under the direct jurisdiction of the Church.
In fact, just as Valthior had noted when investigating religious practices on Skypeia, the number of religions in this world was immense, including a significant amount of cults—much like how Brook had been "summoned" by a cult in the original story timeline.
Of course, the mainstream faiths still resembled the more traditional religions Valthior remembered from his previous life. Among them, the Church was one of the largest and most influential organizations.
It was considered a neutral power with several islands and religious territories under its control, to the point where calling it an independent nation would not really be inaccurate.
Charlotte Linlin herself had spent part of her childhood living under the care of Sister Carmel from the Church, though Carmel had secretly been a child trafficker.
Bartholomew Kuma's entire family were also devoted followers of the Church, and Kuma's father had even possessed qualifications as a missionary.
Overall, the Church had a very long history, but it generally avoided direct involvement in worldly political struggles and maintained a fairly decent relationship with the World Government.
However, the Celestial Dragons of Mary Geoise deeply despised organizations like the Church.
The reason, naturally, was conflict over "divine authority."
And it was not just the Church either. The Celestial Dragons disliked nearly all religions for the same reason, since every faith claimed different creators and gods.
The Celestial Dragons viewed themselves as gods and descendants of the creators of the world.
How could they possibly tolerate the existence of other so-called deities?
Still, due to various practical considerations, the two sides had never openly clashed. In fact, over the centuries, the Church had continuously softened its stance toward the World Government. Certain scriptures had even begun glorifying and deifying the Celestial Dragons themselves.
"We haven't gone there yet," Valthior said thoughtfully. "In that case, shall we meet up on Vanti Island?"
"Agreed," Clover replied.
After saying that, neither side immediately hung up.
Valthior remained silent.
Professor Clover also fell quiet.
Only after several moments passed did Valthior finally ask, "Is there something else you wanted to say?"
"There is... actually," Clover answered after hesitating briefly. "Celestial Dragons place greater importance on paternal bloodlines, correct?"
"That's right," Valthior replied. "Although there's no difference in political authority between male and female Celestial Dragons, and inheritance rights are equal as well—even many family heads are women—the overall culture still leans more toward the paternal line. Daughters who marry out will change their surnames to match the groom's family, and grooms who marry in will similarly change their surnames to inherit the family name,"
"In other words," Clover continued carefully, "as long as the father is a Celestial Dragon, any child born from that bloodline will also receive Celestial Dragon status, correct? Even if the mother is an ordinary civilian... or even a slave?"
"Basically, yes," Valthior explained. "Though honestly, the same applies if the mother is a Celestial Dragon. According to our customs, as long as you possess Celestial Dragon blood in your veins, then you are considered a Celestial Dragon."
It was essentially similar to the old "one-drop rule" from racial policies in his previous world.
As long as you carried even a trace of that bloodline, your identity was already determined.
The Celestial Dragons followed much the same logic.
As long as one carried the blood of a Celestial Dragon, they were recognized as one as well.
If a female Celestial Dragon had a child with a civilian, she might very well kill the father afterward, but the child would still inherit Celestial Dragon status and carry the mother's family name.
The main reason for this was simply because the Celestial Dragons had absurd amounts of wealth.
Raising additional children was never a burden for them.
At the same time, centuries of internal intermarriage had caused increasing hereditary illnesses within their bloodlines, so they periodically needed to absorb outside genes to stabilize and improve the situation.
After pausing briefly, Valthior suddenly asked,
"So, Professor... are you becoming interested in the Celestial Dragons now? With your talent, I could probably recommend you into their social circle if I wanted to."
"There's absolutely no need for that," Clover immediately rejected the idea.
Then he let out a sigh before finally saying,
"After that night between you and Olvia... she became pregnant. Later, she gave birth to your daughter."
In the end, Professor Clover still chose not to hide the truth.
Meanwhile, a faint smile appeared on Valthior's face.
"I honestly thought you all planned to keep this from me forever," he said calmly.
"You already knew!?" Clover exclaimed in shock.
"Back in Wano, I already told you," Valthior replied dismissively. "Your little scholar group has no secrets from me. I warned you to stop walking down this suicidal path and hurry back home to conduct legitimate research instead, but none of you listened. Just wait. Sooner or later, all of you are going to get yourselves killed."
"Then, now that I happen to have your daughter in my hands," Clover replied with a chuckle, "does that count as finding a path to survival in the middle of certain death?"
Obviously, Clover was not stupid.
He naturally understood that his group had been under surveillance all along.
Even so, he still chose to continue pursuing the "truth."
"We'll talk after we meet," Valthior replied without directly answering the question.
Then he immediately hung up the Den Den Mushi.
Beside him, Gaban clicked his tongue after noticing that Valthior had shown absolutely no intention of speaking with Olvia directly.
"Tsk, tsk... you really are one cold-hearted man," he remarked.
"Stop talking nonsense," Valthior replied as he patted Gaban on the shoulder. "Navigator, our next destination is Vanti Island. Hurry up and adjust the course."
...
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