"Before I go have fun, I still need to deal with these guys…"
Back in the red light district, Ozz brought Sami and Hawkins with him to the place where the Supernovas were being held.
Aside from Luffy and Zoro, the rest had all been shackled in high purity Seastone, forced into the same cell that once held "Xiao Ming."
"So this is the so called Worst Generation. Just a bunch of brats. Not that 'evil,' really."
Ozz stood in front of the cell, bored out of his mind, while the Supernovas inside glared at him like they wanted to tear him apart.
"If you're gonna kill me, then do it. I'm not bowing to you!"
Kid was still stubborn as a nail. Even missing an arm didn't change that.
"Kid ya bastard, if you don't want to drag the rest of us into dying with you, stop provoking Mr. Ozz."
Law sat against the wall, lifting that gloomy gaze toward Kid in the distance.
Kid fell silent.
Most of the others didn't speak either, but every one of them stayed tense, eyes locked on Ozz.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm not that bad, am I?"
Ozz quickly lost interest in them, at least for now.
These "Worst Generation" kids did not even qualify to make him release his Haki.
They were too fragile.
Too easy to break if he played too hard.
Ozz was the kind of man who liked to cut weeds by the roots when something might become a threat.
The problem was, no one in this world could threaten him anymore.
"Until you pay your debts, you can try escaping if you want. But if I catch you, be ready for your whole crew to get wiped clean."
He tossed the sentence out casually, then turned around and left.
Hawkins was put in charge of guarding and supervising them.
He pulled out a little notebook and started reading their "sentences" aloud.
"Jewelry Bonney. Ate food without paying. Loss of 200,000 berries. Three days washing dishes…"
"Capone Bege. Property and ground damage. Loss of 10,000,000 berries. Three months running the venue with your men…"
"Eustass Kid. Property and ground damage, plus an Adam tree collapse. Half a year of big tree restoration and assorted labor…"
"Hold on!!!"
Kid's veins bulged. His eyes looked like they were spitting fire.
"That tree got cut down by Black Gun himself!!!"
Hawkins answered calmly.
"Explanations belong to Mr. Ozz."
"You bastard!!!"
…
"Hahahahahaha! That's insane! Ozz actually swept up all the Supernovas on Sabaody in one go?!"
Crunch, crunch.
Marine Headquarters, Marineford.
Inside the Fleet Admiral's office, Garp chewed his rice crackers while laughing at the intel on Sengoku's desk.
"Your grandson's in there too, Garp…"
Sengoku sipped his tea, staring at that thick skinned old idiot.
"He's already a legend of the sea, and he still has the mood to mess around with a bunch of rookies. That really is Ozz, huh?"
"The war with Whitebeard is coming. A huge one. Ozz could be a massive variable… I just don't know if he'll give the World Government the courtesy of playing along."
Garp picked his nose, utterly unconcerned.
"A man like that… you think he can stay on good terms with the World Government forever?"
Deep down, he was practically praying Ozz would show up.
If that happened, Ace could be saved.
"Garp, you bastard. You're hoping Fire Fist Ace gets rescued, aren't you?!"
"Huh?!"
Garp froze, wearing the face of a man caught red handed.
"Ah… hahahaha. Old man wasn't thinking that."
Sengoku didn't believe a word of it.
He crossed his arms, annoyed.
"Give up those stupid fantasies, Garp."
"The World Government will soon invite the Warlords and Ozz to a meeting. And Ozz already agreed to attend, so chances are there won't be any surprises."
Seeing Garp go quiet, Sengoku felt a flicker of reluctance.
Only a flicker.
He was the Fleet Admiral.
In an era that was spiraling out of control, the Marines needed a massive war and a massive victory to cool the world down.
That was the World Government's will.
And the son of Roger, plus the weight of the Whitebeard Pirates, fit their needs perfectly.
…
Elsewhere.
Inside the royal city of Duramos, a figure arrived in a blink, appearing above the palace before slamming down hard.
In an instant, countless eyes turned toward the fallen body.
After confirming who it was, they fell silent again.
Until a group of soldiers finally noticed him.
"Hm? What happened out there?"
In the palace, old man Gick was enjoying his retirement life.
Hearing the commotion, he got curious and decided to take a look himself.
"Who's this?"
He leaned in to inspect the man who'd dropped from the sky. At first he didn't recognize him.
Then he saw the straw hat.
His eyes trembled.
"This is… Roger's…"
"Ugh…"
Luffy slowly opened his eyes. Seeing a short old man in front of him, he blinked.
"Who are you? Wait!!! My friends!!!"
Luffy tried to explode into motion.
Several guards pinned him down immediately.
They were Haki experts stationed at old man Gick's side, each at least at the level of a Marine Vice Admiral.
It wasn't that they couldn't hire stronger.
There was simply no need.
For brats who didn't know their place, this was plenty.
As for real monsters, they all understood what it meant to lay a hand on the old man.
So there was nothing to guard against.
"Let me go!!!"
After a long bout of struggling, Gick finally pieced together the story.
This brat had been sent here by his own precious grandson.
And once he realized that, old man Gick burst into laughter.
"Hahahahaha! Roger's inheritor of will, getting stepped on so easily by my grandson. Hahahahaha!"
He ordered his men to drag Luffy back into the palace.
"Calm down, kid."
"Roger was never the kind of man who broke from one beating."
Even though they were enemies once…
So many years had passed, and Gick could admit it.
Roger had played a significant role in Ozz's growth.
And Roger was dead now.
Thinking back carefully, he really had been a man worth acknowledging.
At the very least, the Rocks Pirates he had once placed such hopes in collapsed because they couldn't unite.
But the Roger Pirates put their comrades first.
That alone earned Gick's respect.
If Rocks had been like that back then… maybe Gick would've lived to see Rocks become King of the World.
And later…
Even though Ozz never became the inheritor of Gick's will, which made the old man very happy, he also knew not just anyone was qualified to claim the title of "Roger's successor" in front of him.
Just as Gick turned his head, about to say more…
He froze.
The brat in front of him began to overlap with the shadow of Roger in his memories.
Luffy dropped to his knees.
No pride.
No hesitation.
"Please… old man…"
"Let me go find my friends!!!"
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