"Hey, Rayleigh... I might not last until Ace is born. I will leave the rest to you."
On a small, remote island in the South Blue, Gol D. Roger, who had not been seen in the world for a long time, was calling his oldest friend, Silvers Rayleigh.
No one could have expected it.
The life of the Pirate King—the top-tier powerhouse on the seas—was beginning to fade so early!
On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Rayleigh remained completely silent.
He had long known that his best friend's time was running out.
But when this day finally arrived, his feelings were still deeply complicated.
Gol D. Roger... the man who had taken a young lazy Rayleigh out to sea, led him through countless thrilling adventures, and turned the world upside down... was now about to die.
"What do you plan to do?" Rayleigh finally asked, his voice thick with emotion.
He understood Roger just as well as Roger understood him.
If Roger had nothing further to discuss, he would not have called to say goodbye.
"Hehe! I'm going to turn myself in to the Marines!" Roger said without a shred of hesitation.
His words left Rayleigh, who had been bracing himself for anything, so utterly shocked he forgot how to speak.
After a long silence, Rayleigh's voice drifted faintly through the receiver.
"Are you serious, Roger?"
He couldn't understand Roger's decision at all.
In his view, Roger voluntarily turning himself in to the Navy was an utterly incomprehensible move.
But only Roger himself knew why it had to be this way.
He was doing this not just for his unborn son's safety, but also to follow the guidance of fate.
Only he, as the undisputed Pirate King, was qualified to say those fated words before the entire world, to truly usher in a new era and ensure the next Joy Boy would set sail.
"Alright, Rayleigh. I am entrusting Rouge and Ace to you, should anything happen," Roger smiled softly.
"I'm going to turn myself in to Garp, since he is the only one in the Navy I can actually trust."
Listening to the busy signal from the disconnected Den Den Mushi, Rayleigh's eyes grew moist.
Once Roger made a decision, absolutely no one could dissuade him.
Moreover, Roger and Rayleigh were now oceans apart—there was no time to stop him anyway.
...
On a quiet island in the East Blue.
Vice-Admiral Garp, dressed in a heavy disguise, stepped out of the treeline.
Looking at the sick, dying man sitting on the ground—who still somehow radiated an overwhelming, suffocating Conqueror's Haki—Garp couldn't help but sigh heavily.
"Roger. I'm here."
Hearing Garp's gruff voice, Roger turned his head, a wide grin on his face and two bottles of rum in his hands.
"Long time no see, Garp!"
He tossed one of the bottles to the Marine Hero.
While coughing into his hand, Roger began drinking large gulps from his own bottle.
"What exactly do you need my help with?" Garp asked, completely baffled.
Why would Roger, the Pirate King who had vanished from public view for nearly a year, suddenly call him via a secure Den Den Mushi and arrange to meet here in secret?
"Come sit down, Garp! Let's talk while we drink." Roger patted the grassy spot beside him, signaling for his oldest rival to approach.
Naturally, Garp wasn't afraid Roger would attack him, so he walked over and sat down without any hesitation.
"What exactly happened?"
Roger set his bottle down and said with complete, eerie calm.
"I'm going to die, Garp."
Garp's expression suddenly changed.
He already knew Roger's health wasn't good—it had been obvious during their last few clashes that he had some sort of illness—but Garp never expected things were this serious.
His longtime rival, the man who had just conquered the entire Grand Line, would soon pass away.
Although this was technically fantastic news for the Navy, Garp still felt a heavy, uncomfortable knot in his stomach.
"Heh. That's great news indeed," Garp muttered gruffly. "The world will be a lot more peaceful without you."
Roger chuckled and retorted, "Garp, was the world ever peaceful before I came along? We both know that's a lie."
Roger looked out at the ocean. "As long as the Celestial Dragons exist, and as long as this corrupt World Government system remains unchanged, all kinds of people will still take to the seas as pirates. My death will definitely affect this world... but definitely not in the way you think."
Garp didn't want to answer that.
All the high-ranking Marine officers knew this dark truth, but everyone uniformly avoided discussing it.
"Garp, let's not talk about the world anymore." Roger smiled, looking back at his rival. "I called you here just to share a drink. After we finish drinking, you can arrest me. The only ones in the Navy I actually respect are you and that young Vice-Admiral, Raleigh. And since I'm not very familiar with that guy, I can only turn myself in to you."
After Roger finished speaking, Garp stared at him in utter confusion.
"Roger, what benefit do you get from doing this?"
A tender, heartbreaking affection shone in Roger's eyes as he gazed into the distance.
"Garp... I'm going to have a child."
Garp's eyes widened.
"I do not deny the Navy's accusations against me. As a pirate, I should be sentenced to death according to your laws. But my wife is completely innocent, and my unborn child is innocent." Roger's voice grew thick with emotion.
"My identity as the Pirate King is destined to bring them endless pursuit and death. So... I beg you to agree to protect them."
Before Garp could even open his mouth to refuse, Roger dropped to both knees and kowtowed heavily to the dirt before the Marine Hero.
Garp, who originally had no intention of agreeing to such an impossible request, felt deeply conflicted upon witnessing Roger's actions.
In their violent world, entrusting one's orphan to a mortal opponent signified the highest level of mutual respect.
Naturally, Garp was touched that Roger held him in such high esteem, but the gravity of hiding the Pirate King's bloodline prevented him from giving an immediate response.
For a long moment, both men fell into absolute silence.
Roger kept his forehead pressed firmly to the ground, as if determined not to rise unless Garp consented.
After a long while, Garp's expression shifted.
He seemed to age several years in a matter of seconds. He sighed, a sound filled with the weight of the world.
"Get up, Roger... this old man agrees to the matter."
...
"EXTRA! EXTRA! PIRATE KING GOL D. ROGER CAPTURED BY NAVY HERO GARP! PUBLIC EXECUTION IMMINENT!"
"NAVY HERO GARP ACHIEVES ANOTHER GREAT FEAT!"
"THE END OF THE PIRATE KING!"
A series of explosive news reports shook the world that had just begun to settle into a relative calm.
Countless citizens initially dismissed the screaming headlines as impossible propaganda when they heard them.
But upon carefully reading the news and seeing the official photographs, they realized it was undeniably true.
"Impossible! How could that bastard Roger be captured by the Navy?!"
In Wano Country, Kaido's eyes flashed with disbelief upon reading about Roger's capture.
Having fought Roger himself during the God Valley incident and beyond, he knew full well the monster's true strength.
If Roger had been determined to escape, even Garp's legendary power wouldn't have been enough to capture him without destroying half the ocean!
'What could have possibly made this man give up his chance to survive?!'
Kaido roared internally, crushing the newspaper.
He couldn't comprehend it, but he decided to go to Navy Headquarters to question Roger directly.
Given his indestructible strength, while he couldn't come and go freely from Marineford, the Navy couldn't easily kill him either.
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