With a beat of its wings,
the Seagull King carrying the broadcast Den Den Mushi shot straight into the sky, looking down over the entirety of Marineford and the newly added islands.
Smoke curled everywhere, and the atmosphere of war pressed deep into the hearts of all who watched.
Meanwhile, Ozz held a strangely shaped pen in one hand. With a snap of his fingers, he produced a leaf.
A Zoan Devil Fruit, Mythical Zoan at that.
The Bake-danuki form.
"This really makes all those years of collecting Devil Fruits worth it. Now they finally have a use."
Using Vegapunk's technology, he had found it before Pato could eat it, then fed it to a fountain pen.
Under Ozz's microscopic level Observation Haki, the image of an old man with an imposing aura and a distinctive moustache instantly came to life on the page.
"Even though I never saw him in person, he should look about like this."
"Now let me see it."
"The awakened power of the Bake-danuki Fruit!!!"
A wave of weakness swept through his body. Ozz's coat whipped wildly, his long hair dancing as smoke rose before him.
"Well now... it feels like I've been asleep for a very, very long time..."
Along with that hoarse yet powerful voice, the figure of an old man slowly emerged from the smoke.
That was the awakened ability of the Bake-danuki Fruit.
It could manifest a person through the power of the world's remembrance, or through the image people held of them in their hearts.
In other words, the better you knew the one you drew, the more familiar you were with them, and the more people in the world still remembered them, the fuller and more vivid the portion of their soul reflected back from the underworld into reality would become.
That was right. The underworld after death truly existed.
Brook had once returned from there with the aid of demonic power.
The Roger standing here now was not completely the real one,
but he was very nearly the same.
The upper limit of his strength depended on the user, and he could not be maintained for long.
"But this is already enough."
A complicated look flickered through Ozz's eyes as he slowly stepped forward.
His long hair swayed in the wind. He hesitated for only a moment before speaking.
"Long time no see, Captain Roger."
As if hearing his name called, the old man with the moustache flashed a wide grin and turned to look at Ozz.
"Oh!!!"
"Isn't that Ozz? You've grown so big already!!!"
"And me... I've turned into an old geezer too, huh..."
Ozz walked to Roger's side. Amid the roaring cannons and blazing battlefield, the two strolled forward together. Ozz patiently explained the current situation to Roger.
"So I've already been dead for twenty years..."
"Ace, huh... Whitebeard actually took him in as a son???"
"What?! And Garp adopted him as a grandson too?!"
"That old bastard!!!"
Even with only a fragment of his soul reflected briefly into the living world, Roger still gnashed his teeth in anger. Even in old age, he had not changed that childish temper of his at all.
Not far from the battlefield's edge, still lingering not too far from Ozz, Red Count noticed him.
And when he saw the old man beside him, his thoughts seemed to stop for a moment.
"You are...?!"
"Redfield, huh? Hahahahaha, you're an old man now too!!!"
"Roger?!"
Even a man like Red Count, who had seen countless storms and lived through the tides of ages, found himself doubting reality.
Shock overwhelmed his aged and gaunt face.
He froze in place.
But Ozz and Roger did not stop walking.
They continued forward.
"Since you've come back this time, go meet an old friend."
"Hey!!! Buggy, I'm over here!!!"
"Ozz???"
Buggy had already been looking everywhere for Ozz, so when he saw him, he was delighted.
But when he noticed the old man standing beside Ozz, he blanked.
"Ozz, who's this old man... is he... is..."
As he spoke, the sense of familiarity grew stronger and stronger until words failed him entirely.
His eyeballs bulged from their sockets, tears and snot pouring freely as his mouth hung wide open.
"You... you... you're..."
"You're..."
Buggy broke down, tears and mucus smearing all over his face.
"Captain Roger!!!!"
Buggy threw himself onto Roger, but his eyes remained locked on that old man's face and that bold, carefree grin.
"It's me. You've grown this big too, Buggy!!!"
"Waaaaaahhh!!!"
Buggy cried without restraint, his mouth stretched even wider than Luffy's had when he saw Sabo again.
Ozz's own eyes reddened.
But with the live broadcast about to begin, he chose to teleport the tears away.
He took the Den Den Mushi and shifted the image away from the wide battlefield view.
"No matter how the times change, monsters of the sea continue to appear one after another, and new characters continue to enter the history of piracy."
"But there has only ever been one person called the Pirate King."
"So I'm sure everyone has already guessed who is about to make an appearance in the Marineford War, right?"
On the screen, Ozz still wore an expression of excitement and anticipation, and that emotion spread to the audience watching below as well, making their hearts race with speculation.
"The Pirate King???"
"Yeah, but don't tell me..."
"Could it really... be him?!"
Countless people found their own guesses absurd, yet seeing the certainty in the eyes of that legendary man, that symbol of an age, their hearts began to waver.
No way...
Something like this...
How could it possibly really...
Those who had already guessed now stood with their eyes bulging, rooted to the spot in disbelief.
And the figure that slowly appeared on the screen completely shattered the world's understanding.
An old white-haired man with a broad grin and a distinctive moustache flashed a bright smile.
"Is this a Den Den Mushi broadcasting to the whole world???"
"Hahahahaha... hello there, world."
"I am... Gol D. Roger!!!"
Silence.
For a moment, everyone in front of the screens seemed to stop breathing.
Whether in the Four Seas, Paradise, or the New World,
everyone who saw that smiling old man froze where they stood.
Especially on Sabaody Archipelago.
Crash...
A scruffy old man in a white cloak, bottle of fine liquor in hand, let it fall directly to the ground.
Yet he seemed not to notice at all.
His eyes were fixed on the screen, locked onto that carefree smile, and his eyes had already gone red.
Huge tears rolled down his face.
Words from long ago seemed to ring once more in his ears.
"I'm never going to die, brother."
Is that really you, Roger?
Wasn't your body cremated by Ozz back then?
At the thought of Ozz, Rayleigh fell into a daze.
So this was your doing too, Ozz?
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The tides are shifting, and secrets linger in the dark... Step into the shadows early on P@treon, where the next chapter awaits before the world sees it.
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