"They've arrived, but it doesn't look like a good sign." Robin watched as the Shandian chief and Gan Fall approached together, flanked by a large group of warriors. She sensed something was wrong but remained calm with Rosen at her side.
Daz Bones was the first to stand up.
"I don't think you are bad people," Gan Fall said calmly, "but we know very little about you. And we know that our resistance means little to you. So, please tell us—are you here to destroy Skypiea?"
As he spoke, he lifted a newspaper for Rosen to see, revealing the source of their suspicions. After living so many years, neither the Shandian chief nor Gan Fall were the type to believe everything they read. But the gravity of what they saw made it impossible to ignore.
"Oh, that… complete nonsense," Rosen replied after a glance, clearly unconcerned. He had expected that the two leaders would be discussing matters in private over the past few days, but he hadn't thought they'd get their hands on a Blue Sea newspaper.
But his response was clearly not enough to ease their doubts—how could they be sure he wasn't the man the article claimed had destroyed a nation?
"I can vouch for him," Hathaway said, seeing the expression on their faces.
"I can too! That stuff's all fake. Uncle isn't a bad guy—he's the one who saved us in Landis. The World Government are the real villains!" Natalie added, raising her hand.
Children are said to speak truth without guile, and Natalie's words made both Gan Fall and the chief freeze in surprise. "You're from Landis? That nation the news said was destroyed? Wasn't it supposedly wiped out by a mysterious woman called the Crimson Queen and the Shichibukai? And didn't she kill a Celestial Dragon?"
"Nope! The Marines came with tons of huge ships and bombarded our island. Uncle only brought some small ships to rescue us. A lot of us are still alive. But you can't tell anyone," Natalie warned, having sensed these old men weren't bad over the past few days, so she shared more than she usually would.
"Is that true?!" Gan Fall and the chief found themselves half-convinced already. They hadn't expected the World Government's credibility to be so poor. But they still had lingering doubts.
"Of course it's true. If Uncle had destroyed Landis, Queen Sis would never forgive him. How could she possibly be with him otherwise?" Natalie pointed at Hathaway.
"You're… the queen of Landis?!" The revelation stunned Gan Fall and the chief.
Never in their long lives had they imagined that this breathtaking, angelic girl was the ruler of Landis.
The news reports hadn't mentioned Hathaway's royal identity—acknowledging that would create massive inconsistencies, like her supposedly joining forces with outsiders to destroy her own country. That alone would raise too many questions.
So, the World Government had only referred to a mysterious woman seen near Landis, never revealing who she truly was.
With Natalie blurting out Hathaway's identity, the two men were utterly shocked. A monarch of a fallen nation—here?
And Natalie clearly wasn't lying. There was no way she could've made all this up on the spot, especially since they had only just obtained that newspaper. Which meant the woman they'd assumed to be Rosen's subordinate was, in fact, likely the Queen of Landis.
"Surprised? I'm just a wanted fugitive now," Hathaway said coolly after glancing at the article. "But yes, the news is fake."
Her calm, almost indifferent tone left Gan Fall and the chief speechless. It wasn't just her words—it was her demeanor. She spoke as if the truth was self-evident and beneath deception.
They recognized that look well. Enel had once looked at the world the same way—from a position of overwhelming power. People like this rarely lied. If they didn't want to speak, they'd simply remain silent.
"You're saying… you're the Crimson Queen?" the chief asked, comparing Hathaway's appearance to the photo in the article. He studied it for a long time before barely seeing a resemblance. The whole thing felt so convoluted.
But they didn't think she was bluffing. If Rosen and his crew were truly destroyers, there'd have been no reason to stop Enel. Word was, he'd been laboring aboard their ship for days now. Who knew what kind of work they were making him do…
Strangely, Gan Fall even started to feel a little sorry for Enel.
Hathaway gave a quiet nod.
"You're curious, right?" Natalie looked at them.
The two old men nodded instinctively at the candid little girl, who beamed with excitement. "Then let me tell you the whole story!"
Perfect.
Gan Fall and the chief had been dying to hear the truth so they could decide what to do.
What they hadn't expected was that Natalie really could talk—and once she started, she went on until nightfall. She left nothing out. By the end, Rosen was nearly facepalming.
"Did you really have to mention what I eat at every meal?"
"Because Natalie needs to be observant about everything around her!" she replied, full of confidence. Rosen was left speechless.
Robin already had a general idea of what happened in Landis, but even she was fascinated by the level of detail in Natalie's account.
Even Conis and her father were visibly moved by the tragedy of Landis. When they looked back at Rosen, it was with admiration, as though he were a hero—which made Rosen extremely uncomfortable.
"I didn't expect such senseless cruelty to exist in this world," Gan Fall sighed. His impression of both Rosen and Hathaway had changed completely.
Natalie's story was too detailed to be a lie. The logic of human memory has its limits. Even an adult couldn't fabricate something so thorough in such a short time, let alone a child. If she had made it up, it would've been full of holes.
So they believed her.
"We Shandians are willing to contribute to the new order!" After nightfall, the Shandian chief stood up and gave Rosen a respectful half-bow, his voice resolute. If Skypiea were to be governed by someone like Rosen, maybe—just maybe—centuries of war could finally come to an end.
"And the people of Angel Island will also do everything we can to support the new order!" Gan Fall added solemnly.
With the two leaders in agreement, the rest of the pieces fell into place. Rosen hadn't expected Natalie's chatter to become such a turning point—yet it was she who cracked the stalemate in the trial run of his new order.
Letting an outsider lead came with risks. The downside was that it would be difficult to earn unanimous support. But Rosen had already prepared for that.
The upside? With Rosen in charge, the people of Angel Island and the Shandians had no more direct conflict. They couldn't fight over Upper Yard anymore.
Now that Rosen had been granted authority, both sides had effectively handed their fate and resource distribution over to him and his crew. Something that once seemed impossible had, somehow, already happened.
The path forward was now clear—but far from easy.
"Is he going to become the new god?" Conis whispered, covering her mouth in surprise. This Blue Sea man would soon be their leader. And strangely, she didn't feel opposed to the idea.
(End of Chapter)