"Ding! Congratulations, Host, Reputation Points +99,999!"
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, Reputation Points +99,999!"
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, Reputation Points +99,999!"
The moment Lin Xuan had been waiting for had finally arrived—an explosive surge in reputation points. This wasn't the first time it had happened, of course. Earlier, when Luffy and his crew had descended from the sky, the system had already gone wild. But this time, the surge was far more intense.
After all, this wasn't just any event—it was the resurrection of a dead man, and not just any dead man, but the legendary Pirate King, Gol D. Roger!
On the battlefield, chaos reigned. Many were still in a daze, struggling to process what they were seeing. Not everyone recognized Roger, but those who did were starting to question their own sanity, wondering if they were trapped in a dream.
After a long silence, a young marine, still confused, muttered under his breath, "What's going on? Why's everyone freaking out?"
His voice, though quiet, cut through the eerie stillness of the battlefield like a blade. A grizzled veteran nearby, in his thirties or forties, snapped out of his shock and turned to the rookie. "You don't know who that is? That's Gol D. Roger—the Pirate King!"
"What?!"
The rookie, along with the other marines and pirates who hadn't yet recognized Roger, gasped in unison. The name sparked memories of the faded, yellowed wanted posters that immortalized the legend. Shouts erupted across the battlefield.
At the same time, people watching the live broadcast around the world were equally stunned.
Cries of disbelief echoed from the battlefield to every corner of the globe.
"No way! This can't be real!"
"Gol D. Roger's been dead for twenty years!"
"But that guy looks exactly like the Pirate King from the wanted posters!"
"Am I dreaming? The Pirate King's actually back?!"
The shouts jolted awake the old-guard powerhouses like Karp, Sengoku, Whitebeard, and Cyborg Steel, who had been frozen in shock since recognizing Roger. They ignored the chaos around them, their eyes locked on the man himself.
They'd already checked—pinched themselves, blinked hard, used every trick in the book to confirm they weren't dreaming. But they still couldn't accept it. Roger, dead for twenty years, was standing right in front of them, casually saying, "Didn't expect you guys to still be kicking!"
The resurrection of the dead was beyond comprehension.
Some began to wonder if Roger had somehow faked his death, pulling off an impossible escape and hiding all these years. But that didn't add up either. His execution had been overseen and verified by Sengoku and others. They knew Roger had been terminally ill—even without the execution, he wouldn't have survived long.
And yet, here he was, looking exactly as he did twenty years ago, as if he'd stepped straight out of the past.
What the hell was going on?
Questions swirled in everyone's minds, threatening to overwhelm them.
The first to react was Karp, standing right in front of Roger. He grabbed the man by the collar and roared, "Roger? Is that really you, you bastard?! How is this possible? How the hell are you alive?!"
His outburst voiced the question burning in everyone's hearts. The chaotic battlefield, and the millions watching on screens worldwide, fell silent. All eyes turned to Roger, waiting for his answer.
But Roger just scratched his ear, wincing as if Karp's shouting had deafened him. Then, with a smug grin, he said, "Well… why don't you take a guess?"
Karp: "…"
Sengoku: "…"
Whitebeard: "…"
Everyone who knew Roger: "…"
That infuriating tone—it was unmistakably Roger.
Before Karp could explode, Roger added fuel to the fire. "By the way, Karp, I trusted you enough to leave my son in your care. And now you're letting the Navy execute him? I'm really disappointed in you."
Karp nearly lost it. "You've got some nerve saying that!" he bellowed. "Do you have any idea how much grief you've caused me all these years? Do you know how much it hurt when Ace was captured? Do you even—"
The battlefield, filled with pirates, marines, and countless viewers worldwide, watched in stunned silence as Karp unleashed his fury.
The marines were shocked to see their stoic vice admiral lose his cool like this. The global audience, meanwhile, was floored by the revelation that Ace had been raised by Karp himself.
As Karp vented, the crowd began to piece together the hidden story, and many started to feel a pang of sympathy for the old man. Karp had been through hell.
If Roger hadn't mysteriously come back to life and spilled everything, this secret might have stayed buried forever.
After listening to Karp's tirade, Roger just grinned and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Not bad, Karp. You're still the guy I trusted. Thanks for everything."
Karp froze, then roared again, "You bastard! You were messing with me this whole time!"
"You caught me!" Roger laughed, his voice booming across the battlefield.
The crowd was dumbfounded.
This was the legendary Pirate King? He was nothing like they'd imagined.
Nearby, Sengoku, who had been facing off against Whitebeard, suddenly paled. The live broadcast hadn't been cut off—everything had been exposed. Karp was in deep trouble now.
Sengoku's anger flared. This was all Roger's fault! From convincing Karp to raise Ace twenty years ago to showing up now and blowing the secret wide open—every bit of this mess traced back to that infuriating man.
Without a second thought, Sengoku abandoned his fight with Whitebeard and charged straight at Roger, his mind set on one thing: taking that smug bastard down for good.
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T/N:
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