The Empty Throne.
It sat in the center of the Chamber of Flowers, a vast, dark, and silent room, the only light coming from the celestial models that drifted in the void-like space and the ancient, silhouetted butterflies that fluttered past. The throne was a grotesque, jagged spike of black metal, a stark contrast to the chamber's ethereal beauty.
Upon it, a figure sat. It was tall, impossibly slender, and its form seemed to blur at the edges, as if it were not quite real. Its head was crowned by a spiked, elongated diadem, and its eyes, two burning, crimson-red points of light, stared out from an abyss of shadow. This was Imu.
Before the throne, on the cold, polished floor, knelt four of the Five Elders. They were motionless, their heads bowed, statues of perfect, terrified subservience.
The great, hidden doors to the chamber hissed open. The fifth Elder, Saint Jaygarcia Saturn, walked in, his steps measured. He did not look at his peers. He walked to the center of the floor, knelt, and bowed his head, his long, gray hair and beard pooling on the ground.
A voice echoed in the chamber. It was neither male nor female, but ancient, cold, and absolute, seeming to come from everywhere at once.
"Report, Saturn."
Saturn did not raise his head. His voice was an emotionless monotone.
"Imu-sama. The CP-2 unit we dispatched to the Sabre of Xebec has gone silent. All five life signs have been extinguished. The 'message' was, by all accounts, delivered."
"Oh," Imu's voice replied, a faint, almost imperceptible hint of... amusement... in the sound. "He was in a fouler mood than usual. Then he is coming. That part of the plan is in motion."
Imu's glowing red eyes shifted, the gaze falling fully on Saturn. "And the other piece? The 'Joker'?"
"It is done, Imu-sama," Saturn reported. "The information regarding the slave 'Shakky' was 'leaked' to Roger's network, as you commanded. The bait has been taken. We have also, as of this morning, transferred the woman from our facility in the South Blue. Saint Garling will be happy with this. She is now, as you wished, being held in the slave pens at God Valley."
"Perfect," Imu's voice was a soft, sibilant whisper. A long, impossibly slender finger, its nail a sharp, black talon, tapped on the arm of the throne. "Finally. It is time. Time to put an end to Rocks... and to the final, troublesome descendant of the 'No Name Clan.'"
A palpable wave of relief washed over the four kneeling Elders. The plan, decades in the making, was coming to fruition. One of them, the tall, blond Elder with the large mustache, Saint Ju Peter, dared to shift, his voice hesitant.
"Imu-sama... with your permission, may one ask a question?"
The red eyes settled on him. The silence stretched.
"Yes," Imu finally said.
Ju Peter raised his head, his face a mask of confusion. "Imu-sama, I must confess, I do not understand the... focus. For twenty years, Gol D. Roger has been the true menace. He is the one actively hunting the Poneglyphs. He is the one seeking the Lost Century, the... truth. Rocks is a simple, chaotic brute. A brawler. Why have we invested so much, and risked so much, to get this one pirate... when Roger is the one who threatens to uncover our greatest secret?"
Imu stared at him. The other Elders visibly tensed, as if Ju Peter had just cursed in a holy sanctum.
When Imu spoke, the amusement was back, but now it was layered with a cold, condescending disdain.
"Because Roger... is a fool."
The word echoed in the chamber.
"Gol D. Roger is a child chasing a story," Imu continued, the red eyes turning to the celestial models drifting by. "He is predictable. He is easy. His entire journey is one I have seen a hundred times. He follows a trail of breadcrumbs, and he thinks he is a great explorer for doing so. He is simple. He can be manipulated."
Imu's shadowy hand gestured. "You fear him finding the truth? All it took was a few... carefully placed... Poneglyphs, a few whispered rumors of a 'Final Island,' and he was distracted, his entire focus diverted from the real history to a simple... treasure hunt. He is a useful dog, leading our other, more troublesome hounds, the Mariens, on a merry chase to nowhere. For all his bluster, Roger... knows his place. He is a problem, but he is a manageable problem."
The ethereal voice suddenly hardened, the temperature in the room dropping by several degrees.
"But that guy..."
The red eyes snapped back, now burning with a cold, ancient, and personal fury.
"...Rocks D. Xebec."
"From the day that thing stepped onto the sea, he has been an anomaly. He is... unpredictable. He does not follow maps. He does not hunt treasure. He seeks... me."
The Elders flinched as one.
"You speak of Roger's 'threats'?" Imu let out a sound like a cold, dry laugh. "In his first year at sea, with a crew of three, Rocks D. Xebec did what Roger had never dared. He did not sneak into the Holy Land. He stormed it. He bypassed the Red Line, sailed through the Gates of Justice, and brought his ship to the very base of the Red Port. He killed an Admiral. You should remember it, right? How powerless you were in front of him? He tore a path through Mary Geoise itself, and... he stood... in this very chamber."
The four kneeling Elders, who had not known what had happened once Rocks had passed him that day, trembled. Their faces were shocked.
"He stood," Imu whispered, the memory clearly burning, "right where you are kneeling, Saturn. Covered in the blood of our finest. And he looked at me. He looked at the throne. And he... he smiled."
Imu's voice dropped, mimicking the deep, arrogant rumble of their greatest enemy.
"'I'll be back,' he said. 'When I've seen the world, I'll be back for this chair. I am Rocks D. Xebec. And I... will be the true King of the World.'"
"He is not a pirate," Imu's voice returned to its cold, hard hiss. "He is a rival. And now... now, thanks to that woman, that last descendant of the 'No Name Clan'... he knows about the Joyboy and 'Him'. He is no longer just a brute. He is a brute who knows the truth."
This revelation sent a new wave of terror through the Elders.
"Imu-sama!" the long-nosed Elder, Saint Marcus Mars, cried out, his composure breaking. "If the threat is that severe... why this elaborate trap? Why not simply dispatch the full force of the Navy? The Admirals? We could have captured him years ago!"
"Could we have?" Imu asked, the question sharp as glass. "There is another... problem... one you are not yet aware of."
The shadowy figure leaned forward slightly, its red eyes seeming to pierce each of the five men.
"What do you believe the strongest form of Haki is?"
The Elders looked at each other, confused by the sudden, academic question. Saint Shepherd V. Nusjuro, the bald, swordsman Elder, answered. "Imu-sama... it would be the infusion of Haoshoku. The 'Supreme King's' Haki. The ability to coat oneself or one's weapon, as you have taught us. It is the mark of a true king."
"Wrong."
The word was absolute.
"That... is merely the second step. A barrier that most, even the so-called 'strongest', will never pass. But there is another step. A final level. An... 'Awakened Conqueror.'"
A deep, profound shock settled on the Elders. They had never... never... heard of this.
"At this level," Imu explained, the voice a cold lecture, "the wielder's Haki evolves. It becomes more than just a coating of will. It becomes personal. The Haki itself infuses with a unique effect, a quality based entirely on the wielder's true nature. Not a simple coating of Haki is just a hammer. But an Awakened Haki... is a miracle. Or a curse."
The red eyes glowed, a faint, dark aura beginning to pulse from the throne.
"In all of known history, only four beings have ever achieved this state."
"The first... was Joyboy."
The Elders gasped, the name a forbidden, terrible word.
"The second..." Imu's own aura flared, a crushing, suffocating presence that was not Haki, but something else. "...is me."
"The third," Imu continued, "...was 'Him' the 'Sol Ragnarok'."
A visible, visceral chill went through the Five Elders. They flinched, as if the name itself was a physical blow, a memory of a time, an enemy, they would rather forget, a terror from an age even before their time.
"And the fourth..." Imu said, the voice now a low, hateful growl.
"...is Rocks D. Xebec."
The chamber was plunged into a silence so absolute it was deafening. The Elders, the highest authority in the world, were kneeling, pale, and trembling, their minds shattered by the revelation. Xebec was not just a pirate. He was a being, closest to the level of the greatest threat they ever faced.
"I felt it... that day he broke in," Imu whispered. "It was... raw. Uncontrolled. But it was there. A Haki that... corrodes."
Saturn, his body shaking, his face ashen, dared to ask the final, terrifying question.
"Imu-sama... if he... if he was here... and you knew what he was... why... why did you let him leave? You could have killed him then."
The shadowy head tilted. The red eyes vanished. And then, from the depths of the shadow on the throne, a huge, impossibly wide, and utterly evil smile appeared, a crescent of white teeth in the dark.
"Now, Saturn..." Imu's voice was a light, amused, child-like lilt.
"Where is the fun in that?"
The Elders stared, horrified.
"To kill him myself?" Imu chuckled, a dry, rustling sound. "It would be so... messy. So... personal. Why dirty one's own hands, when one can make the world do it for you?"
The evil smile widened. "No... it is far more fun this way. To let him build his 'unbeatable' crew of monsters. To let him believe he is the predator. And then... to turn his own comrades against him. To use his own ambition, and Roger's predictable 'heroism,' and Garling's... personal hatred... and mix them all together in a pot. To watch him, a being with the power of a god, be torn apart by the very 'family' he trusts."
Imu leaned back, the red eyes reappearing, cold and satisfied.
"To watch him struggle. To watch him break. To watch him die, knowing it was his own people who betrayed him. That... is true entertainment. That... is true control."
The shadowy figure raised a single, black, taloned finger and pointed at the kneeling Elder.
"Saturn. You will leave for God Valley. You will take the other Knights. Garling will lead the attack, but you will make sure the information is contained. You will ensure the... assets... are retrieved. Make sure every single member with Rocks on it is dead."
"Leave the others to the Mariens. Your target... is the future."
Saturn bowed, his forehead touching the cold, polished floor.
"It will be done, Imu-sama."
---xxxx---
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