"For the evolution of civilization... isn't that a good thing?"
Bonk Punch caught the deeper meaning behind those words and asked with interest, "I remember that ever since you came to power, the World Government's official newspapers have been shouting every day that everything is for the evolution of human civilization."
At this moment, Bonk Punch was completely immersed in the conversation.
He did not even spare a glance at his companions beside him, whose eyes were bloodshot and veins bulged as they struggled under the invisible pressure.
With the strength Rosse had shown by suppressing everyone with a single thought, if he had wanted to kill them, they would already have turned to ashes.
Since Rosse was still interested in talking, Bonk Punch naturally had no reason to focus on his companions.
Paying too much attention would only have the opposite effect.
As for what Shanks and the others thought, Bonk Punch no longer cared.
"From the perspective of civilization, of course it's good."
Rosse let out a soft laugh. His gaze passed over Bonk Punch's shoulder and looked at Shanks behind him, who was desperately trying to break free, as though watching a joke.
"But all of you must be prepared to become expendable."
Rosse leaned forward slightly, like a devil whispering into someone's ear.
"Why do people live?"
"To that question, Shanks's answer is freedom. The answer of the common people at the bottom is survival. My answer is to satisfy my desires and seek happiness."
"But if one day, I no longer think that way, and my logic for ruling the world becomes the advancement of civilization..."
A trace of amusement flashed through Rosse's eyes, "Then, whether it's the survival of ordinary people, the freedom of pirates, or the desires and happiness of me, the ruler... everything must yield unconditionally before the optimal solution for civilization."
"If moving civilization up one step requires it, then you, Bonk Punch, are expendable. Shanks is expendable. Tens of millions of civilians are expendable."
"If calculations show that killing half the population will advance civilization by fifty years, then half the people will immediately be sent into the crematorium."
"For the sake of making the world better, for the sake of future generations... hmm, no," Rosse smiled, "The future generations won't live better either. They'll merely be another generation of high-grade expendables living in a world with more advanced technology."
"Hahahahaha... Hahahahaha!"
After hearing those words, Bonk Punch suddenly threw back his head and burst into clear, hearty laughter on the silent deserted island.
He was not a god. He could not stand where Rosse stood and look down upon all living things.
But he was smart enough to fully understand what Rosse was trying to say.
What a world of sorrow it was, one that chilled people to the bone, yet was undeniably real.
After all, in the past, ordinary people's lives had also been expendable. It was simply for the sake of satisfying the selfish desires of the Celestial Dragons and the nobles.
The world Rosse spoke of, built for civilization, merely replaced the master's name with a cold machine called progress.
He didn't understand those grand theories.
But as a human being, he only knew one thing: if he truly lived in such a world of absolute reason, simply breathing would feel painful.
"I suppose that's true..."
Bonk Punch laughed until tears almost came out. He wiped the corners of his eyes with his bloodstained hand, the corners of his mouth lifting into a relieved smile.
He raised his head. The confusion of a pirate had disappeared from his tired eyes, leaving only a doctor's pure longing for the truth.
He looked steadily at Rosse and asked, word by word, "Having a devil full of selfish desires like you rule the world... is indeed better than handing it over to a perfect saint with no feelings."
"Then, Your Majesty Rosse."
Bonk Punch slowly knelt on one knee, placed his left hand over his chest, and performed the most flawless gesture of submission.
"May I ask whether I am qualified, as an ordinary doctor, to personally see the world you speak of?"
"BONK PUNCH!"
Along with a roar that nearly tore his throat apart, the invisible shackles that had frozen the deserted island melted away like ice and snow under Rosse's smiling gaze.
The instant they regained their freedom, everyone in the Red Hair Pirates gasped for breath almost at the same time.
Then, nearly ten pairs of bloodshot eyes fixed themselves on Bonk Punch, who still remained kneeling on one knee.
To them, what Bonk Punch was doing was outright betrayal.
They could accept him saying he was tired.
They could accept him saying he wanted to retire.
They could even accept him disappearing one night without saying goodbye.
On these seas, people coming together and parting ways was normal.
But they could never accept that their most respected companion, the ship's doctor who had dragged them back from Death's hands again and again, would kneel before the enemy who had cornered them, wagging his tail like a begging dog in such a humble posture of surrender.
To be honest, the new world Rosse had just described had indeed left a crack in their hearts.
But they were different from Bonk Punch.
They were outlaws who had never received a systematic education, with romance and rebellion carved into their bones.
They were used to drinking bowl after bowl of liquor.
They were used to living by their passions.
Making them follow rules and live an ordinary life was worse than killing them.
"Bonk Punch, are you sure this is what you want?"
Shanks slowly drew Griffin and pointed it at him.
His eyes were lowered, his crimson hair covering most of his face. His voice was so heavy it seemed ready to drip with water.
The tip of his blade pointed straight at Bonk Punch's back.
"Captain..."
Bonk Punch neither turned around nor stood up.
He openly exposed his completely defenseless back beneath the sharp edge of Shanks's sword.
"You've always talked about freedom, haven't you? Then letting your crew freely choose the life they want, even if it's a path of surviving by compromising... that's also a kind of freedom, isn't it?"
There was no guilt or fear in his voice.
Only calm acceptance in the face of life and death, and deep exhaustion.
"I did say everyone has the freedom to chase their dreams."
The veins on the back of Shanks's sword hand bulged. Every word seemed forced out through clenched teeth.
"But that doesn't mean that when you choose to kneel and surrender to the World Government, I can smile and wish you smooth sailing! You have the freedom to choose betrayal, and I have the freedom to fulfill my duty as captain!"
Dark crimson lightning began to run along Griffin's blade.
Shanks did not want to cross swords with a companion to whom he had once entrusted his back.
But if Bonk Punch truly crossed that line and stood against him, then for the sake of the future, he would show no weakness.
Faced with this deadlock on the verge of breaking out, Rosse simply rested his chin on his hand with interest, watching it like an amusing play, and lightly raised a finger.
Buzz!
An invisible lifting force appeared out of nowhere, forcibly raising Bonk Punch off the ground until he stood upright.
"Your ability isn't enough for me to arrange any special position for you. Nor will I give you any special treatment just because you're the first person to surrender."
Rosse looked absentmindedly at his fingertips, his tone completely flat.
"Right now, you're just the most ordinary mortal in this world. Merely one insignificant civilian among the billions living across my vast territory. Nothing more."
"That is enough. Thank you, Your Majesty."
Bonk Punch took a deep breath of the cold sea-scented air. Even so, a trace of bitter regret still welled up inside him.
The reason he had chosen this most inappropriate moment to kneel before Rosse in front of Shanks was actually selfish.
He had wanted to borrow Rosse's authority to cut off Shanks's last lingering hope, completely severing their relationship, so that he could immediately leave as a citizen of the World Government and never become involved in this mess again.
He could tell Rosse had no interest in killing Shanks tonight.
As long as Rosse took him away naturally, everything would be over.
But unfortunately, how could a devil like Rosse, who toyed with human hearts so easily, fail to see through such a small scheme?
By refusing to give him special protection, Rosse was clearly making him settle this old debt himself.
"Captain, it looks like no matter what happens tonight, we'll have to fight after all."
Bonk Punch laughed at himself before finally turning around to face the man he had followed for more than ten years.
He really was tired.
As a doctor with top-class medical skills, he could have treated thousands upon thousands of people.
But after joining this pirate crew, aside from drinking and bragging in Foosha Village's tavern, his days had been spent fighting thugs across the seas.
The one time they visited Syrup Village, what he ended up doing was watching Yasopp force his own son into tragedy.
He had long since grown sick of this so-called pirate life during countless late nights.
"Then come! Beat me, and I'll let you crawl out of my sight alive!"
Shanks stood with his sword in hand, his expression as stern as iron.
Yet no one knew that Shanks's grip on his sword was not as tense as his words suggested.
He had already made up his mind.
He would not really kill Bonk Punch.
He would only put on a show, go through the motions, let Bonk Punch suffer a few minor injuries, then deliberately hold back and allow him to leave.
As a captain, that was the final mercy he could give a brother who had once fought and bled beside him.
But after tonight, if they met again on these seas as enemies, he would never hold back again.
"Wait."
Just as Shanks was about to strike, a graceful figure, accompanied by a faint scent of roses, suddenly stepped out from Rosse's side.
Makino walked forward two steps and stood directly between Bonk Punch and Shanks's blade.
"Shanks, stop. Let Bonk Punch leave."
The eyes that had once been full of tenderness now carried a seriousness that made people's hearts tremble.
"If possible, I hope all of you can put down your weapons tonight and join the World Government."
"Move! Being a pirate isn't some game you play in a tavern! Makino!"
Shanks's expression instantly turned ugly.
He had never imagined Makino would step out and block his blade at a time like this.
What hurt him even more was that the way she calmly urged them to surrender showed she had been thoroughly brainwashed by Rosse.
But no matter how furious he was, he could never raise his sword against an unarmed woman.
Against Makino, the woman he had once deeply loved.
"Am I wrong? Shanks, you know better than anyone that your freedom and pirate life, which bring nothing but chaos, are just playing house," Makino's tone was calm enough to drive people mad.
"I told you to shut up! Makino!"
Those words ignited the final fuse inside Shanks.
He could tolerate Makino betraying him.
He could tolerate her being forced into Rosse's arms.
But he absolutely, absolutely would not allow anyone, even Makino, to belittle the dream he had wagered his arm and his entire life to pursue.
BOOM!
A terrifying dark crimson storm erupted from Shanks like an ancient beast awakening.
It was Shanks releasing his Conqueror's Haki with all his strength.
The surrounding reefs began to crack beneath the pressure. The sea was pressed into a massive depression by invisible force. Violent winds swept up sand and stones, blotting out the sky.
Shanks's eyes were so red they seemed ready to bleed.
He wanted Makino to understand that a man's world, the cruelty of the sea, was something a weak woman who spent her days serving drinks in a tavern could never imagine.
He had already planned everything.
With Rosse present, he could unleash his full power without holding back.
At the very last moment, when his Conqueror's Haki was about to crush Makino's spirit and seriously injure her, Rosse would definitely step in to save her.
Even if Rosse didn't act, with his own control over Conqueror's Haki, he could still stop it at the last instant.
However...
Shanks had miscalculated one thing.
Rumble!
The dark crimson storm of Conqueror's Haki swept across the island like a tsunami.
Standing behind Makino, Bonk Punch was caught completely off guard. He let out a painful grunt as though an invisible mountain had descended upon him. His knees buckled, his back creaked under the pressure, and he could not even raise his head.
But, when the violent wind died down and the dust settled, Makino, the weak woman who, in everyone's eyes, belonged behind a bar wiping glasses, who struggled even to lift a barrel of dark beer... stood there quietly.
She stood at the very center of the Conqueror's Haki storm.
She had not fallen.
In fact, her expression remained relaxed, as though she had not felt the slightest pressure.
Silence. Deathly silence covered the entire deserted island.
Only the sound of distant waves crashing against the rocks could be heard.
"H-Hey... Captain."
Yasopp swallowed a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva. His voice had become shrill from overwhelming shock, carrying even a trace of anxious irritation.
"I know you've got the best control over Conqueror's Haki on the whole sea, but what time do you think this is? Stop holding back already, damn it!"
This time, the surviving members of the Red Hair Pirates, who normally would have ignored Yasopp, found themselves nodding in unison.
For the first time, they all thought exactly the same thing.
That was Makino!
Makino of Foosha Village!
The tavern owner so weak she couldn't even carry two barrels of beer.
Forget pirates like them with bounties over a hundred million.
Even some third-rate mountain bandit with a bounty of only a few hundred thousand could crush her to death with one hand.
Yet now, she was standing motionless beneath Shanks's Conqueror's Haki?
If anyone claimed he wasn't holding back, they wouldn't believe it even if they were beaten to death.
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