Aqua of the Rear and Roger began a very intense battle on the ice.
Aqua of the Rear originally used magic to create a battlefield the size of a country almost instantly. But maybe the ice was too weak, or maybe they were both too strong. Anyway, in a very short time, this vast ice world was almost falling apart.
Each collision caused a large area of the ice to shatter, and both of them maintained a high level of attack power while also moving at speeds that were hard to see.
However, in this kind of battle, Roger felt increasingly strained.
After pieces of ice shattered, Aqua of the Rear finally seemed to show the reason he was called 'Aqua,' sometimes creating spears made of condensed seawater during his attacks.
Just controlling seawater alone would almost be unbeatable. But luckily, Aqua of the Rear didn't seem to want to end the battle that way. Instead, he highly condensed and compressed the seawater, eventually presenting it in the form of solid spears.
Roger cut through them with sharp sword pressure, but no seawater spilled out, which made him feel a bit better. But dealing with these attacks wasn't easy either.
Roger never imagined that gentle water, after being compressed to that degree, could contain such immense power. That simple spear felt like it weighed thousands or even millions of tons.
"Alright!"
Roger suddenly slashed with force, gathering a huge amount of Conqueror's Haki around him. Black lightning crackled beside him as he forcefully swung downwards, clashing with Aqua of the Rear's bat from a distance.
After using all his strength, Roger retreated dozens of meters before stopping. He looked at Aqua of the Rear and said, "You don't really want to 'eliminate the source of the world's chaos' like you said, do you?"
"No, that's not right. I should say, although you want to do that, you're not sure if I'm the one, are you?"
Aqua of the Rear stopped. He said, "There's some distortion in you, but you're definitely not the real source."
"So you've mistaken me." Roger grinned. "If you're going to say I'm involved in everything, you might as well say both I and the World Government are involved."
He was involved, that was true. But the World Government was involved too. It wasn't just one person, but a whole group. It was too much to blame everything on him alone.
God Valley was caused by Garp, Sengoku, and that Rocks guy. Zephyr and Garp were involved in the Kraken incident. The Jaltzburg Kingdom was first investigated by the Marines. The World Government also put in a lot of effort to deal with Aatrox. Wano Country came from The Black Order.
Why say it's all related to him? The World Government, as a 'whole,' has been involved all along!
"You lack 'time' and 'wish.' I didn't expect to be able to sense that so clearly. Perhaps it's because that power you have called Observation Haki resonates with me in some way."
Aqua of the Rear said things that Roger didn't understand. Roger frowned and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
The metal bat in Aqua of the Rear's hand disappeared, as if he had decided to give up fighting Roger.
He said in a deep voice, "The source of the chaos does exist, but not in this time, nor with this wish."
"..." Roger still didn't quite understand Aqua of the Rear's words. What did he mean by not this time, not this wish?
"I see, awakened early?" Aqua of the Rear seemed to have noticed something. He thought to himself, "No, although it's not exactly the right time, Roger does have some distorted qualities."
Roger was still frowning. Awakened early? Was he saying that he should have awakened later? Did the source of the chaos not being in this time mean...
Is he in the future?
And what did he mean by his distorted qualities?
Too many questions appeared in his mind, just like Aqua of the Rear's sudden appearance.
"What are you talking about?" Roger couldn't help but ask loudly.
But Aqua of the Rear didn't answer. After seemingly figuring something out, he completely gave up fighting.
"You already have the curse of death. There's no need for me to attack you again."
Aqua of the Rear slowly said, "And I need your kind of distortion to lure out the real source. Gol D. Roger, you've spared your life for now."
He declared this, but Roger knew he wasn't just talking big.
Aqua of the Rear's power to control seawater was too terrifying. When he fought me just now, he probably hadn't fully shown that ability. He was mostly showing off his monstrous speed and strength.
Combined with the ability to control seawater, there probably wouldn't be anyone who could beat him on the sea.
So he wasn't saying empty words. He really had the power to kill him!
"Even so, I'd still welcome you to come drink with me if you get the chance." Roger also canceled his demon transformation. He put Ace back into its sheath and chuckled, "After all, I only have a few years left to live. If I can get stronger, I'll definitely have a good fight with you."
Even when talking about his own death, Roger spoke easily with an open attitude. "It's just a shame that I probably won't be able to see that 'source' you're talking about."
Aqua of the Rear's expression seemed to show a hint of surprise, although it was very small. But on his serious face that didn't seem to be moved by any emotion, the emotion called surprise did appear.
Perhaps Roger's attitude towards death was unusually rare.
After all, there is great fear between life and death. Few people can be so dismissive of death.
"Go do what you need to do. We'll meet again if we have the chance." Aqua of the Rear turned around calmly, then walked on the shattered ice and floating sea, disappearing after a short while.
Roger watched Aqua of the Rear gradually disappear, his mind still thinking about what Aqua of the Rear had said. But...
It's really annoying!
He really wasn't good at thinking about this stuff. He should leave it to Rayleigh and Mumei.
As he thought this, Mumei suddenly appeared beside him.
"Oh, you came at the right time!" Roger cheered.
"You won?" Mumei appeared here and didn't see Aqua of the Rear, so she asked instinctively.
"No, I'll win next time."
However, with Roger's current strength, if he just trained step by step, his progress would be too slow.
Especially since he was mainly focused on studying Observation Haki right now.
But Roger would never give up.
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