"!!!"
At that moment, Dr. Furumi could not control his expression at all. His pupils shrank sharply.
"How is that possible...? That's something that's been passed down for thousands of years..."
Seeing Dr. Furumi's shock, Nicholas wore a faintly amused smile.
"Nothing is impossible..."
"The so-called Celestial Dragons are nothing more than the descendants of twenty human kingdoms from eight hundred years ago. They only became the rulers of this world because they chose the right side. Otherwise, compared to most of the races in this world, giants, fish-men, mink, dwarves, and so on, how could weak humans possibly have become the rulers of these seas? Much less compared to the D Clan and the race of gods."
"And that is exactly why they go to such lengths to prove they are different, and why they fear others overturning their rule so deeply."
"On the contrary, the one we're about to talk about next, Joy Boy, was the true member of the race of gods, a descendant of the gods."
"Eh!!!"
That completely overturned answer shocked Dr. Furumi all over again.
"Why?"
He truly could not understand.
But at this point, Nicholas no longer wanted to say more. He only added one sentence.
"You can think of it simply like this. A young man of the race of gods wanted to do what the D Clan had once done, but he was used by the descendants of the D Clan. Together with the humans of the Twenty Kingdoms, they became the opportunity by which this world came to be ruled!"
"!!!"
At that moment, Dr. Furumi was completely stunned.
The information contained in Nicholas's words was simply too terrifying.
He opened his mouth, wanting to ask more, but for some reason, even someone as clever and wise as he was found himself at a loss in the face of words powerful enough to overturn everything the world believed it knew.
Nicholas, however, paid him no further attention. He gave Dr. Furumi a cold glance.
"What I told you today should help you understand the power of Devil Fruits better. So in the next stage of the experiments, don't disappoint me again..."
With that, Nicholas flicked his hand dismissively and strode away with the bearing of a gentleman.
Only Dr. Furumi remained behind, standing there blankly in a daze.
...
"So that's it."
Within the Realm of Death, inside the Door-Door Space, Lillilu finally spoke as she watched Nicholas leave.
"So that man really is a Celestial Dragon? Then everything makes sense..."
At that moment, Yemu, who was just as shocked and still going over everything he had heard, was drawn in by Lillilu's words.
"What do you mean? You've met him before?"
"That's right. Even though many years have passed, I won't forget that face or that voice."
At that point, Lillilu, looking as though she were recalling the past, turned her gaze toward Yemu.
"Do you know where my master and I met him?"
Yemu froze for a moment, thought about it, and then gave his answer.
"On Skypiea?"
But Lillilu shook her head and answered directly without wasting time.
"On the moon..."
"The moon!!!"
That answer stunned all three of them on the spot.
Then each of them reacted differently.
After his initial shock, Yemu sank into thought. Ayala was completely dumbfounded. Kuromu, meanwhile, was bursting with excitement.
"The moon? Isn't that the Infinite Land Dr. Kuro told us about!!!"
This time, it was Lillilu who looked surprised.
"Kuromu, how do you know about the Infinite Land?"
Excitedly, Kuromu explained his origins to Lillilu.
That only shocked Lillilu even more.
"I see. So you're actually a technological creation from seven hundred years ago? In that case, it makes sense that you possess such technology..."
But at that moment, that was not the important part.
Yemu immediately asked again, "You mean you and Rocks went to the moon..."
"Mm."
Lillilu nodded.
"That was a long time ago, before Master became famous on the seas. Back then, he was still living on Skypiea. Through the technology recorded in the murals on the walls of the City of Gold, he learned of the existence of that Infinite Land. He took me to that world, and there we met that man, who called himself a space pirate..."
"..."
That was yet another astonishing revelation.
"The ability Master possessed, the one called Creator, the power to create Devil Fruits, was found among the ruins on the moon. And besides that, he discovered something even more interesting..."
As she spoke, Lillilu looked at Yemu and asked him a question.
"Do you know why the land on the moon, which is only about the size of an island, was called the Infinite Land?"
Yemu froze for a moment, then shook his head.
That truly went beyond anything he knew.
Seeing that, Lillilu seemed to understand something.
"So there really are things you don't know. Then let me ask a different question. That man named Nicholas said earlier that when the race of gods first descended into this world, there was only an ocean and those two twin trees. So where did the Red Line come from..."
At that moment, Yemu instantly understood.
"You mean the moon holds the technology the race of gods once used to create the Red Line?"
"That's right. It has a name very similar to the technology behind Devil Fruits. That technology is called the Blueprint of Paradise!"
In an instant, the entire Door-Door Space fell into a long silence.
Everyone looked utterly stunned, mouths hanging open, unable to find words for what they were feeling.
In the end, Yemu let out a long breath, then said to the others, "Looks like we have no choice but to go to the moon..."
In an instant, the expressions on everyone's faces shifted from shock to longing.
"The moon... I can't wait..."
No matter the world, the moon was a symbol of dreams, especially for a little girl like Ayala.
"The Doctor's dream... it can finally come true..."
Kuromu was already moved to tears.
After a while, Yemu waved his hand, drawing everyone's attention back to him before speaking.
"But before that, we need to finish what we came here to do..."
As he said this, Yemu glanced at the old man named Furumi outside, who was still standing there blankly in a daze.
"Let's first find somewhere we won't be disturbed... Once we get the Float-Float Fruit, we'll have time to think about everything else..."
At that moment, Yemu suddenly thought of something and asked Lillilu, "Right, was that Celestial Dragon named Nicholas a Zoan Devil Fruit user? I thought Celestial Dragons generally didn't eat Devil Fruits..."
"No..."
Lillilu shook her head.
"He isn't a Devil Fruit user. He's a cyborg very similar to Kuromu..."
"A cyborg..."
"Mm. A cyborg that can survive even in an environment as harsh as the moon..."
***
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