That melancholy and heavy aura was so out of place with the wild and unrestrained atmosphere on Garp's warship.
Kane's curiosity was piqued. He took a bottle of expensive-looking wine from the arms of a fallen Marine soldier nearby and walked over slowly.
"Blowing in the cold wind all by yourself, why not have a drink?" Kane's voice wasn't loud, just enough for the other person to hear.
Hearing the sound, the man slowly turned around.
When his face was fully exposed to the moonlight, Kane's pupils constricted sharply, and his heart skipped a beat.
It was a young face but one written with stories, with sharp features and eyes as deep as a bottomless lake.
The most eye-catching thing was the red tattoo on his left face, burning like fire.
Monkey D. Dragon!
The future Supreme Commander of the Revolutionary Army, designated by the World Government as the "World's Worst Criminal," Garp's biological son, and Luffy's father!
Holy shit!
A storm instantly erupted in Kane's mind.
How could he be on this ship?!
Calculating based on the timeline, Dragon was indeed still serving in the Marine during this period, but because his ideas were too radical and he deeply detested the internal corruption of the Marine, he had been in a state of being depressed and unappreciated.
It was said that his temperament changed drastically after the God Valley Incident, but Kane never expected that he would actually run into this future super big shot on Garp's ship!
Kane's heart pounded wildly, not from fear, but from extreme excitement.
Fooling Sakazuki only made his thinking more extreme.
But if he could fool this future leader of the Revolutionary Army... the discipline points generated... Kane's face instantly switched to that trademark sincere smile, brighter than sunlight.
He seemed completely unfazed by the unique tattoo on the other man's face and naturally handed over the wine in his hand.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to check on your post." Kane shook the bottle, the liquid making a crisp sound inside. "I just saw you standing here alone, looking like you have a lot on your mind. I just arrived on this ship and wanted to find someone to chat with and get to know a new colleague."
Dragon's eyes were full of vigilance and aloofness.
He knew Kane.
Or rather, in the recent Marineford, there was no one who didn't know this name. The monster rookie who swept through the entire Elite Camp by himself, rejected a top-tier Logia fruit, and then went to the North Blue to pull off the feat of confiscating family properties.
In Dragon's impression, such a person was either an ambitious man or a lunatic.
"I have nothing to talk about." Dragon's voice was low and raspy, carrying a coldness that kept people away, as he turned to leave.
"Is that so?"
Kane didn't mind, unscrewing the bottle cap on his own as a mellow wine aroma instantly diffused.
"I thought that for the son of the 'marine hero' Vice Admiral Garp to be so worried, it must be something extraordinary."
Dragon's body stiffened suddenly, and a flash of severity crossed his deep eyes.
Although his identity was not a secret in the Marine, few people dared to point it out directly to his face.
"You investigated me?" Dragon turned around, his tone icy.
Kane didn't reply, walking straight to the ship's railing, looking at the churning black waves below, his tone suddenly becoming somewhat ethereal.
"I heard Borsalino mention in a casual chat that you've been to many allied nations on missions as an escort officer? Even... you were present at that God Valley Incident a few years ago?"
Hearing the words "God Valley," Dragon's pupils contracted violently.
That was the beginning of his nightmare.
"What are you trying to say?" Dragon stared fixedly at Kane, his voice suppressing an anger that was about to explode.
"Don't be nervous."
Kane turned his head, leaning against the railing, and looked at Dragon with burning eyes.
"I'm just wondering, why would someone like you, who has seen the truth of the world, still wear this coat that represents 'Justice'?"
This question ripped open the wound in Dragon's heart that was already bloody.
He fell silent.
The sea breeze howled, making the coat behind him flap loudly.
After a long while, Dragon finally spoke raspily, his tone filled with heavy self-deprecation: "You think it's ridiculous too, don't you?"
He walked to Kane's side, snatched the wine bottle, and without caring if it was clean, tilted his head back and took a big gulp.
The pungent liquid burned all the way down his throat to his stomach, but it was far from the burning pain in his heart.
"I was born in the Goa Kingdom in the East Blue, which is called the 'Most Beautiful Country.' But all I saw was the luxury and debauchery of the nobles within the high walls, and the civilians struggling for survival in the trash heap outside the high walls."
Dragon's fingers holding the wine bottle turned white from the force.
"Later I joined the Marine, thinking I could change everything here. But God Valley..." A flash of painful memory crossed Dragon's eyes, "Those Celestial Dragons, for their so-called 'treasure hunt game,' wantonly slaughtered the slaves on the island."
"We fought desperately to repel the Rocks Pirates and protect those so-called Celestial Dragons. And the result?"
"A young Marine soldier who was injured was executed on the spot just because his blood splattered on a Celestial Dragon's clothes!"
"And our Fleet Admiral, our government, told us to endure, saying it was to maintain the 'order' of the world!"
"How ridiculous!"
Dragon suddenly smashed the empty wine bottle hard into the sea, the sound of breaking glass swallowed by the waves.
"I was thinking then, why do we work so hard every day to catch pirates? Is it just to protect this kind of scum and let them rule those unarmed civilians?"
The resentment, pain, and confusion that had accumulated in Dragon's chest for ten years finally found an outlet for catharsis at this moment, facing this seemingly cynical young man.
"Kane, tell me, what exactly is the justice we uphold? If the Marine's justice is to be the blade in the hands of the Celestial Dragons to maintain this rotten order, then this kind of justice is better off without!"
Here it comes!
Kane was ecstatic in his heart.
The fish has taken the bait! And it's an unprecedentedly big fish!
On the system panel, prompts were refreshing frantically.
[Ding! You are having a deep exchange with the world's key node character 'Monkey D. Dragon'!]
[Ding! The other party's values are being influenced by you, subversion coefficient evaluation in progress...]
[Please note! Every answer you give may trigger a drastic change in the world line!]
Kane suppressed the urge to laugh out loud, but his face showed an extremely sorrowful and empathetic expression.
He keenly sensed an opportunity to farm points.
Looking at this man who was full of doubt about the world and about to embark on another path, he knew that every word he said next would be a mental imprint tailored for this future Revolutionary Army leader.
Kane—
He was going to give this future dragon slayer a little bit of ideological shock from another world.
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