One million.
A full one million Violation Value!
Staring at that dizzyingly long string of zeros on his retina, Kane's heart—tempered to iron-hardness by Justice—couldn't help but skip a beat.
He'd struck it rich.
This colossal sum was enough to push his Observation Haki and Physical Prowess straight to the peak.
It was even enough for him to splurge on the Grand Roulette several times over.
He forcibly suppressed the uncontrollable upward twitch at the corner of his mouth, instantly mastering his expression and returning to an unreadable, indifferent mask.
Kane's gaze swept over the blood-soaked reef beneath his feet, then glanced at the two legends lying on the ground, their breaths whistling through broken airways.
Rayleigh propped himself up with his sword, struggling to his feet.
He took a deep look at Roger, then another at Kane, his eyes filled with indescribable complexity.
"Roger…"
"Go, Rayleigh."
Roger grinned, his smile carrying a sense of liberation and acceptance.
"Open a coating shop on Sabaody. Drink some booze, see what the future of this world looks like…"
"For me."
"…Alright."
Rayleigh's Adam's apple bobbed as he forced the word out through gritted teeth, turning to leave.
"Wait."
Kane's voice wasn't loud, but it instantly nailed the Dark King's feet to the spot.
Rayleigh turned back warily, his voice hoarse.
"What? Navy brat, going back on your word?"
"No. Upholding contracts is part of my professional integrity as a Navy man of Justice."
Kane replied unhurriedly.
"It's just… if you leave first, the composition won't look good."
Rayleigh: "?"
Roger: "?"
Ignoring the identical looks of bewilderment on their faces, Kane pointed a finger and began directing the scene.
"Rayleigh, you go over there, next to that broken coconut tree."
"Turn your back to me. Hunch over a bit, make your steps unsteady!"
"You need to convey that tragic, desolate feeling of 'my captain's been captured, and I'm powerless to save him'!"
Rayleigh: "…"
I have never been this speechless in my life.
"Hurry up! I'm about to start rolling!" Kane urged, pulling out the Video Transponder Snail he'd specially prepared for this moment from his coat.
This was Morgans' latest model, capable of directly linking to the World Economic Journal's Worldwide Broadcast Signal.
"Hah…"
Clenching his teeth, Rayleigh finally stiffly moved to the designated "background prop" position.
Kane nodded in satisfaction, then shifted his gaze to Roger.
"Mr. Roger, your turn."
"Kneel on both knees. Lower your head."
"Get the emotion right! Show me that 'fall of a king' and 'repentance before Justice'!"
"And don't smile! Be serious! I'm carrying out Justice here!"
Roger gave a helpless twitch of his lips, his knees buckling as he slowly knelt on the reef that had witnessed his defeat.
"Good. Perfect."
Kane nodded approvingly.
The next moment, his eyes hardened. He mobilized his Armament Haki and delivered a ruthless, heavy punch to his own solid chest!
Thump—!
A mouthful of blood surged forth, splattering perfectly across his chest, creating an intensely brutal, battle-damaged effect.
Immediately after, a wind blade swept past.
He was instantly covered in several ghastly wounds, deep enough to reveal bone, yet perfectly avoiding all vital areas.
The tragic image of a Marine Hero who had "survived countless near-death experiences, burned through his life, and barely achieved a hard-fought victory" was instantly born!
As Kane pressed the switch on the Video Transponder Snail, the pre-connected encrypted channel of the World Economic Journal was instantly activated!
...
Sea Circle Calendar 1498.
This day was originally an ordinary, uneventful one.
Until that signal forcibly cut into the receiving terminals of every newspaper agency across the world.
The footage was initially a violent, chaotic shake.
It was waves, gales, a shattered sky.
When the lens finally stabilized, the entire world fell silent in an instant.
It was a devastated battlefield—the earth cracked, smoke and dust billowing.
At the very center of the screen.
The man who had given the World Government headaches for twenty years—Gol D. Roger—was kneeling helplessly on the ruins!
His hands were tightly locked in Kairoseki Shackles, and his head, which had once looked down upon the seas, now hung low.
Not far from him.
A desolate figure was scrambling away into the distance, and countless people recognized him as the Pirate King's right-hand man, the "Dark King" Rayleigh!
Finally, the camera slowly panned upward.
It settled on a young, handsome face, smeared with blood and exhaustion.
Kane leaned on his pitch-black longsword, his body swaying unsteadily as if he might collapse at any moment.
Yet he still stood tall and straight!
Those dark eyes looked through the lens, meeting the gaze of the entire world.
In a hoarse, weak, yet infinitely powerful voice, he declared to the world:
"Justice... may be delayed."
"But it will never be absent."
"I am Navy Headquarters Rear Admiral, Kane."
"The cancer of the seas, the Pirate King Gol D. Roger... has been captured by me!"
"The chaos of these seas..."
"It ends now!"
Bzzzt—!
The screen froze on Kane's blood-stained, smiling face, and the signal abruptly cut off.
The entire world stood still for three seconds.
Then—
BOOM!!!!!!!!!
It erupted into utter chaos!
Countless corners of the world simultaneously erupted with earth-shattering, tsunami-like exclamations.
"That... that's..."
"Gol D. Roger! It's the Pirate King!"
"Oh my god! The one kneeling is the Pirate King!"
"Captured?! That Roger has been captured?!"
"Heavens! It's Kane! That young Navy Rear Admiral!"
"What nonsense Pirate King! He's no match for true Justice!"
Countless civilians embraced each other in the streets, weeping with joy.
In this chaotic era of rampant piracy, Roger's capture was undoubtedly a powerful shot of adrenaline injected into everyone's veins!
It told the world: The Navy is still here, Justice is not dead!
And in the dark corners of the world.
On Sabaody Archipelago, pirates in countless bars smashed their glasses, their faces filled with terror and confusion.
"Impossible... that's Roger! How could he possibly lose?!"
In the New World, aboard the Moby Dick.
The man hailed as the world's strongest, Whitebeard Edward Newgate, suddenly crushed the massive wine bowl in his hand.
"Gurarara... Roger, you bastard, what the hell are you playing at?"
There was not a trace of joy in his eyes, only an unshakable gravity and bewilderment.
At the same time.
"Big news! This is huge news!!!"
At the headquarters of the news agency, President Morgans was so excited that every feather on his body stood on end. He lunged toward the Den Den Mushi and roared with all his might.
"Quick! Print it! At the fastest speed possible! Front page! No! Release a special edition! I want the whole world to know the name Kane!"
"I've already thought of the headline!"
Morgans spread his wings, looking utterly crazed.
"The King's End, the Birth of a God! Marine Hero Kane, Ending the Great Pirate Era Single-Handedly!"
...
The screen went dark.
Kane put away the Den Den Mushi, and the expression of a tragic hero instantly vanished from his face.
In its place was a gentle, merchant-like smile.
He reached out and effortlessly helped Roger, who was kneeling on the ground, to his feet.
"Mr. Roger, you've worked hard. Your acting was excellent, full of tension."
"You..."
Roger looked at this young man whose demeanor changed faster than flipping a page, his expression incredibly complex.
He could already imagine the terrifying storm that would sweep across the seas because of those mere ten-odd seconds of footage.
And the mastermind behind it all was calmly tidying up the "fake" wounds on his body.
"A madman?"
Kane smiled, pulling a crumpled pack of cigarettes from his pocket and offering one to Roger.
"Perhaps."
"But in this even crazier world, only madmen can survive the best."
Roger took the cigarette, lit it, took a deep drag, and coughed violently from the smoke.
Amid the swirling haze, he looked at the impossibly young man before him.
He seemed to see a monster more lawless than himself, than Rocks, than all the tyrants of the seas combined.
Rising steadily.