Chapter 235: Roger Is a Sinner!

"How could I..."

Shanks was shocked, his mouth opening of its own accord,

his wrist dropping automatically, slapping the counter in panic.

His head throbbed,

and his memories kept changing—relying on the power of the Fenwuliefu Fruit, he had begun to train ceaselessly, until he possessed the strength to split an island apart, and was chosen by the wary World Government as one of the Four Emperors.

"No, that's not right!"

Red-Hair cried out in panic, feeling his original memories gradually fading, being forgotten.

"Sorry, it's not over yet, don't worry, I have no intention of changing the present fate."

On the counter,

Fang Yi's index finger was like a divine artifact that cleaved open a Time River, drawing a brand-new river channel into the blank space beside it.

The altered Time River Water flowed gently along the new channel.

Becoming a new Time River.

"Hah..."

Shanks slumped against the counter, gasping for breath violently, his normal memories gradually returning.

The Devil Fruit had still been eaten by Buggy, and he himself had still risen to become one of the Four Emperors through Haki and Sword Skill, not through that damned Devil Fruit's power!

Shanks raised his head and murmured, "Changing history and the future with a lift of a finger... a God?"

His gaze toward the game merchant was filled entirely with awe.

Only a God could match Shanks's impression of what had just happened, enough to explain all of it.

"Look, this is the timeline."

Fang Yi pointed at the newly appeared Time River beside him and said, "This Time River can branch out into countless tributaries from any node—these new channels are the newly born timelines."

He extended his finger toward the Pirate World ticket.

"As long as you're willing, you can enter these tributary worlds and replace your original self."

"Here."

Fang Yi's finger landed on the river segment where Luffy punched the Near Sea King flying, and said, "In the past history, without the appearance of the Samsara Game, the tributaries that branch out likewise won't have the Samsara Game, and will advance in accordance with the Pirate World's original fate."

"How about it?"

A gentle voice, a casual tone, had already decided the fate and direction of an entire world.

It was truly an unacceptable, yet unavoidable, sense of shock.

After a long silence, Shanks asked, "Is it a real world?"

If everything was an illusion, then these timeline changes would be utterly meaningless.

A polite smile was on Fang Yi's face as he said, "Absolutely real. Didn't you just experience it yourself?"

To be honest,

Shanks was somewhat tempted—a method to restart the world without a huge price.

Immediately after, he asked the most crucial question: "If that's the case, will the timeline I'm currently in also change?"

"It won't."

Fang Yi shook his head bluntly and said, "Changes to the main river will interfere with the tributaries, but the tributaries have no ability to interfere with the main river."

"Just like the Shanks with the Fenwuliefu ability that I carved away has no way to interfere with the current you."

"But the Shanks in that tributary, because of you, likewise possesses outstanding Haki talent."

The tributary time was entirely a new parallel spacetime.

It existed relying on the main Time River, and if it developed well, it could slowly nurture a new origin.

When that time came, the Shanks that Fang Yi had thrown into the 【Zhi Shiguang Heliu】 would be like a reincarnator of an old era—every action of mending and changing the tributary could bring him Reward Points.

Therefore, if Shanks was willing to enter the parallel spacetime, he himself was very supportive.

"In other words, it's actually a path of escape?"

Hearing that the real world wouldn't change, the smile vanished from Shanks's face,

Fang Yi wore a faint smile and pointed out the key in a single sentence: "Is your current choice any different from escape?"

Entrusting all hope to an ethereal, elusive fate.

Waiting for an unknown future, breaking his arm, praying for Caomao Lufei's growth.

"I'm not escaping!"

The always-carefree Shanks said in a deep voice, "Captain Roger's prophecy won't be wrong..."

As he spoke, his voice gradually dimmed.

It had indeed been like that before, but the current sea had long since become unrecognizable—the World Government and the Navy had split, and countless players had rushed to Si Hai.

"According to the Pirate World's original fate, Caomao Lufei indeed possesses the ability to liberate the Dabibao."

"Really?!"

Shanks was shocked,

the game merchant who knew the future—this sentence was like a verdict on the fate to come.

Was Luffy truly the Liberation Warrior of the new era, who would uncover the truth of the Dabibao and successfully fulfill Captain Roger's expectations and wish?

"Really."

Fang Yi shook his head lightly, not thinking this was a good thing, and said, "This is the fate originally destined for the Pirate World. Such an utterly terrible outcome has nothing about it that makes one feel joy."

Shanks was stunned upon hearing this and said in puzzlement, "Since we've already succeeded, how could it be a terrible outcome?"

Captain Roger sacrificed his life to open the Great Pirate Era,

countless treasure-hungry Pirates set out to sea, creating the current landscape, and then the inheritor of Joyboy's will, Caomao Lufei, would end it all.

Isn't that wrong?

"If the beginning was a mistake, then everything that followed naturally turned out badly."

"The beginning? You mean the Great Pirate Era?!"

Even if he was a game merchant who had displayed miracles, questioning Captain Roger's plan still made Shanks deeply uncomfortable.

His voice a little agitated, he said, "To liberate the world, you need a spark capable of standing against the World Government. The Great Pirate Era is the key that ignites countless sparks—how could it be wrong?"

"Not only wrong, but wrong to the extreme."

Fang Yi reached out a hand and stirred the river of time; countless chaotic scenes floated up.

Orange Town ravaged by Buggy, Cocoyasi Village ruled by Arlong, Alabasta usurped by Crocodile, Dressrosa Kingdom, Zuowu Dao, Wano Country…

East Blue, West Blue, Nanhai, Beihai, the first half of the Grand Line's Leyuan, and the second half's New World!

In all the years since the Great Pirate Era began, war and bloodshed have never ceased.

A scene of utter human misery.

Fang Yi's expression calm, he asked, "Are these not wrong?"

The bloody facts laid out before him,

Shanks was left speechless.

Although the Great Pirate Era sent countless heroes and bold spirits out to sea, igniting countless sparks to fight the enemy, it also gave those evil, ambitious schemers plenty of chaotic stages on which to trample the world.

"Those vicious Pirates were not the sparks Captain Roger meant to ignite."

Shanks guiltily lowered his head,

Captain Roger's original intention was for those hopeful Pirates—like the Red Hair Pirates and the Straw Hat Pirates, or at the very least the Whitebeard Pirates—to be the sparks that saved this world.

But just as the game merchant had said,

The Pirates swept out to sea by the Great Pirate Era were, for the most part, evil and chaotic thugs who burned, killed, looted, and committed every imaginable crime.

This was the dark side of the Great Pirate Era.

"But are we just supposed to keep watching helplessly as the world rots away?"

Shanks was a little unwilling to accept it,

Without the Great Pirate Era, there would never have been enough strength to sound the drum of liberation.

Did Captain Roger truly do wrong?

(End of this chapter)