Chapter 52: The Flame That Burns Eternally

Someone once proved with action: when out in the world, status is self-bestowed.

Saint Saint Saiwen is different; his status relies entirely on his crew's imagination.

Two years ago, upon gaining the cultivation experience of the No-Thought One-Slash, Saint Saint Saiwen forcibly controlled his body with willpower, avoiding a state of fainting.

This time, the Lunarian bloodline modification gave the body no time to react, rebooting it directly.

Because the system initiated the bloodline modification, Saint Saint Saiwen fell into a comatose state, with flames burning around him, hair pure white as snow, and blurred flame wings behind him...

These scenes, recounted by Mihawk and fleshed out by Master Tenghu's memory, led to a conclusion—

Barzab Saint Saint Saiwen is a Lunarian.

The Lunarians, once called gods.

Master Tenghu sighed deeply.

"The World Government once issued a special bounty: anyone reporting the whereabouts of a Lunarian could claim a bounty of one hundred million Berries."

"As far as I know, Lunarians have not appeared on the seas for many years; if the World Government discovers them... the Captain will face arrest to the death."

It matches, everything matches.

Mihawk finally realized why Barzab Saint Saint Saiwen opposed the World Government at every turn.

Two years ago on St. Island, shortly after consuming the Goro Goro no Mi, Barzab Saint Saint Saiwen dared to snatch prisoners from the World Government.

Even though he did not know who the prisoners were.

Two years later, setting sail again, he was willing to risk the Marine Buster Order's cannon fire just to reach Ohara.

Thus, joining Roger's pirate crew and heading to the Final Island to seek the history of the lost Void Century is not hard to understand.

Barzab Saint Saint Saiwen is preparing to overthrow the World Government and avenge the Lunarian clansmen harmed by the World Government over the years.

Two imagination experts, each forming a perfect closed loop.

"Then what about his current situation?"

Master Tenghu shook his head: "It is said Lunarians naturally control fire and can survive in any extreme environment; I guess the Captain's condition might be the awakening of bloodline abilities."

"Let us wait and see."

The mysterious Lunarians left behind little data; rather than guessing wildly, it is better to wait for Captain Barzab Saint Saint Saiwen to wake.

"That works too." Mihawk nodded.

Master Tenghu leaned on his blind cane and smiled bitterly: "The Captain's Conqueror's Haki can even block Observation Haki perception; I truly regret now... destroying my own eyes back then."

"Destroying your own eyes? Why?"

At the moment the Conqueror's Haki erupted just now, Mihawk had already discovered his own Observation Haki was blocked.

He never expected one scoop after another; just finished the scoop on the Godly Race, and now found a new scoop: Master Tenghu destroyed his own eyes in his life?

Master Tenghu said self-mockingly.

"At that time, I thought—being unable to see was also a blessing; there are truly too many things in the human world that one cannot bear to look upon."

"I never expected to meet someone like the Captain; now I see, closing one's eyes is not necessarily a good thing."

Mihawk nodded in deep agreement; a swordsman with closed eyes can only perceive the surrounding environment via Observation Haki; encountering Barzab Saint Saint Saiwen... he would be done for immediately.

"Kingly aptitude is scarce to begin with; those who can block Observation Haki like the Captain should not be many."

Master Tenghu let out a long sigh.

"Fortunately, he is one of us; let us wait outside; the Captain's Conqueror's Haki makes one's mind uneasy."

Conqueror's Haki intimidates and suppresses enemies through one's own spirit; the weak faint dead away, and even the strong are affected.

In his comatose state, Barzab Saint Saint Saiwen's Conqueror's Haki did not distinguish between friend and foe, applying pressure indiscriminately.

Including the four Ohara scholars, Little Robin among them, and the fish floating on the sea surface, they were the biggest victims.

Even as strong as Master Tenghu, with his Observation Haki blocked and simultaneously struck by Conqueror's Haki, still felt his mind uneasy.

Returning to the deck, seeing the few people fainted in the open-air banquet hall, Mihawk had to carry them back to their respective rooms.

Afterwards, he dropped anchor to secure the ship.

Before Barzab Saint Saint Saiwen's Haki dissipated, the Donghai Dihuang was like a moving vibration machine, shaking wherever it went.

Delaying the journey by one day should not affect the plan to invite Big Mom onto the ship.

Sorbet Kingdom, Ducheng Prison.

To realize splitting the kingdom in two and thereby reduce the amount of Heavenly Gold paid to the Celestial Dragons, the current king, Bekori, arrested resisters on a massive scale.

The resisters were mostly rural citizens from the south.

Inside the heavily guarded prison, Big Mom had chains shackled to his wrists and was locked up with Jin Ni and others.

"Damn it." Big Mom punched the ground.

"How can such a thing exist in the world? Just because one lives in the south, must one become a slave?"

The current king, Bekori, dared to split the kingdom in two precisely because he was certain—people would misunderstand due to identity; soon, people in the north of the Sorbet Kingdom would look down on the rural people of the south.

The root cause lies in the fact that the southern part of the kingdom consists mostly of the elderly, unable to create more wealth.

Bekori firmly believed: excluding the burden of the backward, heavily aging south, the northern economic hub would become the true Sorbet Kingdom.

With the population decrease, the Heavenly Gold paid to the Celestial Dragons would naturally shrink, and the remaining portion could be used to plan other matters.

As for the rural south, losing the protection of the member nation status, it would become an lawless zone, a paradise for Celestial Dragons, slave traders, and pirates to acquire slaves.

"Jin Ni, chaos is coming here."

Sitting beside Big Mom, Jin Ni had calm, clear eyes beneath her pink long hair.

"Big Mom."

"King Bekori is a pawn of the Celestial Dragons; this policy was learned from above; to fight this country, one must be prepared to battle the World Government."

Sixteen years ago, after escaping from God Valley, Jin Ni and Big Mom parted with their friend Ivankov, and since then lived in Big Mom's hometown, the Sorbet Kingdom.

During that time, Jin Ni once proposed to Big Mom, but was rejected by her.

"World Government..." Big Mom whispered softly.

Because he bore the bloodline of the Bartholomew family, Big Mom was captured and taken to Mary Geoise with his parents when he was young, becoming a slave to the Celestial Dragons.

Big Mom watched helplessly as his parents were tortured to death by the Celestial Dragons, and then he was sent to God's Valley to serve as prey for the Celestial Dragons to hunt.

Precisely because he had witnessed the power of the World Government, Big Mom fell into struggle.

As a user of the Nikyu Nikyu no Mi, breaking out of the prison was easy, and killing King Bekori was not difficult; the difficulty lay in how to deal with the counterattack from the Marines and the World Government afterward.

"I... am ultimately still too weak."

Big Mom thought he had escaped from God's Valley, but he could not escape the rules drawn up by the World Government, the bloody rules of man-eating.

Member states levy heavy taxes on their people, keep a portion of the collected wealth, and pay the rest to the Celestial Dragons as Heavenly Tribute, thereby obtaining protection from the World Government and the Marines.

The king lives well, the Celestial Dragons live well, and the World Government also lives well.

No one ever asked: how do the common people live?

Bone-chilling cold surrounded Big Mom; only Jin Ni, sleeping on his belly, brought a little warmth to his icy heart.

"What exactly should I do?"

Big Mom asked himself: he had no ambition to dominate the world, wanting only to live simply with Jin Ni and protect the hard-won peace.

But the tide of the era, regardless of all, pushed him to make a choice.

That night, Big Mom did not sleep at all.