"Hibari, this ramen is really good. Why aren't you eating?"
Rosha and a few others, including Hannyabal, were squatting by the edge of the Blood Pool, slurping down large bowls of udon.
He looked curiously at Hibari, who was also holding a bowl but had been standing in a daze some distance away.
Her expression seemed off.
Her face was unusually red.
"Is she sick? Or is it just too hot for her in this level of hell?"
Rosha pondered this and nodded to himself.
Makes sense.
Hibari was still a young girl.
Her physical endurance was nowhere near as strong as theirs.
The temperature in this Blazing Hell was at least fifty degrees Celsius.
For an ordinary person, surviving here for a few hours—let alone living normally—would likely result in heatstroke and death.
Hibari was physically stronger than most, but not by much.
Feeling uncomfortable was only natural.
"In that case, we should say goodbye to Magellan soon and move on to our next destination."
With that thought, Rosha quickly finished his bowl of noodles in a few big gulps, then vanished from Hannyabal and the others' sight in an instant.
When he reappeared moments later, he was holding a set of elevator shaft keys.
He had just gotten them from Magellan.
Before leaving Impel Down, Rosha wanted to have a chat with Ivankov.
Due to his knowledge of the manga's plot, he had already made up his mind to expose the existence of the Kamabakka Queendom early on.
This meant Ivankov would no longer have the opportunity to wait there for the future arrival of Luffy to stage a prison break.
But Ivankov himself wasn't a bad person.
Otherwise, Dragon wouldn't have valued him so highly, making him one of the Revolutionary Army's top leaders.
If possible, Rosha hoped Ivankov would remain in Impel Down quietly for now.
After all, there might come a day when Rosha would need to collaborate with him.
If he wanted to take on the impossible task of changing this world, he had to gather as many justice-driven and kind-hearted allies as possible.
Now that he had made up his mind to pull Ivankov out of hiding, Rosha no longer hesitated.
Since he knew the general trajectory of this world's future and was aware of some of the bad things that might happen—
Then he couldn't just sit back and do nothing.
Even if his actions caused deviations in the timeline and led to unpredictable outcomes,
It was still better than passively waiting for events to unfold.
If bad things could be prevented in advance, Rosha would do his best to prevent them.
If there were opportunities that could benefit the Navy, he would take them into consideration early.
In the future, he might even share some of the information he had with the Navy's higher-ups—Akainu, Sengoku, and others—to help them gain more influence in the world.
As the heavy steel pulleys of the elevator shaft groaned, Rosha once again descended into Level 6—Eternal Hell.
His arrival drew the attention of many prisoners.
But this time, there was no shouting or chaos.
Everyone simply watched him in silence as he walked toward the cell where Vasco Shot had once been held.
Rosha's previous visit to Eternal Hell had shown the prisoners just how ruthless and terrifying he was.
They now understood that this seemingly young Marine was, in reality, a merciless, decisive killer.
Getting on his bad side could easily lead to the same fate as Vasco Shot, Pizarro, and Deppen.
Rosha glanced toward a larger cell nearby.
Inside, bandaged and battered, Pizarro and Deppen shrank back into the shadows the moment they saw him, their eyes filled with deep fear and wariness.
They had nearly been beaten to death by Rosha the previous day.
Now, they were truly afraid of him.
But Rosha wasn't here to see Vasco Shot.
The unfortunate "Big Drunken Barrel" was already dead.
His body had long been disposed of by Impel Down's jailers.
The one occupying his former cell now was Ivankov.
As for Shiryu—
Since Akainu might summon him at any moment, Magellan had temporarily placed him in the Blazing Hell level.
Inside the cell, Ivankov lifted his head at the sound of approaching footsteps.
He looked at Rosha, who had casually sat cross-legged outside his cell.
"You're here, Rosha-boy."
"You knew I'd come?" Rosha raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"I had a feeling."
Ivankov, dragging his heavy seastone shackles, moved to sit across from Rosha, separated by the iron bars.
He was now wearing a black-and-white-striped prisoner's uniform.
His face looked pale, and his overall aura was weak.
Rosha knew why.
Magellan had punished Ivankov, weakening him with poison.
"I had a feeling you'd come… to tell me about the Ilia brothers, about the North Blue, and about…"
Ivankov's gaze sharpened as he looked at Rosha's face.
"…the Mythical Zoan Kirin Fruit in your possession."
Ivankov grinned, revealing a full set of white teeth. "So? Was my intuition correct?"
"Heh." Rosha chuckled softly and shook his head. "Yeah, you were right. I came here to tell you these things—to let you understand everything so you don't go insane from being locked up in Eternal Hell. If that happened, Dragon would definitely come after me with a vengeance. And I have no desire to provoke the world's most dangerous criminal."
"Well, I truly appreciate it. I'm all ears."
Ivankov smiled, showing no signs of anger despite Rosha's earlier actions exposing the Kamabakka Queendom.
"As for the matter regarding Ilia, here's what happened…"
Rosha then softly recounted the events that had unfolded in the Kingdom of Prince in the North Blue.
By the time he had finished telling the entire story, Ivankov sat silently on the ground of his cell for a long time.
After what felt like an eternity, he let out a deep sigh. His eyes turned red, and two streams of warm tears ran down his face.
"Sigh…"
"Poor Ilia… Poor Kingdom of Prince… And poor… Rosha-boy."
Suddenly, Ivankov stood up inside his cell. Then, to Rosha's surprise, he knelt down, placed his hands on the ground, and bowed deeply.
"On behalf of the Revolutionary Army, I apologize for Ilia's misguided actions and the sins he committed. To all the innocent civilians who suffered and perished because of him—to you, Rosha-boy—I sincerely say, I'm sorry!"
Bang!
Bang!
The hard stone floor echoed with the sound of Ivankov's forehead hitting the ground.
Rosha did not stop him.
"It was our failure to notice the changes in Ilia's ideology that led him down such an extreme path."
Ivankov's face was filled with pain, but his gaze remained firm.
He locked eyes with Rosha, staring at him with unwavering determination.
"The endless cycle of collapsing hope and shattered light that Ilia saw—it was real. But that is exactly why this world needs us, the Revolutionary Army. We must fight to change it."
"If once is not enough, then twice. If twice is not enough, then three times!"
"The world is cruel, and its reality is brutally clear. Human greed is boundless. The powerful exploit the weak, and the weak oppress those even lower than them. This cycle is an unchangeable rule of the world, something that can never be fully corrected."
"But what we, the Revolutionary Army, can do is ensure that ordinary people—at the very least—get to live like human beings. That they are not forever trapped in a hopeless prison, endlessly toiling to pay the Heavenly Tribute, serving lawless pirates, or bowing to arrogant nobles who see them as nothing more than livestock."
"Rosha-boy…"
Ivankov looked at Rosha intently. "You are a righteous Marine, different from those who blindly serve the World Government. I can see it in your eyes—the determination to change the world and uphold true justice."
"Someone like you shouldn't be shackled by the World Government. You deserve a future of true freedom. You would be a perfect fit for the Revolutionary Army…"
"Heh, Ivankov-san, even after everything I did to you, you're still trying to recruit me?"
Rosha let out a small chuckle, as if amused.
"I'm serious." Ivankov's expression was earnest.
"The Revolutionary Army's ideals sound noble. But I believe the Marines are the strongest force capable of maintaining order in the world!"
Rosha's gaze was equally resolute, his unshakable belief radiating from his eyes.
"If I stand within the most powerful force of justice, why would I abandon that and join the struggling Revolutionary Army?"
"The justice of the Marines… Does that mean enforcing the rule of the Celestial Dragons? Collecting outrageous tribute from member nations on behalf of the World Government? Carrying out Buster Calls to wipe out innocent scholars and destroy ships full of refugees?"
"That is not true justice, Rosha-boy! Even Dragon once believed in the Marines more than you do now! But in the end? He completely lost faith in them!"
Ivankov's voice grew more passionate.
"The Marines may have their flaws, but dismissing their justice entirely because of them is too one-sided."
Rosha's expression grew solemn as he met Ivankov's gaze.
"The Marines were created as a military force under the World Government, so naturally, they exist to uphold its rule. That's an undeniable fact."
"But when it comes to the collection of the Heavenly Tribute, I don't think we should only focus on its negative consequences."
"Member nations pay these fees, and in return, the World Government provides them with Marine protection against pirates. In principle, there's nothing inherently wrong with this arrangement."
"The real issue is that while fifty billion Berries of tribute may be insignificant to a wealthy nation, to a small and impoverished country, it could mean total ruin. I come from such a nation myself—I have personally experienced the burden of the Heavenly Tribute."
"Eliminating the tribute entirely is impossible. And whether or not it should be collected isn't a decision the Marines can make."
"Without tax revenue, the Marines would have no budget. Without a budget, every Marine soldier in the world would lose their job."
"Ivankov-san, can you imagine what would happen to the world if the Marines ceased to exist?"
"Can you imagine the disaster that would unfold if millions of unemployed Marines were suddenly thrown into society?"
Rosha took a deep breath, his eyes sharp as he watched Ivankov's changing expression.
"Let me tell you what would happen to the world."
"Without the Marines' protection, all 170 member nations would be overrun by pirate invasions, like locusts swarming across the land."
"Without the Marines, the number of pirates would multiply tenfold—no, a hundredfold! Everyone would forsake honest labor, choosing instead to set sail and plunder in pursuit of the mythical One Piece that Roger spoke of."
"Without the Marines, the entire world would descend into chaos. And the number of innocent civilians who would die as a result would be hundreds, even thousands of times greater than it is now."
"The Revolutionary Army wouldn't want to see that kind of future either. That is exactly why I took action against you. Impel Down cannot be thrown into chaos. The Marines must not be weakened!"
"I am fully aware that the Marines have blind spots when it comes to justice. But I believe that in the near future, we will change that. We will make the Marines' justice purer."
"It will be difficult! But we will never give up!"
(End of Chapter)
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