Chapter 105

[Water Seven]

"We wait here." An old woman stated with her eyes closed as her index and middle finger touched her forehead.

"You sure granny?" Job, with his cigarette on his mouth, asked with his eyebrow raised, "You were off for nth time up until now. At this rate, you are going to die before we meet Rowan."

"It's definitely here!! I'm absolutely certain this time—they will arrive here within a week!!" The old woman shrieked back with a tick mark on her forehead, "Didn't I teach you to respect the elders, Job?!"

Job immediately lashed out in anger, "I told you to call me Sebastian, you deaf granny!!"

Mob and Urouge stared at the old woman and Job's interactions, with a slight awkwardness between them.

"So... you are Rowan's family?" With a grin on his face, Urouge asked Mob.

Mob nodded, "Yeah. Brother Bob is a member of Youchiha, so he is a part of us. Grandma says that he may have something called the eyes of Gorgon, but I have no idea what they are."

"Hm, I see." Urouge nodded, "Maybe he does have it. After all, his eyesight was quite impressive."

Mob shook his head, "The superior eyesight is something inherent for all the members of Youchiha. Grandma said that the eyes of Gorgon are either purple, red, or dark red, and that they have to do something with Conqueror's Haki thingy. Grandma, Job, and I don't have it."

As the old woman and Job's dispute began to get increasingly childish, with them grabbing each other's face comically, Mob asked Urouge, wanting to break the awkwardness,

"What devil fruit did you eat? I ate Lift Lift fruit. I can lift and move the objects without touching." Mob spoke in a monotone, although his eyes gleamed with joy.

"That sounds fun to explore." Urouge chuckled, "I ate Pain Pain fruit. The more pain I feel, the more boost of strength I get—although it's temporary."

"Granny," While on the ground, with his cheeks pulled by the old woman, Job pointed his thumb to Mob, "We gotta stop Davis before he spills everything out."

"Uhh," Mob tilted his head, "But Job-"

"You mean Sebastian."

"-I'm Mob, not Davis-"

"Whaaattt?!" The old woman exclaimed as he let go of Job's cheeks before turning to Mob and Urouge, "Mob, I taught you better than this! If the world finds out what we are hiding, it will be irreconcilable!"

"Haa, good thing that I silenced the surrounding beforehand." Job sighed while lying down on the ground, "Honestly, Davis is too careless almost all the time."

"Don't worry, ma'am." Urouge stated with a grin, "Rowan is my friend, and you guys are my saviours. I will never spill any information."

"Well..." The old woman gazed at Urouge with trust, "I believe in you."

Urouge seemed to have managed to attain the Youchiha family's trust over time.

As the group continued to walk in the middle of the street, Urouge clenched his fists with a conflicted grin on his face.

'Guys... what should I do? In order to defeat Baten and revenge you all, as well as to defeat Enel and revenge all Birkans... I will think of them when I meet Rowan and his crew again.'

"Big news!! Big news!!!"

At the next moment, a new batch of newspapers, carried by a News Coo, began to splatter across the whole sky above the city.

The old woman grabbed onto one, and had her eyes widened upon reading the scheduled public execution of Ace. However, as she turned over to the next page,

"Whaaaat-"

Job, who was near to her, frowned upon hearing the shriek from the old woman and immediately used his ability to mute her.

Urouge, who was standing behind the old woman, expressed his shock upon seeing a familiar face on the newspaper, "R-Rowan?!! He is caught?!!"

________________

[Spriggins]

"Why is Ace's Vivre Card shrinking like this?!" Luffy exclaimed as he held onto Ace's Vivre Card given by Rowan.

On his right, Sanji took a puff out of his cigarette in a serious manner before handing out the newspaper to Luffy.

"Huh?! It's Ace!!" Upon noticing Ace's face on the first page, Luffy shouted in surprise, "What is he doing in there?!"

"He is caught by the marines, and let's see..." Taking over from Luffy, Borodo proceeded to read, before his eyes widened, "Public... execution...? For the 2nd Division Commander of the Whitebeard pirates?!!"

"And that's not it." Sanji stated in a solemn tone, "Look at the next page."

Complying to Sanji, Luffy flipped to the next page, before his jaw opened wide, "Rowan?!!! What's he doing in there?!!"

"The rising pirate, Grimheart Rowan, defeated by the hands of Hero Garp, and is-"

"EHHHHH?!!!!!" Luffy screamed as his lung, causing Borodo to stop midway and wince, "Grandpa is the one who caught Rowan?!!!"

Zoro's eyes narrowed, "You mean that old man we saw back in Loguetown?"

Closing the newspaper in Luffy's stead, Borodo shook his head, "There isn't anything that we can do right now. The public execution within the Marineford, and the imprisonment in the Impel Down... we're simply too far away."

________________

[In an unknown, and very small island]

The Prominence sat by the shore as the heavy rain poured and soaked the whole ship.

"Carina." Dan spoke up to Carina, who was covered with bandages from head to toe, except for her face. "What will we do now?"

Although Dan asked, his tone indicated that he was expecting a certain answer from Carina.

Sitting on a chair and having herself be soaked by the heavy rain, Carina spoke up in a hoarse voice, "Rowan's... caught."

Dan sighed as he held the newspaper under the table, keeping it away from the rain, "Yes. The newspaper says that he's been transferred to Impel Down, the infamous underwater prison."

However, imagine his surprise when he found out that the news regarding Rowan's capture wasn't on the first page.

"Listen." Dan continued on with a serious tone, "Apparently, Ace has been caught too, and the thing is, the marines have announced for the public execution of Ace, unlike our captain, who was simply imprisoned."

Carina shifted her hollow eyes to Dan.

Nodding, Dan carried on, "Whatever they are planning on, the fact that they are making the public execution of the 2nd Division Commander of the Whitebeard pirates... I believe that a big war is coming, one that will possibly shake the whole world. And I'm thinking that we may be able to use this to our advantage."

Carina, with her bangs shadowing her eyes, wobbly stood up on her spot, before flashing her eyes toward her back, where the other members were seen to be sitting down with sharpened expressions on their faces. Although the rain continued to soak them, no one seemed to care.

"As the Vice Captain of this crew, I'll give you one chance." Carina spoke up coldly, "I'm going to break into the Impel Down and rescue Rowan. If you don't want to risk your life, quit the crew."

Hearing Carina's declaration, Cavendish made a dark grin on his face before standing up, "Quit? Since when did we not risk our lives? You gotta be kidding me."

"Captain is the most important symbol of a pirate crew. For this to happen... we have failed him this time." Alfred too stood up with the veins popping out of his forehead as he adjusted his monocle, "But no matter. Soon enough, they will realize just how dangerous it is to leave us alive."

Carmen spat towards the water outside of the Prominence, before letting go of the rail she was holding onto, "Impel Down, huh? Sounds fun."

"Neigh~!!!!!!!" Looking at the far horizon, Farul cried in anger.

"Indeed, Carmen." Dan said in a cold tone, "An adventure into Impel Down. How compelling."

Hearing all members' consents, Carina finally turned to Robin, who seemed to have something to say.

"During my stay in this crew, I've realized that... I may be of no help to you guys." Robin spoke up in a low tone, "Compared to you all, I'm too weak. Even if we were to enter the Impel Down, I may be nothing but a hindrance. Besides, with me as part of you guys, the World Government will endlessly pursue us-"

"So?!" Carina growled, interrupting Robin in the middle, "F*** the World Government!! F*** the Marine!! Do you think Rowan, whose heritage directly opposes the World Government itself, will care that they are after your ass?! Just speak your damn mind!! Are you coming or not?!!!"

"I..." Robin muttered with uncertainty.

Watching Robin's conflict, Dan spoke up with his arms crossed, "You know, that giant fist you used previously, we can definitely use that."

Robin lowered her head in silence, unsure of what she should do.

The previous scenes completely shocked her mind out, with the captain willingly sacrificing himself to allow his crew members to escape, and the crew members having determined to rescue their captain without any hesitation, even if the chance of success was bleak.

For her, whose past twenty years of life was full of betrayal and lies, she couldn't help but reminisce over the words spoken by a friendly giant from the past,

'There is nothing more ridiculous than being born in this world to be alone. Someday... you will meet brave friends who will protect you. Go and live with them, Robin.'

The words resounded within Robin's mind, as she raised her head back up with determination,

"I'm going with you guys as well."

"Good." Carina stated before facing the front, and disregarded the Eternal Pose, with the word 'Water Seven' written on top, on her right hand.

Placing the Eternal Pose on the table, Carina slightly parted her bandages, reached her hand into the midriff of her bust, and pulled out one piece of paper—the small Vivre Card belonging to Rowan.

After having been together for years, being separated from Rowan brought her an indescribable pain; the world seemed to dim without him.

With complete seriousness, she gazed at the Vivre Card, which seemed to be slowly returning back to its original size while moving in a particular direction, as the hope illuminated her eyes,

"Hang on there, Rowan... We are coming for you."

_________________

[Impel Down, Level 6: Eternal Hell]

"R-Rowan..." Ace found his eyes shaking in shock, upon sighting his friend being dragged into the cell adjacent to his. "What happened to you...?!"

Ironically enough, Rowan seemed to be in peace. Although his eyes were closed, his blindfold was off of him, his top was gone, and his long pants were ripped into shorts, the injuries he previously received from Garp already seemed to have healed to some extent.

Similar to how his body healed overnight when he was training for the sake of revenging his family to Arlong, the bones in Rowan's body reattached themselves, and the large purple bruise on Rowan's abdomen closed to some extent.

It wasn't like the jailers didn't try to inflict further pain onto Rowan. Whipping, spikes, heat, cold, they tried all possible torture methods as they moved down from the entrance all the way to the current floor. Yet, Rowan's body was too durable for a normal method to injure him—they were left with no choice but to simply throw him in a cell.

It was funny, since all these processes were done while Rowan was unconscious. He couldn't even feel their attempts to hurt him.

"Grimheart Rowan..." Jinbe, who was in another cell, whispered with widened eyes. With Rowan being the most famous rookie as of the current moment, it was no surprise that he memorized Rowan's face.

Watching as Rowan was helplessly thrown into the cell with a Seastone cuff strapped on his wrists, Ace's facial expression turned grim.

"He... seems to be unconscious." Jinbe noted as he too viewed Rowan, who lied motionlessly.

"Damn it!!" Ace shouted in anger and powerlessness, "Just what is going on out there?!!!"

Regardless of Ace's angry outburst, Rowan remained unconscious without any movement. One would have thought that he was dead if one were not to zoom in and sight Rowan's barely-noticeable breathing.

"Ace-san, don't worry." Jinbe said as his eyes inspected Rowan's state, "His condition is not as bad as you think. In this 'Infinite Hell,' a simple death is not allowed."

Jinbe seemed to be believing that the jailers gave Rowan some degree of treatment, though that was not the case.

________________

In the middle of the familiar void, where nothing but darkness existed, Rowan found himself standing once again.

"It's you." Rowan spoke calmly while narrowing his amber-coloured eyes to an empty void ahead of him, as if he was seeing something in particular.

<And you've returned.>

Rowan chuckled. The voice, which initially was hostile and intimidating to him, now sounded welcoming. Through the three years of thinking, as well as upon learning of his heritage and awakening his eyes, and upon reminiscing over the words spoken by the voice before,

"I think I've figured out now,"

Rowan was finally able to reach a conclusion.

Walking towards a certain direction, Rowan stated as his amber-coloured eyes vibrantly glowed within the dark, "as to who you are."

<And who would I be?>

"...Myself." Rowan said with a grin, "Or to be precise,

'me' who I would've been, if I were not to have reincarnated with memory intact."

Upon Rowan's bold statement, the voice fell silent, before an amused laugh resounded throughout the area.

<Bofakfakfak! Correct.>

Suddenly, a figure, looking identical to Rowan appeared in front of him, with his eyes closed.

"I guess... nice to meet you, myself."

As the figure opened his eyes, Rowan saw a deep purple-colour, glowing in a similar way to his amber-coloured eyes.