Chapter 522: The Message Of God
"Son of God?"
Ryuunosuke blinked.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Isn't Adam a tree?"
Roy's revelation had left him genuinely confused.
It was not just Adam either. Lilith as well. The difference was that the two of them represented completely different things.
"A tree is only one of his forms."
Roy did not waste time.
"Captain Ryuunosuke should have noticed it just now. Moria's strength suddenly soared after he merged with a particular shadow."
"And that shadow he devoured just now was Adam's shadow."
"That is why Atostana flew into a rage the moment he saw it."
The beliefs of the Guardians and the Evictors were absolute opposites.
One side revered Lilith, the Daughter of God.
The other worshipped Adam, the Son of God.
That alone destined the two factions to stand on completely opposing sides.
"So what does any of that have to do with the Endless Earth?"
Ryuunosuke asked again.
Once you laid out the relationships, the structure itself was not that complicated.
What he wanted now was deeper information.
For some reason, he could not shake the feeling that he had already stepped into a gigantic vortex.
And this vortex was something that could swallow the entire world.
The further he walked, the more he realized how little he actually knew.
"Captain Ryuunosuke knows about the Endless Earth as well?"
Roy let out a soft breath.
"In truth, the Endless Earth is simple."
"It was originally the place that bore the Son of God and the Daughter of God."
"But right now, everyone in this world only knows of one Endless Earth."
"That is the moon hanging in the sky."
"However, after the Infinity Stones were lost, the Endless Earth lost its purpose and meaning."
"Boom"
A massive impact sent Atostana flying past them.
"You alright?"
Ryuunosuke glanced over at him.
"I am fine."
Atostana steadied himself in midair, eyes cold.
"That thing is just borrowing someone else's power to lash out without permission."
"It is nothing."
"Such false strength will never defeat me."
He shot forward again, sword raised, crashing back into the battle.
"As the leader of the Evictors, Atostana's goal is to drive out both the Guardians and Lilith."
Roy continued once Atostana was out of earshot.
"After all, the Daughter of God and the Son of God cannot coexist in the same world."
"If they do, the divine power they possess will eventually threaten that legendary existence."
"God."
Ryuunosuke pressed his fingers against his forehead.
He could not help thinking of an old anime he had watched in his previous life.
The setting here was almost identical.
God, Adam, Lilith.
Even the roles lined up disturbingly well.
Could it be that this so called god really existed?
Until now, Ryuunosuke had always assumed that so called gods were simply human beings who had reached the pinnacle of power.
Or at most, beings who had grasped certain special rules.
Just like Enel, who called himself God of Skypiea.
None of the people of Skypiea had doubted it.
For them, someone who could command lightning at will and listen to every thought on the island was god enough.
But now this involved Adam, Lilith, the Endless Earth and even a being called God.
For the first time, Ryuunosuke found himself wondering whether such an existence might truly be out there.
"So your goal is to get rid of Lilith."
"And how is that any different from what the Evictors want?"
"If that is the case, why come to me instead of going straight to them?"
Ryuunosuke asked directly.
From Roy's own explanation, it sounded like he should have been seeking cooperation from Atostana's side, not from the Dragon Hunter Pirates.
"The Evictors cannot launch an all out war against Lilith in the short term."
Roy shook his head.
"But I cannot wait that long."
"If the power in my body is not purged soon, it will become impossible to deal with later."
As he spoke, Roy slowly stretched out his arm.
A faint line appeared on his skin.
It formed a circular emblem, etched with strange interlocking patterns.
"Power?"
"Lilith's power?"
"Also, this so called blessing you keep talking about."
Ryuunosuke narrowed his eyes.
"What exactly is it?"
He knew that at this point Roy no longer had any room to hide things.
If there was ever a time to drag all the secrets into the light, it was now.
"Blessing?"
Roy gave a bitter smile.
"That is just what we tell ourselves."
"In reality, it is a curse that turned us into Lilith's apostles."
"Yes, it gave me a long life."
"But it also made me lose many things that mattered."
"For example, the Imu I loved became the Uranus."
"For example, another soul has taken root in my body."
Ryuunosuke linked Roy's words to what Keshia had told him before.
A curse.
It was very likely some kind of ritual.
A ritual that injected the primordial power residing in Lilith's body into chosen people in this world.
Based on his understanding of the names God, Adam and Lilith, the story should have gone like this in theory.
God created Adam and Lilith.
Adam and Lilith then created humans.
But in this world, things had not gone that way.
Nine hundred years ago, Adam and Lilith had suddenly descended into a world where people already existed.
They had not created a new species.
Instead, they had directly infused their own essence into selected humans.
Thus, the Evictors and Guardians were born.
As for the extra souls, like Keshia's, Roy's, and the one Brook had lost.
Those were the prices paid and the replacements made.
After sorting through the information in his head, Ryuunosuke found a gaping hole in the logic.
If Adam and Lilith truly possessed power on the level of gods, why would they need to fight over replacing people in the first place?
Why not simply erase what existed and create their own humans from scratch?
That would have been much easier to control.
As for God's true purpose, or what Adam and Lilith had really been created for, Ryuunosuke had no answer yet.
"What do you want me to do?"
He finally lifted his head and looked Roy straight in the eyes.
"Only Adam's power can kill Lilith."
"As for what happens afterward, I do not care."
"Right now, all I want is for Lilith to die."
Roy's gaze was steady as he spoke.
"Adam's power."
"What is that supposed to be?"
Ryuunosuke asked.
According to what Roy had just told him, Adam was the object of Evictors faith.
Now, Brook had already created Adam's shadow, and Moria had used it.
If that counted as Adam's power, then it meant they needed a vessel like Moria.
And such people were not exactly common.
"The Spear of Longinus."
Roy answered without hesitation.
The name made something click in the back of Ryuunosuke's mind.
Legends he had read in his previous life, stories whispered across different worlds.
If even that name existed here, then perhaps those myths were not fabrications at all.
Whether in this world or others, everything might be under the influence of the same god.
If that was true, then the One Piece world might one day be destroyed, not by a Yonko, not by the World Government, but by the existence behind the Guardians and Evictors.
That was an ending Ryuunosuke would never accept.
"Where?"
He asked directly.
He did not ask what the Spear of Longinus was.
He only wanted to know where it was.
Roy heard the question and froze.
He suddenly realised something.
Just how much information had Ryuunosuke already gathered?
In a little over five years since he had gone to sea, this monster had somehow dug up so much.
Had he already started investigating all of this back when he was still a kid in the East Blue?
[TL: Is there still a reader here? Just Comment if there still atleast one reader, if there's none i'll pause this fanfic for now.]
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