Drip… drip…
The sound of dripping water reached his ears. Rocks suddenly sat up, threw his eyes open, and began panting heavily as he surveyed his surroundings.
Blood had pooled into a river, everything around him tinged with a dark crimson hue. In the sky above, the scene of God Valley could still be faintly discerned.
"Garp… Roger… Nereus… I should thank you for stopping my rampage, but this really is a… terrible ending."
Fragments of his earlier memories surfaced one by one, and Rocks began recalling his final moments.
"But where is this… I'm already dead… so this must be… hell?"
"If you want to go to hell, I can point you the way."
"Nereus?!"
The familiar voice startled Rocks. He turned around, only to find that at some point a luxurious-looking chair had appeared behind him.
Nereus was sitting there casually, yet Rocks hadn't noticed at all when he had appeared.
"So perception really does deteriorate after death… But why are you dead too? With your ability, even dying dozens or hundreds of times shouldn't land you here.
Still… you've done so many good deeds, yet you end up in hell with me. That seems a bit unfair."
"You're asking too many questions. Simply put, you're dead right now, but not completely dead. And this isn't hell.
This is a space created by my ability. Most of the people I've killed end up here. I call it the River of Death."
River of Death, the river of the dead. This was the reason Nereus always absorbed his opponents' blood after killing them. Blood was the currency of the soul, as well as its vessel.
Those whose blood was completely drained by Nereus would have their souls enter the River of Death, becoming part of it and falling under Nereus's command.
If necessary, every soul could become a substitute to die in Nereus's place. Even if someone exhausted all their strength to kill Nereus once, he would still revive at full health.
Unless, beforehand, all the souls within the river of blood were slaughtered.
Nereus didn't explain in detail what the River of Death truly was, but Rocks had his own sense of it. He could feel that his strength hadn't changed much. He could still wield his original strength.
"Say… you didn't already plan this, did you? Taking me into your River of Death to bolster your strength?"
Rocks looked at Nereus, feeling that beneath his handsome appearance lurked a devious mind. Other pirates might covet treasures, but Nereus seemed to covet souls.
"No, this was just a spur-of-the-moment decision. Originally, I just wanted to study how to kill those ghostly things. I didn't expect you to be the one who got controlled.
But it did bring me some good news. That ability may act on the body, but from the looks of it, dying once is enough to clear it.
Garp and Roger weren't very clear about it. How exactly were you controlled?"
This was Nereus's final test result. Whether it was the members of the Knights of God or the controlled Rocks, Nereus could sense something similar in them.
The difference was that the blackened Rocks had contamination on his body, whereas the Knights of God seemed to have their souls contaminated.
In theory, pulling those souls into the River of Death and destroying them would allow one to kill the target completely.
But in that case, if he absorbed those controlled souls, their master, Imu, would also notice.
Nereus didn't want Imu to know he possessed this ability yet.
Whether it was the Five Elders or the Knights of God, to Imu they were expendable. Killing a few wouldn't yield much benefit, and would instead make Imu more vigilant.
So he hadn't acted on it. Before gaining the power to decisively kill Imu, it was better to keep a few cards hidden.
Rocks's body had been contaminated, but his soul was still clean enough. This was why he had been drawn into the River of Death.
If Rocks could provide a more detailed answer, it would also help Nereus refine his hypothesis.
"I can't explain it clearly. That thing is very complicated, but let me give you a piece of advice. Try your best not to get injured by it. That ghostly thing in Mariejois… it's not easy to deal with."
Rocks thought back for a moment, and in the end could only give this kind of answer.
What he could be sure of was that the ability of Domi Reversi wasn't something that could be used at will. Certain prerequisites had to be met before it could be activated, but what those conditions were, Rocks couldn't determine.
"Perhaps you're right. It really does require a long-term plan. As for that guy's situation… I'll tell you once I've thought it through clearly."
"You're currently in a state of death. Do you want me to grant you release?"
Control of the River of Death lay in Nereus's hands. Since he could draw souls in, he could naturally release them as well, letting them regain their freedom.
As for whether that freedom meant dispersal, reincarnation, or something else, even Nereus didn't know.
"Release… I have only one question. Does your plan include taking out that rat king hiding in the gutter?"
"Of course."
"Then forget it. After being screwed over by those bastards like that, I'm not magnanimous enough to just let it go. Consider this me lending you a hand.
When the day you're ready comes, remember to remind me, 'Captain'....Nereus"
When he said "Captain," Rocks's tone became rather strange, as if he were joking.
The metaphor wasn't that far off. After all, within this flowing river of blood, Nereus was the only one who could control its course. Calling him the "captain" here wasn't all that odd.
In any case, Rocks intended to stay here for now, waiting for the decisive battle Nereus spoke of.
Nereus wouldn't refuse combat power of this caliber either, and the two sides could be considered to have reached a new round of cooperation.
With a shift of thought, Nereus's consciousness left the River of Death within his body and returned to the God Valley, where the rain was pouring down in torrents. The corner of his mouth twitched slightly, as if he were suppressing something.
Before Nereus left the River of Death, Rocks said one more thing to him, asking Nereus to warn Harald. Imu seemed to be preparing to make a move against Harald.
As for his wife and child, Rocks didn't mention them. He knew that after his death, the Rocks Pirates would inevitably fall apart. On the other hand, a monster like Nereus might very well draw the attention of the World Government.
Asking him to help look after them would only cause more trouble.
In Nereus's view, it could only be said that the pirates on Fullalead Island each had their own form of sexual fr*station. The others were fixated on Shakuyaku, while Rocks might have been fixated on Harald.
After all, the object of Rocks's constant obsession always seemed to include that giant.
"Huff… huff… I say, Garp, with things turning out like this, you probably won't be able to keep working for the Marines, right? How about coming over to my side?
And Nereus, why don't you consider it too? I've always wanted to find a Fish-Man companion."
Even though he wasn't completely exhausted, Roger's condition at this moment wasn't good. He was breathing heavily, yet still had the leisure to try recruiting Garp and Nereus.
It looked as though, as long as the two agreed, Roger didn't mind what had happened earlier at all.
"Are you kidding? If I quit, who's going to protect the soldiers?"
Garp rejected Roger's proposal. Nereus, for his part, didn't respond to the invitation at all, directly flapping his wings and flying off into the distance.
As for Rocks's remains, Nereus didn't touch them. His soul was already within the River of Death, so the body was no longer that important.
Moreover, in the God Valley Incident, the primary target was Rocks. Failing to find Rocks's corpse would instead cause unnecessary trouble.
Roger also withdrew with the help of his companions. Though they had cooperated briefly, the next time they met, they would still be enemies.
Thus, the God Valley Incident of the West Blue came to an end.
The incident was classified as an S-rank absolute secret. Marine Headquarters, the Marine G-11 Branch, and CP6 retained certain records of it.
Aside from that, the list of participants in the "hunting game," the host site God Valley, its geographical location, area, and population information were all erased.
Casualty figures caused by the incident — unknown.
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