Garp rolled his eyes, clearly long accustomed to Roger saying things like that.
"You old bastard, all you ever do is joke."
"Mo Wu is barely over twenty. How could he die that quickly?!"
With that, Garp punched Roger on the head, making the pirate shout in protest. Then he turned back to Mo Wu and sighed.
"As you can see, this guy is the kind of Pirate King who loves making stupid jokes."
But what Garp didn't expect was that Mo Wu remained silent for a moment before speaking calmly.
"Vice Admiral Garp… Roger isn't wrong. I really am going to die."
"See? I told you someone like you—"
"What?!"
Garp's entire body stiffened.
He stared at Mo Wu in shock.
"Hey, hey, kid! Don't tell me you've got some kind of terminal illness too?!"
"You old idiot. Do you think I'd joke about something like that?" Roger coughed a few times after recovering from Garp's punch. His sharp eyes scanned Mo Wu's body carefully.
"Every cell in this kid's body is screaming in agony."
Roger looked at Mo Wu, who remained calm and completely unpanicked.
He hadn't expected Mo Wu to be so aware of his own physical condition.
So the owner of this body already knew his situation.
"Kid… have you taken some kind of drug before?"
"Drugs?"
Garp frowned.
Mo Wu's combat strength really didn't match his age. If it had been artificially enhanced with drugs, that might actually explain things.
"Vegapunk?!"
Suddenly remembering a document he had seen on Sengoku's desk a few days ago, Garp's eyes widened.
Under Mo Wu's thin personal file had been a thick stack of reports about an organization called MADS.
One name had been circled.
Vegapunk.
Beneath it were terms like lineage factor research, cloning technology, and biological modification.
Garp suddenly looked enlightened.
Then his expression turned sympathetic as he looked at Mo Wu.
"Mo Wu… you weren't subjected to human experiments, were you?"
"…."
Mo Wu wasn't surprised that Roger could sense the condition of his body. After all, the Pirate King possessed the mysterious ability known as the Voice of All Things.
But what the hell was Garp talking about?
Vegapunk?
Human experimentation?
Old man… are you even listening to yourself?
Mo Wu's mouth twitched slightly. He shook his head at both of them.
He had no idea how Garp managed to connect the situation to Vegapunk, but it was completely wrong.
"Hahahahaha! Garp, you really are getting senile."
Roger's laughter echoed loudly through the sealed chamber.
"But I also misjudged things. This kid's body seems to have a rather special constitution."
"That's right."
"Vice Admiral Garp, I've never undergone human experimentation, and I've never been modified in any way."
Looking helplessly at Roger, who was laughing so hard he was coughing up blood, Mo Wu continued.
"My condition… is something I was born with."
Garp looked at Mo Wu suspiciously.
Perhaps he thought Mo Wu was still being stubborn.
Sighing, he muttered, "The reports Sengoku has say Vegapunk is a genius."
"But he's also crazy. Who knows whether he left some experimental subjects lying around somewhere?"
Roger burst into laughter again.
Mo Wu stood there silently.
Why is this old man so obsessed with human modification…
Could it be that Zephyr's future mechanical arm was originally Garp's idea?
Putting on an awkward but polite smile, Mo Wu quickly made up an explanation.
"I'm certain of it, Vice Admiral Garp. My special constitution comes from my family's bloodline. It has nothing to do with Vegapunk."
"Our family has a long history. This condition is a trait shared by our lineage."
"Those who awaken this constitution… can't live past the age of twenty-five."
"But in exchange, we gain certain special abilities."
"Yeah, that sounds about right."
Roger nodded thoughtfully.
"Vegapunk might be a little crazy, but randomly modifying humans doesn't seem like something he'd do."
Scolding Garp jokingly, Roger suddenly became curious.
He sat up straight on the bed and looked at Mo Wu with interest.
"This is the first time I've heard of a constitution that kills its owner so young. Mo Wu, are you some kind of rare race?"
He thought about the Lunarians, once called gods but now nearly extinct.
Then there was the so-called sinful Buccaneer race.
Roger's eyes dimmed slightly.
After traveling the world, he had never seen a Lunarian.
And the only Buccaneer he had encountered was a little bear in Wano many years ago.
But speaking of races…
He still had several Mink friends.
Roger suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia.
He wondered how they were doing now in Wano with Oden.
Were they living happily?
Well, with Oden around, life there must still be full of laughter and dancing.
Thinking of that, Roger's mood improved again.
He nodded with a smile.
"Nothing like that," Mo Wu said helplessly. "It's simply a special constitution."
"So that strange Observation Haki…"
"No… more accurately, the ability in your eyes."
Garp glanced at Mo Wu's eyes and shuddered slightly.
He remembered the eerie sensation he had felt earlier during the battle with Golden Lion.
At the time, it had felt as if someone had completely seen through him—inside and out.
Now it all made sense.
That must have been Mo Wu observing them with his ability.
Which meant bringing him here had indeed been the right choice.
"Your eyes?"
Roger studied Mo Wu's face for a moment.
"Now that I look closely, your eyes really are unusual."
"If you had lived in our era, Mo Wu, I would have dragged you onto my ship!"
Roger laughed heartily, completely ignoring the dark expression on Garp's face.
"Enough, Roger! Shut up!"
Garp punched Roger again, ignoring the way he started coughing.
Taking a deep breath, Garp seemed to make a decision.
"Mo Wu… can you tell me what price you pay for using that ability?"
"Hm?"
Mo Wu had already guessed why Garp had brought him here.
He shook his head, indicating that using his ability carried no special cost.
"Good."
Garp clenched his teeth.
"Then take a look at this man's body."
"Let's see exactly what's going on."
Mo Wu didn't ask why.
Perhaps because he was also curious about Roger's mysterious illness.
Without hesitation, he activated the Transparent World.
His mind instantly became clear as his perception sharpened.
He began observing Roger's body.
As his focus deepened, Roger's exterior gradually became transparent before his eyes.
"Hiss…"
Mo Wu sucked in a breath.
He had thought Golden Lion's body was already a masterpiece of accumulated injuries.
But the Pirate King was even worse.
The muscles throughout Roger's body were heavily damaged.
His heart looked as if it were barely beating.
But those weren't even the worst problems.
The real issue was Roger's lungs.
They had turned dark purple.
More than eighty percent of them had already become fibrotic.
Lung cancer.
Mo Wu glanced at Roger, who was still grinning cheerfully as if nothing were wrong.
"Your vitality is terrifying," Mo Wu said quietly.
Turning toward Garp, whose brows were tightly furrowed, he spoke in a low voice.
"His lungs are destroyed."
"There's no saving him."
Mo Wu briefly and clearly explained Roger's condition.
But to his surprise, Garp actually relaxed after hearing it.
The tension in his face disappeared.
He even grinned at Roger.
"You old bastard. Letting you die early is doing you a favor."
Then he turned to Mo Wu.
"When the time comes, give him a quick death during the execution."
"Consider it a favor to me."
Garp didn't even look back at Roger.
Right in front of the Pirate King himself, he calmly discussed with the future executioner how to end Roger's life with a single strike.
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