"It's you, Rorschach."
Seeing Rorschach suddenly descend from the sky, Sabo first looked relieved. Then, glancing at Lindbergh beside Crow, he swept his gaze across the field — over the countless clone soldiers and pirates that had been electrocuted into charred husks. His brows furrowed slightly.
"What are you doing?"
"The price of starting a war, that's all. Why? Do you care about the lives of these clones? Or… does the Revolutionary Army plan to make them fight for you too?"
Rorschach dispelled the electricity crackling over his body and looked past Sabo at the men and women standing behind him — and couldn't help raising a brow.
Quite the lineup.
Even though he had expected it, seeing those people standing there — Morley, Belo Betty, Crow, and Lindbergh — still gave him pause.
The four army commanders of the Revolutionary Army — East, West, North, and South — plus the Chief of Staff, all gathered in one place.
Aside from Dragon himself, every top leader of the Revolutionary Army was present.
A truly luxurious formation.
Hearing Rorschach's slightly mocking tone, Sabo remained silent.
Rorschach had guessed right — Sabo did have such an idea.
Although he would never actively create clone soldiers — such an inhumane force — the existing clones were a powerful asset. If they could all be absorbed into the Revolutionary Army, it would greatly strengthen their ranks.
Especially now that Reiju had joined them. With her command, the clone soldiers would become a disciplined, obedient army.
In the Flevance Kingdom, Betty had captured Reiju without a fight, gaining five thousand clone soldiers and twenty Germa warships. She then quickly went to Morley's location in the Lawrence Kingdom, where they absorbed another two thousand clone soldiers before rushing here — hoping to take in the remaining troops.
Although Reiju had insisted that the clones be returned to the Germa Kingdom, Sabo had already learned from Lindbergh that Rorschach was on his way — and that the army led by Ichiji had been annihilated by him.
He knew full well that the situation in the North Blue would change drastically with Rorschach's arrival.
In front of this man — a man who hated evil more than anyone — even the very existence of Germa 66 was uncertain.
Sabo knew better than to underestimate this young Marine — someone even younger than himself — whose strength and conviction were every bit as firm as his own.
After all, even the legendary Golden Lion had fallen to Rorschach.
"Little Sabo, who's this cute boy? He's so handsome — I think I'm in love!"
Morley, wearing a short skirt and thigh-high white stockings over legs thicker than stone pillars, minced forward with a bashful tone that made Rorschach's skin crawl.
Watching the ten-meter-tall giant twist "her" massive body and throw flirtatious glances, Rorschach felt every hair on his neck stand on end.
This wasn't just a crossdresser.This was a giant crossdresser.
Behind Morley, Betty, Crow, and the others also walked forward.
Sabo was about to speak when he saw, behind Rorschach, the furious Reiju suddenly flap her butterfly wings and fire a volley of pink venom-tipped arrows straight at him.
Rorschach turned his head slightly, glancing coldly at her.
That single look made Reiju's heart seize — as if she couldn't breathe.
"Reiju. If it weren't for your kind nature — if you had been anything like your brothers — I would've taken you down already."
He turned his gaze to Sabo and the others. "Since you've made your choice, then cut your ties with Germa completely. Otherwise, come with me to Impel Down."
He raised his hand, grasping the air toward the incoming arrows.
The air twisted like a whirlpool, compressing with tremendous force.
The dozen venomous arrows — powerful enough to poison a monster like Pierre — were instantly crushed together into a single pink sphere. Rorschach flicked it casually with a finger, sending it shooting back toward Reiju.
Seeing Reiju reach out to grab it, Sabo's expression changed.
"Reiju, dodge it!"
Reiju froze, confused.
That little pink sphere was her own condensed poison, wasn't it? It shouldn't harm her.
But before she could react, Lindbergh raised his cannon and fired a freezing blast at the sphere, encasing it in thick ice.
Then, Sabo kicked up a stone, sending it hurtling toward the frozen sphere and knocking it away.
Unfortunately, the half-dead Pierre — whose body was still covered in festering wounds from Reiju's earlier poison — had just recovered enough to move.
Traumatized by Reiju's toxin and desperate to escape, he unfurled his bat-like wings and launched himself into the air — right into the path of the flying ice block.
The ice struck him square in the back.
Pierre's expression twisted. "You bastards—don't push me too far—"
He never finished the sentence.
A deafening boom split the air.
The ice shattered. The pink sphere inside expanded violently, releasing a surge of compressed air and energy.
Pierre's words ended abruptly as his body exploded into a rain of flesh and blood, scattering over the battlefield.
Only his feet remained, landing with a soft thud on the ground.
Reiju stood frozen, her face draining of color.
"Vice Admiral Rorschach, your bloodlust is too heavy," Sabo said, frowning deeply.
"You would've intervened anyway, wouldn't you?" Rorschach smiled faintly.
That attack had never been aimed at Reiju. Even if Sabo hadn't interfered, the compressed air bomb would have struck Pierre.
"Reiju, are you all right?" Betty asked, glancing meaningfully at Rorschach as she helped Reiju steady herself.
Reiju shook her head weakly, then took a deep breath. "Marine Rorschach… since you're here, then my father must have been stopped, right? My father and Ichiji… what happened to them?"
"Ichiji's dead — killed by Judge. Judge himself is crippled — I did that. As for your kingdom… what do you think happened, now that I'm here?"
Rorschach spoke plainly. There was no reason to hide it.
This was something the Revolutionary Army's intelligence network would soon discover anyway.
"What?"
Reiju's mind went blank. Her body swayed, and she nearly collapsed. Betty quickly caught her.
Pain and grief clouded Reiju's face.
Even though Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji had no emotions, and her father Judge had always treated her as nothing more than a soldier for Germa's restoration — she still loved them as family.
Now, to hear that Ichiji was dead, her father crippled, and their kingdom destroyed…
The guilt she already carried from betraying Germa now deepened into unbearable sorrow.
Clutching her unconscious brother Niji, Reiju slumped against Betty's shoulder and fainted.
"Rorschach, isn't that going too far?" Sabo asked, frowning.
"Too far?" Rorschach laughed softly. "If you and I hadn't been here today, Germa's massacre across the North Blue would've gone perfectly. As the Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army, you should know how many would have died — how many more would have been driven from their homes."
"But Reiju—"
"Sabo," Rorschach said seriously, "sometimes, being too emotional can drag an entire revolution into the abyss. You can't see Reiju as innocent just because she joined you. Yes, she's kind. But she still obeyed Judge's orders. If you hadn't reached the part of her that still had humanity left, Flevance would already be a sea of fire."
Sabo fell silent, thinking over Rorschach's words. When he looked up again, he shook his head. "Even so, I can't accept your methods. You're too extreme. Those clones — they were lives too. Killing them all like that… it's cruel."
"Clones aren't people. At least, not the kind without emotion or awareness. They're weapons, tools — machines wearing human faces. Judge wanted to use them to dominate the North Blue. That goal betrayed both justice and order. That's why I not only had to stop him — I had to destroy his weapons, to prevent anyone from ever using them again."
Rorschach's words weighed heavily on Sabo.
He wanted to argue — but couldn't.
Emotionally, though, he still felt Rorschach was too ruthless.
Those clones had lives, even if artificial ones.
Sabo was, by nature, a man of feeling.
Just as Rorschach had said — excessive emotion made him unfit to lead a great movement.
If this were the real world, and Sabo one day tried to storm the Holy Land with his commanders to rescue Kuma, it would be suicide.
With the strength Mary Geoise currently possessed, they wouldn't even need an admiral to crush the entire Revolutionary Army.
There was Imu, the Five Elders, the Knights of God, the CP organizations, and the elite Holy Guard — an overwhelming force.
Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, Sabo looked at Rorschach.
"Since neither of us can convince the other," he said, "then let's fight. Back in the Queen of Spring's city, I wanted to test myself against you. Show me, Rorschach — the man who killed the Golden Lion — how strong you really are."
Note: Due to the latest developments in Kuma's story, the novel's timeline has a slight inconsistency. Bonney is 12 years old in 1522, and she went to Vegapunk for treatment at age 8, when Kuma underwent his modifications — around 1518. This means Kuma joined the Shichibukai sometime after 1518, while Ace declined the invitation in 1517, leading to Kuma's recruitment shortly after. The novel's timeline differs by a few months. The backstabbing of canon was inevitable.
End of Chapter)
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