The ancient temple groaned under the pressure of awakening forces.
Columns cracked. Symbols pulsed. Water trickled through the stone like veins of the past bleeding into the present.
And in its heart—Arkan stood blade to blade with the assassin of the Serpent.
The Submerged Temple
The assassin lunged with inhuman speed. Six mechanical limbs moved independently, armed with blades, chains, and poison-tipped spears.
Arkan met him mid-charge.
His sword gleamed black with armament Haki. Sparks lit the dark.
The chamber quaked.
For every blow Arkan struck, the assassin responded with three. The metallic limbs clicked and twisted unnaturally, trying to entangle and pierce him from all sides.
But Arkan moved with calm precision. His Haki-infused strikes shattered the stone beneath their feet.
Then—one limb stabbed through his shoulder.
Blood splattered the walls.
But Arkan didn't flinch.
Instead, he grabbed the limb with his bare hand, infused it with Conqueror's Haki, and shattered it like brittle glass.
"You're strong," the assassin admitted. "But you are still bound by time."
"What are you talking about?" Arkan growled.
The assassin opened his chest plate—revealing a small, glowing sphere.
"A fragment of the Void."
The entire temple reacted violently. Lights surged. Symbols flashed.
Arkan's compass spun out of control.
"What did you do?"
"Awakened the Trial."
Above the temple — the sea itself split.
A whirlpool reversed its flow.
Fish fled. Clouds turned red. Storms twisted into silence.
Back with the Straw Hats
Robin gasped.
"There's a reaction in the seafloor. Something ancient. Something tied to the Void Century."
Franky grinned. "Then we're going underwater!"
Usopp fainted.
Zoro drew his swords. "If Arkan's down there, we go too."
Luffy, fully healed and serious, nodded. "He helped me save Ace. I'm helping him now."
Back in the Temple
The walls morphed.
A glowing doorway appeared behind the assassin.
He stepped back into it.
"If you survive the Trial of Memory… then we'll speak again."
The doorway consumed him.
Then it dragged Arkan forward.
He vanished.
Somewhere Else — A Hall of Echoes
Arkan opened his eyes.
He was in a realm unlike any he'd seen—neither dream nor reality. Giant glass panels surrounded him, each one showing a fragment of the past.
He saw Roger, standing before the One Piece.
He saw Oden falling in the boiling pot.
He saw Ace in chains.
He saw himself—kneeling over a fallen Shanks.
"What is this…?" he whispered.
A voice answered, soft but booming:
"This is the price of bearing the Will of D."
A figure stepped from the light.
Tall. Wreathed in flame.
Gol D. Roger.
His father.