Pirates on Rocks' Ship 996

Chapter 1010 The Tree of Earth

Watching Reiju leave, Reina tightened his grip on Hyōrinmaru and continued to approach the giant tree.

Although he is now very close to the giant tree, he can only see it from a distance; he is still quite a distance away from actually touching it.

However, he soon deactivated Hyōrinmaru's Bankai state, as he finally set foot on the island where the giant tree was located.

Standing on the small island, Reina felt that it was somewhat similar to the Sabaody Archipelago. The so-called small island was probably just some soil covering the "root" of the giant tree. Moreover, because the nutrients in the soil were absorbed by the giant tree, there were no tall trees except for some grass and flowers, so it looked like a small grassland.

After landing, Reina did not rush forward immediately, but instead rested and moved forward slowly.

When he flew over, he activated Hyōrinmaru's Bankai state. Although Hyōrinmaru's Bankai state doesn't consume much of his energy right now, he's facing the unknown, so he needs to keep himself at his peak condition at all times.

Moreover, he was unfamiliar with this place, so moving slowly would give him enough time to observe.

However, it was very quiet along the way, and there seemed to be no other creatures here. When they arrived at the foot of the giant tree, Reina did not continue rashly, but took out food and fresh water to replenish his strength.

After resting for a while, Reina looked at the huge tree in front of him.

"Where exactly is this place? And what kind of being are you?" Although Reina had told Reiju about the legend of the Ancient Tree before, he didn't really believe it deep down.

Therefore, he was filled with curiosity about the enormous tree in front of him and the space he was in.

No traces of human activity or written records were found here, and there was absolutely no information about this area.

When Reina's right hand touched the enormous tree, a strange feeling arose in his heart.

"This is... the Earth's core? This is the Earth Tree?" Reina stared in astonishment at the giant tree before him and said in surprise.

He had this feeling when he touched the giant tree... the Tree of Earth.

"So... what those extraterrestrial visitors wanted... was this? That's why it appeared in the North Sea! Because of those extraterrestrial visitors' ancient past!? The reason they haven't launched a major attack recently is because they've been secretly creating this space from the center of the planet?" Reina looked astonished.

If he hadn't heard the maid's tearful plea, he wouldn't have paid attention to an ordinary fisherman's disappearance. And if he hadn't gotten involved, he would never have discovered this place.

If extraterrestrial visitors were to occupy this place, they could continuously draw upon the planet's destiny from the Earth Tree. This would not only greatly enhance their own strength but also weaken the planet's power. In the end, they might actually be able to control and conquer this planet.

Just as Reina was thinking about how to deal with the situation, he suddenly noticed a powerful energy appearing above him.

"Who is it?" Reina suddenly retreated and looked up, only to see a figure standing on the Tree of Earth.

"My name is... Im!" the figure said softly as it slowly descended.

“Im?” Reina’s eyes widened. He had naturally heard of this name. The highest leader of the World Government, the undisputed uncrowned king of the One Piece world.

But why is he here? Shouldn't he be in Mary Geoise?

"Pirates?" Clearly, Im was also somewhat surprised by Reina's appearance.

"Benedict D. Reina, vice-captain of the Whitebeard Pirates!" Reina announced his name.

"D? Your clan hasn't given up yet?" Im said expressionlessly upon hearing Reina's words.

"Hey! I don't intend to concern myself with your business with the D. clan. I'm just a pirate now, the vice-captain of the Whitebeard Pirates!" Reina chuckled and said.

“It’s something that’s ingrained in your very being. Even if you don’t care, your nature will make you continue to do that thing that is destined to be impossible!” Im shook his head and replied slowly.

"Then why don't we just do it?" Reina replied nonchalantly.

“But… you will destroy this world, so I must stop you!” Im said earnestly.

Reina was taken aback. So, he was the biggest villain in this world?

After all, among those whose names contain the letter "D," the strongest right now are him, Luffy, and Law from the Heart Pirates!

"Putting aside the matter of the D clan, you must have heard about the invasion of extraterrestrials in the North Sea, right? Since you say your goal is to protect this world, are you just going to watch them invade? Not to mention yourself, even the World Government's resources in the North Sea are quite limited, aren't they?" Reina said sarcastically, looking at the man who called himself Im.

“As long as the Earth Tree is alright, they cannot truly invade our planet!” Im shook his head and replied.

Reina frowned; there was a lot of information contained in the other party's words!

Moreover, the other side may know more about extraterrestrial visitors than they do.

“But this space has already appeared in the North Sea, hasn’t it? I believe this can’t be an accident, right? This means that those extraterrestrial visitors are also eyeing the Earth Tree! No matter what, we are the masters of this planet, and those outsiders are our common enemy, right? After we defeat them, if we have any different opinions, we can fight them behind closed doors!” Reina suggested.

Im stared blankly at Reina, seemingly considering his suggestion, but after a moment, Im shook his head and said, "I can't attack them!"

"Why?" Reina asked in surprise.

He could tell that Im wasn't lying to him; the other party really did have some reason why they couldn't attack the extraterrestrial visitors.

“Just as I haven’t exterminated your D clan, I have my own code of conduct and limitations!” Im replied.

"So what? Even if this world is destroyed, you won't take action against the extraterrestrial visitors?" Reina asked, puzzled.

This time, Im remained silent for an even longer period.

“There are some things you don’t need to know!” After a while, Im finally spoke, “Leave here, and I will return this space to where it belongs later!”

A glint flashed in Reina's eyes as he said, "So, you didn't know there was a problem with this space, and the reason you appeared just now was because I touched the Tree of Earth, which is why you sensed it, right?"

Chapter 1011 Im's Sudden Appearance

Faced with Reina's questioning, Im did not answer, but silently looked at the Tree of Earth.

Reina was now filled with doubt. He didn't understand Im's position. Since Luffy arrived at the final island, Reina had already learned the news he brought back. He thought he had learned the world's greatest secret, but now Im in front of him was like looking through a fog, and he couldn't see clearly at all.

“If you don’t mind, could you tell me what happened? That way I can decide what to do!” Reina sighed and said to Im.

"Many years ago, this planet's technology was quite advanced. Our ancestors set off from this planet to explore the outside world! At the same time, in order to protect our home planet, we didn't develop extensively here, but instead established a base on the moon. However, we quickly exhausted the moon's energy resources, and we had no choice but to return to our home planet!" A figure looked at Reina and said softly.

"But after returning to our home planet, we split into two factions. One group, represented by Nika, yearned for freedom and believed that our home planet should not be restricted, and that we are all equal! As for me, I believe that we cannot allow you to develop without limits. After all, the example of the moon is right before our eyes. We should appropriately suppress technological development in order to protect our energy resources!"

Reina listened to Im's nonchalant words, his outward appearance calm, but inwardly he was in turmoil.

He had long found it strange that the technological development of this world was somewhat abnormal. Vegapunk had already started using lasers, but ordinary people, and even soldiers of the Navy and the World Government, were still using flintlock pistols, which was absurd.

In addition, most of this world is ocean, and people use ships most often. But let's not talk about warships or anything like that. Most people and pirates are still using sailing ships, which is just not right.

The same goes for airplanes. It's not that there are no airplanes in the world, but people seem to have abandoned airplanes as a means of transportation.

While the Grand Line may have some limitations for airplanes due to weather conditions, the Four Great Seas pose no problem for them. With airplanes, the connections between islands have become much closer, which benefits everyone.

Previously, Reina didn't understand why the World Government or the Navy didn't pay attention to these things. At first, he thought it was the setting of this world. After all, there were some powerful people in the Navy and the World Government whose vision was no worse than Reina's, but they never made any suggestions or took any action in this regard.

Now Reina finally understood the reason: it was the world's king before him who had suppressed the world's technological development.

Reina was somewhat dismissive of Im's statement. He believed that it was perfectly acceptable to stop developing for fear of running out of energy, because that's how the world is, and humanity is destined to move forward, even with human interference.

However, just as Reina was about to make a sarcastic remark, he suddenly thought of Dr. Vegapunk.

What was Reiner's first reaction after Vegapunk proposed his brain library project? It was to refuse!

That's right. Connecting the brains of everyone in the world together, since everyone's thoughts are different, will definitely cause big problems.

But what did Vegapunk say? He said that it's certain there will be problems on the road to progress, but does that mean we shouldn't move forward? No, we just need to solve the problems, not stand still and stop moving forward.

Wasn't I just like Im now back then?

So at that time, he diverted Vegapunk's attention by pretending to be an extraterrestrial visitor, because Reyna knew that this "network" form was the best existence, rather than Vegapunk's form that was directly connected to the brain.

So Reina swallowed his sarcastic words.

However, Reina was certain that Im's actions were also wrong, but he couldn't convince him right now. After all, he wasn't one to rely on words; everything depended on his abilities.

Just as Im himself said, he and Nika had different ideas and disagreed at first, but now he still exists while Nika no longer exists, so naturally he is right.

“So in order to protect this world, what we need to do is to prevent anyone from causing destruction on a major scale!” Im said softly, looking at Reina.

With Im's words, many things that Reina couldn't understand before can now be explained. As for such a powerful evil force as pirates, although the World Government established the Navy to deal with them, most of the time they are left to their own devices instead of trying to eliminate them. This is because, in Im's view, so-called pirates are not very harmful to this world because they have no "thoughts"!

However, despite being just a group of unarmed scholars, Ohara was brutally wiped out because, in Im's eyes, their actions were the most threatening, and they had to be eliminated in their infancy.

"Phew~ Although I don't agree with what you said, I have to admit that you're right in some aspects! However, our positions are different, so there's no right or wrong. In the end, it all comes down to strength. My strength is not as good as yours, so whatever you say is right. Your strength is not as good as mine, so even if you're right, it's useless!" Reina took a deep breath and stated his position.

Im looked calmly at Reina, seemingly unsurprised, and said, "Strength? That kind of thing encompasses many factors. Strength without thought... is just a castle in the air!"

"Is that so?" Reina smiled slightly and said, "I just wonder if Mr. Im... would you do me the honor? If I kill you here, will the World Government collapse? Will the space where the Earth Tree is located also belong to us?"

“No, even if you kill me here, the World Government will still be the World Government, and this place will still not belong to you!” Im shook his head and said calmly, “Besides… I don’t think you can kill me!”

“Really? I really want to try! But this place is too close to the Earth Tree. How about we go somewhere else? Neither I nor you… would you want the Earth Tree to get hurt, right?” Reina asked, his voice filled with fighting spirit.

He didn't know how strong Im was, but to be able to kill Nika and win the hearts of the Five Elders, if it was just through something like "power," it was really hard to believe.

Reina believed that Im must possess something that underpinned his power, and strength was the best and simplest way to prove it!

Of course, it could also be "Heavenly King".

At this moment, Reina wanted to test what his opponent was relying on.

Chapter 1012 Whitebeard's Speculation

Seeing the fighting spirit ignited on Reina's body, Im ignored him and turned around, disappearing without a trace.

"Tch~ Coward!" Reina felt a little helpless as he watched the other party disappear. He wanted to test the other party's strength, but it was obvious that he had been seen through.

"The Tree of Earth... I wonder when we'll meet again!" Looking at the magnificent tree before him, Reina knew he was lucky this time. Since Im knew that someone was after the Tree of Earth, this space would certainly not appear easily again in the future.

“Red Line…Mary Geoise…so many secrets!” Reina sighed and turned to leave.

But just as he turned around, he suddenly realized that he seemed to... not know how to leave!

Before he could even think about it, a leaf from the Earth Tree drifted down from the sky and landed directly in his hand.

"This is the key? It seems that Im hasn't fully mastered the Earth Tree, nor has he completely controlled this space! Perhaps... the Earth Tree sensed the danger, and since I killed a powerful visitor from outer space, it thinks I'm more reliable than Im?" Holding the leaf from the Earth Tree, Reina had some insights and knew how to leave.

This leaf can be considered a medium connecting Reina and the Earth Tree. Not only can he leave now, but the Earth Tree can also use it to summon Reina when it is in danger, which can be regarded as the Earth Tree's recognition of him.

After obtaining the leaf from the Earth Tree, Reina turned and left, finding Reiju on the back of the hard shell. He then took her away from this space. As for the little eagle that had wandered off somewhere, Reina used a summoning spell to send it to where it was supposed to be.

Upon returning to Xuan Yue Island, Reina first summoned the families of the previously missing persons and told them that their loved ones had indeed perished.

When he obtained the leaves of the Earth Tree, he already knew that those people had been touched by the transparent jellyfish-like creatures and then became nutrients for the space where the Earth Tree was located. This was a self-protection mechanism of the Earth Tree. Under normal circumstances, it would not appear in the world where humans lived, but the extraterrestrial visitors used some means to create its space, which caused this situation.

Although everyone was somewhat prepared, they still couldn't help but feel saddened when Reina confirmed the news.

"I'm sorry... I really don't know how to comfort everyone after this happened!" Reina said to the grieving residents, his voice also tinged with sadness.

“First mate…this has nothing to do with you! It’s enough for us that you went to find them yourself!” an old woman said, her face streaked with tears.

Her son was also among the missing.

“Hoo~” Reina took a deep breath and said, “Everyone on Crescent Moon Island… is your family. Whether it’s in life or anything else, if you need help, the entire Whitebeard Pirates will definitely do everything in our power! Frank… add them to the list of those who died in battle!”