I am the Bandit King of the East Sea.

Morgans suddenly realized.

Sky Island is too high, tens of thousands of meters above sea level, and very few people can travel between Sky Island and the Blue Sea, so Sig has not been exposed yet.

The island of clouds is surrounded by vast expanses of snow-white sea clouds.

Above the clouds, on the side of Cloud Island, stands a colossal metal ship, the Dushan, which appeared during the Marineford War.

Sieg did not intend to invite Morgans to Cloud Island; the meeting place he agreed to meet was still on the ship.

Half an hour later, in the castle of the giant warship Dushan, Sieg and the news king Morgans officially met.

This was, in fact, the first time Morgans and Sieg had ever met.

The two sides had spoken by phone before and had a deep cooperation on newspaper matters, but this was their first meeting.

However, Sieg had no intention of reminiscing. After a few simple pleasantries, he got straight to the point.

“Morgans, as I said on the phone before... I need to prove my innocence.”

Sieg said with certainty.

“No problem.” Morgans nodded repeatedly.

He knew that regardless of Sieg's attitude, the fact that he agreed to the interview would be huge news in itself.

"However, I must remind you that after the falling out with the World Government, my World Economic Herald is not as powerful as before, and its reach and subscriptions have declined significantly."

"Currently, my newspaper is no match for the world government when it comes to manipulating public opinion," Morgans cautioned.

"It's alright, I'm not going to distort the truth, I'm just telling the truth."

Sieg led Morgans out of the reception room and soon arrived at a cemetery on the Dushan.

The Dushan was originally a terrifying three-masted sailing ship, which had a large cemetery on board, containing the remains of thousands of zombies.

Two years ago, Moria combined Rocks' corpse with his own shadow to create the most powerful zombie.

After the war, Rocks' body was not destroyed; it was later preserved by Moria in the cemetery's cold storage.

Now, Moria and several bandits arrive carrying a coffin containing the body of Rocks.

Sieg briefly recounted the details of the incident, and then introduced the matter of Lox's corpse.

Morgans, however, frowned repeatedly as he listened.

"That's not enough. What's the motive for impersonating Rocks? And a single corpse doesn't prove anything."

"The newspapers say that you, Mr. Sieg, are faking a corpse, so this isn't exactly conclusive evidence."

Sig was also somewhat helpless.

Because, it's not entirely wrong to say that he faked the corpse.

This corpse is not "Rocks who died in the Battle of God Valley," and the wounds on the corpse do not completely match those from the battle.

The most serious external injuries on Rocks's body were the sword wound inflicted by the sword aura and the penetrating wound to his anus.

Rocks of God Valley, on the other hand, fought against Roger and Garp.

It's impossible that only Roger could wound Rocks, while Garp's iron fist didn't leave any bruises on Rocks' body, right?

"Are corpses really not enough?" Sig muttered to himself.

Morgans nodded:

"The world government now has a huge advantage in public opinion. We can't fight a fair war of public opinion with them. They can turn black into white."

"The Valley of the Gods is too ancient and has long been forgotten by the world."

"The world government has seized the power of discourse; whatever they say is the truth, that is the truth."

"Under such circumstances, it would be extremely difficult to reverse public opinion... unless the dead can speak and Rocks comes out and admits it."

Morgans shrugged, indicating he was just joking, but Sieg, Moria, and the others present looked quite serious.

"Moria, can you use your power one more time?" Sigurd asked.

"If Rocks were still alive, he probably wouldn't want to see himself become a fake person."

“I…I’ll give it a try, but I can’t guarantee success,” Moria said after a moment’s hesitation.

Zeus, the thundercloud, floated into the sky, its size rapidly expanding into a vast cloud that completely blocked out the sunlight overhead.

Meanwhile, Moria's shadow transformed into a large swarm of shadow bats of varying sizes, which disappeared into Rocks' body inside the coffin.

Not long after, the coffin trembled slightly.

A pair of pale hands gripped the edge of the coffin, and the pale corpse inside sat up, looking at Moria, Sieg, and the others.

At first, the zombie looked blank, but after a full half hour, the blankness in his eyes gradually faded, and his whole demeanor underwent some indescribable changes.

This gave Morgans a jolt. He could tell that this zombie was different from the previous one. Even without showing any power, its aura was already extraordinary.

He initially didn't believe it, thinking that Sieg was trying to distort the truth, but now that Rocks hadn't even spoken, he was already somewhat convinced.

"Is it not the shadow that controls the corpse, but the lingering resentment on the corpse that gradually controls the shadow and manipulates the corpse through the shadow's power?"

Moriah suddenly realized.

The first time, he didn't understand at all, but this time, after observing carefully and sensing the Shadow-Shadow Fruit's power, he roughly guessed the principle behind the existence of the zombie Rocks.

Ultimately, however, he was just a zombie. Zombie Rocks existed by relying on the power of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, and was not a true resurrection of the dead.

The zombie Ryoma, Brook's shadow version, seems to have a different temperament from Brook, which is probably influenced by his physical condition.

"You...you are Sig?" Zombie Locus glanced around, his gaze locking onto Sig.

"What...it's you again?"

Lox shook his head; his consciousness wasn't clear, he only vaguely remembered what had happened before.

"How many years have passed? Have you brought down those arrogant pigs and dogs who consider themselves gods?" Locke's voice was deep.

“I’ve said it before, I don’t have that kind of ambition.” As he spoke, Sig glanced somewhat guiltily in the direction of the divine island.

“No? Then... why did you wake me up this time?” Lox looked at Sig.

After listening to Sieg recount the recent news and expressing his hope that the zombie Rocks would prove his innocence...

“What a boring reason.” Lox’s expression was indifferent, his tone devoid of any warmth.

"I refuse."

Ok?

Sieg was slightly taken aback; he hadn't expected Lox to refuse.

Between two evils, choose the lesser. In Sieg's view, this was the less harmful option, both for himself and for Lox.

He retorted, "Don't you care about your reputation after death? If this continues, the name Rocks will become a thing of the past in the eyes of the world."

"So...so what?" Lox closed his eyes, refusing to look at Sig.

"Does it matter whether I am remembered with infamy or forgotten after I die?"

Sig was stunned.

"When a person dies, it's like a lamp going out; right and wrong, success and failure, all become nothing. Although I'm unwilling, my journey has long since ended," Lox said calmly.

He opened his eyes again, his indifferent gaze sweeping over Moria.

The Yomi Yomi no Mi (Revive-Revive Fruit) does exist in this world, but the Shadow-Shadow Fruit is another matter entirely.

Shadow zombies, Soul Homies, and dolls created by the Hobby-Hobby Fruit are all derivative living beings created by Devil Fruit abilities.

Those with abilities have control over them, and there is virtually no possibility of resistance.

Even if... when the ability user dies, the derivative creatures of that ability will naturally disappear as well.

This feeling of being controlled by others is not pleasant at all, especially for Lox.

"This kind of thing will never happen again," Locke said in a low voice.

Rocks died on an unnamed island and never reached the Valley of the Gods, the place destined for him.

If I had to say I was unwilling to accept it, then of course I was unwilling.

But if we fixate on the defeat and try every means to stir up trouble using the bodies of the dead, that would be too ugly.

Reincarnation? Resurrection of the dead? That's not the thing here.

The conventional method of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit is for the shadow to manipulate the body, but Moria's ability to make the body control the shadow is an unexpected development.

If Rocks doesn't want to wake up, Moria can't do anything about it.

“Okay.” Moria nodded in agreement.

The opponent was a zombie created by his abilities, but at this moment Moria always felt as if he was slightly inferior.

Chapter 1230 The Presence of a Four Emperors (4k)

Rocks appeared very carefree; he didn't care much about his life.

He didn't value it, but Sieg did.

If the two parties don't have much of a relationship, he can use some dirty tricks to coerce him into agreeing.

But now that's not an option, Sieg frowned in thought; he had to find another way.

Zombie Locus was temporarily left aside by Sieg.

But Morgans was very interested in him. While Sieg was not paying attention to this side, he went over and talked to the zombie Lox, and casually asked about the past of Lox's time.

These two men, one a maritime overlord from two eras ago, possessed many secrets from the past.

Morgans, on the other hand, was the king of news and the head of intelligence in this era, possessing a vast amount of information about the time.

The two got along very well and each got what they wanted.

"I see. The pinnacle of pirates in this era is called the Four Emperors. Kaido and Linlin became the Four Emperors? But they also died in battle not long ago..." Zombie Rocks roughly heard some things about this era from Morgans.

It has to be said that times have changed.

The world order was vastly different in the time of Locke, which was four or five decades ago.

The number of pirates, the number of top-tier pirates, and the size of the World Government and the Navy are all much greater than in previous eras.