Carl's lips curled into a faint smile as he said,
"You're absolutely right. Equality is the greatest joke of all. Even in a world ruled by the Infinite Tsukuyomi, those at the top would still exist."
"Infinite Tsukuyomi? What's that?"
"A world where people can live forever inside their fantasies until their physical bodies in reality perish — and with them, that dream world collapses too."
"Interesting... where did you learn about such things?"
"Heh... Lily, you should know well enough. You've heard the story about how I was once thrown away like trash into the hunting grounds at the Valley of Gods, haven't you?"
At his words, Lily gave a slight nod. No matter what, Carl was still a direct descendant of the Figarland family — one of the few things back then that had actually caught her attention, especially given how he had "suddenly died."
With her power, uncovering the truth behind it had been child's play. Nothing that Darian did could escape her notice.
Back then, her verdict on Carl's situation had been simple:
"So even the Figarland family has fallen this far."
She had thought that was the end of it. But what happened afterward had truly taken her by surprise.
The boy who had been tortured to death by Darian and discarded like garbage on a slave ship to the Valley of Gods... somehow, Carl survived. Not only that, but he managed to obtain the long-lost Dark-Dark Fruit that had once belonged to the Figarland family, right there in that battlefield teeming with monsters. On top of that, he even knew how to use the powers of the Paw-Paw Fruit to escape with his life!
And to think, Carl had only been six years old at the time!
A six-year-old child — pampered from birth as a Celestial Dragon — accomplishing all that? It was nothing short of impossible.
From that day on, Lily had quietly kept tabs on Carl's movements. From Sorbet Kingdom to his enlistment in the Navy, she had been watching. She had seen, step by step, how the boy who'd started at rock bottom in the Valley of Gods rose to become what he was now.
As these memories resurfaced, Lily felt a moment of daze. Even her simmering hatred faded temporarily into the background.
She stared deep into Carl's eyes and asked,
"Are you really the same Carl from back then? I mean, the son of the Figarland family — Figarland Carl?"
A ripple passed through Carl's gaze. He slowly closed his eyes and replied softly,
"Of course. I'm still myself. But during that time... I had a very long dream."
"Can you tell me about this dream? What kind of dream could change you so much?"
"In that dream, I spent over twenty years living the life of an ordinary person in another world. The humans there were weak, but their entertainment industry was incredibly developed. They even had stories whose plots mirrored the path this world would take. I watched those stories unfold... I saw Luffy — or rather, Joy Boy — causing chaos in the future. But at the time, I dismissed it all as nonsense."
"Still, dreams eventually end. When I woke up, I found myself in the Valley of Gods. Thanks to the knowledge from that dream, I knew there were powerful Devil Fruits scattered across the battlefield. At first, all I dared hope for was the Paw-Paw Fruit — because not only was it strong, but it was the only Fruit that could let someone as insignificant as I was back then escape from that living hell."
Lily nodded in agreement and said,
"You chose wisely. But there's one thing I don't understand. Garling was there at the time too, and he noticed you. Couldn't he have protected you?"
Carl let out a faint chuckle and replied,
"I already said it — back then, I was no different from an ant. Any stray shockwave from those battles could have crushed me to dust. With so many factions clashing, even Garling-san couldn't guarantee my safety."
"Besides, there's another key point — I had just awakened then. My memories were in disarray. I had even forgotten my true identity. All I could think about was escaping from that battlefield — that purgatory."
"...Amnesia, huh? No wonder," Lily muttered, her tone softening. "According to Saturn, the human experiments Darian conducted on you were particularly cruel. The fact that you even survived that long was already a miracle. But looking at you now... I'd say it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. With the innate talents from both the Lunarian and Mink, plus the enhancement from Green Blood, you've become... well, a monster."
Carl chuckled lightly,
"Yeah, life has its ups and downs. I nearly died because of it, though. The world would've completely forgotten there ever was a Celestial Dragon named Carl — like a speck of dust too small to notice."
Lily couldn't help but sigh,
"But now, you've become the ruler of this world. Even Joy Boy fell at your hands. Without you, he would have escaped yet again."
Carl shot her a sidelong glance and said,
"Lily, no offense, but if I really had died back in the Valley of Gods, you wouldn't have stood a chance against Joy Boy when he revived. In the end, the world would've fallen right back into his hands — back to square one."
Lily's brows knitted together, a hint of displeasure flashing across her face.
"Do you take me for a fool? You think I've been napping these past eight hundred years? The Holy Knights, the Navy, all those factions big and small — I built them all myself."
Carl nodded slightly,
"True. You did a fine job at first. But after that? You let things slide, didn't you? Take the Celestial Dragons outside — as descendants of the original twenty, they naturally enjoy supreme status and privilege. But even so, isn't their rampant debauchery getting a little out of hand?"
Lily sneered, her face full of disdain,
"Carl, don't tell me you expect me to care about the feelings of those lowly peasants?"
"In the end, they're just resources to be used. But they're still useful. At the very least, you can't let Joy Boy get his hands on them. You know his power. If he turns those 'resources' into his strength, he'll become unstoppable. If that happens — even with your incomplete Empty Throne mark and all the World Government's might combined — you wouldn't be able to stop him."
Lily's expression darkened, her eyes flickering with contemplation. Carl pressed on,
"Still, I'll give you credit. You did treat the descendants of those twenty clans with... let's call it benevolence. You've maintained that for over eight hundred years. That's no small feat."
At that, Lily let out a cold laugh,
"And how did they repay me? By secretly joining forces to imprison me here for eight hundred years? If I'd known it would come to this, I would've wiped out their entire bloodlines — maybe left only the Figarland family alive."
...
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+140 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg