Chapter 527: The First Generation Reappears, Lilith Projection
"What is it, First Generation? Did you come out just to hover there and stay quiet?"
Ryuunosuke tilted his head, eyes narrowing slightly.
"What happened when Ace came in?"
"I feel like that is something you would be very willing to tell me, right?"
As he spoke, Ryuunosuke took out the Yellow Springs Contract.
A surge of spiritual pressure burst out from the contract, rippling through the dried canyon like an invisible tide.
Something like this would have been enough to seriously damage the First Generation back at Eve's Root.
Ryuunosuke did not know if it would work the same way here, but at the very least, it was a reminder.
Even if he erased this soul completely, the First Generation had already proven it could appear elsewhere.
It would still serve as a deterrent.
"Ace?"
"Your younger brother?"
"He must have accepted Lilith's deal."
"But I do not know the exact details of that transaction, or what he had to give up."
"They call the result a blessing."
After taking a moment to calm himself, the First Generation spoke.
His gaze lingered on the Yellow Springs Contract in Ryuunosuke's hand.
That unsettling aura, combined with what Ryuunosuke had just said about killing the shadow that wielded the Spear of Longinus, made even the First Generation swallow unconsciously.
Even if souls did not need to breathe, that reaction slipped through.
"Blessing, huh…"
"Ace…"
Ryuunosuke paused.
From everything he had heard so far, that so called blessing did not sound like anything good.
"By the way, when Roger came here, did he also receive a blessing?"
Ryuunosuke pressed on.
"Roger?"
"You mean that young man who came decades ago?"
"I remember he not only received the blessing, he also obtained the right to go to another blessing point."
"What? Based on the people you have met so far, you should already have run into someone like that."
The First Generation looked puzzled.
In his understanding, this was basic knowledge.
Ryuunosuke had already reached Laugh Tale and walked all the way to this place.
He should have crossed paths with that man.
Why would he still need to ask?
Surely that man had not died right after receiving the blessing.
"I never met him."
"Shortly after he left here, he was captured by the Marines and then executed."
Ryuunosuke's voice was quiet.
"Executed?"
The First Generation frowned.
"I do not know if all of the Marines today are as ridiculous as you are."
"But none of the Marines I have encountered possessed power on the level of a Guardian."
"Let alone one qualified to execute such a special guardian."
It was clear he did not believe it.
Hearing that, a faint chill slipped down Ryuunosuke's spine.
Things were becoming more and more twisted.
Those he had thought were ignorant of the truth were now showing that they knew entirely too much.
On top of that, if the First Generation was right, then Roger had also received a blessing here and learned the location of his next destination.
"What exactly is this blessing?"
Ryuunosuke asked again. He did not bother hiding his curiosity.
He had heard the word several times already, but still did not know what it truly meant.
"Blessing?"
"You will feel it yourself soon."
"I will watch from the side. You should prepare."
The First Generation's tone turned light.
After saying that, he moved.
His form drifted over to the Poneglyph, where he sat down on top of the ancient stone, propped his chin on his hands, and openly stared at Ryuunosuke.
That gaze made Ryuunosuke's skin prickle.
This was exactly how people watched a show.
A low rumble shook the ground.
The dried roots that filled the canyon suddenly pulsed with life.
Veins bulged across the surface of the roots, like meridians inside a human body.
They twisted and intertwined, gradually sketching the outline of a human figure.
Streams of strange energy converged into those crude lines.
Within that framework, a body began to form.
A naked woman appeared atop the roots, as if she had grown out of the tree itself.
"The Green Infinity Stone… that aura belongs to the Green Infinity Stone."
Two familiar currents brushed against Ryuunosuke's senses.
One was life.
The other, creation.
The Infinity Stones were tied to them far more deeply than he had imagined.
"Believer, what is your choice?"
A gentle voice flowed into his mind.
There was no coercion, no obvious malice.
On the contrary, Ryuunosuke felt no rejection toward it at all.
It felt like a voice whispering directly to his heart.
"Believer?"
"Sorry. I am not one of your followers."
Ryuunosuke answered without hesitation.
The First Generation's expression turned amused.
No one could tell if he was laughing at Ryuunosuke, or at the thing that had just appeared.
The tree born body in front of him did not answer.
Instead, the meridian like lines continued to fill in, and the body became more solid.
A face took shape.
A face Ryuunosuke knew very well.
"The Uranus?"
"Imu?"
His pupils shrank.
The woman looked exactly like Imu.
Even the aura around her was similar.
"This is not the Uranus."
"It is a projection of Lilith."
"If you treat her like an idiot, you will pay dearly for that mistake."
The First Generation's voice cut in with a rare hint of seriousness.
Ryuunosuke focused his gaze on the Lilith projection in front of him.
The First Generation would not have spoken up for no reason.
Whatever this thing was, it was dangerous.
"Believer, the fact that you could reach this place proves that you and I share an inseparable bond."
"Everyone in this world is my child."
"Come. Let Mother show you how vast this world truly is."
The Lilith projection clasped her hands together and smiled gently.
The moment her words fell, the scenery around Ryuunosuke shifted.
The canyon under his feet began to rise.
No, his perspective was pulling away.
The sea shrank beneath him.
Soon, even the entire planet came into view.
The world of One Piece.
Earth.
The dull glow of the moon loomed closer and closer behind it.
"This is… an illusion?"
Ryuunosuke was momentarily stunned.
With his mental strength, with the spiritual power granted by the system, with the Rinnegan, and after absorbing the soul power of that shadow earlier, he had still been dragged into this so easily.
That should not have been possible.
"This is not an illusion."
"It is a real recording space."
"Watch carefully. The origin of this world may be hidden here."
The First Generation appeared beside him again, smiling faintly.
With that eerie smile floating at the edge of his vision, Ryuunosuke's expression darkened.
Even now, he could not figure out what the First Generation truly wanted.
At first, he had assumed it was just a remnant soul yearning for a body, something that had even considered possessing Shirahoshi.
But now, to find it here of all places, at Lilith's root…
How could a simple remnant soul linger here for so long?
Was his identity really only Joy Boy?
A thunderous roar split the sky.
Ryuunosuke snapped out of his thoughts.
A colossal Spear of Longinus stretched across the heavens, its tip aimed straight at Lilith, who had just dragged him into this so called space.
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