One Piece.
"Did you hear that? Hahahaha—black hole… black hole! My ability will definitely reach… hic… this level in the future!"
Blackbeard's wild laughter startled the seagulls on the ship's railing into flight. The deck groaned under his excited stomping. He raised his wine cup high, getting drunk with his subordinates. Acheron's words made his intoxication even stronger, and he gulped down two more bottles in one go.
"Cough cough… A black hole capable of devouring stars should belong to some Aeon, right?" Poison Q covered his mouth and coughed heavily, spitting a pool of dark red blood into his palm. "In other words, the upper limit of Teach's ability… is becoming an Aeon!"
"Roar roar, that's quite a bold guess…"
Blackbeard burped. The salty sea breeze sobered him up a bit. He knew clearly that the black hole he created with the Dark-Dark Fruit's power was fundamentally different from the star-devouring black hole, but if he could use the "gimmick" of the Black Hole Aeon to attract more people to join and strengthen the Blackbeard Pirates… it wasn't a bad idea.
However, saying he had no ambition to become an "Aeon" was completely impossible. The first step to achieving his current power, status, and strength was daring to dream.
If you don't even dare to think about it… then opportunity naturally won't favor you. After all, even a bug had the chance to become the Propagation Aeon, so why couldn't he? Would he really be worse than a bug?
"Hey, Kuzan." Blackbeard looked toward a tall, thin man drinking alone with a bottle not far away on the deck. "Do you think I have a chance… to become an Aeon?"
"…Maybe."
Kuzan tossed the words without turning his head, gazing at the distant sea, lost in his own thoughts.
"Tch! This bastard really is boring." Jesus Burgess glared at him dissatisfiedly, then looked at Blackbeard. "But if you want to become an Aeon, don't you have to step onto a Path first? Is there a [Black Hole] Path in this world?"
——
[White Day Dream Hotel, Acheron's room.]
[The phone rang again, but this time it was connected by an unfamiliar man's voice.]
["Long time no see! Are you having fun in Penacony—[Acheron]?"]
[(This voice… isn't the previous Constance. Is it her companion?)]
[Black Swan suddenly became interested. She didn't hang up and chose to continue listening.]
["Although I don't know what exactly you are or what you're planning… my bullet will find you soon—before that, you'd better hurry and find a coffin shop in Penacony and ask the boss to reserve a good quality one for yourself, impostor."]
[(Impostor? I see, she passed my whereabouts to another person tracking Acheron.)]
[Black Swan asked calmly: "Who are you?"]
[The other party: "Hmm? Did I dial wrong? Son of a— who the hell are you?"]
["I am a Memokeeper of the Garden of Recollection."]
[The other party's tone became extremely excited: "Whoa! Nice, I like tough ones like you. Are you that impostor's bodyguard? Or someone else? Never mind, doesn't matter. I'll leave a bullet for you too. Wash your forehead and wait."]
["I don't know what you're talking about—but you know Acheron, that Galaxy Ranger, right? I have something to ask you."]
["Haha, want me to help you write a will? Sure, go ahead."]
[Black Swan said unhurriedly: "It's not a will—I just want to ask you, how exactly did she 'become' a Galaxy Ranger? She isn't a Pathstrider of [The Hunt] at all. You are, right? Tell me, what exactly is Acheron's background."]
[The other party suddenly burst into hearty laughter: "…Hahahahaha, sure! Didn't expect an ally. Son of a gun, looks like I really hit the jackpot!"]
["I'll be arriving in Penacony soon, Memokeeper. Go buy a bottle of [Aesdana White Oak], warm it up, and I'll toast you. That woman's past? No one knows. But if you just want a simple answer, sure. You'd better put a chair under your ass first—that woman called Acheron—"]
["—is an 'Emanator that should not exist'."]
——
Teyvat.
"Son of a gun, Shinobu, you should give me this month's Mora for buying the Sacred Call of the Seven, right?"
"I'm saying… Boss, can you stop copying that?"
Kuki Shinobu helplessly rubbed her forehead. Every time she tried to make the boss learn something good from the Celestial Screen, like Miss Himeko's communication skills… he would just go play cards instead. But he picked up this weird verbal tic pretty quickly.
"But it really feels cool, Shinobu!" Itto said excitedly. "You can imagine that the man speaking is definitely a dashing guy who's no less than me. Maybe he's also from a gang?"
While the two were chatting, a gang member named Ashu returned dejectedly.
"Ashu? Shouldn't you be at the Tenryou Commission right now?"
Kuki Shinobu remembered that not long ago she had gone through a lot of trouble talking to the Tenryou Commission to get Ashu a simple job: helping them record characters and their factions that appeared on the Celestial Screen.
Seeing his dejected look, she guessed something had gone wrong.
"Ashu, did the Kujou Tengu bully you? That son of a— he dares to bully someone from the Arataki Gang?!" Arataki Itto immediately flew into a rage.
"That's not it, Boss. It's just that Black Swan mentioned that woman Acheron earlier… Shinobu said she wanted to check Acheron's information, and guess what? All the information about her has disappeared! It's like the place is haunted!"
"Disappeared?" Kuki Shinobu frowned.
"Yeah, it's really weird! My notes were clearly full, but the column about Acheron was completely blank! Not only that, all information related to [Acheron] has disappeared! And just now I couldn't even remember any information about her…" Ashu said pitifully. "…She said I was slacking and fired me in a fit of anger."
"…So did you slack off?"
Ashu shook his head like a rattle drum: "Absolutely not! Sister Shinobu, you can trust me on this. Also, that Acheron is a very, very strange person! It's not just me who can't remember—everyone in the Tenryou Commission has some memory loss about her! Some can't remember her experiences, some can't remember her face!"
"It's said that this matter has already been reported to the Shogun and the Guuji… I even suspect the Shogun and Lady Guuji can't remember either."
After Ashu explained, Kuki Shinobu finally realized that even her own knowledge of Acheron was very limited. Other than her appearance and her identity as an Emanator… everything else seemed blurred as if soaked in water. No matter how she recalled, there was only a vague shadow in her mind.
Although she couldn't recall more details, Kuki Shinobu's brows gradually relaxed.
"An 'Emanator that should not exist'… so that's how it is…"