Those who had suffered genocide later turned their wrath upon those who had once helped them, committing genocide in return.
"Perhaps this is why they were expelled and wiped out along the Grand Line?"
Empress Yelena leaned over the chaotic town below. A faint trace of irony appeared on her normally calm face. "After all, they are a petty, self-righteous, and despicable people."
Then, she turned her gaze back toward Louis. Her crimson eyes met his, and she asked, "Across the vast ocean, is there any race more despicable than the Jacob Kingdom?"
Yelena had never left her land in her lifetime. Judging by her current condition, she might never leave.
Yet, before her time came, she wanted to understand the wider world.
"Yes," Louis replied, nodding. Although the birth rate in this kingdom surprised him, the people here still had some distance to cover before they could rival the Celestial Dragons.
Both sides possessed extraordinary abilities, but in terms of lineage, the Celestial Dragons the rulers of the world were far more reviled.
"Who?" Yelena asked with mild curiosity.
It was a casual question. With her limited understanding, she could not imagine any existence lower than the Jacobs.
Louis turned toward the ocean, his gaze piercing through the endless waters. His eyes rested meaningfully on a city along the Red Line. "The Celestial Dragons."
"Celestial…?" Yelena considered his deep gaze and nodded thoughtfully.
She had never heard of the Celestial Dragons.
Yet the expression in Louis's eyes was one she knew all too well.
The same look she and her people had once cast upon the Jacob Kingdom.
After a moment of thought, Yelena gave Louis a gentle smile, the same one she used to comfort her people: "As long as our tribe and our family are here, supporting each other, everything will be alright."
"The fall of a homeland does not mean the loss of roots. Wherever people care for you, that is your home."
Louis was taken aback and stared at her in surprise.
"You…" Louis opened his mouth to say something, but then frowned, directing his attention toward the place where Yelena's tribe lived several kilometers away.
"Is someone pursuing us?"
Through his advanced Observation Haki, Louis detected a strong figure who had brushed past him in the storm, now mingling with Yelena's tribe.
What Louis could not understand was that the two sides were not in conflict; they seemed to… be embracing?
"That figure who looks like Garp… is he a guest?" Louis asked, noting Yelena's confused expression.
She was perplexed as well; she had lived here for over a decade and had never seen any visitors.
Yet this change stirred caution in her heart. She dropped the sea beast she had been dragging and ran madly toward her home.
Seeing this, Louis paused for a moment before flapping his wings and following.
Even for the terminally ill Empress Yelena, the distance of several kilometers was manageable.
She reached the village entrance, her mind blank as she watched her elders converse kindly with the red-haired man before her.
Louis hovered hundreds of meters above, wings beating, ready to descend at a moment's notice.
As he observed the red-haired man in a white shirt and straw hat, his eyes widened with surprise.
"So it's not Garp?"
"That's right. He is one of the few people who could appear in the East Blue at this time."
The man before them, with short red hair and a kind face, stubble on his chin, exuded no authority. He was none other than the future Emperor of the Sea, Red-Haired Shanks.
Louis then recalled the most powerful tribesmen of Skypiea and realized a flaw in his earlier reasoning.
If this man were only slightly weaker than Garp, he would have already rushed to Mariejois to play the role of a bomb expert given his personality.
As Louis and Empress Yelena observed Shanks, Shanks and his companions were also studying them.
Shanks's gaze first fell upon the black demonic horns atop Yelena's head, a flicker of curiosity in his eyes. Seeing Louis's attire stirred a sense of nostalgia.
For a moment, the atmosphere became slightly tense.
After some time, a middle-aged man beside Shanks sensed the oddity and quickly explained:
"Your Majesty Yelena, Shanks is the one who helped us destroy the Jacob Kingdom's army years ago. They are not our enemies!"
Yelena was stunned. Her grandfather had indeed mentioned that years ago, a group of pirates had aided the Canaan clan, allowing them to reclaim the plains and thrive.
But it had all been in vain; many had perished when the recently deceased king returned.
The middle-aged man turned to Shanks and continued, "Young Master Shanks, Empress Yelena is the child born when the princess returned from the Grand Line."
Hearing this, Shanks's eyes lit up with realization. "I see…"
"Destroyed the Jacob army…" Louis murmured, deep in thought.
He knew little about the original One Piece story; most of his knowledge came from derivative works and fan interpretations.
Yet one fact stood out: Roger had been repeatedly mentioned as destroying a kingdom's army after provocations against his crew.
Louis refocused, staring at the city on the plains. "If a nation acts this way, it makes sense that Roger's crew destroyed them."
After a moment of contemplation, Louis folded his wings and descended slowly, scanning the figures behind the red-haired man.
A chubby man in green chewed on a thick bone, a young man with a ponytail had a pistol at his waist and a toothpick in his mouth.
A tall, muscular man with serrated teeth, and someone carrying a child named Marcella, moved casually with bags of varying sizes.
None of them displayed the aura of pirates worth over a billion berries.
They shared one trait: they looked like insignificant figures at sea, lacking the fearsome aura they would possess a decade later.
A few of them noticed Louis's gaze and smiled in return.
Louis stepped back a few paces, overwhelmed by their enthusiasm.
Yet the culprits themselves were oblivious, exchanging glances and laughing heartily.
"This is insane…" Louis thought. These people were courting trouble…
The laughter caught the attention of Shanks and Yelena.
Shanks turned and smiled at his companions. "Put everything down, we're having a feast!"
"Whoa!!" The word "feast" lit up everyone's eyes. They howled like a pack of huskies.
Louis was convinced that their way of thinking was… unusual.
Shanks's voice rang out again: "Young man from Bal, come join us! I really miss my friends from Bal."
"…"
"??"
Louis's eyes widened, his face full of astonishment.