Jason remained silent as Garp walked away.
He didn't answer, didn't smile, didn't show any reaction.
He just watched.
But inside… he was laughing.
"Heroes fall… monsters too…"
What a foolish phrase.
Words of a man who still thinks like a human.
Who believes in balance, in blind justice, in legends dying to inspire the next generation.
Heroes, monsters… idols, legends...
Those labels only matter to those still clinging to this reality.
To those who still think small.
To those who are still human.
Garp spoke as if this war were a clash of titans.
As if Jason were just another piece on the board.
But Garp didn't know.
Garp… hadn't understood.
This world isn't a battlefield.
It's a playground.
Jason turned slowly, walking toward the casino window, from where he could see the movement at the harbor — the Navy ships, the uniformed sailors — all of them believing they were part of something greater.
That they were making history.
But the truth?
They were ants.
And Jason… wasn't a king.
He was a god.
Not like the Celestial Dragons — worms who call themselves gods while crawling behind walls of gold and blood.
But a real god.
Forged in wars that would make this entire planet weep.
Shaped by chaos, by creation, by the death of stars and the rise of kingdoms built from pure concept.
He could annihilate every so-called "strong" being in this universe in a single day.
Admirals? Mere statistics.
Yonkous? Just piles of powerful meat.
Imu?
Jason let out a low chuckle.
"The only reason she's still breathing… is because I found out she's a hot, busty redhead."
He had more interesting plans for her than death.
In truth, Jason didn't take the World Government that seriously.
They were just decoration for the stage he had chosen to perform on.
Even better...
With a mere snap of his fingers, he could rewrite this entire reality.
Reality manipulation — the supreme power he had acquired after absorbing the co-author's gifts — was now at his fingertips.
With a thought, he could make all kneel.
Turn Celestial Dragons into stray dogs.
Trade oceans for deserts.
Give Luffy a peaceful life as a baker in East Blue.
But he didn't.
Because he wanted to fight. To grow. To challenge himself.
Because even as a god, he chose to play this game on hard mode.
Why?
Because, deep down, creating and destroying is easy.
The hard part is mastering chaos and still smiling.
The hard part is winning without playing every card.
The hard part is making the journey fun.
When he's done having fun with this world, DC and Marvel will be next — the lucky ones to be graced by his existence.
For now, he was taking it slow, conquering his future women and giving them a happy life.
==
As the meeting between Garp and Jason came to an end, Monkey D. Luffy continued his frantic sprint, leaving a trail of chaos behind him in Impel Down. His goal was clear: descend to the deepest levels of the prison to save his brother, Portgas D. Ace.
In the middle of the confusion, Luffy ran into an old acquaintance: Buggy the Clown.
The former crewmate of the Pirate King had been escaping from his cell when he caught the live broadcast of Jason — and was absolutely stunned by everything that man had done in a single afternoon. His eyes widened when he recognized Ace, that cocky brat who once crashed his party and devoured half his banquet. Learning that Ace was the son of Gol D. Roger, his former captain, only deepened the shock.
As he tried to come up with a plan to escape, Buggy ran straight into Luffy, who was dashing past the brutal Blugoris like it was just another day in his life.
One thing led to another, and before they knew it, Buggy and Luffy were descending through the levels of Impel Down together.
And no — it definitely wasn't just because of the bracelet with the treasure map of the legendary Captain John strapped to Luffy's wrist...
"Hey, Straw Hat," Buggy asked, glancing sideways as they ran, "you and that Jason guy — are you friends?"
He had seen the three of them together at the start of the broadcast — Luffy, Rayleigh, and Jason.
Jason's indifference when Kuma wiped out the Straw Hats had bothered him at the time, but now, with a clearer head, Buggy understood: maybe Jason knew that group, the way it was, would be crushed in the New World.
Buggy might not have been the strongest...
But he had lived among legends.
And he could recognize a power gap when he saw one.
The Straw Hats… they weren't ready for what was coming.
"Jason?" Luffy replied with a carefree laugh.
"Hehehe, he's the one who sent me here! Opened some crazy portal on an island and poof — next thing I knew, I was down here chasing after Ace!"
Luffy laughed loudly as if that were the most normal thing in the world, not even mentioning the fact that Jason hadn't lifted a finger when his crew vanished.
Maybe, deep down, Luffy knew — or was beginning to realize — that it had been necessary.
That it wasn't the right time.
That in a world of titans, his crew was still just a breeze in the middle of the storm.
Buggy and Luffy kept chatting as they descended through the prison levels, side by side — or rather, with Buggy floating just ahead, his eyes locked onto and gleaming with greed at the shining bracelet strapped to Luffy's wrist.
It was the map to the legendary treasure of Captain John… and it was so close.
Behind them, the brutish Blugoris were in hot pursuit, swinging their massive axes, but neither of them seemed to care much.
They simply ran faster — one driven by greed, the other by stu– enthusiasm.
"Hehehe… the moment I snatch that bracelet, I'm bailing out of here on my own," Buggy thought, grinning to himself.
"The world outside's gone to hell ever since that damned Jason started stirring things up. No way I'm getting caught in all that — especially not stuck next to this airheaded Straw Hat. He's just gonna drag me deeper into chaos."
So absorbed in his treacherous thoughts, Buggy didn't notice the corridor suddenly split into a fork — one path to the left, one to the right.
With no time to react, he slammed back-first into the solid stone wall.
The impact knocked the air from his lungs with a nasty, hollow sound, and he slid down through the air like a deflated balloon.
Luffy stopped behind him, eyes sparkling with that unique brand of logic only he could possess.
"Ahhh! I get it!" he cracked his knuckles with a radiant smile. "You mean we should go straight ahead, right? That's genius, Buggy!"
Buggy, still groaning in pain, looked up with wide eyes and frantically waved his hands.
"H-hey! T-that's not what I—"
BOOOOOM!
Too late.
Luffy punched Buggy square in the stomach with full force, launching the clown like a missile through the wall — and the next one, and the one after that.
Buggy became a projectile of blue hair and red nose, crashing through everything in his path like history's first living battering ram.
Luffy calmly followed through the newly made holes, smiling as if he'd just discovered a brilliant shortcut.
On the other side, Buggy lay sprawled on the floor, eyes red and watery, trembling, unable to even cry.
The pain was just too much.
"... I... hate... that kid..." he murmured in a shaky voice, spitting out a tooth.
==
Impel Down — Level 6.
In the heart of the hell of justice, where forgotten names rotted in silence, the air felt lighter than usual.
Muffled laughter and whispers echoed between the cells — distant reflections of the storm outside.
Jason had turned the world upside down.
Pirates spoke, through bars and chains, about the political massacre shaking the foundations of the World Government, the parade of truths thrown into the wind, and even the infamous "One Piece Beauty List."
But what truly consumed the level was a single name: Ace.
And an image.
That image.
Roger, smiling with disarmed pride, holding a baby in his arms while Rouge — her face tired, but happy — embraced him in a final farewell.
A scene that had never happened.
A lie crafted by Jason — or perhaps, an alternate truth from a world that was never allowed to exist.
Ace remained silent, curled up in the corner of his cell, elbows on his knees, head lowered.
Jinbei watched him quietly.
The young pirate was no longer just anger, just pain, just fury.
Now, there was… silence.
A kind of silence that screamed on the inside.
Ace shut his eyes tightly.
That image was still burned into the back of his mind like a scar.
A version of life where he was just… a son. Nothing more.
"Tch…"
He clenched his fists.
"Why does that image get to me so much? It's just a lie. A picture painted by a man I don't even know."
But… if it really was a lie, why did it hurt more than the truth?
Why did seeing his mother's face, with that smile… make him feel something he'd never felt before?
Love?
Ace narrowed his eyes. No. He hated Roger. He still hated him.
The Pirate King had abandoned him. Made Rouge suffer.
Left him with a name the world would never let him forget.
And yet… that scene, with the three of them together…
"Children should not carry the sins of their parents."
Roger's voice echoed once more in his mind.
"Easy for you to say…" he thought, his eyes now fixed on the stone ceiling above.
"But what if the world only sees your name on my face?"
Jinbei took a deep breath.
He didn't need to say anything.
He knew Ace was fighting the worst kind of battle — the one against himself.
And outside, Jason continued to turn the world on its head —
making even the prisoners of Level 6 dream of things they had never allowed themselves to feel.