As Yamamoto Mei had said, Rouge was, after all, a gentle woman.
She had defied nature itself to carry Roger's child for twenty long months, enduring a burden no ordinary body should have borne. In the end, her strength had failed her. The child, too, had perished—and the price she paid was unimaginably heavy.
Faced with that reality, it almost felt inevitable that she would choose this path.
Rather than allow more innocent lives to be lost at Jaeger's hands, she sacrificed herself—and the child she never got to hold.
"I thought you'd come out sooner," Jaeger's voice echoed through the den den Mushi, lighthearted yet steeped in venom. "Had you stepped forward earlier, perhaps the Rose Kingdom wouldn't have been reduced to ruins. Don't you think so?"
From the other end, Rouge replied calmly. Her voice was cold, yet traces of her natural gentleness still lingered.
"It's my fault. What's been done can't be undone. All I can do now is stand up and face the consequences. I believe… Roger would have agreed with my choice."
She fell silent.
The weight behind those words hung heavily in the air.
Beside her, Stussy and Vice Admiral Strawberry stood without a word. Rouge's face was streaked with dried tears, her once-clear eyes hollow and lifeless—emptied by despair.
Her life no longer held meaning.
It wasn't that she cherished it any less. On the contrary—because she cared, because she remembered the screams of those who died and the child she carried within her, her heart had already shattered beyond repair.
Had she not witnessed the devastation herself, she might have clung to the illusion that the Navy could protect the innocent.
But she had seen it.
She had seen the black thunder tear through the sky and sea alike.
And with that sight came understanding.
If she did not step forward, Jaeger—the Celestial Dragon—would not stop. The South Sea itself would be wiped clean.
Jaeger was no mere villain.
He was a monster.
A butcher who treated countless lives as disposable.
So, in the end, Rouge chose to end her suffering by walking willingly toward it.
Perhaps, once she was gone, her family might finally reunite.
If such solace still existed in this broken world.
"Bring her here, Stussy," Jaeger's voice rang out once more, casual—as though ordering tea.
"Yes, Saint Jaeger," Stussy replied obediently.
She ended the call and turned toward Rouge, her gaze lingering with open curiosity—almost playful.
Rouge's long blonde-pink hair fell gently over her shoulders. Her figure was slender and well-proportioned, her features soft and delicate. Light freckles dotted her face, lending her a quiet charm that contrasted sharply with her cruel fate.
Everything about her—her looks, her demeanor, even her simple clothing—spoke of innocence.
She resembled the kind of girl who belonged in a peaceful slice-of-life anime.
Life, however, had not shown her the slightest kindness.
Stussy knew the story well enough.
Rouge had met Gol D. Roger, loved him… and lost him far too soon. Now, because Jaeger had set his sights on her, she was being dragged toward a future more terrifying than death itself.
A woman like her had no place in Jaeger's world.
"…Why are you looking at me like that?" Rouge asked, uneasily breaking the silence.
Her brow furrowed. "Shouldn't you hurry? Take me there already. Publicly execute me… let the world see the Pirate King's wife meet her end."
"Public execution?" Stussy blinked—then burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! You're surprisingly funny!"
Rouge frowned, bewildered.
So innocent… she really thought Jaeger would bother staging a righteous spectacle.
Amid the laughter, a tiny knot of fear in Rouge's heart loosened.
Had she misunderstood?
"Haah…" Vice Admiral Strawberry sighed quietly, shaking his head.
He'd seen Jaeger's madness up close.
If Rouge believed this would end with a clean execution, then she was gravely mistaken.
Her surrender, broadcast to the world, brought a collective sigh of relief. At least the Rose Kingdom had been spared—for now.
But that relief didn't last.
Curiosity spread instead.
What did the Pirate King's wife look like?
Was she ordinary… or breathtaking?
"Whoever she is, she has to die."
"That's right. Roger's family shouldn't be allowed to live."
"This is justice."
Those voices grew louder by the day—especially throughout the South Sea. Resentment festered. People questioned why she had hidden there, why she hadn't vanished into the New World or any other sea.
To them, she was a curse.
A living reminder of their suffering.
And so, when Jaeger's fleet arrived near the island of Barmoslila, it didn't take long for the world to finally see her.
"This… is the Pirate King's wife?"
Shock rippled through the ship.
"She's beautiful… but… that's it?"
They had expected majesty. Power. Someone worthy of Roger's legend.
Instead, standing before them was a young, pregnant woman—gentle, lovely, heartbreakingly ordinary.
The kind of woman you'd pass on the street without a second glance.
The kind of woman no one would ever expect to carry such tragedy.
Meanwhile, within the chat group, Miyuki Uchiha was growing visibly agitated.
Miyuki Uchiha: "Ahhh!!"
Miyuki Uchiha: "Damn it… I really envy His Highness Jaeger!"
Sakura Tohsaka: "…Miyuki-san, why do you always sound so terrifying when you say things like that?"
Erina Nakiri: "Wait—this woman is the Pirate King's wife?"
Kasumigaoka Utaha: "…Seeing her like this really stirs up that primal protective instinct men can't get rid of."
Luo Hao: "You'd all better prepare yourselves. The real battle hasn't even started."
Yamamoto Mei: "Yeah. I would go up against the Golden Lion."
Esdeath: "Hmph. I'm ready to face the Dark King Rayleigh."
Jibril: "Hmm. Jaeger and I really are similar. He collects powerful trophies… I collect the heads of the strong. Though I suppose he prefers collecting their wives instead."
Erina Nakiri: "Pfft—when you put it like that!"
Kasumigaoka Utaha: "…Crude, but accurate. A textbook example of a World Noble being a scumbag."
Jaeger let out a quiet chuckle at Utaha's comment.
For some reason, he found himself unusually tolerant of this girl's teasing—despite her habit of assigning him increasingly disrespectful nicknames. Still, trivial banter meant little right now.
Because the woman who truly held his attention stood directly before him.
Portgas D. Rouge.
Widow of the late Pirate King.
Jaeger's voice was cold, devoid of even the faintest warmth.
"Portgas D. Rouge," he commanded.
"Kneel."
Rouge's body stiffened. A flash of humiliation flickered across her face—but she did not resist.
She had already prepared herself.
Slowly, she lowered herself to her knees.
Jaeger's lips curled into a satisfied smile.
"Good."
But, of course, he wasn't finished.
His next order came without pause.
"Crawl to me."
A visible tremor ran through Rouge's body. For a moment, she seemed unable to breathe. Words failed her.
Yet instinct overpowered shame.
As if shielding the child in her womb, she lowered herself and began crawling forward—every movement a fresh wound to her dignity. She had already accepted death; pride meant nothing anymore.
Still… it hurt.
Far away, in the New World, Whitebeard and his crew watched the live broadcast, their expressions burning with fury.
Whitebeard's face darkened.
"That bastard…" he growled.
"To insult Roger's wife like that!"
Rage erupted from him uncontrollably. His fist slammed into the sea, the power of the Gura Gura no Mi detonating beneath the waves and sending massive shockwaves rippling outward.
Marco, Jozu, and the other division commanders seethed. Every one of them cursed Jaeger openly, unable to accept the sight of a pregnant woman being humiliated without mercy.
Yet not all eyes watched with anger.
In a shadowed corner of the world, Blackbeard stared at the broadcast, envy and ambition twisting together in his gaze.
"So this is what Celestial Dragons can do…" Teach muttered, hatred swirling in his narrowed eyes.
"That kind of power… I need it. I need that Dark Fruit."
Deep beneath the ocean's surface, Rayleigh—who had been holding himself back—finally snapped.
Veins bulged across his forehead, his face flushed red with rage.
"That bastard…!"
"To humiliate Roger's wife?!"
His grip tightened around his sword.
High above, ten thousand meters in the sky, the Golden Lion watched everything unfold with a crooked grin.
"So the Celestial Dragon chooses humiliation over execution…" Shiki mused, amusement flickering in his eyes.
"…Interesting. This works in my favor."
He chuckled softly.
"I'll make sure Roger truly understands the value of allies."
"If only he'd accepted my invitation back then…"
What Shiki didn't know...
Was that Roger was already dead.
Executed by Jaeger in Impel Down.
The Pirate King, once a legend that shook the seas, had already been reduced to nothing more than another trophy.
Back before Jaeger, Rouge finally reached him. She collapsed at his feet, breath uneven, sweat glistening on her brow.
She looked broken.
And yet—hidden behind her exhaustion—there was still fire in her eyes.
Jaeger studied her in silence before speaking.
"You're more obedient than I expected," he remarked calmly.
"Not at all like you were before your surrender."
Rouge said nothing.
Her face was expressionless, but her suffering was unmistakable. Every second felt like her soul was being crushed. The only thing she still clung to was the child within her.
Jaeger's gaze drifted downward—to her swollen belly.
"This is your precious child, isn't it?"
He leaned closer, his voice dropping into something far colder.
"Tell me… would you like your child to live?"
"To grow up as a slave of the Celestial Dragons—chained, branded, and forced to exist in darkness?"
Rouge's eyes widened.
Her face flushed hot with fury.
Those words tore deeper than any blade ever could. That child was everything to her—and Jaeger knew it.
Hate surged uncontrollably in her chest.
Jaeger smiled.
Slowly, he reached out, lifting her chin with his fingers.
"That expression," he said softly.
"That's the one I wanted to see."
His thumb brushed her skin as he bent down—pressing his lips against hers in a kiss filled with mockery, ownership, and absolute dominance.
Tears welled in Rouge's eyes.
She didn't resist.
She couldn't.
Her body was too weak to do anything but endure.
"Good girl," Jaeger whispered, clearly amused.
Across the world, silence fell.
What they had just witnessed shattered every illusion they still held.
High above, the Golden Lion laughed quietly, anticipation gleaming in his eyes.
He waited eagerly for the moment Roger—
or what remained of him—would finally be forced to acknowledge the value of an alliance with Shiki.
Meanwhile, Rayleigh's fury continued to boil over. He had no intention of letting that insult stand.
Sword already in hand, the Dark King was done waiting.
Watching his closest friend's wife be humiliated like that made something snap inside him—he was far too hard… pressed, to keep containing his rage any longer. If he restrained himself now, then the title Dark King of the Sea meant nothing.
"Celestial Dragon brat," Rayleigh roared, his voice cracking like thunder,
"you will pay for this!"
In a single fluid motion, he drew his sword fully.
The blade flashed.
Sea water burst upward as Rayleigh shot forward, power erupting from his frame. His eyes were locked onto Jaeger—burning with killing intent so dense it seemed to bend the air around him.
"Die, you bastard!"
With a furious roar, Rayleigh swung his blade, the strike aimed straight for Jaeger's heart—absolute, merciless, and without a shred of hesitation.
"Red Spider Lily—!!"
The moment the attack was unleashed, the atmosphere screamed. Space itself shuddered as the sword tore through it, carrying decades of rage, loyalty, and regret straight toward its target.
•••
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