One Piece: The sky is azure, I just time-traveled today.

Page 20

“Kapp, he reappeared a few days ago,” he said. “He’s been loitering in the nearby waters.”

Rouge trembled again upon hearing Garp's name. That naval hero…

“He might be an option,” Liu Jiu continued, his tone flat, as if analyzing something unrelated to himself. “Give the child to him.”

"What?!" Rouge exclaimed in shock, almost jumping out of bed. "Give it to the Navy?! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

That's Roger's child! Handing him over to the Navy is tantamount to sending him to his death!

“Karp and Roger are friends,” Liu Jiu interrupted her agitation, his voice still calm. “He won’t kill this child.”

Rouge was stunned, staring at Liu Jiu in disbelief. Garp and Roger were acquainted? How could that be?

Liu Jiu did not explain the source of the intelligence, but continued, "Based on some information, it is highly likely that Garp will not take the child back to the Navy, but may hand him over to... mountain bandits to raise."

Mountain bandits? Rouge was even more confused.

“We can use this.” Liu Jiu looked at her, his eyes calm and unwavering. “You will die once.”

Rouge's pupils contracted sharply.

“Fake your death to fool Garp and the Navy. Make them think the child is an orphan, and then take him away,” Liu Jiu explained his plan. “Then, you change your identity, secretly follow them, and live nearby. You can secretly take care of the child.”

This plan is bold, even somewhat fanciful.

But as Rouge listened, her wildly beating heart strangely began to calm down a little.

He faked his death... letting Garp take Ace away... while he secretly followed...

This seems to be the only way for Ace to escape danger without being completely separated from her child in this desperate situation.

Once exposed, there will be no hope of redemption.

She looked at Liu Jiu, the man who had come up with such a crazy plan. His face remained expressionless, as if he were simply asking what to eat for dinner.

But for some reason, looking into his terrifyingly calm eyes, Rouge felt a sliver of...trust.

A desperate trust built upon his silent yet reliable protection over the past month.

She looked down at Ace, who was fast asleep in her arms, and gently stroked his soft baby hair with her fingers.

For this child...

She took a deep breath, and when she looked up again, her eyes were as firm as Liu Jiu's, even carrying a kind of do-or-die determination.

"……it is good."

"What do you need me to do?"

The plan unfolded in silence.

Like a true ghost, Liu Jiu moved through the Navy's tight blockade, delivering an extremely cryptic and clearly targeted message to Garp through an inconspicuous channel.

The message pointed directly to a remote woodland on Battleyra Island and included the message, "Please take care of Roger's children."

He did it flawlessly, leaving no trace that could be investigated.

Then came the waiting.

The atmosphere in the shelter grew even more tense. Rouge held Ace, rehearsing the next scene in her mind over and over again, her gaze sometimes firm, sometimes unfocused. Liu Jiu, on the other hand, remained in the corner, like a dormant rock, his aura completely concealed.

The third day at dusk.

Heavy, undisguised footsteps approached from afar, shattering the silence of the woodland. Each step carried immense force, causing the ground to tremble slightly.

Liu Jiuyin watched from the shadows as the burly old man, draped in a naval justice coat and with a complex and indescribable expression, strode toward the entrance of the shelter.

He did indeed come alone.

Karp stopped before the disguised entrance, his sharp gaze sweeping across the surroundings, his brow furrowed. He seemed to sense something, but couldn't quite place it. Finally, he reached out and roughly tore away the vines used as a cover, revealing a dark, gaping hole.

Without the slightest hesitation, he bent down and crawled inside.

Inside the shelter, the light from the grease lamps was dimmer than usual, flickering and casting distorted shadows.

Rouge lay on the bed, her face a near-transparent pale white, her lips cracked, and her breathing so faint it was almost imperceptible. Her eyes were tightly closed, as if she had lost consciousness. Ace was held tightly in her arms, mostly covered by swaddling clothes, with only a small part of his profile visible.

The entire space was filled with a strong, unsettling smell of blood mixed with herbs.

Garp stopped at the entrance.

He looked at the woman on the bed, barely breathing, and the tiny swaddled baby in her arms, and the muscles in his face twitched violently. In his eyes, which had weathered countless storms, there surged shock, anger, helplessness, and a trace of... barely perceptible sorrow.

He recognized Rouge. Roger's woman.

He also saw the child.

The bloodline of the Pirate King.

He walked step by step to the bedside, his heavy footsteps echoing in the silent basement.

Rouge seemed to be startled by the footsteps. Her eyelashes trembled a few times, and she opened her eyes with great difficulty and slowness.

Her eyes were unfocused and unfocused, as if she was using a lot of effort to barely make out Karp standing in front of the bed.

She showed no panic, no fear, and didn't even question anything.

She just stared at him quietly, her eyes vacant, carrying a sense of desolation after life had burned out.

Then, her gaze slowly moved down and landed on Ace in her arms. In that empty gaze, an indescribable, maternal tenderness and reluctance instantly filled her.

With her last ounce of strength, she pressed Ace closer to her chest.

The movements were subtle, yet carried a heart-stirring resolve.

She didn't say a word to Karp.

There was no pleading, no entrustment.

With this final gesture, she silently declared her love and protection for the child.

Then, her arms fell limply to her sides.

Eyes slowly closed.

The last faint breath ceased.

She is "dead".

In the final moments of her life, she portrayed a pitiful mother who gave birth to her child with all her might and ultimately died from exhaustion.

Garp stood still, motionless.

He looked at the lifeless woman on the bed, and the baby in her arms who seemed to be wriggling and whimpering because of the loss of its mother's embrace.

He let out an extremely heavy sigh, as if he had aged considerably in an instant.

He bent down and gently lifted the swaddled baby out of Lu Jiu's gradually cooling embrace with his large hands, which were large enough to shatter mountains.

Ace seemed to sense the change in environment, and his crying became louder.

Garp held this hot potato, looking at Rouge who was "dead" on the bed, his brows furrowed, his face showing unprecedented complexity and irritation.

"Roger, you bastard...you're always causing me trouble!"

He muttered a curse under his breath, it was unclear whether he was cursing Roger or cursing this damned fate.

Finally, he took one last deep look at Rouge on the bed, picked up the crying Ace, turned around, and strode away from the shelter.

The heavy footsteps gradually faded into the distance, eventually disappearing beyond the woods.

The underground shelter was once again deathly silent.

Only the grease lamp continued to burn tirelessly, casting swaying light and shadow.

The "corpse" on the bed twitched almost imperceptibly.

Chapter 20 Heading to Windmill Village

After Garp's footsteps completely disappeared, the suffocating silence in the underground shelter lasted for a few more moments.

Only after confirming that there was no further movement outside did Liu Jiu emerge from the shadows like a ghost. He walked to the bedside and looked down at Lu Jiu, who was still in a "death" position and deliberately holding her breath.

Her face was still pale, but her tightly closed eyelashes were trembling slightly, revealing her extreme inner turmoil.

"I'm gone." Liu Jiu's voice broke the silence, flat and emotionless.

Lu Jiu suddenly opened her eyes, gasping for breath as if she had just surfaced from underwater. The exhaustion of surviving a close call instantly overwhelmed her, leaving her weak all over and without the strength to even sit up.

She subconsciously looked into her empty arms, where the small, warm touch of Ace still lingered.

The child... was taken away.

Although it was part of the plan, the moment her child left her arms, the excruciating pain still nearly broke her. Tears streamed down her face silently, mingling with sweat and soaking her temples.

Liu Jiu didn't comfort her, but simply handed her a water pouch.

"Drink of water."

Rouge took the water pouch, her hands trembling so badly she could barely hold it. She forced down a small sip; the icy water slid down her throat, slightly suppressing the surging grief within her.

"What...what do we do next?" She looked up at Liu Jiu, her eyes blurry with tears, her voice hoarse.

"Leave here," Liu Jiu said succinctly. "Garp might come back to confirm, or the Navy might discover this place."

He went to a corner and began quickly and silently packing the necessary items: food, water, some money, and the few utensils that Rouge had been using, which he had specifically brought back. He packed these things into two small bags.

Lu Jiu struggled to sit up in bed, still feeling weak. Looking at Liu Jiu's busy figure, she knew this wasn't the time for sorrow.

"Where to go?"

Liu Jiu carried one bag on his back and handed her the other.

"East Blue, near the Goa Kingdom. A place called Windmill Village."

Windmill Village? Rouge had never heard of this place. But she didn't ask any questions, silently took the baggage, and struggled to her feet. Her legs were still weak, but she gritted her teeth and persevered.

Liu Jiu gave the shelter one last check, erasing all traces of their stay, and then, with Lu Jiu, left the underground space where they had been hiding for over a month through a more secluded exit.

It was late at night outside, with a bright moon and few stars.

A cool sea breeze blew by, and Rouge couldn't help but shiver. She glanced back at the now empty, hidden entrance, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

This is where she gave birth to Ace.

It is also the place where she "died".