One Piece: Surrounded at Marineford? Just kidding!

Chapter 500: Even Time and Space Cannot Bring a Chapter to One's Entire Life

The moment anyone entered the medical room, they were hit by a pungent odor. It was the smell of highly concentrated disinfectant mixed with medicine!

The man wrapped in heavy bandages on the hospital bed slowly began to move.

His eyelids twitched. Roger opened his eyes, his vision initially filled with a blurry white light. Pain exploded from every part of his body, shooting straight to his brain. He didn't make a sound, nor did he even look down at his mangled body.

The first thing he said was!

"Where's Ace? Where is he?"

His gaze swept across the ward. He didn't care about the severity of his injuries; all that remained in his mind was that resolute figure standing there.

Chen Ye stood directly in front of the hospital bed, hands in his pockets, looking down at the struggling Roger.

"Ace is alright. Luffy and Sabo are with him. He's safe."

Chen Ye looked into those bloodshot eyes and continued speaking.

"Don't waste your energy. You won't see him anytime soon. He made his terms very clear last night in the ruins."

Chen Ye didn't beat around the bush; he told Roger the truth in the most straightforward way.

His tense shoulders slumped down.

Like a puppet whose strength has been drained, Roger fell heavily back onto the hospital bed, his back hitting the pillow.

The ward fell into a deathly silence.

Roger stared wide-eyed at the white ceiling. His chest heaved, each breath straining against his broken ribs.

Silence. The white-bearded man stood silently in the corner, Shanks leaning against the wall with his eyes downcast. No one urged him on. Everyone was waiting for him to swallow this bitter pill.

Roger opened his mouth, but his voice was so dry it was almost inaudible.

"I can't bring Rouge back."

It had exhausted all the pride of the Pirate King. It wasn't an excuse, nor a pretext; it was simply utter helplessness. He had once conquered the entire sea, found the legendary One Piece, and ushered in the Great Age of Pirates with a single sentence. But now, he had no leverage to repay the blood debt to his wife and children. He couldn't offer the answer Ace wanted. Even an apology seemed pale and laughable.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

Suddenly, Roger's body jolted.

Like someone grasping at a straw in an abyss, he turned his head, his gaze fixed on Chen Ye's face. His eyes gleamed. Ignoring the pain from his wounds, he practically leaned half his body off the hospital bed.

"etc."

The voice rose, filled with almost frantic anticipation.

"You can bring me and Rocks from the past. You possess the power to transcend time and space."

He stared intently at Chen Ye, emphasizing each word.

"Since you were able to bring us to this era, why can't you bring Rouge along too?"

He looked at the man before him, the only one capable of transcending the boundary between life and death. These words exploded like a thunderclap in the hospital room.

The oppressive atmosphere was stirred. Several top experts simultaneously turned their gazes toward Chen Ye.

Shanks straightened up, his one arm instinctively gripping the hilt of his sword. His eyes were complex. He hoped the old captain could make amends, yet he also understood the terrifying power of Chenye's spacetime laws.

Even the white-bearded man didn't voice his opposition.

Roger was telling the truth. Chenye defied convention, forcibly dragging what belonged to this era into this one. It's happened several times already! Why can't Rouge do it?

Everyone was waiting for Chen Ye's answer.

Meeting their gazes, Chen Ye remained expressionless. He neither denied nor followed their expectations. He slowly walked to the bedside, looking down at Roger, whose face was full of hope.

"Being able to bring something doesn't mean it can solve the problem."

The voice was cold and devoid of any human warmth.

"You're oversimplifying the concept of time and space. Do you think bringing her here will automatically lead to a touching family reunion?"

Roger was stunned.

Every word is like a knife.

"Time-space summoning is random. The Rouge I pulled in at that point in time may not even be your wife. She might not even be pregnant with Ace yet."

Seeing Roger's pale face, Chen Ye unveiled the truth without reservation.

"Bring her into this era. Make a young woman who knows nothing suddenly face a grown son in his twenties. And make her hear again how she endured the hardships of giving birth to this son."

A pause. His gaze was extremely sharp.

"Do you think this is saving her, or driving her crazy?"

Roger's lips trembled. He wanted to refute, but couldn't find any words.

"Moreover! The extraterrestrial figures I summon will eventually all have to return to their original point in time."

"The general direction of history must never be disrupted. This is an ironclad rule."

Like a cold downpour, it extinguished the last spark in Roger's heart.

"Bringing her here is tantamount to letting her know in advance that she is doomed to die. It's also like torturing Ace again."

Chen Ye leaned down slightly, staring into Roger's despairing eyes.

"Roger, ask yourself honestly. Is this compensation, or is it just cutting into their newly scabbed wounds?"

The coldest logic shattered Roger's fantasy of cheating with time and space.

Roger's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, but he couldn't make a sound.

His chest heaved. The pain of the wound reopening paled in comparison to the despair in his heart. Chen Ye was right.

But he was unwilling to give up. He couldn't just abandon the idea. If this path also failed, then there would truly be no hope left for him and Ace.

Silence. The brain raced. Suddenly, something occurred to it.

He raised his head and stared at Chen Ye, like a gambler who had lost everything and found a loophole in the dealer's strategy.

"Where is Narox?"

His voice became hoarse from exerting too much force.

"Why was Rocks allowed to stay? You clearly said on Beehive Island that he didn't have to go back."

His gaze shifted to Lox, who stood to the side. The arrogant man stood with his arms crossed, looking at him with a half-smile.

"If all people from other dimensions have to go back, why should he be an exception?"

Clinging desperately to this thread, they tried to carve out a way for Rouge to survive.

Chen Ye followed Chen Ye's gaze and glanced at Lox. Lox raised an eyebrow, clearly also interested in the answer.

Turning his gaze away, Chen Ye looked at Roger and gave his final answer.

"Because in the original history, Rocks was already dead after the Battle of God Valley."

The sound was steady, without any fluctuations.

"Rocks should have completely disappeared at that point in time. He doesn't exist in any subsequent historical events."

The trump card of the spacetime rules has been completely revealed.

"So I left him in this era, which has no impact on the original timeline. He won't tear history open a second time."

A pause. The gaze returned to Roger.

The most rigorous logic completely blocked Roger's last escape route to change history.

After hearing these words, Roger felt as if his soul had been ripped out.

Now he understood completely. Bringing Rouge here and actually returning Rouge to Ace were two completely different things.

It's impossible to resurrect Rouge. It's impossible to give Ace a complete family. The debt owed has become an insurmountable deadlock.

But I still can't let go of that thought in my heart.

Roger looked up at Chen Ye, his eyes filled with pleading expectation.

"if"

"What if it's just a one-time meeting?"

"If I only ask that she see Ace once, that she hears Ace's voice with her own ears, that she sees with her own eyes what Ace has become."

He gritted his teeth and pressed for answers, enunciating each word clearly.

"What price will it cost? As long as you name your terms, I'm willing to give you anything."