Chapter 277: The Shadow of the Lost Century

“Mr. Karl, could you tell me what really happened during the Void Century?”

Dr. Clover, looking revitalized, stepped outside and found Karl practicing his punches.

Karl was surrounded by swirling elements, having drawn a giant Bagua diagram on the clearing beside the Tree of Knowledge. Each section represented a different element.

Hearing the approach, Karl stopped immediately and turned to see Dr. Clover standing there, all alone.

He hadn’t expected Dr. Clover to recover so quickly. Just gathering all the Poneglyphs was a huge challenge in itself.

Not to mention, there was no reward in the process and you’d make a lot of enemies while doing it.

Even if you did discover what’s written on the Poneglyphs, what could you really do against the World Government? To Karl, this whole thing felt pointless.

“Do you really want to know?”

“It’s not a simple story.”

“It might not be what you expect.”

Dr. Clover said, “I’m ready. I hope you’ll enlighten me, Mr. Karl.”

“The story of that hundred-year void is a long one. To put it simply, twenty nations overthrew a massive kingdom and built their new world on its ruins.

Those twenty nations eventually became the twenty Celestial Dragon families we know today.”

Dr. Clover, completely absorbed in the tale, suddenly realized Karl had stopped talking. “That’s it?” he blurted out in shock.

“That’s all? It feels… so thin, so anticlimactic.”

The next second, he shook his head hard. “No, no way. Mr. Karl, that can’t be the whole story, can it?”

Karl rubbed his nose, answering only with silence.

That really was the truth—simple and stark. How could it be more complicated? And if you asked about the ancient kingdom’s culture and history, how would he know?

He wasn’t a historian—never studied this stuff.

If you want a summary of the Void Century, that one sentence says it all.

Dr. Clover’s eyes seemed to shine. “Mr. Karl, you don’t need to worry about disappointing me.”

“I want to hear more. If you know any deeper details, please share them.”

Karl scratched his head helplessly. With Clover insisting like that, what could he do? Just make something up on the spot?

Sorting his scattered memories, Karl began slowly. “It’s said that it all started on the moon.” He pointed upward as he spoke.

“Of course, it’s daytime now, so you can’t see the moon.”

Dr. Clover sweat-dropped. Daytime, obviously, no moon.

Seeing Dr. Clover’s expression, Karl gently said, “Don’t rush.”

“This will take a while.”

Karl started explaining what happened during the Void Century, piecing together tidbits from the original story and fan theories.

It started with moonfolk from the moon—winged people with advanced technology.

They came to the Blue Sea to claim land. Back then, all the land was connected—not scattered islands like today. The Blue Sea was ruled by a colossal kingdom, though Karl didn’t know its name.

The two sides clashed over territory, waging a cataclysmic war that shattered the continents into islands. Various factions emerged, unwilling to submit to the great kingdom.

That was how the entire sea descended into chaos.

During the turmoil, a Sun God Nika Fruit user appeared, born a commoner.

Maybe all the brutal wars caused so many civilian deaths that the planet’s very will intervened, and this fruit user was the result.

No one knows how, but he managed to seize the weapon Heavenly King Uranus from the moonfolk.

He tipped the balance, delivering Uranus to one of his vassal nations on his side.

But moonfolk tech was no joke—even without Uranus, their forces only wavered, not collapsed.

Battle after battle raged on. Then, in a decisive war, the vassal nation switched sides. Using Heavenly King Uranus, they struck both the fruit user and the moonfolk.

In the end, the fruit user died of old age and the moonfolk vanished—probably wiped out, but no one really knows.

“Afterward, to cover up the fact that their twenty vassal nations had stolen the fruit user’s accomplishments, they desperately tried to erase all traces of those hundred years.”

Dr. Clover staggered back a couple of steps, putting distance between him and Karl.

So, that’s what the Void Century was really about?

The World Government were the usurpers all along—not the saviors they pretend to be.

“Hahaha! Who would’ve guessed… That hundred-year blank is nothing but an absurd farce.”

Karl watched the frazzled Dr. Clover, a bit worried the old man might break down. “Just remember, history’s always written by the winners.”

“Those twenty kingdoms won in the end, so they get to decide how the story’s told.”

“Of course, the World Government now is completely rotten.”

“Maybe someone like that fruit user will return one day, and free the world again. Who knows?”

Dr. Clover seemed to snap out of it. “No matter what, we historians are duty-bound to uncover the truth behind this history.”

“It’s the pride of our profession.”

“Aren’t you afraid the World Government will find out?”

“Even if you put your life on the line, what about the rest of Ohara’s people?”

“Do you want everyone to die for this?”

At this point, Karl started to get angry. It’s one thing to risk your own life for forbidden research, but dragging innocent people into it? None of the residents in the original timeline survived.

In the end, these scholars were either hopelessly bookish or just didn’t care about others’ lives.

He respected their dedication, sure, but he hated their reckless disregard for others.

Maybe it was his own past talking, but there was never a good enough reason to risk innocent lives.

“You’re right.”

“We can’t put others in danger.”

With that, Dr. Clover hurried back to the Tree of Knowledge—maybe to make adjustments to their plans.

Whatever those changes were didn’t matter to Karl. As long as no townspeople got dragged into it, all this arguing hadn’t been in vain.

“Now, where was I with my training?”

“Oh, that’s right—the Aether Element.”

If he remembered right, in the Vengeance Alliance, the Aether Element could switch between real and intangible forms.

Karl spread his right hand; a stone slowly formed, draining energy from his body.

Once it felt just right, he gave a gentle squeeze. Sure enough, the stone in his palm became hard and solid.

Karl grumbled, “Just making a tiny stone drained one ten-thousandth of my life. At this rate, when will I ever get my hands on a Gundam?”