## One Piece Chapter 721, pages 7-9: Rebecca and Soldier-san - Chapter: 721 - Pages: 7-9 - Characters: Rebecca, Soldier, Scarlet, Dressrosa Citizens, Donquixote Doflamingo ### Summary Page 7: Rebecca waits among the flowers until she hears "Rustle rustle" and calls, "Mommy!?" Instead, Soldier appears, breathing hard with "Haa!! Haa!! Wheeze...!!" and carrying Scarlet's body. He cries, "I couldn't! I couldn't protect her...!!!" and then says, "Sorry... you've been hungry, and waiting...!! ...She told me to give you this." He gives Rebecca food from Scarlet, but his grief spills out: "I couldn't protect your mother... I'm so sorry!!!" The page lets the child's hunger and the adult's guilt collide at the same moment. Rebecca wanted her mother to come back with food; Soldier comes instead with the food and the body, and with the failure that will define both of their lives. Page 8: Rebecca remembers the final trace of her mother in the food Scarlet sent. As she repeats, "Mommy, I'm hungry..." the bread sits in Soldier's hand, and the child tries to eat through sobs. Then grief breaks loose into a scream: "Aahhhh..." and "Waa..." Soldier apologizes over and over, saying, "I'm sorry!! I'm so sorry!!" Around them, people search the flower field because "I saw some blood on the stairs... He's gotta be hiding around here. Find him!!" Soldier hides Rebecca and says, "Sorry about this..." The page turns the flower field into a burial place and a hiding place at once. Rebecca is not only orphaned; she is immediately hunted because of the bloodline her mother carried. Page 9: Soldier tells Rebecca what the new regime means for her. Her mother, he says, "was once... a great person," and Rebecca, with her mother's distinguished blood running through her veins, will also be targeted. He asks, "Did you know that a new king has come to this land?" Then he explains the danger: the new king is capturing all the great people from the past, and he will want to capture Rebecca too. Soldier cannot undo Scarlet's death, but he makes a vow over it: "I couldn't protect your mother, but...!! Even if it costs me my own life, I will protect you!! Until the day when you can truly be happy! I will stand by you until that day!!"