The music stopped. Brook lowered his violin. Franky stopped drumming on his metallic stomach.
The banquet in the King's Plateau courtyard shifted. The wild dancing ceased. A solemn, heavy atmosphere settled over the center of the royal square.
Luffy sat cross-legged on a wooden table. His stomach bulged, perfectly round and stretched to its absolute rubber limit. He picked his teeth with a small fishbone. He looked down.
Seven men stood in a line in front of him.
Cavendish of the White Horse. Bartolomeo the Cannibal. Sai of the Happo Navy. Ideo the Destruction Cannon. Leo of the Tontatta. Hajrudin of Elbaf. Orlumbus of the Yonta Maria Grand Fleet.
Behind them, three thousand pirates, gladiators, and mercenaries stood in silence.
Orlumbus stepped forward. He carried a massive ceramic bowl. He set it down on the cobblestones in front of Luffy.
Hajrudin stepped forward next. He carried a giant barrel of sake. He pulled the cork. He poured the clear liquid into the massive bowl. He then poured sake into seven smaller cups, handing one to each of the commanders.
Luffy stopped picking his teeth. He tilted his head. "What is this? Are we drinking more? I want more meat."
Bartolomeo stepped forward. He held his cup with trembling hands. Tears streamed down his face in torrents. He dropped to his knees.
"Luffy-senpai!" Bartolomeo wailed. "You saved Dressrosa! You defeated the Heavenly Demon! We owe you our lives, our freedom, and our futures!"
Cavendish flipped his blonde hair. He knelt beside Bartolomeo. "I, Cavendish, Your crew member broke my curse. You guys gave me back my beauty and my life. I cannot ignore this debt."
Sai slammed his fist against his chest. "The Happo Navy follows the strong! You crushed the Donquixote Family! We offer our martial arts to you!"
Leo flew up, hovering at Luffy's eye level. " God Usolands' captain is our captain! The Tontatta will fight for you!"
Hajrudin knelt. The ground shook. "The giants of Elbaf recognize you. You command warriors we revere. We will act as your shield."
Ideo and Orlumbus knelt in unison.
"Take the father's cup," Orlumbus commanded, his voice booming across the silent courtyard.
"We number over five thousand and six hundred strong!" Sai declared. "We represent seven different fleets and crews! But today, we cast aside our individual flags!"
"Drink from the main bowl!" Bartolomeo cried, raising his small cup. "We will drink from the sons' cups! We will become your subordinates! We will form the Straw Hat Grand Fleet! We will act as your spear and your shield! Whenever you call, we will answer! Allow us to sail under your umbrella, Monkey D. Luffy!"
The three thousand pirates behind them roared in agreement. They raised their weapons.
Luffy looked at the massive bowl of sake. He looked at the seven captains holding their cups. He looked at the massive army swearing absolute loyalty to him.
Luffy picked his nose.
"No," Luffy said.
Silence slammed into the courtyard. The cheers died instantly.
Bartolomeo froze. His jaw detached. His eyes popped out of his skull. "EHHHHH?!"
Cavendish dropped his cup. It shattered on the stones. "No?! What do you mean, no?!"
Sai stood up, furious. "Are you insulting us?! We are offering you a fleet! An army! With our numbers, you can challenge the Emperors!"
Luffy sighed. He swallowed the food remaining in his stretched stomach. His body deflated back to its normal size instantly. He hopped off the table.
"I don't want an army," Luffy said simply. "I don't want to be a big boss. I don't want to command thousands of people. That sounds cramped."
"Cramped?!" Hajrudin boomed, thoroughly confused.
"Yeah," Luffy nodded. He crossed his arms. "I want to be the Pirate King. And the Pirate King isn't the most important guy on the sea. He's the man with the most freedom."
The seven commanders stared at him. They didn't understand. In the New World, power meant numbers. Power meant territory. Power meant alliances. This boy stood in front of a massive fleet and rejected it because it felt 'cramped'.
Bartolomeo sobbed louder. "Luffy-senpai! You are so pure! So untainted by the greed of this world! I love you even more!"
Sai gritted his teeth. "You can't just refuse! We already decided we are serving you! It is our honor on the line!"
"And I said no!" Luffy shouted back. "If you guys get in trouble, call me! I'll come help! If I get in trouble, I'll call you! We don't need a father-son cup! We can just be friends!"
Luffy turned his back on them. He walked back toward the meat table.
The seven commanders stood there, holding their cups. They looked at each other.
"He... he wants to be friends," Leo sniffled.
"He is an idiot," Cavendish sighed, pulling his sword slightly from its scabbard. "But a charming one."
Franky stepped forward and walked up to the giant bowl of sake.
"Super listen up!" Franky announced.
Dorry, Brogy, Oimo, and Kashii stepped up behind Franky. The four compressed giants folded their arms.
"Our captain made his choice," Franky said. "He doesn't want to be a boss. But we know how the New World works. You guys want to swear loyalty? Fine. But the captain won't drink."
"Then the ceremony is void!" Sai argued.
"Not quite," a voice said.
Ben walked over. He carried a crate of small, round objects. He set the crate down on the table.
Ben gestured to Franky and the giants.
Franky grabbed the massive bowl. He didn't use a cup. He lifted the giant ceramic basin. Dorry, Brogy, Oimo, and Kashii placed their hands on the rim of the bowl.
The cyborg and the four giants tilted the bowl. They drank the sake simultaneously, draining the massive basin in seconds.
The seven commanders smiled. They raised their small cups to their lips. They drank.
Luffy seeing this protests,"Hey what are you guys doing I said no exchange of sake."
But no one seems to listen to him.
The ceremony finalized. The Straw Hat Grand Fleet was born, completely against the captain's explicit wishes.
The courtyard erupted into cheers again.
Ben reached into the crate. He pulled out seven bracelets. Each bracelet consisted of a black strap and a single, glowing blue bead.
"Listen up," Ben commanded.
His voice carried no anger, but it commanded attention. The courtyard fell silent.
Ben tossed a bracelet to each of the seven commanders.
"These are Kimiyo beads," Ben explained. "They act as secure communication devices. They do not rely on Transponder Snails. They cannot be intercepted by the World Government. Wear them on your wrists at all times."
Bartolomeo caught his bead. He held it up to the light. He treated it like a holy relic. "A direct line to the gods..." he whispered, strapping it to his wrist tightly.
"If you need us, tap the bead twice and speak," Ben instructed. "If we need you, the bead will glow red and emit a tone. When you hear that tone, drop whatever you are doing and mobilize your fleets. Understood?"
"Understood!" the seven commanders barked in unison.
"Good," Ben said. He narrowed his eyes. The temperature in the courtyard dropped a few degrees. "One more rule. You fly under the Straw Hat umbrella now. Your actions reflect on us. You do not attack civilians. You do not deal in slaves. And most importantly..."
Ben paused. He let the silence hang.
"...you do not engage the Red Hair Pirates. You do not touch Shanks' territory. He is someone our captain respects deeply. If any of you attack his fleet, I will personally hunt you down and throw you into the sun. Are we clear?"
Hajrudin swallowed hard. He felt the terrifying weight behind Ben's words. "Crystal clear, Ben-dono."
"Good." Ben nodded. The pressure vanished. He smiled slightly. "Welcome to the crew."
Ben turned away from the commanders. He walked up the steps toward King Riku.
The old king stood with Kyros, Rebecca, and Viola.
Ben reached into his dimensional pocket. He pulled out a large, folded piece of black canvas. He handed it to King Riku.
Riku unfolded it. It was a massive Jolly Roger. A skull wearing a straw hat.
"Fly this over the palace," Ben instructed.
Riku looked at the flag. He looked at Ben.
"This marks Dressrosa as your territory," Riku noted. "It places us under your direct protection. It tells the World Government and the other Emperors to back off."
"It does," Ben agreed.
"What do you want in return?" King Riku asked. "Tribute? Weapons? Gold?"
Ben waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. We don't need anything for now. Just feed Luffy if he ever wanders back this way. Keep the citizens safe. And don't let the Marines build a base here."
Kyros stepped forward. He stood firmly on his two legs. "We will defend this flag with our lives, Ben-dono."
Ben nodded. "See that you do."
Ben turned around. He looked across the courtyard. The party was winding down. The sky in the east began to lighten. Dawn approached.
"Hey, Luffy," Ben called out.
Luffy lay on his back, his stomach round again. He snored loudly. A bubble expanded from his nose.
Ben snapped his fingers.
A small spark of electricity shocked Luffy's nose. The bubble popped. Luffy shot upright, grabbing his face.
"Meat!" Luffy yelled.
"The banquet is over," Ben said. "It's time to get out of here. We have our next destination."
Luffy blinked. He looked around. He saw the empty plates. He saw the sleeping pirates. He smiled broadly.
"Okay!" Luffy cheered, jumping to his feet. He grabbed his straw hat and jammed it on his head. "Let's go to the sea!"
The Straw Hat crew gathered. Sanji packed the remaining spices into a bag. Nami hoisted her sack of gold over her shoulder. Usopp waved goodbye to his crying Tontatta followers. Chopper marched beside Robin. Brook hummed a tune. Franky struck a pose. The four giants picked up their weapons. Law, Kin'emon, Kanjuro, and Momonosuke joined the group. Vivi, Carue, Bonney, Sunny, and Merry formed the rear.
They walked down the plateau. They moved through the quiet, recovering streets of Dressrosa. The citizens slept. The fires were out.
They reached the harbor.
The docks were empty. The Donquixote ships were either sunk or captured by the citizens.
Ben stood at the edge of the stone pier. He raised his hand.
He opened a massive portal over the water.
The Thousand Sunny slid out of the dimensional pocket. The ship dropped into the ocean with a massive splash, rocking the pier. The lion figurehead gleamed in the early morning light.
The crew boarded the ship. Luffy stretched his arm, grabbing the mast, and launched himself onto the grassy deck. The others used the gangplank.
On the deck, near the tangerine trees, sat a cage made of Seastone.
Inside the cage sat Caesar Clown. The mad scientist looked pathetic. He wore a dirty striped coat. He had bags under his eyes. He shivered in the morning breeze.
"You're finally back!" Caesar shrieked, gripping the Seastone bars. "Let me out! I am a genius! You cannot treat me like a prisoner of war! I demand a comfortable room!"
Sanji walked past the cage. He didn't say a word. He just kicked the bars.
The impact rattled Caesar's teeth. The scientist fell backward, whimpering.
"Shut up, gasbag," Sanji muttered, heading toward the kitchen.
Luffy ran to the figurehead. He sat on the lion's head. He looked back at the harbor.
Kyros, Rebecca, Viola, and King Riku stood on the pier.
"Goodbye!" Luffy yelled, waving both arms wildly. "Thanks for the food! It was delicious!"
Rebecca waved back, tears streaming down her face. "Thank you, for everything!"
Kyros saluted. King Riku bowed.
"Sunny!" Luffy yelled. "Set sail!"
Sunny stood near the helm. "Aye aye, Captain!"
The sails dropped. The wind caught the canvas. The Thousand Sunny pulled away from the Dressrosa harbor, sailing into the sunrise.
The crew relaxed. The tension of the island faded.
Nami spread her maps on a table. Chopper checked his medical supplies. Brook played a soft tune on his violin. Bonney started eating the leftovers Sanji had packed.
Usopp stood near the railing. He adjusted his goggles. He looked at the receding island of Dressrosa.
He frowned. He tapped his chin.
"Hey," Usopp said slowly.
Sanji walked out of the kitchen holding a tray of coffee. "What is it, long nose?"
"Aren't we forgetting something?" Usopp asked. He scratched his head. "I feel like we're forgetting something important. Like... a piece of luggage. Or a weapon."
Chopper trotted over in his Brain Point form. He tilted his head. "Yeah. Me too. I also felt something is missing. But I checked the medical supplies, and everything is there."
Sanji set the tray down. He lit a cigarette. He exhaled a plume of smoke over the railing.
"If we forgot it," Sanji said smoothly, "it probably wasn't worth remembering. Don't stress about it. The factory is destroyed. Doflamingo is beaten. The mission is a success."
Law sat against the main mast. He held Kikoku across his lap. He pulled his spotted hat down over his eyes.
He listened to the conversation. He listened to their blatant incompetence.
Law sighed. A heavy, exhausted sigh.
"I think... I think," Law said, his voice dripping with dry sarcasm, "you forgot your resident swordsman."
Silence descended on the deck.
Usopp froze. Chopper froze. Sanji stopped smoking.
Luffy, who was already fast asleep on the figurehead, snored loudly.
Usopp's eyes slowly widened. His pupils shrank to pinpricks. He turned to Sanji.
"Oh shit," Usopp whispered.
"Zoro," Chopper squeaked.
"The marimo," Sanji realized.
"HOW COULD WE FORGET HIM?!" Usopp screamed, grabbing his own head. "HE IS THE FIRST MATE! HE HAS GREEN HAIR! HE IS VERY NOTICEABLE!"
Chopper ran in circles around the mast. "He's going to kill us! He's going to slice us into tiny pieces! He hates being left behind!"
"It's his own fault!" Sanji yelled defensively, pointing an angry finger at nothing. "Every time we go somewhere, that idiot gets lost! He gets lost on straight paths! He gets lost on stairs! We just got used to him not being around! My brain just assumed he wandered into a different time zone!"
"It doesn't matter whose fault it is!" Usopp panicked, running to the helm. "Sunny! Turn the ship around! Go to Green Bit! He was fighting the blind Admiral!"
Sunny grinned. "Already on it!"
The human avatar spun the ship's wheel. The Thousand Sunny banked hard to the left, the sails snapping as the wind caught them from a new angle. The ship sped back toward the islands, bypassing Dressrosa and heading for the isolated jungle of Green Bit.
Law watched them panic.
Thick, dark, jagged lines appeared across his forehead. A massive sweatdrop formed on the side of his head.
I formed an alliance with these people, Law thought, despair creeping into his soul. They fought a Warlord. They fought an Admiral. They brought down a kingdom. And they forgot their own second-in-command. If they cannot remember one of their own, will they remember a plan? We are going to fight Kaido. We are all going to die.
The ship cut through the waves.
Thirty minutes later, the ruined coast of Green Bit came into view.
The northern shore was devastated. The jungle was gone. The bedrock was crushed into powder. Craters littered the landscape.
And in the center of the destruction, the battle raged on.
CLANG.
The sound of steel meeting steel echoed across the water. A purple wave of gravity shot into the sky, parting the clouds. A black, compressed slash of Haki cut through the gravity wave, slicing a falling meteor in half.
Zoro and Fujitora were still fighting. They hadn't stopped. They hadn't slowed down.
The Thousand Sunny dropped anchor a hundred yards off the coast.
Luffy continued to sleep on the figurehead, entirely unbothered by the booming shockwaves.
Ben stood on the deck. He looked at the fight. He sighed.
"Sanji," Ben said. "Come with me."
Sanji nodded. He jumped onto the railing. He kicked the air. Geppo. Sanji flew across the water. Ben used a short-range portal, appearing directly on the rocky shore.
They walked toward the epicenter of the clash.
Zoro swung Shusui. Fujitora blocked with his cane sword. They locked blades, pushing against each other with immense Haki.
"Stop," Ben said.
He didn't shout. He didn't raise his voice. He just spoke.
Zoro looked at Ben. He looked at Sanji. He glared.
"You took your sweet time," Zoro grunted, sheathing Sandai Kitetsu.
"You're welcome, you moss-headed idiot," Sanji spat back, lighting a cigarette. "We had to turn the ship around because you didn't have the decency to walk to the harbor like a normal person."
"I was fighting an Admiral, you curly-browed pervert!" Zoro yelled, pointing at Fujitora. "I told Luffy to save my booze! Not leave the country!"
"We assumed you got lost on the way to the banquet!"
"The banquet was on the other island!"
Ben ignored them. He stepped past the bickering pirates and faced Admiral Fujitora.
The blind Marine sheathed his blade completely. He rested both hands on the wooden pommel of his cane.
"The Great Magician," Fujitora said calmly.
"Admiral Fujitora, This fight will go on for days," Ben stated flatly. "You cannot break his Haki. He cannot bypass your gravity. You are both too stubborn to yield, and neither of you wants to kill the other."
"Perhaps," Fujitora admitted.
"So let's stop it now," Ben proposed. "We have other places to be. We are leaving Dressrosa. We are leaving Green Bit."
Fujitora tilted his head. "I am a Marine Admiral. I cannot simply allow a pirate crew to sail away after destroying a kingdom."
"We saved the kingdom," Ben corrected. "Doflamingo destroyed it."
"The World Government will see it differently," Fujitora said.
Ben crossed his arms. "I offer a trade. Let us walk back to our ship right now. Do not drop meteors on us. Do not pin our ship to the ocean floor. Let us leave in peace."
"And what do you offer in return?"
"Your men," Ben said.
Ben raised his hand. He snapped his fingers.
A massive portal opened above the crushed bedrock.
Bodies fell out of the portal. They hit the dirt softly.
Vice Admiral Momonga. Vice Admiral Bastille. The five CP0 elite assassins. Dozens of Marine infantrymen. They were all completely unconscious, sleeping soundly from Ben's dimensional enchantment.
Finally, one last body dropped.
Donquixote Doflamingo hit the ground. He was bound head to toe in thick chains of pure Seastone. He was bruised, broken, and barely breathing.
Fujitora extended his Observation Haki. He felt the heartbeats of his men. He felt the faint, ragged pulse of the Warlord.
"They are all alive," Ben said. "They are unharmed, beyond the injuries they sustained in battle. We did not execute them. We did not execute Doflamingo. We are giving him to you. Take the Warlord. Claim the arrest. Let the World Government spin whatever lie they want about how you brought him down."
Fujitora stood silent for a long moment. He listened to the waves crashing against the shore. He listened to the breathing of his fallen soldiers.
He knew he could not stop the Straw Hats without causing massive casualties. He knew Doflamingo was the true evil here. And he knew Ben was offering him a clean way out.
Fujitora nodded slowly.
"The dice have fallen," Fujitora said. He turned his back on Ben. "I see no pirates here. I only see my wounded men. I must tend to them. It will take me several hours to arrange a medical transport."
Ben smiled slightly. "Thank you, Admiral."
"Do not thank me," Fujitora said, walking toward Momonga's unconscious body. "The next time we cross paths, the dice may fall differently."
Ben turned around. "Zoro. Sanji. Let's go."
Zoro sheathed Wado Ichimonji and Shusui. He adjusted his haramaki. He walked toward the shoreline. Sanji followed, blowing smoke into the air.
Ben walked behind them. He looked at the devastated landscape of Green Bit. The jungle was gone. The ground was crushed.
He remembered the Tontatta dwarves. This was their home. They had lived under this jungle.
Ben stopped walking. He raised both hands. He mixed Harry Potter magic with Medea knowledge.
Time Reversal: Area of Effect.
A golden dome of energy expanded from Ben's body. It washed over the northern shore of Green Bit. It stopped at the edge of the Tontatta underground kingdom.
The destruction reversed.
The crushed bedrock reassembled itself. The massive craters filled in. The shattered tree trunks stood upright. Branches grew backward out of the splinters. Leaves reattached themselves to the twigs. The white string residue from Doflamingo's awakening dissolved back into rich, brown soil.
In ten seconds, the northern shore of Green Bit looked exactly as it had before the battle began. A lush, ancient, untouched jungle.
Sanji looked back. He whistled. "Show-off."
Zoro didn't care about the trees. He walked next to Ben.
"Hey," Zoro grunted. He looked at the magician with a deadly serious expression. "Tell me you guys saved my share of the booze. I fought an Admiral for three hours. If Luffy drank it all, I am sinking the ship."
Ben didn't miss a beat. "Yeah, yeah. We have your share of the booze. I saved it personally."
Sanji smirked. He looked at Zoro out of the corner of his eye.
"It's a shame, really," Sanji said loudly. "We had the finest Dressrosian wine. We had hundred-year-old rum. But you were too busy playing with gravity to attend the actual party. I guess you'll just have to settle for the cheap stuff we keep in the hold."
Zoro stopped walking. A vein bulged on his forehead. He slowly turned his head toward the cook.
"What did you say, curly brows?" Zoro growled, resting his hand on Sandai Kitetsu's hilt.
Sanji stopped. He turned to face the swordsman. He kept his hands in his pockets.
"I said you missed out, marimo," Sanji taunted. "While you were out here getting your ass kicked by an old blind man, I was cooking a feast for kings. You don't deserve the good booze. You lack refinement."
Zoro drew two inches of steel from the scabbard. "I'll refine your face into the dirt, cook."
Sanji raised his leg, his shoe glowing slightly. "Try it, moss-head. I'll kick you so hard you'll end up in the East Blue."
"Bring it on, dartboard brow!"
"Come at me, algae!"
They clashed.
They didn't use Haki. They didn't use named attacks. They just started brawling on the shoreline. Zoro threw a punch. Sanji dodged and kicked Zoro in the ribs. Zoro grabbed Sanji's leg and threw him into a tree. Sanji rebounded off the trunk and tackled Zoro into the sand.
Ben sighed. He kept walking toward the ship, leaving them to fight in the dirt.
They fought the entire way back. They brawled across the beach. They brawled while swimming to the ship. They brawled while climbing the rope ladder.
They finally tumbled over the railing of the Thousand Sunny, covered in sand, seawater, and bruises.
"I won," Zoro panted, sitting on the deck.
"In your dreams, you lost," Sanji spat, straightening his ruined tie.
Ben walked past them. He stood in the center of the grassy deck.
He raised his hand. He snapped his fingers.
Space warped. Five massive, oak barrels materialized on the deck. They were stamped with the royal seal of Dressrosa.
"Hundred-year-old rum," Ben stated. "As promised. Drink up, Zoro."
Zoro's eyes lit up. He ignored Sanji entirely. He crawled over to the barrels. He didn't bother with a cup. He punched the lid off the first barrel, lifted the massive cask with one hand, and poured the dark, rich rum directly down his throat.
He drank for a solid minute before slamming the barrel down. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He sighed, a look of contentment on his face.
"Now," Zoro said, leaning back against the mast. "Where are we going?"
Luffy snored loudly on the figurehead.
Sunny walked to the helm. The avatar gripped the ship's wheel.
"Next stop!" Sunny cheered. "Zou!"
The Thousand Sunny caught the morning wind. The ship turned away from Green Bit, sailing into the open ocean. The battle for Dressrosa was finally over. The New World awaited.