"After conquering the Grand Line, Roger became the Pirate King, right?"
"That's right."
Rayleigh nodded and said, "And after that, Roger was known to the world as... the Pirate King!!"
At that moment, a look of remembrance appeared in Rayleigh's eyes, as though he were seeing his old companions once again.
The corners of his mouth slowly lifted as well.
"The title of Pirate King, huh~" Pappag said. "That's way too glorious!!"
"To the eyes of the world, that title is glorious. But to a man who's already dying, a title like that doesn't really mean much."
"Because of that terminal illness?"
"Yes," Rayleigh said. "But Roger was still very happy."
"Even though he was suffering from an incurable disease, it didn't affect him all that much. He still enjoyed every single day of being a pirate!"
"He really was an open-minded person..." Jin said with emotion.
"That's true."
When ordinary people learned they had a terminal illness, they would probably spend the rest of their lives under a shadow of despair. Yet he...
As expected of the Pirate King, perhaps?
"Yes, he was a very broad-minded man." Rayleigh nodded.
And perhaps that was exactly why their captain had been able to become the Pirate King.
After setting down the wineglass in his hand, Rayleigh continued, "Not long after that, the captain announced that the Roger Pirates would be disbanded."
"And just like that, the crewmates left one after another to do the things they wanted to do."
"Even I have no idea where they are now or what they're doing."
"That was to avoid the Marines coming after you, right?" Jin said.
"Yes."
Rayleigh nodded and said, "Because... we were all members of the Roger Pirates."
If the Marines had discovered those of them who had once served on the Pirate King's crew, then... they would have pounced like madmen.
At least, that was how it was back then.
So in order to avoid something like that happening, they had made an agreement not to investigate each other's whereabouts and not to learn what the others were doing.
That... was best for everyone.
"Mm, I can understand that."
"And then?" Usopp asked. "Even if Roger had a terminal illness, that still doesn't explain why he'd turn himself in."
The others also looked puzzled. No matter how they thought about it, they just couldn't connect terminal illness with surrendering to the Marines.
"As for the final reason, he never told me." Rayleigh said. "But before he left, he said one thing to me."
"He said: Brother, I'm not going to die."
"And then, just like that, he left and turned himself in to the Marines."
"In order to show off their power, the Marines publicly executed Roger in Loguetown, hoping to crush the spirit of pirates."
"But in the end... because of a single speech from Roger, it instead marked the beginning of the Great Age of Pirates!"
As they listened to Rayleigh, that famous line surfaced in Luffy and the others' minds.
(You want my treasure? If you want it, you can have it.)
(Go find it! I left everything there!)
It was precisely because of those words from Pirate King Roger that countless young people had set out to sea in pursuit of their dreams!
"This really feels like we just heard something incredible..."
"Hearing it from someone who was actually there makes it feel completely different."
"In other words, this so-called Great Age of Pirates was entirely started by Roger..." Jin said.
He could see it now. The reason Roger had turned himself in had been for that very moment.
But... why had he done it?
Roger's actions had clearly been meant to make more people head out to sea, as though... he wanted others to discover something.
Could it have been the One Piece?
"That's a question I can't answer for you." Rayleigh said. "After all... Roger is already dead."
"As for what you said about the Great Age of Pirates..."
Rayleigh paused for a moment, then smiled. "Only those who live in this era can create this era."
"That may be true, but..." Jin said, "Roger's words were equivalent to a key."
Hearing that, Rayleigh smiled and looked at him. "So that's what you think?"
"Yes." Jin nodded.
"Why?"
"Because he was the Pirate King, and because he had the great treasure."
Whatever Roger's purpose had been, the fact that he possessed the world's greatest treasure was universally acknowledged.
Then he died, and the treasure became ownerless. Anyone who found it could claim it for themselves... who wouldn't be tempted?
You could say he had perfectly understood the weakness of human nature!
Roger had probably used that very weakness to open the era of great piracy.
After thinking for a moment, Jin said, "I just feel like he had some special purpose."
Either he wanted people to discover something, or... it had all been some kind of prank.
Jin thought it over carefully, and honestly, he felt the latter wasn't impossible.
After all... when someone is already dying, there's no telling what kind of things they might do.
"Perhaps..." Rayleigh nodded, not continuing the subject.
"No matter what, I'm going to become the Pirate King," Luffy said.
Looking at the serious expression on Luffy's face, Rayleigh laughed.
"That straw hat of yours... suits you very well," Rayleigh said. "It's a straw hat that only a real man is qualified to wear!"
"Shanks really did have good taste."
"Huh?"
"Old man, you know Shanks?!" Luffy looked at Rayleigh in delight, clearly not expecting to meet someone here who knew Shanks.
"Of course I know him." Rayleigh smiled. "He was an apprentice on our ship."
"So Shanks was on the Pirate King's ship too?!" Luffy stared at Rayleigh in shock.
The man who had set him on the path of becoming a pirate... had actually been one of the Pirate King's crew?!
That shocked him beyond belief.
"That's right," Rayleigh said.
"Shanks..."
"Ten years ago, we met here once," Rayleigh said. "That kid happily told me all about you."
At that moment, Shanks's words resurfaced in Rayleigh's mind once more.
(Mr. Rayleigh, there's a kid in East Blue who said the exact same thing the captain once did... that line about becoming Pirate King.)
Back then, Rayleigh had even asked Shanks why his arm was gone. And in response... Shanks had said he had bet that arm on the new era.
A new era, huh...
Looking at Luffy, who was practically glowing with happiness after hearing news of Shanks, Rayleigh smiled too.
"Old man, where is Shanks now?"
"Of course he's in the New World." Rayleigh smiled. "I imagine he's also very much looking forward to meeting you."
"Ahaha, I'm definitely going to the New World to find him!" Luffy laughed loudly.
As he spoke, Luffy took off his hat and looked at it with a smile, this hat that carried such special meaning.
Once he found Shanks, he would return it. That was the promise between them!
"Oh, right. Did any of you happen to meet Buggy in East Blue?" Rayleigh said. "He was also an apprentice on our ship."
"Buggy?"
"Who's that?"
Chopper and Merry looked at each other blankly. They had never even heard of him.
"Buggy the Clown—you don't know him?" Rayleigh said in surprise. "I thought he was pretty famous in East Blue."
"Ah, that clown."
Putting his hat back on, Luffy nodded and said, "Yeah, we met him. We fought a few times."
"Is that so? Then that really is fate, hahahaha."
Rayleigh burst out laughing. He hadn't expected Buggy to cross paths with Luffy too. He just wondered whether Buggy had realized the meaning behind that straw hat.
"Oh, right, ninja boy..."
"Just call me Jin, Uncle Rayleigh," Jin said.
"Alright, Jin." Rayleigh looked at him and asked, "Are you from Wano?"
Hearing that, Jin showed a helpless expression. "Why is it this question again..."
"Oh?"
"Have a lot of people asked me that?"
"Quite a few."
Kokoro had asked. Admiral Aokiji had asked. Luffy's grandfather had asked. Moria had asked too... All of these people had been extremely curious whether he was from Wano.
But he had absolutely no idea where Wano even was, alright?
"Looks like a lot of people are curious about your identity, hahahaha." Rayleigh laughed.
He figured those people's thoughts had probably been similar to his own.
"But unfortunately, I'm not from Wano at all~" Jin spread his hands. "I'm just an ordinary ninja. I have absolutely nothing to do with Wano."
"I see..." Rayleigh nodded.
Since he had gotten a direct answer, there was no need to dwell on it any further.
"Then you're a Devil Fruit user?" Shakky asked curiously.
"I'm not." Jin shook his head.
"You're not..."
"You're actually not a Devil Fruit user?" Rayleigh looked at Jin in surprise. "Then how are you using Water Release techniques?"
"Water Release?"
"Mm. On my way back, I ran into some bounty hunters who had been beaten up pretty badly." Rayleigh explained. "From what they said, they'd been attacked by a ninja from the Straw Hat crew using Water Release ninjutsu. I assume that was you."
Rayleigh said that last sentence while looking straight at Jin.
"Yeah, if nothing unexpected happened, that was me." Jin nodded. "We did run into quite a few bounty hunters on the way here."
"You can even use Water Release?"
Shakky looked at Jin in surprise. "You can actually control seawater?"
"Yes."
Shakky: ...
After getting that confirmation, Shakky fell silent in thought.
An ability that could manipulate the sea itself was simply terrifying. No wonder Jin's first bounty had already been so outrageously high.
"Aren't you an information broker?" Jin asked Shakky curiously. "You didn't know about this?"
He hadn't hidden the fact that he could use Water Release at all along the way. Had she really not gotten any information on that?
"From the moment you first made a name for yourself until now, how many days has it even been?" Shakky said helplessly. "I may be an information broker, but I'm not omniscient."
He had risen too quickly. Even if she wanted to buy information, she would still need some time before it reached her.
Of course, there was another possibility.
That was that the World Government and the Marines were deliberately suppressing some of his information, which was also one possible reason she hadn't been able to get the inside details.
"Mm, that makes sense."
Jin nodded in understanding. Thinking about it carefully, only a few days really had passed since the day they received their bounty posters.
"In any case, my ability doesn't come from a Devil Fruit." Jin looked at Rayleigh and said, "It comes from my own power."
"A bloodline inheritance, huh..."
As someone immensely knowledgeable, Rayleigh instantly saw the key point.
"Something like that."
"A bloodline, huh..."
After thinking for a moment, Shakky said, "Little Jin, I think you should be extra careful of the World Government. Those people will definitely be very interested in you."
As someone who had survived from the previous era, Shakky knew very well just how dark the World Government truly was.
Once they learned that this kid had such a special power, they would definitely send people to capture him.
After all... a power that could manipulate the sea without relying on a Devil Fruit was extremely strong. Its attraction to the World Government would absolutely be enormous!
"Ah, that? They already came looking for me."
"They already did?"
Shakky froze for a moment. The World Government's speed had truly exceeded even her expectations.
"It happened when we ran into Gecko Moria. The World Government sent Kuma to find me," Jin said.
The moment those words came out, Rayleigh and Shakky exchanged a glance, and their thoughts were more or less the same.
So they really did meet that guy...
If that was the case, then the Straw Hat crew had already defeated one of the Seven Warlords?
As expected of them...
But how exactly had they escaped from the hands of Kuma, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea?
"That damn Kuma actually dared to take my crewmate!" Luffy said angrily. "Next time I see him, I'm definitely going to punch him flying!"
"Next time?"
"Yeah, Luffy never got the chance to fight Kuma," Jin said.
"That guy couldn't have just asked you a few questions and then left, could he?" Shakky said.
Kuma was the Seven Warlords member who obeyed the World Government the most, yet he hadn't simply taken Jin away by force?
Was that the World Government's order?
Since when had the World Government become so easy to talk to?
"How could it be that simple?" Jin shook his head and said, "After Luffy defeated Moria, that guy suddenly appeared on the battlefield and asked me if I wanted to become one of the Seven Warlords."
"After I rejected him, he fought us. That battle... was really dangerous."
Recalling that battle, Jin couldn't help sighing.
If Moria hadn't interfered, whether or not they could have escaped that time really would have been hard to say.
After all... he had barely had any chakra left at the time.
"So you rejected the Seven Warlords..." Shakky smiled. "Looks like you understood exactly why the World Government wanted that."
"Of course I did. I'm not stupid." Jin waved a hand. "Besides, I'm not interested in becoming some Seven Warlords member or anything."
He was going to go on adventures with Luffy. How could he possibly become the World Government's dog?
Not to mention, what they were really after was his ability!
If he had gone with them, he would one hundred percent have been turned into a lab rat.
"Then how did you get away?"
"Ah, Moria came back to his senses. He also seemed a lot more spirited," Jin said. "It was because of him that we managed to leave Thriller Bark successfully."
"The man you defeated actually helped you?"
"Yeah."
Shakky frowned when she heard that. Why?
Could it be that after Little Mengqi beat him up, she somehow knocked some sense back into him?
And that was why he chose to help the Straw Hat Pirates...
Or perhaps, because of Moria's defeat, the World Government had issued a kill order on him, and that had caused him to fight Kuma, giving the Straw Hat crew a chance to escape?
"That guy seemed to have untied the knot in his heart, which is why he chose to help us," Jin said. "Speaking of which, do you know Kaido?"
"Of course I know Kaido. Who doesn't know Kaido?" Shakky said helplessly. "He's one of the Four Emperors of the New World."
"The Four Emperors?"
"You don't know?" Shakky looked a little surprised. This kid actually didn't know about the Four Emperors?
"I don't."
Shakky: ...
For a moment, she genuinely didn't know what to say.
"Moria once said he had been defeated by Kaido." Jin stroked his chin and said, "So that means he was beaten by one of those so-called Four Emperors?"
"Mm, I've heard of that." Shakky nodded. "That's probably one of the reasons he was able to become one of the Seven Warlords."
"And the knot in his heart you mentioned... it was most likely that."
The fact that Moria had been holed up in Thriller Bark playing with zombies wasn't any kind of secret to someone like her.
To sum it up: he was a man who had lost his spirit.
A man like that probably couldn't even use Haki anymore.
And now... this man had actually untied the knot in his heart...
That really was unexpected.
"Maybe." Jin said, "Anyway, after he came back to his senses, he started fighting Kuma, and we used that chance to get out of there."
"I wonder how that guy is doing now."
"Which one of them won?"
Usopp and Chopper were curious. They really wanted to know the outcome of that battle between two Seven Warlords.
"I haven't received any information about Moria." Shakky thought for a moment and said, "Maybe... he died in that battle."
At the very least, as of now, she hadn't received any intelligence about Moria.
Hearing Shakky's words, Jin's expression grew a little complicated.
That guy... was dead?
"Of course, that's just my guess." Shakky added. "We'll need to wait a little longer to know for sure."
Jin nodded and didn't say anything further.
"If he's still alive... then you'll have one more competitor."
"If Luffy can beat him once, then he can beat him a second time." Jin waved a hand and said, "If he wants to compete with us for the One Piece, he's not qualified."
"That's right! At worst, I'll just beat him up again!" Luffy laughed loudly.
Even if that guy wasn't too bad, if he wanted to fight him over the position of Pirate King, Luffy definitely wouldn't go easy on him.
Shakky nodded and said nothing more.
"One Piece..."
As if suddenly remembering something, Usopp blurted out, "Oh, right! Uncle Rayleigh, you know what the One Piece is, don't you?"
"Yeah, I do."
"Then what exactly is the One Pie—"
"Usopp!"
Before Usopp could finish, he was cut off by Luffy's furious shout.
"Luffy?"
"I don't want to know where the One Piece is, and I don't want to know what the One Piece actually is!" Luffy shouted angrily. "Even though none of us know, we all set sail risking our lives!"
"If I hear anything from this old man, then I'll quit being a pirate!"
"I don't want to go through some boring adventure!!"
Looking at the enraged Luffy, Usopp was stunned. He hadn't expected one sentence from him to make Luffy this emotional.
But very soon he understood. He really had asked something he shouldn't have.
"Sorry, sorry, I talked too much." Usopp hurriedly said. "Old man, you absolutely mustn't say anything. I've got a disease where I'll die if I hear what the One Piece is."
Looking at Luffy, a smile appeared on Rayleigh's face. This kid really was good.
"Can you do it?" Rayleigh asked. "The Grand Line is far beyond your imagination, and your enemies are unimaginably powerful. Can you really conquer this sea?"
Looking at Rayleigh, who was smiling at him, Luffy suddenly grinned and said, "I never thought about conquering anything..."
"The freest man on this sea is the Pirate King!"
Rayleigh froze for a moment. In that instant, he seemed to see the shadow of his captain.
"I see..."
"Hehe, I understand now."
Maybe this kid really could accomplish something that even they themselves had failed to do.
Looking at the reactions of every member of the Straw Hat crew, Rayleigh laughed happily.
Shakky was also watching the scene with a smile, clearly happy for Rayleigh.
"Here, drink some more."
Seeing Shakky thoughtfully bring him a bottle of fine liquor, Rayleigh nodded, picked it up, and took a fierce swig.
Today... he really had received wonderful news!
After setting down the empty bottle, Rayleigh stood up and said, "Alright, I'm going to start the coating work."
"The sooner I finish your ship, the sooner you can head to Fish-Man Island."
"How much will it cost?"
"You're Hachi's friends, so naturally, I won't charge you." Rayleigh waved a hand.
"How long will it take?"
"At the very least, coating takes three days."
"Three days?!" Luffy said in shock. "Why does it take that long?!"
Three days was way too long...
"That's already the shortest possible time." Rayleigh explained. "It's also for your safety, so it can't be done carelessly."
"Alright..."
"Where's your ship?"
"At Grove 41."
"Okay, I got it." Rayleigh nodded. "But since I'm still a wanted man, in order to avoid some unnecessary trouble, I'll need to move the ship somewhere else."
"For the next few days, just enjoy yourselves on the island. Come find me again after three days."
After saying that, Rayleigh looked at Shakky and said, "Shakky, you still have that thing, right? Give them some."
"Mm, I do."
"What thing?" Usopp asked curiously.
"Vivre Cards."
Shakky took out Rayleigh's Vivre Card, tore off half of it, and handed it to Jin. "With this Vivre Card, you'll be able to find Rayleigh."
As she spoke, Shakky demonstrated how the Vivre Card worked, allowing them to understand exactly what the thing was.
"A Vivre Card, huh..."
Jin curiously picked it up and said, "What an interesting item."
As he spoke, Jin tore off a small piece for each of Luffy and the others, telling them to keep it safe.
"Alright, I'm off to work." Rayleigh walked toward the back. "See you again in three days."
"Okay!"
"Then let's go to the amusement park!"
"Sounds good!"
"I... can I come too?" Camie asked expectantly.
"Of course you can!"
Getting that answer, Camie immediately beamed with delight. Seeing this, Pappag sighed. It seemed he had no way of stopping Camie now.
Watching the others run out excitedly, Jin said irritably, "Idiots, are you not going to care about Nami and the others?!"
"Huh?!"
The group froze. They had almost forgotten about that.
"Alright, just go." Jin waved a hand. "I'll go back with Uncle Rayleigh and find them."
"Jin, you're not going to the amusement park?" Merry asked.
"I'm not interested in that."
An amusement park was the kind of place only people like Luffy and the others would care about. He had no interest in it whatsoever.
"Okay, then we're counting on you!" Luffy shouted.
"Got it," Jin said. "But you guys better watch your safety, got it? You still remember what kind of place this is, right?"
"If something happens, remember to summon me."
"Don't worry!"
Watching his crewmates leave without even turning back, Jin felt helpless. These guys really did love to play.
"You really are reliable, little Jin~" Shakky said with a smile.
"Some things have to be done by someone."
After putting away the Vivre Card, Jin seemed to remember something and said, "Oh, right. Back when I ran into Kuma, he used a very special kind of energy."
"Do you know what that was?"
As he spoke, Jin gestured with his hand and said, "Something that can be used for defense. It can attach itself to the surface of the body. Both Kuma and Moria used it."
"So Moria has it now too..." Shakky murmured.
If that was true, then his fighting spirit really had come back.
"Are you talking about this?" Rayleigh glanced at Jin and raised one hand.
As he spoke, he coated his palm with Haki.
With his Sharingan activated, Jin instantly caught the special energy on Rayleigh's hand.
"That's it, exactly!" Jin said. "What is that?"
"This thing is called Haki!"
"Haki?"
"That's right, Haki!" Rayleigh said. "This is a form of energy that the strong in the New World must master. It's specifically used to deal with ability users."
This sea was enormous, and one could encounter all sorts of ability users. Without powerful Haki, there was simply no way to deal with them.
"It can actually be used against ability users?!" Jin immediately showed an interested expression. "Can I learn it?"
"Yes!"
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