...
At this moment, Luffy had already scrambled and crawled into the dense forest by the shore. Like a wounded trapped beast, he frantically attacked everything around him—trees, rocks, even himself!
"Rubber Rubber... Pistol! Gatling!"
Although he was a rubber man and ordinary physical attacks couldn't inflict fatal wounds, right now his whole body was covered in blood. Every exertion tore at wounds so deep they exposed bone!
The intense pain felt like countless red-hot steel needles relentlessly stabbing his nerves.
This heart-piercing agony acted like a basin of cold water, slightly dousing the frenzied fire in his mind and allowing him a sliver of clarity.
His attacks gradually stopped. Luffy panted heavily and blankly raised his head.
Through vision blurred by sweat, blood, and tears, he gazed at this unfamiliar, lush green forest canopy.
"Where... is this?"
He murmured to himself, his voice hoarse and broken: "I really... am still dreaming, right..."
Luffy's eyes were filled with immense confusion and an almost pleading desire to escape.
How he wished all of this was just a long nightmare. As long as he woke up, Ace would still be by his side, wearing that signature warm smile.
He didn't even dare confirm it. Even though his subconscious already knew this was reality, he refused to face it.
However, fragments of memory struck like the cruelest blades, mercilessly slicing through his consciousness once more.
"Thank you... Luffy."
Ace's smile in his final moments, that relieved yet endlessly longing gaze, the gradually cooling touch of his body... all of it surged into Luffy's heart like a tidal wave.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!!!"
Luffy clutched his head tightly with both hands, letting out an even more painful, even more despairing scream than before—as if he wanted to vomit out his very soul.
He could no longer deceive himself.
As he accepted the reality that Ace was dead, an overwhelming sense of guilt and emptiness swallowed him like an abyss.
Steeling himself, he plunged back into self-destructive madness, using his fists and head to savagely smash into the giant trees and rocks nearby!
It was as if only the utmost physical agony could temporarily numb the collapse of his spirit—like a resolute declaration: "Ace is dead, so I won't live either."
"Luffy!! The war is already lost! Ace, he already...!!"
At that moment, a steady yet grief-stricken voice rang out like an alarm bell.
Jinbe, dragging his heavily wounded body, hurriedly rushed over from the shore.
What he feared most was exactly this: Luffy waking up unable to accept reality and spiraling into self-destruction.
This young life that they had desperately pulled back from the gates of death could not be allowed to fade away so meaninglessly!
"Don't say it! Don't say anything!!"
Luffy lay on the ground like an injured cub, roaring hoarsely at Jinbe with his raspy throat, refusing to let him utter that cruel conclusion.
His fingers dug deeply into his own cheeks, almost tearing through the rubber skin and leaving hideous marks.
"If this is a dream... I should have woken up long ago... Why haven't I woken up yet..."
His voice shifted from roaring to helpless whimpers. Tears mixed with the blood and mud on his face, flowing freely.
"This isn't a dream, right..."
Luffy lifted his head, gazing at Jinbe through tear-filled eyes. His look held one last fragile shred of hope, now shattering: "Ace is already dead... right?"
His body trembled violently from the extreme grief. This time, Luffy was like a candle in the wind—one gentle push would extinguish him completely.
Seeing Luffy in such unbearable pain, Jinbe's own heart twisted like a knife.
But he knew that right now he could not show the slightest weakness. He had to be strong. He had to shatter Luffy's final delusion in the most direct way possible and forcibly drag him out of the abyss of self-blame!
He took a deep breath, met Luffy's gaze, and with all his strength spoke clearly and heavily:
"Yes! He's already dead!"
These words struck Luffy's heart like a final judgment.
Luffy, who had been struggling and screaming fiercely, fell strangely silent after hearing this undeniable answer. He stopped attacking, stopped shouting, and simply sat there dazed on the ground.
Yet beneath this silence surged an even fiercer undercurrent. Every moment spent with Ace flashed uncontrollably in his mind like a runaway film reel: their first meeting on Mt. Corvo, pulling pranks together, getting chased by Dadan together, shouting their dreams toward the sea together...
"Ugh... Aaaaaaaaa..."
Luffy could no longer hold it back. Like a child who had lost the world's most precious treasure, he burst into loud sobs.
His cries tore at the heart, filled with endless sorrow and despair.
The Summit War ultimately ended in tragedy. Luffy had given everything, yet he still couldn't save his beloved brother.
His strength was still too weak, his mind too immature to weather the storm of that top-tier battlefield.
However, Ace's death—this bone-deep, heart-stabbing pain—also acted like the cruelest chisel, forcibly carving Luffy's growth, forcing him to confront his own powerlessness and step toward maturity.
And Ace, in his final moments, knew he was loved and departed with a smile. Perhaps... for him, that was also a form of release and fulfillment.
"What Pirate King... I'm way too weak! Too weak!!"
Luffy sobbed while pounding the ground with his fists. He recalled his helplessness on the battlefield.
Suppressed by Smoker, easily repelled by various Vice Admirals, unable to dodge even a casual strike from Mihawk, and like an ant before the Admirals... This was the second time since setting sail that he had so profoundly, so brutally realized his own weakness.
Not just this time—back on Sabaody Archipelago, he had also lost his crew due to lack of strength... The shadow of weakness had never loomed over him so clearly.
Guilt and regret made him raise his fist again, wanting to continue hurting himself.
"Enough!!"
Jinbe could watch no longer. He charged forward fiercely, using his massive, webbed hand to clamp tightly around Luffy's throat and slam him hard against a huge rock behind him!
The immense force instantly choked Luffy, halting his struggles.
"Cough..."
"You've lost a lot of things, haven't you?!" Jinbe's voice thundered in Luffy's ears, trying to awaken his grief-blinded heart.
"These things have blinded your eyes! So you can't see the road ahead at all! You're sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness of regret and self-blame!!"
Jinbe's tone grew more urgent. His own eyes reddened, his voice carrying an irrepressible sob.
How could he not hurt? He had lost Whitebeard, whom he respected like a father, and Ace, whom he saw as a brother!
"I know it's painful! This old man knows too!" Jinbe practically roared: "But... stop always thinking about what you've lost! What's lost is lost—it's never coming back! What you need to do now is think carefully!"
He stared fixedly into Luffy's unfocused eyes, hammering each word like a heavy blow:
"What! Do! You! Still! Have! Left!!"
With those words, Jinbe released his grip.
Luffy slid down the rock and collapsed on the ground, gasping for air in huge breaths.
Jinbe's words struck like lightning, cracking open a gap in Luffy's chaotic mind.
He stopped crying and simply sat there dazed. Then, slowly, like a bewildered child, he clumsily fiddled with his fingers, softly counting and recalling over and over:
"Zoro... Chopper... Usopp... Sanji... Nami... Robin... Franky... Brook..."
Each name represented a crewmate who had sworn oaths with him and sailed together.
They were still out there somewhere on the sea, waiting for him to reunite with them.
...