Loguetown, twenty-two years ago.
Right after Roger was executed, in the rain, Shanks and Buggy stood in an alley.
They were still boys, not yet adults, their faces youthful and unweathered. Shanks was wearing the straw hat that would one day be passed on to Luffy.
"Why are you saying you won't go to Raftel, Shanks!"
"You said you'd sail there yourself someday! Aren't you going to look for One Piece?!"
"Well... I'm not really interested."
"What...?!"
"But I'm still going to be a pirate, so come with me, Buggy."
"Shanks..."
'I had you completely wrong.'
'Aren't you supposed to be the one carrying on Captain Roger's will...!'
"Like hell I'd become a subordinate to a guy like you! And don't forget, I lost my treasure map because of you!"
"Next time we meet, we're enemies!"
Back then, Buggy ran off into the rain with Shanks behind him.
That became Buggy and Shanks's last memory together.
*
"Why didn't you say you'd become Pirate King, Shanks?"
"I gave up on my dream as a kid because you were just too impressive. Instead, I looked forward to standing beside you."
Buggy's head, separated from his body, muttered in front of a small mound made from fragments of the execution platform.
Luffy and Hancock were gone, and all that remained around him were mangled corpses.
"The only one who could stand in for the dead Captain Roger... the only one I wanted to be with was you."
"For someone with that much talent to end up just wandering around drinking with his crew... you really are an idiot."
From the clouded sky, rain fell just as it had after Roger died long ago.
"But even so... I still can't let go of you."
"And now I'm the bigger idiot for it."
With those words, Buggy stopped moving.
On the execution platform in the town of beginnings and endings, the Pirate King met his end, and beneath it, the one who had once dreamed of becoming Pirate King as a child also drew his last breath.
The first death shook the fate of the world, but after the second, there were no cheers, no legend.
For someone, that place had been a starting point. For someone else, it became the final stage.
Buggy the Clown, the man who had always carried noise and chaos with him, ended his life more quietly than anyone else in the end.
*
"That surprised me, Luffy. Considering everything between us and Buggy, plus what just happened, I thought you'd beat him into a complete pulp."
"Nami, you said a typhoon was coming. We need to leave before the ship gets flipped over."
Luffy, Hancock, and the others were running through the rainy streets of Loguetown.
Luffy had the bundle of flags Usopp had saved slung over his shoulder, and not a single person could be seen in the streets because of Buggy's rampage and the typhoon.
'With my Observation Haki, Buggy's body had been pierced in several places. So I left him to die in pain.'
'In the original story, Buggy was the one who rose from the ranks of the Warlords of the Sea to become one of the Emperors of the Sea, thanks to his name as a former member of Roger's crew, his luck, and his ability to lead subordinates.'
'If there was one great misfortune he suffered, it was probably my existence after reincarnating as Luffy.'
"By the way, who's that woman, Luffy?! Why is she running in the same direction as us!"
"Miss Nami! That lady is the world's greatest beauty, the queen of Amazon Lily, Pirate Empress Boa Hancock!"
"That's not all, Nami! She's also one of the Warlords of the Sea!"
"Usopp, if she's a Warlord, then she's one of those... insanely strong pirates you were talking about!"
"I'm not as strong as the others, orange-haired girl. The reason I became a Warlord was because I have the power to fight favorably against many opponents at once."
"My becoming a Warlord was the result of that, plus the power of my older sister, who's stronger than I am."
"Anyway, nice to meet you, Luffy's subordinates. From now on, make sure you follow me and Luffy properly!"
"We're not subordinates! We're crewmates on equal footing!"
"How dare you spout nonsense about being equal to Luffy, green-haired boy! And who are you supposed to be!"
"I'm the vice-captain of Luffy's ship!"
"Then from now on, I'm the vice-captain! You can do the deck cleaning!"
"Don't be ridiculous! Luffy, say something too...!"
At that moment, Luffy stopped.
Hancock, who had been running behind him, kicked off the ground and leaped up, but Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp collided with Luffy's back and tumbled left and right.
Nami, who had been running at the very back, barely managed to grab onto Luffy's back and keep from falling, while Hancock landed beside Luffy.
"What's your problem, orange-haired girl! Get away from Luffy!"
"W-who are you to tell me what to do...!"
As they spoke, the two of them looked toward the direction Luffy was staring.
At the end of the main road they had emerged onto from the alley, the harbor lay ahead.
And standing atop the streetlamp in the center of that road was a Marine.
"Miss Hancock! You hid why you came here so well, and this is what it was for!"
"It's because you kept going on and on about sending Luffy back to the Marines or not!"
"I'm taking Luffy with me!"
"I have no intention of letting you. Move, Coby."
At Luffy's words, Coby looked at him with a solemn gaze.
"I'll take you with me... even if I have to use force."
"I saw you in that building that fell from the execution platform. And the guy putting in all this effort to drag me away didn't save me back then?"
"Ah, I was really flustered then. But when you stood up on the execution platform, I snapped out of it and was going to rush in to save you."
"Of course, that role ended up going to Miss Hancock."
"What reason do you have for taking me? Did I get a bounty or something?"
"Disturbing the peace in a public place, destroying a government facility— which one sounds better?"
"Of course, if you were summoned for questioning as a witness and refused, we could also detain you for that. That's enough justification to arrest you."
"When did you get so good at thinking up the bad side of things? That's depressing, Coby."
"Isn't that the kind of method you've used plenty of times yourself, to arrest people who should be taken in without following procedure? I learned by watching."
"Do you really think you can take me?"
"I can't give up... Vice-Admiral Garp would say I did well."
"...The wind's really strong."
Luffy said that and lifted the front of his hat slightly as he looked up at the sky.
"You all go back to the ship first. Hancock, go with them."
"Luffy, in a situation like this, there's no need to..."
"Hurry up and finish this."
While Hancock spoke with concern, Zoro took the bundle of flags from Luffy and set it on his shoulder.
"Don't keep the queen waiting, Luffy."
"I'll get everything ready so we can set sail right away!"
Sanji and Usopp said the same as they passed by Luffy, and Nami followed behind them.
Then Nami turned her head toward Hancock, who was still standing there.
"Hurry up and come with us! That's the captain's order!"
"...Understood."
'So instead of worrying, you decided to trust him... good crewmates, Luffy.'
After Hancock and Nami passed the streetlamp Coby had climbed, Coby dropped down to the ground there.
"As I thought... a coat should be worn with the sleeves in."
"Haha, yes, Luffy. Wearing it over the shoulders does seem a little off."
"Of course!"
""Hahahahahaha!""
In the storm's wind and rain, the two of them laughed, their black and white coats flaring around them.
"How have you been? Is being an officer working out for you?"
"I'm trying to repay the trust the people below me place in me... but sometimes it feels like I'm just running in place."
"Of course, I'm not satisfied with staying here. I'm going to get stronger, hone my skills, and rise higher."
"How high are you aiming?"
"My dream is to become a Marine admiral. Is that too lofty a goal?"
"It's good to dream big. Even if you can't make it all the way, you can still be satisfied with a decent result somewhere in the middle."
Luffy answered Buggy's question in the same way, but the feeling behind his words was warmer than before.
"But whether a dream is big or small isn't all that important to a person."
"What matters more is living while enjoying the freedom I have, without infringing on the freedom of others, and taking responsibility for that freedom."
"That's why I left Buggy to die in the square. That was 'dehumanization.'"
"I don't want to just leave alone those who wear a human skin and pretend to be human."
"That's exactly the kind of person I admire... Is there really no way you'll come back to the Marines?"
"Even if I wear the pirate label, there are things I have to do."
"My justice doesn't disappear just because I'm not a Marine, so don't worry."
"Then... I can't give up even more."
The moment Coby said that, white smoke appeared around his body and wrapped itself around him.
"The place where your justice can shine brightest is the Marines!"
"The Smoke-Smoke Fruit... it was the ability to manipulate smoke with physical force."
"It was Smoker's ability too."
"I happened to eat it not long after you left, Luffy."
"So I made up my mind! I'm going to get stronger so I can help you from your side, just like Smoker did, Luffy!"
Coby's white smoke wrapped around his fist and began to spin around it.
Because of that, even the typhoon wind blowing from Luffy's direction toward Coby twisted off course.
Seeing Coby like that, Luffy remembered Smoker from the past, with swirling smoke wrapped around his fist just like this.
"I'm going to hit you with everything I've got, Luffy! Be ready!"
"If I win this time, the win-loss record flips!"
"Bring it on, Smoker!"
"Bring it on... Coby!"
Coby flew through the air and swung his fist at Luffy.
But unlike the last time, Luffy did not swing back. He stood there exactly where he was.
'White Blow!'
Boom!
At the moment of impact, Coby's fist blasted white smoke straight forward.
The resulting pressure wave shoved back the rain and wind, along with the water pooled on the ground around them.
But the fierce typhoon quickly drove the white smoke back and pushed onward toward the harbor.
"You've gotten a lot stronger, Coby... you worked hard."
"Luffy...!"
Luffy emerged from the smoke, blocking Coby's fist with one hand and standing there without moving an inch.
"But Smoker..."
Luffy raised the fist of his other hand, and Coby looked up at it.
"He was stronger than you are now!"
Thud!
Luffy's fist slammed down on Coby's head, driving the side of Coby's face into the ground.
"At this level, among the guys you've fought recently... you'd be about as strong as Arlong without the drugs."
"If you keep working at it, you'll catch up, Coby. So don't give up."
Luffy looked down at Coby, said that, and then ran toward the harbor.
But Coby, still lying there, raised one arm and his upper body as he watched Luffy's retreating back.
"N-no, not yet... I'm not done yet...!"
"That's enough, Marine boy."
"...!"
And then, at that moment, a man in a green robe reached from behind and grabbed Coby's arm.
'My arm... no, my whole body won't move at all.'
The hand gripping his arm was definitely a human hand, but the weight Coby felt was far beyond what a single human hand should have been.
Coby, unable to see the man behind him, felt him as though he were a giant, and felt himself as small as an ant crushed beneath that giant's fingers.
'Luffy...!'
Then Coby remembered a scene from his memory.
It was his last memory before he fainted from Luffy's Conqueror's Haki on the day Kaido attacked.
What he recalled was Luffy staggering to his feet in front of Kaido.
'I can't just freeze up and do nothing like I did then...'
'So I have to...'
Coby, drenched in cold sweat, slowly turned his head.
'Just like Luffy did back then...!'
With great effort, Coby turned only his head and looked up at the man's face.
"Who are you... to get in my way...?!"
He was a middle-aged man with sharp features, and on the left side of his face was an unusual red tattoo made of several slashed lines with a few dots inside them.
"What reason is there to interfere with a man's departure?"
"Why are you here... no way!"
"The world... is waiting for our answer."
*
Luffy flew to the harbor, his body wrapped in Haki.
The Going Merry was there, its anchor raised, rocking violently in the rough waves.
And on the deck, everyone except Usopp, who was rolling around, and the invisible Zoro was holding onto the side of the ship.
'Zoro's... right below.'
Scattered around the harbor were thirty or forty Marines lying on the ground, limp and half-conscious, and Zoro was at the very edge of the harbor directly beneath the Going Merry.
He was swinging his three swords, and the one facing him with a long sword was Hibari.
"Step back now, Lieutenant. You're the only one left."
"I can't do that, Roronoa-san. My senior asked me to do this!"
"Hancock! Why didn't you use your power on her!"
"My power didn't work on that girl, Luffy!"
"I asked around a little, and she said there's someone she likes a lot! That's why it didn't work!"
"D-don't say that so loudly!"
"So that's why Zoro stepped in."
'Even if she's a woman, if she so much as wavers at Hancock's beauty, she can't avoid her body going limp.'
'She resisted that... I don't know who she is, but she must really like someone.'
While they fought, Hibari lifted her head and looked at Luffy, who had appeared without her noticing.
'Wait, the senior went after that man to take him away.'
'Then why is he here... that means the senior...!'
"It's good that your heart doesn't waver, but..."
"...!"
As she thought that, Hibari lowered her head again.
There, Zoro with his three swords was already right in front of her.
"You shouldn't have looked away from the blade."
She blocked Zoro's right sword with her long sword, but Zoro shoved his other sword sideways and broke her stance.
'Senior...'
At the same time, the back of Zoro's left sword struck Hibari's chin, sending her crashing to the ground.
"What the hell are you doing to a girl, Marimo! You should've gone easier on her!"
"Shut up! I hit her with the back of the blade, so it's fine!"
"I stepped in because leaving it to a Warlord seemed dangerous! If you're the kind of idiot who goes stupid against women, then stay out of the way!"
"The typhoon's getting worse. Both of you, hurry up and come!"
"Got it, Nami. Let's go up, Zoro."
The moment Luffy grabbed Zoro's arm in midair, Coby staggered to the harbor entrance.
He looked at the Marines collapsed and slumped all over the harbor, then at Hibari lying at the far end of the harbor.
'Miss Hibari, everyone... this is all my fault.'
'I should've refused when they said they'd help me...'
And then Coby watched the departing Going Merry as Luffy flew up onto the deck, still holding Zoro's arm.
'Luffy... I don't think I was wrong to believe that the place you belong is with the Marines.'
'So I won't give up. I can't...!'
Coby said that and cried while standing there.
His tears mixed with the wind and rain and ran down his face, but the sorrow in his eyes as he stared into the air, and the trembling of both his hands, made it clear that he was crying.
A little behind Coby stood the man with the red tattoo.
'There are things that can never be stopped.'
'People's dreams, the ebb and flow of the times, inherited will.'
'As long as humans continue searching for the answer called "freedom," they will never stop.'
'Those were the Pirate King's words when he was alive. I feel the same.'
He was looking toward Coby, or more precisely, toward the Going Merry as it began to depart into the storm.
'I wanted to help without making it obvious, but you've grown strong enough that there was no need.'
'A pirate... that might not be so bad.'
'If that's your answer, then go forward, my son.'
*
"Luffy, are you here because you're worried about that kid over there?"
"Well... something like that."
After answering Nami, Luffy looked around behind the ship as if searching for something.
'If this were the original story, he should've been on this island by now... so that's not how it is, Father.'
After Nami went back onto the deck, Luffy's gaze returned to Coby, who was still standing in the harbor and looking at him with sad eyes.
'You must've had a hard time after that day too, Coby.'
'I'm sorry I couldn't stay by your side... I should've at least said that much before leaving.'
'I know now that there may come a time when you can't convey what you truly feel.'
'So since we've met again after so long... let the others say hello to you too.'
Luffy imagined Smoker and his subordinates standing beside Coby in the harbor.
Unlike Coby in the center, they were all sending Luffy gentle smiles.
'I've always thought I owed all of you an apology.'
'But saying only that right up until the moment we part ways feels kind of lame, doesn't it?'
'So I'll say something else instead... that's okay, right?'
After a brief silence, Luffy lifted the corners of his mouth slightly and spoke again.
'Goodbye, everyone... and thank you, truly.'
With those words, Luffy turned away from the harbor.
It was the final farewell he had never been able to say.