After Laboon had calmed down, the Going Merry was back outside his body.
The ship was anchored on the left side of the place known as Twin Capes, where lighthouses had been built on both sides of the Reverse Mountain exit.
Luffy's crew had set up a table there and were eating, and—
"So you had a connection with Shanks, Luffy."
"We didn't know each other for very long."
"The fact that he gave you that straw hat is all the explanation I need."
"By the way, you must be incredibly skilled. You were the doctor of the famous Roger Pirates, after all."
"I was only with them for a short while."
Crocus was there as well, eating together with the others.
"Don't tie them up and eat in front of them!"
"Hurry up and untie us!"
The two men who had fired the bomb at Laboon were tied up with ropes, wearing the coats they had received from Luffy's crew. Luffy looked down at them as they stared up at the sight of him and the others eating.
"A long time ago, a dead whale washed up on the shore, and when I tried eating it, it tasted terrible."
"Why would you go through all that trouble to eat something like that? You'd be better off hunting Sea Kings and eating them."
"Taste isn't the issue! We were trying to save the village's food supply!"
"It was bigger than a Sea King, so it was probably easier to hunt, Luffy."
"Mr. Crocus, what are these guys, anyway?"
"They were after the things they could get by killing Laboon, Nami."
"If they'd succeeded, they would've made enough to feed a small village for years, with meat and byproducts like oil and bones."
"More importantly, please finish telling us about Laboon from earlier."
"You drifted off from the Laboon story and ended up talking only about yourself, Usopp... Where was I?"
"You were saying that Laboon came here 50 years ago with the Rumbar Pirates after crossing Reverse Mountain."
"Ah, right. For the record, Laboon is a giant whale from West Blue that travels in a pod."
"The Rumbar Pirates traveled with Laboon in West Blue, but because adventures on the Grand Line were dangerous, they originally intended to leave Laboon behind in West Blue."
"But Laboon, who considered them his comrades and part of the same pod, followed them anyway. So when the Rumbar Pirates' ship broke down and they stayed here for months, they asked me, who had become close with them during that time, for a favor."
"They asked me to look after Laboon here for two or three years, and said they would definitely sail around the world and come back here in that time."
"But you said Laboon and Crocus met 50 years ago..."
"That's right. Laboon has believed for 50 years that those guys would come back alive."
"And I confirmed it through a reliable source: the Rumbar Pirates' ship escaped into the Calm Belt."
"Then..."
"That's right, Usopp. Those guys ran away from the Grand Line."
At those words, everyone stopped eating and looked at Crocus, setting down the utensils in their hands.
The answer he gave was an unbelievable truth—the result of a promise waited on for fifty long years. In the silence that followed, Nami spoke up.
"But if you're trying to escape the Grand Line, you have to pass through the Calm Belt. How did they get through a place swarming with Sea Kings in a windless zone..."
"Nami, when I was captain of the Kuja Pirates, we trained venomous sea serpents to pull our ships, which allowed us to sail relatively freely between Amazon Lily and other islands within the Calm Belt."
"And nowadays, the Marines process Seastone into thin plates that emit energy similar to the sea, then line the bottoms of their ships with it to fool the Sea Kings and move easily in and out of the Calm Belt."
"I don't know what method those Rumbar whatever guys used, but the Calm Belt today isn't a place you can't survive."
"That's right, Hancock. Like you said, I don't know what method they used, or whether they just got lucky, but the Rumbar Pirates survived and escaped the Calm Belt."
"But even if they survived, those guys wouldn't come back to the Grand Line again.
The Grand Line is a place where seasons, weather, currents, wind direction—everything changes at random, a place where all common sense falls apart."
"The unknown seeps into the weak hearts of those who set foot there and brings them fear. It's only natural that frightened fools would never dare challenge it again."
"Mr. Crocus... does Laboon know this? He's a whale that understands speech, right?"
"I told him everything without hiding a thing, Usopp. But Laboon refused to believe it."
******
"Stop, Laboon!"
"Bwooooooo!!!"
In Crocus's memory, the younger middle-aged man he had been at the time shouted as he watched a much smaller Laboon than the one before them slam his head into the Red Line.
"That promise wasn't made to deceive you!"
"The Grand Line was simply too dangerous for them to keep that promise!"
"So please, stop doing something this stupid! It won't bring those guys back!"
"Bwooooooo!!!"
******
"Ever since then, Laboon has been ramming his head into the Red Line as if denying the truth."
"Unfortunately, reality is crueler than imagination. I tried persuading him many times, but Laboon refused to accept the truth."
"To think he'd wait fifty years even after being betrayed... What a pointless thing to do."
"Cook, for Laboon, losing the reason to wait would be the most terrifying thing of all."
"For Laboon, who came over from West Blue, there's no road back. Those guys were his comrades and his only hope."
"Old man, Laboon aside, you were betrayed by those guys too, weren't you?"
"Aren't you resentful that you had to take care of him for so many years?"
"Look at the scar on that guy's forehead. If he keeps smashing his head like that with all his strength, he's definitely going to die."
"We spent fifty years together. I can't just leave him alone now."
Hearing that, Luffy, who was sitting at the edge of the table, looked down again at the two people who were tied up.
"So? Don't you have anything you want to say honestly?"
"What are you talking about... Why does the animal matter? People matter!"
"Right? Miss Wednesday?!"
"O-of course, Mr. 9... People are obviously more important than animals."
"It's not wrong to say people are more important, but... hm?"
As the blue-haired woman muttered softly at the words of the man wearing a crown, Luffy noticed something running toward the lighthouse where they were from far away.
It was a duck with a yellow body, an orange beak, and a blue hat with goggles perched on its large head.
"Check it out, Usopp."
"I am, Hancock... Looks like a duck?"
"A duck? How dare some bird interrupt Luffy's meal when he's already busy eating one more slab of meat?"
"I'll catch it myself and bring back another slab of meat for Luffy to eat!"
"Sit down, Hancock. I like eating too, but I don't want you and the others to go hungry either."
Hancock, who had been about to stand up after hearing Usopp say that the duck with goggles was getting closer, was stopped when Luffy placed a hand on her shoulder and said that.
"I-I can't possibly stand by when you think of me so highly, Luffy...♡"
"Everyone stay seated. I'll go get it."
Luffy stood up and blocked the path of the large duck, which was about a head shorter than him.
And the woman he privately called Vivi looked at the duck with a shocked expression.
"Karoo! You can't come here!"
"So you know it... Sanji, what do you think would taste best if we cooked this thing?"
"Quack! Quaaaack!!!"
Luffy wrapped one arm around the duck called Karoo and coated his hand in golden Haki.
(Let Vivi go! Don't eat me!!!)
(I'm not going to eat you. I'll let Vivi go too, so stay still.)
(Eek! You can understand me?!)
(I only understand what smart animals like you are saying, so stop making a fuss and stay still.)
(O-okay!)
"Using my ability, I can transmit thoughts between people or animals I make contact with."
"However, if it isn't a human, only animals with relatively high intelligence can understand the thoughts I send and answer back."
"It's not a very useful ability considering most animals are stupid... but since I used it with Karoo, who understood human speech well in the original story, communication is going smoothly."
"Are ducks in this world naturally that smart, or is Karoo some kind of mutant?"
As Luffy was thinking that, Sanji looked at him and spoke.
"We're almost done eating anyway, Luffy. If I boil it, it'll take time, so if you want to eat it, I'll roast it whole."
"Whole roast sounds good. Tasty."
"Karoo, by the way, why are you showing up here now when you appear later in the original story?"
"I really won't eat you... but since it's come to this, suffer a little."
Hearing that, Vivi spoke toward Luffy, who was hugging Karoo's body.
"No, don't eat him!"
"What exactly are you telling me not to do? How is me eating this duck any different from you guys trying to kill Laboon?"
"Karoo is a friend I've grown up with since I was little!"
"That's right! Miss Wednesday's Karoo isn't just some ordinary duck she keeps as a pet!"
"Wouldn't Laboon be Crocus's friend too?"
"...!"
Seeing the tied-up pair staring at him with stiff expressions, Luffy speared the large piece of meat left on the table with his fork and lifted it up.
"Have you ever thought about how the meat that's gone into your mouths up until now died?"
"..."
"If you're a vegetarian, I've got nothing to say... but if not, then most animals become meat by human standards."
"For humans in this age of scientific progress, the 기준 for whether an animal becomes meat or not isn't simply the old question of eat or be eaten."
"There are all kinds of reasons—whether it's because the animal is smarter than others, or because it's a pet cherished by another human, or because a child passing by feels sorry for it and tries to protect it."
"But they all have one thing in common: humans made those standards."
As he said that, Luffy stuffed the huge piece of meat he had speared with his fork into his mouth until it was completely full.
Their eyes remained fixed on Luffy as he chewed for a while, and the silence caused by that was broken when Luffy swallowed the meat down his throat.
"Whales like Laboon are mostly highly intelligent. If human intelligence is assumed to be 100, then they're right up there next."
"Considering Laboon is fully grown, he's basically no different from a large human child."
"By my standards, killing a Laboon like that is wrong. It's no different from killing an intelligent child."
"I, I didn't know anything about whales. What you just said is the first time I've heard..."
"But even those standards were ultimately created by humans, including me."
"Then what about parrots, elephants, crows, monkeys, and the like—animals with intelligence a step below whales? Is it okay to eat them or not?"
"Th-that's..."
"In countries where those standards exist, there are plenty of places that happily eat pigs, which are less intelligent than the animals I just mentioned."
"But in some countries, they won't let you eat dogs, which are less intelligent than pigs, simply because they keep dogs as pets."
"What's even stranger is that if you apply the standards those people made, they shouldn't be allowed to hunt and eat Sea Kings or Sea Beasts either."
"And yet, strangely enough, there are cases where they don't oppose that at all... Why isn't intelligence an absolute standard?"
"If I follow what you're saying, then all those standards..."
Vivi looked up at Luffy's cold gaze and continued.
"Were made... out of human necessity."
"Yeah. No matter how you look at it—animal perspective or whatever—it's humans who ultimately decide the standards."
"But those standards among humans differ again depending on each person's upbringing and values."
"When humans have different values like that, what should you do if you want the other person to respect your values?"
"You have to... respect the other person's values."
"Then if I don't want to eat your duck friend tucked under my arm... what should I do?"
"Quaaack!"
(You said you wouldn't eat him?!)
(Karoo, if you make one more peep, I'll chew both you and Vivi up alive.)
(I-I didn't say anything!)
Vivi held Karoo's body under her arm and looked at Luffy's eyes as he crouched beside her, still tied up.
Realizing the answer had already been decided, she knelt down in the direction of Crocus and bowed her head.
"I'm sorry, sir. We were short-sighted and tried to recklessly hurt your precious friend."
"I don't care what happens to me, so please... just spare my companions and Karoo."
Seeing the woman like that, the man called Mr. 9 and the large duck called Karoo, who had somehow slipped out from under Luffy's armpit, also knelt beside her and bowed their heads.
"S-sorry, sir! We won't ever think of touching Laboon again!"
"Please forgive us!"
"Quaaack!"
Seeing the three of them bowing in a row like that, Crocus turned his head toward Luffy.
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Do as you please."
"Did I make them kneel? You did."
"Laboon's friend is Crocus, isn't he?"
Luffy thought to himself.
In the original story, Vivi's attempt to harm Laboon had been brushed over rather casually.
If Vivi didn't keep animals, he might not have known, but the fact that she treated Karoo as a friend and still tried to hurt an animal precious to someone else was what bothered him.
If they had only crossed paths in passing, maybe it wouldn't have mattered. But knowing that wasn't the case, he didn't want to let it slide from the perspective of someone who might end up on the same ship with them.
"I'm the captain of the Going Merry. I don't want to take on people I'd dislike."
Luffy thought that, and then added inwardly that even considering Vivi's kind personality as portrayed in the original story, she must have felt something from what he had just said.
Crocus continued speaking.
"As long as they don't bother Laboon or me, I don't care."
"He says that."
"Thank you, sir!"
"We'll never touch Laboon again!"
"Quack!"
As the two humans and one duck bowed again in gratitude, Luffy was standing at the edge of the ground in the direction where Laboon was.
"What are you planning, Luffy?"
"It feels a little unsatisfying to just leave, Crocus."
"I want to try talking to Laboon."
Luffy pointed toward Laboon in the distance and said that.
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