The blue East Blue stretched into the distance as a gentle breeze swept across the edge of the Goa Kingdom, carrying the salty and fresh smell of the sea.
Foosha Village, a small town as peaceful as its name suggested, was bathed in the warm morning sunlight.
The huge wooden windmill turned under the sea breeze, producing a long creaking sound as if telling stories of quiet years gone by.
But that peace was soon broken by a voice loud enough to carry through the entire town.
"Hey! Everyone! I'm setting out to sea! I'm the man who's going to become the Pirate King!"
Wearing his straw hat, Luffy rushed through the streets like a restless whirlwind.
Every time he saw someone, he excitedly waved his arms and announced from house to house that he was about to begin his journey.
The townspeople were already used to the boy's energy. Some smiled and shook their heads helplessly. Others leaned out their windows and laughed as they told him to be careful on the way and not get swallowed by a Sea King on his first day.
After a chaotic round of farewells, Luffy kicked open the weathered wooden door of Makino's bar with a loud bang.
"Makino! Shanks! I'm leaving!"
Behind the counter, Makino paused while carefully wiping a white porcelain plate.
She looked up at the reckless boy standing before her, grinning from ear to ear and having somehow lost one of his sandals while running around.
A trace of helplessness flashed through her gentle eyes.
"Honestly, Luffy, this is such an important day, and you're still this reckless."
The bar was far from empty.
Red-Haired Shanks and the members of his pirate crew were scattered throughout the room, drinking rum and laughing loudly.
Hearing Luffy's declaration about becoming Pirate King, the entire Red Hair Pirates fell silent for a moment before bursting into laughter loud enough to lift the roof.
"Hahahaha! You think a kid like you can become Pirate King?", Lucky Roux laughed so hard that his whole body shook, a piece of meat still in his hand.
"Hey, Luffy, don't wet your pants when you run into the Marines!", Yasopp slapped the table, nearly crying from laughter.
Although they teased him mercilessly, the eyes these battle-hardened men directed toward Luffy held expectation and encouragement without any attempt to hide it.
"Go on, Luffy."
Shanks sat at the counter with his chin resting on one hand, a carefree smile on his face.
"Shanks, I'll become Pirate King! Just wait and see!"
Encouraged by the warmth hidden beneath their teasing, Luffy grinned and pressed down hard on the straw hat resting on his head, the hat that carried their promise.
Then he turned around.
Without the slightest hesitation, he walked out of the bar with steady steps and headed toward the unknown journey waiting for him.
The wooden door slowly closed behind him with a creak.
Luffy's figure gradually disappeared beyond the coastline.
Behind the counter, Makino stopped what she was doing.
The smile on her face slowly faded, and concern appeared between her brows.
"Will Luffy really be okay?"
She spoke softly and looked at Shanks.
"Haven't you and the others said before that the World Government has already completely taken control of the world?"
She was only an ordinary bar owner in Foosha Village.
She didn't understand world politics or how strong people were.
But during countless nights when everyone had been drinking, she had quietly stood nearby and listened as Dragon and Shanks spoke in lowered voices across this very counter.
After hearing them over the years, she had caught glimpses of a truth hidden beneath the lies, one that left people without hope.
"No matter what, he's already our last hope."
The carefree expression disappeared from Shanks' face.
He let out a long sigh and leaned on the counter with his one remaining arm, staring through the window toward the direction where Luffy had left.
The World Government had ruled the world for eight hundred years.
Those Celestial Dragons had not only changed the course of history at will, they had also turned what should have been a world full of miracles into a vast and twisted cage.
He could not accept that reality.
People were born to pursue freedom.
That was the most precious lesson he had learned while spending his youth aboard Captain Roger's ship.
But what about now?
The entire world was firmly controlled by Rosse and the World Government under his command.
Everything seemed stable on the surface.
In reality, it was becoming as lifeless as stagnant water.
Even though East Blue and both halves of the Grand Line still looked chaotic and stories of miracles continued to spread.
The reason pirates were still active there was not because pirates were particularly resilient.
It was simply because the World Government wanted those places to remain chaotic.
These three specially isolated zones had been completely cut off from information about the rest of the world.
Shanks and Dragon had tried countless times to break this suffocating barrier of information and awaken the people.
But the terrifying part was that no matter how hard they tried, nobody cared about the truth they revealed.
Nobody wanted to believe it.
And on the rare occasions when someone did believe them, those people would disappear completely by the next morning, as though they had vanished from the world.
The people left behind in the three special zones continued living inside a fabricated world.
They still believed that the outside world remained a chaotic age filled with pirates.
They still believed that countless pirates set sail every day and that the Great Pirate Era was continuing.
But only people like Shanks, who knew the truth, understood.
The so-called Great Pirate Era had already been completely buried twenty years ago, the moment Rosse stood above the world.
Laugh Tale. The One Piece. Outside the special zones, throughout the vast world, those things had long become forgotten trash left behind by the times.
For the past twenty years, Rosse had ruled the world with absolute power.
The sun, moon, and stars of the entire world moved according to his will and the will of the World Government.
The information spread throughout the vast seas of the South Blue, West Blue, and North Blue was completely different from what existed in the special zones.
There, a fanatical era had emerged.
People regarded making a pilgrimage to the Red Line and settling there as the highest honor.
From childhood, everyone desperately studied knowledge and trained their abilities.
Not for adventure.
Not to sail the seas.
Only to pass the World Government's strict selection process and obtain a residency permit for the Kingdom of God.
And on the once barren Red Line, hundreds upon hundreds of magnificent giant cities had already risen from the ground.
Countless modern skyscrapers filled the land.
Steel giants traveled through the clouds.
Everything was completely different from the romantic island style of the past.
Different cities had even developed into distinctive centers of technology, agriculture, or commerce according to the World Government's plans.
Shanks had used Shamrock's identity to secretly enter the Red Line several times.
He had to admit that the current World Government was indeed different from the corrupt Celestial Dragons of eight hundred years ago.
They had brought astonishing efficiency and prosperity.
But in Shanks' eyes, it was also a massive step backward for the human spirit.
If an era no longer had any desire for the unknown.
If it no longer pursued freedom.
If not even the smallest variable remained.
If people were born only to follow the rules of those above them, working mechanically for personal gain instead of shedding blood and tears for their dreams.
Then what difference was there between such a world and death?
And if the world was to regain its vitality... If the sea was to become magnificent once more... Then he, Dragon, and even old remnants of the previous era like Whitebeard were clearly not enough.
In front of the World Government's absolute power, they were as powerless as insects trying to stop a carriage.
Only Luffy.
Only this Child of Destiny carrying the world's fortune.
Only this Nika said to bring freedom and liberation.
Only he had a chance to become the stone thrown into stagnant water and break this deadlock.
"Shanks, don't put so much pressure on yourself."
A special drink carrying the scent of fruit mixed with strong alcohol was gently pushed in front of him by a pair of fair hands.
At some point, Makino had walked over.
A smile appeared on her gentle face, seeming capable of easing every worry.
"Makino, thank you."
Looking at the glass before him, some of the darkness in Shanks' eyes faded.
He picked up the drink, tilted his head back, and emptied it in one gulp.
Then he let out a long breath.
"If I didn't have a safe harbor like you, these old bones would've probably been crushed by all of this a long time ago."
"Oh? Listen to that, everyone! Listen to that! 'If I didn't have you, I would've fallen apart long ago~'"
Yasopp immediately pinched his throat and imitated Shanks' words in an exaggerated, overly sweet voice.
The room instantly exploded with laughter.
"Hahahaha! Captain, that's a pretty old-fashioned line!", Lucky Roux slapped his round stomach.
First Mate Benn Beckman bit down on his cigar and slowly blew out a ring of smoke, amusement showing at the corner of his mouth.
"Looks like us rough old men really aren't worth much. We've risked our lives beside the captain for years, and we still can't compare to a single drink from the boss lady when it comes to relieving stress."
"You bunch of idiots!"
Shanks actually blushed a little for once.
He had just turned around to curse them with a laugh when...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several oversized wooden mugs landed heavily on the table in front of Yasopp, Beckman, and the others.
The force was strong enough that drops of alcohol splashed out.
"What? Is my alcohol not good enough to keep your mouths shut?"
Makino stood with one hand on her hip, glaring at the troublemakers.
She wore the same plain and conservative bar uniform as always, with a headscarf wrapped around her hair.
But beneath that seemingly gentle appearance was a presence that even these large men did not casually provoke.
The slight irritation on her face only made her look more attractive, highlighting the charm that age had added to her and the fit figure she had maintained through years of work.
There was none of the embarrassment or awkwardness usually seen in young girls when being teased.
Instead, she dealt with the commotion like a queen, calm and commanding.
Watching the pirates instantly fall silent and obediently lift their mugs to drink, Shanks could not help laughing again.
"Hahahahahaha!"
The rough and cheerful laughter echoed through the small bar once more, temporarily shutting out the heavy and suffocating world beyond its walls.
———
[At the Cliffside on the Edge of Foosha Village]
Below the steep rock face, waves tirelessly crashed against the reefs, breaking into countless patches of white foam.
Creak!
Along with the sound of an old wooden hinge grinding, a solid door suddenly appeared in midair where nothing had existed before and slowly swung open.
Then a pair of straight, long legs wrapped in a white suit stepped gracefully out from the dark doorway.
"Hm! The air in this lower-class sea is still as filthy and unpleasant as ever."
Shirahoshi stopped at the edge of the cliff.
She gently breathed in the wind carrying the smell of the sea, then frowned with disgust as if she had smelled something from a sewer.
"That's a bit much, Shirahoshi. From a geographical perspective, the elevation here is extremely low. The oxygen concentration should be much higher than on the Red Line. It ought to feel more comfortable to breathe."
Behind her, a handsome young man with short blond hair and a well-fitted black suit stepped out of the doorway with his hands in his pockets.
Sanji glanced sideways at Shirahoshi and smiled helplessly.
He immediately understood what she was doing.
She was deliberately imitating the Celestial Dragons of the past.
Not long after their generation had been born, the World Government had gone through a major upheaval.
Most of the Celestial Dragons had died, leaving only a small number behind.
After Rosse fully took power, those people lost all noble privileges.
Instead, they were kept like livestock and used as negative examples during the education of Rosse's children.
The disgusted look on Shirahoshi's face right now was practically identical to theirs.
"Tsk! Tsk! Brother Sanji, why are you so rigid? Have you considered this possibility..."
Shirahoshi turned her head and replied with a smile.
"Maybe fish-men are supposed to live in the deep sea and simply don't need that much oxygen?"
After scoring a point against Sanji, Shirahoshi ignored his eye roll and looked toward the final person stepping through the doorway.
"Brother Ace, seeing someone set sail with the goal of becoming Pirate King, do you have any special thoughts as an observer?"
Ace stepped through the doorway.
The sea breeze lifted the edge of his black coat.
Hearing Shirahoshi's teasing, he shook his head helplessly, "That habit of yours of enjoying other people's embarrassment is exactly like Dad's."
Ace slightly raised his head and calmly looked out at the rough sea below.
There, a tiny fishing boat, so simple it looked almost shabby, drifted with the waves.
Onboard, the boy wearing a straw hat was excitedly waving his arms around.
At this very moment, Luffy had begun his journey.
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