Bugg y stared at Rayleigh in confusion.
"I don't understand what you mean…"
What did he mean by 'it wouldn't have meant anything'?
Rayleigh stroked the tuft of silver-white beard on his chin, his eyes fixed on the scattered gravel at his feet for a long moment before he finally spoke the truth.
"Roger's last words before his death—you know them. Based on those words, the world has come to believe there are two conditions to becoming Pirate King."
He raised one finger.
"First: just like Roger, one must sail the Grand Line from beginning to end."
"Second—" he lifted a second finger, "—to reach the final island and discover the One Piece, then open it."
Those words, spoken in that theatrical execution, had spread across the world, known by every man, woman, and child.
Rayleigh continued:
"These two conditions are really just one. Unless you reach the end, you haven't truly completed the Grand Line."
"Raftel…" Buggy crossed his arms, his brows knitted. His tone was bitter. "I know that. You all told me a hundred times after you came back."
Back then, he never had the chance to go to Raftel. It remained one of the greatest regrets of his life.
Rayleigh looked up at him.
"Before the final voyage, you fell ill. Shanks chose to stay behind to care for you. That's why neither of you saw the truth of Raftel."
Buggy remembered it well.
That Shanks had been willing to stay behind at such a time—that was one of the reasons Buggy later felt compelled to support him.
But their paths diverged. Their ideals clashed violently, and in the end, they parted on bad terms.
Why was Rayleigh bringing this up now? How did this prove that Shanks had been right? The treasure was right there at Raftel—within reach!
"Buggy, I know what you're thinking. You believe that if you and Shanks had gone together, you would've gained the One Piece. Don't you?"
"Wouldn't we?"
Rayleigh sighed. He hated to shatter the illusion, but if Buggy was ever to break free from his bitterness toward Shanks and avoid a fruitless path, he had to face reality.
"No. Even we, who braved every peril to reach that place, could not open the treasure. How could you? We never told you this clearly… but Shanks must have learned it directly from Roger."
"You couldn't open it?" Buggy's face went pale. "Why not?"
Could it be… the One Piece was a lie all along?
Seeing the thought flash across Buggy's face, Rayleigh explained:
"No. The treasure is real. Within it lies the truth of the world, and power to shake it to its core—true wealth beyond measure. But it does not belong to us. It does not belong to any one person. It belongs to everyone."
A bitter smile tugged at his lips. He recalled the moment they finally beheld the truth on Raftel—when they all burst out laughing. Joy, shock, grief, resignation—every emotion mingled together.
"I still don't understand…" Buggy's body trembled as he stared at Rayleigh. The closer he drew to the secret, the more dread welled up inside him.
"The treasure was left eight hundred years ago by a man named Joy Boy," Rayleigh explained. "Only he—or rather, the one who inherits his will—can open it."
"It is a treasure that will unite the world into one land, reunite him with the descendants of his comrades, and bring the whole world together for a great feast. That was Joy Boy's pure, childlike dream."
"Joy Boy?!" Buggy's expression twisted in disbelief. "If he left treasure, why the hell wouldn't he let anyone else touch it? 'Reuniting with old friends,' 'a great feast'—what meaning does that even have?!"
"Buggy, calm yourself. Let me finish."
"Joy Boy was a liberator who brought freedom and laughter to the world eight centuries ago. But he could not change it completely. So he left behind this great treasure, waiting for the one who would continue his will."
"That person would be the next Joy Boy. Yes—'Joy Boy' is a title, something passed down. When the chosen one awakens to it, only then can the treasure be opened. Only then can the world be changed."
"At Raftel, the prophecy was written: the next Joy Boy would awaken soon, and he would meet the Sea King. The time frame—about twenty years later. That's why Roger said we had arrived too early."
"Roger was already dying, his days numbered. He knew he wouldn't live to see the day the treasure was opened. So he gambled with his life and sparked the Great Pirate Era."
"His goal was always clear."
"No matter who Joy Boy turned out to be, it would be someone who yearned for freedom and adventure. Such a person could never resist the pull of Raftel."
"Roger's final act was to pave the road for Joy Boy, without alerting the Celestial Dragons."
"The awakened Joy Boy will sail the Grand Line. He will reach Raftel. Roger gave his life to ensure it."
"Shanks likely learned most of this from Roger. He understood that going to Raftel with you meant nothing—unless one of you was Joy Boy."
Buggy pressed his lips together, silent for a long while. When he finally spoke, his voice was low, his face twisted in pain.
"Why? Why did Roger have to go that far… for this Joy Boy?"
"Perhaps it was fate."
Rayleigh sighed again.
"You know Roger and Oden could hear voices the rest of us couldn't. Those voices saved us countless times. They came to believe in them completely."
"Oden believed as Roger did. You know his story. Even to his death, he never asked us for help. He believed that twenty years later, Joy Boy would come to free Wano."
"He chose to fight Kaido only after Roger's death—but by then, he had lost the strength to win…"
"And Shanks?"
"Shanks trusted Roger deeply," Rayleigh said, suddenly shifting the topic. "Did you know he lost an arm in the East Blue?"
"I read about it in the papers… but they never said how. I was in the East Blue at the time. If he had fought Mihawk and lost an arm, word would've spread everywhere…"
"It wasn't Mihawk. It was a Sea King. One of the smaller ones, at that. When it attacked a child, Shanks sacrificed his arm to save him."
"That's impossible!" Buggy leapt to his feet in shock. "Shanks couldn't lose to some Sea King—let alone give up an arm!"
It was absurd. A joke.
He remembered clearly. At that time, Shanks was already a feared pirate, his name shaking the seas—even if he wasn't yet one of the Four Emperors. Not even Mihawk could best him outright. And yet… a small Sea King?
"That's what he told me, with his own mouth," Rayleigh said firmly, silencing Buggy's disbelief.
"After Roger's death, Shanks investigated everything about Joy Boy. Eventually he discovered that one of the conditions for Joy Boy's awakening was eating a specific Devil Fruit."
"A Devil Fruit?"
"Yes. Its true name is the Mythical Zoan: Human-Human Fruit, Model 'Nika'. But it is also known by another name—the Gum-Gum Fruit."
Buggy froze. Then his eyes bulged wide.
"Shanks found that the fruit was in the hands of Cipher Pol, under the World Government. He stole it—but by chance, or by fate, a boy ended up eating it."
"That boy's name was Luffy. When he was about to be devoured by that Sea King, Shanks remembered Roger's resolve."
"So he staked his left arm deliberately. And he gave Roger's straw hat to Luffy, sealing his determination to walk the path of piracy—to become Pirate King."
"At Sabaody, I saw many so-called 'Supernovas' with bounties over a hundred million. But the one who left the deepest impression on me was Luffy, whose bounty hadn't yet broken that threshold. I recognized that straw hat instantly."
"He punched a Celestial Dragon, bringing down Kizaru upon him. For him and his crew, it was a death sentence. Yet by chance—I was there. And Kuma was there."
"I held off Kizaru. Kuma scattered the crew to safety. Without both of us, the Straw Hats would never have escaped intact."
"When I learned his grandfather was Garp, his father Dragon, and that he had eaten the Gum-Gum Fruit… I was certain. The Joy Boy Roger spoke of—it's Luffy."
"And so I—"
"You've got to be kidding me?!"
Buggy suddenly screamed, his whole body trembling, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at Rayleigh.
Even Rayleigh was taken aback by the raw fury.
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