Inside Elbaf's Sun World Castle.
Ida, Loki, Hajrudin, and even Ripley—whom Gaban had specifically asked others to look after—were all gathered there.
Before them rested Harald's enormous frozen body, sealed within transparent crystal ice.
"So the Roger Pirates really weren't our enemies?" Ripley asked with visible joy in her eyes. "They were actually the ones who saved Elbaf?"
Earlier, when she saw the Roger Pirates rampaging through Elbaf and even taking down King Harald himself, Ripley had been furious. For a moment, she truly thought that bastard Gaban had tricked her after sleeping with her, only to immediately turn around and become a traitor in her homeland.
Especially since he had left without even saying goodbye and escaped so quickly afterward, Ripley had hated him deeply for it, to the point where she had already resolved to set sail herself and kill him in revenge.
Yet before she even had the chance to leave Elbaf, Elder Jarul had suddenly summoned her to the castle, saying there was something important he needed to explain.
Only after arriving did she finally realize that the truth was completely different from what she had imagined.
Gaban was not some shameless scoundrel who toyed with women.
He was a true hero.
"That's right," Jarul said in a heavy voice. "At first, I thought the same as all of you and believed Roger and the others were our enemies. But in the final moments, Harald regained his senses and explained everything to me..."
As he spoke, he handed a letter over to Ripley.
"This is a letter Gaban left for you. He said he would return very soon and hopes you'll wait for him to come marry you."
Ripley accepted the letter somewhat shyly.
To giants, the thing was barely bigger than her fingernail. She did not even open it to read, instead carefully storing it away as though it were some precious treasure.
At that moment, Ida spoke up from the side.
"So Harald was cursed with immortality, and that pirate with a bounty over five hundred million, Valthior, froze and sealed him away?" she asked seriously. "Does that mean Harald still isn't dead? How can we save him?"
"I don't know," Jarul shook his head. "I asked them the same question, but Roger only told me that the time has not yet come. Perhaps we must wait many years, until a certain power capable of breaking the curse of immortality appears. Only then can Harald truly be saved."
"I refuse to accept that kind of outcome!" Loki shouted angrily. "Father isn't some weak fool who can casually be controlled by others! I'm going after the Roger Pirates right now, and I'll drag them back here to undo this ice seal!"
As he spoke, Loki immediately turned and started heading outside.
Ida hurriedly grabbed him to stop him, while Hajrudin also stepped forward to persuade him.
Seeing this, Jarul let out a soft sigh before speaking again.
"Loki, according to Harald's final orders, you are to become the next king of Elbaf. And before the end, he also left something for you..." Jarul paused briefly before asking, "Are you truly determined to set sail?"
"I never wanted to become some king," Loki replied without hesitation. "Let Hajrudin do it instead!"
However, after saying that, he suddenly paused and could not help asking,
"What did Father leave for me?"
Although Loki always acted rebellious on the surface, the truth was that he was someone warm-hearted beneath his cold exterior. He cared deeply about both Harald and Ida, even if he was terrible at expressing those feelings.
"Deep within this castle," Jarul slowly explained, "there exists a Devil Fruit that has been passed down through Elbaf for generations. It possesses an incredibly mysterious power and has always been guarded by Ragnar."
"Harald already foresaw that you would eventually leave Elbaf and sail out to sea. He never intended to stop you."
"He only said that he hoped you would wait until the day you became worthy of eating that Devil Fruit before deciding the path your life would take."
"I'm going right now!" Loki shouted immediately without another word as he turned and rushed deeper into the castle.
The others did not stop him.
A short while later, a miserable scream suddenly echoed from deep inside the castle.
Not long afterward, Loki came stumbling back out in a pathetic state, his face swollen and bruised black and blue as he fled in embarrassment.
Seeing everyone staring at him with strange expressions, Loki awkwardly rubbed his nose before speaking in a serious tone, "How about we discuss the matter of me becoming king first..."
As for setting sail and going after the Roger Pirates, he did not mention a single word about it anymore.
"You are still young and lack the necessary experience," Jarul said calmly. "I will personally assist you for the time being. Right now, the most urgent matter is restoring Elbaf from this frozen state. Valthior said that even if we leave it alone, the ice should naturally melt within three to five months, but it would still be best for us to speed up the process ourselves."
...
Meanwhile, outside the waters surrounding Elbaf...
The Oro Jackson and the Flying Lion sailed side by side across the sea.
Shiki sat casually on the deck of the Oro Jackson with a jug of alcohol in hand, pouring it down his throat one mouthful after another. A moment later, he let out a satisfied belch before saying,
"Where the hell did you guys buy this liquor from? It tastes way better than the expensive stuff I smuggled back from West Blue myself. I love it!"
"That'll be twenty-six million Berries, if you please." Roger replied with a wicked grin while rubbing his hands together toward Shiki.
Shiki: "???"
"The hell are you talking about!? Why don't you just rob me directly!? What kind of booze costs twenty-six million a bottle!?" he roared furiously.
"Don't expose yourself as some uncultured country pirate," Roger said with arrogant disdain. "Honestly, what a bunch of hillbillies. Did you forget we've got a nobleman on our ship? The liquor you just drank is a special luxury supplied directly to Mary Geoise. Even among the Celestial Dragons, it's considered top-tier stuff. It's tribute wine brewed by the royal family of the North Blue's kingdom of winemaking and aged for fifty years. If it weren't for the fact we fought together in Elbaf, you probably never would've had the chance to taste something like this in your entire life, you bumpkin!"
"Who the hell are you calling a country pirate!?" Shiki shouted as he grabbed the empty bottle, clearly intending to smash it.
Yet after lifting it up, he hesitated slightly, unable to go through with it.
After all, he still wanted to bring the bottle back to his crew and brag to Silver Axe and the others about drinking such ridiculously expensive alcohol.
In truth, the wine really was incredibly valuable, and Roger had technically already given Shiki a discounted price.
Thus, the two idiots immediately started arguing over who exactly counted as a "country pirate."
Not far away, Gaban hung lifelessly over the ship's railing like a man who had lost his soul, endlessly sighing in misery.
"What the hell are you doing over here looking so dead inside?" Valthior asked as he walked over beside him, his body wrapped in bandages while a cigar hung from his mouth.
"It hurts... this hurts too much..." Gaban said weakly. "I finally found true love, but I didn't even get the chance to say goodbye. I wonder if Jarul explained the truth to Ripley properly? I just hope she doesn't hate me..."
"Oh, enough already," Valthior said speechlessly. "Didn't you two exchange Den Den Mushi frequencies? Just call her and explain everything."
"My ass!" Gaban suddenly roared in grief and anger. "That bastard Sengoku smashed my Den Den Mushi into meat paste with one palm strike!!! Ripley can't contact me at all right now! What if she misunderstands everything!?"
Honestly, this was not even that serious of a problem.
As Gaban himself had said before, he barely had any close friends or family, so his Den Den Mushi was usually little more than decoration anyway. The contact list inside only had a handful of names, almost all of them belonging to Roger Pirate crew members.
But since everyone stayed together on the ship all day long, there was rarely any reason to use it.
Even if it got destroyed, replacing it would not be difficult at all.
The only real problem was that Ripley currently had no way of reaching Gaban.
"That's enough already!" Rayleigh's voice suddenly rang out from beside the mast behind them.
He looked at the two men and shouted impatiently,
"If you idiots want to fight so badly, then we'll just find an island and dump both of you there so you can beat each other to death, alright? Right now, let's focus on serious matters instead."
Then Rayleigh turned toward Shiki.
"Shiki, why exactly are you still chasing after us?"
"Do I really have to spell it out that clearly?" Shiki said as he looked directly at Roger. "Fine then. Roger, I've come up with an absolutely incredible plan, and I've already built up enough military power to carry it out. If the two of us join forces, we could easily conquer the entire world."
As he said this, Shiki sincerely extended the invitation once more.
"So work with me!"
"I already told you," Roger replied without the slightest hesitation, "I'm not interested in your plan to conquer the world at all."
Then he grinned.
"To be honest, we're about to find the final island very soon. Once that happens, the Roger Pirates are going to disband. Everyone's got a bright future waiting for them after that, so stop pestering me already."
"Disband!?" Shiki shouted in shock. "Why the hell would you disband!?"
"Because our dream for setting sail will finally be complete," Roger answered as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "And after that, of course it'll be time to start a new chapter in life. I've already decided that once this journey ends, I'm going to find a woman I truly love, get married, have children, and live the life of an ordinary pers—"
He paused for a second before correcting himself with complete seriousness.
"—ordinary rich man."
"Hah!?" Shiki became even angrier after hearing that. "A guy like you was born to spend his entire life aboard a ship! You're supposed to remain a pirate until the day you die! And now you're telling me you want to become some ordinary person..."
"I said ordinary rich man, not ordinary person. Don't look down on me," Roger immediately corrected with great emphasis. "I've got more than sixty billion Berries deposited in the World Bank!"
"How the hell are you this rich!?" Shiki's attention was instantly dragged off-topic as he stared in disbelief. "And what kind of pirate puts his money in the World Bank!? Aren't you afraid the World Government will confiscate everything!?"
"We've got a nobleman on our ship," Roger replied with complete disdain. "Why would we be afraid of something like that?"
...
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