Chapter 28: Parallel Worlds
"The Impel Down Arc, huh?"
Robin murmured softly. She knew exactly what Yumesaki meant.
In the Impel Down section, in order to save his sworn brother Ace, Luffy—with the help of the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock—infiltrated the prison and caused massive chaos. In the end, aided by his "protagonist aura," he managed to break out and brought a large number of imprisoned pirates with him.
While some of those pirates were victims, many belonged to incredibly wicked crews. Among them were monsters with terrifying reputations, like Redfield, Barrett, and others. Once these monsters returned to the seas, there was no telling how many innocent people would suffer.
It was true that Luffy didn't do it maliciously, but his actions directly led to that outcome. Because of this, the general opinion of Luffy plummeted after that arc.
Robin had also seen many comments online; many of Luffy's fans stopped following the series after that, losing interest or losing their good impression of him. Some even dropped the story entirely.
Thus, the Impel Down incident became a dark stain on Luffy's record that couldn't be washed away. Many even viewed it as the turning point for him—the moment he transitioned from an adventurer flying a pirate flag to a true, full-fledged pirate.
Of course, Luffy himself likely didn't care. He was a simple-minded person; he wouldn't spend time overthinking such complicated matters.
"Isn't it a good thing if he can't leave the East Blue then?" Robin adjusted her posture and said with a smile, "At least the Impel Down incident won't happen again."
Yumesaki shook his head. "That's not necessarily true. He is the male lead of this world, the child of destiny, the user of the Sun God Nika fruit, and the future Joy Boy. For him, anything called 'impossible' might just happen anyway."
"Maybe even without Nami, he'll just run into another navigator."
Robin smiled. "So, are we going to Cocoyasi Village or not?"
"We're going."
Yumesaki weighed the options and made his decision. "Having come all the way to the world of One Piece, crushing Arlong to save Nami is like squashing bugs to save Sakura in the Fourth Holy Grail War. It's a classic move—any transmigrator would want to give it a try."
Robin tilted her head. She understood the part about Arlong and Nami, but the rest...
"Squashing bugs to save Sakura... is that also from a manga?"
"Ah, yeah," Yumesaki nodded.
Robin asked, "May I see it?"
"Sure." Yumesaki looked for a door to return to his world, downloaded a set of the Fate/Zero anime onto a tablet, came back to the One Piece world, and handed it to Robin on the ship.
Robin began to watch with great interest. Even Hashirama leaned in, watching alongside her.
A few hours later, the story of Fate/Zero reached its conclusion.
Hashirama spoke up with excitement, "Heroes from different eras gathering in one time to fight for a Holy Grail that can grant wishes... that's truly fascinating."
"I really hope something like that happens in the ninja world just once. I'd love to fight against Ashura from a thousand years ago."
He wanted to see who was stronger between himself and Ashura. Although Hashirama knew very well that his body carried the reincarnation of Ashura's Chakra, he didn't view himself as Ashura, nor did he feel his current achievements were solely thanks to that Chakra. This was the confidence of a true master.
"What a truly tragic child."
On the other hand, Robin couldn't help but sigh after seeing Sakura Matou's fate. Compared to Sakura, Nami was much luckier. Though they both had unhappy childhoods, at least Luffy saved Nami, defeated Arlong, and rescued Cocoyasi Village.
But what about Sakura? Despite Kariya Matou exhausting all his strength, he ultimately failed to save her.
"I wonder what happened to Sakura in the end," Robin wondered aloud.
Hearing this, Yumesaki said, "That depends on which ending you're talking about."
Robin looked confused. "What do you mean?"
Yumesaki pulled over a chair and sat down. "To understand this, you need to understand the concept of Parallel Worlds. The main reason is that the world of One Piece doesn't really have this concept, so I'll give you a general explanation."
"For example, in this world, Shanks arrived at Foosha Village, met Luffy, and then Luffy ate the Nika fruit. Under Shanks' influence, he decided to become a pirate."
"That is the primary timeline."
"But perhaps in another world, Shanks never arrived at Foosha Village. Luffy never met him, and under his grandfather Garp's tutelage, he became a Marine—maybe even the Fleet Admiral."
"That is what we call a Parallel World."
"Each one is a different possibility."
"Of course, in some worlds, Luffy might not become a pirate or a Marine, but instead follow his father, Dragon, to fully commit to the revolution. That's another Parallel World."
Robin understood. "So you mean, in every world, Sakura's ultimate fate is different."
Yumesaki nodded. "Exactly. In some worlds, the person Sakura loves dies, and she waits alone for someone who will never return, guarding a beautiful dream."
"In some worlds, Sakura ends up with the person she likes."
"In some, she spends her life with her brother."
"There's even a world where she just turns into a purple-haired side character and dies because her heart was pierced by an assassin."
"In short, Sakura's fate is never the same. That's the nature of Parallel Worlds—infinite possibilities."
Robin fell silent. Parallel Worlds were truly vast; every world had its own potential.
However, she knew very well that now wasn't the time to worry about other worlds. Rather than worrying about those chaotic dimensions, it was better to take care of her own world first. No matter how many Parallel Worlds there were, or how beautiful they seemed, they were just like the moon's reflection in water—something you could see but never touch.
On the contrary, her own world needed her to save it.
Along the way, the three of them chatted and laughed. After sailing for a day, they finally arrived at Cocoyasi Village.
The Arlong Pirates had spotted Yumesaki's ship through their binoculars a long time ago. Thus, by the time Yumesaki's group landed at the village, a group of Fish-Men had already surrounded them.
Leading them was none other than one of the high-ranking officers of the Arlong Pirates.
Kuroobi.
Yumesaki remembered that this guy was a stingray Fish-Man, a master of Fish-Man Karate. His ultimate technique, the "1,000-Tile True Fist," could shatter a thousand tiles even underwater.
Compared to Jinbe—the Warlord and true master of Fish-Man Karate—this guy was obviously leagues behind. But among ordinary people, he was already a formidable existence.
If he were placed in Yumesaki's original world, even someone like Mike Tyson standing before this Fish-Man would be nothing more than an average person on the street.
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