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Before that on Fish-Man Island:
"This is terrible… he's hurting himself so much…" Jimbei stopped involuntarily as he watched Luffy injuring himself.
At the art store in Mermaid Cove, Jimbei felt deep sorrow every time Luffy bashed his head or limbs against trees and rocks, causing severe damage. There was even a significant chance that his wounds from the war could reopen, leaving him with no chance of survival.
This was the sentiment shared by Jimbei himself and confirmed by the doctor who treated Luffy, Trafalgar Law.
"He wants to wake up from this nightmare quickly; his actions reflect that desire," Fisher Tiger sighed in response.
"But it's unfortunate that this is not a nightmare or a dream… This is reality. What's done is done, and there's no way to fix broken glass."
"Even though we live in a world filled with strange abilities where broken glass can be mended and even life can be restored, as with Brook, in Ace's case, I don't think that will happen."
"He just has to accept reality and live with it."
"Of course, he won't be able to get through it alone; that's where you come in, Jimbei." Tiger looked at Jimbei at that moment.
"Ace entrusted his little brother into safe hands."
"Every time I see your counterpart, I feel immense pride in you," Tiger smiled as he said that.
"There you are… In the midst of his suffering, you came to answer the call." Fisher Tiger's smile widened as he saw Jimbei appear at that moment when Luffy was still in a state of rage.
Jimbei nodded and returned his gaze to the same scene. He also wished he could end Luffy's suffering and wake him from this nightmare; at the very least, he had to remind him of what he still had left.
What hadn't he lost yet?
Manga readers all over the world knew the answer to that question well.
But they wanted to see Luffy answer that question himself.
Here on Fish-Man Island, everyone fell silent, and their breaths nearly stopped as they all wanted to see how Jimbei would handle Luffy, who was in the worst state he had ever been in.
This wasn't the usual Luffy, not the Luffy they knew and had grown accustomed to. This Luffy looked like a broken boy who had lost everything.
A boy who no longer had anything to fight for, who might even lose the motivation and passion to continue on the path of becoming the Pirate King. And that's the frightening part.
This was a pivotal moment in determining the future of this world.
"And all this heavy burden falls on your counterpart, Jimbei." Hearing his elder brother Tiger's words, Jimbei secretly broke out in a cold sweat.
He was extremely nervous.
•———•———•———•———•
Chapter's Events:
—————————
("If I die… Would you mind looking after my little brother?")
Seeing Luffy in this state, Jimbei recalled the strange request Ace had made of him when they were in the same cell.
Jimbei took a deep breath before saying,
"The war is over… Ace is-"
Before he could finish, Luffy shouted:
"DON'T SAY IT!!! DON'T SAY ANYTHING…!!! Haa…"
"I've pinched my cheek… enough to tear it apart…"
"Haa… If this were a dream, I would have woken up already… I'm not dreaming, am I…?"
Luffy's face turned into a mess of endless tears, crying with an unmatched intensity.
"Ace… is dead, isn't he!!?"
Seeing this scene, even Jimbei couldn't control his emotions.
"Yes… He's dead…!!!" Jimbei said, pained.
"Uuhh!!" As his tears continued to fall, distant and fragmented memories began to return to his mind.
("Who the heck is Ace!!?") This was young Luffy with his grandfather.
Luffy cried more and more.
("He's going to be your brother from now on.") Luffy's grandfather was blunt.
"UWAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Luffy's scream echoed throughout most of Amazon Lily Island.
He cried incessantly, and even Jimbei began to cry too.
•———•———•———•———•
"This is hard, he's really pinching his cheek fiercely…"
"I feel a tickle in my nose…"
Even a tough man like Fisher Tiger felt the urge to cry upon seeing Luffy in this state.
Not to mention, the readers around them had similar reactions. The tense emotions were overwhelming at that moment, with tears and sad expressions everywhere. No one could read such a scene with a cold, poker-faced expression, no matter their gender or age.
This was Luffy we're talking about, the strong boy who frees every place he goes to, a true hero who fears nothing. Who would have expected him to weaken to this extent and cry like a child?
"It seems that the time has come for someone to free Luffy… from this suffering."
The readers felt that Jimbei had to do it.
"The death of Ace is the most terrible thing I've ever witnessed…"
"It's so sad to see Luffy in this state…!"
"Is that little Luffy? I bet the man with him is Garp."
"At this moment, Luffy hasn't met Ace yet, right?"
…
"Uwooooh!! Luffy doesn't deserve this! Stop torturing me with such scenes, author!"
This time, neither Iceberg nor Tom intervened to stop Franky from crying, no matter how loud he was.
Even they were deeply moved by seeing the broken Luffy.
…
"Alright, alright, everything will be fine."
"Didn't you say that Luffy will continue his journey and come to Fish-Man Island after that? So smile, darling."
Not far from Franky's group, Suzan wiped away a small tear while hugging little Shyarly, who hadn't stopped crying either.
…
Baterilla:
"Who would have expected Shanks to have a daughter… Whahaha!"
Right after getting past the emotional scene of the broken Luffy, many scenes from Luffy's childhood 12 years ago followed in a flashback that reminded everyone of the time when the Red-Haired Pirates were resting in Foosha Village.
"Before that, they used to come with that little girl named Uta? So she's part of Luffy's past too… I wonder why he's remembering her in these moments of weakness. Was she considered a sister too, and did she die for some reason?"
Roger was asking the same questions that everyone else had after seeing Luffy's flashback with Uta, which happened two years before Ace met Luffy.
Immediately after the flashback ended, the scenes shifted to the exact moment Luffy recalled while crying over Ace.
At that moment, Roger's eyes became wet, but the smile never left his face.
…
Foosha Town:
Inside the art store, the sweet little Makino placed her hands over her mouth as more tears streamed down her cheek and fell to the floor.
After seeing her older self appear again in the flashback, she became worried that the five-year-old Luffy might get hurt as if he were her own son. She remembered that she had acted as a mother to this boy.
Who was now recalling his past because of his chaotic emotional state at this moment, tears of unparalleled sorrow causing Makino, the child at this stage, to cry her heart out too.
Dadan patted Makino's head with a sad smile. She didn't like seeing this sweet girl so heartbroken.
"Don't worry, Dadan. You can keep reading the manga and let her cry. Children her age need to learn to appreciate relationships, and One Piece manga is the best place for her to learn that." At that moment, Father Mercar spoke to Dadan.
"Alright," Dadan nodded and stopped comforting Makino, reopening the volume herself.
At that moment, her eyes widened in absolute shock.
•———•———•———•———•
[Ten years ago, East Blue, a mountain pass at Mt. Corbo, behind Foosha Village.]
"Come on, grampa. I'm going to become the Pirate King!!"
"What do you mean, 'Pirate King'!!?" Garp's expression soured when he heard his grandson's nonsense again.
"You didn't just eat a Devil Fruit, now you've got that stupid mouth as well!! Luffy, you and Ace are going to become the strongest Marines!!!"
[Monkey D. Garp & Monkey D. Luffy (7 years old)]
"Gyaaa… Gyaaa…" Luffy cried out as Garp held him by his rubbery cheek.
"Owowowow!! Damn it, I'm rubber, why does it hurt!? Lemme go, grampa!!" Luffy complained.
"This is my fault for leaving you in that laidback Foosha Village." Garp blamed himself the entire way toward a wooden house deep in the jungle.
He began knocking on the door forcefully. "Dadan!! Get out here!!!"
Dadan, who, unlike her young and beautiful appearance, now looked older, heavier, and more similar to a bandit, came out.
"G-Garp!! Come on, give me a break already!! Ace is already 10 years old."
"We won't be able to handle him much longer!! Take him back!!!"
[Mt. Corbo mountain bandits, Head of the Dadan family, Curly Dadan (Ace and Luffy's foster parent)]
•———•———•———•———•
Seeing the full name of the woman almost made Dadan faint at that moment.
"C-Curly Dadan…?"
"Why does this woman have my name ?!"
Father Mercar, his wife Camila, and even Makino, who had stopped crying, all looked at Dadan with a mixture of surprise and confusion.
They all stared back and forth between the woman drawn in the manga, who was pleading with Garp to take back the already ten-year-old Ace, and the beautiful woman before them, who was already the goddess of the art store, desired by many men, and had hundreds of suitors.
"There's no way to compare them…" said Father Mercar.
"But they have the same hair color, the same eye color… It seems like she really is the older version of Dadan…" Camila felt that the Dadan in the manga seemed familiar indeed.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 785: Luffy and Ace's First Encounter!
Chapter 786: Luffy Who Never Gives Up! Sabo.
Chapter 787: Luffy, Ace, Sabo.
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