New World, Brest Island.
This is a very small island, not on the main shipping route. This means that under normal circumstances, pirate navigational logs would not point here. Therefore, the only ones who would stop here are:
Knock knock knock.
"Luffy, I'll fix the Sunny! Merry will help too, but it'll take some time."
The damage left by Admiral-level combat is the first time the Sunny has been so badly hurt. This made Franky start thinking about Roman's suggestion to "reinforce the ship with Wapometal."
As expected, even simple adventures on the sea require strong support.
"Oh, I'm leaving it to you, Franky!"
On the other side, "This is the docking fee for the ship," the port manager said with a smile as he received a stack of Berries from a little girl who was standing on tiptoe.
"What a thoughtful little one, already helping out your family like this?"
"I'm not a little girl!"
The orange-haired ponytail girl stomped her foot angrily, causing the port workers to burst into a good-natured laugh.
"I'm the navigator on the ship! Without me, those idiots wouldn't get anywhere!"
"Yes, yes, our little navigator."
"Go back now, be careful or the strong wind might blow you away~~"
!? "I'm so mad!"
Nami, her cheeks puffed up, came back, getting angrier the more she thought about it. She punched Roman:
In the knee.
"...I already said I'll handle the negotiations, but you insisted on going."
"Hah, that's my job!"
Thanks to Ain's backward fruit ability, Nami now looked like an undeveloped little girl, wearing a small dress that Roman made with his ability. She looked both playful and cute, making Roman's eyes fill with:
?! "Roman, although we've already confirmed our relationship, is it really appropriate for you to look at me like that?"
Nami, now in the form of a little girl, crossed her arms and gave Roman a look of disdain, as if saying, "I can't believe you're like this."
"No, I was just thinking…"
"I'm sorry."
"As the strategist and scout of the Straw Hat crew, I didn't sense the attack coming at all..."
Theoretically, even an Admiral shouldn't be able to approach Roman so quietly. Moreover, with such a big warship, and Roman being so cautious, he'd always send out scouts like white doves. Unless the enemy had an ability like the "Invisible Fruit," there were plenty of suspicious signs to notice if one just calmed down and thought it through.
"Hah~~"
"You knew Zephyr was coming, didn't you?"
Nami, with her hands behind her back, walked around Roman like a little adult.
"You even predicted that we'd get 'shrunk' by their ability, and look—"
Nami pointed a tiny, pale finger.
"Me, Chopper, and Robin all have something in common: we haven't awakened Armament Haki yet."
"If Zephyr is 'coming for' Luffy, then this person with the ability was brought here to 'warn' us, right?"
Nami knew Zephyr because he was the Marine 'Grandmaster,' but she didn't know the officers under him.
...
"I'm sorry."
Yes, if Zephyr's intention was to see the "pride" of this era, Luffy, then Roman had asked Ain to make the other members of the Straw Hat crew fully aware of the dangers of "Rule-type Devil Fruit abilities" and the importance of Armament Haki:
That's Roman himself.
But... "I'm starting to regret it."
Though everything was under Roman's control and he could have asked Ain to reverse the abilities at any time, "Scheming behind your backs like this, maybe... just maybe... it feels a little..."
"Hoo hoo hoo, if you weren't like this, you wouldn't be Roman."
Nami rolled her eyes. No one understood Roman better than she did.
"And if it weren't for you, our Straw Hat crew would've long been lost somewhere—should we really expect the enemies to let us off every time? Besides—"
"Everyone should have figured it out by now, right?"
!? Facing Roman's surprised expression, Nami tilted her head and smiled.
"Roman, you don't really think your facial expression management can fool us, do you?"
"Ever since Captain Zephyr's surprise attack, you've been silent, with a serious face. You didn't explain the enemy intel to us like you usually do, all rushed up. Even the slowest among us should've guessed that this probably has something to do with you, but..."
"I don't care,"
Nami spun around lightly, her white dress swirling like a blooming lily.
"Experiencing the life of a little girl isn't too bad."
"Besides, Roman, you would never hurt us, right?"
"Of course!"
Roman's original intention was to remind everyone of the importance of Armament Haki. And if everything went well, he could even get Luffy to learn how to use Haki externally! This was the highest-level use of Armament Haki. With this ability, one could project Armament Haki outward for internal destruction. Not only could this help against tough enemies with high defense, but it could also be used to block sea stone or even seawater from a distance! It was a ticket to becoming a top-tier powerhouse in the world.
Otherwise, with enough sea stone bullets or high-pressure water guns, wouldn't the Marines chase the Four Emperors to the ends of the earth? Even if they had Kenbunshoku Haki, if they had to dodge attacks from small fry, they'd lose all their prestige... "Don't apologize."
?
"Pirates don't need to regret sticking to their beliefs."
!
"Roman, you're not acting like yourself right now."
?! Walking up were Sanji, Zoro, and Robin, clearly part of the "already figured it out" group. Roman sighed as they came to comfort him.
"Well, you're right."
"Seems like I've gotten more 'greedy' lately, wanting to make everyone stronger, help that old soldier, and feel at ease... Fine, I'll lay everything out."
With that, Roman turned to look at the 'straw hat trio' playing in the sand... no, playing with mud: Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper.
"Anyway, you all probably guessed that the previous attack was connected to me, right?"
The three stared blankly at Roman, and after a few seconds:
"What? Roman, why didn't you say this earlier!"
"Hey hey hey, Roman, you knew the enemy was going to attack us?!"
"That was an Admiral, my 200 million bounty almost didn't make it... cough cough, actually, I've known all along that this whole thing was planned by you, Roman!"
... "Sorry, it was my mistake to have unrealistic expectations about your intelligence."
"Here's the thing..."
If you were to pick someone from this sea to represent the word 'hero'...
Zephyr would undoubtedly be the one.
His childhood dream was to be a 'hero' who protected everyone, so Zephyr joined the Marines. He was always at the front, fighting bravely, a powerhouse from the same era as Sengoku, Garp, and Tsuru! At the same time, he believed that everyone should have a chance to turn over a new leaf. That's why, though he had captured countless pirates, he never intentionally killed anyone. He was known as the 'Merciful' Admiral. However, those pirates who escaped found his hometown and brutally killed his wife and young son! Humans can be as virtuous as angels, or as evil as demons. Not everyone deserves to be shown kindness—even the slightest bit!
Heartbroken, Zephyr retired from the front lines and focused on training new Marines: Akainu, Kizaru, Aokiji, and many other famous Vice Admirals were once his students. But fate didn't spare him:
Nine years ago, the ship Zephyr led for a training mission was attacked by pirates. During the battle, his asthma acted up, leading to the death of all his beloved students except Ain and Binz, and his right arm was severely injured.
Even so, after equipping his right hand with a Sea King stone weapon, Zephyr, despite his body and heart being battered and scarred, continued to uphold justice and fight against pirates. Until one year ago, when the pirate who had killed countless of his students, 'Whitebeard II', became one of the 'Seven Warlords of the Sea' and openly entered the Marine Headquarters. This shattered the faith Zephyr had held for a lifetime!
Hatred took root in his heart, and he was willing to destroy the entire New World to eliminate pirates.
Of course, to Roman, Zephyr was simply 'seeking death.'
This is the story of an old soldier, "Waaah, Uncle is such a good person!!!"
"Damn it, those damn pirates—"
"Waaah, why does a good person have to end up like this?"
As Roman laid out Zephyr's life, the crew on the Sunny were crying loudly. Franky, who was supposed to be fixing the ship, cried the hardest! Part of it was because Franky was an emotional person, and another reason was:
The pain of losing family, of losing students, was something Franky could deeply relate to.
"Waaah, I won't punch Uncle anymore," Luffy said through tears and snot, "But I still want my hat back!"
"It's not that simple," Roman waved his hand.
"If you want to get the hat back from Uncle Zephyr, a big battle is probably inevitable. After all, he's completely lost faith in this world. Recently, he even planned to use 'Explosive Rocks' to destroy the entire New World. I managed to delay him with words, but it's hard to say when he'll go to extremes again."
"Also, the Marine has already sent Admiral 'Kizaru' and his fleet to confront him. If they meet, a fight will be unavoidable."
Now, the old and sickly Zephyr is definitely no match for the peak-strength Kizaru.
This is why Roman said Zephyr was 'seeking death.'
Kizaru!
Everyone's expression became serious. The Admiral who was known for saying 'how scary' and kicking new pirates like they were nothing had left a deep impression on the Straw Hat crew back at Sabaody Archipelago.
"Then what are we waiting for!"
Luffy slapped his pants and stood up, "Let's go now, find that uncle and beat him up! Get my hat and those 'Explosive Rocks' back!"
...Ah,
typical of Luffy's way of solving problems.
Didn't you just say you wouldn't beat him up?
"Yeah, I don't want to stay like this forever~~"
Chopper, who was already small and now even smaller from the 'reversal ability', jumped up in agreement! As for the other victims of the ability:
"If we can't recover, it'll be a real headache."
Robin's voice had no ups or downs, and Usopp turned to complain.
"Come on, deep down, you're probably super happy to go back to being 18, right?"
Blossoms bloomed eight times—
Crack!
"I was wrong, I was wrong!!!"
"Actually, I've been affected by the other party's 'reversal' ability too."
Looking at Brook, whose face was dark, everyone observed him closely for a while.
"It doesn't look like there's any change at all, though?"
"By the way, I remember Brook is 90 this year, so going back 12 years would..."
"No, no, no, look at my hair, it's already restored to the shine and hardness of when I was in my 70s—"
"Who cares about that?!" X5 "Anyway, let's find that 'NEOMarine' and beat up the Sea King stone uncle!"
"Yeah!!"
...
Next to them, Law had already become numb. Only the Straw Hat crew could do something like picking a fight with a "former Marine Admiral," right? After taking out the Sea King stone bullet, his shoulder had fully recovered thanks to the efficient treatment from the Straw Hat crew. However, just thinking that a single small bullet had "taken him out" made Law start thinking about how to deal with such situations in the future.
"Since we're looking for Uncle Zephyr, let's go to the nearby island."
This was just a small island for breaking down and repairing ships, so there was no chance of "finding people" or "gathering information." But the nearby island was a huge Izumi tourist spot, with a massive flow of people! At the same time, it was also one of Zephyr's targets to destroy in the New World.
"But our ship..."
Facing Luffy, who was realizing the situation with a disappointed face, Roman waved his hand.
"Don't worry, they've recently opened a 'sea train' here, we can take the sea train directly over."
Yeah, the sea train service to the New World was something Roman personally pushed for. In fact, Roman even had 'shares' in this sea train! But no matter what, the sea is watching—its origin, the sea also knows the world's end. If I really disappear,
The sea, which knows everything, will still guide the way forward, without hesitation,
Because you are by my side;
No need to fear, because friends are at your side.
(End of chapter)
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