Jinbe blinked, his mind racing. Was it possible? Had he really gone back in time?
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice. A fish-woman, one of the merchants who sold shell accessories, waved him over.
"Jinbe! You look like you've seen a ghost!" she called, her scales glittering in the sunlight. "What's going on?"
Jinbe approached her, his throat dry with a new sense of urgency. "Do you know if… Ace is still alive? Was he... executed?"
The fish-woman's face momentarily froze in confusion. She tilted her head, then furrowed her brow, as if trying to place the name. After a beat, she spoke with a hesitant smile.
"Ace?" She repeated, her eyes widening slightly. "You mean Portgas D. Ace, the second-in-command of the Whitebeard Pirates? Yeah, I know who he is. He's pretty famous, even here. But executed? What do you mean, 'executed'?"
Jinbe's heart skipped at her words. Second-in-command of the Whitebeard Pirates—that was right. Ace was Whitebeard's second.
But executed?
"No, I mean," Jinbe struggled to find the right words, his voice slightly trembling, "Was he... was he killed by the World Government? In front of everyone, at Marineford?"
The fish-woman's eyes went wide, her expression caught between confusion and concern. "Killed by the World Government?" She repeated slowly, glancing at the other merchants nearby, who had stopped talking and were now listening in.
She cleared her throat, then shook her head. "Jinbe, I'm not sure what you're talking about. The World Government hasn't done anything to Ace. I haven't heard any news like that. And he's still a part of Whitebeard's crew—I've seen him around, though he doesn't usually come to Fish-Man Island. Maybe you've heard some rumors?"
She chuckled lightly, but there was an awkwardness to it. "Executed? Jinbe, are you feeling alright? That sounds like a pretty wild story to me."
Jinbe stood frozen, his mind still reeling. He wasn't crazy. He knew the history of Ace's execution. He remembered the pain of that moment, the feeling of helplessness, the grief as the news of Ace's death had rocked the world. Yet, here, in this time—this moment—everything felt... wrong.
"Are you sure? I mean..." Jinbe's voice faltered. He grasped at the fragments of his past that now felt distant, as if he were trying to hold onto something slipping through his fingers. "He died in the war with Whitebeard... at Marineford. You don't know about the war?"
The fish-woman's smile faded slightly, and she gave him a puzzled look. "War? What war? Are you sure you're not mixing things up? The only war we've had around here was with the humans and their attacks, but nothing like... what you're describing."
She paused, giving him an even more concerned look. "Jinbe... you've been in the sun too long, haven't you? You were always the calm one, the one who kept his cool, but this... this doesn't sound like you." She leaned forward, speaking softer now, as if worried he was ill. "Maybe you should take a rest. Get some water. You're acting like you've had a blow to the head."
Jinbe swallowed hard, his mind struggling to make sense of her words. Ace, Whitebeard, the war—it was all real. But if the fish-woman was right, if the events hadn't happened yet, then... what was happening to him?
The weight of uncertainty pressed on him like the ocean's depths, and he stepped back, feeling the cold reality settle in. He was in a time before all of it had happened—before the war, before Ace's death.
"Thank you," he murmured, his voice quiet, and he turned away, trying to steady himself. His chest tightened, and despite the warm sunlight overhead, a cold fear seeped into his bones.