...
On the light screen, Luffy's heart-wrenching grief surged like an invisible wave, washing over the hearts of the viewers in God Valley.
Aside from those who regarded emotions as worthless—the lofty God's Knights and the Celestial Dragons—the Marines and pirates present could, to varying degrees, empathize with the pain of losing a loved one.
Though Luffy and Ace were not brothers connected by blood, the bond and affection they had forged through years and shared experiences had long surpassed ordinary familial ties.
Luffy had unhesitatingly stormed the world's number one prison and assaulted Marine Headquarters to save Ace, putting his own life on the line without a second thought.
And Ace, with his final actions, had proven that when Luffy faced mortal danger, he too would act without hesitation, giving his life to protect him.
This unrestrained, mutual reliance—this profound bond strong enough to transcend life and death!
In the brutal world of pirates, it appeared so precious, so moving, and so regrettable in its shattering.
In the Marine camp, many soldiers fell silent. Though their duty was to hunt pirates, they were still human—most had families waiting for them at home and could understand the bone-deep agony of losing a loved one.
On the pirate side, even those infamous overlords of the sea felt the same resonance.
Rocks D. Xebec had come to God Valley primarily to rescue his wife and child, who had been abducted by the World Government.
Charlotte Linlin had been abandoned by her family in childhood; that trauma later drove her to yearn for creating Whole Cake Island—a nation where all races could live "equally" as her "family."
Edward Newgate, Whitebeard, had spent his entire life seeking the warmth of "family." Otherwise, how could powerhouses like Marco and Ace have willingly followed him and called him "Pops"?
"Garp, that grandson of yours... his personality really is just like yours!"
Roger looked at Luffy on the light screen—stubborn, deeply emotional, and obstinate—and a flicker of admiration passed through his eyes, though it was overshadowed by deep sympathy.
As a father who had barely met Ace yet now bore the pain of losing a son, Roger could clearly feel the endless desolation and tearing agony in Luffy's heart at that moment.
He understood that despair all too well.
"Nonsense! Of course my grandson takes after me!"
Garp shot back gruffly, but there was little real anger in his tone. Instead, it carried an irrepressible mix of heartache and pride.
Though Luffy had chosen the pirate path that ran contrary to Garp's hopes, seeing his grandson suffer so deeply for the sake of bonds...
The blood-connected love deep in Garp's heart had already overwhelmed everything else.
His gaze returned to the light screen.
Luffy was still crying rivers; salty tears mixed with bloodstains kept dripping onto the soil beneath him. Yet upon closer inspection, one could see that the frenzied, death-seeking light in his eyes had gradually faded.
"Crewmates"—that word, along with all the warmth, noise, and memories of fighting side by side associated with it, shone like a lighthouse in the darkness, slowly dispelling the heavy shadows enveloping his heart...
Becoming the pillar that kept him from collapsing and allowed him to stand again.
He looked at Jinbe and, with a hoarse but no longer despairing voice, repeated his answer: "I still have... my crew."
Yes, he still had his crew.
Before being forcibly separated on Sabaody Archipelago, they had already promised each other a place of reunion.
He could not be so selfish, could not continue sinking into the abyss of self-abandonment.
He was their captain—he bore the responsibility of leading them onward toward their dreams!
Seeing the faint yet incomparably resolute light reignite in Luffy's eyes, Jinbe felt both relief and an involuntary surge of memories from his final conversation with Ace.
That had been in Alabasta, where Ace had found Luffy and personally witnessed Luffy's crew.
Luffy was no longer the little kid who used to trail behind him... He was now a captain.
A group of reliable guys who were willing to entrust their lives to him... good crewmates.
Ace's words and expression back then had been filled with a brother's pride and reassurance.
With such a crew willing to entrust their lives to one another, no matter how difficult the road ahead, Jinbe believed Luffy would surely make it through.
Now, Ace's final concern and judgment were becoming reality.
"I really want to see them... I want to see them right now!"
Luffy was still crying, but these sobs were no longer pure breakdown—they were mixed with an intense longing for reunion.
He no longer hurt himself; he simply clenched his fists tightly, letting the tears pour out his inner sorrow and yearning.
As if in response to Luffy's call, the light screen's image began splitting and switching frames, showing the situations of the other Straw Hat Pirates members scattered across the world.
Zoro was in a gloomy ancient castle, battling a group of giant apes wielding katanas with absurdly agile movements.
His old wounds had not healed, preventing him from fighting at full strength; the battle was exceptionally difficult. At that moment, a man draped in a black blade, with eyes as sharp as a hawk's, emerged slowly from the shadows.
Dracule Mihawk looked down at Zoro from above.
Chopper, in the conflict-ridden Torino Kingdom between birds and humans, had nearly been mistaken for a rare animal and stewed by the natives due to the language barrier and his appearance—luckily the misunderstanding was resolved at the last moment.
Nami, Usopp, Franky, Brook, Robin, and Sanji had each washed up on bizarre islands with vastly different climates and cultures, undergoing all sorts of strange adventures and trials.
Yet when they learned—through various means, newspaper deliveries from News Coo birds, or passersby gossip—that "Fire Fist" Ace had died and that a top-tier war had erupted at Marine Headquarters, every single one of them reacted in exactly the same way!
Instant shock, pupils contracting sharply, followed by all color draining from their faces and eyes filled with immense terror and worry!
Almost simultaneously, the image of Luffy appeared unbidden in their minds.
They knew their captain too well! They understood better than anyone what Ace meant to Luffy.
It was easy to imagine what heart-rending pain Luffy was enduring at that moment!
The powerhouses in God Valley did not yet know the Straw Hat Pirates, so they were not particularly interested in their plight; their attention was quickly drawn to other scenes.
On the other side of the light screen, Bartholomew Kuma—silently rescuing slaves in some ruins—froze when he saw the future images of himself sending Luffy's crew flying one by one.
Leaning against a rock, he took a sip of water. His youthful face was full of confusion: "In the future... I'm going to send all of that Straw Hat Luffy's crew flying?"
Kuma muttered to himself, brows tightly furrowed.
From previous scenes, it was clear that he and Ivankov had both joined the Revolutionary Army led by Dragon.
So why, in the future, would he act in such an apparently hostile manner toward his superior's own son and his important crew?
"Who knows what the future holds!"
Beside him, Ivankov also gulped down a large swig of water. His massive face wore a complicated expression as he stared at the light screen with deep eyes, lost in thought.
Clearly, even they themselves were puzzled by their future choices.
The view returned once more to the shores of Amazon Lily.
The Heart Pirates—Bepo the polar bear and the others—were trying to fish from the shore to ease the oppressive atmosphere.
At that moment, Bepo—who was on lookout with binoculars—suddenly let out a startled cry: "Whoa! Everyone, look over there!"
Following his pointing finger, they saw the distant sea suddenly churn violently. A colossal Sea King nearly the size of a small mountain burst out of the water with a deafening roar!
What horrified them, however, was that this behemoth was not playing—it was struggling madly, writhing as if locked in combat with some invisible, terrifying entity!
After a fierce struggle that made the sea itself boil, the powerful Sea King's movements suddenly stiffened. Then, from its eyes, ears, mouth, nose—all seven orifices—crimson blood sprayed simultaneously!
Its enormous body lost all strength and crashed back into the sea with a thunderous splash, clearly dead beyond dead!
This terrifying scene left the Heart Pirates' souls flying in terror.
Yet an even more hair-raising sight followed immediately!
Right beside the Sea King's corpse on the sea's surface, a figure emerged from the waves like a phantom—effortlessly and at ease!
It was a man with graying hair, yet his figure remained tall and robust, muscles sharply defined.
He casually wrung out his soaked clothes with an unruffled demeanor, as if slaying a giant Sea King barehanded had been a mere casual act.
When they saw his face clearly, everyone aboard the Polar Tang—including the well-traveled Law—froze in shock!
Bepo even ducked straight behind Law, trembling.
Law's pupils contracted slightly; his grip on Kikoku tightened unconsciously as he whispered the name that echoed across the seas: "Dark King"... Silvers Rayleigh."
When the elderly Rayleigh—hair grayed but still radiating overwhelming presence—appeared on the light screen, the entire God Valley seemed to freeze in place!
Marines, pirates, Celestial Dragons, God's Knights... all the powerhouses from every faction, no matter what they had been doing before...
At this moment, their gazes were magnetically drawn to that figure on the light screen—and to...
The young Silvers Rayleigh of the Roger Pirates—still in his prime, golden-haired—right there at the God Valley scene!
"Ray... Rayleigh... Y-y-you!!"
Roger pointed at the light screen, then whipped his head toward his handsome, composed vice-captain beside him. He was so stunned he could barely speak, his face covered in disbelief.
He simply could not reconcile this vigorous, spirited partner with the obviously aged—yet still formidable—old man on the screen.
And little Shanks, held in Rayleigh's arms, seemed to sense something too.
He looked at the familiar Rayleigh on the screen, then at the Rayleigh beside him, and suddenly grinned with his toothless little mouth, giggling happily.
His tiny hand waved toward the screen as if greeting him.
Shamrock had been handed to Scopper Gaban by Rayleigh; he had wanted to cuddle with Shakky for a bit, but then Gloriosa passed little Shanks over again.
In this moment, time seemed to overlap.
The young Rayleigh gazed at his aged self; the trajectory of the future was presented to everyone in the most direct way imaginable. The shock and sigh it evoked were beyond words.
...