"Shocking. The king who ruled the New World defeated by a Celestial Dragon."
"Collapse. The pirate tide is ebbing."
"Who is the era's final answer? The man who slew Rocks."
Wrapped head to toe in bandages like a mummy, Ozz lay flat on a deck chair aboard the Oro Jackson. In this tiline he did not have a personal delivery seagull, so he had to pay like everyone else. When the paper arrived and he saw the headlines, Ozz froze.
Roger started cursing.
"Those bastards. The World Governnt grabbed all the credit for taking down Rocks."
He crumpled the paper like a sulking kid.
Ozz did not care much. He had played the news ga too many tis. He lifted the lid of the treasure chest, pinched the two stubby legs of the red haired infant inside, and flicked the space between them.
"Shanks' little Shanks."
Rayleigh and the others ca over with casks, grinning as Ozz teased the baby. Only Gaban noticed how Ozz's body was turning more and more translucent.
"Hey hey hey. You good, Ozz?"
Ozz raised his forearm and watched it turn clear. He let out a wry, helpless smile.
"Ti was short, but the haul was big."
He looked at Roger and the crew, a thousand unsaid things crowding his chest. His gaze dipped. He opened his mouth.
Before he could speak, Roger was quiet for a beat, then flashed a big toothy smile.
"You are heading back, right?"
He clapped Ozz on a bandaged shoulder. Ozz hissed in pain. Roger roared with laughter.
"Hahahahaha. Brat. Take a good look at the new era for . Eat well, sail well, take care of yourself out there."
"Hahahahaha. No need for speeches. Pirates are children of the sea. Goodbyes belong in the cup."
Ozz fell silent.
He had considered telling Captain Roger about the illness to co, and that his dream would be realized, that he would succeed. Then that last line put everything back into the wine and he swallowed the words.
Right.
For the freest n on the sea, nothing is duller than knowing the ending of the voyage.
"Then… to the freest man on the ocean."
"Cheers."
…
"Mr. Gick."
"You have a letter."
On rain swept Dullarmos Island, thunder rolled. A burly man stood in his doorway with an odd tightness in his chest. Soone in town shouted his na.
"A letter for ?"
Gick was puzzled. Then he heard the sender's surna was Dotol. He jolted like he had been shocked.
To hell with the rain. The big man sprinted through the streets and reached the post office in what felt like a single bound. He snatched the letter, tore it open. Inside was a note and several photos.
"Goodbye, old man. Or rather, we are about to et."
"What I promised you is done. I took Rocks down single handed. No one else laid a finger on him."
(Attached: photos from the Rocks defeat settlent site)
"I am going back. Take care of yourself. If you run into a fight you cannot win, run. Make a list later and I will settle your scores."
"…I have said enough."
"Last thing. It is a little embarrassing to write, but having a grandpa like you…"
"I have been happy the whole ti."
To the strongest monster, the great pirate Gick
Plip.
Plip.
His palm stroked the paper. The photos showed Captain Rocks crumpled on the ground, and a battered Ozz grinning through the blood.
Gick covered his brow with a hand. The tears would not stop. They spattered the page and blurred the ink. His eyes shook. His lips trembled and would not close.
"eting you… made happy too."
"Ozz."
After a long ti he tucked the letter carefully inside his coat and hurried ho through the rain. At the gate he saw a basket in the corner. A thin wail ca from within.
He slowed. His heart thumped hard.
"Could it be…"
…
Sea Circle Calendar, early 1508.
A figure wrapped in bandages burst into existence high above a colossal island.
"Co on… could this be any more sudden."
One heartbeat he was drinking on deck. The next he was back in his own tiline, dropping out of the sky.
As the ti thread snapped back, the bandages disappeared. Fresh blood flowed. Ozz clenched his teeth against the pain. So wounds were too deep. Bits of flesh were missing. Severed nerves and torn at could not be made right with teleportation and Observation alone.
Holding together a body that had just brawled against four of the world's top fighters, Ozz blinked out of freefall and reappeared atop a vast castle.
Up there he looked small against the ridiculous scale.
"Giants live here, huh. One door is hundreds of ters tall."
The place tickled his mory. He swept out Observation Haki and felt the answer settle.
"Dropped onto Elbaf, did I."
"What year is it…"
He sat on the highest roof, dazed for a breath, then decided he should find people and rest first.
And Elbaf did have people he knew.
Leave the giants aside. Uncle Gaban was here too. Ti to keep that promise from before the Roger crew split up and share a drink. He was just about to leave when two giant silhouettes approached.
That was Loki.
His Observation brushed the fighting within the castle and gave him a rough sense of the mont in ti. He had no interest in other folks' family drama and no desire to ddle. He vanished.
At the sa ti, Gaban was soaking in a hot spring with Shanks. They chatted, steam curling around them. Gaban suddenly stopped mid sentence, surprise giving way to delight on his face.
"This presence…"
Shanks was soaking with his whole soul and never noticed the Observation feint. He only yelped when there was suddenly a third person in the water.
"Sashiburi da na, Uncle Gaban. Shanks."
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The tides are shifting, and secrets linger in the dark... Step into the shadows early on P@treon, where the next chapter awaits before the world sees it.
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