Free Web NovelChapter 286: 286 One Piece 50
We moved to the Sabaody Archipelago first. This is the gateway to the second half of the Grand Line — the New World. Besides, there were people to meet here, and things to take.
We parted ways with the Impel Down pirates here.
"Buggy, Crocodile. See you later. Don’t get caught again."
At my words, Crocodile frowned and answered.
"I have no intention of going back to a place like that."
Buggy, unlike Crocodile, perhaps because he had received the money, smiled and accepted the farewell.
"If I get the chance, I’ll visit to buy supplies."
"Yeah, do that."
The Heart Pirates also seemed about to leave, so I talked with them for a bit. I kept petting Bepo’s head the whole time — he stayed still, tense, so I took the opportunity to indulge myself. I like cute things, after all.
"You’re Trafalgar Law, one of the Supernovas."
"Yes, Emperor Taejin. Nice to meet you."
"You’re a user of the Op-Op Fruit, aren’t you? You’d better be careful. There are quite a few big names targeting that ability."
The Op-Op Fruit has a wide variety of abilities — creating a dome-shaped operating room called ’ROOM’ around the user, allowing teleportation, object transmission (swapping), telekinesis, x-ray vision, electrical shocks, defense-ignoring internal damage, shielding, and various other surgery-themed special abilities.
If it were just that, it would end as just a good Devil Fruit, but the Op-Op Fruit can also grant immortality surgery — that is, grant ’eternal life’ to another person — at the cost of the user’s life. That’s why it has the nickname ’Ultimate Fruit’ and an unimaginable price of 5 billion berries. So there are quite a few people targeting it.
"I’m prepared. We’ll handle that problem ourselves."
"I see. If you survive, I’ll see you again. And tell the cute bear goodbye for me."
"Right."
"Okay..."
With that, we also parted ways temporarily with the Whitebeard Pirates. I needed to take Galdino, Bentham, and Luffy to Sky Island for training. Ace had to attend Whitebeard’s funeral, so I would take him later.
Jinbe decided to protect Fish-Man Island during these chaotic times and took a Merchant’s Island flag from me. He would place Fish-Man Island under the Merchant’s Island’s protection. All of this had been discussed with Marco.
"Then see you later."
"Yes, see you at the funeral, yoi."
We parted ways with the Whitebeard Pirates like that and moved to find the ’Thousand Sunny’. In the original, ’Bartholomew Kuma’ protects the Sunny for two years, but since I killed him, that couldn’t happen, so I had to take it.
When we arrived at the Sunny, fortunately, no one seemed to have touched it. Whether Rayleigh had been protecting it all this time, or whether Duval or Hatchan, who owed a debt, had been protecting it, I couldn’t say.
"Wow~!! The [Space-Space Fruit]’s ability really is amazing! To be able to carry this huge Sunny around like that."
Luffy was amazed as I put the Sunny into my inventory.
"First, let’s eat."
I took them to ’Shakky’s Rip‑off Bar’, where Rayleigh was. It wasn’t far from the Sunny, so it didn’t take long to get there.
"Welcome. So you managed to rescue them in the end."
"Yeah, I stopped by since I was nearby, and to eat as well."
Luffy also greeted Rayleigh happily.
"Old man, long time no see!"
"You brat, getting captured by the Navy and causing everyone worry." freewēbnoveℓ.com
"That’s why I decided to learn under Candy Bro for a while, to get stronger. I lost my crew, and this war taught me a lot."
"It’s good that you think that way."
Then Shakky spoke.
"You’re here to eat, right? We haven’t eaten yet either, so I’ll have to make a lot."
At that, I took ingredients out of my inventory and handed them to Shakky.
"You’ll need to make a lot — they eat a huge amount. If it’s not enough, let me know, I’ll take out more."
"Oh my, you really are the Merchant King. Alright, I’ll show off my skills for the first time in a while."
I decided to take this opportunity to ask Shakky something I was curious about.
"By the way, on Amazon Lily, there’s an old woman named Granny Nyon? The former empress of Amazon Lily called ’Gloriosa’ back in the day. Unlike you, she looks extremely old. What’s the difference?"
"So you’ve been to Amazon Lily too. Gloriosa... that’s a very nostalgic name. Hmm... I don’t know, but Gloriosa had an unrequited love for ’Gol D. Roger’. But it never worked out. So she must have suffered a lot emotionally."
At Shakky’s words, Luffy, Bentham, and Galdino were extremely surprised.
"Ehhhh~~!!!! She had an unrequited love for Gol D. Roger!!!"
"I feel like I just heard something huge!!!"
Shakky patted Rayleigh’s back and continued.
"But I achieved my love. That’s probably the difference, I think."
"Ah, I see."
In the One Piece world, a person’s appearance in old age changes dramatically depending on whether they achieve what they wanted. That seemed to be the reason. But the difference between Shakky and Granny Nyon (Gloriosa) was extreme. Shakky, despite her age, retains some beauty, while Granny Nyon’s face has changed greatly, and her height has even shrunk to that of a child.
’Since the women of Amazon Lily can die of lovesickness, was her condition even more severe?’
"If you don’t have any more questions, I’ll go prepare the meal."
"Yeah, thanks."
As Shakky prepared the meal, Rayleigh asked me.
"What happened before the war broke out?"
I told Rayleigh everything that had happened. He sighed and spoke.
"I see. So the Navy guys had prepared in advance. It seems the war really couldn’t be stopped."
He said that and downed his drink in one go. I thought it was his way of expressing condolences for Whitebeard.
As we talked like that, before I knew it, the food Shakky had made began to come out, and we continued our conversation while eating.
"So, what are you going to do now?"
"I’ve been entrusted with Whitebeard’s territories, so I need to protect them. Small‑time pirates will take this opportunity to strike. I have a reputation, so if I step in, I think I can stop them."
Rayleigh thought for a moment, then spoke.
"Hmm... then you’ll be busy for a while. If that’s the case, how about I take charge of these kids for that time and train them? What do you think?"
I had planned to train them myself on the Merchant’s Island, but with Rayleigh offering first, I hesitated for a moment. I thought it probably wouldn’t matter, since I was going to be busy anyway. And unlike Ace, their Haki was still immature, so Rayleigh would be a very suitable teacher for them.
"I’ll have to ask Luffy first. Luffy, how long do you plan to train?"
When I asked Luffy, he answered without thinking, stuffing his face.
"Until I’m satisfied with myself!"
"If you do that, you won’t be able to meet your crew. You need to set a time. That way, your crew can also prepare and reunite."
"That’s right... then... two years would be good."
As expected, like in the original, Luffy decided on two years.
"Then, for the first six months, train under the Dark King Rayleigh. Training with me will be after that."
"I wanted to train under Candy Bro from the start... I was shocked seeing you easily handle those strong Admirals, you know."
Luffy seemed a bit dissatisfied at not being able to train with me right away.
"I’d like to, too, but I have things to do, you see. And you don’t seem to know, but Rayleigh is also extremely strong. At your current level, even a hundred of you couldn’t touch Rayleigh’s clothes. If you train with him, he’ll refine your Haki well, so don’t worry."
Then Bentham and Galdino seemed very surprised.
"Lu-chan!!! If it’s Rayleigh, do you mean that Dark King Silvers Rayleigh???!!! He was the Pirate King’s first mate!!!"
"No way!!! This old drunkard‑looking man is the Dark King... ah! Sorry... I was just so surprised..."
Then Rayleigh, strangely, spoke modestly.
"Hahaha, it’s fine. I’m probably not as good as I was in my prime, but I do have experience. I’ll be of help."
But contrary to his words, veins were bulging on Rayleigh’s forehead, and his eyes seemed to be blazing. His pride seemed wounded — he seemed to be planning to work Luffy hard once training started. Luffy had definitely misspoken. Bentham and Galdino, getting caught up in it — I don’t know what they did wrong.
With him in such a serious mode, it seemed it would be fine to leave them with Rayleigh for six months. But I couldn’t leave them with him indefinitely, because Teach seemed like he would become stronger than in the original, so Luffy would need to become strong enough to match him. So I planned to at least teach him Ryuo.
"Then I’ll leave them to you. And Luffy, think about whether you want to tell your crew to meet up in two years before I come back. I think using the World Economy News would be good. And I’ll keep the Sunny for the time being."
"Got it."
"And Galdino."
"Yes!"
"The Devil Fruit you ate is not weak at all. If you train your Haki hard and learn to use it well, you can become one of the top fighters in the New World. So study hard."
If Galdino really worked hard, he might even grow to be as good as Katakuri, one of Big Mom’s Three Sweet Commanders. The [Wax-Wax Fruit] is that good — comparable to Logias.
"C-c-can I really do that?"
"Yes, you can."
And I handed Shakky 30 million berries. Shakky, surprised at the amount, asked.
"This is too much for a meal, isn’t it?"
"It includes training fees for these kids. Even if they find their own food, it’ll still cost money here and there. Anyway, I’ll finish my work as quickly as possible and come back."
We said our goodbyes like that, and I moved to the store first. The store was in an uproar — they seemed to have just now heard the news about the war. Because broadcasts weren’t available here, they couldn’t know outside news until they received the World Economy News.
"Boss!!! What happened!!! You were clearly here the whole time, and suddenly you participated in the war? That doesn’t make any sense!"
Because my clone had been at the store, Kalifa was especially persistent.
"That’s harassment!"
"Wh-what did you say?"
"Mirror therapy. How about that? Do you understand now?"
"Wh-what is that? Mirror therapy, you say..."
"It’s a treatment method where someone mirrors the other person’s bad habits or behaviors to correct them."
"Th-that’s... That’s harassment."
She was beyond any therapy.
"Anyway... come here."
When I told her to come, Kalifa suddenly blushed and approached slowly.
"Why are you suddenly calling me..."
I pulled Kalifa by the waist.
"Hah! Boss, suddenly doing this..."
She, I don’t know what she was expecting, but she was very embarrassed. I, ignoring that, held Kalifa and teleported outside the store. As the view changed in an instant, Kalifa seemed very surprised.
"Wh-where is this???!!!"
"Outside the store. It’s my Devil Fruit ability. To put it simply, it connects spaces."
"No way... So you can go anywhere you want, is that it?"
"No, it’s not possible. If it’s a place I go to often, I can go easily, but I need to know the space accurately to connect to it. There are limits. So going to familiar places is easy, but unknown places are completely impossible, and places with vague memories — not completely impossible, but the chance of failure is very high."
"I-I see. So that’s how you participated in the war and came back here quickly."
"Yes."
I had considered how to explain my clone ability, but I decided to just let her understand it this way.
"The [Space-Space Fruit] is really a ridiculous fruit."
"I just know how to use it well. I’ve done a lot of research, you see."
Anyway, I explained that to Kalifa and went back up to the office. In my clone’s memories, there were no particular problems. Since there were no troublemaking pirates in Mock Town either, Rob Lucci and the others and Killer were just helping with village work or patrolling, and managing the pirates hanging in the passerby cages.
So, this time as well, I left a clone and went up to Sky Island. Sky Island was very busy preparing for the fighting tournament. This time, including the Sky Island residents, the Shandian warriors were also participating, so there was a lot to prepare, but Robin and Vivi were managing well.
I called Elody, Mikita, Gem, Marianne, and Zala. Unlike Luffy, their Haki had been refined to some degree through training, so I decided to take them with me to tour Whitebeard’s territories to further raise their skills through real combat. Especially in Elody’s case, there was no one to teach her spearmanship, so I decided to teach her personally as we traveled.
"So, Mr. 2 and Mr. 3 also escaped Impel Down and are receiving training?"
"Yes. But Bentham will be joining another pirate crew, and Galdino will be joining us."
I told them the general outline of things, and they were all happy to hear news of their former colleagues. Especially the news that Galdino was joining — everyone was welcoming.
Anyway, after resting a day on Sky Island and telling them to prepare, after spending quality time with my wives for the first time in a while, I took the Maxim and moved with them to ’Sphinx Island’, where Whitebeard’s funeral would be held.
During the trip, I checked Elody’s Haki. Seeing that Elody had also learned Haki to some extent, I could tell that she had been training quite hard even before the Paramount War. So I taught her how to coat her weapon with [Armament Haki] and kept moving.
Then, I bought a copy of the World Economy News and checked it, and found that my bounty had reached a whopping 5 billion berries. It didn’t reach the late Whitebeard’s, but it was the highest among the current Emperors.
"Well, I have caused a lot of trouble during that time. I suppose it’s only natural to end up like this?"
And the interesting news was about Ace, Buggy, and Luffy’s bounties. Ace and Buggy were named as the masterminds behind the Impel Down mass breakout. Ace’s bounty was set at a whopping 800 million, and Buggy’s was set at a whopping 1 billion. freewebnovёl.ƈom
I found it ridiculous that Buggy’s bounty was set higher than Ace’s, so I read the article. The reason given was that Buggy had broken out numerous prisoners from Impel Down, then led them to the Paramount War and attempted to overthrow Navy Headquarters.
Blackbeard Teach’s bounty was set at 2.2 billion, like in the original. The funny thing was that Luffy’s bounty was still at the level of 200 million. In the original, by this point, it should have been set at over 400 million, but it seemed that Luffy didn’t receive as much attention during the Paramount War.
