"Hey, girl, are you really going to do this?"

At the end of the race, the people who finished were not displeased, but as usual, the race ended and the bonfire was held as usual.

People gathered around the campfire, singing, dancing, drinking, eating meat, and telling stories they knew.

Shanks, Marco and Thatch temporarily put aside their 'hatred' for each other and joined the lively bonfire, which was not happy and joyful in the light of the fire.

But when Shanks happily raised his glass and collided with his companions and residents, he found that the person on the side of his head had disappeared at some point.

Huh, Alka?

When was this......

Shanks's pupils shrank quietly, a trace of panic appeared in his heart, he slowly lowered his hand, he had no intention of celebrating, the wine glass rested lightly on the ground, stood up, and looked into the distance through the layers of crowds, no, no, no... And so on there.

His gaze stopped suddenly, he stared at the fleeting figure, he was sure that it was Arka's back, he knew, with just one glance, he knew, it was—Arka, the person he loved.

The "Boss ......" sat on the ground, and before Laki, who noticed Shanks's actions, finished speaking, he was interrupted by Shanks, who was no longer here.

"I'll get out of here." With that, he walked in that direction, and his slow pace became faster.

Alka... What's going on, how do you leave in a good way?

On the other side, Alka, who didn't know that his amnesiac man had followed, followed the butterflies dancing in front of him until he walked to the uninhabited wasteland; There was a man playing with a Rubik's Cube standing in front of him, a black death overlord, a knife at his waist, and clogs on his feet.

"Yo, long time no see, nothing."

"Soon, just a few years."

"Haha, it's been a long time for humans, maybe...... You'll find out later that it's been a long time. The last color returned to its place with the flick of Death's fingers, and he turned around, looking at Arka without any change, and said to her, "It worked." ”

“……”

"Not happy?" The Grim Reaper threw the Rubik's Cube in his hand, looked at Alka, who was not happy on his face, and asked: "After all, you can be with the man you like until your hair is gray." ”

"What about you?" Arka avoided the topic and asked the Grim Reaper.

"Ha, of course I'm going back, back to the Corpse Soul Realm, and now I just need manpower over there, right?" With a snap, the Grim Reaper caught the Rubik's Cube falling in mid-air, and in the dark night, I couldn't see his appearance clearly, and I didn't know if what he said was true or false.

But......

"Find two ways at once?"

Arka closed his eyes, mentally weighed them, opened them again, and asked.

She was referring to the way to become human, and to go back.

"Ah, you're the key."

"Huh?"

"I need your core, and your body." Death opened his arms, he said, and at the same time, some lions opened their mouths: "Needless to say, your spirit core is useful, and your body is a passage to open the two worlds, but don't worry, I have made you the best righteous skeleton with the best materials in this world over the years - no different from a human being." ”

"It turns out that in the past few years, you asked me to run around and find some strange things, just to do this?"

"Ah, yes."

"No wonder...... I said how could those materials be consumed so quickly. ”

Arka lowered his head, recalling the days when he had gone up the mountains and down to the sea and flying away from the sky in those years, and finally sighed and asked, "Haven't you done anything else except to make a righteous skeleton on my back?" ”

"Uh... No, no... All right! Don't look at me with that murderous gaze! Well, I'll be honest, I, I've made another righteous corpse. The Grim Reaper, who was originally quite handsome, withered suddenly, and he raised his hand and poked his little finger, not embarrassed to say.

"Yours' one."

Arka saw through this at a glance, there was no question mark, only a sentence.

A must, an ironclad!

"Tsk." She turned her head a little unhappily, and the Grim Reaper immediately exploded when she saw it.

"Hey! What a look on your face! I'll make a righteous skeleton for you, and find a way to turn you into a human, and that kind of reward is normal—"

"Don't forget – we're fair traders." Arka had to remind the fried, weak-hearted Grim Reaper, who must have known that, and she reached out her hand, her fingers touching her chest, and she stood on the street and said, "My spirit core was handed over to you, and you gave me a sound human body, but now you say that you want my body...... Tsk, it's dirty. ”

"Filthy!! It's yourself who is too dirty!! Is there a new body, and the old one is moldy there!? But you're not, that's right...... Okay, there's still some props in the room that I've developed in my spare time, right? A few drops of cold sweat broke out on the Grim Reaper's forehead, jumped to his feet, refuted what Arka said, and finally compromised.

"Props?" I don't know if I got it wrong, Arka blinked, looked at the Grim Reaper, and I don't know if Arka had the right mind this time, in short, it sounds super strange.

"Ahh The Grim Reaper didn't want to delve into what Arka's props meant, anyway, it was a very serious thing in his eyes, but ...... It's better to end this topic early.

Death scratched his head, he sighed lightly, raised his eyes, his eyes flashed with imperceptible cunning, and pretended to say, "You get ready, it's time to say goodbye to your man-"

There was a soft 'click'.

Alka's pupils, who didn't care much about the nonsense that the god of death said, shrank sharply, and she scolded and asked, "Who!?" ”

The rustling of the laundry, the steady footsteps of the 'da-da-da'.

Arka looked at the person who came out, she originally wanted to say something, but suddenly she didn't know what to say, she looked at the person who slowly walked out, the dark cloak shook lightly.

It's too bad now, it seems like something was misunderstood......

Arka looked to the side of his head, and the place where the Grim Reaper had been staying was empty.

……

No matter how stupid he is, he knows that the hairy beast of death did it on purpose, he knew that there was someone behind him, and then dug a hole-

Madan!

Arka couldn't help but scold the guy in her heart, and when she was thinking about how to lift it over, the person who jumped out gave her a step, and she didn't know if it was a step, in short, Arka could only go down the stairs.

"Hey~ found you Alka, how did you end up in this dark place, is there anything strange here? Everybody's drinking and singing there......" Shanks, who had been chasing him all the way, walked over with a grin, stretched out his hand, and grabbed Alka's cold wrist, where there was no pulse.

He knew it would be like this.

"What's wrong? Do I have anything on my face? Shanks didn't quite understand and held Alka's hand, tilted his head to look at Alka, who was staring at her, and asked.

"You... No, nothing. ”

In the end, Arka chose not to talk about what had just happened.

One after the other, Arka lowered her head, she was struggling with whether to tell Shanks about the thing she wanted to be human, and follow him one by one......

Tsk, the slightly red Arka on the tips of her ears sighed in her heart, she was a little ashamed, so she decided not to say it for the time being, wait, wait until the time was ripe, and come again.

She stepped on Shanks's shadow, her thoughts had already flown away, and she missed Shanks's mood swings ahead.

"Arka ......"

"Huh?"

"I love you."

"I—I know." Alka, who was suddenly said to love you, stuttered a little, of course she knew that Shanks loved and loved her, Arka lowered her head and stepped on the shadow under her feet, but because the other party stopped, she also stopped the childish behavior.

Arka, who was one step behind Shanks, didn't notice the subtle change in Shanks at that moment, and he whispered, "Ah, I see. ”

"Huh?"

"I know what to do, Arka."

Shanks turned his head, his eyes slightly curved, and said softly.

"By the way, I'm going to go to the old drunkard later, do you want to go together?" This time Arka asked Shanks very honestly, but Shanks, who already had an idea in his heart, shook his head and refused, saying:

"Haha Beckman, they're still waiting for me, I'll pick you up then?"

"Okay."

The unsuspicious Arka nodded.

"Hey, girl, are you really going to do this?"

"Well, so please, old drunkard senpai."

Arka sat on the soft seat, and for the first time said so respectfully to the old drunkard sitting at the other end; When the old drunkard heard this, he took a sip of the wine that he had put aside, and then laughed, and said:

"Hahaha at the last two words of you, old drunkard, I reluctantly agreed to you, but before I take it, I still want to ask you - Alka, are you going to use this on that kid Shanks?"

"Ahh

"Have you thought about the consequences? If you're not careful, you'll be noted by the cautious boy. ”

"If that's really the case, then remember it, anyway, that little book is already full of debts."

Arka broke the jar and said that this caused the old drunkard to laugh, although he still gave her the thing afterwards, but when Arka walked out of the room, the old drunkard had to say it again.

"Arka, if it's for that, it's immoral to hide it from that kid......"

"The success rate is not high." Alka, who stepped out of the door with one foot, lowered his head, held the door with his hand, and said, "After hope, there is disappointment, I would rather ...... That's it. ”

"That's it......" The old drunkard, who was sitting on the soft seat, raised his head and took a big sip, sighing full of wine, and he had to remind Alka: "Well, what if that kid Shanks has no hope in the first place?" ”

“……”

What if Shanks had no hope for that kid?

Arka went back with her mind full of the old drunkard's words, and it wasn't until she heard Shanks's call that she came back to her senses, and her eyes were in focus, and she looked at the man.

It was Shanks, and he had come to pick her up as he had said.

The corners of Shanks' mouth hooked slightly, and with a hint of tenderness and warmth, he walked over.

But it's a bit of a contradiction......

Unkept, Arka asked him, "What's wrong with you?" ”

"I'm a little drunk." Shanks stopped, stood in front of Arka, bent down, and approached Alka, indeed, with a strong smell of wine, and said......

"You've drunk a little too much this time." Arka said with some disgust, but it was just a mouthful.

"Well, because I made a hard choice." Shanks straightened up, he was much taller than Alka, under the shadow swallowing, Alka didn't look at the backlight very clearly, but gave her a strange feeling Shanks.

"What choice?"

"Well, it's a gift that I have been preparing before I lost my memory, and now I want to give it to you, can I?" Shanks asked, reaching out and taking Alka's hand, and without a struggle, he automatically acquiesced to this, and because of this, Arka was caught.

Alka, who didn't care at first, couldn't help but lose her strength under a click, and as soon as the strength in her legs relaxed, she fell, and then was caught by Shanks, who had been prepared.

"What is this......?"

Alka, whose cheek was on Shanks' chest, lowered his gaze and looked at the snow-white bracelet on his wrist, this feeling of weakness and suppression was very strange, but there was a hint of familiarity.

Is that......

"Is it something from that island?"

She remembered going to an island with Roger and them, but it held her back and forced her back on the ship......

"Well, after I formed the Pirates, I went there again, got this stone, and polished it into a bracelet, but it was a little rough, after all, I didn't plan to make it too beautiful in the first place, because in the nautical diary, I wrote ......"

"[I would like to give a beautiful ring made by myself more than a bracelet]."

Shanks hugged the man in his arms, he buried his head in Alka's neck, full of her breath, and his eyes were slightly stiff and resolute.

"But... If you can't keep Alka, the only thing you can give away is this almost 'curse' bracelet... So when I use it, I'm really, really sorry......]"

"Because I don't want to let go of my hand anymore because I'm waiting. 】”