In front of the wooded hut deep in the mountains of Corpo, there was a thumping fight......

It may not be accurate to say that it is "fighting", because it is just one person "beating" the other unilaterally.

Bang!

The broken pipe was stained with blood and slammed into Shanks' face.

Bang! Bang! Bang......

Blood splattered, and Shanks was beaten by the resented Ace with a stick and a stick, and his head was broken and bleeding, and blood was dripping.

Shanks is not Lynch, and he has not trained iron into an instinct, almost turning it into a passive skill...... When he didn't use the armed color and gave up all defenses, in the face of a teenager like Ace, who was only ten years old, but had been carrying out "rush training" in the Kolbo Mountains, and was even able to fight with fierce beasts, he attacked like crazy, and Shanks would also be beaten with a blue nose and swollen face.

Luffy looked angry and clenched his fists.

Hey? Tulip found that although her son was angry, he just glared angrily at Ace, who beat Shanks, and restrained the urge to step forward to stop Ace.

Hehehe...... Tulip smiled a little.

It's not that I'm happy or not, after all, people with different personalities have different choices. If you don't stop Ace, you may not seem greater than Ace who runs over to stop Shanks; But she did have an impressed eye for her son.

The bandit Dadan and his gang stood at the door of the wooden house in shock and bewilderment, looking at everything that happened in front of them, "Ace, this kid is too scary...... "It's worthy of the 'devil's blood'." "It's good that it wasn't me!"

"......" Karp just crossed his arms, stood by and watched, listening, without making a sound or stopping it.

"Whew...... Whoosh...... Whoop......"

After fighting for a long time, Ace finally got tired, stood in place and held the water pipe, panting constantly, looking at Shanks who was lying in a pool of blood with a blue nose and swollen face, and said coldly: "That bastard who abandoned his wife...... Not my father. Don't mention him to me! ”

His hands trembled slightly, and blood dripped down the hose on the grass and into a pool of blood.

Pop, a pair of leather shoes stepped on the pool of blood, Karp walked with his arms crossed, and looked down at Shanks lying in large characters in the pool of blood, the latter was already covered with scars on his face, and his face was unrecognizable with a hint of sadness and pity.

Karp said lightly: "Roger turned himself in, and in prison, paid Esto to me." ”

Whoosh...... Whoosh...... Ace's eyes were covered in shadows, and he gasped for breath and trembled as he clenched his blood-stained hose.

"Later, I found his mother, who was still pregnant with Ace at the time, in the South China Sea." Karp slowly said about the past many years ago, "In order not to be searched by the world government and kill Roger's bloodline, Lu Jiu was forced to stay pregnant for twenty months before giving birth to Ace ......"

After hearing Karp's words, Ace pursed his lips and turned to leave.

"Are you going to run away?"

Suddenly, a voice made Ace's pupils shrink and he stepped on his footsteps with a "bang".

"......," Ace turned his head sharply, "Who do you think will run away?!" ”

He glared fiercely at the guy who was a few years younger than himself, "It's just a weak coward." ”

"You're weak!" Luffy grimaced, "I think people who can laugh even if they are splashed with alcohol are amazing!" You don't know how good Shanks is, if he wants to beat you, a hundred, no, a thousand, ten thousand, you are no match for him! He stuck out his tongue and said in disgust, "But he would rather be beaten like this by you!" Isn't it strange that you're leaving?! ”

Luffy's words made Cap, Tulip, and Ace all look at him, and Shanks was still lying in a pool of blood.

"......," Karp sighed lightly, "it seems that he burned everything he had, and after giving birth to Ace, Lu Jiu died." Later, I took Ace to this remote country in the East China Sea......"

Ace finally didn't turn away, he was nailed to the spot, stubbornly holding the blood-stained hose, looking gloomy.

“……”

Shanks, who was lying on the ground with a bleeding head and an unrecognizable face, listened, silent, and suddenly raised his blood-stained hand and grabbed it at the dim sky outside the gap in the woods, "I...... I once asked Captain Roger a question: I was born, was it really good? ”

“……？！” Ace never thought that this person who was beaten up by himself and covered in blood would say such a sentence.

A simple sentence made Ace's pretending to be strong heart tremble fiercely.

The freckled boy opened his mouth slightly and looked at the man holding his bloody hand in a pool of blood, who said to himself, "I am the son of Captain Roger's enemy...... My father was the biggest villain in the world at the time...... Later, he was eliminated. …… Captain Roger adopted me on board...... For a while, I was confused, would anyone really want me alive with such a bloodline? ”

"That's how the captain answered my ......"

In the pool of blood, Shanks sat up slowly, and in the bruised and swollen gaps, he could vaguely see the corners of his mouth and the tears in his eyes, "'What a stupid thing to say, you were already born in this world'......"

Whoosh...... Whoosh......

Ace's breathing became heavy again.

He didn't want to cry at all, but his eyes were full of enthusiasm and sourness, so he had to grit his teeth desperately, put on a vicious appearance, and squeezed out the words from his heart's blood, "I said it...... Don't mention, that, bastard! ”

"'Whatever other people do......"

Shanks looked at Ace and slowly muttered to himself, "'Since you're still alive, even if it's only one day left, let's live with your head held high.'" ’”

Like the final blow that pierced the atrium, Ace went completely crazy.

"I'll tell you to stop talking!!"

The freckled boy closed his eyes and yelled and swung his blood-stained hose at Shanks.

Bang!

Karp grabbed the blood-stained broken pipe. The force with which the water pipe slammed down...... There wasn't much at all, and it was easy for him to hold it.

Ace still clung to the broken pipe, his head down, his shoulders shaking. Don't dare to look up, dare not speak, dare not make a sound.

“……”

Looking at this stubborn and stubborn kid who especially likes to drill the tip of the horns, there were tears in the corners of Karp's eyes.

He sighed softly, tugged across the hose, crouched down, and pressed Ace into his arms.

“……”

Luffy stared blankly at all this. Tulip crouched down, grabbed her son and leaned on his shoulder, and stroked his head.

"What the hell is going on......

The bandit Dadan's family has been completely dizzy, and I always feel that I have heard a lot of big things that I don't understand, but they seem to be very powerful.

Grunting, a sudden belly rattling sound, broke the atmosphere.

Everyone looked at Luffy, Luffy touched his belly, looked at the wild boar where Ace was originally sitting, drooling at the corner of his mouth, and pointed over with a smile, "Can I eat it?" ”

Karp smiled and turned around, "Dadan, Ace has a treat today, eat outside." ”

"Oh, okay, then we-" The Dardans nodded, they had been coveting the wild boar that Ace had hunted for a long time, but they heard Karp say, "Oh, not including you." Tonight we are eating roast wild boar together outside. ”

The meat was gone, and Dadan said angrily: "Why don't you include us?!" ”

Karp plucked his nose and said unconcernedly, "Oh, is this your prey?" ”

Dadan they stopped talking. Indeed, Ace lives here, and all they provide to Ace every day is a bowl of coarse rice, a glass of water, and a floor where he can lie down and sleep. Compared to the meat that Ace hunts every day, it is a little worthless...... But that's not how the accounts are calculated, right? They took Ace in, but they took a big risk!!

Obviously, Karp is not the one who cares about how they settle accounts, and he smiled and said to Ace who bowed his head, "If you don't refuse, I'll just let you kid agree to a treat." ”

"......" Shanks, who had a blue nose and swollen face, smiled slightly.

"Oh! Eating meat!! Only Luffy was the most excited, drooling and rushing towards the wild boar, being grabbed by Tulip with one hand and kicking in the air with two short legs.

…………………………

"Huh?!!!!!! Ace's dad is One Piece?!!!!!!!!! ”

At night, a bonfire is lit in the mountain forest, and the wild boar is on the grill, and the golden grease is constantly dripping and dripping on the tongue of fire in the woodpile.

Luffy nibbled on the wild boar barbecue, his mouth full of oil, and his eyes were about to pop out in shock.

Ace sat across from him, the waves of the campfire swaying, and he couldn't see his dim expression clearly.

"Didn't you listen carefully before?" Tulip is speechless, is his son a little stupid? She pulled out her handkerchief, wiped the grease on Luffy's mouth, and cut off a large piece of fine meat on the wild boar roast and handed it to Luffy, "Shanks said he was adopted by Ace's father on the pirate ship......"

"Eh?!!!!!!!"

Luffy took a bite of the fragrant barbecue cut by his mother, and his eyes jumped out when he heard the words, "Shanks is a crew member of One Piece?!!!!! ”

Beep, beep, there was a pop in the campfire from time to time, and Luffy's startle was like a background board......

Looking at the dancing flames, Shanks suddenly said, "Fifteen years ago, Captain Roger contracted an incurable disease. ”

This sudden remark not only made Ace's pupils constrict in an instant, and he looked up at Shanks sharply, but also surprised Karp and Tulip on the other side, and they all looked over.

Tulips, of course, had never heard of such a thing; In fact, even Karp has never heard of it.

Karp muttered, "I see...... No wonder that guy chose to turn himself in......"

If he can live to witness the times, how can a guy like Roger be willing to use his dying words to open up some bullshit "pirate era"?

Before the so-called "era of pirates", were there no pirates chasing and fighting for supremacy on the sea?

If there was still life left, Roger would certainly prefer to witness some kind of future that he foresaw...... Karp lifted his forehead and did not speak.

Shanks picked up a branch and shook the campfire, looked at the flames and said to himself, "Although Karp has been chasing Captain Roger for a long time, although he is called an enemy but is actually a friend, he is a navy after all, and he knows a lot of things. ”

He turned his head to look at Ace, "For Ace, I know that I don't have the right to talk about your life. But...... Let me tell you a little bit about Captain Roger and about the pirates. ”

Ace pursed his lips and didn't say a word.

"Even if you still choose to resent him in the end, you should at least know a little more...... Shanks said slowly, "The one you hate, the one named 'Gore. D. Roger's Man's Story. ”

Ace hung his head slightly, his eyes reflected in the dancing fire, and in his ears was a memory of One Piece and his pirates......

……

Shanks, of course, didn't start from the beginning, after all, there were many things that he didn't even know.

He began to tell the story thirteen years after the Roger Pirates first completed the Great Voyage and arrived on Mercury Star Island only to find that the road ahead was broken, when Captain Roger was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

……

"The doctor said Captain Roger had only a year or two left to live......"

Shanks reminisced about the past many years ago, and although it was only fifteen years ago, it seemed like it was a lifetime ago. "Vice Captain Reilly, and Jabba, Spencer...... It was hard for everyone to accept it, but the captain said......"

["Haha, there's only one or two years left," Roger looked at the blood coughed up in his hand and smiled heartily, "Guys, then every day of mine is precious!" Hahaha...... Let's go, let's find a better doctor first! ”】

[He shook the pirate captain's big trench coat on his body, pushed the door out, and looked back and smiled, "Why do you have such an expression? Don't look at me like this, if I can, I want to live a few more years, hehehehehe......"]

……

"We found Dr. Kulokas at the entrance to the Great Passage, at the entrance to the Twin Heads, and invited him to join us, and he went with us through the ......."

Luffy had eaten and drunk to his heart's content, and was already lying on Tulip's lap and falling asleep. And Shanks is still slowly telling the past that has accumulated in the depths of his memory.

["Every day from now on, there will be no looking back! ”】

[At the entrance of the Great Voyage, the scarred island whales raised their heads as if to bid them farewell, and Roger stood at the bow of the ship holding down the captain's hat, laughing out loud at the sea ahead. 】

"Guys, set sail——!!! ”】

["Oh oh !!" The pirates cheered and sang and danced as they ran to the great voyage. 】

……

“…… When the captain was at a loss and thought that he would die of illness if he couldn't find the Great Treasure, we ran into the Whitebeard Pirates at the time, and luckily got a key person, so we were able to reach the final island. ”

["Mita, it's awesome to have you joined! Hahaha......"]

[Roger stood at the bow of the boat looking at the sea with high winds and waves, looking at the sky covered with thunderclouds, and raised his beard with a smile, "Fate, you took the rest of my life, but you sent Mita at the last moment, it's not bad for Lao Tzu!" ”】

Ace looked at the much smaller bonfire in a daze, picked up a branch and plucked it to rekindle the flames.

……

“…… Once again, we came to Fish-Man Island and got some kind of prophecy for the future......"

["I'm about to be born!"] "Our king is about to be born......]

[10,000 meters deep in the sea, the giant sea kings communicate in their language, "The ocean in the distance...... It's about to be born! ”】

"The whales are also happy, looking forward to the day when the two kings will meet. ”】

["There are still ten years left before I was born. ”】

["The distance grows up, and there are fifteen. ”】

[On the pirate ship diving in the sea, Roger looked at the deep sea in wonder, "Who is talking?!" ”】

……

“…… I didn't go to Final Island with the captain because I had to take care of my sick companions, and I don't know what they saw. ”

Shanks looked at the clean white bones of the wild boar on the grill, "When the captain returns, he will announce that the Roger Pirates are ...... It's going to be disbanded. ”

After many years, when this sentence was pronounced again, Shanks was still a little stunned, "Although I knew that the captain's life was not a few years left, when I heard the word dissolution from the captain's mouth...... I've never cried so badly as I did that day. ”

"......" Ace listened to the story he told about the Roger Pirates along the way, and did not speak for a long time.

Shanks continued: "The captain turned around and sailed back, passing all the places we had walked, and one companion after another disembarked...... On the night of farewell, the captain remembered the prophecy we had heard on Fish-Man Island, and it dawned on him that it seemed that we had arrived at the Final Island too soon...... He regrets such a reality, but there is nothing he can do. He had little left of his life, and he certainly wouldn't be able to see that future with his own eyes. But the captain was not sad at all......"

Speaking of this, Shanks glanced at Ace, who was silent, "One day in the future, who will be able to really get the Great Secret Treasure?" The captain said proudly, 'It must be my son'! ”

Ace, who turned the bonfire, was stunned, and he was burned to his fingers by the flames.