Chapter 506: Luffy's Questions Answered!
Meanwhile, aboard the Thousand Sunny.
"Luffy… Ace and the Whitebeard Pirates have already reached Laugh Tale."
Nami walked over slowly, voice subdued.
"It looks like Ace will be the one to become Pirate King."
Her tone made it obvious she was not happy about it.
Around her, the entire Straw Hat crew was weighed down by the same heavy mood.
Becoming Pirate King was Luffy's dream, from the very beginning.
Yet Ace had arrived first.
Even if that person was his own brother, it was still hard to accept.
"Ha ha ha ha…"
A sudden burst of laughter cut through the gloom.
"What are you all doing?"
"Ace became Pirate King!"
"Hey, hey, hey, my big brother Ace!"
"Ha ha ha…"
Luffy, who had been hanging his head, suddenly looked up and laughed from the bottom of his heart.
Everyone froze.
He had been the one they thought would take it the hardest.
Yet he was the first to accept it.
Whatever he truly felt, only Luffy himself knew.
But the smile on his face was real.
"That guy…" Zoro's lips twitched upward. "He really is our captain."
"Even if you are not Pirate King yet," he added, standing and drawing his swords, "as the swordsman on the ship of the man who will become Pirate King, my goal is still to be the greatest swordsman in the world."
His eyes burned with familiar determination.
"Pirate King or not, I am still your cook," Sanji said, flicking his lighter and taking a drag on his cigarette as he leaned on the rail.
"Tell me what you want to eat tonight and I will make it for you."
"Super!"
Franky snapped his arms into a star pose and shouted, his usual goofy grin back in place.
He did not say much, but the message was clear.
"Yes, Luffy…"
"Luffy…"
Nami stepped forward, reaching out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.
Then she felt it.
Luffy was trembling.
He was shaking.
"Nami…"
"Am I… really that useless?"
"This should be something happy, so why… why do I…"
Tears welled up in his eyes as he spoke.
Nami panicked.
She had thought that with everyone backing him up, Luffy would take this blow better than expected.
Now she realized she had been wrong.
Becoming Pirate King was not just a casual dream for Luffy.
It was everything to him.
And now that dream had been shattered right in front of him.
Killed by Ace of all people.
After they first received information about Laugh Tale, Ryuunosuke had invited Luffy to go along.
Luffy refused.
He said that becoming Pirate King that way would not make him a real Pirate King.
But Ryuunosuke had not even arrived yet.
Ace had gone ahead.
In that moment, Luffy could not find a reason to keep moving forward.
"Yo."
"As expected, you were the one most devastated by the news that Ace became Pirate King."
"You foolish little brother, Luffy."
A familiar voice drifted down from above.
"Captain Ryuunosuke?"
"Big brother?"
"Brother Ryuunosuke?"
The entire crew looked up in shock.
All eyes snapped to the man who had just appeared on their deck.
Shouldn't Ryuunosuke be on his way to Laugh Tale right now?
Why was he on the Thousand Sunny?
They were headed toward Wano, not anywhere near Laugh Tale.
"What?" Ryuunosuke asked lazily.
"Do you all think I should just sit on my ship, hug my knees, and cry like Luffy?"
"The place Ace is walking toward right now is not the complete Laugh Tale."
"That alone does not qualify him as Pirate King."
He shrugged, looking completely unconcerned.
The Straw Hats immediately perked up.
If Ryuunosuke was not just trying to comfort Luffy, then his words might actually change everything for their captain.
"Really?"
Luffy looked up, eyes wide and hopeful, like a wronged child staring at an older brother.
"Looking at you," Ryuunosuke snorted, "you do not look like someone who wants to be Pirate King."
"You look more like a punching bag."
"Luffy, do you really think the Pirate King is decided by some place called Laugh Tale?"
He did not answer Luffy's question directly.
Instead, he threw one back at him.
When Ryuunosuke first heard the news, the first person he thought of was Luffy.
This idiot who never stopped shouting that he would become Pirate King.
No one even knew what his true goal was.
But Ryuunosuke absolutely did not want Luffy to waste his entire life chasing a single island.
Laugh Tale might be symbolic.
It might be the final destination for countless pirates who dreamed of the title.
But that was exactly why Ryuunosuke wanted Luffy to understand his own path.
To see clearly what his dream actually was.
Not to walk along Roger's path a second time.
Not to chase a legend until he forgot why he went to sea in the first place.
"I…"
Luffy was stunned by the question.
He had always shouted that he would become Pirate King.
But what came after?
That was what Ryuunosuke was really asking.
Pirate King was just a title.
After becoming Pirate King, then what?
What did he want to accomplish?
What did he want to do?
"Freedom."
Ryuunosuke spoke two simple words.
Luffy froze.
The rest of the crew lowered their heads, thinking.
Zoro's dream was the way of the sword.
After becoming the greatest swordsman, he would probably live as freely as Mihawk.
Sailing where he pleased, answering the challenges of new swordsmen, waiting for the day he met someone with enough talent to surpass him.
Nami wanted money and sea charts, the complete map of the world in her hands.
Sanji wanted the All Blue, and beautiful women.
Each of the Straw Hats had a clear dream and direction.
But when Ryuunosuke asked the question, Luffy had no answer.
Was it freedom?
Probably.
With how simple his thinking was, and how many times Garp had beaten his brains out, it was a miracle he had any ambition at all.
"Big brother… what did you mean by saying there is more than one Laugh Tale?"
Luffy finally asked, a spark returning to his eyes.
"There are four, maybe even more, final islands that the Poneglyphs point to," Ryuunosuke said.
"The place Roger reached back then is that Black Island Ace is standing on now. It is one of them."
"I have the Poneglyph rubbings here. I already gave them to Robin."
"Depending on how you arrange the information, you get four different final islands."
He briefly explained what he had discovered.
Robin quietly nodded to confirm, adding that she had already deciphered two of the routes.
Neither of those led to the Black Island that had just appeared.
When Luffy heard that, his eyes blazed back to life.
"I get it."
"I am going to be Pirate King!"
"Ace… We are going to soar together!"
"Ha ha ha…"
"Bang!"
Before he could finish laughing, Ryuunosuke's fist slammed into his face.
Luffy went tumbling across the deck.
This guy really knew how to ruin the mood.
But after tagging him with a solid punch, Ryuunosuke threw his head back and laughed along with him.
In the world of idiots like these, there was no point in arguing too much.
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