"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 timeline 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 Government 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 game too many times. 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 came 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.
"Time 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 me. 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 come, 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 men 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. Someone in town shouted his name.
"A letter for me?"
Gick was puzzled. Then he heard the sender's surname 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 meet."
"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 settlement site)
"I am going back. Take care of yourself. If you run into a fight you cannot win, run. Make me 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 time."
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.
"Meeting you… made me happy too."
"Ozz."
After a long time he tucked the letter carefully inside his coat and hurried home through the rain. At the gate he saw a basket in the corner. A thin wail came 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.
"Come on… could this be any more sudden."
One heartbeat he was drinking on deck. The next he was back in his own timeline, dropping out of the sky.
As the time thread snapped back, the bandages disappeared. Fresh blood flowed. Ozz clenched his teeth against the pain. Some wounds were too deep. Bits of flesh were missing. Severed nerves and torn meat 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 meters tall."
The place tickled his memory. 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. Time 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 moment in time. He had no interest in other folks' family drama and no desire to meddle. He vanished.
At the same time, 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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