At the same time White Ghost was soaring back toward Sabaody, another ship was just making landfall there.
"Ahh, it's been so long since we visited Rayleigh," a red-haired man laughed. "Let's go pay him a visit."
"Sure," Benn Beckman said around his cigarette. "But Shanks… isn't he stationed here these days?"
He meant White Ghost.
"He's not going to give us trouble, is he?" Benn added.
"If he does, we'll just fight," Shanks said cheerfully, rubbing the three claw marks on his face. "I've been meaning to settle this score anyway."
He paused, then added, more seriously:
"But let's try not to cause a scene. At least until after this."
He drew a handbill from his coat.
On it were two figures:
Soul King & Songstress of Souls
Final Concert at Sabaody Archipelago
Area 13.
Benn Beckman squinted at the sign hanging above the bar.
His expression clearly read: How is this name not getting you punched daily?
He wisely did not say that out loud.
The owner was not exactly known for her gentle personality.
And she was—allegedly—Rayleigh's old flame.
So the crew kept their commentary strictly internal.
As they reached the door, a woman's voice rang out from inside:
"You dare dine and dash at my place without asking around first? Think you can eat and run wherever you like?"
A crash followed—a table flipping, a chair shattering—and a man's panicked yelling.
Shanks pushed the door open and instinctively stepped aside.
A body shot past him like a cannonball, flew straight out over the street, and landed head-first in the dirt outside.
The Red Hair pirates filed in.
They saw Shakky shake out her fist, pat the dust off her hands, calmly strip the unconscious pirate captain of his valuables, then toss him out the door like a sack of trash.
"Ahh, Shanks, huh?" Shakky said, cigarette at the corner of her mouth as she spotted them. "Welcome. Take a seat and wait a bit."
"Don't mind us, Shakky-nee," Shanks said quickly. "You finish up first."
He picked a table and sat down.
Benn, Yasopp, and the others watched in silence as Shakky nailed the last straggler with two punches, rolled him over, looted him with terrifying efficiency, and dumped him outside too.
This was their third visit here.
Every time had started like this.
There was only one conclusion: this landlady was scary.
Rayleigh emerged from the back as Shanks's crew settled in.
His gaze dropped almost immediately to Shanks's left side.
To the empty sleeve.
Rayleigh thought for a moment and came over to sit beside him.
"Rayleigh-sensei," Shanks said, standing long enough to bow his head.
"No need for that," Rayleigh said with a wave. His eyes lingered on the missing arm. "Did Garp take that?"
"This?" Shanks touched his left shoulder.
"No, it wasn't Garp," he said, smiling.
"Oh?" Shakky drifted over, setting glasses down in front of them. Smoke curled lazily from her cigarette.
"You didn't lose that in a fight with Garp," she said. "You convinced his grandson to become a pirate instead.
"How is this not Garp's fault?"
Shanks blinked.
"Your information network really is terrifying, Shakky-nee," he said. "You even know that much?"
"Someone paid for a drink with the story," Shakky said lightly. "Good wine, good gossip—everyone wins."
"I see…"
Shanks took a sip, then turned back to Rayleigh.
"Rayleigh-sensei, you know this already, but… Garp's grandson Luffy is exactly like Captain Roger described back then."
He'd expected Rayleigh to be surprised.
Instead, the old man's expression barely shifted.
He just listened.
Shanks smiled and unconsciously brushed the empty sleeve again.
"I saw it with my own eyes," he said. "Exactly like Captain Roger said. So I staked this arm… on the new era."
Rayleigh downed his drink, set the glass down, and said only:
"Seems those prophecies we heard back then weren't wrong after all."
"I went to see him once. His temperament really is similar to Roger's."
"Then let's wait and see," Shanks said softly. "Rayleigh-sensei… whether Luffy is really the one they talked about back then."
"Maybe he is," Rayleigh said. "Maybe he isn't. Either way, the sea will give us an answer.
"Last time I went to the East Blue, though, it wasn't just to see that kid."
He paused.
"I went to see Roger's child."
The whole Red Hair crew went still.
"Uh… did I mishear that?" Lucky Roo asked after a beat. "Did you just say… Roger's child?"
Benn Beckman stared straight at Rayleigh.
If that was true, the World Government's massive purge on Baterilla back then… had been for nothing.
Rayleigh nodded.
"Rouge of Baterilla," he said. "When the Roger Pirates disbanded, Roger went to live with her for a while. After that, he surrendered to the Marines and kicked off the Great Pirate Era.
"When the World Government sent investigators to hunt down Roger's bloodline, Rouge held Ace in her womb for twenty months—just to hide him from them.
"She died of exhaustion right after giving birth."
Shakky took a slow drag.
"She was an incredible mother," she said. "The price she paid for her child… isn't something just anyone could pay."
"The child's in the East Blue?" Shanks asked quietly. "Rayleigh-sensei?"
"Roger left him to Garp," Rayleigh said. "I went to see him in secret. If Garp ever found out, I wouldn't be allowed to live peacefully here."
Shanks drained his glass.
No wonder Garp chased me so damn hard last time…
He gave a wry grin.
"Click, click, click… no wonder White-bro said he hates you people from Roger's crew," Shakky said, flicking ash into the tray.
"Roger dumped his kid on Garp and then chose that road. Didn't stay by that poor woman's side at all. That's just… rotten.
"And you, Shanks—you tricked Garp's grandson into becoming a pirate. If I were him, chasing you across the world would be the polite reaction."
White Ghost again.
Shanks reached up and absently touched the scars on his face.
"So he knew that much too…" he muttered.
"Yes," Rayleigh said. "He told me himself."
"That brat's probably a monster by now," Shakky added. "Last big war in the New World, he beat Kaido—that beast.
"From the photos, his Devil Fruit's awakened. And what's scarier…"
Rayleigh looked straight at Shanks.
"He can use that technique of Roger's."
Shanks's eyes narrowed.
He knew exactly which technique Rayleigh meant—and that it wasn't something just anyone could learn.
"He must've grasped it during his fight with you," Rayleigh said.
Shanks let out a low whistle.
"A monster with a terrifying learning speed, huh? Well… I'm not exactly slacking either, Rayleigh-sensei."
Rayleigh smiled.
Just from Shanks's aura, he could tell: the "kid" was gone.
This was a man who stood on the same peak as the old monsters.
"This time, you're planning to stake a claim in the New World properly?" Rayleigh asked, glancing around at the crew. Every one of them radiated pressure.
"Yeah," Shanks said. "This time, no one's going to throw us out. Not again.
"Not just for our own sake, either.
"For a promise."
"Last time you sailed into the New World, you were strong—but not strong enough," Rayleigh said. "Good for a rookie, not for a king.
"The mistake was underestimating Big Mom and Kaido. They were willing to tear each other apart just to get their hands on you."
"Getting out of that was pure luck," Shanks admitted. "This time, I'm not running."
Rayleigh chuckled.
"Back on the ship, you and Buggy never stopped bickering," he said. "Blink, and it's already been so many years. Now it really is your generation's era."
"Rayleigh-sensei, you make it sound like you're already useless," Shanks said. "You're still as tough as they come."
The mood lightened.
They let the heavy topics drift for a while and just drank, trading stupid stories from the old days.
"This old body's not what it used to be," Rayleigh said, though his smile was warm. "You youngsters will have to carry the torch now."
"Hahahaha!" the Red Hair crew roared, sitting a little straighter. Coming from the Dark King, that praise meant something.
At that moment, someone knocked on the bar's door.
Knock, knock, knock.
"It sounds lively in there," a voice said from outside, amused. "If you don't mind… how about adding one more to the party?"
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