After two days at sea, the merchant ship sailed straight into the Sabaody Archipelago. The voyage had been calm, with no pirate raids or trouble along the way.
Roy stared at the islands ahead, formed around the seventy nine towering Yarukiman Mangroves, and once again couldn't help marveling at how absurdly magical this world was.
Once the cargo handoff was completed, Roy politely refused the captain's invitation to stay.
He watched the sailors board and prepare to depart, then waved hard and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Goodbye, everyone!"
Then he turned and walked inland without looking back.
Grove 36.
Using the Beli the captain had given him, Roy bought himself a sharp looking suit from a clothing shop. After that, he found a barber named Tony and had him give him a trendy hairstyle.
Staring at his reflection, Roy saw a handsome face that could make any reader proud.
He smiled, genuinely pleased.
With takoyaki in hand, Roy strolled down the bustling streets like he owned the place.
He was arrogant. Shamelessly so.
So arrogant that pedestrians instinctively stepped aside.
After all, this was Sabaody, dangerously close to Marine Headquarters. Anyone who dared swagger like that was either a Celestial Dragon, a noble, or a pirate.
And no matter how you looked at it, this good looking kid did not seem like a pirate.
Roy's eyes narrowed slightly. Interest flickered across his face.
He dumped the rest of the takoyaki into his mouth in one go, then turned into a nearby alley.
Inside the alley, three thugs were kicking a green haired boy to the ground.
They swung sticks, punched, and stomped, beating him while rummaging through his pockets.
"Tesoro. Hand over the money you've got."
Under the storm of blows, Tesoro curled up, clutching his cash to his chest like it was his last breath.
"Yo."
"Hello there!"
Roy's voice appeared out of nowhere.
The thugs froze and stopped mid swing. They turned, and once they saw it was only a kid, they immediately got even more cocky, waving their wooden clubs.
"Get lost, brat. This doesn't involve you. Don't go looking for trouble."
"NO. NO. NO."
Roy raised one finger and wagged it slowly, his childish face wearing an annoyingly smug expression.
"Bullying people is something I really enjoy."
For a second, the three thugs just stared.
Then their faces twisted with fury.
"You little punk, you messing with us? You looking down on me?"
They charged.
Whoosh.
Roy shifted to the side, dodging the club swing. His right fist snapped out in a sweeping hook.
Then he lifted his leg and fired a clean side kick.
One thug flew backward.
The last thug stopped short.
His eyes locked onto the two who were already down, one with his face twisted out of shape and unconscious, the other clutching his stomach while coughing blood.
The remaining thug held his club up toward Roy, legs shaking, cold sweat pouring down his face.
"Y you brat. We work for Wild Wolf Dokuri. If you mess with us, Boss Dokuri won't let you live!"
"Oh?"
Roy tilted his head.
"Dokuri? Never heard of him."
He walked forward, wearing a gentle, almost warm smile.
Then he lowered his head and leaned close to the thug's ear, whispering softly, like a ghost breathing down his neck.
"But if I finish you all off right here… how would your boss ever know it was me?"
The thug's face went white.
He dropped the club, didn't even glance at his fallen companions, and scrambled away on hands and knees, fleeing the alley like his life depended on it.
"HAHAHA… hahaha!"
Roy clutched his stomach and laughed so hard he nearly folded in half.
When he finally stopped, he turned and looked at Tesoro, who was still lying on the ground, staring at him in shock.
Roy squatted beside him, wearing a playful, teasing look.
"Yoo."
"This isn't the future King of Gold… cough cough. You alright?"
…
Tesoro was born into a miserably poor family.
His father was a gambler. His mother was a drunk.
Because of that poverty, he was pushed aside, mocked, and beaten from childhood.
After his father died from illness, Tesoro faced a mother who hated him more and more by the day.
So he ran.
Living on the streets taught him something he would never forget.
Money mattered more than anything.
Without money, you had nothing.
No safety.
No dignity.
No hope.
People who called themselves friends would vanish the moment they lost everything.
Then one day, in a slave market, he met a girl who would change his life.
To save her, Tesoro began working like a madman, desperate to earn enough.
Until today.
Until the slave house owner sent thugs to seize the money in his hands.
Roy's appearance gave Tesoro a new kind of hope.
Tesoro kept staring blankly at him. Roy quickly got bored, stood up, and was about to leave when a hoarse murmur drifted from behind him.
"Why did you help me?"
"Hm?" Roy turned back, puzzled.
"I said… why did you help me?"
Tesoro had just been dragged back from despair. He hated himself, hated how weak he was, hated that he couldn't even protect the person he wanted to protect most.
Roy laughed loudly.
"No reason. If I had to say anything… it's just fate."
Tesoro stared at the boy who laughed like the world was nothing.
A sudden impulse surged up from deep inside him.
"Fate…? So fate made us meet?"
Then he said it.
"Take me with you."
Roy looked at him, surprised.
"Oh?"
Future ruler of gold, huh.
A man who would push a Devil Fruit to awakening and build an empire controlling twenty percent of the world's wealth.
Not bad.
Roy's gaze turned amused. He slid both hands into his pockets and started walking out of the alley.
"Think carefully. Once you get on my ship, it won't be easy to get off."
His voice sounded light, almost careless.
But Tesoro's eyes lit up like he'd been given a second life.
He scrambled up and sprinted after Roy.
On the main street, Tesoro walked beside him, unable to stop talking.
"Boss, you said ship. Are you a pirate?"
"No. At least, not right now."
"Then, Boss, where are we going now?"
"Grove 13." Roy rubbed his chin, thinking. "There might be something we need there."
"Then, Boss, to go…"
Tesoro stopped.
Roy's eyes shifted toward him, sharp and dangerous.
Tesoro immediately swallowed the rest of his sentence.
Roy hadn't expected it.
In the future, Tesoro would speak like a king, heavy and slow, every word weighed like gold.
But as a kid, he was practically a chatterbox.
Roy flicked his hand, letting him finish.
Tesoro coughed and spoke carefully.
"Uh… Boss. If we're going to Grove 13… we're walking the wrong way."
Roy froze.
Then he snapped, embarrassed and furious.
"Then why aren't you leading the way!"
Grove 13. The lawless zone.
Shakky's Rip off Bar.
Inside, the boss lady Shakky, cigarette in her mouth, short hair cut to her ears, curves sharp enough to cut a man, was dragging a pirate who couldn't pay his tab across the floor.
She slammed him down.
Then she cleanly stripped him of every last Beli on his body, grabbed him by the collar, opened the door, and tossed him out like trash.
The pirate landed at the steps.
Miserable.
Pathetic.
Roy and Tesoro, who had just arrived, both instinctively flinched.
No wonder.
Anyone who had made a name for themselves in the Rocks Pirates was never simple.
Roy lifted his eyes and met Shakky's gaze.
She stood there with her cigarette, looking down at the two of them like she was measuring their worth.
Roy smiled, raised a hand, and greeted her.
"Yo."