At that moment, Joy Boy had already exhausted every last means at his disposal.
Having lost the greater momentum, all he could do now, apart from hating himself for his own naïveté, was entrust everything to the future.
As one companion after another, each burdened with a special destiny, was sent away, Joy Boy once again became utterly alone.
Just like when he had first gone out to sea.
Compared to his long lifespan, the Joy Boy of this moment had only just reached the stage of youth.
But after experiencing this whole series of events, there was only weariness left in his heart. Even his face, which should have still carried a hint of youth, was already etched with the hardships of time.
Some people could leave.
Some people could not.
Joy Boy did not have Amatsuki Toki send him into the future.
He still had to struggle one last time!
Whether it was for the unwillingness in his heart, or to make his companions' actions in the future proceed more smoothly, this was a destiny Joy Boy could not shirk.
At Joy Boy's call, an army was pieced together once more.
Only this time, the number of people still willing to follow Joy Boy into battle had clearly decreased.
On one hand, the power displayed by Imu and the Twenty Kings' allied forces was far too overwhelming. They could not see any hope of victory, and they did not want to make meaningless sacrifices.
On the other hand, many people had not realized…
The World Government founded by Imu and the Twenty Kings would not be as simple as Joy Boy's Ancient Kingdom.
And precisely because of that, this battle ended, unsurprisingly, in defeat for Joy Boy and his friends.
Although during the war, Joy Boy, who possessed supreme might, beat Imu black and blue and sent him fleeing in panic, it still failed to provide much help to the overall battlefield.
Moreover, the backlash from defeat was even more severe than Joy Boy had imagined.
The fish-men and merfolk, whom Joy Boy had already failed to fulfill his promise to, yet who had still helped him fight for years on end, were directly judged by the World Government to be inferior beings. They were stripped of all human rights, and their treatment became no different from that of livestock.
Next was Wano Country, which possessed the ability to carve historical stone monuments. It was beaten so badly that it could only close its borders, relying on its natural geographical advantages to keep Imu's troops isolated outside the island.
The Mink Tribe… Their treatment was not very different from that of the merfolk. It was only because the damage the Mink Tribe had caused the World Government was not particularly obvious that they were not pursued further. Even so, it caused the weaker among them to lose the chance to walk freely in this world.
As for some of the other races, their endings were even more miserable.
But none of that mattered anymore.
Amatsuki Toki, who had helped Joy Boy complete an important mission, was forced to directly activate her fruit ability in order to avoid a potentially fatal attack, dodging it by traveling through time and space.
Fortunately, Amatsuki Toki's time travel had been part of Joy Boy's plan from the beginning.
To prevent their plan from going wrong, and to prevent the Solar Crystal from falling into Imu's hands again, Amatsuki Toki had to travel eight hundred years into the future—to the point in time when the Solar Crystal would appear—and find someone capable of using the Solar Crystal, allowing them to take control of it.
And in Amatsuki Toki's memory, she only knew of two places where bloodlines capable of controlling the Solar Crystal existed.
One was her homeland, which she had never seen since she had been born in the Ancient Kingdom—Wano Country.
When she had followed Joy Boy, she had once seen someone from the Kozuki clan use the Solar Crystal to control a gigantic aircraft.
The other place she could seek help from was Queen Lily's homeland—Alabasta.
However, Amatsuki Toki, who had suddenly crossed through time and space, did not know where Alabasta was located. Likewise, she did not know whether Queen Lily's younger brother had followed her instructions and turned the Nefertari family into a benevolent royal family.
So although there appeared to be two choices before Amatsuki Toki, in truth, there was only one.
And just like that, every so often, a little girl would appear in this world, wandering everywhere in search of Wano Country.
Of course, Joy Boy had no way of knowing any of this.
After suffering defeat once more, he had completely lost the ability to contend with Imu in this era.
In the end, he found several important Poneglyphs that had only been sent a short distance into the future and brought them to the final island.
In that isolated place, Joy Boy, whose vitality had already been exhausted by one great war after another, reached the end of his life.
...
...
"History… So that's how it was?"
Final Island, Laugh Tale.
After listening to Robin translate the contents of the Poneglyphs, the Straw Hats all revealed expressions filled with emotion.
It had to be said that Joy Boy's life was truly legendary.
He had been the first to set sail and explore the world. In his youth, he had accomplished the great feat of circumnavigating the planet. Then, he had led humanity to overthrow the dictatorial rule of the Lunarian race and transformed the Kingdom of God into the Ancient Kingdom, a nation suitable for humans to live in.
His entire being was filled with charisma. Otherwise, there would not have been so many people willing to stand alongside him against the World Government despite knowing they were no match for it.
Unfortunately, Joy Boy had trusted others too much. As a result, he played a winning hand into ruins, dragging the entire world into misery because of his naïveté.
"Still…"
Just as his companions were all immersed in Joy Boy's turbulent and magnificent life, Red suddenly spoke with a faint chuckle.
"This Joy Boy's personality really is a lot like yours, Luffy!"
"No wonder, in the futures I saw, so many people treated you as Joy Boy."
"What the heck~"
Luffy pouted in dissatisfaction. "I wouldn't be beaten by that guy Imu!"
"So you admit you'd be just as stupid as him, right?!"
Red pursed his lips and smiled, immediately making Luffy stomp his feet in anger.
But in the face of Red's words, he had absolutely no way to refute them.
Because if Luffy had been in Joy Boy's position back then, he felt that he would have done exactly the same things Joy Boy had done.
"All right, we've seen enough of history."
After finishing his teasing of Luffy, Red suddenly clapped his hands, interrupting everyone's contemplation of history, and said with a smile,
"History is still history in the end. We can no longer change what happened on this planet in the past."
"If we immerse ourselves too deeply in history, it will only stop us from seeing the future more clearly."
"Don't forget—our goal is the sea of stars!!!"
"Exactly!"
Clap!
Luffy suddenly struck his fist into his palm, an excited smile spreading across his face.
"Since we've already found the final island, Red, next we should go explore the stars, right!?"
From the Poneglyphs, it could be seen that whether it was the Solar Crystal that had brought endless disasters to this world, or the moon people who had ruled this world for countless years, all of them had come from the deep and mysterious starry sky.
And whether it was the blue planet or the moon, compared to the vast starry sky, they were nothing more than a single drop in the ocean, insignificant and tiny.
That was enough to prove just how many wondrous and powerful things might exist in the boundless universe!
"Now that you mention it, that reminds me!"
Red's brows lifted.
"Come to think of it, the Solar Crystal probably wasn't something created by the moon people…"
"I just don't know whether the Solar Crystal is a wondrous object that naturally grew in a natural environment, or whether it accidentally fell onto the moon from somewhere even farther away."
"If it's the former, then that's one thing. But if it's the latter…"
"In this vast universe, perhaps the Solar Crystal isn't the only treasure of its kind!"
"In other words, above this starry sky, there are still many treasures beyond our imagination!"
"Stop talking! I already can't wait anymore!!!"
After hearing Red's words, Luffy's heart instantly burned even hotter.
"If you can't wait, then let's go!" Red smiled. "It's about time we went out… and beat Imu to a pulp!"
Judging by the performance described in the Poneglyphs, Imu's combat strength was weaker than Joy Boy's.
Although Red did not know exactly how powerful Joy Boy had been at his peak, he felt that Luffy, who could now stack Mega Evolution, Dynamax, the power of Nika, Pokémon-ization, and top-tier three-color Haki…
Had no reason to lose to an Imu who had feared even Joy Boy.
Besides, it was not as if they would immediately go looking for Imu the moment they left.
It was just that, after learning about Imu's strength, Red felt that even if they moved the final decisive battle forward slightly, there would be absolutely no problem.
"Huh?"
Seeing that Red was actually turning around and preparing to leave, Usopp and the others at the side hurriedly asked in surprise,
"Wait a second, Red. According to what the Poneglyphs said, isn't the Solar Crystal supposed to descend sometime soon?"
"Aren't we going to wait here for the Solar Crystal?"
"Why wait for it?" Red asked indifferently. "Even if Luffy really does possess the bloodline of the moon people, just as the Poneglyphs say, and can control the power of the Solar Crystal…"
"Do you think the Solar Crystal, which has been used several times in succession over just a few short years, still has much energy left inside for us to use?"
"Are we supposed to do what Joy Boy said and accumulate the power of wishes for several years before going to the decisive battle against Imu?"
"We don't have that much time!"
"That… does make sense~"
Usopp nodded in a daze.
Nami also agreed. "Exactly. Rather than waiting for the Solar Crystal, following Red and leveling up more would be far more effective. Hehe~"
"Uh…"
The Straw Hats, who had just been mourning history, suddenly froze.
They were surprised to discover…
This should clearly have been the shocking truth of world history, yet to them, it was nothing more than a plain and ordinary story.
The Void Century, the truth of history—compared to what they were about to do next, all of it seemed merely so-so.
Over the past eight hundred years, Joy Boy's companions and allies had made all kinds of arrangements in order to overthrow Imu's rule.
But for the current Straw Hat Pirates, all of that was already something within easy reach.
They did not need power from the past.
They did not need to wait for anything.
As long as they wanted to.
As long as they could…
"Perhaps~ the future really is more important than history."
Stroking the ancient characters filled with traces of time, Robin's slightly raised lips revealed a calm smile.
As long as they could defeat all of the World Government's fighting forces, who would care what the truth of history really was?
For an archaeologist, that might be somewhat sorrowful.
But this was reality.
"Still… thank you."
After taking one final look at the Poneglyphs, Robin stepped forward and followed after the Straw Hats.
Although the events that had happened in history would not cause any change to the current them, if Queen Lily had not created Ohara, the organization that carried history, then naturally, there would have been no Ohara Island later on, where Robin was born.
This kindness was something she would never forget.
Clack~
Just as Robin was thinking, the layer of sand beneath her foot suddenly loosened. Immediately afterward, a sound like a button being pressed rang out.
The Straw Hats turned back and saw Robin curiously picking up a shell from the sand.
Crackle~
Accompanied by a burst of static noise, a beam of light and shadow suddenly shot out from the shell.
"Hm? Is this an… Impact Dial?"
Little Chopper quickly approached Robin, seemingly afraid that the shell in her hand might be dangerous.
But in the very next moment, a massive voice suddenly came from above everyone's heads.
"Hello, hello!?"
"This thing… should be used like this, right!?"
Everyone raised their heads in confusion. They saw that high above the sky, the illusion of a giant was rapidly reforming through the power of the Vision Dial.
Only, that illusion did not seem very familiar with how to use the Vision Dial. He fiddled with it for a long time before finally recording his entire figure into it.
Then…
A giant whose appearance bore a seventy percent resemblance to Luffy suddenly appeared in the Straw Hats' field of vision.
"This is…"
Red froze slightly.
He suddenly remembered that, in the anime, there seemed to have been a scene where the Roger Pirates were made to burst into roaring laughter by something.
Clearly, the content carved into the Poneglyphs was not enough to make someone laugh out loud.
If anything could make them laugh, it should have been the contents of this Vision Dial, right?
Sure enough.
After entering the frame, the giant directly began introducing himself.
"Little ones who reach the final island in the future, I am Joy Boy~"
"Although I don't know whether you are humans, Minks, or merfolk, since you were able to find this place, that means you must already possess the strength to conquer this sea, right!?"
"Since you are so powerful, you can be considered important figures in your own right."
"To celebrate the fact that you traveled such a long way and overcame countless difficulties to get here, today… allow me to perform a dance for everyone, as a celebration!!!"
As he spoke, Joy Boy in the recording burst into hearty laughter.
While laughing, he also began taking off his clothes.
Very soon, the naked figure of a giant wearing only a pair of white briefs appeared before everyone's eyes.
Immediately afterward, a strange tune came out of Joy Boy's mouth.
From the very first second he opened his mouth, the Straw Hats knew that this Joy Boy was fundamentally the same as Luffy—a guy without the slightest bit of musical talent.
Only Joy Boy seemed completely unaware of this fact, and began singing and dancing naked before the Straw Hats.
And so, although it lasted only a few short minutes, Red and the others were forced to appreciate a strange dance that looked as if a human being were trying to tame his own four limbs.
When the dance ended, Joy Boy in the recording still seemed extremely satisfied with his own performance. He nodded in approval and closed the recording on the Vision Dial, leaving behind one unfinished sentence:
"I wonder how many people in the future will be mesmerized by my dance mo—"
(End of Chapter)