After Higuma finished, Beckman and the others exchanged looks. Their expressions were… complicated.
Sixty Emperors of the Sea?
Just imagining it was painfully beautiful.
"Looks like Mr. Higuma's really had one too many…"
Beckman thought.
But then, when he really considered it, it didn't feel like empty bragging.
The names Higuma had casually dropped snagged Beckman's attention.
Red The Aloof, Patrick Redfield… a legendary pirate from Roger's era. No crew, no allies—just one man, standing shoulder to shoulder with Roger and Whitebeard on the Grand Line.
And later, that legend simply vanished.
Devil's Heir Barrett…
Beckman knew that name. He glanced at Shanks.
Like Shanks, Barrett had once been a crewmate on the Pirate King's ship.
Even back then, Barrett's strength had been enough to rival the Pirate King's right-hand man, the Dark King, Rayleigh. In the Roger Pirates, he'd been called a monster.
After the Roger Pirates disbanded, that kind of man also disappeared. Rumor said the Marines caught him and threw him into Impel Down.
As for the others—Giant Battleship Sanjuan Wolf, the Corrupt King, the Crescent Moon Hunter…
Their epithets weren't as famous as the first two, but they were still notoriously dangerous pirates, infamous across the world.
A few names Higuma mentioned were ones even Beckman—well-traveled and well-informed—had never heard before.
"Were these pirates really taken down by Mr. Higuma… then sent by the Marines to the great prison under the sea?"
Beckman fell silent.
That possibility was too terrifying to chase. He didn't want to go any deeper.
"What does Captain think? Shanks sailed with the Pirate King—he should understand these secrets better than any of us."
"Is Higuma talking nonsense… or is any of this real?"
Beckman kept his attention on Shanks, wanting to see how he'd react.
But Shanks just took another big swig—glug-glug-glug—and was already slinging an arm around Higuma's shoulders.
"Mr. Higuma, you're amazing…"
Beckman: "..."
Shanks didn't seem to care whether Higuma's stories were true or not.
He'd been wrong to place his hopes on a captain this carefree.
Nearby, little Luffy leaned in excitedly, listening to Higuma keep bragging with sparkling eyes.
"So this old man is really that strong…"
"So this is what a mountain bandit is?"
With alcohol in him, Higuma's questionable one-liners just kept coming—one after another.
Not just Luffy. Even the rest of the Red Hair Pirates listened with real interest.
A lot of old-era secrets—things even they'd never heard—came out of Higuma's mouth like he'd lived them.
Off to the side, Yasopp noticed Luffy staring at Higuma with starry eyes. A thought struck him, and he teased:
"Luffy, didn't you say you wanted to become the Pirate King?"
"Look at Higuma—he's that strong. When you grow up, why not be like him and just become the Mountain Bandit King instead?"
After saying it, Yasopp burst out laughing. The tavern joined him in a wave of laughter.
Only Higuma—sitting there—jerked as if he'd been shocked, his drunkenness evaporating by half in an instant.
The future Mountain Bandit King Luffy?
Was that joke a little too far?
The moment Higuma pictured Luffy yelling, "Mountain Bandit King—I'm gonna be one for sure!" he couldn't help finding it hilarious in a horrifying kind of way.
"When I was a kid, I also thought about whether I should go to Harvard or just work…"
"But Pirate King versus Mountain Bandit King? That's like choosing between Harvard and a community college."
Higuma snorted to himself.
But what made his heart jump was this—
Luffy didn't answer right away.
Like he was actually, seriously thinking about whether he should be Pirate King… or Mountain Bandit King.
Higuma set his bottle down. His expression hardened again, the lines of his face turning a touch sharper.
Damn it.
He really did not want to see Luffy go down the wrong path and become some kind of Mountain Bandit King.
Even if Luffy became "King of the Marines," it'd be ten thousand times better than that.
With that in mind, Higuma looked at Luffy seriously and spoke.
"A man's dream isn't something you joke about."
His low voice rang through the tavern, and the laughter around them cut off abruptly.
The atmosphere, which had relaxed, turned serious again.
"A man's dream…"
Luffy's starry eyes got even brighter.
He was just a kid. Even if he said he wanted to be Pirate King, nobody truly took it seriously.
Even Shanks and the others joked about it all the time.
But now, Luffy had met someone who called him "a man."
Every kid wants adults to look at them as equals—to treat them like a real, stand-up man.
In Luffy's short life so far, Higuma was the first person to call him that.
"That's right."
Higuma stared at Luffy, meaning in his gaze.
"A person's dream never ends. It has nothing to do with how old you are."
As he spoke, Higuma casually picked up the straw hat Shanks had left on the bar. His expression didn't change much, but the faintest hint of sentiment landed perfectly on his face.
"Roger's straw hat…"
Higuma crouched in front of Luffy, the corner of his mouth lifting into an encouraging smile as he placed the hat on Luffy's head.
"Roger's straw hat… looks like it suits you."
"Being a mountain bandit is just where an old man like me from the previous era hides away."
"Every man with a dream… should run toward the sea."
Higuma's low voice echoed through the tavern.
And at the same time, it echoed inside Luffy's heart.
"Dream… sea…"
Those words completely filled Luffy's mind.
For a moment, he didn't know how to react. He just held the straw hat on his head, staring blankly.
"Mr. Higuma…"
Shanks and the others were stunned too, looking between Higuma and Luffy with expressions that turned oddly subtle.
Under a gaze like that, Higuma sobered up completely.
Right now, he was crouched in front of Luffy, having just placed the straw hat on the kid's head.
The hat was way too big for little Luffy—big enough to cover most of his face.
The scene seemed to freeze on the spot.
"Huh? This feels… weirdly familiar…"
Higuma thought for a second, then his whole body went rigid.
Wasn't this basically the same as that moment when Shanks left the village, said goodbye to Luffy, and entrusted him with the straw hat?
Except the person holding the hat wasn't Red-Haired Shanks anymore.
It was him—Higuma, the Mountain Bandit King.
(End of Chapter)
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