"Luffy? That's a good name. Right, you mentioned Ace just now. Where did Ace go? I haven't seen him in a long time."
"Ace? I entrusted him to an acquaintance of mine. Once it's convenient, I'll probably send Luffy there too…"
To dare entrust his own child to bandits to raise, while still expecting them to become outstanding Marines in the future… Who knew whether Garp was just too carefree, or simply far too confident.
Outside the house, Roy heard every word of their conversation without missing a single line. After stuffing a huge piece of meat-on-the-bone into his mouth, he vanished in a flash.
Well, now that he had come to the world of One Piece, how could he not try this world's most iconic dish: meat-on-the-bone?
Inside the room, Garp suddenly frowned and looked out the window, but saw nothing.
Roy's ability to conceal his ki was already masterful, but Garp's sixth sense was still rather sharp.
During this time, aside from collecting Devil Fruits, Roy had been stopping here and there along the way, taking in the beautiful island scenery of the world of One Piece and sampling all kinds of delicacies.
Roy had already collected several dozen Devil Fruits. Most of them were Zoan-types, with a few rare Paramecia-types, as well as two Logia-types and one Special Paramecia.
Of the two Logia Fruits, one was the Snow-Snow Fruit. As for the Special Paramecia, it was the Gold-Gold Fruit.
Well, it seemed Monet and Tesoro were destined to have no connection with them now.
There was also one other Logia Fruit. Roy had specially used Instant Transmission to go to the sky island of Birka, then used the Devil Fruit Radar to search. In the end, he found it aboard a huge, derelict multi-deck ship on the White-White Sea.
At the time, that Fruit had been stored inside an exquisite wooden box, and the box was being tightly held by a skeleton covered from head to toe in dust.
The Fruit's pattern was similar to how the Flame-Flame Fruit had flame-like markings. Its outer appearance was blue-purple, covered in patterns like thunder and lightning.
A Logia-type: the Rumble-Rumble Fruit!!!
It could be called one of the most invincible abilities in the world!
Naturally, Roy would not let an ability like this slip by. After having a clone eat the Fruit, he then merged the clone with his main body. Just like that, Roy himself once again gained command over the power of thunder and lightning.
As for why he let a clone eat it instead of eating it himself, it was because Roy's mouth had grown picky, and as for the taste of Devil Fruits… everyone understood.
After eating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Roy had specially come over at the time of Luffy's birth to take a look at what the future Pirate King looked like as a newborn.
After looking, he found that it was nothing special, and Roy lost interest.
Usopp had already been born, two months earlier than Luffy, so Roy ran off and spent more than ten days celebrating with Yasopp.
It was not anything especially valuable, just some body-tempering methods from the Marine Six Powers that Roy had discovered on a certain island during his journey.
In that cave, there were corpses of both Marines and pirates. At the same time, there was also a strange Devil Fruit.
Roy had gone to that cave because of that Fruit, and on the body of a Marine officer with an admiral-class rank, he found some incomplete records of Six Powers training methods.
They were perfect for Usopp and Yasopp to use in tempering their bodies.
Yasopp was already twenty-five years old, so he had missed the best period for physical training. However, his strong point was marksmanship, so it did not affect him too much.
"I've seen just about everything I should see this year. It's about time I did something serious."
After teleporting to a certain place, Roy stretched lazily and looked in one direction.
That was the direction of the Holy Land Mary Geoise.
…
The Holy Land Mary Geoise, headquarters of the World Government, was located between the first and second halves of the Grand Line, at the summit of the Red Line. It was one of the two routes to reach the New World.
The head of the World Government, Imu, who stood above even the Five Elders, lived in the Room of Flowers at the deepest part of Mary Geoise.
Today was destined to be anything but peaceful.
An audacious fellow suddenly appeared inside the Holy Land Mary Geoise, then set a great fire!
The Holy Land Mary Geoise had been peaceful for far too long. Before this, no one had ever imagined that someone would attack the Holy Land!
This was the Holy Land! The place where the World Nobles, the Celestial Dragons, lived!
"How beautiful…"
Through the already shattered, gloomy ceiling, Roy looked at the fiery-red scene in the sky and let out a sigh of admiration.
"What a pity that beneath such a beautiful sight, such filth is hidden!"
With a casual wave of his hand, Roy cut through all the surrounding prison bars. Then he threw in the keys he had found and said to the prisoners inside,
"From this day onward, you are free."
Inside the cells were male and female slaves of various races. Though their ages differed, all of them had all kinds of scars on their bodies.
Most of them had vacant expressions. Some looked terrified. Only a sparse few still had clear eyes, fixed tightly on Roy.
"Right now, the people outside are busy putting out the fire. Once they have their hands free, they'll definitely come in to check on the slaves. If you don't leave now, it'll be too late."
Roy kindly reminded them, then turned and prepared to leave.
"Um… may I ask who you are?!"
Finally, inside the silent prison, someone spoke in a trembling voice.
Roy turned his head and discovered that the speaker was one of the people who had been staring closely at him earlier: a Fish-Man with red skin, sharp teeth, a fin growing from his back, and webbing on his hands.
"Me?"
Roy already knew his identity. He gave the Fish-Man and all the slaves present an extremely warm smile.
"Who I am isn't important. What matters is that if a person, or a race, lacks the spirit to remain unyielding even unto death, and the courage to drag their enemies down with them, then they can only be ruled and enslaved by others."
"Freedom is a priceless treasure granted by heaven. All the wealth buried underground or beneath the sea cannot compare to it. Just like dignity, freedom is worth risking one's life for. To be deprived of freedom and forced into slavery is the bitterest suffering in life."
After hearing Roy's words, many of those with vacant eyes all looked toward him.
Moonlight from outside passed through the gloomy broken ceiling and shone over Roy, covering him in a pure, flawless radiance. It was solemn and sacred, as though it were shining upon a king.
Roy waved his hand and turned around with easy grace.
Fisher Tiger watched Roy's figure gradually move farther away and shouted frantically,
"Please, you must tell me your name!"
(End of Chapter)
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