The Roger Pirates had no intention of getting deeply involved with the Church.
Now that they had finally obtained the last Poneglyph, the entire crew was practically roaring with excitement, eager to set sail for the final island and complete the dream they had chased for so many years.
Especially Gaban. The man could barely sit still anymore. All he wanted was to find the final island as quickly as possible, finish the journey, split the treasure, disband the crew, and immediately rush off to Elbaf to spend his days alone with Ripley.
With everyone burning with anticipation like this, there was naturally no way Valthior could stay behind on the island indulging in romance with Olvia.
After spending one passionate night together, the two now stood at the harbor of Vanti Island. Olvia held Robin in her arms as she looked at Valthior with obvious reluctance in her eyes.
"See? I told you to come with me, but you refused. And now that I'm leaving, you can't bear to part with me," Valthior said with an amused smile.
Olvia's face flushed red for a moment before she shot him an annoyed look.
"Isn't it normal to feel reluctant at a time like this? You, on the other hand, act like you don't care about me or your daughter at all. Are you really that heartless?"
"Hahahahaha!" Valthior laughed loudly toward the sea breeze. "From the very moment I came into this world, I already decided that my life would belong to this beautiful and cruel ocean. No matter who it is, nobody can stop my determination to chase the sea!"
His tone was firm and unwavering, leaving no room for doubt.
Love and family were perhaps only embellishments scattered throughout his life.
The sea itself was the true theme that defined him.
Olvia looked at him with complicated emotions swirling in her eyes before softly saying, "Maybe… it's precisely because of that part of you that I fell for you in the first place."
"But fundamentally, aren't you and I the same kind of person, Olvia?" Valthior raised a brow slightly. "This is simply the resonance between people of the same kind."
Despite the way Olvia now struggled to part with him, if Valthior truly asked her to abandon the path of a scholar and leave with him together with Robin, she still would not agree.
At moments like this, she might feel sadness and attachment, but at her core, she was still a woman who had devoted her entire life to the pursuit of history and culture.
Even in the original story, she had spent years sailing abroad researching ancient ruins, to the point that Robin had barely seen her growing up. That alone already said enough.
"Once the Roger Pirates finish this adventure… will you come to the West Blue to find us?" Olvia asked softly, avoiding the topic of being "the same kind of person."
"Perhaps," Valthior answered ambiguously. "As things stand now, the Roger Pirates are merely one chapter of my life. After this journey ends, I'll build my own crew and charge headfirst into this world."
"And what if Robin misses her father?" Olvia asked again.
This time, even Valthior's calm expression faltered slightly.
A trace of hesitation appeared on his face, but in the end, he merely reached out and gently stroked Olvia's long hair before lightly tapping sleeping Robin's little forehead with his finger.
"I'm leaving now. Take care of yourselves."
After saying that, he turned around and walked toward the Oro Jackson without looking back.
Olvia watched his departing figure and let out a soft sigh.
"He really is a man whose pride and competitive spirit are impossibly strong…"
She understood perfectly well that Valthior was waiting for her to change, while never once considering changing himself.
Perhaps one day, when she finally let go of her obsession with history and chose to bring Robin to him instead, that man would personally come to the West Blue and take them away.
Would such a day ever come?
Olvia herself did not know.
Maybe only time could answer that question.
The sea wind swept across the harbor as the Oro Jackson raised its sails once more, carrying its sharp icy aura back out into the endless sea.
"I told you long ago, Olvia. Choosing a man like him would only drag you into a whirlpool," Professor Clover said as he walked over beside her with a glass of orange juice in hand.
"And precisely because it's a whirlpool, people can't help being drawn into it, right, Professor?" Olvia replied with a smile.
Professor Clover froze for a moment before bursting into loud laughter.
"You're absolutely right. Valthior isn't what anyone would call a good man, but perhaps that's exactly why he possesses such an inexplicable charm. To be honest, even an old man like me finds myself deeply fascinated by him."
"Huh?" Olvia stared at him in shock before swallowing nervously. "Professor… at your age, you still never married. Don't tell me it's because…"
"What nonsense are you thinking about?" Clover snapped irritably. "What I mean is, if I hadn't already devoted this life of mine to uncovering the truth of history, then perhaps I might have accepted Valthior's invitation and boarded the new crew he plans to create!"
After saying that, both Clover and Olvia fell silent, quietly watching the Oro Jackson disappear farther and farther into the distance.
Only after a long while did Olvia suddenly ask softly, "Professor… what do you see?"
"A great pirate crew standing on the verge of completing an unprecedented feat and becoming the one true legend upon the seas…" Clover replied quietly before asking in return, "And what about you? What do you see?"
"The final island is not the end," Olvia said with a faint smile. "I see the next great hero of the age setting sail toward the sea."
"You're right," Clover answered with a nod. "Come on, we should get going. We still need to help the Church translate those ancient texts."
With that, he was the first to withdraw his gaze and turn away.
Olvia lingered a moment longer, casting one final reluctant glance toward the ocean before finally turning around as well.
...
Meanwhile, aboard the Oro Jackson, Gaban slapped Valthior heavily on the shoulder and laughed.
"You really are a terrible family man. You didn't learn even a fraction of my greatness in that department!"
"It's just a pirate's bad habit," Valthior replied with a dismissive curl of his lips.
Still, to be fair, Gaban truly was one of the rare good men and good fathers among pirates.
On Roger's ship alone, he and Roger stood at complete opposite ends of the spectrum when it came to family.
One was a devoted husband and father.
The other was a hopeless scumbag and a complete disaster of a parent.
Honestly, considering all the things Roger had done, Ace refusing to acknowledge him was perfectly understandable.
Especially after Ace joined the Whitebeard Pirates. If he ever learned the older stories surrounding Hachinosu and discovered that his father had once been obsessed with his own vice captain's woman, then understanding Ace's feelings would become even easier.
And looking at things now, Valthiorseemed to be veering closer to Roger's deadbeat approach when it came to handling emotions and family.
"Yohohoho~"
As Vanti Island gradually vanished from sight and the Oro Jackson sailed toward the Sea of Mist and the final island beyond, Roger suddenly began singing a tune for no apparent reason right there on deck.
Valthior, Gaban, and the others all turned to look at him with strange expressions.
But in the very next moment, Rayleigh grabbed hold of a rope, raised his sake jug high, and joined in with the melody.
"Yo-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho~"
"What the hell is this supposed to be…" Valthior complained with a grin, yet seamlessly picked up the rhythm and sang loudly: "Gather up all of the crew, time to ship out Binks' a-brew~"
Gaban immediately followed with the next line, laughing as he sang:
"Sea breeze blows, to where who knows, trust the waves to guide us through~"
Then came Bullet , Spencer, Shanks, Doringo, Sunbell, Buggy, Donquino, Nozdon… until finally the entire Roger Pirates crew joined together in song.
"Gather up all of the crew, time to ship out Binks' a-brew! Pirates we, we cleave the sea, our sails a-shining white~
Pillow on the ocean deep, a ship is where we sleep! A skull and crossbones flag to fly, through the day and night~"
"Yo-ho-ho, yo-ho-ho~"
And amidst that singing, the Oro Jackson sailed onward toward the final voyage of the Roger Pirates.
A legendary pirate crew stood on the verge of accomplishing a feat no one in history had ever achieved before.
The end of their great adventure was already within reach.
Perhaps… this was the true romance of pirates.
...
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