The midday sun shone perfectly.
Just as Wang Zhi had said, Island was a summer island with a pleasant climate. Even sleeping on the deck all night wouldn't cause the slightest discomfort.
Valthior stepped out of the cabin, clearly having just finished washing up.
He walked over to the base of the mast in a few strides and kicked Roger, who was dozing while leaning against it. "Hey, hey, quit pretending to sleep here. Everyone who was supposed to leave has already gone."
Kicked twice by Valthior, Roger—who had been sound asleep—sat up abruptly. Looking at the deck, which had been a total mess from last night's chaos but was now spotless again, his expression grew complicated. "Have they all left?"
"Yeah. Gaban was the first to go. Before dawn even broke, he slung his bag over his shoulder and yelled about heading to Elbaf to live the good life," Vathior said with a smile.
Then came Rayleigh and Shakky. Before the sky had even lightened, the two of them had tidied up the deck and quietly departed.
After that it was Ganryu, Nozdon, Donquino, Blumarine...
Although everyone was extremely reluctant, in the end they still left the ship.
Now the only ones left aboard were Valthior, Bullet, Spencer, Doringo, Sunbell, Shanks, Buggy, and… Roger, this guy who had been pretending to sleep.
"Are you guys leaving too?" Roger scratched his head, looking toward Valthior and the others on the deck as he asked.
"All banquets must come to an end…" Valthior lit a cigarette, exhaled a light puff of smoke, and smiled. "As reluctant as we are, we've decided to start our new journey today, old captain."
"Old captain?" Roger froze for a moment and looked at Spencer and the others.
Spencer, also biting on a cigarette, grinned and said, "That's right, old captain. It's time for you to get off the ship. The Oro Jackson has no place left to carry you."
"More like this new era doesn't have a ship that can carry me!" Roger stood up, stretched lazily, and said, "Isn't that right, Captain Valthior?"
"Not quite." Valthior's expression was very serious as he looked at Roger and said, "This era will always have a ship that can carry you, Roger."
"Whenever you get tired of playing the rich man in the countryside, come find us anytime, old captain!" Doringo laughed heartily.
"Any time!" Shanks grabbed a rope and swung through the air as he shouted.
Buggy stood on the figurehead and shouted along with him, "Anywhere!"
"As long as you wish it!" Sunbell followed.
"We'll always welcome you back to these seas, great legendary captain Gol D. Roger!" Valthior said with a wide grin.
"Ahahahahahaha..." Roger looked at this scene and burst into loud laughter.
As he laughed and laughed, it seemed as if tears were about to fall.
He raised his hand and wiped away the tears, then reached out and patted Valthior on the shoulder. "Go conquer the world, Valthior. If this world must have a king, then I think it has to be you!"
"Isn't that obvious? I came to these seas precisely to become the Emperor!" Valthior also laughed loudly, without the slightest hint of modesty.
"The King of the World will belong to Young Master sooner or later!" Bullet said without any hesitation.
"Just watch, Captain Roger! We will definitely write a legend no less than that of the Roger Pirates!" Shanks also shouted excitedly.
"Have you finally gotten rid of your apprentice status under Valthior?" Roger looked at Shanks and teased him.
Then Shanks's face fell as he said, "No. I thought I would join as a founding member this time, but in the end, Brother Valthior still made Buggy and me apprentice crew members!"
"You two are only seven years old, and you already want to be full crew members on my ship? Aren't you being a little too naive?" Valthior said with disdain.
Roger pressed his straw hat onto Shanks's head and said, "All right, don't get discouraged. You and Buggy will become famous figures on this sea sooner or later. You should know, I've got a damn good eye for people... You've always liked this straw hat of mine, haven't you? I'll give it to you..."
"Captain!!!"
At that, Buggy and Shanks could no longer hold back, and both of them clung to Roger's legs and started crying.
Roger looked rather disgusted as the two little brats wiped their snot on his legs, so he quickly shook them off. Then he picked up his luggage and looked at Valthior. "Speaking of which, I'm staying here to drink with Newgate. Do you want to join us?"
"No thanks." Valthior said, shaking his head as he looked toward the sea. "Although my bounty is very high, how should I put it… When I truly feel qualified to share that drink with him someday, I'll go find him myself."
"You're just dodging a gathering with us two middle-aged men, aren't you?" Roger curled his lip and said.
With Valthior's current strength, even if he could not win, he could still be considered qualified to drink with Whitebeard.
"You know it, so hurry up and get off the ship," Valthior said, pretending to be disgusted.
"You really can't wait to rush into the new era..." Roger said as he walked toward the gangway without looking back. "Speaking of which, have you thought of a name for your new pirate crew? And what about the flag? Do you need this old senior to give you some advice?"
"Absolutely not. I completely cannot accept your taste in art!" Valthior refused while looking at Roger's back.
"We haven't decided yet, but for now, we don't need you, an 'outsider,' worrying about it, old captain," Spencer also teased while watching Roger's back.
Roger didn't turn around. He simply cursed loudly, "What a bunch of heartless bastards you guys are!"
But when he stepped onto the ground of the harbor, Valthior suddenly called out, "Hey, Gol D. Roger!"
This time, Roger looked back. He had looked back at the Oro Jackson from this angle countless times before, but never once had it felt as hard to part as it did today.
The sunlight happened to shine from behind Valthior, making him and the Oro Jackson look unusually dazzling, so dazzling that Roger's eyes became somewhat blurred.
"What is it, Jaygarcia Valthior!?" Roger called Valthior's full name for the first time in a long while.
A card was thrown from Valthior's hand, drawing a perfect arc through the air as it flew toward Roger.
Roger instinctively caught the card in one hand, fixed his eyes on it, and found that it was actually a bank card issued by the World Bank.
"64,777,827,342 berries!" Valthior grinned. "I remembered it right, didn't I?"
"Huh?" Roger's expression suddenly filled with surprise. "You mean?"
"You called me 'Lord.' How could I bear to watch you fall into poverty and ruin beyond my protection?" Valthior said with a smile.
Although Roger now had almost two and a half billion berries in his hands, in Lord Valthior's eyes, what was that if not poverty and ruin? That little bit of money was not even enough to buy the leather boots under his feet.
"Hahahahaha! Lord Valthior is truly generous! May fortune forever smile upon you, my lord!" Roger raised the bank card in his hand, grinning like an overgrown child.
"Though the money isn't a single cent short, this card allows a maximum withdrawal of only five billion Berries per year. Rayleigh-san specifically instructed me to set it up this way so you don't gamble it all away in just a couple of days, you idiot!" Valthior reminded him.
"Nonsense! I am the Gambling Freak!" Roger angrily argued back.
However, no one on the ship said anything. One by one, they stood silently at the side of the deck, looking down at Roger below.
The anger on Roger's face gradually faded. In the end, a calm smile appeared on his face as he said, "In case I don't see ya, good morning, good afternoon, and good night..."
Valthior paused for a moment. He remembered this was a line from a story he had told everyone on the ship during an idle moment.
That's how things were aboard the ship—when there was nothing to do, everyone would gather to brag and tell stories.
If he remembered correctly, this had been the very first story he told after joining the crew.
He never expected Roger to have remembered it all this time.
"We'll meet again, Captain," Valthior said softly.
This time, Roger turned and left without saying anything unnecessary.
After everyone could no longer see his back, the Oro Jackson also slowly sailed away from Hachinosu.
"Brother Valthior, why do you think Captain Roger doesn't want to keep working with us? To complete Joy Boy's will and defeat Imu!?" Shanks asked from the deck, somewhat reluctant to part.
"Complete Joy Boy's will? Believe it or not, if Joy Boy were still alive, that guy Roger would want to kill him even more than Imu does. Don't forget how he lost his more than sixty billion," Valthior said with loud laughter.
If one had to say which two people in this world hated Joy Boy the most, then one was definitely Imu, and the other was Roger.
Along with Shanks's question, an era had already ended. Without question, this era had belonged to Roger.
And another brand-new era was now announcing its arrival. Because of this, countless people were setting out to sea, and countless people also wanted, like Rocks and like Roger, to mark this era with their own names.
Jaygarcia Valthior was one of them.
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