Chapter 88: Kyle's Choice
Roger's eyes swept the deck, lingering on the faces that had followed him for years. When they reached Kyle, his gaze did not move on.
"Kyle." His voice was calm, but it cut through the noise like a blade. "You know where we're going. The place we've been chasing together. You want to stop before the finish line?"
The crew went still. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
Kyle met his eyes. "The finish line for me might be different than it is for you."
"What's different?" Jabba's voice cracked. "We're family!"
"That's exactly why." Kyle looked toward the cabin where Shanks and Buggy lay. "I'm not leaving two sick kids in a strange port. Shanks, especially—he's worse than Buggy when he has a fever."
"Then one of us can stay!" Jabba stepped forward. "I'll do it. Anyone can watch two boys. But you—you're the one who just came back."
Rayleigh raised a hand, silencing the growing noise. "Kyle. Give us a real reason. Any of us can take care of the children. But missing the final island—that's not something everyone can accept."
Kyle was quiet for a moment. When he spoke, his voice was even.
"My body is different from yours. You know my fruit—the Bo Bo Fruit. I've spent years learning to use it in ways that aren't just for fighting. Electromagnetic waves. Frequencies. I can keep my own cells in a state of constant activity."
The crew stared. Oden tilted his head. "So… you never get tired?"
"Something like that." Kyle smiled. "It means I heal faster. I'm stronger. And I age slower."
Silence.
Jabba squinted at Kyle's face—still young, still smooth, untouched by the decades the rest of them wore in their skin and their scars. "How old are you?"
"Past thirty."
The number hung in the air. Men who had sailed beside Kyle for years, who had fought and bled beside him, looked at him as if seeing him for the first time.
Kyle spread his hands. "You're all reaching the end of your journey. But my journey is just beginning. If I go with you now, if I see everything at once, what's left for me afterward? Sit in a tavern and tell the same story for fifty years?"
He shook his head. "I want to find the truth of this world with my own eyes. I want to follow the path you've marked, not run ahead and wait. And one day, when I finally reach the final island, I want to look at the sky and say: 'I'm here. Not too late. Just on my own time.'"
The crew listened in silence. There was no laughter now, no argument. What Kyle had offered was not a rejection of their dream, but a different way of chasing it. A pirate's way—free, stubborn, unapologetic.
Jabba let out a long breath, sinking onto a crate. "That's the most frustrating reason I've ever heard."
Rayleigh leaned against the mast, his face half‑hidden. After a moment, he laughed—a soft, honest sound. "You win."
Roger had not moved. He stood at the bow, his back to them, his hand on the figurehead. When he turned, his face was calm, but his eyes were bright.
He walked to Kyle and stopped. Then he grinned.
"Kuhahaha! You bastard. You make it sound like we're all old men waiting to retire."
He raised his fist. Kyle met it.
"Then it's settled. Take care of those two idiots."
"I will."
Roger turned to the crew, his voice rising, filling the deck. "You heard him! Our comrade is just taking the long way around. Don't look so gloomy—we'll see him again."
The tension broke. Jabba laughed, shaking his head. Oden clapped Kyle on the shoulder, nearly sending him into the rail. The crew found their voices again, their jokes, their orders.
Kyle stood at the edge of the crowd, watching them prepare. Roger had already returned to the bow, his face toward the sea, toward the island that had waited eight hundred years.
The anchor rose. The sails caught the wind. Kyle stood on the dock as the Oro Jackson pulled away, the sun behind her, the hull cutting a line of gold across the water.
He raised a hand. Not a wave—a promise.
The ship grew smaller, then vanished. Kyle stood for a long time, watching the empty horizon. Then he turned and walked back to the cabin where the boys lay sleeping.
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End of Chapter 88