Bonus chapter unlocked by your Power Stones!
...
"It seems Arton plans to set foot on Loguetown."
"Vice Admiral Garp, can you make it here in time?"
Smoker's tone was grim. Even with all his confidence, he couldn't claim to rival the famously fierce Arton—now a true bringer of carnage. This was, after all, the man brazen enough to abduct a World Noble. Smoker wouldn't be surprised if he decided to massacre the entire Loguetown.
"I'll swim over straightaway. Listen, Smoker," Garp warned him sternly, "do not act rashly before I arrive. You are not to lead the Marines against Arton—understood?"
Smoker hesitated, but finally nodded. "Got it. I'll just have people keep an eye on him. If anything happens, I'll report to you and Fleet Admiral Sengoku."
He hung up, letting out a weary sigh. "Tashigi… Hina…" he muttered, recalling how he had seen Hina and Tashigi at Loguetown before. By now, Gion and others had informed him that Arton had both Hina and Tashigi in his custody. While Arton had previously let those two go, that was before he'd taken a World Noble. A man crazy enough to do that might harm them for real now.
Moments later, Smoker lost his composure and grabbed his Den Den Mushi before striding out of his office.
"Let me see what kind of man you are, Arton!"
…
Loguetown, at the Main Plaza.
Arton lifted his gaze, eyes fixed on the execution platform ahead. Behind him stood Carina, lugging the World Noble's body wrapped in a burlap sack, and Uta, carrying the unconscious Hina over her shoulder. Meanwhile, Nami, Nojiko, Kaya, and some of the others had split up to shop for supplies.
"So this is where Roger was executed? Seems… pretty unremarkable," Uta remarked, peering at the ordinary-looking scaffold. It was hard to connect such a simple structure to the legendary Pirate King, Gold Roger.
"No helping it. Even the greatest of people might die in a completely mundane spot," Arton replied. "But the moment of that man's death was anything but ordinary."
Arton's words piqued Tashigi's curiosity. "Arton, what do you mean?"
She knew the basics. Roger's last words kickstarted the Great Age of Pirates. That was definitely a remarkable feat. But Tashigi got the sense Arton was referring to something else entirely.
"Of course I know," Arton said, nodding. "Tashigi, do you really think those words Roger spoke are the sort of thing a person at death's door would say?"
At that, Tashigi kept her thoughts to herself. Previously, Arton had revealed in his Diary that Roger had turned himself in because of a terminal illness and used his own death to usher in the Great Age of Pirates. Roger's dying words weren't something a typical condemned man would say—they were part of a plan. But Arton had never explained why Roger wanted to instigate the Great Age of Pirates.
If he was terminally ill, why not just remain with his family and live out his final days peacefully? At least then the Marines might have spared his wife and child, avoiding the atrocities they later committed against pregnant women.
If Roger had stayed with his wife, Tashigi brooded, maybe the Navy wouldn't have hunted down and killed so many expecting mothers. Then they wouldn't have that unforgivable sin on their hands…
From Arton's revelations, Tashigi's faith in the Navy's justice had begun to crack.
"Maybe," Tashigi said tentatively, "he wanted revenge on the Navy? Since they captured him, he unleashed the Great Age of Pirates as payback against the Navy and the World Government?"
She watched Arton, hoping he'd elaborate on the lingering mysteries. Of course, Arton had no idea Tashigi knew that Roger had surrendered of his own accord; without a Diary Copy, he couldn't read her mind.
"If you're curious," Arton said, "I'll tell you all about it later. Right now, we've got a job to do. Uta, go find a place to lay Hina down. That'll put Tashigi at ease."
Uta nodded, hoisting Hina's unconscious body as she headed for a nearby café. Arton watched her go, then turned back to the scaffold. Tashigi glanced around nervously, worried that Marines might appear at any second.
At that moment, she noticed Arton tapping open his Diary's interface. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly flipped open her own Diary Copy.
Sure enough—fresh entries.
Tashigi's eyes flicked to the new lines.
[Photo: Roger's Execution Platform!]
[At last, here I am at the place where this pirate's story began.]
[For the people of this world, the Age of Pirates started with Roger's death. And for me, this tale called One Piece, a saga about pirates, starts right here as well.]
Kujaku: "Roger's scaffold—why would Arton be interested in that?"
Doll: "Wait. Arton says this world's story began with Roger's death?"
Hibari: "A story… about pirates? Does that mean the lead characters are pirates?"
Stussy: "If so, how interesting. Usually, the protagonist wins out in a story, right?"
Kalifa: "Meaning pirates will prevail in the end?"
Ulti: "Hmph, I always said the Navy wasn't all that. Admirals, heroes—just side characters! But hurry up, Arton—start a livestream. I wanna see you hang that World Noble body!"
Gion: "So Arton's choice to become a pirate might have been shaped by this story 'One Piece?'"
Vinsmoke Reiju: "Sort of like that 'Germa 66' comic. If this is truly a story, there must be a protagonist, right? Who is it?"
[Tashigi once told me that the Navy's Hero, Garp, captured Roger—leading to his public execution here in Loguetown.]
[Haha, not surprising that's what the Navy and Government spread around as propaganda.]
Boa Hancock: "Arton already said Roger turned himself in."
Hibari: "So it was all a lie…"
Ulti: "And what a typical Navy lie it is, too. Even if I've seen it before, it still makes me laugh."
Nico Robin: "The World Government—cunning as ever."
Whitey Bay: "As if a man like Roger could be caught. If he surrendered, there must've been a reason."
Stussy: "Indeed. With Arton around, all the world's secrets are bound to come out eventually."
[Pirate King Gold Roger… that's the Government's name for him.]
[The man's real name is Gol D. Roger.]
[And in his era, Roger was among the few who actually knew the meaning of that 'D' in his name.]
Kalifa: "Pirate King Roger was one of the D? He's an enemy of the World Nobles?!"
Doll: "So not only was Roger part of the D. clan, he understood that meant opposing the World Nobles? Did he become a pirate just to fight them?"
Gion: "Roger… so creating the Great Age of Pirates was his way of taking on the World Nobles?"
Nico Robin: "Perhaps fulfilling his role as a D. was precisely why Roger surrendered?"
Arton's few sentences made some sharp readers piece together bits of the execution's backstory. It only fueled their curiosity about what really happened that day.
[The Navy and the World Government couldn't catch Roger before he became Pirate King—so how could they possibly catch him afterward?]
[He came down with an incurable disease at age 49.]
[Without intervention, he wouldn't have lived much longer, and even with a ship's doctor onboard, it merely extended his life by three years.]
[He used those three years to finish his final voyage, find Laugh Tale, and become the Pirate King.]
[Haha… if a terminally ill man was still strong enough to conquer the last seas, imagine how formidable he'd have been if he'd stayed healthy.]
Ulti: "Wha… what? So Roger already had a terminal illness?"
Black Maria: "Unbelievable. He completed his final adventure in just three years despite that illness?"
Smoothie: "So that's the famed Gol D. Roger for you—breathtaking."
Whitey Bay: "Wait, Oden was aboard Roger's crew around that time. So he was sick then? He sure didn't act like someone gravely ill."
Stussy: "So he realized his time was nearly up, surrendered, and used the advent of the Great Pirate Age to outwit the Navy?"
Gion: "In the end, Roger still got one over on them?"
Ginrummy: "Arton knows so much about Roger… does he know where the One Piece is?"
Doll: "Could Arton just go directly for the One Piece himself?"
Baccarat: "If this world is a story, Roger was the leading man of the previous arc. But in the current arc, the protagonist is definitely Arton. If I manage to become one of Arton's women… I might get to be one of his heroines, right?"
A tiny flush of longing rose in Baccarat as the thought crossed her mind.
...
For every 3 five-star reviews → +1 extra chapter
For every 100 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.
Read 50+ chapters ahead on Patreon! [patreon.com/METARLN]
Use code FREE2ALL for 30% OFF!