Several days later, Shimotsuki Village.
After experiencing the brutal slaughter, Luffy no longer felt comfortable leaving Nami, Chopper, Nojiko and the others in Cocoyashi Village.
Thus, he and Zoro brought the remaining villagers aboard a pirate ship floating on the sea and came to Shimotsuki Village.
After entrusting the villagers to Koshiro's care, Luffy remained in Zoro's small wooden cabin.
"Luffy, please eat something?"
Robin appeared at the doorway holding a food container.
Seeing Luffy's haggard appearance and expressionless face inside the cabin made her heart ache terribly.
For days, Luffy hadn't consumed a single drop of water or grain of rice.
He had been sitting there in a daze.
Robin noticed that only Luffy was in the cabin, with no sign of Zoro.
Remembering Zoro's strange behaviors since bringing them back to Shimotsuki Village, Robin felt a chill rising from the depths of her heart.
She knew Zoro was still the same Zoro.
He remained a man of few words, but always the first to charge forward when trouble arose!
Yet every evening, Zoro would talk to the empty air beside him.
Or he would sit alone by the seaside, occasionally turning to converse and laugh with the empty space beside him as if someone Robin couldn't see was sitting there.
'Ever since Wano Country, all my companions have changed.' This was Robin's thought.
She walked to the wooden bed, set down the food box, and sat beside Luffy, pulling him into her embrace.
Robin gently patted Luffy's back and suddenly recalled a faint, almost forgotten memory from her early childhood.
She had followed her mother, Olivia, struggling to survive in a dark forest.
Back then, she had been just like Luffy at this moment—her heart filled with emptiness, despair, pain, and numbness.
"Luffy, you must be strong... No matter what the future holds, I will always be by your side." Robin spoke softly, patting Luffy's back while offering words of comfort.
As she spoke, she began humming a gentle melody.
It was a lullaby, one her mother had sung to her long ago.
"Little butterfly, little butterfly,"
"Gently fly, gently fly."
"Fly over the green meadow,"
"Fly among the flowers."
"A soft breeze rustles the leaves,"
"The butterfly rests on a flower bud."
"Good baby, sleep quickly."
"Good baby, sleep quickly..."
Robin's voice was ethereal and haunting, infused with her sincere feelings for Luffy.
Under her soothing pats and the lullaby, Luffy gradually relaxed and fell into a deep sleep in her arms.
Gazing at the weary young man in her embrace, Robin's heart swelled with boundless affection.
In truth, Robin sometimes wondered—did she truly love Luffy?
To say she didn't would be impossible.
When she first boarded Luffy's ship, she had simply been seeking a new place to belong.
Having wandered since childhood, she had endured countless hardships.
In Alabasta, witnessing the innocence and kindness of Luffy and his crew, Robin had mustered the courage to step aboard uninvited.
The journey that followed made Robin genuinely grow fond of this pirate crew.
Every companion on the ship was someone Robin would willingly lay down her life for.
Here, she found a friendship she had never known before.
When Luffy and the others confronted CP9 and shouted from the rooftop, "Robin, say it loud—you want to live!" her heart had trembled like never before.
In the final leg of their journey, she followed Luffy through countless trials, battles, and adventures.
This simple-minded young man yearned for boundless freedom.
Though his ideals were naive, his companions supported him unconditionally.
Only Robin, who had experienced darkness firsthand, would lie awake at night, unable to shake her worries about Luffy's nature.
She feared that one day, Luffy's recklessness and tendency to take on everything alone would bring upon him a disaster he couldn't bear.
That day, in Wano Country, Robin's fears finally came to pass.
Barbarossa Caesar—an enemy unlike any they had faced before.
A foe surpassing all previous adversaries.
A terrifying being whose mere presence from afar could shatter one's will to fight.
If Luffy still aspired to become the free and unbound King of the Pirates, this monstrous creature would be the most formidable obstacle on his path to the throne!
She wanted to persuade Luffy to give up, to abandon his fight against Caesar.
But Robin knew deeply that Luffy would never forsake avenging his comrades.
If he truly gave up, Luffy would live in agony for the rest of his life.
"No matter what the future holds, whether the path ahead is bright or dark, heaven or hell, Luffy, I will walk it with you."
Outside the wooden cabin, Nami listened to the lullaby drifting from inside, lost in thought.
...
Two more days passed.
On a certain stretch of sea in the East Blue, a small ship cut through the waves.
On the deck stood only Luffy and Zoro.
"Luffy, have you pulled yourself together?" Zoro wore a black robe, his left sleeve billowing in the wind, while his right hand held a liquor bottle.
"Yeah!"
Luffy stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him, gazing at the vast sea ahead.
The salty sea breeze blew against them, whipping his hair wildly.
"Wallowing in self-pity solves nothing. I'll atone for the sins I've brought in my own way. Starting right here in the East Blue!"
Zoro took a hearty swig from the bottle, a grin tugging at his lips.
"We're pirates, aren't we? Are we really going to roam the seas dispensing justice? Think about it—all along, we've been saving the weak left and right. Hahaha, if we'd joined the Marines back then, we might've become Admirals by now."
Luffy chuckled and stretched out a hand toward Zoro.
Zoro paused, then raised an eyebrow and handed over the bottle.
Luffy took it and downed several gulps.
Tossing the bottle back, Luffy wiped his mouth with his sleeve and laughed:
"You're right! We fought Buggy and saved Orange Town, fought Arlong and saved Cocoyashi Village, fought Kuro and saved Syrup Village, fought Krieg and saved Baratie, fought Crocodile to save Alabasta, fought Enel to save Skypiea and the sky island, fought Moria mostly to save ourselves, fought Doflamingo to save Dressrosa, fought Kaido to save Wano Country.
Sigh, all I wanted was to go on adventures, but along the way, we kept saving this person and that place—exactly what righteous Marines would do.
My grandpa always wanted me to join the Marines. If things had turned out like you said, he probably would've died extremely happy, right?"
"So, do you not want to be the Pirate King anymore? Planning to go enforce justice instead?" Zoro finished the last of the liquor and tossed the bottle into the sea.
Luffy shook his head.
"Becoming the Pirate King is my dream—that won't change. But before that, I want to live with a clear conscience. Just like everything we've done along the way. What I seek isn't lawless freedom—it's unshackled freedom.
Back then, to save Ace, I released so many prisoners—that was my mistake.
And all those pirates who set sail because they admired me, causing chaos across the seas—I'll deal with them, one by one!
Only then will I have the courage to say those words again!"
"And when that time comes, it'll be when I set foot in the New World again and face Caesar head-on!"