Chapter 18
One Piece: Legacy of the Pirate King
The sea turned black around Impel Down.
Storms had gathered unnaturally for weeks, circling the infamous prison like angry gods. Lightning danced without thunder. Ships sank without explanation. And somewhere in the deepest pit of the underworld, time had cracked.
Cymos stood on the prow of the Sunny as the ship hovered above the first sea gate, sails glowing with the runes of Ecliptoris. Behind him, Robin gripped the compass—its third dot spinning wildly.
"The Third Pillar is buried beneath Level Zero," she said, her voice hollow. "A level below even Level Six."
Sanji raised a brow. "That's impossible. Level Six was already hell."
Zoro narrowed his eye. "So this next one's worse than hell?"
Cymos replied quietly, "Level Zero isn't hell. It's the root of it."
Luffy stepped forward, a calm fire burning in his chest.
"Then we dig up the root."
The gates of Impel Down didn't open.
They collapsed.
Luffy's Gear Fifth-fueled punch shattered the first blockade like paper. The crew dove straight in—Robin, Sanji, Zoro, Hancock, Lian, Cymos, and Franky. Jinbe had stayed behind to guard the skies, in case Enel returned with his thunder fleet.
Magellan—now older, wiser, and reformed—stood at Level One with a group of reprogrammed beasts and nodded grimly.
"You're chasing ghosts," he warned. "Level Zero isn't on any map. But it exists—we've felt its breath rising."
Robin asked, "Why didn't the World Government ever mention it?"
Magellan looked down.
"Because even the Celestial Dragons were terrified of what sleeps there."
Descent into Madness.
Level Two was filled with whispers.
Level Four, frozen in reverse fire, tried to trap time itself.
But the crew pushed onward—until at Level Six, deep in the darkest vaults, Robin unlocked a seal that shimmered out of memory.
A gate of woven light appeared.
And beyond it…
Was Level Zero.
They entered a place that shouldn't exist.
There was no floor.
No walls.
Only drifting platforms made of shattered memories and massive gears ticking in dead silence.
Each step made the air heavier, filled with pressure from a forgotten age.
And at the center…
The Third Time Pillar.
It was splintered—spitting out shadows, fragments of failed futures and dead pirates long erased from history.
Around it floated three figures—guardians made of fractured memory.
One wore a marine cloak soaked in blood.
One was a child, weeping endlessly, with chains around her eyes.
And the third… was a man.
Old. Hooded. With straw on his shoulders.
He turned slowly as they approached.
Robin gasped.
"That can't be."
Cymos stepped back.
"No… it is."
The man spoke.
"You wear my hat, boy."
Luffy blinked. "What?"
The man removed his hood.
His face was etched with time. His jaw carried the strength of legends. But most of all—he bore the same exact scar under his eye.
Lian whispered, "That's not possible…"
Robin trembled. "That's… Rion D. Ashen. The man Joy Boy called brother. The first Hatweaver. The founder of the D Line before the Great Split."
Flashback – 900 Years Ago
Rion D. Ashen weaves a simple hat of straw while watching over Joy Boy as he lies bleeding. The world is dying. The Void Century war is ending. And he whispers to the wind:
"This will be the crown of the free. One day, someone worthy will wear it… and smile at the end of the world."
Back in the present, Rion looked at Luffy.
"You are him. Not Joy Boy reborn—but the one he waited for."
Luffy looked down at the hat he'd worn his whole life.
"I never asked to be that."
Rion stepped forward, placing a hand on Luffy's chest.
"And that's why you are."
Suddenly, the Third Pillar screamed.
Cracks spiderwebbed through it.
Rion turned to Lian.
"You must link it. Your Chrono Haki has matured. But I need a memory to anchor it."
Lian stepped forward.
Eyes closed.
And whispered:
"The day my father held me when I was scared of the sky."
The moment replayed—reality echoing with the gentle memory of Luffy's arms and Hancock's warmth. The pillar calmed.
And began to glow.
Stabilizing.
Then it happened.
The fractured memory-guardians shrieked.
One of them—wearing the blood-soaked marine cloak—merged with the shards.
He took form.
Twisted, angry, filled with corrupted justice.
Robin gasped.
"That's… Vice Admiral Sakayo. He died during the Buster Call on Ohara!"
But now—he lived.
A Time Wraith made of vengeance.
"You will not rewrite this world!" he screamed, lunging at Lian.
Rion moved first.
A flash of golden Haki.
Steel met memory.
And Rion fell.
Pierced through the chest.
Luffy screamed.
"NO!"
He caught Rion before he fell into the abyss.
The old man smiled weakly.
"I kept the promise. I saw the sun again."
And with that… Rion D. Ashen—first Hatweaver, brother of Joy Boy—vanished into light.
The Third Pillar pulsed once more.
And was healed.
They returned to the Sunny in silence.
Lian didn't speak for a long time.
But that night, under the stars, he placed a new piece of straw into his own braid.
A symbol.
For the one who first believed in freedom.
Elsewhere…
In Mariejois, Imu stared at a new wound etched into the mirror of time.
Behind him, Enel knelt, bleeding.
And beside him now stood a boy with silver eyes, no older than Lian.
The Echo Child.
Created from fragments of Joy Boy's regrets.
Imu whispered to him, "Find the next pillar… and erase the sun-child."
The boy smiled without warmth.
And vanished.
End of Chapter 18
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The Fourth Pillar lies in a realm that only exists for 24 hours every 100 years—a drifting island born from the dreams of the Moon Tribe. As the Straw Hats race to reach it, the Echo Child begins his hunt. And secrets about Luffy's own forgotten past come to light—starting with a name his mother tried to erase.