(As told by Shanks)
Back in Windmill Village, life returned to its usual rhythm—bustling and peaceful all at once. That purple fruit, the one so tangled up with the idea of "fate," was a hot potato. I didn't want to even look at it again until I had figured out what to do. So, I pushed it from my mind and went back to being Red Hair Shanks, the man who loved nothing more than drinking, feasting, and teasing a certain village kid named Luffy.
Perhaps the chase itself is a kind of obsession. When you finally get what you were chasing, for better or worse, you tend to relax. I needed time. I needed to let the shock of finding that fruit settle.
At Makino's bar, my crew and I were drinking ourselves silly.
"Captain! One more round!"
"Hahaha, Yasopp, you lost again!"
I laughed loudly, downing the beer in my mug and savoring the simple peace of the moment.
Ding-a-ling—
The door was kicked open, and the wind chime rattled in protest. A man with a scarred face and a short sword at his waist swaggered in with a few of his cronies. His arrogant sneer immediately soured the good mood in the bar.
"We're mountain bandits! Hand over all the booze!" the man declared, planting a boot on the bar counter. His gaze swept over us. "We're not like you soft-footed pirates who play house on the sea."
The bar went quiet. I raised a hand, stopping my crew before they could react.
"Oh dear, how unfortunate," I said, holding up an empty bottle and shaking it at the bandit leader, who called himself Higuma. I put on a regretful smile. "It seems we've drunk all the alcohol."
Higuma snatched the bottle from my hand and smashed it over my head.
Crash!
The bottle shattered. Beer and glass shards streamed down my hair.
"My bounty is 8,000,000 Berries," Higuma said, looking down on me. "I've taken down fifty-six guys just like you." As he spoke, he used his sword sheath to sweep all the plates and glasses off the table, sending them clattering to the floor.
I didn't move. I just lowered my head and looked at the mess on the ground.
"Captain..." Lucky Roux mumbled, pausing with a leg of meat halfway to his mouth.
I still didn't react. Seeing that he wasn't going to get a rise out of me, Higuma seemed to get bored. He spat on the floor and swaggered out with his men.
The moment the door closed, I burst out laughing. My crew immediately joined in, their roars of laughter filling the bar.
"Captain, you looked so pathetic!"
"Eight million Berries? So scary!"
I wiped the beer from my face, laughing so hard I could barely stand. It was beneath me to get into a fight with such a small-time nobody. It was better to just treat the whole thing as a joke.
"Shanks! Why didn't you fight back!"
An angry shout cut through our laughter. Luffy had appeared in front of me at some point, his small face flushed with anger and his fists clenched tight. "Are you even a pirate? You just let him bully you!"
"It was just a bottle of sake, Luffy. Nothing to get worked up about," I said, ruffling his hair.
"I don't wanna be that kind of pi— Gack, splutter!"
Luffy turned away indignantly, grabbed something from an open box on the bar, and stuffed it into his mouth in protest. It was the small, ornate treasure chest. The smile on my face instantly froze. The laughter from my crew died in their throats. My eyes were glued to the now-empty box. The box I had casually placed on the bar… the box containing the Gomu Gomu no Mi.
"Luffy! What did you eat?! Spit it out!" I yelled, grabbing his ankle and holding him upside down.
"Ugh… it tastes awful…" Luffy's face turned a sickly color. Just then, something impossible happened. Luffy's body stretched like rubber, and his cheek slammed onto the floorboards with a loud smack.
"Ah—!"
A collective gasp filled the bar. I let go of his ankle, and his body snapped back to its normal shape. He looked at his hand in confusion, then pulled his cheek, stretching it out a foot long. "Huh? My body?"
My world went silent.
All those years of searching, from the Grand Line to the New World, visiting the giants of Elbaf, chasing down ancient legends… the Gomu Gomu no Mi. The fruit that I believed held the key to fate, the fruit that had fallen into my hands after so much trouble, had just been eaten by a brat as an after-dinner snack.
Damn you, fate!
I slumped to the floor, my head buzzing.
For the next few days, I walked around in a daze. I watched the kid bounce around, excited to be a rubber man, and my heart was a mess of confusion. Why him? A silly brat who only thinks about stuffing his face?
Then, one day, it hit me. His name. Monkey D. Luffy.
D.
Just like Captain Roger. The D. clan, the people the Celestial Dragons call the "Natural Enemy of God." I also remembered something my old crewmate told me, that this kid's father was the man who saved me back at God Valley.
That's it. A thought began to form in my mind. Perhaps… perhaps this was the true path of fate.
"Shanks! I'm going to sea!" Luffy announced one day, running up to me with his usual boundless energy. "When I go to sea, I'm gonna find a crew that's even stronger than yours! And I'm gonna become—the Pirate King!" He stood there with his hands on his hips, grinning from ear to ear.
My heart trembled. Those words… they were almost exactly the same as the ones spoken by the man who stood on the deck of the Oro Jackson all those years ago. My captain.
So that's it. I finally understood. My mission was never to become the Child of Destiny. I was a guide. A messenger. My purpose was to pass on Captain Roger's will—this Straw Hat—and this fruit that represents freedom, to the next generation. I looked at Luffy. Could he be the next Joy Boy? Could he awaken this fruit to its true "Nika" form and bring smiles to the whole world? I didn't know. But I was willing to believe.
That realization, however, brought a sharper problem into focus. I looked at my left arm. Hidden beneath my clothes was a secret not even Beckman knew—the brand of the Figarland family, the symbol of the God's Knights. How could I, a Celestial Dragon, a knight of the so-called "Gods," be the one to guide the man who would liberate the world? I had to draw a line. I had to sever my ties with that past.
The opportunity came without warning. Higuma, still holding a grudge, kidnapped Luffy and escaped to sea in a small boat. By the time I got there, the boat had been overturned by a giant Sea King. That "Lord of the Coast" from the nearby waters was opening its massive jaw, about to swallow the terrified Luffy whole.
There was no time to think. I rushed forward and pushed Luffy out of the way. The Sea King's jaw snapped shut. Excruciating pain shot through my left arm. I glared at the beast, unleashing my Conqueror's Haki, and it fled in terror. I held the wailing Luffy, but my heart was completely at peace. I watched the Sea King disappear into the depths, taking my left arm—and that ironic brand—with it. Blood stained the seawater, but my mind had never been so clear.
I had lost an arm, but I had also cut the chains that bound me. From this day forward, I was no longer a descendant of the Figarland family. I was just the captain of the Red Hair Pirates. I was just Shanks.
I was betting everything on this kid. I was betting it all on the new era he would create.
"Time to go, Luffy."
On the dock, I spoke to the sniffling boy. I smiled, took the straw hat from my head, and placed it on his.
"This hat… I'm leaving it with you. When you've become a great pirate, come and give it back to me."
I turned and walked away without looking back. The Red Force slowly sailed out of the harbor as Windmill Village grew smaller in the distance. My crew looked at my empty left sleeve with complex expressions, but no one asked a single question. I raised my remaining right hand, feeling the throbbing where my arm used to be.
I bet everything on the New World! Luffy, don't you dare disappoint me.
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