"Hey! Mister!"
Luffy dashed forward and blocked the middle-aged man holding the hamburger, his eyes glowing:
"This! What is this! Amazing! Can it actually produce food? Can you give me one? I can use... uh..."
He patted himself down and his face fell instantly. Except for a straw hat and his worn-out clothes, he was completely empty-handed, his pockets cleaner than his face.
"Hahaha, little guy, first time seeing this, huh?"
The middle-aged man, dressed in a business suit, looked quite kind and wasn't angry. Instead, he smiled and waved the Radio Snail and the unopened hamburger:
"This wasn't produced out of thin air; it was bought. I ordered through the Ocean Pay app and then picked it up at the terminal here."
"Ocean Pay? App?" Luffy looked bewildered; he hadn't heard of any of these terms.
"Here, it's this."
The middle-aged man held the Radio Snail in front of Luffy and pointed to an icon in the bottom right corner of the light screen. "By the looks of you, haven't you even been on the internet? The Radio Snail nowadays is not what it used to be; you can buy things, read news, check maps, and even book tickets for sea trains."
"As for the payment terminal..."
He pointed to a large metal box, "It's used to place various capsule products around the world. I heard this technology was developed by Dr. Vegapunk and a mysterious genius scientist named Bulma. It's really convenient!"
As the passenger explained, he opened the packaging and bit into the hamburger, a satisfied expression on his face.
Luffy's eyes followed the hamburger, his throat moving continuously.
Anything about technology went in one ear and out the other, with only the words "meat" and "super convenient" swirling in his mind.
"Well... how do you get that Ocean Pay thing, Mister?"
Luffy asked eagerly, "I want it too! That way I won't have to worry about going hungry!"
"Well, first you'll need to go to a town with a network service center to register and get a Radio Snail linked with your personal information, but..."
The passenger glanced at Luffy's shabby clothing and his rickety wooden boat. "Registration and using network services, including buying things, all require real money. By the way, little guy, you're quite strange. Where are you from, anyway? You're almost an adult, and you don't know anything? Are you catching a ride to somewhere?"
"Catching a ride?"
Luffy shook his head, grinning, "What are you saying, Mister? Can't you tell? I'm a pirate! A man who will become the Pirate King!!"
Pirate?
And wants to become the Pirate King???
The middle-aged passenger was stunned, and a few travelers who had just gotten off the train were also taken aback, glancing at each other before bursting into laughter.
"Hahaha!"
"Hey, did I just hear that right?"
"Whose dumb kid is this? Must have just come out of some deep mountain forest. Does he even know what nonsense he's saying?"
"Hahahaha! Pirate King? Little guy, are you serious?"
The middle-aged passenger almost spat out the hamburger he was eating; he wiped tears of laughter from his eyes:
"In this day and age, pirates? There's no such thing as pirates anymore."
"Exactly."
A stylish young lady carrying shopping bags couldn't help but chime in:
"Since Lord Shano overthrew the World Government three years ago and established a new order, the pirate profession has been completely swept into the dustbin of history! You're the first person claiming to be a pirate I've met in years!"
"What???"
Luffy was completely confused. Something about Lord Shano establishing a new order was something he vaguely remembered his grandpa mentioning years ago, but he dismissed it and forgot right away.
What's the big deal about that, but there's no more pirates...
He opened his mouth, incredulously saying:
"No... no pirates? How is that possible, Mister! What about the Grand Line? Shanks! What about the treasure left by Pirate King Roger, ONE PIECE?"
"The Grand Line?"
The stylish young lady chuckled, opening her map app and handing it to Luffy:
"That's also all in the past. Look, there's no such division now; the Four Seas are united, the Windless Zone is gone, and even the Red Earth Continent is no more. There's no Grand Line anymore."
"..."
Luffy stared blankly at the world map he had never seen before, suddenly changing his expression, noticing something.
"Wait?"
He pointed in disbelief to an island on the map, "It's marked here as... Laugh Tale???"
The place he had yearned for years, wasn't it supposed to be mysterious and never visited? But there it was, clearly marked on the map?
"Yeah, Laugh Tale."
The stylish young lady found Luffy's stunned look amusing and swiped the map to enlarge the island's details page:
"It's a world-famous tourist spot and historical museum now! Lord Shano revealed all the secrets of Laugh Tale three years ago, the ONE PIECE, the historical texts, and the truth of the void century... all displayed in the museum. Anyone can visit for free, but you have to book in advance on the public account. If you want to go, I can help you book a visit?"
The stylish young lady casually opened a chat app, and boldly displayed on her account name were the words "Alvida."
"Speaking of which, don't we have a direct train to Laugh Tale from the East Sea?" Alvida turned to the middle-aged man beside her, "Is it available at this station?"