"He really was a strange guy."
Luffy looked at the spot where Kuma and Moria had vanished. His eyes seemed slightly complicated.
What was that guy thinking?
He fell silent for a moment, then finally shook his head, temporarily pushing aside these tangled thoughts. He leaped back down to rejoin his comrades.
"Luffy! Who was that just now?"
Nami immediately rushed up to him, nervously.
"Another Warlord of the Sea." Luffy said.
"Another Warlord?!"
"It's fine. Everything's been settled."
Luffy waved his hand, forcing a smile onto his face that was no different from usual. He didn't intend to tell his comrades about Kuma and Ace for the time being.
The people who had gotten their shadows back were crying and laughing. Then someone from the Victims' Association suggested throwing a banquet. Since they could finally leave this place, it also meant everyone would soon part ways.
Luffy and his crew didn't refuse.
Of course they would throw a banquet after a great battle.
The banquet wasn't just for celebration.
After a major fight, Luffy needed to recover—and that required eating lots of meat.
"Banquet!"
"Banquet!"
Usopp and Chopper immediately cheered, then went off to gather food. Moria might have been a typical shut-in who sometimes didn't eat for days, but his underlings still needed to eat. Plus, they had enough food stocked up to feed Oars. It was perfect for a banquet.
As for the cooking, that mission went to the ship's chef, Sanji.
"Leave it to me!"
Sanji lit a cigarette. Although he felt that something seemed a bit off with Luffy, the captain's order and the banquet itself lifted his spirits. "Perfect timing—I'll let you all try some of my new recipes! And everyone from the Rolling Pirates, please join us as well!"
"Ooh!"
The festive atmosphere quickly ignited.
Brook had somehow found a violin—who knew where. It was a bit out of tune, perhaps because he hadn't played in a long time, but the cheerful melody still rang through the entire banquet.
Franky also came down from the Thousand Sunny just in time to catch the tail end of the banquet, using wood from the rubble to build makeshift tables and a bonfire. Members of the Rolling Pirates joined in too, helping with the preparations.
A banquet with over a hundred people was quite a handful for Sanji to handle alone. Fortunately, the Victims' Association also had quite a few chefs to assist him.
"Huh? What happened? So noisy."
Nika rubbed her sleepy eyes and staggered out from a pile of rubble, with a few strands of straw stuck to her head. After her shadow was taken, she had passed out. Logically, she should have woken up earlier, but Nika was still in a drunken state, so she had remained unconscious.
"Oh, it's nothing important."
Little Merry happily ran over, picked her up, and carried her into the increasingly lively celebrating crowd.
Zoro leaned against a wall with his arms crossed, examining the newly acquired Black Blade Shusui and the battle-damaged Yubashiri.
Nami and Vivi sat on a sofa made from broken planks, both showing signs of exhaustion and relaxation after the great battle, yawning.
Vivi's gaze occasionally drifted toward the wedding dress Nami was still wearing.
Suspicious. Extremely suspicious.
The banquet atmosphere was warm and lively.
The members of the Rolling Pirates, having regained their shadows, were overwhelmed by the immense joy of regaining their freedom—crying, laughing, jumping, and dancing.
"Waaah, this is wonderful! We can finally see the sun again!"
"Thank you, Straw Hat! Thank you all!"
"We're free!!"
They surrounded the Straw Hat crew members, expressing their most sincere gratitude.
"That Moria guy was taken away, right?"
Someone asked Belatedly.
"Yeah, he was taken away by that big guy who showed up later." Luffy tore into the roasted meat Sanji had brought him and answered vaguely, "Don't worry, he already gave up on the whole elimination thing."
"I see. For a moment, I thought Luffy-sama had defeated that Warlord too!"
"Either way, it's still too incredible! Defeating Gecko Moria, and then forcing another Warlord of the Sea to retreat."
"This is the pirate they call the Fifth Emperor of the Sea, isn't it? Having this kind of strength is only natural, right?"
The crowd started cheering and joking.
Listening to her comrades' discussion, Lola looked at Luffy, her heart filled with shock.
In her memory, probably only that Mama from Totto Land possessed such terrifying authority.
Was she witnessing the rise of an Emperor of the Sea with her own eyes?
This feeling was too surreal.
Luffy just smiled and continued eating hard, not mentioning a single word about his deal with Kuma.
Everyone was currently immersed in the ecstasy of victory and freedom. No one dug into the details.
"Everyone, please listen!"
Spoil, the former president of the Victims' Association, stood on a relatively high rock and shouted loudly.
Once the excited noise of the crowd subsided a little, he continued, his voice somewhat choked. "The purpose of establishing our Victims' Association was to get our own shadows back!
Thank you all for your hard work and for supporting each other all this time!
Now that all the shadows have returned, I hereby announce that the Victims' Association is now disbanded!"
"President!"
"Thank you, President!"
"You're the best president we ever had!"
These people, who had lived together on Thriller Bark for so long, suddenly burst into tears at the thought of going their separate ways. They hugged each other, expressing their reluctance to part and their good wishes.
Lola and her pirate crew also tearfully said goodbye to the fellow sufferers they had come to know.
Luffy didn't participate much in this sentimental and warm farewell ceremony. He just silently ate his meat.
In contrast, the emotionally rich Usopp, Franky, and Chopper watched with tearful eyes, hugging each other and sobbing.
"So touching!"
"Real men don't cry at farewells!"
"Here, take this tissue first."
Just then, Robin came over with a cup of hot tea and quietly sat down beside Luffy.
"What did you and Kuma talk about earlier?" Robin's voice was gentle. Her beautiful eyes stared at Luffy.
"And what happened to you?"
"Nothing."
Luffy's chewing paused slightly. He scooted to the side. Robin took the opportunity to sit down, shifting her body closer.
"But you look like something's weighing on your mind." Robin lifted her gaze, put down her hot tea, and said very seriously, "Like you always say, we're comrades."
"It's nothing."
Luffy swallowed the meat in his mouth. After a moment's thought, he decided that the Warlord invitation was something he could talk about. "That Kuma guy, on behalf of the World Government, invited me to replace Moria as a Warlord of the Sea."
"A Warlord?"
Robin's delicate brows furrowed slightly. She carefully scrutinized Luffy's expression. "Is that all?"
She felt that things weren't that simple.
Luffy's reaction didn't seem like that of someone who had merely rejected an invitation.
***
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