With the fall of Golden Lion Shiki, Hiyori became the new user of the Float-Float Fruit.
She stood on the deck of Otherworlder-Go, arms outstretched, as her body slowly rose into the air.
The power of the Float-Float Fruit flowed through her body, allowing her to freely control gravity… whether her own or that of objects around her.
"Wow—! This power, it's absolutely incredible!"
Hiyori shouted excitedly, spinning several times in the sky, her skirt fluttering in the wind, her long hair streaming behind her.
Hancock stood on the deck, arms crossed, looking up at Hiyori, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly.
"How childish."
Yamato was more direct. She shouted up at the sky, "Hiyori! Take me flying!"
"Can't do that. My ability only works on myself and inanimate objects."
Soon enough, the entire sky and sea were once again thrown into upheaval.
Big Mom was dead. Golden Lion Shiki was dead.
Two great pirates who had once dominated the seas had fallen within less than a month, both at the hands of the same man.
Everyone was curious: Who was Makoto's next target?
Whitebeard? Red Hair? Or Kaido?
Pirates trembled in fear. The Marine observed from the shadows. The World Government played deaf and mute.
…
Time passed, and before anyone knew it, the calendar had reached the year 1520 of the Sea Circle Calendar.
This was also the starting point of the original work.
In this year, the son of destiny of this world, Monkey D. Luffy, officially set sail.
At the port of Windmill Village, a boy wearing a straw hat faced the sea and shouted, "I'm going to be the Pirate King!"
He believed this was the beginning of the prologue to his story.
But what he didn't know was that with that very shout, the story of this world was also gradually approaching its final chapter.
Shortly after setting sail, Luffy accidentally boarded the ship of the East Blue pirate, Alvida.
The ship wasn't large, but a dozen half-dead pirates lay sprawled across the deck.
When Luffy climbed out of the barrel, he found himself face to face with a pink-haired boy wearing round glasses.
Koby.
He wore a dirty apron, held a mop in his hand, and had a red slap mark on his face.
"Wh... who are you?" Koby stepped back in fear.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the man who's going to be the Pirate King!"
Luffy grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth.
Koby froze, then lowered his voice and said urgently, "Are you crazy? This is Captain Alvida's ship! You need to leave! Otherwise, they'll kill you!"
"Why should I leave?" Luffy tilted his head. "I'm looking for a guy called [Pirate Hunter] to be my crewmate. Have you seen him?"
"No! Just go!" Koby was so anxious he was about to cry.
But Luffy didn't leave.
Instead, he walked around the deck, looking here and there, as naturally as if he were on his own ship.
Then, he noticed a diary clutched tightly in Koby's hand.
The diary's cover was heavily worn, its corners curled, but the words on the front were still clearly legible:
Oden's Travels.
"What's this?" Luffy asked curiously, moving closer.
Koby instinctively hid the diary behind his back, but after hesitating for a moment, slowly brought it back out.
"This is... Kozuki Oden-sama's voyage diary." His voice carried an almost devout reverence.
"Kozuki Oden? Who's that?"
"You don't know?" Koby's eyes lit up like a torch being ignited. "Kozuki Oden-sama was a crew member on the Pirate King Gol D. Roger's ship! He reached Laugh Tale with Gol D. Roger and witnessed the truth of the world!"
Luffy had looked confused at first, but upon hearing the name Gol D. Roger, he immediately became interested.
Koby continued, his voice growing more excited: "He also served as the Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division! He traveled to countless islands and experienced more adventures than anyone could count in a lifetime! He was a heroic man whom Whitebeard admired and even made Roger kneel before him!"
He opened the diary and pointed to a page.
"Look, right here it says… 'At Laugh Tale, we saw the truth of this world.'"
Koby looked up, his eyes blazing with fanatic fervor.
"Oden-sama's whole life was a legend! He was a true samurai! A true adventurer!"
Luffy looked at Koby's flushed face and was silent for a moment.
Then he grinned.
"Sounds pretty impressive. No wonder he was the Pirate King's crewmate."
"Not just impressive… he was super impressive!!" Koby waved his fists vigorously. "I want to become someone like Kozuki Oden-sama! I want to adventure freely on the sea like him! I want to carry on his spirit!"
Luffy tilted his head and thought for a moment.
"Then come with me."
"What?"
"I'm going to become the Pirate King, and your goal is to be the Pirate King's crewmate. Don't you think our paths are pretty similar?"
Koby was stunned.
He looked at Luffy's grinning face, then at the diary in his hand. He felt that Luffy really did share quite a few similarities with the Pirate King Roger as described in Oden's diary.
Oh, and it was said the Pirate King also had a nickname called [The Suppression King], but that wasn't important.
Koby opened his mouth.
His eyes reddened slightly.
"C... can I really?"
"Of course." Luffy's smile had a wild, pure innocence about it. "From today on, you're my crewmate."
Koby nodded firmly, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.
He hugged Oden's Travels tightly.
"Oden-sama... I'll definitely do my best..." He murmured to himself. "I will definitely become you..."
And so, the Straw Hat Pirates welcomed their third member… [The Effort King], Koby.
…
Meanwhile, on the other side, Makoto's group met an old acquaintance.
Captain John.
Yes, the man who had replaced Ochoku as the ruler of Hachinosu had come to pay his respects to Makoto.
Seeing John, Makoto remarked with some emotion, "John, you're still alive?"
In this era, John should have already turned into a skeleton and become one of Moria's zombie soldiers.
John was bewildered, 'Why would he curse me to die the moment we met?'
But he didn't dare protest. He gave an ingratiating smile and offered up treasures: "Now that you've returned, my lord, of course I had to show my respect."
With that, John had his men present their treasures, personally offering a particular treasure box to Makoto.
Makoto took it, opened it, and was somewhat surprised to see a Devil Fruit inside.
John introduced it: "This is the Paramecia-type More-More Fruit."
At these words, many turned their gazes toward Yu. It was widely known that the previous user of the More-More Fruit, Byrnndi World, known as the [World Destroyer], had been killed by Yu.
Makoto picked up the More-More Fruit and waved it at Yu.
"Sure you don't want to eat it?"
Yu shook his head again. "No thanks, Senpai."
In truth, Makoto had told Yu before that the Devil Fruit's weakness to seawater wasn't a major concern.
Because, to be precise, Devil Fruits weren't afraid of seawater itself, but of the [Pyrobloin] within it.
In other words, Devil Fruit users wouldn't be afraid of the Water Release Ninjutsu from the Naruto World or the water-based magic from other worlds.
The reason Yukino could dominate most ability users in this world was because most of her water techniques drew upon seawater.
In other worlds, she wouldn't be able to do that.
Moreover, they would be leaving the One Piece World soon, so the Devil Fruit's side effects were practically negligible.
But Yu still said he didn't want to eat one. There was no special reason… he just found the idea distasteful.
Seeing Yu so determined, Makoto didn't force him.
Afterward, Makoto discussed it with the ladies, and many of them recommended Erina.
After all, most of them knew that Erina had been waiting a long time for a Devil Fruit.
But Erina was hesitant.
She worried about whether she could properly use such a powerful combat-oriented Devil Fruit. After all, its previous user had been called the [World Destroyer].
Makoto told her, "The More-More Fruit can be used not just for combat, but also for support."
It was only then that Erina ate the More-More Fruit.
Makoto directly performed Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.
The blue-white energy sphere spun rapidly in his palm, emitting a piercing whir.
"Erina, put your hand on it and try slowly injecting your new power into my Rasenshuriken."