Fire.
Endless fire.
Orange-red flames swallowed every inch of Gray Terminal, while thick smoke billowed upward, staining half the sky a terrifying gray-black.
Cain ran through the sea of fire.
The smoke burned his throat and stung his eyes so badly that he could barely keep them open.
Squinting, he ran while shouting hoarsely,
"ACE! LUFFY! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
'Why did it still turn out like this?'
That thought kept repeating in his mind.
To buy more time, he had clearly soaked all the explosives and fuel the nobles had piled up in advance.
And yet, the fire still broke out.
The World Government's inspection group was coming. A Celestial Dragon was about to arrive in the East Blue.
Goa Kingdom could not tolerate the "stain" that was Gray Terminal.
Those high-and-mighty nobles wanted to put on a show for the Celestial Dragon and present him with a "clean" kingdom.
In the end, they had still chosen the most thorough method—
Burn it all to the ground.
Cain didn't slow down.
He darted through the collapsing wreckage, dodging the burning debris falling from above.
The hem of his clothes was singed by flying sparks. He tore the scorched piece away without hesitation and kept moving.
A flood of recent memories surfaced in his mind with absolute clarity.
To make sure Sabo could smoothly join the Revolutionary Army, he had gone out of his way to find Dragon's ship.
That ship had been anchored in the waters near Goa Kingdom, and it had taken him a long time to locate it.
Aboard that ship, he had met Dragon himself—the man the World Government called the "Most Dangerous Criminal in the World."
The two of them had talked at length.
Dragon had also recognized Cain as the child he had once found adrift at sea.
They had spoken about many things.
Dragon had even taught him the Dragon Claw Fist and, while patting him on the shoulder, said.
"Your will is the same as ours."
Cain had been about to continue discussing Sabo when he saw the thick smoke rising from the direction of Goa Kingdom.
At that moment, panic had struck him.
He immediately turned and ran desperately toward Gray Terminal.
The fire had already started.
Now he had only one thought—
Find Ace and Luffy, and get them out of here.
Dragon had followed after him as well. His heavy gaze rested on the sea of flames before him.
This would become the first place where he launched his revolution.
The fire grew stronger and stronger.
Cain's skin burned painfully, yet he hardly noticed it.
At last, in a relatively safe clearing, he found Luffy, who had been brought out by the mountain bandits.
Luffy was crying so hard that his face was soaked with tears.
His voice was already hoarse to the point he could barely speak, yet he still kept shouting,
"ACE! SAVE ACE AND DADAN TOO!"
Forcing down the panic in his heart, Cain shouted at the bandits.
"TAKE LUFFY AND RUN! HEAD FOR THE FOREST—GET AS FAR AWAY AS YOU CAN!"
The bandits didn't dare waste a second. They immediately grabbed Luffy and ran into the distance.
Cain turned around and charged back into the flames without hesitation.
Even when sparks fell on his arm and burned angry red blisters into his skin, he did not stop.
He knew that according to the original story, Ace and Dadan should already have escaped by now.
But the anxiety in his chest still weighed on him like a heavy stone.
He kept searching frantically.
They absolutely couldn't let anything happen to them.
By then, Dragon had also arrived in his ship. Fierce winds spread out, scattering the flames.
If wind could feed fire, then an even stronger gale could just as easily extinguish it.
Dragon intended to stir up rebellion among the people here against the noble class.
Seeing the fire being suppressed, Cain finally let out a breath of relief.
Under these circumstances, Ace and Dadan should be alright.
But those weren't his only concerns.
He had something even more important to do now—Stop Sabo from setting sail.
Dragon and the Revolutionary Army absolutely could not be exposed before the Celestial Dragons right now.
The only one who could go stop Sabo was Cain himself.
Stumbling as he ran, Cain's mind held only one thought.
'Dragon is already here. Sabo, you won't have to be alone anymore. You won't have to lose your memories, or forget your brothers.'
'So please, don't go out to the sea.'
Cain ran the entire night.
The gravel underfoot wore his soles raw, but it was as if he couldn't feel the pain at all.
He raced toward Goa Kingdom's port with everything he had.
The sky was beginning to brighten. A faint strip of white had appeared on the horizon.
The wind roared in his ears. His heart pounded so violently in his chest it felt ready to burst.
He kept telling himself—
'Faster.'
'Faster.'
He had to stop Sabo before he sailed.
And yet, when he finally reached the cliff overlooking the port, panting for breath, he was still too late.
A deafening cannon blast tore through the stillness of dawn.
Right before Cain's eyes, a flash of fire burst from a grand ship flying the Celestial Dragon's flag.
A cannon shell streaked out, trailing blinding light, and struck the small boat that had just left the harbor.
That was Sabo's boat.
"NO—!"
Cain's eyes widened violently.
In that instant, it felt as though all the blood in his body froze.
He watched as the little boat shattered into splinters under the blast.
Wood fragments flew everywhere before the wreckage sank into the cold sea, leaving not even the slightest trace behind.
He knew Sabo wouldn't die.
He knew that according to the original course of events, Dragon would save him.
He knew this wasn't the end.
And yet, seeing it happen with his own eyes, Cain still couldn't stop the tears from pouring out.
The scalding tears fell onto the back of his hands, hot enough to hurt.
"SABO—!"
He screamed until his voice tore apart like ripped cloth.
Grief and helplessness swallowed him whole, leaving his body weak and hollow.
His footing slipped, and his entire body rolled down the steep cliff.
His head struck against the rocks, and he blacked out.
...
When he woke up, many of the injuries on his body had already vanished for some unknown reason.
Only a wooden splinter remained jammed deep into his shoulder.
Gritting his teeth, he yanked the splinter out and tightly bound the wound with the remains of his tattered clothes, paying no attention to the piercing pain.
Half crawling, half dragging himself, he made his way toward the port.
His fingers dug deep into the soil, scraping until they bled, yet he didn't notice.
By the time he finally staggered to the shore, the sea had already calmed.
The Celestial Dragon's fleet was long gone.
Soldiers from Goa Kingdom were salvaging the floating wreckage. The sea surface was littered with shattered planks and debris.
Cain's eyes locked onto the water.
Onto the things being pulled ashore.
His gaze moved across one broken plank after another as he shakily stepped forward.
And then he saw it.
That familiar pipe.
It lay quietly amid a heap of wet wood chips, stained with mud and seawater.
Cain slowly approached, crouched down, and reached out with trembling hands to pick it up.
The pipe was cold with seawater. He clenched it tightly in his grasp.
The noise around him seemed to disappear.
All that remained was the sound of waves slapping against the shore, and his own heavy breathing.
Tears fell again, one drop after another splashing onto the pipe and darkening it in small spots.
He knew Sabo was still alive.
So why did his heart still hurt this much?
Cain lowered his head, staring at the pipe in his hand, at the wreckage floating across the water.
In his mind flashed Sabo's smile.
The days they had laughed and fought together in the great tree. The moment they had shared that harsh, burning cup of sake when they became brothers.
"From today on, we're brothers!"
"Until the end of our lives."
"Cheers."
"Cheers."
"Cheers."
"Cheers."
After a long time, Cain slowly raised his head.
He looked toward Gray Terminal, where the flames had already died out, and then toward the endless sea beyond.
The sea wind tousled his hair and dried the tears on his face.
Little by little, the hesitation and panic in his eyes disappeared, replaced by something steady and unshakable.
"I won't run away this time, Sabo. Whether you lose your memory or not, you'll always be our brother."
He spoke softly, but his words carried unquestionable force.
"I want to create a peaceful world. A world without suffering. A world where even ordinary people can easily achieve their dreams."
Sabo's dream. Ace's dream. Luffy's dream.
He would protect them all.
And from that moment onward, he had found the goal he absolutely had to pursue.
Cain tightened his grip on the pipe in his hand.
This was what Sabo had left behind.
Proof of the bond between brothers.
....
Flashback end.
Smack! Smack! Smack!
The sudden slaps jolted Cain awake from sleep.
He blinked at his surroundings and asked, "What… happened to me?"
Rayleigh was sitting on the deck with visible amusement. They were currently on the way back to Sabaody.
"Well, well, brat." Rayleigh drank from the bottle in his hand, his tone teasing. "I only realized something was wrong when I saw the bamboo pole floating up. By then, you had already sunk all the way to the bottom. I was the one who fished you back out."
"Hahaha, I guess I got a little too into the calming-down part."
Seeing that, Cain laughed dryly.
Rayleigh then asked, "But your fruit really is strange. It actually lets you breathe underwater—a Fish-Fish Fruit, Mythical Zoan? Don't tell me you've got the same kind of power Kaido does?"
Cain said nothing, only nodded.
Then he looked around and let his gaze settle on the weapon at his side—the long water pipe marked with black patterns, which he held tightly in his hand.
He gave a quiet sigh, his fingers brushing over the pipe, recalling the scene he had just dreamed.
Inside, he murmured, 'Sabo, you bastard… you didn't die. And you even regained all your memories. That's really great.'
'The peaceful life I always insisted on… the peaceful world I wanted… what would any of it even mean without you all?'
Cain's dreams had changed again and again over time.
But at the core, they had never changed.
The peaceful life Cain longed for had gradually taken shape while he served in the Marines.
And the foundation that made such a peaceful life possible was a world without war or conflict.
That belief in peace, in turn, came precisely from Luffy, Sabo, and Ace.
Which was why those three were the most important brothers in his entire life.
"We'll be seeing each other again soon. So don't let us be torn apart again!"
---------
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