The pier shrank behind the ship. A shout carried across the water.

"That long-nose kid... is he your boyfriend?"

"No! Doctorine." Kaya’s face flushed. "He’s just my friend."

She paused. With a soft smile on her lips. "A very clumsy friend, but... I think he’ll become someone truly amazing someday."

"Amazing or not, I wouldn’t know." Dr. Kureha leaned against the rail, plum wine in hand, her grin still firmly in place. "The kid sure can talk, though! Eight thousand subordinates? Has he even seen that many people?"

"Usopp, he..." Kaya laughed, her voice softening with affection. "He does love to exaggerate, but he’s really kind. When my parents were away and I was feeling down, he’d always come tell me stories."

"Is that so? Never mind, then." Dr. Kureha waved a hand, the scent of wine drifting on the breeze. "Aren’t you going to say goodbye to that lying kid? And my idiot son, if you can’t hold it in any longer, just say a proper goodbye already!"

Confusion flickered across Kaya’s face. She caught on and turned to look at her senior.

She flinched. "Chopper-senpai..."

"I-I’m fine!"

He did not look fine at all.

"It’s just the wind, the wind’s really strong, that’s all! I’m not crying!" Tears streamed down Chopper’s furry face. He wavered, then shouted toward the pier, "Luffy! Zoro! Helmeppo! Sanji! Usopp! You all have to come visit Drum Kingdom!"

The moment the words left his mouth, a chorus answered.

"Chopper! Wait for me! I’ll definitely come find you and ask you to be my nakama!"

"Chopper! Goodbye!"

"Tanuki..."

"Mosshead, Chopper already said he’s a reindeer!"

"Kaya!"

Shouts echoed back from the pier. The brief time they’d spent together had forged genuine bonds.

Watching her senior say a proper farewell to his friends, a gentle smile spread across Kaya’s face. Her eyes found the figure still running along the shore. She hesitated, then called out, "Usopp! You’d better work hard, and don’t forget, no tall tales on the job and no skipping work!"

"I-I don’t tell tall tales! Everything I say is true!"

"Is that so? Alright! Goodbye!"

"Goodbye, Kaya!"

"Luffy! Zoro! Helmeppo! Sanji! Usopp! Goodbye!"

Farewell after farewell rang out across the water. Dr. Kureha watched Chopper crying openly, and beside him, her new student, still smiling, but with eyes that couldn’t quite let go, waving her hand. She took a long swig of plum wine and laughed.

"Parting always hurts."

She raised the liquor bottle toward the horizon.

"But maybe that’s what youth is all about."

Parting always arrives, sooner or later.

The boy who had been chasing the ship finally stopped running, but he stayed rooted to the dock, his arm still raised. The others stood watching the vessel shrink further and further away.

"What an interesting vacation." Helmeppo let out a breath, a grin spreading across his face. "Guess it’s time we head back too."

"Yeah." Zoro rested a hand on the swords at his hip, his voice hardening with resolve. "But I need to keep training. I’m still too weak!"

"I’m going to get stronger too, and then I’m inviting everyone to be my nakama!" Luffy planted his hands on his hips and beamed. "Come sail with me! We’ll definitely meet again."

His eyes lit up as they landed on Sanji nearby.

"Sanji, wanna be my nakama? Your cooking is so good, we could throw a party right on the ship."

But Sanji shot the offer down without a second’s hesitation. "Denied!" He waved a hand dismissively. "I’ve got zero interest in heading out to sea to be a pirate!"

Things were going perfectly well at the Baratie. Why would he drop everything to sail off as a pirate? Did life at Romance Dawn feel too comfortable or something? Were the ladies hands there not soft enough? How would those sexy ladies feel if a valuable customer suddenly disappeared.

As for these idiots...

"Once you’re on that ship, don’t go telling people you know me! Especially you, Mosshead!"

"Curly-Browed Cook, who’d want to know you?!"

"Mosshead!"

"Curly-Browed Cook!"

"Alright, alright, how do you two always end up fighting?" Helmeppo rubbed his temples in exasperation, then glanced behind him. "Zoro, aren’t you going to say goodbye to your senpai and his friend?"

"What’s there to say goodbye about?" Zoro waved him off impatiently. "I’ll beat them both eventually!"

"Suit yourself. Time’s getting on, we should board the ship. Oh, right, Zoro, you go first." A wary look crossed Helmeppo’s face. "And remember, the ship is right here in front of us. Don’t you dare board the wrong one!"

Zoro froze. His jaw tightened. "The path’s right in front of me. How am I supposed to board the wrong ship?"

"Helmeppo, you’d better keep a close eye on this little moss-headed brat, yeah? Make sure he doesn’t actually get lost."

"You bastard, Curly-Browed Cook, you looking for a fight?!"

"I think you’re the one looking for a fight!"

"Okay, okay!" Helmeppo jumped in, utterly helpless against their bickering. "We are all friends here!"

"Who says we’re friends?!" they shouted in perfect unison.

Yeah, you two are definitely not friends.

Helmeppo sighed, his expression turning dead serious. "Zoro, get on the ship first. The foreman specifically told me to keep an eye on you. If you get lost, I’m telling him you quit!"

"Fine, I’m boarding!" Zoro pouted, dropped the argument with Sanji, and headed straight for the gangplank.

As his boots hit the wood, Zoro’s steps faltered. Hesitation flickered across his face.

In the end, he turned back toward Dante, who stood there smiling and waving. Zoro’s face was stoic. "Even if I keep failing, I’m never giving up my path as a swordsman. One day, I’m going to beat you and Kuina, and then I’m issuing my challenge to the World’s Greatest Swordsman. When that day comes, don’t go bursting into tears because you lost to me."

Before Dante or Kuina, both scowling now, could get a word in, Zoro strode onto the ship.

The moment his feet hit the deck, he raised his sword high. The conviction in his heart burst out in a roar. "I’m going to claim the throne! I will become the World’s Greatest Swordsman!"

In that moment, a young man’s dream rang out across the entire pier.

Luffy and Helmeppo, still standing on the dock, paused for a beat. Unbidden, smiles tugged at the corners of their lips.

A thoughtful look crossed Mihawk’s face. "In the future, when he sees you, will he be so angry he hacks you to death? I wouldn’t know."

"Don’t drive a wedge between us." Dante glared at Mihawk. "He’s my kouhai!"

Mihawk stared at Dante, speechless. ’You shameless bastard, you’ve got the nerve to call him your kouhai? I’ve never seen anyone screw people over like you!’

Dante ignored him. He glanced at the crowd gawking at the spectacle and snapped, "Ship’s about to sail. Get on already. And... Vice Admiral Garp, aren’t you carrying too much? This transport ship has luggage limits. Overweight means extra charges!"

"Don’t worry, it’s not overweight!" Garp, laden with a massive pack, waved his hand dismissively. He picked his nose with glee. "This is all my snacks. Big packages, but not heavy! Besides, nobody else brought much luggage. My share divided among everyone is nothing."

As if remembering something, he added, "Make sure you get the invoice for the snacks ready for me. I’ll pick it up when I get back. Honestly, all I wanted was for him to inflate the price three times, and the bastard refused."

Dante stared at Garp, utterly speechless at the older man’s shamelessness.

But that wasn’t all.

"Speaking of that, I forgot too." Beside him, Kuzan scratched his head. "My room and board at Romance Dawn these past few days, get that invoiced for me as well. I’ll need to submit it for reimbursement when I get back. No need to pad it. Just the standard amount."

Marine HQ will be bankrupted by these two bastards one day.

Dante, who could no longer apply for military funds himself, cursed bitterly in his head. He waved his hand, his impatience plain, and shooed them aboard.

Just then, a commotion stirred up ahead. Let’s rewind the clock a little.

"That Mosshead." Sanji flicked ash from his cigarette. He was watching the same figure in the distance. His tone held a note of complaint, but the corner of his mouth curled up. "Isn’t he humiliated, shouting like that?"

"Shouting your dream out loud, how could that ever be humiliating?" Luffy grinned. "What’s your dream, Sanji? And yours, Helmeppo?"

"My dream?" Sanji froze for a second. His lips curved slightly, a thought surfacing. He was about to speak when he was interrupted.

"What a headache!" Helmeppo rubbed his head in exasperation, but a smile crossed his face. He strode toward the ship, raising his two swords. "Then I’ll become a great man on the seas, someone so incredible that my father and everyone in Shells Town will be stunned!"

"My turn! My turn!" Watching Helmeppo declare his dream, Luffy raised his hand in excitement. He took a deep breath.

Then he pressed his right hand down on his straw hat, tilted his head back, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I, Monkey D. Luffy, am the man who will become King of the Pirates!"

===============

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