Chapter 209: Secrets And Farewells
On the deck of the Oro Jackson.
Click~
Swish—
Click!
After a smooth set of revolver reloading actions, looking at the pale golden pistol engraved with “Ann” in his hand, Roger grinned, happily like a child.
“Whoa! What a cool gun!”
“Thanks, Buggy!”
“Heh heh, Captain Roger, as long as you like it.”
Buggy, who was praised, shyly touched his head.
“I didn’t expect it to be for us~ You really put thought into it, Buggy.”
Rayleigh also played with the revolver in his hand in satisfaction, its silver gleam reflecting on his glasses, both as exquisite as artwork and as cold as a weapon.
And its gun body was also engraved with his name, a true custom piece.
But happy as he was, Rayleigh still told the details of this ceremony to everyone on the ship.
……
“Huh?! You say these two brats found a Road Poneglyph?!”
“And they even boldly tried to steal it?”
“And ended up getting caught!”
Roger didn’t have much reaction after hearing it, but Jabba nearby had his blood pressure soaring!
“Eek!”*2
Seeing Jabba’s eyebrows shooting up in anger, the two kids were so scared they hid directly behind Roger.
“You two…!”
“Come on~ Come on~ Don’t be mad, Jabba.”
“As long as they’re unharmed, that’s fine. As for stealing… we’re pirates, stealing is what we do.”
“Right, Rayleigh.”
Roger stroked the two kids’ heads, smiling at Rayleigh.
“Uh, uh… yeah.”
Rayleigh responded somewhat awkwardly; the first ship he and Roger sailed on back then was one he had stolen.
Back then, he didn’t know which bastard burned down his home, forcing him to steal a ship to live on first, and then he met the man before him.
“But speaking of which, I didn’t expect it to be in Big Mom’s hands… a Road Poneglyph.”
“Truly, the iron shoes worn out in fruitless searching.”
Roger sighed.
Compared to sharing the secret of the ‘Final Island’ that they had to give away, he cared more about the Road Poneglyph itself.
It had been several years since returning from Lodestar Island, and they finally had a lead.
This breakthrough from zero to one undoubtedly greatly boosted their confidence and drive.
“Maybe it’s fate’s guidance; heaven thinks it’s time for us to head to the ‘Final Island’, so it delivered the clue to us.”
Rayleigh joked.
“Hahaha! Fate again?”
“If we gather all the Road Poneglyphs before fate even reacts, and reach the ‘Final Island’…”
“Will ‘fate’ say ‘you arrived too early’ by then?”
Roger said with a laughing tease.
“You sure know how to joke, Captain.”
“If someone really says we went too early, it’ll all be the captain’s fault for his crow’s mouth.”
“Yeah, yeah!”
The others on the ship also started chiming in excitedly; having gotten the clue to their first Road Poneglyph, they were thrilled too.
……
After a brief reunion chat, Roger turned his gaze to Aoxi, who had been staring at the giant egg on their ship.
“Hey~ Little girl, I heard you also want to know the secrets of those Road Poneglyphs?”
Roger touched his chin and walked to the giant egg as well.
“Hey! Roger, you’re not really planning to tell this little girl, are you?”
Seeing his own captain really intending that, Jabba quickly stepped forward to stop him.
He was already unhappy about sharing this hard-earned secret with Big Mom; now to tell a little girl too…
“Hm? Is it some very important secret? If so, forget it.”
Aoxi, who was stroking the giant egg, saw their reaction and casually waved it off, generously saying to drop it.
Anyway, she wasn’t really curious.
“Compared to those stones, I’m more curious right now about what kind of egg this is.”
“Even a dinosaur egg couldn’t be this big~ It wouldn’t be Godzilla’s egg, right?”
The giant egg standing before her was several meters tall, with some strange spotted patterns, really eye-catching.
“This one~ It should be some kind of bird’s egg.”
“We picked it up on a strange island; back then we were chased by a giant strange bird for a long time!”
“Now that I think about it, it must be its egg… hahaha!”
This egg had been on their ship for a long time but showed no signs of hatching, making the other curious people on board itch with anticipation too.
Buggy and Shanks had suggested eating the egg several times already.
“Eh~ Stolen again~”
“Is this your pirate crew’s corporate culture~”
Aoxi continued stroking the giant egg, thinking to herself that the upper beam is crooked, so the lower one is too.
“Uh… we are pirates after all~ Free-spirited thieves of the sea.”
“Anyway, enough of that.”
After a haha, Roger still decided to tell Aoxi the secret of the Poneglyphs; after all, she was Shanks and their benefactor, so he shouldn’t brush her off casually.
“Since you want to know the secrets of the Road Poneglyphs, it’s fine to tell you.”
“Roger…”
Jabba wanted to say more but was cut off by Roger.
“Treasure hunting alone is no fun; it’s thrilling when everyone’s in on it~”
“Anyway, the first to get there will definitely be me!”
Roger declared, radiating strong, confident aura.
“Little girl, those red Poneglyphs actually record the location of the ‘Final Island’.”
“It’s said to be the ‘island that doesn’t exist’ at the end of the Grand Line, never landed on in historical records.”
With curiosity about the ‘Final Island’, Roger excitedly began explaining.
“How about it, impressive, right! We went through so much trouble to get…”
“Eh— What~ So it’s just an ordinary map collection quest.”
Aoxi lost all interest upon hearing this secret, no different from collecting props in a classic RPG to unlock new maps.
“I thought it recorded some method to pull all humanity into an illusion world of wish fulfillment, but it’s just ordinary coordinates.”
“How to put it, it’s a clichéd, somewhat outdated plot~”
“Uh… This is something not recorded on any sea chart, existing only in legend…”
Roger wanted to explain how amazing this secret really was.
“Got it, got it; once you reach there, it’ll be recorded anyway~”
“I’ll just take a stroll on the island then~”
“This full-map prop hunting plot is the most annoying right now, especially with no hints at all.”
Aoxi’s words left Roger speechless; why did it feel like he was just paving the way for her?
Shouldn’t a pirate get all excited and join the treasure hunt right away?
Was it because she’s a kid, so not interested?
Shouldn’t be.
Back then, Shanks and Buggy were super excited when they heard this secret.
『Probably because she’s a girl…』
Roger could only convince himself of that inwardly.
