Cover
Crocodile and Mr. 1 roam the streets of a city in black suits together with hippos also dressed in black, reading the newspaper. There are explosions in the background.
Storyline
Gray Terminal, ten years ago: Luffy has been captured by Porchemy to tell him where the money stolen by Ace and Sabo is. Luffy, however, remains silent. Porchemy therefore wants to beat Luffy to death with a giant mallet, but he is unsuccessful because Luffy is a rubber man. Porchemy then demands the “gloves”, which, it turns out, are spiked. The pirate hits Luffy with them and demands that he tell him where the money is. He’d better tell, because if his captain Bluejam finds out about the heist, Luffy will be worse off than he already is. Luffy, bleeding and crying, now begins to scream in agony. Porchemy orders his two subordinates to search for Ace and Sabo.
Meanwhile, the two pirates-to-be are busy moving their loot to another hideout. They are busy doing this all day while Porchemy’s henchmen question the people at Gray Terminal about them. The people warn them about them as they are real tormentors who even kill and eat tigers. Ace and Sabo wonder why the pirates wouldn’t have come yet. They give themselves the answer: Luffy still hasn’t talked.
On the Bluejam pirate gang’s ship, the captain is getting impatient because Porchemy still hasn’t come up with the money. He wonders if he might not have run off with it, but one of his subordinates immediately denies it. Meanwhile, the wanted man continues to beat Luffy, who is nearly unconscious by now. One of the pirate’s lackeys asks him to stop, as it’s too brutal for him, so Porchemy sends him off to find the two thieves as well, as he’s not interested in Luffy’s life, but his own. The men who overhear the torture of Luffy are filled with pity and want to call the police, but they don’t bother since the law doesn’t extend to Gray Terminal.
Porchemy is about to end Luffy’s life now, as he stubbornly refuses to say anything, when suddenly Ace and Sabo show up. The pirate grabs Ace and is happy that they came on their own as it makes things much easier, but Sabo backhands him. He then quickly grabs a knife, cuts Luffy’s bonds, and escapes with him. He shouts to Ace to run, but Ace says he would never run from an enemy. A brief fight ensues, which Ace and Sabo appear to win. Scene change: the beaten Porchemy lies at the feet of his captain. Porchemy wants to apologize to Bluejam, but he wants no part of him and shoots him.
Sabo grumbles at Ace for not just fleeing, but throwing his life away. Now that they’ve finished off Porchemy, Bluejam will never forgive them. In the background, Luffy is howling like a castle dog. Ace is annoyed by the howling and yells at Luffy that sissies and crybabies annoy him. Luffy then stifles his crying and tries to say thank you, though it’s clear he’s still crying. Ace continues to yell at Luffy and Sabo stops Ace for it, after all Luffy just wants to say thank you. Ace demands to know from Luffy why he didn’t tell the secret about the treasure property. Luffy replies that if he did, he and Ace could no longer be friends. Ace now in turn wants to know why he wants to be friends with him so badly that he would even throw his life away for it. The straw hat boy answers him that he would then be alone. He couldn’t go back to Foosha Village, and he hates mountain robbers, so he’d be all alone if he hadn’t followed Ace. And being alone hurts him more than physical pain. Ace asks if Luffy has no family, but he only has his grandfather. Ace now understands why Luffy has been following him all this time. He then remembers the words of those who said in his presence that the Pirate King’s child is a demon who doesn’t deserve to live. He asks Luffy if he wants him (Ace) to stay alive, to which he replies in the affirmative. Ace now says that he actually hates spoiled little shits, at which point Luffy gets angry and the two yell at each other.
Sabo states that he can no longer stay at Gray Terminal, where he has spent his entire life. Therefore, Ace and Luffy take Sabo with them to Dadan. Dadan, of course, is not thrilled about this, that she now has another child to take care of. When Sabo introduces himself, she is already familiar with his name. From that day on, Sabo also lives with Dadan, who demands that the three boys work for her, but they don’t listen to their foster mother and do what they want.
Dadan is reading a newspaper and asks what the “Goa Kingdom” is. Her men explain to her that the island they are on is part of it. Dadan also wants to know if the “guys” who come to visit the kingdom are important. These guys are World Nobles.
| Manga volumes | Post-War (Manga) |
