The Door to Freedom

Mary Geoise, the nobles' district.

Flames had already reached the palace's upturned eaves, and sparks spiraled into the sky amid thick smoke.

"Stop!"

"That slave ran toward the treasury!"

Gild Tesoro clutched his ribs as he stumbled down the corridor.

He was covered in wounds, his wrists long since rubbed raw by chains, and a heavy explosive collar still encircled his neck.

With every step, the iron ring scraped against his skin, leaving fresh streaks of blood.

But he didn't dare stop.

If he stopped, he would be dragged back to that sunless cage.

Rows of golden statues lined both sides of the corridor, and jewels were piled high outside the storeroom.

Tesoro glanced at them and suddenly remembered the little girl who had been beaten to death in the cell.

All because she had broken a cup.

Yet even if someone carried away several chests of the gold before him, those nobles probably wouldn't care.

He gritted his teeth.

"A bunch of animals..."

"Catch him!"

The footsteps behind him drew closer.

Tesoro abruptly turned into a side alley, and his eyes lit up.

Ahead was the staircase leading to the outer ring. If he could just make it across...

"Help... help me..."

A faint moan suddenly came from beside him.

An elderly slave with graying hair lay on the ground, a heavy chain trailing from his leg. Two guards had already reached him.

"Still trying to run, old man?"

One of them raised his gun.

Tesoro stopped dead.

Why should I care? I'm barely going to make it out alive myself!

He gritted his teeth and turned to run, but his feet felt as heavy as lead.

The next second, Tesoro lunged forward and slammed into the guard with the gun, knocking him over!

Caught off guard, the man fell, taking his companion down with him.

"Get up!"

Tesoro grabbed the old man's arm.

But as soon as the old man stood, the chain around his foot pulled taut.

"Damn it!"

Tesoro looked back and saw a bunch of keys hanging from the fallen guard's waist. He immediately lunged over and tore them free.

He tried two keys in quick succession.

Click!

The third finally opened the iron lock.

"Go! Don't look back!!"

Tesoro shoved the old man hard.

The old man staggered away.

"I really am an idiot..."

He turned to run.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Another squad of guards charged up behind him and surrounded him in an instant.

"Well, look at that. This guy actually dared to save someone?"

A guard waved the controller in his hand, a malicious grin on his face. "Then you can stay."

Beep.

Tesoro's face changed.

Beep. Beep.

The collar around his neck began to heat up, its red light flashing.

"No... wait!"

He reached up to pull at it, but was afraid it would explode if he touched it. All he could do was freeze on the spot, sweat pouring down his body.

The guards stepped back, watching him as though he were a performing monkey.

"Run!"

"Weren't you good at running just now?"

"That's what you get for causing trouble for the noble masters!"

Beep beep beep!

The red light grew brighter and brighter, and Tesoro's vision began to darken.

He suddenly remembered the days when he had worked desperately to earn money down below.

Without money, people trampled on him. With a little money, they trampled on him all the same.

He had always thought that if he earned enough, he could buy back his fate, but things never worked out the way he wanted.

Stella...

Just as the red light was about to reach its limit.

Snap!

A black spatial line as fine as a hair suddenly swept across the collar's clasp.

The metal fastener joining the iron ring snapped apart instantly.

Clatter!

The collar had come loose!

But its red light was still flashing wildly!

Before Tesoro could react, a hand reached out of the air beside him, grabbed the collar, and hurled it at the guards.

"What—?!"

Boom!!

The explosion knocked several guards off their feet, and firelight instantly illuminated the entire alley.

Tesoro dropped to his knees with a thud, both hands clamped tightly around his neck.

It was still there. His head was still there.

The collar... was gone?

"Hey, can you run?"

Tesoro jerked his head up.

A black-haired youth stood in the firelight, wearing a white Justice Coat, with a huge black sword slung across his back.

He was a marine!

Tesoro shrank back almost instinctively. Tonight, he had been afraid of everyone he saw in uniform.

"Can't walk?"

"...I can."

"Then why are you still kneeling?"

Tesoro braced himself against the wall and staggered to his feet.

He stared at Ron, his voice hoarse. "Why did you save me?"

"It was no trouble."

"I don't have any money."

Ron looked him up and down. "I can see that."

"I don't have anything else to give you either."

Ron was a little speechless. "Why are you such a bother?"

He raised a hand and pulled open a door beside him. Wind blew through from the other side, carrying the salty scent of seawater.

"Do you need someone else to give you a reason to be free?"

Tesoro opened his mouth, but for a moment, he didn't know what to say.

He was used to people bargaining over him.

But this marine hadn't even asked his name.

"You..."

"Anything else?"

Ron glanced at his hand. "That old man just now—you were the one who pushed him away, right?"

Tesoro said nothing, but Ron smiled.

"Your legs were nearly run off and you still had time to worry about someone else. Looks like you're not completely rotten yet."

Hurried footsteps sounded in the distance, and Cipher Pol's shouts were drawing closer.

Ron's gaze shifted. "All right, conversation's over."

Tesoro still stood there in a daze, the door seeming more unreal than all the gold he had ever seen.

Ron couldn't be bothered to keep wasting time with him. He gave him a light kick in the backside. "Once you're out, figure out how to stay alive yourself!"

"Ow!"

Tesoro fell straight through the door.

The door slammed shut.

By the time Cipher Pol and the guards rushed over, all that remained in the alley were scattered stones, black smoke from the explosion, and a few guards groaning on the ground.

Below the Red Line, on the shore.

Tesoro fell headfirst onto the damp stone pavement, the impact making his vision go dark.

Waves beat against the shore as the small boats arranged in advance by Fisher Tiger and a certain force kept pulling away.

Some people called out their companions' names, some hurried to untie the ropes, and others knelt by the sea, wailing at the Red Line.

Tesoro got to his feet and instinctively touched his neck.

The skin rubbed raw by the iron ring still ached faintly, but the thing itself was gone.

"Hey! Did Rear Admiral Ron throw you out too?"

A man nearby called out to him. Seeing that he was still in a daze, the man pushed half a piece of bread into his hand, then hurried off to help someone push a boat.

Tesoro gripped the rock-hard bread and looked up at the Red Line, where the mountaintop was still burning.

He suddenly laughed, but his eyes grew hot.

From now on, he would make a fortune. He would earn so, so much money that no one would ever dare put a price on his life again!!

But tonight someone had saved him without taking a single coin, and suddenly he didn't know how to settle that debt...

At another secluded little dock.

Sandersonia and Marigold had already fallen asleep, wrapped in blankets.

Boa Hancock sat by the side of the boat, wearing the coat Shakky had given her. Her eyes remained fixed on the distant firelight atop the mountain.

"What are you looking at?"

Shakky came over and sat down beside her.

"Is someone still in there?"

Hancock nodded.

"There's a marine..."

"A marine?"

"He's the one who saved us."

Shakky looked at the firelight on the mountain and didn't press her further.

After a while, she said, "Don't worry. Someone who can break into a place like that to save people won't come to harm so easily."

Gloriosa came over and tucked the blankets around the two little girls.

"It's time to go."

Just then, a figure wearing a knight's uniform emerged from the shadows.

"Did everyone make it here?"

Rayleigh glanced at the knight's uniform Shanks was wearing.

"Are you really planning to stay in a place like that?"

Shanks was silent for a moment.

"There are still some things I need to do for now."

"Can't tell me?"

"Not yet."

Rayleigh looked at him for two seconds and didn't press him further.

"Be careful."

Shakky stubbed out her cigarette and glanced at the approaching patrol lights in the distance. "Shanks, that uniform of yours is still useful. Don't stay here too long."

"I know."

Shanks disappeared back into the darkness. Rayleigh untied the ropes, and Gloriosa steadied the boat, urging them in a low voice to set sail.

The small boat slowly pulled away from shore, leaving tiny ripples in its wake.

Hancock looked back one last time.

Under the same night sky, Tesoro boarded another battered little boat.

The boat gradually sailed away.

The great fire in the Holy Land was still burning.

And the people who had escaped that night remembered the same name.

Ron.