The Day Shanks Never Spoke Of

I won't choose for him.

Luffy gripped the brim of his hat and answered without the slightest hesitation.

"Let him say what he wants to do."

The sound of a wooden chair moving came from Shanks's direction.

That's what I said back then too.

"Then what?"

It didn't speak again.

Nami slapped Luffy's hand away.

"Don't touch the red ribbon yet, that thread is starting to loosen."

The old stitches on the red ribbon were gradually removed, one stitch after another, the thread not broken, but crawling along the brim of the hat on its own.

Chopper, holding the stethoscope, anxiously shifted his position back and forth.

"The sound inside is converging towards the opening; it wants to get out."

Usopp hid behind Zoro, only showing half of his face.

"What will emerge? A ghost that has been hiding for twenty-two years?"

Ghosts don't live in grass stalks.

Zoro pushed him away with his scabbard.

"Move over a bit, don't stick to my back."

"I'm watching what's behind you for you."

"There's a wall behind me."

Lin Qi turned the computer towards the Den Den Mushi).

The inverted cup on the screen has been partially cleared, and the exposed red line perfectly matches the gap in the Straw Hat.

"Shanks, who sewed this stitch?"

"Mr. Rayleigh."

The sound of a wine glass being set down came from beside the Den Den Mushi in the Sabaody Archipelago.

Rayleigh has finally joined the line.

"I've only had a hat repaired once, and the stitching was done with regular sail thread."

"Can a regular thread conceal Echo for twenty-two years?"

"There was no sound when I sewed it."

Shanks asked, "Are you sure?"

"You were crying so hard you couldn't see where you were going. You shoved your hat into my hand and asked me to mend it for you. All I could hear was you sniffling."

"I didn't cry."

There was no wind that day, so the seawater wouldn't have fallen onto my hat on its own.

"Mr. Rayleigh."

Okay, you didn't cry.

Luffy leaned closer to the Den Den Mushi again.

"Shanks, who tore that hat?"

The face that belonged to Shanks on the Den Den Mushi was turned to the side.

"Myself."

How did you do that?

"After the executions in Loguetown, Buggy and I had a fight."

Buggy immediately called in from the delivery line.

You were the one who stopped me first!

"You're going to dig up Captain Roger's grave."

"I just want to confirm if he left anything behind!"

"He's just been executed. If you rush over with a shovel, who's going to let you dig?"

"You threw your hat on the ground when you drew your sword, I didn't even touch it!"

Rayleigh tapped his wine glass.

"The hat was ripped open by a splinter from under the Execution Platform, and a piece of black grass was stuck in the cut."

Lin Qi looked at the wooden tub.

"Are the black grass blades still there?"

"It's not there, I took it out."

"Where did you throw it?"

It shattered when it came into contact with sunlight.

Mo'er leaned against the long table as the doctor changed his second bandage.

"It wasn't grass; it was a piece of paper used to transport Echo from a shipwreck."

A Hui threw the cut-off bloody cloth into the basin of water.

"How do you know that?"

"That's what the walls of the Transport Ship are made of."

"Shanks is in Loguetown, the shipwreck is in the Calm Belt, how did Paperclip get there?"

"Following Roger's last words."

A brief interjection from the Sengoku.

"The sound couldn't possibly travel that far across the sea."

Vegapunk replied, "Normal sounds can't. Echo Nodes transmit records; as long as someone hears and preserves them, the location can be re-established."

Robin continued, "Everyone in Loguetown heard Roger's dying words, and that town became the largest receiving point that day."

"So that person stuffed the Echo into their Straw Hat and then used Roger's words to deliver it to Loguetown?"

"One link is missing from the sequence."

Lin Qi pointed to the narrow sheet of paper on the table.

"He touched the Straw Hat in the Calm Belt, so how did the hat end up back in Shanks' hands?"

Rayleigh replied, "The hat has never left Shanks."

"Mo'er saw it with his own eyes hanging on the edge of the shipwreck planks."

"I also saw Shanks wear it to Loguetown with my own eyes."

Neither side made any concessions.

A Hui pushed the medicine bowl in front of Mo'er.

"You were under the control of the Throne at that time, could you have seen a false image?"

"The people on the ship asked that too."

How did you answer?

I cut my hand and dripped blood onto my hat.

Luffy immediately looked inside the hat.

Beneath the red ribbon lies a brown, old scar.

"It's here."

That's not blood.

Shanks' answer came too quickly.

Lin Qi stared at the Den Den Mushi.

"Have you checked it?"

"When Mr. Rayleigh had his stitches removed after we returned from Loguetown, he saw that it was wine."

Rayleigh took a sip of the wine in his glass.

"It definitely smells of alcohol."

Mo'er raised his hand, causing the bandage the doctor had just applied to become crooked.

"There was no alcohol on the Transport Ship that day, only medicine and seawater."

A Hui pressed the bandage back in.

So the hat you saw wasn't a real hat.

"Blood won't fall on fake things."

How did that stain turn into wine?

"Someone changed the record."

The computer in the Tavern beeped.

Two straw Straw Hats appeared at the bottom of the screen.

One remained on Shanks' head, while the other floated beside the plank in the Calm Belt.

The two hats are connected by the same red ribbon.

Vegapunk zoomed in on the image.

"The Echo didn't take the hat to the Calm Belt; it merely copied the record of the Straw Hat being heard."

To put it simply...

"The person in the Calm Belt was hit by the Echo of the Straw Hat."

Luffy picked up the wooden tub.

"The person knocking on the door inside wasn't him either?"

"It was a passage he put there years ago."

Why wait twenty-two years to release a single statement?

Mo'er watched as the stitches gradually came undone.

"Because when he was speaking, there was no one who could understand him."

Luffy placed his Straw Hat on his lap.

"I understand."

Nami knelt down opposite him.

"You can't even understand the instruction manual."

People don't need instructions to speak.

"This sentence might control you."

"Then I won't listen to the parts it controls."

"The sound enters your head, how do you choose?"

"I can choose."

"Tell me first, if you put the meat and the trap side by side, which one would you choose?"

"Eat the meat first, then set the trap."

Sanji stubbed out his cigarette.

"This time I agree with Miss Nami; the Straw Hat can stay in the basin for now."

"You have to listen to her when you cook, that doesn't count."

"Damn it, I was worried about you."

Luffy towards the Den Den Mushi.

"Shanks, why didn't you say so before?"

A sea breeze blew from Shanks's side, carrying the sound of sails rustling through the microphone.

"Because the last thing I heard wasn't just about letting you choose for it."

"What else?"

"It said that if the child refused to choose, he should take the Straw Hat back."

"Come and get it."

There was no static on either end of the Den Den Mushi.

Luffy was holding the wooden basin, his forehead almost touching the top of his hat.

"This is what you gave me. I'll return it to you when I become a great pirate."

Shanks chuckled, but couldn't finish the sentence.

"Yes, I'll go get it."

"Then don't worry about the people inside."

I don't intend to get involved with him.

You're lying.

Where did you learn to listen to this?

Usopp smiles before he lies.

Usopp peeked out from behind Zoro.

Why use me as an example?

Shanks raised his hand to cover half of the Den Den Mushi's face.

"The Straw Hat first jingled in my hands the day Captain Roger handed it to me."

Rayleigh's glass stopped at his lips.

Shanks.

"We've come this far; we can't hide it anymore."

What did the captain say?

He said the hat had heard someone who hadn't even been born speak.

Lin Qi looked at the two straw Straw Hats on the computer screen.

The hat belonging to the Calm Belt began to fade, while the hat belonging to Shanks turned off-screen, with the brim pointing directly at him.

Who is the person who hasn't been born yet?

"The captain doesn't know either."

After Shanks finished answering, the last stitch on the red ribbon came off by itself.

Nothing fell out of the gap.

Only the sound of a child breathing could be heard from inside the hat.

The voice had been hiding for twenty-two years, its breath short and labored, repeatedly uttering the same phrase.

"Don't let Roger find me."