The Person Roger Couldn't Find

"Is he afraid of Roger?"

Luffy pressed his ear against the brim of his hat.

The panting sounds immediately receded into the depths of the grass stalks, leaving only a few broken breaths.

Don't get so close.

Nami grabbed his vest and dragged him backward.

I wasn't wearing one.

"Your head is almost completely inside."

"He's hiding inside."

That was an Old Echo.

"The old ones are hiding too."

Lin Qi didn't touch the narrow paper.

After the child's words were circulated, Roger's name began to fade, but the watermarks in the name box became even deeper than before.

"Mo'er, are there children on the Transport Ship?"

I've never seen his face.

"You were locked up for seven days, and you didn't go in even once?"

"I'm in charge of channel maintenance; the hatches are guarded by the Custodian."

"Then how did you talk to him?"

There's a cup inside the wall.

A Hui wrung out the damp cloth and wiped away the fresh blood seeping from Mo'er's side.

"You said seven days through a cup, and you'd release him?"

"On the seventh day, the Custodian are to burn down the ship's hold."

"You're only just now making your move?"

For the first six days, I didn't know he was alive.

The wet cloth in A Hui's hand fell back into the basin.

"He can laugh, he can scold Roger, and he can ask you questions. You didn't know he was alive?"

The Custodian said it was Echo.

You believed it?

"Back then, I didn't even know if I was still human."

Mo'er turned his head away, no longer looking at the blood in the basin.

A Hui picked up the new strip of cloth, wrapped it around the old man's waist, and moved much more slowly.

How did you find out later?

He cried.

"Echo can also weep."

Tears streamed from the cup and fell onto my hand.

Lin Qi looked at the brown stains on the inside of the Straw Hat.

So you dripped your blood in.

"I wanted to check if he had any physical signs. After the blood went in, the children in the cabin said it hurt."

Chopper gripped the brim of his hat, his nose almost touching the old mark.

There's a wound beneath this mark.

"Where did the hat get the wound?"

"The grass stalks were broken from the inside, but they grew back later."

Usopp took half a step back.

"Can a hat grow on its own?"

"It didn't grow back; someone pieced together the broken record, and that's why the pain remains at the seam."

Chopper used small tweezers to part the grass fibers next to the brown mark.

A red knot, smaller than a grain of rice, was revealed.

"Something's tied up here."

Nami asked, "Can you undo it?"

"The knot tightens with each breath, and when I touch it, it slips inside."

"Don't touch it yet."

Luffy extended his little finger and stopped it in front of the Red Knot.

"Hey, can you hear me, you inside?"

There was no response from the panting.

"I won't help you choose, nor will I hand over the hat."

The Red Knot moved slightly.

Roger is dead, and we can't find you.

A short, sharp cry came from inside the hat.

Luffy looked up.

Did I say something wrong?

Rayleigh spoke through the Den Den Mushi.

"Perhaps he wasn't hiding from the living Roger."

"Can the dead still be found?"

Roger's last words remain at sea, and anyone who hears them may find their way through that Echo.

Robin said, "What he's afraid of is that sentence."

"The treasure is right there, what's there to be afraid of?"

Luffy looked completely puzzled.

Sengoku took over the conversation.

"After Roger publicly announced the existence of the treasure, countless people set sail, and war and death began from that day on."

That was their own choice.

"A child might not be able to tell the difference."

Lin Qi tapped on the table.

"It doesn't make sense that he made Roger unable to find himself and then put the Echo into Roger's Straw Hat."

He had nowhere else to put it.

Mo'er rested his hand on the edge of the long table, his bent index finger pointing at the narrow piece of paper.

"The Custodian on the Transport Ship were constantly monitoring the sounds; cups were searched, and walls were cleaned. Only the Future Echo were outside the scope of the censorship at the time."

"So he hid one of his words in the future?"

"Lend me Straw Hat and give it to me."

Lin Qi pushed the narrow sheet of paper in front of the computer.

Why did this passage lead to Luffy?

Shanks replied, "The Straw Hats chose him."

"Do hats even choose their wearers?"

"I also asked Captain Roger."

What was his answer?

He said he wouldn't choose a hat; people who wear them and refuse to take them off will make the decision for themselves.

Luffy took the Straw Hat out of the wooden basin.

Nami held down his wrist.

What are you going to do?

"Put it on."

"No."

"The people inside don't want Roger to find it, but they've kept the Straw Hat in the basin. He'll think we're going to hand it over too."

"He's just a voice."

He will cry.

The two men were gripping the same hat, neither of them letting go.

Zoro sheathed his sword at his waist.

Let the captain decide.

"Don't just say nice things at a time like this."

"You can't stop him from wearing his hat forever."

"At least I can stop them and figure it out."

Luffy looked at Nami.

I won't answer after I put it on.

"You always say that."

I can shut your mouth.

Usopp pulled a wad of cloth from his toolbox.

"I can help with that."

Sanji kicked the cloth back into the box.

"Do you really want to suffocate the captain?"

"Do you have a solution?"

"Let him eat first; once his mouth is full of meat, he won't be able to speak."

"That's a good idea."

"What's so good about it!"

As Lin Qi listened to the noisy Den Den Den Mushi, the inverted cup on his computer screen was quietly spinning.

The rim of the cup is directly opposite the notch in the Straw Hat, creating a narrow slit between the two receiving points.

"Quiet down, the Echo is coming out."

Luffy and Nami both lowered their heads at the same time.

The panting inside the Straw Hat stopped.

The Red Knot peeks out from beneath the old mark, with a small piece of paper stuck in the middle of the knot.

Chopper switched to finer tweezers.

"It offered itself to me, can I take it?"

Let Luffy speak first.

Why me again?

It circles your name.

Luffy said to the hat, "Give it to me. I'm not giving it to Roger."

The piece of paper moved outwards a little further.

Chopper gripped the edge and slowly pulled it out of the Red Knot.

The piece of paper was only two fingers wide, and it had no name on it, but a drawing of a ship broken in two.

Mo'er stood at the bow of the ship.

A child, smaller than the cabin door, was locked up at the Stern.

A straw Straw Hat was drawn on the crack in the middle.

Mo'er saw the image and slid his hand down the edge of the table.

A Hui supported his shoulder.

You've seen this piece of paper before.

"No."

"You lied again."

"I've seen this painting; it's engraved behind the cabin door."

"Dream drawn by a child?"

"Drawn by the Custodian."

Lin Qi adjusted the angle of the Den Den Mushi closer.

Why is the Straw Hat drawn on the slit?

That's not Straw Hat.

"Same shape."

"It's Island in the Calm Belt."

Vegapunk superimposed the curved lines on the paper onto the old nautical chart.

There are no islands marked north of Amazon Lily; the nautical chart only shows a Blank area that moves all year round.

After the arc falls in, it perfectly completes the construction of an inverted cup-shaped island.

"The location will change; I'm referring to this island."

How does the island move?

"It's built on the back of Sea Kings."

On the other end of the Den Den Mushi, Nami unfolded a chart of the Grand Line.

"The route passed north of Amazon Lily three days later; it matched the route in the letter."

Luffy turned his Straw Hat upside down and put it on his head.

The Red Knot touched his forehead but didn't disappear back into the grass stalk.

She breathed heavily in his ear after hiding it for twenty-two years, and spoke again.

Roger can't find me.

Luffy did not answer.

The child waited a while, then spoke a second sentence.

But his son has been found.