The Tengu Samurai suddenly collapsed like a broken child, sprawled on the ground and sobbed. His fists struck the floor weakly, his voice filled with endless anguish and regret:
"Today... today is her eighth birthday!!!"
"She took the money she'd painstakingly saved and went into town, full of joy, to buy rice for her birthday!"
"She'd been looking forward to that rice for an entire year!"
"But you... you bastard, you ate every last grain of her birthday rice in one sitting!!!"
Boom!
That suffocatingly cruel truth struck the hearts of every member of the Straw Hat Pirates like an enormous sledgehammer.
A deathly silence fell.
The casual expression on Usopp's face instantly froze. His pupils trembled violently, and his lips quivered:
"Her... birthday? So that's what it was... Do people here really have it this hard?"
"A little girl works herself to the bone every day, and she still can't afford even a single meal for her eighth birthday..."
Chopper's tears instantly overflowed. He covered his mouth, sobbing too hard to speak.
Nami closed her eyes in pain as profound guilt welled up inside her.
Sanji clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked, his nails digging deep into his palms as an uncontrollable rage burned wildly within him.
And Luffy's clear, wide eyes opened as far as they could.
He stared blankly at the empty bowl on the floor, remembering Tama's radiant, blissful smile as she handed him that bowl of white rice piled high like a little mountain.
At last, he understood just how much that bowl of rice had meant.
"That's not what happened! Master!!!"
Amid that suffocating silence, a child's heart-rending cry suddenly came from outside.
Everyone turned to see Tama stumbling toward them from a distance.
Running too fast on an empty stomach, she lost