While Andrew was speaking, Luffy was still preoccupied with many grievances and didn't listen to much of what he was saying.
But after Nojiko offered him some words of advice...
Well, Luffy certainly doesn't have any intention of betraying his friends for the sake of women, but in some ways, he was raised by the bandits Dadan and Makino together.
In short, after Makino finished speaking, Luffy remained silent for a long time before finally nodding heavily.
"I see!"
Luffy suddenly sat up from the cart, clenching his fists and saying fiercely.
"The reason Shanks let that bandit hit him on the head with a bottle was because he was worried about me... and everyone else getting hurt because of his fight with the bandits!"
Just like Shanks was willing to lose an arm to save me from the jaws of the Lord of the Coast, he's the kind of person who doesn't want anyone to get hurt because of him!
At this point, Luffy seemed to understand something. He gritted his teeth, looked at everyone, and then bowed deeply.
I'm sorry, everyone!
I acted impulsively today!
If... if I anger that damn guy, if he orders his men to all open fire.
"While I'll be fine, everyone else will get hurt... or even die!!!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Luffy finally showed a look of lingering fear. He kept shaking his head as he continued to emphasize to the people.
"I'm so angry today, I almost forgot everyone was there!"
I... I should learn from Shanks and think more carefully about everyone's safety!
After saying that, Luffy rubbed his head in frustration.
As for Makino beside him, the girl shook her head dejectedly.
"Shanks, he..."
Makino said softly.
"Shanks might not think that way. He seems to simply have extreme contempt for any so-called mountain bandit king..."
As she spoke, Makino recalled Shanks in her mind.
At first, she did think of that kind-hearted man who liked to smile but didn't seem to like fighting, and who wouldn't even get angry if someone hit him on the head with a bottle.
On the other hand, while Makino was thinking that way, news about Shanks from the New World flooded into Makino mind.
That guy who seemed to have no chance against even a mountain bandit king with a bounty of only a few million has suddenly become the unimaginable fourth-ranked pirate with a bounty of over four billion!
The reputation of the Four Emperors of the Sea exists because of Shanks. The young Red-Haired Shanks almost single-handedly shattered the established power structure of the new era and the Grand Line!
Could the so-called benevolence he displayed in Foosha Village truly be genuine compassion?
Is he really the great person Luffy thinks he is, someone who swallows his anger because he can't bear to see others get hurt?
Thinking of this, Makino gently shook her head. In her opinion, Luffy was a bit obsessed.
Ever since Red-Haired Shanks sacrificed an arm to save Luffy's life, Luffy has become a little obsessed...
He would mention Shanks almost every other sentence.
Even now, when even the Foosha Village is being forced to relocate by the nobles.
Luffy's mouth is still full of Shanks's good points...
At this point, Makino let out a long sigh; she truly understood Luffy too well.
Not every act of kindness deserves to be remembered, but for an ordinary person, the sacrifices made by a great person for their fate certainly seem worthy of being remembered for a lifetime.
But for some reason, at this moment, Makino couldn't help but feel...
What that legendary Red-Haired Shanks did in Foosha Village seems to be more complicated than imagined.
Makino sometimes even wondered if Luffy had initially come for Luffy's admiration and gratitude.
Although the idea was ridiculous, Makino couldn't help but think it, even now that she had lost her home and was wandering in the wild.
She couldn't help but feel a lot of apprehension towards the Red-Haired Shanks.
Fortunately, before she could think about it for too long, the group, including Luffy, had already met up with Dadan, the infamous bandit from the mountains near Foosha Village!
Looking at her large and burly figure, she doesn't look like a King Kong bodybuilder at all, but rather like Dadan, the older sister of the King Kong.
Makino finally put aside her daydreams.
As for Sister Dadan, after learning that almost all the villagers from Foosha Village had come to the mountains, she...
Especially after learning that these villagers had been driven away by those damned nobles.
Dadan completely exploded!
After she heard Woop Slap's explanation and accepted Woop Slap's decision to lead the villagers to temporarily live in the mountains near Dadan.
Dadan was completely blown away!
Staring into countless pairs of anxious yet expectant eyes, Dadan grabbed the blacksmith Adi by the collar!
"Hey, you bastards, you're at least neighbors of that old devil Garp!"
What's going on? Is Garp's name no longer usable?
Even Shanks hid in Foosha Village for a year back then, and all those Marines knew about it, but they didn't do anything about it!
"How dare a mere noble from the Goa Kingdom send you people to my place to freeload?!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Dadan clenched her fist and slammed it hard against a nearby rock.
When her fist shattered the stone, Dadan was almost certain that if that old devil Garp had been standing in front of her, her punch would have landed squarely on Garp's face!
Who is Garp? He's someone even the Five Elders respect!
Compared to the Five Elders, what are those nobles of the Goa Kingdom anyway?
Because she understood the hierarchy behind everything, Dadan knew better than anyone that the guy who dared to drive away the villagers of Foosha Village had definitely violated the taboos of many people.
But now...
He kept promising himself that he would eventually punch Garp, who couldn't even protect his own neighbor.
She said this through gritted teeth to the people of Foosha Village.
"Hey, you bunch of guys, I don't have much food here!"
Besides, I don't keep idle people here!
Since you want to hide here for a while, I'll try my best to support you during that time.
As for yourselves, hey!
Find some work you can do and work your butts off!
If Garp's name really becomes unusable, then the dangers you all will face in the future are far too many!
At this point, Dadan ignored the villagers' answers and went back to her small house, frowning as she pondered.
Dadan had already read the newspaper about Garp losing to Gawain.
Therefore, Dadan inevitably connects everything that has happened recently with the news that Garp lost.
On the other hand, in the Foosha Village.
In Stelly's eyes, those lowly villagers were all like puppets, completely controlled by his own wisdom.
Before, seeing the villagers' greedy looks, countless thoughts had crossed Stelly's mind!
On the one hand, Stelly was deeply moved by the supreme power, after Stelly, he had never had such a position before!
Back then, Stelly was just the son of an ordinary coachman. Even if that coachman was the king's coachman, he was still just the son of a coachman!
But later, when Outlook III, Stelly's adoptive father, became increasingly frustrated with his son.
Stelly's chance has arrived!
On one hand, Stelly's father was driving a carriage, taking the King of the Goa Kingdom to hunt in the forest.
A group of vicious pirates set their sights on the king!
Thus, the king suffered a considerable attack, and Stelly's father died in the attack.
He became a hero and caught the king's eye.
On the other hand, Outlook III, who was hunting with the king and rescued that day, also received help from Pops Stelly!
It seems to be the work of fate, anyway.
After this experience, Stelly's Pops was given a grand funeral by the king as a hero.
A ridiculous idea suddenly occurred to Outlook III.
He suddenly realized that since his eldest son, his biological son Sabo, had become an irredeemable... fool who had broken away from the aristocracy due to excessive kindness and foolish belief in freedom.
So why can't you adopt a child who is worthy of your family?
And so, Outlook III took Stelly, who had lost his father, into his home.
At that time, Sabo was Stelly's nominal brother, but in the eyes of all the nobles, Sabo was a fool who fraternized with commoners and spouted righteousness and morality!
If Sabo had never disappeared, he, possessing the bloodline inheritance, might have had the potential to suppress his adopted son Stelly.
But Sabo inexplicably went to sea!
Even... after setting sail, he encountered the Celestial Dragon had come to the Goa Kingdom...
In short, Stelly seemed to be blessed with good fortune in some ways.
He was very intelligent from a young age, and even before he was ten, he had the desire to compete with Sabo for favor and try to inherit the Outlook Family.
But before he could use any means, Sabo sent it himself...
And after Sabo disappeared, that is, after Sabo was killed by the Celestial Dragon...
While respecting Sabo's parents, Stelly secretly planned to kill Sabo's father after he came of age, thus inheriting the future Outlook Family.
But before he reached adulthood and was determined to begin his own plan...
Right now, in the last few months.
Grand Duke Outlook III suddenly fell ill...
Feeling seriously ill, Stelly was thus unwittingly forced into a political marriage by Outlook III and the King of the Goa Kingdom.
Stelly, who has been trying to win over the princess recently, has no idea that about four and a half years from now...
As Stelly's ambition grew to the point that he wanted to kill the king and prince of the Goa Kingdom and seize the throne.
Before he could even make his plans, the King and Prince of the Goa Kingdom both fell seriously ill and died one after the other, leading to his inexplicable inheritance of the Goa Kingdom...
In other words, from beginning to end, Stelly, that scoundrel, harbored countless malicious intentions.
But before he could actually put his evil intentions into action, everything that stood in his way lost its chance to stop him.
The future Stelly may feel wronged, and even the current Stelly may feel somewhat wronged.
Those plans that could have showcased his abilities were inexplicably taken over by fate before they could even be implemented!
They clearly wanted to do bad things, but ended up not even having the right to do them.
He got what he should have learned through painful lessons, without ever having to do anything...
This is why the future Stelly once boasted in Mary Geoise that he was a chosen one favored by the devil...
Indeed, it is true; he may truly be a man favored by the devil.
But at this moment, Stelly had no idea that if this man favored by the devil were to encounter the real devil...
What will happen to him then?
Time passed slowly, and seventeen days had gone by since Gawain left Shimotsuki Village.
Because he had taken a detour from Syrup Village, Gawain ended up taking a longer route and arrived near Foosha Village later than planned.
However, for Gawain, taking a slightly longer route was certainly worthwhile.
He only traveled for an extra ten days or so, but Zoro, the future Pirate King's absolute right-hand man, had already obediently come aboard his ship!
Even though Gawain was quite composed, he couldn't help but occasionally glance at Zoro and smile knowingly during the days the ship traveled to Foosha Village.
Everyone assumed that Gawain's smile was because he had discovered a fine swordsman.
Who would have thought that his smile stemmed from his betrayal of fate?
Meanwhile, in the Foosha Village.
With the help of over 300 Four-Handed Tribe architects, the Foosha Village, which had been demolished not long ago, was completely transformed in just 15 days.
At this moment, the casual yet vibrant atmosphere of the Foosha Village has completely disappeared.
Instead, a group of nobles led by Stelly and the workers built the Spa Palace!
The reason for using hot springs is that the construction of hot springs takes more than ten times longer than the construction of a palace.
By placing the main building on top of the hot spring and emphasizing its luxuriousness, the low-rise palace can be made to appear almost invisible.
In short, when Stelly stood in the original Foosha Village, which is now the Hot Springs Palace, and saw the majestic Dark Bird Flag gradually emerging from the distant sea.
Stelly gritted his teeth in excitement as he spoke expectantly to his men, including the princess who stood silently to the side.
"Haha, it looks like the Celestial Dragon have arrived!"
By the Sea God, that is truly the largest ship I have ever seen. It is indeed worthy of being the flagship of the Celestial Dragon!
Someone, bring water to a boil, so that our newly built palace may come to life!
This is our gift to Lord Celestial Dragon! This gift must satisfy Lord Celestial Dragon, or I'll commit seppuku with you all in front of Celestial Dragon!!!
At this point, the people around him immediately became solemn, and before long, wisps of smoke rose from all the ponds of the hot spring palace.
Feeling the heat surrounding me.
Enjoying the lazy feeling brought by the heat.
Stelly nodded in satisfaction, then looked expectantly at the approaching Dark Bird Ship!
Just like the unspeakable past, at this moment, Stelly felt that his future would become more exciting and noble because of his current plans.
Only...
On the Dark Bird Ship...
Gawain stood at the bow of the boat, reaching out to put his arm around Uta, who was sitting on his shoulder.
At the same time, he pointed in the direction of Foosha Village and spoke to Sabo and Ace.
"How about it, boys, and Uta too?"
You've finally returned home, and Uta has returned to the place where she used to play with her friends when she was a child.
Before long, you will see the windmills you've been waiting for, the windmills buried in your memories... windmills?
Why?!!"
Suddenly, Gawain's eyes widened slightly; he felt he might have misread it!
Or perhaps, the Dark Bird Ship simply took the wrong path!
Because in that place that should have been Foosha Village, the huge windmill that should have been a flag-shaped building was nowhere to be seen at all!
Instead, wisps of mist rose from the Foosha Village.