"Ace... Ace..."
The moment Luffy saw the headline in the newspaper, he completely lost it.
Anyone who had not experienced the bond they had formed in childhood could never understand the brotherhood sworn between the three of them. They were closer than blood brothers, the kind who would entrust their lives to one another.
After becoming a Supernova, Luffy had imagined what it would be like to run into Ace again out on the seas. But now, he suddenly learned that Ace had fallen into the Marines' hands and was about to be publicly executed. It would have been strange if he had not gone berserk.
"A ship, a ship... I have to go! I'm going to save Ace!" Luffy cried excitedly.
Shin smiled. "Save Ace? Do you know where he is right now? There are only a few days left until the public execution. This is the West Blue—even on the fastest ship, it'll be hard for you to make it in time."
"I'm going to save him!" Luffy lowered his head and declared firmly, flames blazing in his eyes.
Shin shrugged and pointed to a tree in the distance. "Fine, if you insist. I don't have a ship to give you, but I can send you across the sea. I can even help you infiltrate Impel Down. Go pluck a leaf from that tree."
Luffy's eyes immediately lit up. "Really?"
Without asking anything else, Luffy hurried over to the tree, plucked a leaf, and ran back.
"And then? What do I do next?"
Shin accepted the leaf with a smile and lightly tossed it into the sea. In an instant, the leaf expanded into a small boat roughly six meters across, floating on the water.
"That's amazing! How did you do that?" Luffy exclaimed in amazement at Shin's