Shanks used his only remaining right hand to press down on Luffy's head and vigorously rubbed the fluffy head.
"Stop crying. It's just an arm, it's not your fault."
"But--"
Luffy.
Shanks interrupted him, his tone suddenly becoming serious, his voice weak but every word clear.
Do you know why you were angry yesterday at the tavern when that bandit broke the wine bottle?
Why is it that everyone else isn't angry, but you're the only one who jumped up and yelled at me?
Luffy sniffled, unable to speak.
"Because you consider me a friend."
Shanks grinned, a pale yet radiant smile.
"If your friend is bullied, you should get angry."
"If a friend is in danger, you should risk your life to save them. You were angry for me yesterday, so I'll save you today."
This isn't called being tough—this is called loyalty.
Luffy looked up, his eyes blurry with tears, at Shanks's pale yet still smiling face.
But your hands...
"Can hands grow back if they're gone?" Shanks tilted his head.
"No way!" Luffy cried even harder.
"That's fine then. Since it can't grow back, crying won't help."
Instead of crying, remember today.
Remember how you lost this arm, remember that you must carry this burden until you become strong enough that you no longer need anyone to cut off your arm for you.
Luffy's tears fell in and out, but he didn't burst into loud sobs.
His lips were trembling, but his eyes were fixed on Shanks, as if trying to etch those words into his very bones.
Shanks' gaze softened upon seeing his expression.
He stretched out his right hand and took off the Straw Hat from his head.
That straw Straw Hat, passed down from Roger to Shanks, accompanied him through most of the Grand Line, witnessing countless life-or-death battles.
The brim of the hat had long been worn and frayed by the sea breeze, but the main body of the Straw Hat remained sturdy.
He held the Straw Hat in both hands—he only had one hand left, so he could only hold it with one hand—and gently placed it on Luffy's head. The Straw Hat was too big, and it slid down, covering most of Luffy's face, leaving only a swollen, red chin visible.
"I'll leave this straw Straw Hat with you for now."
Shanks ' voice was soft, but everyone present heard it clearly.
"Give it back to me the day you become a great pirate, the Pirate King."
Luffy kept his head down, his Straw Hat obscuring his entire face, so his expression was hidden.
He slowly raised his hands, gripping the edge of his Straw Hat tightly, his small knuckles turning white from the force.
His shoulders were trembling violently, not from crying, not from fear, but from an overwhelming determination welling up from the depths of his soul that he could not suppress.
Then he looked up, revealing a tear-streaked face beneath his Straw Hat, but those eyes—and the burning intensity in them—made everyone present gasp.
That wasn't an impulsive vow from a child.
That was an unwavering resolve on which a person staked their entire life.
"I will definitely become the Pirate King!!!"
Luffy's shouts echoed across the entire coastline, startling a flock of seabirds from the woods behind the beach into flight.
"I will become the strongest Pirate King on this great sea! And then I will return this straw Straw Hat to you! I swear!!"
Shanks looked into those eyes, into that small face hidden by the shadow of the straw Straw Hat, and saw the burning determination within.
His lips slowly curved into a smile, a smile that contained satisfaction, expectation, and a profound depth that only those who have experienced the passing down of tradition can understand.
"Okay. I'll wait."
Ace stood a few steps away, watching his younger brother with an excessively large Straw Hat on his head, his face covered in tears and snot, yet gritting his teeth and loudly swearing an oath.
His clenched fist slowly loosened, the bloodstains left by his nails on his palm still clearly visible, but a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
That idiot is finally starting to look decent.
Kuina stood not far behind Ace, her hands gripping the wooden sword tightly, her knuckles white.
Her eyes were fixed on Luffy, on his straw Straw Hat, on the large pool of blood on the beach that hadn't dried yet, and on Shanks's bare left shoulder.
Then her gaze shifted to Roy, who was standing not far in front of her.
Roy stood on the shore the whole time, his feet on the line where the sand met the grass, without moving an inch.
He looked in the direction of the fleeing Lord of the Coast on the sea, then at the blood-soaked sand on the beach, his expression calm to the point of indifference.
But Kuina noticed.
There was no surprise in Roy's eyes.
There was no shock, no regret, no emotional fluctuation that one would expect from a sudden event.
The way he looked at all of this was as if he were watching a play whose ending he already knew.
Every turning point, every climax, and every ending was exactly as he had predicted.
Kuina suddenly remembered what Roy had said before.
"I'm going to take you to meet a future Pirate King."
She initially thought it was just a metaphor, a joke, something an adult would say to tease a child.
But now she finally understands.
She watched Luffy kneeling on the beach, his disproportionately large Straw Hat swaying on his head.
Watching the tears and vows of that six-year-old child after experiencing fear, despair, and being rescued.
Then she looked at Roy.
Roy was facing the sea with his back to everyone, his hands in his pockets.
His shadow stretched long in the setting sun, and the sea breeze gently lifted the hem of his clothes.
Kuina couldn't see his expression, but she noticed his shoulder twitch slightly.
The movement was very light, like a long exhale.
Is it relief? Or anticipation? Or something else entirely?
Kuina didn't know. But she knew something else.
Shanks's loss of an arm was not an accident.
It's impossible for a powerful individual capable of facing Roy head-on to have their arm bitten off by a Sea Kings from the East Blue.
They could have avoided it, but chose not to; they could have remained unharmed, but chose to pay the price with an arm.
This was not an accident, but a choice.
for what?
Kuina's gaze returned to the Straw Hat on Luffy's head.
For this reason.
To let this six-year-old child see firsthand how much a strong person is willing to pay to protect someone important.
To make this vow heavy enough to crush all of a child's options.
In order to plant a seed called " Pirate King " deep into the soul of this little boy with blood and flesh.
Kuina lowered her eyelids, and slowly loosened her grip on the wooden sword.
She thought of her father.
I remember her father, trembling as he held her in his arms outside the warehouse on a rainy night.
Her father kept suppressing her dreams with phrases like "girls can't become Great Swordsman," and she always thought he was denying her.
But now she suddenly understood—
The father was afraid. He was afraid she would die at sea, afraid she would get hurt, afraid she would never come back.
But Shanks is different. Shanks didn't Luffy away from the sea.
Instead, he used his own severed arm to push the child even more forcefully toward the path of becoming the Pirate King.
Two kinds of protection, the same love, but in completely opposite ways.
Kuina took a deep breath and looked up at Roy's retreating figure.
"Mr. Roy."
She silently said one sentence in her heart.
Thank you for bringing me here.
She thought she finally understood why Roy had taken a detour to the East Blue.
Why stay in this small village?
Why make her watch a six-year-old child's vow emerge from a sob?
Some things, you'll never truly believe until you see them with your own eyes.