Time flies, and three years have passed in the blink of an eye. Without Vic providing the text from the fourth road sign, the Straw Hat Pirates is indeed still wandering around in the first half of the Grand Line!
They sailed all seven routes in the first half of the journey, and even occupied a lot of territory in the New World. Who told them to stay away from the New World? The underlings they had gathered in Dressrosa were no match for Kid and Kid's deliberate encroachment!
Eight years after gaining the ability to teleport, Vic has almost mastered the Law of Space. Compared to his previous understanding of the Law of Lightning and Law of Speed and Slowness, this is already quite fast!
This speed is largely due to the fact that Vic is already God Realm powerhouse. As the saying goes, "the higher you stand, the farther you can see," and from the very beginning, his development has been focused on the Law of Space, without taking any detours, so speed is inevitable!
We're just waiting for Vic to have a flash of inspiration and achieve perfect mastery of the Law of Space!
In contrast, Luffy, Yamato, Ace, and Nami are still on the path of comprehending the Laws. Even Nami, who is practically fed by the heavens, still hasn't had enough time to develop in three or four years!
Even the greatest talent has its limits. There are indeed people who attain enlightenment overnight, but they all spend a lot of time studying and researching before they achieve it. So even comprehending the Laws is not something that can be done in one fell swoop!
Vic estimates that in a few more years, Nami will be the first person to break through to the God Realm, even Luffy, who doesn't have combat support, will be far behind!
Following closely behind should be Dragon and Aokiji. Dragon knows the truth about the God Realm, so he is even more anxious!
Aokiji had been working on improving his freezing abilities, following Vic's advice. Having witnessed Imu's power, he wouldn't slack off anymore, but time was still too short, and he was getting on in years!
As for the others on the high seas? They just felt that the Grand Line had become much calmer in the past few years, and it was no longer as chaotic and wild as it was when Roger and Whitebeard died!
Little did they know that this was merely the calm before the storm. Beneath the calm surface, a massive war was brewing, one that could engulf the entire world. When the waves of history crashed down upon them, they would be crushed to dust!
"Hey! Luffy! Why are you calling me at this hour?"
Vic awoke from his reverie about the Laws, only to be woken by a phone call from Luffy. In the past three years, Luffy had practically turned the first half of the Grand Line upside down!
Vic guesses that Luffy is about to wreak havoc on the New World. It's only because they made such a big commotion that Imu and the World Government stopped bothering Sun God Nika!
Since the Straw Hat Boy didn't find the fourth Road Pose, he's no threat. His abilities are just Devil Fruit Awakening, and as long as he doesn't break through to the God Realm, Imu really doesn't care about this half-finished Sun God!
" Vic! I found the fourth Road Poneglyph! I can go to Laugh Tale now! Hahaha!"
"What did you say?"
Just as Vic was wondering what Luffy wanted to do by calling, the voice coming from the phone startled him, making Vic wonder if he was hallucinating.
What did he hear? Luffy actually said he found the fourth Road Poneglyph? Is that even possible? Weren't they destroyed by Roger and Oden? How did it suddenly reappear?
Does this make sense? You went to all that trouble to hide the contents of the fourth road sign on Red-Hair ' back, just to trick me, Vic, at this moment? Are you trying to fool me into thinking I 'Imu?
Vic now strongly suspects that the tattoo on Red-Hair' back and Oden's nautical log were both prepared by those two guys for the World Government!
With so many people on the Oro Jackson, why was Red-Hair Celestial Dragons, chosen? Couldn't they have chosen Buggy? Or Rayleigh and the others? If there's any ulterior motive involved, then no, they simply wouldn't have chosen him!
Only Red-Hair ' background allowed the World Government to obtain this information, leading them to believe that the fourth Road Poneglyph had been destroyed, and then they could comfortably enjoy their newfound freedom, no longer paying attention to the turmoil on the high seas!
Since no one can go to Laugh Tale to learn the truth about the Void Century, there's no need for strict security. Why not let the true chosen one take advantage of the chaos and steal something from the situation?
Vic felt like he'd been caught in the crossfire for Imu, ruining everyone's plans! Was this just a case of the butterfly effect?
Roger and Oden's plan to fish in troubled waters failed, as did Vic's plan to delay the war. Joy Boy's plan to reveal the truth about the Void Century and unite allies to besiege the World Government is also likely to fall through!
Because they couldn't sneak off to Laugh Tale, they would definitely face severe repercussions from Imu, and there simply wasn't time to reveal the truth about the Void Century to the world!
The only beneficiaries were Imu and the World Government. Vic took the fall for them, but ended up suffering the consequences himself. Is this a classic case of being too clever for one's own good?
" Luffy! Where did you find the fourth Road Pose?"
Vic snapped out of his daze and asked with a heavy heart, "Luffy has practically searched the entire Grand Line, hasn't he? Of all times, he had to find it just when Luffy was about to master the Law of Space. His luck is unbelievable, and his bad luck is just too much!"
Vic had the feeling that God was playing a joke on him, like Buddha watching Monkey Sun somersault in his palm Tathagata a smile. This feeling was terrible and very frustrating!
"The back mountain of Loguetown! I sensed it when I was resupplying in Loguetown on my way back to the Grand Line from Foosha Village. There was also a sword with that road sign. Zoro said it was a very famous Supreme Great Grade Sword, and it even has the exact same name as Ace, hahaha!"
Luffy was extremely excited. He had been at sea for ten years, and now he could finally go to Laugh Tale to fulfill his dream. Just thinking about it made him excited. Even Vic could hear the emotion in Luffy's cheerful smile!
Why are you back in Foosha Village at this time?
"Grandpa Village Chief has passed away. I'm going back to see him one last time. He took good care of me when I was little!"
At this point, Luffy, who was somewhat excited, lowered his voice. When he was a child, Garp left him to grow up in Foosha Village. He was always taken care of by the old village chief and Makino, so they naturally had a very good relationship!
However, the old village chief was already quite old when Luffy was a child, and now Luffy is almost thirty years old. The old village chief is quite old to have lived this long!
Vic understood: the old village chief of Foosha Village was seriously ill, beyond cure, and had somehow contacted Luffy through Garp or someone else.
Feeling grateful for the care he received as a child, Luffy rushed back to Foosha Village in the East Blue to see him off. Later, while resupplying in Loguetown on the Grand Line, he sensed the presence of the Poneglyph through his Voice of All Things. After that, he found the fourth Road Poneglyph buried in the back mountain of Loguetown and the Supreme Great Grade Sword Ace!
All Vic could say was that the old village chief's illness came at the worst possible time, and no one even came to tell him. Otherwise, he could have done his part to save him, and at the very least, the old village chief could have lived a few more years!
Surprisingly, no one contacted him. Did they all really think he couldn't save someone on their deathbed? This was incredibly unlucky, and the timing was too perfect. It was almost like fate, stopping him just as he was about to reach the pinnacle of his Law of Space?
Vic sighed, knowing he couldn't stop Laugh Tale from Luffy Laugh Tale, just like the old man couldn't stop Luffy sail as a pirate!
This is Luffy's obsession; otherwise, he wouldn't have searched for the Road Sign on the Grand Line for so many years. Now that he's found it, you're not letting him go? Luffy would probably do everything he could to go. Forcibly stopping him? In the end, it might even strain the relationship between the two sides!
"Please accept my condolences, old village chief. You've lived to a ripe old age. Congratulations on finding the final signpost; your efforts weren't in vain. Perhaps even the heavens were moved by your story!"
Vic changed his tone and said, "What else is there to say now? We can only congratulate Luffy!"