True Freedom

"Hm? What did you go do?"

"Nothing much. Say... is this how you spend every day? Doing nothing but drinking?"

"What are you talking about? Of course we have something to do! Aren't we keeping Shakky company?"

"Ohhh! Shakky's so beautiful!!"

After that brief interlude, Kaya returned to the tavern and sat down. Looking at the people around him lusting after Shakky, he was at a loss for words.

These guys... is following Shakky around their daily task? I don't get it.

"Haha! Now that's being real!" Rocks patted Kaya on the shoulder. "Love passionately, hate openly. Humanity's greatness lies in expression. A person's will can't be suppressed!"

"You could be a philosopher." Kaya glanced at Rocks, then looked at Shakky. "A drink, please."

"Is whiskey all right?" Shakky leaned over the counter on both hands and put a glass down.

Kaya took it and had a sip. He didn't usually drink much, and he was casual about alcohol: if he wanted some, he'd have a few sips; if he didn't, he wouldn't.

Just then, Shakky noticed something different about Rocks.

Although Rocks was drinking with a blissful expression, unlike the others, he wasn't admiring her beauty. He was lost in his own delight instead.

"What is it, Rocks? You look so satisfied, but your heart isn't here with me." Shakky leaned a little closer to him with a smile.

"That's true! A woman's intuition?" Charlotte Linlin burst into her distinctive "mamamama" laugh.

"Shut up! You're so loud! This is a top secret in every respect!" Rocks shouted.

"What is it?" Newgate asked, puzzled.

"You're too slow, Newgate. Rocks must have found a woman. He might even have a kid already!" Stussy gave a knowing smile.

"Oh." Newgate clearly didn't care and went on drinking by himself.

Something stirred in Kaya's mind, and he thought of Blackbeard.

What kind of expression would Rocks make if he knew Blackbeard would get Whitebeard killed later on? Now that I think about it, I really am curious.

Duang!!

Just then, the tavern door was flung open, and a group of people burst in.

"Shakky! We came to see you!" ×N

Kaya turned to look. He wondered who it was, and saw that Roger had brought his men.

"Roger! How many times do I have to tell you? This is my turf!" Rocks immediately stood up and confronted Roger.

"But this is Shakky's bar. You wouldn't want to fight me here either, would you? You porcupine!" Roger shouted defiantly, pressing his forehead against Rocks's.

"Wasn't there a long line outside?" someone in the tavern asked.

"When we came in, those guys outside had all fallen over. We thought you'd knocked them out," Gaban said with a shrug.

"Is that so?" Newgate glanced at Kaya.

"Roger!" Gloriosa lunged and threw herself at him. "You're just in time! I'm getting on your ship today!"

Roger looked disgusted, but he couldn't push Gloriosa off. Shakky asked where Rayleigh was, and Roger said he had stayed on the ship. Hearing that, Shakky looked as though she missed him.

Just then, Shakky suddenly felt dizzy and fell headfirst, startling everyone.

"Whoa! Why did Shakky collapse?!"

"Shakky! Are you all right?"

"Let me! I'll carry her to a doctor!"

"Get away from her, you guys!"

After Shakky suddenly collapsed, the group descended into chaos, nothing like the great pirates who ruled the seas.

Only Kaya knew that Shakky's lovesickness had flared up. She must have missed Rayleigh too much.

In any case, after a frantic scramble, Shakky was taken away by Gloriosa, who also came from Amazon Lily.

The mood in the tavern changed. The pirates who had just been in high spirits now looked like frostbitten eggplants, every one of them listless.

Roger was even worse. He had come specifically to drink with Shakky, and now he lay sprawled over a table, stuffing an empty bottle into his mouth. His eyes were dull and lifeless, and he looked as though he'd gone senile.

Watching everyone sigh and lament, Kaya suddenly said, "If Shakky were kidnapped, you'd probably lose the will to live."

His words ignited their anger.

That was a tactless thing to say. Their moods had already sunk, and hearing it, many members of the Rocks Pirates glared at him.

"Don't get too cocky, brat!" Shiki flew into a rage.

"Don't think you're so great just because you had a little match with Rocks. It's not your place to speak here," Maron said coldly.

"Hehehe~ We don't know where this guy came from, and now he's saying things like that. Maybe he's a government spy," Ochoku said with a chuckle, a drop of cold sweat on his forehead.

"No, from a certain point of view, what he said seems to be true!" John clutched his head in both hands. Whatever he was thinking, he looked close to breaking down.

Others spoke up after that, most of them displeased with Kaya's remark. Some even reached for their swords, seemingly ready to fight.

"Do you know why no one fights here? Because Shakky made it a rule. Since everyone's after this place, fighting is forbidden." Rocks was still smiling, but his eyes glinted fiercely. "So don't disrespect someone I like!"

A burst of Haki suddenly spread outward, black-and-red lightning crackling through the air. Many pirates turned pale, their legs going weak with fright!

The Haki wasn't directed at Kaya, but at the people who had just made their displeasure with him clear!

Kaya turned to look at Rocks, who grinned at him. "I brought you here for a drink. If you can't pay for it, put it on my tab for now."

"The freedom that belongs to pirates... is it saying whatever you want?" Kaya suddenly chuckled under his breath, as though he had learned something.

"That's right! Say whatever you want, do whatever you want, and don't concern yourself with any rules or anyone else. The person who lives most freely and enjoyably is the freest person on this sea!" Rocks laughed with delight, pleased that Kaya had come around.

Kaya had never considered what Rocks said. This world was, after all, different from the one he had lived in before, both in thought and in beliefs.

The power a person could exert was proportional to the strength of their own will.

The more resolute and extreme that will was, the more the Haki component would be three or four stories high, give or take.

If a person suffered a major setback, their strength might decline in the milder case; in the worst case, they might never recover.

Kaya thought of a good example close at hand.

Even decades later, Shakky didn't look all that much older, while Gloriosa, who was from the same era as her and would later become Granny Nyon, had shrunk into an old woman with a cane.

The difference between them was that Shakky had ended up with Rayleigh, the man she loved, and they had loved each other for decades.

But Roger, whom Gloriosa loved deeply, didn't like her at all and would eventually have a wife he truly loved.

Gloriosa lost her love, which was the same as losing her drive. When people lost their drive, their vitality changed. They grew uglier and aged faster.

Examples like this were everywhere in the world of pirates. Whether it was idealism or something else, that was how things were.

To accomplish something, the first step was to believe-to learn to believe, to believe that you could do it.

It was something Kaya had never considered, but understood.

"Rocks, for now, I don't plan to take your life." A faint smile appeared on Kaya's face.

"Should I save it for you, then? Don't change your mind so easily. At least try and see if you can do it!" Rocks laughed heartily.

The two exchanged a glance. No one else present understood what was going on, but only they knew that this encounter would only make things more interesting.