Roger and Rayleigh - The Pirate King and His Right Hand

The Heart Pirates continue cutting through Marines to flee the auction house, only to stumble into the wounded Kid crew, most of whom Kuma has already battered. Spotting Law at once, the Warlord strikes, but Law slips the blow. With Marines pressing from behind, Kid and Law, no friends of each other, brace to take on Kuma together. Over in Grove 8, Peterman lies beaten after the Rosy Life Riders joined the Straw Hats to punish him for grabbing Camie earlier; once Camie's backpack is returned, the Riders pledge support until the crew departs, then everyone heads back to Shakky's so Hachi can have his gunshot wound tended.

While there, Rayleigh discloses his bond with Roger, stunning the crew, though Hachi had long known and simply never mentioned it. Rayleigh recounts how Hachi once rescued him as a boy, a friendship that lasted until the fish-man fell in with Arlong. When Sanji wonders why Rayleigh survived if Roger's crew was seized, Rayleigh explains that Roger surrendered of his own will; the government merely dressed it up as a capture to flaunt its power. Four years ahead of his death, Roger had been told he carried an incurable illness, so the crew recruited Crocus at the start of the Grand Line to keep it managed.

Three years on, they had finished crossing the Grand Line. This astonishes everyone, Brook above all, since Crocus had once mentioned serving as a pirate doctor; the crew Crocus had hoped to track down, the Straw Hats reason, can only have been Brook's old Rumbar Pirates, which leaves him in tears. Crowned Pirate King after conquering the sea, Roger held a hollow title given his nearing death, yet he relished it as a man who lived for grandeur. He later let his crew disband, each member vanishing to an unknown fate.

A year afterward, Roger walked into the Marines' hands, and they staged a public execution meant to scare every pirate alive. Roger had his own design, telling Rayleigh as a parting line that he would not die. From the scaffold his famous words launched the era of pirates that endures. Rayleigh adds that Shanks and Buggy once apprenticed aboard Roger's ship, and that Shanks crossed paths with him a decade back, speaking of a boy named Luffy who echoed their old captain's words. The scene cuts to Grove 27, where a departing pirate crew watches a distant ship fire a cannonball with a man riding it; the figure landing among them is Kizaru, who waits on his Den Den Mushi for instructions.

At the bar, Rayleigh praises Luffy for reaching this far and volunteers to coat the ship at no charge. Robin raises the Void Century, mentioning Roger's note carved into the Skypiea Poneglyph, and Rayleigh confirms the Roger Pirates uncovered the entire history, yet urges her to keep searching alone and perhaps reach fresh conclusions. He offers to tell her outright, but Robin declines, taking his counsel to heart. Roger, Rayleigh notes, could not read everything as Clover or the Ohara scholars did; instead he simply heard the voice of all things. When Usopp starts pressing about One Piece, Luffy cuts him off, insisting the treasure's mystery stay sealed since countless pirates stake their lives chasing it, and he threatens to quit piracy rather than join a dull adventure stripped of its riddle.

This installment marks the moment audiences finally glimpse the entire face of Gol D. Roger. After Usopp apologizes, Rayleigh asks whether Luffy can truly conquer the Grand Line, and Luffy answers that he aims not to rule it but to become the freest person at sea, which is what the Pirate King truly is, drawing smiles from Rayleigh and Shakky. The coating will take three days, during which the crew must steer clear of trouble, so they choose to split up and pull attention from the shop. Shakky hands each of them a Vivre Card to find their way back, and Rayleigh moves the Thousand Sunny somewhere safer. Bidding their friends goodbye, the crew heads back into the groves just as the Marines close in; at Grove 27 a warship nears, fires its cannons, and Admiral Kizaru descends atop one in a blast that paralyzes the lawless crowd with fear before he radios Marine Headquarters and awaits a reply.