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Gai didn't need to ask his father where they were going that morning. Ever since they left the house, Volume Thirteen had been the only thing on his mind.
A full month had passed since he closed the final page of Volume Twelve, and a month since he had watched his older counterpart standing beside a student named Rock Lee.
And today, at last, the story would begin moving again.
Gai entered the Art Store beside his father, and the place was already beginning to fill up. The sounds of pages turning mixed with quiet conversations, while the new copies of Volume Thirteen were quickly disappearing from the shelves.
But Gai didn't care much about any of that.
The moment Dai picked up a copy of the new volume, Gai moved so close that he was practically clinging to his arm.
"Dad, open it quickly! I don't want to wait until we get home!"
Dai laughed loudly at his son's excitement.
"Hahaha! It seems your burning youth can't wait until we get home, Gai!"
"Of course it can't! We've already waited an entire month!"
The two sat down in one corner of the store, and the moment Dai opened the volume, Gai leaned closer, fixing his eyes on the first page.
At that moment, the sounds of the store gradually faded from his awareness.
The chapter began.
[— Manga Scene —]
After Shikamaru and Temari's match ended, Naruto was still angry over Shikamaru's sudden decision to surrender despite having successfully caught his opponent.
"Why'd you give up?!"
But Shikamaru didn't seem interested in continuing an argument over a match that was already over.
"At this point, what does it matter? Let's go watch the next match, okay?"
Naruto paused for a moment before suddenly remembering what the next match meant.
"Oh… the next match is…"
His eyes widened, and an excited grin appeared on his face.
"Sasuke!!"
Elsewhere in the arena, two Konoha shinobi stood near one of the entrances, while the person everyone was waiting for remained absent.
Sasuke still hadn't arrived.
In the stands, Sakura was also staring anxiously toward the arena.
"He's still not here…"
Meanwhile, two more figures were approaching the arena entrance.
Might Gai.
And beside him was the injured Rock Lee, walking with difficulty while supporting himself with a crutch.
Gai raised his arms with his usual enthusiasm as he led his student forward.
"Alright! Let's go, Lee!"
Lee raised a hand in salute despite his injuries.
"Roger, Gai-sensei!!"
But the moment they reached the entrance, the two shinobi stationed there noticed them.
One of them recognized Gai before his attention shifted to the injured boy beside him.
"Oh! You're…"
The two guards welcomed them and allowed them inside, while one began explaining what had happened in the matches during their absence.
"Almost all of the first-round battles have concluded…"
He continued before revealing the only remaining match.
"The only one remaining is Uchiha Sasuke versus Gaara!"
Lee listened in silence.
Then something seemed to suddenly occur to him.
He stopped.
"Wh-what about Naruto and Neji's battle?!"
One of the shinobi smiled.
"That's the interesting thing."
Then he told Lee the result he never expected to hear.
"Hyuga lost…"
Lee froze in place.
For several moments, he said nothing as he processed what those words meant.
Naruto had defeated Neji.
Naruto's face appeared in his mind—the boy who had faced Neji after Lee himself had lost to Gaara.
Lee lowered his head slightly.
"I see…"
Then he raised it again, a small but sincere smile appearing on his face.
"Nice work… Naruto!!"
Gai stood behind his student, silently watching him.
Then a warm smile appeared on his face.
"Lee, you are such a great kid…"
[— End Scene —]
Young Gai continued staring at the page even after the scene ended, his fingers remaining still at its edge without attempting to turn it.
Strangely, Sasuke wasn't the first thing on his mind.
Nor was it Gaara, despite their confrontation being the match everyone had spent the entire month waiting for.
Instead, he was looking at only one person.
'That's me… or rather, that's my counterpart when he's older.'
His counterpart had appeared before him on the manga pages once again.
Older, stronger, wearing the uniform of a Konoha shinobi, and most importantly, once again standing beside the boy whose name young Gai had come to know very well throughout the previous volumes.
Rock Lee.
This time, his counterpart wasn't fighting.
He didn't open any of the Gates.
He didn't display his speed, nor did he do anything that would make the other readers stop and marvel at his strength.
He was simply walking beside his injured student.
Gai raised his eyes slightly toward his father sitting beside him, then quickly returned them to the page without saying anything.
'Lee was injured that badly against Gaara, and yet when he wanted to return to watch the matches, my counterpart was there with him.'
It seemed like an incredibly simple thought.
But for some reason Gai couldn't quite identify, it made something warm spread through his chest.
'So I didn't leave him alone.'
His gaze settled on Lee again.
The crutch helping him walk, the bandages still covering his injuries, and the body that had yet to recover from his brutal battle against Gaara.
Yet Lee's injuries weren't what caught Gai's attention the most in the scene.
It was his reaction when he learned the result of Naruto and Neji's match.
Young Gai understood very well by now what Neji meant to Lee.
He had read about Lee's desire to prove that hard work could defeat genius, and he had seen for himself just how important that belief was to him.
But Lee had failed to defeat Neji.
And after that, he had lost to Gaara as well.
Now he had returned to the arena injured, only to discover that Naruto had accomplished the very thing Lee himself had been unable to do.
He had defeated Neji.
'If I were in his place… how would I feel?'
Gai's eyes lowered slightly.
It was easy for him to imagine jealousy.
Or frustration.
Perhaps even bitterness toward the person who had succeeded in accomplishing something he had spent so long trying to achieve.
But Lee did none of those things.
He wasn't angry that Naruto had defeated Neji before him.
He didn't say it was unfair.
And he didn't allow his own previous defeat to stop him from acknowledging someone else's victory.
He simply smiled.
And congratulated him sincerely.
'Nice work… Naruto.'
Gai repeated the words in his mind before his eyes slowly moved toward the final scene.
Toward his counterpart.
The older Gai was looking at Lee with a warm smile.
"Lee, you are such a great kid…"
This time, the words came from Dai.
His father had read the sentence aloud in a low voice while looking at the page, and then a broad smile appeared on his face.
"Haha…"
Young Gai turned toward him.
Dai was still looking at the final scene, that familiar smile never leaving his face.
But Gai felt that his father understood something he himself had yet to understand.
"Dad, why did my counterpart say that to him?"
Dai looked at him.
"What do you mean, Gai?"
Gai pointed directly at the final scene.
"He told Lee that he's a great kid. But Lee didn't do anything in this scene, right? He only found out that Naruto defeated Neji."
Dai looked at the page again.
He didn't answer immediately.
Gai, meanwhile, returned his attention to Lee.
To the bandage on his cheek.
To the crutch in his hand.
To his injured body after his defeat against Gaara.
And then to the smile that appeared on his face when he learned that Naruto had succeeded in defeating Neji.
The answer slowly began forming on its own in his mind.
'Wait… is that why?'
Lee hadn't won.
And he still hadn't proven that hard work could defeat genius.
In fact, he was the one who had lost, while Naruto had managed to accomplish what Lee himself had wanted to achieve.
And yet, he was still able to smile for him.
'He didn't look at Naruto's victory as though something had been taken away from him.'
Gai's eyes widened slightly.
He finally understood why his counterpart was looking at Lee that way.
'He was genuinely happy for him.'
It wasn't about strength.
Nor victory.
Not even the match itself.
It was about the kind of person Lee had become despite everything that had happened to him.
A slow smile appeared on young Gai's face.
'Now I understand why you said that to him.'
Dai, who had been watching his son's expressions change, didn't need to explain anything.
He raised a hand and placed it on Gai's head.
"Looks like you figured it out yourself."
Gai looked up at his father before breaking into a wide grin.
"Yeah!"
He quickly returned his attention to the manga.
But before turning the page, he looked once more at his older counterpart.
'So this is what I'll be like as a teacher.'
He didn't know when he would meet Rock Lee.
He didn't know how that boy would become his student.
And he didn't know what would happen between them for him to eventually look at Lee that way.
But the previous volumes had begun painting a small picture for him, piece by piece.
He had seen his counterpart train Lee.
He had seen him trust Lee.
And he had seen how far he was willing to go to protect his student after his battle with Gaara.
But now, he had seen something much simpler.
'I'm there beside him.'
Young Gai didn't know why that thought made him so happy.
But he didn't try to understand it any further.
His eyes settled one last time on Lee's smile, then on the smile of his counterpart in the following scene.
'Rock Lee…'
A wider smile spread across his face.
'You really are a great kid.'
And finally, Gai turned the page.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 240: Sasuke's Teacher.
Chapter 241: I Want to Fight You Too!
Chapter 242: Monster of the Sand
Chapter 243: Mother…
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Announcement:
After a hiatus of more than five months, I've decided to return to Creating Manga of One Piece with Book II, published as a new book! Thank you to everyone who's been waiting for this series to return. I'll share the link when the second book launches. It's time to set sail again! 🏴☠️
01/11/2026⏳