Chapter 184: The Terminator of Face Blindness
Squinty eyes did not automatically mean someone was a hidden monster.
Sometimes it just meant a tea loving man had cried himself half to death.
Roy stared at Chaton without the slightest apology, and without even the decency of looking smug.
Some battles really were fought in silence.
Neither side gave an inch.
So Roy calmly landed another critical hit by reaching over and grabbing the hand of the woman beside him.
Crack Crack Crack.
Heartbroken?
Then break harder.
Roy was practically doing charity work. Curing tea addiction, one emotional fracture at a time.
Tokikake had tried to visit Gion a hundred times. Unfortunately, he failed every single time.
Not one success.
Did he really think the one hundred and first attempt would suddenly unlock some motivational miracle?
Dream on.
If someone rejects you that many times, it usually means one of two things. They either have no feelings for you, or your approach is so wrong it hurts to watch.
In short, the best solution was simple.
Make it easy to pack up and store away.
Tokikake being "special" did not mean he actually knew how to win Gion's heart.
Roy was doing him a favor. He gave Gion a place to belong, and spared Tokikake from suffering any longer.
Sigh. That was just who Roy was.
Too softhearted.
"Gion… when did you… get… a boyfriend?" Tokikake stared at them like his soul had been kicked loose. "Who is he…?"
"Stop messing around." Gion shot Roy a glare and quickly pulled her hand back.
They had already discussed it.
Roy had a deep connection with Charlotte Linlin, the pirate known to the world as Big Mom.
Even if Gion truly accepted Roy and wanted to build a future with him, it would be best to keep it hidden from the Navy and the World Government for now.
A man tied to the female Pirate King, together with a female Marine admiral candidate.
Just thinking about it made Gion's instincts scream.
Danger that came straight from Mary Geoise.
Luckily, the world still did not know Roy's true identity.
As long as they were careful around the Navy and Cipher Pol in the future, it should not become a disaster.
Still…
Tokikake was suffering even more now.
What had started as a statue getting kicked apart became far worse the moment Gion said, "Stop messing around."
Anyone with eyes could tell those two were close.
And the way she pulled her hand away did not look like disgust. It looked like a woman teasing a man, with a bit of sweet irritation mixed in.
If their relationship was not that good, how could she tug free so casually, with no real panic, and with that faint, soft edge in her scolding?
Gion's heart tightened.
This was her first relationship. Next time, she would definitely be more careful.
For now, he was her boyfriend.
Right now, Tokikake felt like he had been slammed into the ground and shattered, then someone patted the wreckage and said, "Next time, be careful next time."
"Ah… hahaha…" Tokikake forced an awkward laugh, polite and hollow at the same time. Tragic.
"I… wait." He blinked hard. "The Golden Lion is dead, right?"
Gion never expected Tokikake, who had been rejected by her dozens of times without even blinking, to end up like this now.
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
In the end, she only nodded. "Dead."
"Good that he's dead… good that he's dead…"
Tokikake wandered off to the side. "Let's go check the body again. Make sure."
"Extra caution…"
"Huh?"
"The Golden Lion's body isn't in that direction," a vice admiral reminded him.
Tokikake froze, then snapped back, voice sharp. "I know!"
Did you really need to say it out loud?
...
"All right. Now that we have the Golden Lion's body, I won't stay any longer. I'm returning to Headquarters."
After exchanging greetings with the senior officers and their friends, Gion boarded her repaired warship and sailed away from the ruined archipelago.
On the island, among the crowd, Sanji waved gently toward the departing ship.
The other residents waved too, sending off Gion and the sailors under her command.
Roy's reason for leaving the East Blue this time was not just to nurture his relationship with Gion and to see Tsuru.
Later, he would also go visit Hancock on Amazon Lily.
He was a busy man.
After that, he would sail and train at the same time, then head into the New World, to Elbaf.
That nightmare had been too terrifying.
He did not want any of his women to be sad, or hurt, because of him.
He also wanted to see the old playmates who were still alive.
He wanted to see Linlin too, at the very least to give her something to look forward to, to show her that her brother truly cared, not just empty gestures.
Some things could only be understood by living through them, slowly turning someone who only talked into someone who truly grasped the weight behind the words.
Love required effort. It had to be returned with sincerity.
Roy intended to treat each of his wives sincerely.
He was terrified that dream would become reality.
...
As for Galette, Roy let her return to the Totto Land on her own.
If she stayed near Roy and Gion for too long, who knew when Gion, that shark, might execute Galette on the spot in the name of justice.
Sanji was still too young, so Roy planned to leave him with Luffy for now.
In any case, Roy had never intended to use Sanji for anything utilitarian, so he could not be bothered to sabotage Luffy's future.
...
On the island where Cocoyasi Village sat, a warship docked at the shore.
A man in a white suit and white top hat walked toward the orange grove with his hands in his pockets.
His hair was dyed black. He wore oversized round glasses, and a mask covered half his face.
"Excuse me," he said in a deliberately strained voice. "Is Nami here?"
Outside the grove, Nami sat on a rock with a book in both hands.
She looked up at the strange man, then sighed.
"Brother Roy, you actually look pretty good with black hair. You don't need to cover your face." She tilted her head, amused. "By the way, where did you dye it?"
"..."
Roy stared at her, helpless.
This was too boring.
Luffy couldn't recognize faces, but Nami knew him at a glance.
So in the future, Luffy's face blindness was probably because he had taken his eyesight and invested it all into taking beatings.
"How did you recognize me?" Roy asked, genuinely curious.
It was a solid disguise. Mask, dyed hair, even the voice.
"I guessed."
"..."
What a terrifying method.
Clearly, she just did not want to tell him the real reason.
"A woman's intuition," Nami said with a mischievous smile. "You wouldn't understand."
In truth, over these days, other than Uncle Gen, almost nobody came to the orange grove.
A disguised guy with a warped voice, suspicious height, and the same general build as Roy?
That alone was already enough to scream "obvious."
And yes, she also had her own instincts.
"Here," Roy said, finally giving up. He pulled off the hat, mask, and glasses. "A gift for you."
"What is it?" Nami asked, looking at the box in his hands.
"It's a specialty from somewhere your Brother Roy has never been to." Roy smiled.
He was about to see his old playmates, and some memories were more precious than anything tied to the people he used to know.
In the end, there was no comparison.
Meeting someone was always more important than reminiscing.
And there were things that were worth giving.
"Is this what you called a Sound Dial?" Nami opened the box and looked at him in surprise.
Could he really give her something so important, something that carried that many memories?
"My friendship with you is more important than that," Roy said softly.
"And you can recognize my voice inside it too."
...
Roy promised Nami he would come back and tell her those stories again.
And his mindset finally steadied.
Right now, he and Nami were close friends.
As for the future, what he would become, and how he would build everything from here…
He would take it one step at a time.
"Let go of utilitarianism."
Those were the words of the young Tsuru.
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