Want to read ahead? Join my Patreon for only $7 to get early access to upcoming chapters!
> > Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations <<
----------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 59: I Am Your Uncle
Dragon's outstretched hand hovered in the air.
It was a hand with well-defined knuckles, full of power, and it carried an authority that was impossible to refuse.
However, Sabo's gaze went past this hand. He snapped his head around, looking back toward the Goa Kingdom.
A towering inferno burned the night sky red.
The stench of despair, carried on the wind, stung his skin.
"No..."
Sabo's voice trembled. He clenched his fists.
"I can't leave!"
"Ace and Luffy are still there! And... everyone in the Gray Terminal!"
He couldn't imagine what impulsive things his two idiotic brothers would do if he left.
He couldn't abandon those innocent people, struggling in the flames!
Hearing Sabo's refusal, Dragon wasn't surprised.
He calmly withdrew his hand, his gaze also turning to the burning kingdom.
"You don't need to worry."
His voice was steady, with an all-knowing calm.
"The fires were lit before my people arrived. And before you arrived, my men... had already headed into that sea of flames."
Dragon's tone was flat, as if stating a simple fact.
"Those who are carrying out the 'purification'... will themselves be 'purified'."
"The flames will be extinguished. The residents will be resettled."
Sabo whipped his head back. His pupils contracted violently as he stared at the man in disbelief.
This man... he knew everything that was happening in Goa Kingdom before he even arrived?
He even... already arranged for the aftermath?
An indescribable shock surged through Sabo's body.
He had thought he was fighting alone, a lone torchbearer in the dark.
But in front of this man, his desperate resistance... seemed so insignificant.
This man... had already laid a net... that covered the entire kingdom, or perhaps... the entire world!
An icy despair, a complete loss of faith in the noble and Celestial Dragon system, rose from his feet.
Yet, a flame of hope ignited in his chest. It was for the power and will this man displayed, a power strong enough to overturn everything.
Sabo no longer hesitated.
He took a deep breath, and bowed deeply, solemnly, to Dragon.
"I understand!"
A gentle, yet irresistible wind appeared, lifting his bowing body.
This wind was more condensed, more stable, than his own power.
It lifted Sabo, carried him across the sea, and set him down gently on the deck of the ghost-like Revolutionary Army ship.
"Yoo-hoo-hoo!"
The moment Sabo was steady, a man with exaggerated makeup and a disproportionately large head shimmied over, letting out a strange laugh.
"Dragon-boy, personally bringing a brat back! Did the sun rise in the west today, Hiii-haa!"
The "King of Okama," Ivankov, sized up Sabo, his fingers on his chin.
The other Revolutionary Army commanders on the ship also cast surprised glances.
They knew their leader too well.
This man was an eternal iceberg, always plotting to overturn the world.
Bringing a boy back to the ship?
This was a first!
"This kid..." one of the commanders said, his eyes sharp. "That wind just now... that wasn't a Devil Fruit ability, was it? It felt... different."
Ivankov's gaze landed precisely on the cyan, glowing ornament at Sabo's waist.
"Ooh? What's this shiny little thing? I've never seen one before! Let me see!"
He reached out to touch it.
Dragon's figure had appeared at the cabin door.
"Iva. Take him to my cabin."
"Eh? Dragon-boy, you..."
Ivankov wanted to say more, but after meeting Dragon's calm, flat gaze, he shrunk back.
"Fine, fine. Such a stingy man, Hiii-haa!"
Inside the cabin.
The decor was extremely simple. There was only a table, a chair, and a massive map on the wall, showing the Four Blues and the Grand Line.
The atmosphere... was suffocating.
Dragon sat in the only chair, his hands clas"ped in front of him, his deep gaze fixed on Sabo.
"Your name."
"...Sabo."
"A noble," Dragon's tone was flat. "Why would you oppose a Celestial Dragon? For that trash heap?"
"I'm not doing it for the trash heap!"
Sabo snapped his head up, flames lighting his blue eyes.
"I'm doing it to protect innocent people! To protect my two most important brothers!"
He clenched his fists. He told him everything: his hatred for the "cage" of nobility, his yearning for true "freedom," and his experience on Mt. Colubo with Ace and Luffy, and how they had become sworn brothers.
"That place... that's where I belong! Ace and Luffy... they are my real family!"
"I did all of this... just to protect them!"
When the name "Luffy" left Sabo's mouth.
The lines on Dragon's eternally stoic face... twitched, just slightly.
The air in the cabin instantly became thick and heavy.
Dragon was silent for a moment, then he finally spoke, his voice low.
"That boy... What is his full name?"
"Monkey D. Luffy."
Sabo answered instinctively, looking at him in confusion.
"What's wrong?"
The moment he said it.
Sabo regretted it.
Because he saw the man across from him... the man known as the "World's Worst Criminal"... fall into a long, dead silence.
His deep eyes churned with a storm of complex emotions that Sabo couldn't understand.
A storm... was brewing in their depths.
For a long time.
So long that Sabo felt he was suffocating.
Dragon finally spoke again. His voice... held a hoarseness that even he didn't notice.
"Monkey D. Luffy..."
"He is my son."
BOOM!
Sabo's brain... completely shut down.
He stood there, stunned. His eyes were wide, his mouth open, but no sound came out.
Wh... What?
Son?
Luffy... that goofy, meat-obsessed, troublemaking idiot brother...
His father... is this man... this god-like man who just instant-killed CP0 and scared a Celestial Dragon witless?!
Isn't Luffy's grandpa the Marine Hero Garp?!
What... what the fck is going on?!*
Just as Sabo's worldview was being shattered, the cabin door was thrown open.
Ivankov sashayed in, immediately seeing Sabo's "I've-seen-a-ghost" expression.
"Oh my? What's wrong with little Sabo-boy? Did Dragon-boy scare you?"
He then turned to Sabo, his giant face full of gossip.
"By the way, little Sabo-boy, what's the deal with your wind-control ability? That's not a Devil Fruit, is it? Tell me all about it!"
"Ah... oh..."
Sabo was still in shock. He almost mechanically began to explain.
He described the man he met in Goa Kingdom named "Blake."
He described the mysterious shop called the "Dungeon Shop."
He described how he, Ace, and Luffy had entered the other world called "Teyvat."
And... how he had obtained the ornament called the "Anemo Vision"... and with it, the power to control wind.
Ivankov's jaw dropped as he listened.
"Running... 'dungeons'? A 'Vision'? It gives you powers from thin air? What... what kind of fairy tale is this, Hiii-haa!"
Ivankov was still screeching. However, he didn't notice.
The moment the words "Blake" and "Dungeon Shop" left Sabo's mouth.
Dragon, who had been silent, suddenly leaned forward.
His deep eyes, for the first time, flashed with a light called "shock"!
It wasn't because of his son, or the Celestial Dragon.
It was... a new variable... one that could shake all his plans and his understanding of the world!
"...You said, this boss named Blake is in Foosha Village right now?" Dragon's voice wavered for the first time. He cut off Ivankov, his gaze locked on Sabo.
"You just have to pay Beri... to enter 'another world'?"
"And... you can bring back... powers that don't belong to this world?"
Dragon's words came faster and faster, his mind spinning, reassembling these fragments into a terrifying conclusion.
A system... that wasn't bound by the rules of Devil Fruits!
A system... not restricted by the World Government's technology!
A system... that could mass-produce powerhouses... as long as you had the money!
Dragon slowly leaned back, closing his eyes.
A monstrous wave had just crashed in his heart.
What did the Revolutionary Army lack the most?
Top-tier fighters. And, even more, a mid-level force strong enough to counter the sheer numbers of the Marines.
If...
If this "Dungeon Shop"... was real...
What did that mean for the Revolutionary Army?
What did it mean... for the entire world?!
Dragon's eyes snapped open. Deep within them, a fire hotter and more insane than the one in Goa Kingdom was burning!
"Blake..."
He whispered the name.
"My orders!"
"Change course!"
"Target, East Blue, Foosha Village!"