One Piece - I Am A Different Luffy! - Chapter 526 - A conversation with Rayleigh.

[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.] Third Person POV Territory of the Pirates of the Dawn. ... ... "You’re here," Rayleigh remarked as he sensed Luf

[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.] Third Person POV Territory of the Pirates of the Dawn. ... ... "You’re here," Rayleigh remarked as he sensed Luf

[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV

Territory of the Pirates of the Dawn.

...

...

"You’re here," Rayleigh remarked as he sensed Luffy entering the bar.

"Hey," Luffy greeted everyone as he approached the two men at the counter and pointed to one of the drinks behind Shakky.
"Give me your best whiskey," he asked, and she simply nodded, grabbing the bottle, pouring it into a glass with ice, and handing it to him. Luffy then joined the two other men.

He just drank while the two remained silent, until one of them broke the silence.

"The boy already left?" Rayleigh asked, taking a big gulp before looking at Luffy and waiting for his answer.

"Yes. I figured you’d say goodbye to him," Luffy replied calmly.

"The boy doesn’t need it. Soon his name will echo across the sea, as it should," Rayleigh commented.

He wasn’t talking to anyone less than Portgas D. Ace himself, whom Rayleigh had personally trained over the past month, making a point to give him the same training he gave Lucy in Skypiea when Luffy had already mastered all the hakis — even going deeper into haki during the brief skirmish with Whitebeard at Marineford.

While Rayleigh trained Ace, Luffy accelerated Ace’s learning throughout this entire month, boosting it 20 times faster, making him master Conqueror’s Haki and the other two hakis at a high level. He was only a few steps away from incorporating Conqueror’s Haki into his attacks like the Yonkous.

Luffy introduced him, and Rayleigh agreed to train him, despite Ace still feeling immense anger and disdain toward his father whenever his name was mentioned. Rayleigh didn’t mind and did it for his captain, since his son wasn’t ready to take his place at the bar yet — he would do it in Roger’s honor.

Rayleigh was already convinced that the ones who would find the One Piece would be Luffy and Lucy, obviously along with the rest of the crew, and Ace himself wasn’t interested in that. Now both would set off on different paths.

"Yes. I’m sure he’ll make a name for himself in the New World now," Luffy said, drinking his whiskey again.

"And you’re going too..." Rayleigh commented.

"Yeah..." Luffy said.

"And you came to say goodbye?" Redfield spoke up for the first time.

"You could say that. After all, I still owe our vampire here a few things," Luffy said with a mischievous smile, while Patrick Redfield raised his gaze.

"I thought you’d forgotten about me. You wiped out Bullet from what I heard... turned him to dust. Nasty way to go..." he commented, taking a sip before continuing.
"Even though I still want to fight, I’m not in the mood to meet the same fate. I’ve got such a good life now... You’re just an old man without a care in the world, just enjoying retirement with the money you gave me," he said, while Luffy raised an eyebrow, thinking that this old man, just because he’s old, thinks he’s retired. But in the end, he said nothing.

"Well, there’s no reason for us to fight to the death. But if you still want to fight, I’m willing to keep my promise to you for protecting Dressrosa in my absence. After all, I should thank you. And I’m already giving you enough money to enjoy life however you want — even go for the Grand Treasure, enjoy it, and gamble like an old man," Luffy said with a grin.

"These brats... Well, we can settle this once and for all. I do need to see how the new generation of brats on the sea is doing... If they’re getting worse after all... But I liked the mention of gold. If that blind old man’s still around, I’ll gamble a bit more with him." Redfield commented, laughing — he and Fujitora certainly gambled a lot together, and even Rayleigh joined them after he came here.

"This sounds interesting. I want in too," Rayleigh commented with a gleam in his eye.
"You old folks only care about games now... Rayleigh, just don’t go losing everything, because there aren’t any slave houses here where you can pretend to be captured and think you’ll rob some noble who buys you..." Shakky warned, while Rayleigh just sighed.

Some time passed, and then elsewhere in the territory, while everything seemed calm, a sudden explosion occurred, sending lightning in all directions.
It was Conqueror’s Haki being unleashed between two opponents trying to see who would prevail. As it exploded outward, the shockwaves could be felt by everyone in Luffy’s territory, their gazes turning toward the blast—especially those more sensitive knew that two extremely powerful people were fighting and knew exactly who they were. No one interfered.

Both forces reached the limit of the clash, as energy surged into the sky before it burst open, clearing any cloud in that area.
Luffy was on one side, using his power, while Redfield stood on the other, wielding his. They charged at each other again, and as their energies clashed, explosions erupted once more, and then both vanished, beginning their fight.

They were battling on a desert island, and the fight certainly lasted for hours with the strength they had. With Conqueror’s Haki colliding, they surprised many across the territory. It was only after five hours of fighting that the man turned vampire was finally giving in.

"Yeah, I’ve grown old, after all," Patrick Redfield commented with a tired look, unable to continue.
"Or maybe this generation has surpassed ours, Redfield," a voice came from below, and Patrick furrowed his brow.
"I didn’t ask for your opinion, Rayleigh!" he said, as she was also on the island, drinking amidst all the destruction. It was completely ruined, Luffy’s flames everywhere, and he was in the sky, watching his opponent whom he had just defeated through exhaustion.

"Damn, I think I’ll go gamble a bit, I’ll look for that old Marine guy," Redfield muttered, collapsing to the ground as his transformation faded.
"You want to come along?"
But Rayleigh just shook his head.
"No, I’ll stay a little longer. After all, I want to have a chat with Luffy," he said.
"Suit yourself, then. We’ll meet again later." With that, Redfield simply shot upward, spreading his wings and soaring into the sky, disappearing.

Luffy landed beside Rayleigh, returning to normal as well, having had to use Phase 2 transformation to fight against a Yonkou-level opponent.
Luffy simply sat down next to Rayleigh, sighing, looking out at the sea. Since they were near the coast, on a higher place—one of the last islands on the edges of the territory—they could even see Zunesha walking through the ocean.

"So you’re finally going after the One Piece..." Rayleigh broke the silence and spoke in a calm tone, as Luffy grabbed his bottle and drank as well.
"You sound disappointed saying it like that, Rayleigh," he said before taking a sip.
"I’m not disappointed... but it seems things are finally happening... And you seem to understand the responsibility of what will come after you find it," Rayleigh murmured.
"Yeah. After that, it’ll be a point of no return. But you’ve been waiting for this a long time, haven’t you?" Luffy responded.
"Yes. The treasure’s been hidden for over 22 years. There comes a time when someone has to find it. I’m glad to see the path you all chose to follow. Be it for better or worse, we will witness it. That’s it... And you’ll prove whether Roger was right or wrong," Rayleigh commented, drinking once again.

"You talking like that almost makes it sound like you doubt us. Lucy has already awakened her fruit. Soon, we’ll be fighting those who control the world... especially that mysterious being," Luffy murmured, looking out to sea.

"Usopp was at the bar yesterday and talked about the question your crew raised: that you could simply fly around at high speed looking for the One Piece, but you chose instead to bring the whole crew," Rayleigh said.

"Obviously." Luffy responded, as if any other option had never existed for him.

"Well, I suppose there’s no one more worthy of that treasure. Roger’s will lives in you all, just as it does in all of us who sailed on that ship," Rayleigh said, his tone slightly emotional, as if remembering nostalgic things.

Finally, he knew the time had come. The One Piece would finally be found, and someone who carried all the history of that forgotten era would rise.
The war that would engulf the entire world was about to begin.

Luffy stayed a bit longer with him, as they talked and drank like the friends they were.

"I have a young one in mind I’d like you to look after. Even though Gramps didn’t slack in his training, I’d still like him to get a bit more care. I still believe he’ll lead the Marines in the new era, with Lucy at his side. After all, they’ll need power if they want to stop a pirate like me sailing around out there," Luffy said, smiling.

"Alright. I’ll check out the boy," Rayleigh agreed to look into the Marine youth.

Luffy returned to Dressrosa along with Rayleigh. As he headed back to the palace and Rayleigh to Shakky’s bar, Luffy went to see his family, enjoying the last moments with them, as he would only see his children again after some time into his new adventure.
The 15 mini Hancocks remained dedicated to caring for them. And Luffy couldn’t have anyone better to both care for and protect them, while they were always smitten, looking at the kids who resembled their father.

Luffy stayed with his family for the next few hours, and when night fell, he called one of the 15 Hancock Seraphs to go with him to the prison, needing to undo a petrification.

In one of the cells, upon entering, he saw the statue of a woman. The mini Hancock stepped forward and began to reverse the petrification.
She slowly returned to normal, her body recovering as she collapsed to the ground, looking dazed, before feeling something on her wrist.
She looked in confusion and saw Luffy in front of her, remembering the war they were fighting, according to her memory, at that very moment. But two months had already passed since that had happened, as she looked around confused, trying to move but felt her powers restricted by a Sea Stone shackle on her wrist.

"You..." she murmured, the last thing she remembered being surrounded by cute girls, blushing from their cuteness, only for them to attack her the next moment, sending heart-shaped lightning—and everything went black from there.

"Well, good that you’re back. After all, we need to have a little talk. You’re my prisoner now. Understood, holy knight?" he said to the Tenryuubito woman he had kept with him. The only one who survived the war besides Shanks’ brother and the Hancocks.

He was about to do something many would call madness.

"Now, follow me," he said, as she was left stunned by the way he was commanding her, before rage began to rise in her for that damned inferior being. She looked at his back and tried to attack him, charging with fury, not fully understanding what was happening—after all, they were supposed to be in the middle of a war.

But she didn’t even get close, as her body turned to stone again with heart-shaped lightning bolts passing through her—cast by the mini Hancock standing beside Luffy, glaring in anger for attacking her precious Luffy.

"This woman never learns..." Luffy murmured.

In the end, Hancock asked to bring her back again, and as she returned to normal, Luffy immediately punched her in the head, knocking her out cold on the ground.

"Well, I’ll take her somewhere and have a very serious talk. Tomorrow, we’re finally setting out to sea again," Luffy said, then took the Tenryuubito woman who possessed the angel fruit and shot into the sky.

------

Raccoon Here:

I finally dealt with all the pending matters in the territory. I believe I didn’t miss anything, but if anyone noticed something I overlooked, feel free to point it out. Now they’re finally going to sail to the last part of the New World.