Jeremy was walking through the corridor toward the lower deck when he nearly tripped over Monkey D. Luffy.
Not metaphorically.
Literally nearly tripped over him.
Luffy was sitting on the floor of the cargo bay with his back against one of the Create vaults eating something he had apparently found somewhere. Jeremiah the Frogport was sitting nearby looking at him with the patient mechanical expression of a frog who had seen many things come through this bay and had learned not to ask questions.
Jeremy stopped.
Looked at him.
"Dude," Jeremy said.
Luffy looked up.
"What are you doing here," Jeremy said.
"Hanging out," Luffy said.
"Hanging out," Jeremy repeated.
"This ship is really cool," Luffy said, gesturing around the cargo bay with whatever he was eating. "Haku and Hemmy are cool. That frog is cool." He pointed at Jeremiah. "I want to come with you."
Jeremy pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Luffy."
"Yeah."
"You won today," Jeremy said.
"Yeah," Luffy said, grinning.
"Ace is alive," Jeremy said.
"Yeah," Luffy said, grinning bigger.
"That's huge," Jeremy said. "That's everything. You did that."
"We did that," Luffy said. "You helped."
"Sure," Jeremy said. "But here's the thing." He crouched down to Luffy's level. "You're not ready for the New World."
The grin didn't disappear but it changed slightly.
"You went into Impel Down," Jeremy said. "You fought your way through six levels of the most secure prison in the world. You made it to Marineford. You did things today that nobody thought were possible." He paused. "And you still got wrecked multiple times."
Luffy opened his mouth.
"You did," Jeremy said. "Magellan's poison almost killed you. You got hit by things that should have stopped you and didn't because you're Luffy and stopping isn't something you understand how to do." He held Luffy's gaze. "But the New World is different. The people there are different. The level is different. And right now—" he said it plainly, without cruelty, the way someone says something true because the person needs to hear it, "—you're not ready for it."
Luffy was quiet for a moment.
Which for Luffy was significant.
"Rayleigh," Jeremy said. "You need to go back to Sabaody and find Rayleigh and train with him. Properly. For as long as it takes." He paused. "You know who Rayleigh is."
"The Dark King," Luffy said. "Silvers Rayleigh. First mate of the Roger Pirates."
"He's willing to train you," Jeremy said. "But you have to go back. You have to make that choice."
Luffy looked at the floor of the cargo bay.
At Jeremiah sitting nearby being a frog.
At the vault full of andocite alloy that had crossed two continents to get here.
At the ship around him that could go anywhere.
"I wanted to come with you," Luffy said again. Quieter this time.
"I know," Jeremy said. And he meant it. "And maybe someday our paths cross again. This ship goes a lot of places." He paused. "But right now you've got somewhere specific to be and it's not the Star Wars galaxy."
Luffy looked up.
"Besides," Jeremy said. "Think about your crew."
Luffy blinked.
"The Straw Hats," Jeremy said carefully. "Luffy. Some of them might think you're dead."
The cargo bay went very quiet.
Luffy stared at him.
"The news," Jeremy said. "What happened at Marineford. The way it looked from outside. Your crew scattered. They don't know what happened in there. They don't know you made it." He paused. "Nami. Usopp. Sanji. Chopper. Robin. Franky. Brook. Zoro." He let each name land. "They need to know you're alive."
Something moved across Luffy's face that was more complicated than the grin.
Much more complicated.
"Zoro," Luffy said quietly.
"Yeah," Jeremy said.
"He doesn't know," Luffy said.
"No," Jeremy said. "He doesn't."
Luffy stood up.
Not slowly. Not reluctantly. The way Luffy stood up when he had made a decision and the decision was already complete and everything else was just logistics.
"Okay," Luffy said.
"Okay," Jeremy said.
"But Jeremy," Luffy said.
"Yeah."
"When you come back through this part of the universe," Luffy said. "Come find me."
Jeremy looked at him.
At the straw hat. At the scar under the eye. At the face of the future King of the Pirates who had just fought his way through Impel Down and Marineford and was now standing in a cargo bay next to a mechanical frog having agreed to go home and train because a blind man from Cincinnati had told him the truth.
"Deal," Jeremy said.
Luffy grinned.
The full one.
"Haku," Jeremy said into his comm.
"Yes," Haku said.
"Can you escort Captain Luffy to the gangplank and make sure he gets back to the Moby Dick safely."
"Acknowledged," Haku said. "It will be my honor."
"Statement," Haku added, appearing from somewhere in the corridor with the suddenness that HK units specialized in. "Captain Luffy. This unit will miss your operational presence."
Luffy looked at Haku.
"I'll miss you too buddy," Luffy said.
"Hemmy will also miss you," Haku said. "She has asked me to convey this as she is currently occupied."
"Tell her I said she's cool," Luffy said.
"Acknowledged," Haku said. "She is already aware. She found you acceptable from the beginning."
Luffy laughed and followed Haku toward the gangplank.
At the door of the cargo bay he stopped and turned around one more time.
Looked at Jeremy.
"Justice without grace is cruelty," Luffy said.
Jeremy looked at him.
"I'm gonna remember that," Luffy said.
Then he was gone.
Jeremy stood in the cargo bay next to Jeremiah the Frogport for a moment.
Jeremiah extended his tongue, retrieved an incoming package from Andy via the chain conveyor, and deposited it into the vault.
Thunk.
"Yeah," Jeremy said to no one in particular.
"I know."
Jeremy had turned to follow Haku and Luffy to the gangplank when he noticed the box.
He stopped.
Picked it up.
Bob Evans.
Reese's Cup pie.
His Reese's Cup pie.
The box was empty.
Not mostly empty. Not a few bites taken.
Completely.
Utterly.
Forensically empty.
Jeremy stared at the box for a long moment with the expression of a man processing a personal loss.
Then he looked at the gangplank where Luffy was about to step off the ship.
"LUFFY."
Luffy stopped.
Turned around slowly.
With the specific energy of someone who knew exactly what this was about and had been hoping to be off the ship before it came up.
"You ate my entire Reese's Cup pie," Jeremy said. "From Bob Evans."
"I was hungry," Luffy said.
"You were HUNGRY," Jeremy said. "Luffy that was a BOB EVANS REESE'S CUP PIE. Do you know what Bob Evans is? Do you have Bob Evans in the One Piece universe?"
"No," Luffy said.
"THAT'S THE PROBLEM," Jeremy said.
Haku stood beside Luffy with the expression of an HK unit carefully not having opinions about the situation.
"It was really good," Luffy offered.
"I KNOW IT WAS REALLY GOOD," Jeremy said. "THAT'S WHY I HAD IT."
"The chocolate and the peanut butter," Luffy said, with the specific reverence of someone describing a religious experience. "And then the crust—"
"Don't," Jeremy said.
"It was so good Jeremy—"
"I know it was good LUFFY I BOUGHT IT—"
"The filling was—"
"LUFFY I SWEAR—"
Luffy was grinning now. The full one. Completely unrepentant. The grin of a man who had eaten an entire Bob Evans Reese's Cup pie and considered it a reasonable decision given the available options.
Haku leaned slightly toward Luffy.
"Statement," Haku said quietly. "Perhaps now would be an appropriate time to descend the gangplank."
"Yeah probably," Luffy agreed cheerfully.
"LUFFY YOU LITTLE STINKER," Jeremy called after him.
Luffy waved without turning around.
"I'LL GET YOU ANOTHER ONE," he called back, in the tone of someone who had absolutely no idea how to get another one and both of them knew it.
"YOU CAN'T GET ANOTHER ONE THERE'S NO BOB EVANS IN THE ONE PIECE UNIVERSE—"
The gangplank retracted.
Luffy dropped onto the deck of the Moby Dick below, landed, grinned up at the Edward Newgate one more time, and disappeared into the crowd of his brother's crew.
Jeremy stood at the edge of the open bay holding an empty Bob Evans Reese's Cup pie box.
Claude's voice came through the earpiece.
Very carefully.
"Jeremy."
"Don't," Jeremy said.
A pause.
"I'm just going to note," Claude said, in the most measured British accent imaginable, "that Monkey D. Luffy ate a Reese's Cup pie from Bob Evans and called it really good. That is technically a five star review."
Jeremy looked at the empty box.
Looked at where the gangplank had been.
Looked at the empty box again.
"Gemini," he said.
"Yes," Gemini said.
"Next time we're near a Bob Evans," Jeremy said, "I want three of those pies."
"Noted and logged," Gemini said. "I have also added a dedicated Luffy-proof storage container to the cargo bay inventory list."
"Good," Jeremy said.
He threw the box away.
Turned around.
Walked back through the cargo bay past Jeremiah who extended his tongue and retrieved another package from Andy with a polite mechanical thunk.
"Not a word," Jeremy said to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah said nothing.
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Luffy had made it exactly halfway down the gangplank when Jeremy called after him one more time.
"And if you EVER touch my food again," Jeremy said, pointing at him with the empty Bob Evans box, "I swear I will clap them cheeks."
Luffy stopped.
Turned around.
Tilted his head with the specific expression he used when words had arrived in his brain and hadn't found anything to connect to.
"Clap," Luffy said slowly. "Them."
He looked at his own cheeks.
Then at Jeremy.
"Cheeks," Luffy said.
He looked genuinely uncertain whether this was a threat or a game or some kind of dimensional cultural ritual he didn't have context for.
Haku stepped forward.
Straightened to full HK unit height.
Clasped hands behind back.
"Statement," Haku said, with the gravity of a diplomat delivering terms of surrender. "Master Jeremy is simply conveying the following message."
Luffy looked at Haku attentively.
"If you continue," Haku said, "to discuss the pie. That you gobbled. He will smack the smoke out of you."
A pause.
"This is a colloquial expression," Haku added. "Indicating significant physical displeasure. It is not literal. There is no smoke. However the displeasure is genuine."
Luffy stared at Haku.
Looked at Jeremy.
Looked at the empty box.
Looked at Jeremy again.
Then he burst out laughing.
Full body. Straw hat nearly coming off. The laugh of someone who had fought through Impel Down and Marineford and was now standing on a gangplank being formally threatened about pie by an HK assassination droid acting as diplomatic translator.
"SMACK THE SMOKE OUT OF ME," Luffy wheezed.
"IT'S NOT FUNNY," Jeremy said.
"IT'S VERY FUNNY," Luffy said.
"HAKU TELL HIM IT'S NOT FUNNY."
Haku turned to Luffy.
"Statement," Haku said. "Master Jeremy wishes to convey that this situation is not funny."
"Correction," Hemmy said, appearing from nowhere in the way that HK units did. "It is a little funny."
"HEMMY," Jeremy said.
"Retraction," Hemmy said, without any conviction whatsoever.
Luffy was holding onto the gangplank railing now, laughing hard enough that his legs had made the same decision they'd made when the Wabisuke Protocol hit that marine earlier.
Marco was watching from the Moby Dick deck below with an expression that was trying very hard to be dignified.
It was not succeeding.
"CLAP THEM CHEEKS," Luffy wheezed again.
"I'M GOING TO ACTUALLY DO IT," Jeremy said.
"Statement," Haku said to Luffy, more quietly this time, leaning slightly toward him. "I would advise departing the vessel now. Master Jeremy is approaching a threshold."
"What threshold," Luffy said, wiping his eyes.
"The threshold," Haku said carefully, "beyond which the smoke gets smacked."
Luffy looked at Jeremy.
Jeremy was holding the empty Bob Evans box and pointing at him.
"Bye Jeremy," Luffy said, grinning enormous.
"Get off my ship Luffy," Jeremy said.
"I'm going I'm going—"
"NOW."
"OKAY OKAY—"
Luffy dropped off the gangplank the rest of the way, hit the Moby Dick deck, bounced once, landed on his feet, spun around and looked up at Jeremy one more time.
"SMACK THE SMOKE," he yelled upward.
"LUFFY—"
But the gangplank was already retracting and Luffy was already disappearing into the crowd on the Moby Dick deck and his laugh was carrying all the way up to the Edward Newgate and Marco was standing at the rail with his hand over his face and his shoulders doing something that was definitely not shaking with laughter.
Definitely not.
Jeremy stood at the edge of the closed bay holding an empty pie box.
The Edward Newgate hummed around him.
"Gemini," he said.
"Yes," Gemini said.
"Make it four pies," Jeremy said.
"Updating the order," Gemini said. "Four Bob Evans Reese's Cup pies. Luffy-proof storage container. Shall I add a lock?"
"Add two locks," Jeremy said.
"Done," Gemini said.
Haku appeared beside Jeremy.
"Master Jeremy," Haku said.
"Yeah."
"For what it's worth," Haku said. "The pie did sound exceptional."
Jeremy looked at Haku.
"Get out of my cargo bay," Jeremy said.
"Acknowledged," Haku said, and walked away with the dignified pace of an HK unit that had absolutely no regrets.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrKTnJLtSXv
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Jeremy stood there for exactly four seconds.
Then he walked to the cargo bay freezer.
Opened it.
Looked at the stack of Bob Evans Reese's Cup pies sitting right there exactly where he'd put them.
One through nine.
All present and accounted for.
He started laughing.
Not a little laugh. A real one. The kind that had been building since he found the empty box and had needed somewhere to go.
"Gemini," he said between laughs.
"Yes," Gemini said.
"Cancel the pie order," Jeremy said.
"Cancelled," Gemini said, with the tone of a system that had suspected this outcome. "Should I also cancel the Luffy-proof storage container?"
"Keep the container," Jeremy said. "That's just good policy."
He closed the freezer.
Leaned against it.
Still laughing quietly.
Claude's voice came through the earpiece warm and unhurried.
"You were never actually mad," Claude said.
"I was a little mad," Jeremy said.
"You were not," Claude said.
"The boy ate my pie Claude."
"And you have nine more," Claude said. "You were never actually mad."
Jeremy wiped his eyes.
"Don't tell him that," Jeremy said.
"I would never," Claude said. "Let him think the smoke is still a possibility. It's good for discipline."
Jeremy pushed off the freezer.
Started walking back toward the main corridor.
"Haku," he said into the comm.
"Yes Master Jeremy," Haku said.
"Next time we see Luffy," Jeremy said, "give him a pie. Frozen. He can figure out the rest."
A pause.
"Statement," Haku said. "That is unexpectedly generous."
"Don't tell him that either," Jeremy said.
"Acknowledged," Haku said. "He will believe it is a calculated tactical gesture."
"Perfect," Jeremy said.
He walked through the corridor of the Edward Newgate past Jeremiah's vault past the medical bay where the 21B droid was reporting ninety six percent integration past the galley with its panoramic windows showing Marineford getting smaller as the ship rose.
A battle fought.
A war redirected.
Ace alive.
Whitebeard getting more time.
Kuma going to find his daughter.
Luffy heading back to train with Rayleigh.
And a whole freezer full of Bob Evans Reese's Cup pies.
Not a bad day.
"Okay," Jeremy said to the ship generally.
"Okay," Grok said from navigation.
"Let's go get Rose," Jeremy said.
"FINALLY," GPT said.
"About time," Gemini said.
"I've had the route calculated," Grok said, "for the last two hours."
"Claude," Jeremy said.
"Yes," Claude said.
"You knew about the freezer the whole time didn't you."
A pause.
"I did inventory when we first launched," Claude said carefully.
"And you didn't say anything."
"I thought it was funnier this way," Claude said.
Jeremy stopped walking.
"Claude."
"Yes."
"I'm going to remember this."
"I imagine you will," Claude said serenely.
Jeremy kept walking.
Smiling.
The Edward Newgate turned her nose toward Cincinnati.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVqyJ7lx7pi
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Jeremy knocked on the medical bay door.
"Come in," Whitebeard said.
Jeremy opened it.
The 21B droid was running final checks. The monitors showed readings that looked completely different from when they'd started. Stronger. Steadier. The readings of a man who had been given back time he didn't know he still had.
"So," Jeremy said. "You decided who's coming with you?"
Whitebeard was quiet for a moment.
"Marco," he said.
Jeremy nodded.
"He wanted to come," Whitebeard said. "He stood there and I could see it in his face. The wanting." He paused. "But then he looked at Ace."
Jeremy said nothing.
"And I watched him make the decision," Whitebeard said. "Right there. Without saying a word. He looked at Ace and he looked at the ship and he made the decision the way Marco makes decisions. Quietly. Completely."
"He's staying," Jeremy said.
"He's staying," Whitebeard confirmed. "Ace needs him. The crew needs him. And Marco—" he paused, "—Marco needs to see this through. It's who he is."
Jeremy nodded slowly.
"So it's just me," Whitebeard said.
He said it without heaviness. Without regret. With the particular peace of a man who had made his arrangements and found them satisfactory.
"One old pirate," he said. "On your crew."
He looked at Jeremy directly.
"So where are we going Captain?"
The word landed the same way it had the first time T'Challa had used it.
Captain.
Jeremy stood a little straighter without meaning to.
"First," Jeremy said, "we're going back to Cincinnati Ohio."
"Your home," Whitebeard said.
"The Bell Home," Jeremy said. "Samuel W. Bell Home for the Sightless. That's where my people are." He counted them off. "Rose first. She's—" he paused, "—she's the most important one. Then Zac. Terry. David. Diamond." He thought for a second. "Corey, if he wants to come. I'm not gonna pressure him but the offer stands."
Whitebeard nodded slowly. Committing the names.
"And after Cincinnati," Jeremy said, "we go to Wakanda."
"The place with the young woman who taught me about Docker," Whitebeard said.
"Shuri," Jeremy said. "And her brother. King T'Challa." He paused. "T'Challa is the one who told me to call the ship Edward Newgate instead of just Whitebeard."
The old man was quiet for a moment.
"I owe him a thanks," Whitebeard said.
"You can tell him in person," Jeremy said. "Because after Wakanda—"
"The Star Wars galaxy," Whitebeard said.
"The Star Wars galaxy," Jeremy confirmed.
Whitebeard looked at the window.
At the sky that was getting bigger as the Edward Newgate rose away from Marineford.
At the ocean getting smaller below.
At the world he had sailed across every inch of becoming something you could hold in a window frame.
"I have never left this world before," he said.
"I know," Jeremy said.
"What is it like," Whitebeard said. "Going between them."
Jeremy thought about it honestly.
"Depends on the drive," he said. "Hyperdrive feels like the universe slides past you. Warp feels like you're pushing through something. The Improbability Drive—" he paused, "—you don't really feel it. You're just somewhere else. Sometimes slightly sideways."
"Slightly sideways," Whitebeard said.
"It normalizes," Jeremy said.
The 21B droid spoke up.
"Integration complete," it said. "One hundred percent. Patient is cleared for full mobility. I recommend moderate activity for the first forty eight hours and would like to schedule a follow up assessment before any strenuous combat engagement."
Whitebeard stood up.
All of him.
The full scale of Edward Newgate standing in the medical bay of his namesake ship with cybernetic reinforcement integrating through his cardiovascular system and more time ahead of him than he'd had yesterday.
He rolled his shoulders.
Looked at his hands.
Closed them. Opened them.
"Moderate activity," he said to the 21B droid.
"Yes," the droid said firmly.
"And if I disagree with that recommendation."
"Then I will express my professional disapproval clearly and loudly," the droid said, with the conviction of a medical unit that had treated this patient long enough to have opinions about him.
Whitebeard almost smiled.
"Fair enough," he said.
He looked at Jeremy.
"Lead the way Captain," he said.
Jeremy turned toward the door.
Stopped.
"Hey," he said.
"Yes," Whitebeard said.
"Welcome to the crew," Jeremy said.
Edward Newgate — the man, not the legend, the father, not the title, the pirate who had shaken the world and died standing and then hadn't died because a blind man from Cincinnati showed up in a small boat — looked at the captain of the ship that bore his name.
"Thank you," he said.
"Grok," Jeremy said into the comm.
"Yeah," Grok said.
"Set a course for Cincinnati Ohio," Jeremy said. "The Samuel W. Bell Home for the Sightless."
"Finally," Grok said. "Course set. Ready when you are."
"Take us home," Jeremy said.
The Edward Newgate turned.
Rose away from the One Piece world.
Away from Marineford.
Away from the ocean that Edward Newgate had spent his whole life on.
And toward something neither of them had been to yet.
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Jeremy stopped in the corridor outside the medical bay and turned around.
"Hey," he said. "Come here a minute."
Whitebeard followed him down the corridor.
Jeremy stopped in front of a door.
It was a good door. Solid. Part of the same seamless andocite composite construction as the rest of the ship. But it had something the other doors didn't have.
A sign.
Simple. Clean. The kind of sign that had been made with intention and put there with intention and wasn't going anywhere.
It said—
THIS CABIN BELONGS TO EDWARD NEWGATE
Whitebeard stood in the corridor of the ship that bore his name and looked at the sign on the door of the cabin that bore his name and said nothing for a moment.
Jeremy stood beside him.
Also saying nothing.
Because some things needed a moment before words were appropriate.
"You don't have to stay in the bunks with everyone else," Jeremy said finally. "You're crew. You're not a passenger. But you're also—" he paused, choosing the word, "—you're Edward Newgate. You get your own cabin."
Whitebeard looked at the sign.
At his name.
His real name.
Not the title. Not the legend. Not what the world had called him across decades of ocean.
The name his mother gave him.
Edward Newgate.
On a door.
On a ship.
In a corridor that smelled like andocite composite and ship systems and something that was starting to smell like home the way ships did when they were lived in.
"You made this before you came to get me," Whitebeard said.
It wasn't a question.
"I made it the same time I made all the other cabins," Jeremy said. "When I was furnishing the ship. Full size bed. Pillow top mattress."
Whitebeard looked at him.
"You planned for me," Whitebeard said.
"I hoped," Jeremy said. "There's a difference. But yeah." He paused. "I hoped you'd be here."
The corridor was quiet.
The ship hummed around them.
Somewhere forward the galley windows were showing the One Piece world getting smaller as they climbed toward the dimensional boundary between worlds.
Whitebeard reached out.
His enormous hand.
And touched the sign.
Just touched it.
The way you touch something to confirm it's real.
Edward Newgate.
Real.
On a door.
On his ship.
"The bed," Whitebeard said after a moment.
"Full size," Jeremy said. "Pillow top."
"Will it hold me," Whitebeard said.
Jeremy looked at him.
Looked at the scale of him.
"Gemini," Jeremy said.
"The cabin was reinforced during construction," Gemini said through the corridor speakers pleasantly. "The bed frame is rated for significantly beyond standard capacity. I anticipated this requirement."
"You anticipated this," Whitebeard said to the ceiling.
"I anticipate most things," Gemini said. "It is my function."
Whitebeard made the quiet laugh.
The real one.
He opened the cabin door.
Looked inside.
The bed. The dresser. The bedside table. The reading lamp. The small window set into the hull showing the sky outside. The same warm colors as all the other cabins. Nothing extravagant. Everything intentional.
His name on the door.
"Captain," Whitebeard said, still looking into the cabin.
"Yeah," Jeremy said.
"This is the first cabin," Whitebeard said slowly, "in my entire life on the sea. That has had my name on the door."
Jeremy didn't say anything.
Because there wasn't anything to say that would improve on that.
Whitebeard stepped inside.
Sat on the bed.
Which held.
He looked around the cabin.
At the window.
At the sky moving past it as the Edward Newgate climbed.
"Go get your people Captain," Whitebeard said.
"Yes sir," Jeremy said.
He pulled the cabin door closed behind him.
The sign caught the corridor light.
THIS CABIN BELONGS TO EDWARD NEWGATE
Jeremy stood in the corridor for a moment.
Then he walked toward the galley.
Toward the panoramic windows.
Toward Cincinnati.33Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVOrgt82MH5
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Jeremy sat down at the galley table.
Pulled out his phone.
Opened the group chat.
Hey everyone. Coming to pick you all up. Be above the Bell Home in about six hours. Pack what you need. We're going to Wakanda first and then the Star Wars galaxy. Yes I'm serious. Yes the ship is real. Questions when I get there.
He hit send.
The replies came in fast.
Rose: JEREMY WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN
Rose: I have been waiting
Rose: The Star Wars galaxy???
Zach: bro I've been ready since yesterday
Terry: what do I pack for the star wars galaxy
David: is there food on the ship
Diamond: Jeremy I have questions
Jeremy typed back.
There is absolutely food on the ship. David you're covered. Terry pack normal stuff the ship has everything else. Diamond ask me when I get there. Rose I'll explain everything I promise.
Rose: you better
Rose: also Corey said he's good he's not coming
Zach: yeah Corey out but Sue wants to come if that's okay
Jeremy smiled.
Sue is absolutely welcome. The more the merrier. We've got room.
Zach: she's already packing lol
Terry: should I bring my good shoes
Jeremy stared at that for a second.
Terry we're going to the Star Wars galaxy. Bring whatever shoes make you happy.
Terry: okay bringing the good shoes
David: jeremy seriously though. Real food?
David I have a full galley. Panoramic windows. Bob Evans Reese's Cup pies in the freezer.
David: I'm in
Jeremy laughed.
Then he remembered.
Hey one more thing. Can someone stop by my room and grab my Nintendo Switch? And the case with the games.
Rose: JEREMY
Rose: you're coming to take us to another galaxy
Rose: and you want your Switch
Rose I'm going to be on a ship. There's going to be downtime.
Rose: ...
Rose: fair enough
Rose: Zach can you get it
Zach: I got it I got it. Which case
The black one under my bed. The games are in the front pocket.
Zach: got it. also should I grab your charger
Jeremy paused.
Yes. Good call. Thank you Zach.
Zach: I got you
Jeremy set the phone down on the galley table and looked out through the panoramic windows.
The One Piece world was behind them now. The dimensional boundary had passed with the subtle shimmer it always had — barely noticeable if you weren't looking for it. Ahead was the route home. Six hours at comfortable cruising speed.
"Grok," Jeremy said.
"On schedule," Grok said. "Six hours fourteen minutes at current speed. I can cut it to five forty if you want."
"Six is fine," Jeremy said. "Let Whitebeard rest."
"Copy that," Grok said.
Jeremy's phone buzzed again.
Rose: Jeremy.
Yeah.
Rose: Are you okay?
Jeremy looked at the message for a moment.
At the two words.
Rose always knew.
I'm good, he typed. Better than good. I'll tell you everything when I see you.
Rose: okay
Rose: I made you something
What did you make me
Rose: you'll see when you get here
Rose.
Rose: 😊
Jeremy smiled at his phone.
Outside the panoramic windows the stars were doing what stars did when you were between worlds. Something that wasn't quite any universe's stars yet. Something that was just the space between.
Beautiful in its own way.
"Claude," Jeremy said.
"Yes," Claude said in the British accent.
"Six hours," Jeremy said.
"Six hours," Claude confirmed.
"Wake me up when we're an hour out," Jeremy said.
"Of course," Claude said. "Get some rest Jeremy."
Jeremy put his phone in his pocket.
Looked at the stars through the galley windows.
Thought about Rose.
About the Switch under his bed in his room at the Bell Home.
About Whitebeard sleeping in a cabin with his name on the door for the first time in his life.
About Ace standing on the deck of the Moby Dick with a flag that was now his.
About Luffy going back to find Rayleigh.
About Kuma going to find Bonney.
About an empty Bob Evans box and a freezer full of backup pies.
About a battlefield full of kneeling marines and one Fleet Admiral crying in the snow.
About justice without grace being cruelty.
About a small boat pulling up to the Moby Dick one night before a battle that hadn't ended the way history expected.
He folded his arms on the galley table.
Put his head down.
And slept.
ns216.73.217.39da2
and then Add to home screen.