Chapter 21: Monkey D. Dragon

Seeing this, Kaito Sakamoto chose not to pay any more attention to them. At that moment, Dadan and the others caught up with him. They were lucky; if they had been any slower, they would have been caught in the blast radius of the bomb.

"Kaito!" Dadan called out, but Kaito didn't respond, his mind racing with thoughts about the events unfolding.

Finally, he made up his mind. "Dadan."

"You need to go to the bay entrance to rescue Luffy and Ace!" he ordered.

"And what about you?" Dadan asked.

"I'm fine. I'm going to save Sabo!"

"Go quickly! The fire is spreading!"

After giving his instructions, Kaito rushed toward the town gate without looking back. That was the back entrance of the Goa Kingdom, accessible only through the garbage mountain, but it was likely that the gate had already been closed by now.

Kaito didn't mind; his goal wasn't to enter the town but to find Sabo and... Luffy's father, Dragon!

.....

At the town gate, inside the town, the king's guards were hypocritically warning the townspeople to stay away from the gate while they extinguished the fire. This fire originated from their hands, so it wouldn't be put out until the last piece of trash on the mountain had burned.

Strangely enough, the residents of the garbage mountain knew that if the town gate opened, they could escape. However, they also knew that the nobles would never let them into the town.

As pirates, the Blue Sauce gang was even more naïve than they were.

"Burn it! Burn it!"

"If we finish this job, our years of wishes will come true, and the kingdom will grant us noble status! Hahaha!"

As they walked toward the gate, Blue Sauce had already begun to fantasize about his life as a noble.

But what awaited him was a tightly closed gate with not a single crack visible!

"What the hell!"

"What's going on? Open the gate!"

"Weren't we promised noble status once we completed this task?"

"Son of a b***h!! Are we being played?!!!"

He realized what was happening, but it was too late.

The guards behind the door indicated that no matter how much he shouted, if they opened the door, it would be a loss for them.

Only then did Blue Sauce understand he had been tricked by the king. He had been lured in under the guise of nobility, only to be burned alive here.

He could also conveniently throw the blame for the arson onto them, leaving the king blameless. The guards played along, increasing the king's prestige—this was a complete victory.

.....

Kaito arrived near the town gate, but the Blue Sauce pirates had vanished without a trace. With the heat from the fire and his fever, Kaito felt like he was about to cook alive.

Before he could start searching, Dragon appeared behind him like a ghost.

"Youth..."

But before Dragon could finish, Sabo was suddenly thrown over the wall by someone.

"Sabo!"

Upon seeing this, Kaito rushed over immediately.

Dragon was faster and caught Sabo in an instant.

After placing Sabo down, he noticed that Sabo was too weak to stand, not out of fear, but despair and disgust.

Kaito quickly supported him.

"Sabo!"

"Kaito..."

"Uncle..."

"Ugh... the culprits behind this fire are the nobles and the royal family. It's true!"

Sabo gripped Kaito's hand tightly.

"The stench of this city is worse than the garbage mountain... it's filled with the foul odor of rotting hearts!"

"Here... I have no freedom at all..."

Sabo looked up at Kaito, tears streaming down his face, yet his expression was fierce.

"I'm ashamed to be a noble!!!"

With those last words, Sabo seemed to expend all his strength to shout, his voice echoing through the fiery chaos.

Dragon's expression turned to shock. Had this world, this kingdom, become so rotten that a child would utter such words?!

Bending down, Dragon looked at this child who was more awake than many adults in the world.

"I understand... I was also born in this country..."

"But I still don't have the power to change this world..."

"You will!"

Kaito suddenly interjected, his tone resolute.

Both Dragon and Sabo turned to look at him.

"Sabo, you hate being a noble, so destroy that identity!"

"Blow away that disgusting smell."

"Follow this uncle! He has the strength you seek; you can learn better navigation skills from him. If you want to see the world, stick with him, and you'll witness the true face of this world!"

"The Goa Kingdom is like a microcosm of this world!"

"If we don't make changes, this world will inevitably be covered completely by this disgusting stench!"

"Someone has to stand up! No matter how vast this world is, a single spark can start a fire! One day, we will cleanse this world of its poison, just like how they're burning the garbage mountain today!"

"They can burn! So can we!!!"

Dragon was once again stunned, his face displaying a tattoo likely left by Garp's slipper, which couldn't help but twitch.

He never expected this boy in front of him to have such thoughts—thoughts just like his own!

To burn away the cancer of this world, to reform it.

"A single spark can start a fire..."

"Youth, who are you?!"

Kaito, feverish and dizzy, managed to force a smile.

"My name is Kaito."

"Just a precocious boy who thinks too much."

"I stand on the shoulders of giants, so I can see further."

"Standing on the shoulders of giants..."

Another famous saying, and Dragon was almost going crazy. Was this really just a boy?

Kaito assured him he was indeed a boy, only 18 in his past life, but he borrowed the famous line to shine a light on his thoughts.