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It starts with Brook. Though not surprising, the skeleton leaving is what starts the chain. His reason to leave is one filled with sobbing and sniffles that would make any baby pale in comparison, stating that he needs to make up for lost time with Laboon. The man never stops singing until the ship arrives and sees a proud old man and a happy whale.
The next to leave is Robin. Claiming that even though she found out the history of the Void Century, history isn’t known until the next generation is capable of spreading it. So she plans to create a book with her knowledge and reinstate a library even bigger than the Library of Ohara. So with a weeping goodbye and a party to set off her new journey, Nico Robin is the second to leave.
The third is Franky. The pervert says that now that Sunny has sailed the Pirate King all throughout Grand Line, it’s time for him to return to the Franky Family. Of course, he doesn’t leave without upgrading his robotic suit to the ever impressionable Idiot Trio. With one last “Super!”, a crying Franky bear hugs the remaining Straw Hats before he leaves his beloved ship and sets foot on Water 7.
After that is Chopper. The young reindeer heartfully confesses that he doesn’t want to leave, but what with the recent news of Doctor Kureha’s death, he wants to go back to Drum Island. The island needed a doctor to teach the new generation on how to become the best healer possible, and with his beloved mother gone, he wants to inherit her will. With plenty of reassurances and cuddles from the crew, a wailing but determined Tony Tony Chopper goes back to the snowy island.
The fifth is Jinbe. Receiving a call from the King of Fishman that the species will soon be able to live on the surface, the ruler could think of no better fishman than Jinbe to help his daughter be the best ambassador for the fishman. Jinbe initially planned to reject this offer, but a certain annoying captain tells him that it’s fine to leave and help the fishmen settle into the land with humans. A bittersweet Jinbe waves at the crew before meeting up with the mermaid princess.
For a while, it’s the first four that helped establish the Straw Hats pirates remain with their captain.
And yet it’s Ussop who first says that he wants to go back home. With a dramatic voice, he says that his friends are waiting for him to tell him his grand stories of how he had become a God. A tight hug from Nami, assortment of delicacies from Sanji, shake of hands with Zoro, and a dance and song with the captain is how it ends for the brave warrior of the sea’s journey.
Sanji comes next. The blonde states that after finding the All Blue with the Straw Hats was the most happiest memory that he has, and will ever have, in his life. But he doesn’t want his cooking adventure to just end with that. The cook announces that he wants to create a cookbook with the rest of the chefs at the Baratie Restaurant, and to do that he has to leave the ship. With a kiss on the cheek from Nami, a friendly spar against Moss-head, and having made a huge dinner for the sobbing captain, a bloody-nosed Vinsmoke Sanji waves at his friends at the restaurant with his father.
Nami and Zoro leave around the same time. The red head says that she had wanted to stay at Cocoyashi village to spend time with her sister that she had never gotten the time for, and the green-haired man states that he wanted to oversee the dojo that his old friend died in. The navigator claims that, but does hint it’s also because she wanted to live a life of luxury and wanted to share it with her village. The swordsman also says that he does eventually want to go back to Wano and train the next generation of samurai as well, but for now, he wants to stay at his dojo and spend time drinking sake with his old teacher.
Three grins are exchanged from the trio that had started it all, and a group hug is what ends it.
With each straw hat’s goodbye, a promise is made between them and the captain. An oath that this is not the end, and that they will join him on the ship that sailed the most dangerous of seas one day.
And with each goodbye, the captain simply smiles toothily and says, “I’ll be waiting for you even when it’s the last day of my life!”
And eventually it is that same captain who travels the ocean alone. But the man isn’t lonely, not at all. Because he does see old ones, and he meets new ones. Some of them even accompanying him on his adventures to the safest of islands to even the most ferocious.
But not one person is permanent. With each new person who sails the water with the new pirate king, the man says that it will only have to be temporary, as he doesn’t accept anyone joining his crew any longer.
Only those who had made him become the King is allowed to stay, after all.
And each person who had accompanied his adventure had smiled and told him they understand.
Each straw hat had their own goals and plans and they were all out there somewhere in the never-ending sea achieving them.
They do not rejoin their captain after three days.
They do not rejoin their captain after two years.
As the years whirl by, the Straw Hat members are too busy with their own journey to return to their leader. Each time they go into their bedroom and see a picture framed behind glass, they remember their promise. The exact words to heart.
And tell themselves that they will return to their captain soon.
A decade flies faster than a phoenix. And then another. And another.
And with each decade a tug from the water lulls each Straw Hat to a shore. But never strong enough to make them depart, telling themselves that one day, they will leave when the time is right.
But the tug grows stronger.
And stronger.
And eventually it has reached a point where the members have inescapable need to go to their captain who they know is still traversing the ocean, but no matter where he is, he will come to them within a heartbeat.
Despite the new responsibilities they have gained, the crew announces to their loved ones that their captain is waiting.
But they won’t be.
Because they will carve a new adventure for themselves, and won’t be waiting for a “right time” any longer.
It is their captain and them who will decide when that time is.
When the crew surprises their captain with their arrival, a crying Monkey D. Luffy embraces them each tightly, as if he had been drowning without them.
And the party comes, the tears are wept, the stories are shared, and the promise of new adventures await the family.
The sea is calling after all, and the captain no longer has to.