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There would always be a time in someone’s life where there would be the final farewell. When something became just a distant memory. What happened when someone passed on from the world? When they were no longer physically among loved ones. Among the living. What happened to their memory?
Roger never really questioned it when he had been diagnosed with his terminal illness.
He had a very fulfilling life at that point, only having one other thing that he wanted to do.
Find the final island on the Grand Line.
The unknown island hidden away from all of them. A place that couldn’t be gotten two by the standard ways of navigation.
Roger had been living life to the fullest after that.
Living life at full speed as any day could be his last.
He wouldn’t pass on from this world until he had gotten to that last island. Fulfilling his dream once and for all.
And he would do it with his loyal nakama at his side.
He could immortalize his life in history before he gave his final farewell, but his memory… the memory of his life wouldn’t be immortalized in that way. Not with the final island. His memory would live on in those around him. In his loved ones.
Ever since they found out about Roger’s illness, it was like there was an urgency that came on the ship to get to the final island. Shanks had noticed it immediately. Before, it was always just leisure and having fun in life before suddenly it was a switch that flipped to find the final island before Roger would inevitably pass away.
Shanks wasn’t ready for that day.
He didn’t want to say goodbye.
He never wanted to.
He knew that day would come, and no matter what he told himself, he was never going to be prepared for it.
Instead, he would treasure every moment. Every memory. Every single minute that was left before that time would inevitably be cut short.
Shanks didn’t want to see that day come.
Buggy might not have had as much time with Roger as everyone else did – with the exception of Oden and his family who were traveling with them for the final year – but Roger meant a lot to him. He was the man who saved Buggy when he had no one. Gave him a place to live when he had no where else to go.
Saying goodbye wasn’t going to be easy.
All he would have after were the memories they shared.
Buggy wasn’t sure if he was ready for that day.
He wanted more days.
Even after he had stolen the Bara Bara no Mi from him and accidentally consumed it, Roger still forgave him. Telling him to bid his time and wait. That he would one day get the riches of the world.
What would happen to him after Roger passed?
Where would he go?
What would he do?
He didn’t have any answers for all the questions going through his mind.
What he did know was, he didn’t want to see that day come yet.
Rayleigh had been the first Roger Pirate to join Roger on his journey to conquer the Grand Line. When they had first met, Rayleigh thought the man was completely out of his mind. Spewing about how it was destiny that they had met that fateful day.
How correct he had actually been.
All these years later, Roger had done exactly what he told Rayleigh he was going to do back then.
He still couldn’t believe that all these years later, all these memories made, and it would soon come to an end. It felt so bittersweet knowing their journey as friends – no as brothers would be coming to an end because of an illness that was going to take Roger from them all.
Roger still lived his life to the fullest even knowing that he would soon not be among them. Rayleigh didn’t want to see that day, but he had came to terms with it. Placing a forced smile on his face as they celebrated what they had all accomplished together.
Roger had been crowned by the world as Pirate King.
They had found that final island.
And now it was time for them to end their journey.
Not one of them wanted this, but it was what they had to do.
There was no choices in the matter here. This was just the end of the line.
They had laughed. Cried. So many mixed emotions when Roger quietly disbanded the Roger Pirates.
Roger had been the first to disembark the ship. Holding his fist up high as Rayleigh clutched his Captain’s hat underneath his arm. This was the end of their journey.
It really had been destiny.
Roger had shown him that.
Even as it was all coming to an end, those memories would be something that Rayleigh would carry with him for the rest of his life.
Something that even a farewell couldn’t take from him.
He knew what Roger was going to do.
He was going to tie up some loose ends before he would hand himself over to the Marines. Roger wanted to go out his own way.
Rayleigh was prepared for it, but he already knew what he was going to do when that day came. He wouldn’t be able to see Roger on that final day. Wherever his execution would take place, it would be crawling with Marines looking for the Roger Pirates. They all had to move on now.
Keeping Roger alive within their very memories.
No matter what the world said about him.
Gol D. Roger was the love of Portgas D. Rouge’s life. They didn’t get much time together, but she had been filled with pride and joy seeing Roger’s picture taking up the front of the newspaper. Announcing that the Roger Pirates had made it to that final island, and that Roger had done what he had set out to do.
Then, he showed up at Baterilla.
It was like a whirlwind taking place around her as their romance blossomed. It would come to an end. She knew that. Roger made sure she knew.
It didn’t take long before she had discovered that she was pregnant with their child. An innocent unborn life. Before departing from Baterilla to turn himself in, he left her with one final message.
Ann for a girl.
Ace for a boy.
She would honor that request.
Their baby now would be a lasting memory of their time together. The love that she felt for Roger. Even as Roger had to leave in order to protect the both of them, she knew what was going to come next.
Her child would never get to meet their father.
But she had plans. Had plans to share those memories she had with them. Tell them just how good of a man their father was, even when the world painted him in a bad light.
Only, she had no idea how wrong she was at the time.
Before long, her own final farewell would come just like Roger’s had been.
The day had came. The final farewell of Gol D. Roger from the world as he was led through Loguetown to the execution platform. In attendance from the Roger Pirates were only Shanks and Buggy. Standing next to each other as the tears streamed down their faces. Trying to conceal their own cries and tears as the moment that would end Roger’s life would come.
Still, Roger wore a broad smile the entire time.
Not saying a word until someone from the crowd had screamed out about the One Piece. Asking to know what it was. Asking where it was.
All Roger said in reply, with his trademark grin on his face was, “My treasure? If you want it. You can have it. I left it gathered together in one place. Now you just have to find it.”
The executioners had taken his life just as he said that.
The sunny, bright day quickly turning into a storm. The thunder clapping above all of them as the rain started to downpour next.
A final farewell from the man who had done it all.
His life ending and leaving him only in the memories of those he cared for.
In Sabaody Archipelago was Silvers Rayleigh, drinking more than he had ever had before.
On Baterilla, a pregnant Portgas D. Rouge was standing on the cliff overlooking the ocean.
At Reverse Mountain was Crocus taking care of Laboon.
In Wano was Kozuki Oden and his family as he ran across the beach in laughter with tears in his eyes.
On the Moby Dick was Edward Newgate, Whitebeard, as he watched over his sons.
The feel of the changing tides.
The dawn of a new era within the ghost of the memory of the late Pirate King.
The Great Pirate Era.
The Great Pirate Era had brought many pirates to the sea in search of the One Piece. Roger’s treasure that was left behind on the newly dubbed Laugh Tale. A treasure that made Gol D. Roger and his nakama bellow out in laughter upon seeing it. Joyboy’s treasure.
Despite the farewell that haunted him, Shanks – now dubbed Red-Haired Shanks of the Red Hair Pirates had moved on. Starting his own journey as a pirate Captain. Determined to fulfil his dream of traveling the world at his own pace. Doing what Roger couldn’t. With the straw hat that he treasured most on his head.
Shanks stood on the deck of his own ship. A smile on his face as he looked out to the open see. His own loyal nakama with him as he reached up to his hat. Pulling the straw from his head as he looked at it.
A fond smile coming to his face as he let his fingers dance over it.
“I leave this hat to you, Shanks. Take good care of it. Alright.”
Shanks blinked away the tears, placing the hat back on his head as he smiled. “Those memories will never fade.” With that, he turned, giving out the order for the next place to go.
Buggy was starting his own journey. Finding some men along the way to help him and be apart of his own crew. A Captain. A Captain of his own crew just like he had planned. He planned to find the riches of the world. To drown and bathe in them like there was nothing else in the world.
To pillage and plunder to his hearts content.
The Buggy Pirates.
He snickered as he looked back at his jolly roger. He had done it. He was his own Captain now. His own rules. His own way of life.
And well… treasure.
“If you come with me, you can have all the treasures of the world.”
Buggy grinned, looking away from his jolly roger before turning his attention to the sky.
“You’re watching me… right, Captain?” He muttered. “I’ll be richer than you ever were.”
His attention was only grabbed again when one of his nakama announced they had found a treasure map, which immediately had him screaming for them to set their course for it.
Rayleigh had been drinking. A lot. Finding himself staring at the bottom of a bottle more times than he could count. He was in hiding now. Just like the rest of the Roger Pirates. The only ones who were not where Shanks and Buggy. Both of the apprentices who didn’t have bounties at the time and no reason for the World Government to go after them in a technical standpoint.
He had a wife now. Shakky. A kick ass woman who let him do as he pleased. She had been a good support system as he drank away his sorrows.
So many years of his life, so many memories that plagued his dreams. The pain was there. It would be something that would never go away.
As he took another drink of the whiskey in his glass, he could hear the almost ghostly whisper of, “This isn’t goodbye, partner.” Ringing through his ears.
He grinned, laughing for a moment as he finished the glass. Placing it back down.
“It’s not goodbye, Roger.” Rayleigh muttered, picking up the bottle again, “Even in my memory, you’re still here. You’re never truly gone.”
The World Government had set out to find the rumored child of Gol D. Roger. Finding Baterilla as the last known place that could possibly hold the mother of the child. Rouge had done everything in her power to conceal her pregnancy. Giving no indication that she was ever pregnant until after the Marines had deemed that Roger never sired a child.
It was only after that, she allowed her child to grow.
So, a year and three months after the death of Gol D. Roger, Portgas D. Rouge had gone into labor.
Much to her surprise, Monkey D. Garp had shown up right in her hospital room. He had been there to protect them. A smile came to her face as Roger’s voice came to mind, “One day, a Marine will show up. A man I respect. He will protect you both.”
Roger had fulfilled that promise.
That was this man.
She knew his name. Roger spoke about him. Garp. The Hero of the Navy.
She had stayed with him through her labor as she brought her son into the world. Their little boy. She could feel her own strength draining away by the second. She had exhausted her own body to make sure that their child could come into this world.
He was innocent after all. Her baby did nothing wrong. Even if the world wanted to demonize him for the blood in his veins.
She had cried tears of joy but also tears of sorrow. Knowing that she would never get to see their son grow up. Her memory would continue in him. Roger’s memory would.
Their child was perfect.
She would do it all over again if it meant protecting the life of their son.
“His name… Gol D. Ace.” She had whispered, rubbing her cheek against her son’s. His little wails filling the room. “Our son.”
With a smile on her face – just like Roger – she had passed away with her son in her arms.
Garp couldn’t explain every emotion that was going through him that took him to Baterilla. Right to Portgas D. Rouge’s hospital room. The only thing that was ringing through his mind was Roger’s final words to him.
“Take care of my child.”
The final farewell that the rivals had as Roger admitted that he was going to be a father. That he had a baby out there. Giving him the location and the mother’s information so he could find her.
Roger knew what he was doing. He knew Garp didn’t condone what the World Government was doing. Hunting down mothers and children alike just because there might be the chance that Roger actually had a child.
The child was innocent of the sins of their father.
Roger knew what he would do.
Garp would never allow an innocent baby to be targeted for the memory of their father.
With the passing of Portgas D. Rouge, he held onto the newborn that was Gol D. Ace. The little baby crying in his arm. With each step, it was treason but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.
Roger didn’t reach out to him to get the mother of his child killed. Or his baby.
He wanted them protected. He wanted to ensure that his child got to live a life.
He looked down at Ace, a fond look coming to his face. The little freckles that dusted his face that matched his mother. His hair and eyes matched his father.
“Are you going to be like him, Ace?” Garp questioned, keeping his voice low as he went back towards his ship. “I really hope not. Roger was a pain in my ass.”
Still, Ace was innocent, and he would fulfil Roger’s final wish.
With each passing day, Roger’s memory remained alive on the sea. Alive in the pirates in search of the One Piece. Alive within his nakama. Shanks. Buggy. Rayleigh. Gaban. The Roger Pirates. Garp. Ace. Whitebeard.
His memory continued to carry on. Rather people viewed him in a bad light or those who knew him carried him in a good one.
Life carried on even as those memories started to feel distant. Lingering on the back of their minds.
Shanks was crowned a yonko of the sea. Passing along his treasured straw hat to a boy named Monkey D. Luffy. A boy who would have never heard Roger’s words, said the same ones.
Buggy continued his love of hunting treasure, still carrying Roger’s influence with him.
Rayleigh stayed at Sabaody Archipelago, helping pirates get from Paradise to the New World.
The Roger Pirates held his memory with him every day as they remained hidden in the shadows, even as the World Government announced they had been captured.
Whitebeard’s crew continued to grow, bringing in another member who would eventually become his Second Division Commander. His son.
Gol D. Ace – now going by Portgas D. Ace had formed his own crew. Dreaming of making his own name known on the sea and out of the shadow that was his father. Eventually, he had joined the ranks of the Whitebeard Pirates. Roger’s memory still haunting him with each day as he questioned himself. Even then, he had a smile on his face.
It was all Roger’s influence and memory on the sea that led to all of them.
And there was one person that many believed would bring that memory right back to life. Full force as he exclaimed, “I’m going to be King of the Pirates!”
Monkey D. Luffy.
The man who now had procession of Gol D. Roger’s straw hat and held the same dream that the late Pirate King did.
An influence just as strong.
Even as a final farewell had been given, that memory still lived on.