As time passed, the once-innocent interns had slowly matured. Six years had gone by since the God Valley Incident, and their progress was immense. Training was now intensified a thousandfold, pushing each of them beyond their limits.
Kuma's potential stood out the most. He had mastered both Observation and Armament Haki and was making great strides with his Devil Fruit abilities. His strength, however, stemmed not only from his abilities but also from his indomitable will. His time with the Roger Pirates had helped him move past the traumas of his early life as a slave, replacing sorrow with a sense of belonging and purpose.
FOUR YEARS AGO
"What are you going to reveal, Kuma? Let's just start the party!" one of the Roger Pirates called out, eager to begin the celebration.
"Yeah, announce it already, Kuma! We're starving over here!" another added, drawing laughs and cheers from the crowd.
Kuma stood before them, a heavy weight in his chest. The truth he carried had brought him nothing but pain—but something about the Roger Pirates made him believe he could trust them. Drawing a deep breath, he gathered his courage.
"Everyone… thank you for accepting me as part of your family. Even though we had just met, you welcomed me aboard your ship and showed me nothing but kindness. For the past two years, I've experienced something I never thought I'd know—genuine friendship. As a former slave, I had known nothing but pain and misery since childhood. So, truly… thank you, from the bottom of my heart."
Some of the crewmates were already tearing up. But Kuma wasn't finished.
"I also can't believe I've been hiding this truth from you all these years. We've trusted each other with our lives… and yet, I couldn't bring myself to share something important. But that ends today. I've summoned every bit of strength I have to tell you…"
"I'm a Buccaneer. I come from a race persecuted by the World Government. This blood… it has brought me nothing but suffering. When I was a child, my father and I were enslaved simply for being who we are. My mother, who was a human, was enslaved too. After two years in that hell, she was killed by the Celestial Dragons. My father tried to comfort me in her absence by telling me the legend of a warrior who would one day free the world—the Sun God Nika, the one who would sound the drums of liberation."
Kuma paused, trembling slightly. "My father was killed shortly after. But before he died, he passed down that name. The name that gave me hope."
The Roger Pirates were silent—but their tears spoke volumes. Some wiped their eyes; others looked at Kuma with renewed respect.
Then, one by one, they stepped forward.
"We don't care about any of that," one crewmate said.
"You're Kuma. That's all that matters."
"You're our nakama," another added.
Rayleigh clapped a firm hand on Kuma's shoulder. "You'll always have a place here. Blood doesn't define you. Your heart does."
Kuma bowed deeply, his throat tight with emotion.
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Present Day
That wasn't the only change aboard the Oro Jackson. After a year of sailing with the Roger Pirates, Buggy also joined the crew. Like Shanks, he was found inside a treasure chest—only this time, it was floating in the middle of the ocean. The crew theorized that Buggy's parents' ship had sunk, and in a final act of love, they placed him in the chest to save him while they went down with the ship. One of the Roger Pirates happened to fish the chest out of the sea, bringing Buggy aboard.
Now, both Buggy and Shanks were six-year-olds who couldn't agree on anything. Their constant bickering kept the crew on edge. Ginny, Ivankov, and Kuma often acted as mediators between the two, trying to keep the peace. Meanwhile, Koa took on the role of the strict older brother, unafraid to use force to discipline them when necessary.
Both Buggy and Shanks had also begun their training a year ago, under Rayleigh's guidance. He started them off with simple exercises—at least, simple by Koa's standards. For Koa, who possessed an incredibly strong physique, these exercises were just part of his daily routine. But for Buggy and Shanks, who were just normal human kids, they couldn't even last an hour. Still, Rayleigh always found a way to push them a little harder each day.
As Koa watched the two spar and practice, he couldn't help but remember the day he was first transported into the world of One Piece. The very exercises Buggy and Shanks were doing—push-ups, sit-ups, jogging, and running laps around the Oro Jackson—had once been the core of Koa's own training regimen. It was where everything started.
Meanwhile, Koa's own strength had continued to skyrocket. Exposed to daily training and now sparring directly with Roger himself, he pushed his limits further than ever. Eager to master the advanced applications of Haki, Koa had asked to be trained by Roger. Neither Gaban nor Rayleigh had any objections—after all, Roger was the strongest on the crew.
However, there was one problem: Roger wasn't the best teacher when it came to explanations. He could only describe advanced Haki in the simplest terms. But he could demonstrate it flawlessly.
Koa, determined to learn from the best, decided to spar against him—a decision he quickly regretted. Even when trying to hold back, Roger always struck with full force. Several Divine Departures were unleashed on Koa during their bouts. But instead of backing down, Koa watched Roger's every move, studying the flow of his Haki. Koa eventually began to understand through repeated sparring and tireless practice on his own.
Koa, having learned everything he set out to master aboard the Oro Jackson—from advanced navigation to the highest levels of Haki, including the rare technique of stalling the regeneration of so-called immortal fighters—felt a deep sense of fulfillment. While he hadn't yet tested that particular technique, as they hadn't encountered any of the Gorosei or the God's Knights, he was confident in his understanding. Now, with nothing more to gain or prove aboard the Roger Pirates' ship, Koa knew it was time. The moment had come to leave the Oro Jackson and forge his own path.