Chapter 336: The Journey to Laugh Tale: Tides of Fate

With everything set, Perospero once again took charge and guided the pirate ship toward Cake Island.

He looked tired, but there was a determined spark in his eyes.

As for that deserted island, blood had long soaked its surroundings. Perospero tossed the fallen pirate crew members into the sea.

Such is the pirates’ fate, and such is their final resting place. Born of the sea, they swear to return to its embrace.

A few hours after the ship left that island, Karl finally opened the sealed doors.

“So this is the Float-Float Fruit?”

Perospero walked up, taking the fruit with mysterious patterns inside and handing it right to Karl.

Only one of the apples inside had changed form. As for the Golden Lion’s body, the corpse was already starting to stink.

Everyone’s eyes were drawn to the Float-Float Fruit. For those who hadn’t already eaten a Devil Fruit, a trace of longing flickered in their gaze.

Still, nobody dared make a move. Whether they even wanted to try was another question, but rushing to snatch it now would only earn someone else a watery grave.

“You really were quite the ruthless visionary.”

With a sweeping motion, Karl flung the Golden Lion’s corpse into the sea—an impromptu sea burial.

Golden Lion may not have done much, but every act he pulled off was momentous. He once stormed Navy Headquarters all on his own.

Then he got locked up in Impel Down and managed to escape. Without that main character aura, the Golden Lion might still be shaking the New World.

If Karl hadn’t caught him while he was badly injured, taking the Golden Lion down wouldn’t have been so easy either.

At his peak, the Golden Lion probably already stood at the very summit of this world’s power.

Karl emptied out everything left in the seastone prison, then picked up the Float-Float Fruit.

Across the whole pirate world, Karl had pretty much seen every kind of Devil Fruit there was.

“Golden Lion, this Devil Fruit was utterly wasted on you.”

When Shiki got the Float-Float Fruit, he never truly developed its power—just a bunch of flashy attacks.

None of it helped him much; it just let him fly.

If this Devil Fruit could awaken, would it mean being able to fly without even touching anything?

No one knows for sure, but it’s worth a try.

Ideas swirled in Karl’s mind as he tucked the fruit away in the system space.

Host: Lux D. Karl (Bounty: 3.8 billion Berries)

Integrated Templates: ‘The Outcast’—Elder Heavenly Master, ‘Stealing the Stars, September Sky’—Liuxing

Skills: Mastery of Eight Elements, Advanced Three-Color Haki, Golden Light Spell, True Fivefold Thunder, and more…

Talents: Titan Strength

Funds: 278 billion Berries

Items: Great Revitalizing Pill x12 bottles, Rejuvenation Pill x18, Lu Bu’s Halberd, Dragon Spring Blade

Devil Fruits: Energy Fruit, Float-Float Fruit

Evaluation: Top-tier powerhouse of the seas. Overall strength: Half-step Overlord.

“What a shame. My strength’s probably already hit this world’s ceiling.”

When he absorbed lightning essence on Thunder Island, Karl could feel he’d reached his upper limit.

Like a bottle already filled to the brim with water.

The only way left to grow was packing more density into the same space.

As for who should get this Devil Fruit, Karl still hadn’t decided.

Back when he reached the limit of his power, Karl thought about eating the Energy Fruit.

But after merging with the Liuxing template and mastering the eight basic elements, he found the Energy Fruit less appealing.

Eating a Devil Fruit wouldn’t boost his power anymore—it’d only leave him with a glaring weakness. That’s something Karl refused to accept.

“Perospero, the world ahead belongs to your generation now.”

“Don’t worry, Father.” Perospero finally turned his gaze away from the Float-Float Fruit.

With those words, Karl made it clear he was done meddling in the big affairs of the sea.

Now he was waiting for two opportunities. One was for Roger to become Pirate King and test the World Government’s bottom line. If that failed, he’d set his backup plan into motion.

The other plan would use the help of the Child of Destiny to deal a final blow to the World Government.

Meanwhile, as Karl returned to Cake Island, Roger’s crew finally pieced together the locations from the four Red Poneglyphs.

They found the legendary island—Laugh Tale.

“Hey, Buggy! Buggy, what’s wrong with you?”

Just as they approached the mysterious island, Buggy suddenly came down with a raging fever and collapsed.

Crocus rushed out with medical gear in hand.

“It’s odd. Looks like an ordinary fever, not any sort of illness.”

After a thorough check, Crocus found no wounds or sign of poisoning. There was no disease inside Buggy either—just pure fever.

“Never mind. Captain, you all go on ahead. I’ll stay here and watch over him.”

Surprisingly, Shanks refused to set foot on Laugh Tale, choosing to stay back for Buggy.

“Ahahaha!”

“You keep an eye on him here, then.”

“Let’s go!”

Roger didn’t waste any words. He led his crew onward for the final steps to the mysterious island.

No one knows how much time passed before Buggy suddenly jerked awake, muttering for water between gasps.

“He’s up—here, drink some water.”

Shanks quickly helped Buggy sit up.

After a few gulps of water, Buggy gradually came back to his senses.

“Shanks, where are we? And what about the Captain and the others?”

Buggy remembered they were supposed to reach Laugh Tale.

“It’s all because of you.”

“You passed out with a high fever, so I stayed behind to look after you. The Captain and the others went on to Laugh Tale.”

“Shanks, you’re way too good to me.”

Buggy said it with real feeling.

“Ah, it’s nothing. If we’d all left, no one would’ve taken care of you.”

Shanks couldn’t help but scratch his head at Buggy’s gratitude.

Bang!

A sudden noise sounded from the deck. The two tensed up, gripping their swords as they pushed open the door.

“Ahahaha!”

“So it was true—we really did show up a little too early.”

“Roger, where did you hear about the timing? Why didn’t I know?”

Kozuki Oden, responsible for deciphering the ancient writing, naturally knew how things were supposed to unfold.

They’d arrived decades ahead of schedule.

This wasn’t the correct time just yet.

The secrets here were for future generations, and the date set in the ancient text was still a long way off.

“Captain, you’re back!”

The second Shanks heard Roger’s voice, he raced outside with Buggy close behind.

“Ahahaha, good thing you two didn’t go!”

“The new era belongs to you.”

“Seems like I finally understand my purpose.”

Roger let out a long roar to the sky, then strode into his cabin.

He hadn’t expected that all he’d done, all he’d witnessed, even his final decision, would end up so close to what Karl predicted.

It left him feeling like his whole journey had been guided from the shadows—a sensation that sat poorly with him.

“Captain Roger?”

But Roger’s mood didn’t escape the others. Shanks called out to his retreating back first.

“Let him be, Shanks. Give Roger some space to cool off.”

Rayleigh might not know every detail, but after all this time, he too felt like a piece on someone else’s chessboard.

Which made him understand, at least a little, the feelings of his old friend.