Many years ago, Rayleigh was a heroid dashing pirate. Of course, even now, he remained charming, though he had transformed into a charismatic entleman who aged like fine wine.

  In Shanks's memory, however, Rayleigh had always been a serious and responsible senior. Ba the Oro Ja, Rayleigh essentially ran the ship, ensuring everything operated smoothly.

  Roger's carefree and uable personality meant Rayleigh had to act as the ship's mature and stable "housekeeper." He was strong, dependable, and always capable of finding the best solutions during crises. This left a sting impression on Shanks, who deeply admired Rayleigh and viewed him as an excellent role model.

  Now, after so many years, Shanks hadn't seen Rayleigh in quite some time. When they finally crossed paths, the oure and stable Rayleigh had apparently "fallen." The man before Shanks was no lohe wise senior he remembered but looked like a carefree sdrel.

  Shanks couldn't process it. The Rayleigh he had idolized was gone. Instead, here was his former deputy captain, bound in sve colrs and cuffs, looking disheveled and drunken. It broke Shanks's heart.

  "What happeo you, Vice Captain? What kind of hardships did you endure all these years to end up like this? How could such a calm, posed, and mature man fall to this level? I failed you. I should have found you earlier—I should have helped you!" Shanks thought, his heart heavy with guilt and sorrow.

  In his mind, he had already imagined a tragic backstory: after the disba of the Roger Pirates, the once-mighty Silvers Rayleigh had been hunted by the Marines. Injured and uo heal properly, his strength waned over time. Eventually, he was captured, sold as a sve, and tortured endlessly.

  The thought brought tears to Shanks's eyes.

  Of course, if Cudius were present, he would have simply patted Shanks on the shoulder and told him the truth: it was all because of love.

  Ever since Rayleigh arrived at the Sabaody Archipego and fell in love with Shakky, his life had taken a dramatic turn. Spoiled by Shakky's overindulgence, Rayleigh became the carefree man he was now. His current "fallen" state had nothing to do with hardship. In fact, he was living quite a happy life.

  But Shanks didn't know any of this. He was ed with anger and guilt. At this moment, nothing else mattered not eveential risk of exposing himself.

  "Marine? Let them e! Nothing will stop me from saving my deputy captain!" Shanks thought with determination.

  "What the hell, Shanks? What are you doing?" Yasopp asked in surprise.

  But before anyone could process the situation, Shanks bolted forward at lightning speed. Wearing his signature flip-flops, he charged ahead with suentum that his legs blurred.

  The sve mert was startled by the shout. His fat body trembled as he turned around, only to see the sole of a sandal flying toward his face.

  In the instant, pain exploded across the bridge of his nose, and his hefty body was sent flying. He crashed into a nearby mound and passed out, his head spinning from the impact.

  Everyone froze in shock. The sves stared at Shanks, their eyes wide with disbelief. The guards of the sve mert stood motionless, too scared to act.

  Shanks didn't stop. With cold determination, he moved like a whirlwind. The bde in his hand gleamed as he cut down the guards like vegetables, finishing them off in mere seds.

  Ihan ten seds, the entire sve team was incapacitated. The sves, still stunned, screamed in surprise. One quick-witted individual grabbed a key from a fallen guard and began unlog the colrs. Soon, the group scattered in all dires, fleeing for their lives.

  Amid all the chaos, Rayleigh stood frozen, utterly dumbfounded.

  Still somewhat drunk, he had been on his way back to the sve mert's headquarters. Having spent all the money he'd retly earned from ship-coating work, Rayleigh, in a drunken haze, had sold himself to the sve mert as a scheme to pocket some quick cash.

  He hadn't even made it to the sve market when this red-haired stranger appeared out of nowhere and kicked his "beor" unscious.

  "What the hell is going on? Are people just interfering ihing these days?" Rayleigh muttered, still nnizing Shanks due to his druate and the long years sihey'd st seen each other. His focus remained on the sve mert rather than the man who had caused the otion.

  Meanwhile, Shanks approached Rayleigh, his heart ag. With a mix of guilt aion, he began apologizing, expressing his regret for not resg his deputy captain sooner.

  But just as Shanks took aep, Rayleigh let out a dramatic wail. His drunken voice echoed through the air as he suddenly broke free of the s on his wrists, snapping the thick iron cuffs as if they were paper. Without hesitation, Rayleigh rushed to the unscious sve mert.

  Gathering the man in his arms, Rayleigh checked fns of life. "Dead?" he muttered.

  It wasn't surprising. Shanks's furious kick had nded directly on the man's forehead, and the subsequent fall had sealed his fate.

  Rayleigh, however, was devastated. "You owe me money! Give me my money!!!" he shouted, shaking the lifeless body as blood spttered everywhere.

  His expression was one of sheer grief, as if he had just lost a lifelong friend. To an outsider, it might have seemed like Rayleigh was m Roger all ain.

  Shanks was dumbfounded. "What the hell is going on? Was the sve mert somehow ected to the deputy captain? Could he have been a close friend? Did I just kill someone important to him?"

  The thoughts raced through Shanks's mind as his emotions spiraled.

  "Who are you? How dare you—Shanks?!" Rayleigh shouted in sudden reition.

  "It's me, Deputy Captain," Shanks replied awkwardly.

  Realizing that he'd been caught in su embarrassing scheme by his junior, Rayleigh felt mortified. He scratched his head, trying to figure out how to expin himself without losing face.

  "I… didn't mean it. I just thought you were in trouble. I've got a doctor on board, maybe he help?" Shanks stammered, his words stumbling over themselves as he struggled to expin his as.

  Rayleigh sighed and tossed the lifeless sve mert aside. He casually removed the sve colr from his ned threw it into the distance, where it exploded spectacurly.

  "Did I mess up your pns, Deputy Captain?" Shanks asked nervously.

  Rayleigh paused. Realizing Shanks had pletely misuood the situation, he quickly decided to roll with it. Adopting a mencholy expression, he said, "Oh, fet it. It doesn't matter."

  His demeanor made it seem like he was relutly fiving Shanks for disrupting some important pn. Shanks felt even guiltier.

  Before Shanks could say anything else, however, a sharp voice rang out nearby.

  "Rayleigh! Did you sell yourself to a sve mert to scam money again?! Have you no shame?!"

  It was Shakky, holding a bag of groceries. She had clearly just been shopping and was n at Rayleigh in fury.

  Rayleigh froze, his embarrassment reag new heights. Meanwhile, Shanks and his crew exged bewildered gnces.

  "Wait… is this the kind of retirement life Rayleigh is living now?" Shanks thought, his mind spinning.

  ***

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