Chapter 498: Chapter 498: One Piece: Gold City (End)

"Eh???"

Stella’s eyes began to tremble. Faced with the dark-golden light flaring before her, she instinctively covered her belly—this was the most primal reaction of a mother.

"Watch out!!!"

That laser originally shouldn’t have been able to fully hit Luffy, who possessed Observation Haki; at most it would have grazed him. But he saw Stella inside the tower behind him. In midair, he immediately blew his body up into a rubber balloon—a rubber balloon wrapped in Armament Haki. The beam skimmed across Luffy’s body surface, causing a slight deflection, and shot toward a point slightly above the tower.

"Boom—!!!"

A violent explosion erupted at the top of the tower, flames filling the sky. The entire tower began to sway precariously. Fire instantly swept through multiple floors. Even though it didn’t strike the floor where Stella was, the collapsing tower and the encircling flames still trapped the poor pregnant woman in place.

"Damn it..."

Hit by the immensely powerful beam—even if it was only a graze—Luffy’s side was still torn into a bloody mess. Lacking strength, he fell downward.

This scene was also seen clearly by Tesoro.

"Stella!!!!"

He shouted, eyes wide, immediately trying to control the gold to rescue Stella. But faster than his ability was the already spreading, surging firelight. He was too far away. Even if he could control the gold, he couldn’t stop that intense heat. Stella, within the flames, looked at the golden giant’s silhouette. The two gazed at each other from afar. Stella was still wearing that golden necklace, and in the light she gave Tesoro a gentle smile. Just like in their youth—one inside a cage, one outside—two young lives warming each other’s lives.

"Tesoro, I love you~"

"Stella!!!"

As the flames surged, Stella, with fire as her backdrop, held her belly—their child inside—and in the end, smiling, was swallowed by the flames behind her. The fire spread, until it engulfed the entire tower.

And yet, the few people standing atop the tower at this moment remained calmly in place, watching a black box fly out of the tower and get picked up by Luffy.

Orin pinched his chin and nodded, seemingly not seeing Tesoro’s expression of utter despair—eyes rolled white, mouth gaping wide.

"In that case, I guess the game is finished~"

"To lose what’s most precious..."

Mihawk stayed silent, merely pulling the brim of his hat down a bit.

Crocodile, on the other hand, had her displeasure written all over her face.

"Orin, you really are getting more and more of a bastard..."

"For some reason, I really can’t stand the sight of you."

But Orin didn’t care about Crocodile’s complaints. Instead, he glanced into the distance.

"It’s really lively, huh~"

...

"Report!!! For some reason, Tesoro has stopped moving and is standing in place!!!" 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Lucci had no time to listen to the marine’s report, because the Den Den Mushi in his hand was a Celestial Dragon asking them for help.

"Launch the attack immediately!!!"

"...Yes!!!"

Even with civilians aboard the Gran Tesoro, they had no choice. Gritting their teeth, they opened fire.

But at that very moment—

"Fish-Man Karate—"

As the sea churned and undercurrents surged, the marines sensed something was wrong.

Like a true tsunami, an enormous, exaggerated torrent rose instantly, drowning all cannon attacks in water. A figure was moving stealthily beneath the sea.

Rob Lucci’s expression turned grim as he looked at the tall cloaked figure who had sunk several warships and now stepped onto the deck.

"You’ve come this time to take revenge on the World Government again?"

"...Fisher Tiger!!!"

From beneath the cloak, a weathered fish-man face slowly emerged, staring at Rob Lucci.

"No. This is merely my responsibility."

At that moment, another voice rang out from another direction, accompanied by flames soaring skyward.

"You’re not going to do whatever you want in my brother’s fight!!!"

Lucci was startled and slowly turned his head.

Another expert?

"So it’s you—Fire Fist Ace and Revolutionary Army Sabo."

The two brothers arrived together, unwilling to let others interfere in Luffy’s battle. Sabo faced Lucci, while Ace faced Tiger.

"You’re Orin’s man, right? I don’t want to fight you..."

Ace said coldly, but Tiger ignored him. Drops of water appeared in his hand.

"What?!"

With water countering him, wounds appeared on Ace’s body. Even when using Haki, facing Tiger—the ceiling of the fish-man race—he found it somewhat difficult to withstand that unfathomably deep flowing Armament Haki. Conqueror’s Haki Infusion was indeed an overpowered strength, but in this world there also existed monsters who, without Conqueror’s Haki, still possessed power that reached the level of a Yonko.

...

Elsewhere,

Tesoro, who had lost the will to fight, was punched to the ground by an enraged and uninformed Luffy. The golden giant was smashed apart. Tesoro was struck in the face by Luffy’s Armament-coated fist, yet he seemed to feel nothing—standing there in a daze, letting himself be beaten.

"That’s enough!!!"

At this moment, Carina and Nami came over. Carina explained the relationship and situation between Stella and Tesoro, and the Straw Hat crew roughly understood what had happened. Seeing Tesoro’s heart-dead expression—face covered in blood yet utterly unresponsive—they couldn’t help but feel pity.

"Let’s go, Luffy. The marines are coming."

Luffy’s emotions were complicated. His body was covered in wounds inflicted by Tesoro. He looked at the black box in his hand, then finally tossed it into Tesoro’s arms. After a moment of silence, he pulled the brim of his straw hat down and turned away.

He left Tesoro alone lying there, as several warships docked and marine soldiers surrounded him. Tesoro didn’t resist, as if he wanted to end it all this way.

Until a bloodstained fish-man figure appeared, blasting all the marines away.

"Why... save me?"

"I’m nothing but a complete failure."

Tiger said nothing, simply sitting down cross-legged on the spot in silence.

"It’s nothing... I just feel like, somehow, I was destined to save you once."

"..."

At that moment, footsteps sounded from within Gold City. Orin, at some unknown time, sat atop the ruins beside him, smiling as he looked at him.

"Well... I guess I’m still soft-hearted after all."

"Why don’t you take a look at the black box in your arms?"

The black box in Tesoro’s embrace slowly transformed into a cubic black space. The figure of a pregnant woman appeared within it. After experiencing life’s extreme highs and lows, Tesoro was already somewhat dazed, yet tears continued to stream down his face.

"Stella!!!"

The two clung tightly to each other.

"Well... what a cliché ending~"

Orin sat on the ruins, watching the two crying their hearts out, and couldn’t help but smile.

"This isn’t free, you know, Tesoro. You’ll have to work even harder to make money for me from now on~"

"I’ve never had the habit of looking at prices when I buy things."

(One Piece: Gold City — Movie End)