Pirate: It’s not a phantom beast, it’s a phantom god!

Chapter 158 History and Future (Part 2)

"Are you really going to reconcile with them?"

After returning to the chief's stone house and sending away all the followers, Zannick asked impatiently.

"Ah."

"I do have that idea."

The chief nodded, took out a cup from the cupboard calmly, and poured a glass of pumpkin juice for Zannik and himself.

Since regaining the land, he has cultivated a large piece of land around the stone house he was allocated to grow pumpkins.

"My tribe members won't agree. Neither will our ancestors who died trying to reclaim our homeland."

He took a sip of the pumpkin juice, and the sweet taste gradually calmed the soldier's fluctuating heart.

He found that he seemed to like this drink a little.

"Maybe... That's why I said it takes time."

When mentioning his ancestors, the chief's tone became a little serious, no longer his usual cheerful tone.

But after a moment, he suddenly changed the subject and started talking about other things.

"Zannick, do you remember when Shandora fell?"

"Three hundred and seventy-two years ago, that was the year my ancestor, the great warrior Kalgara, died in battle."

The warrior leader spoke in a low voice, as if he had crossed time and witnessed the tragic battle.

"Yes~ It's been more than three hundred years."

The chief looked out the window and saw the majestic Golden Temple not far away.

"We have been living in the cloud for more than three hundred years."

"And those Sky Island people have lived on Shandora for over three hundred years."

As if realizing what the chief was about to say, Zannick immediately retorted loudly:

"But they are invaders! Shandora never belonged to them!"

"I know, I know...we all know."

"Calm down, old man."

The chief waved his hand, calming Zannick's emotions before continuing:
"What I want to say is that no matter how heroic the battles were in the distant past, for us now, the sky is our home."

Three hundred years, the rotation of more than a dozen generations.

For the current Shandian people, the meaning of hometown has long since changed from the complete island of Gaya on the Grand Line to a large piece of Bath called [Shandora] standing on the sky island.

They have long been accustomed to calling their hometown "Qinghai" just like those people from Sky Island.

"Zannik, no matter what we think, the earth will not reject anyone."

"Over the past few hundred years, the boundaries between the people of the sky and the people of the earth have long been blurred..."

"Originally, we, the people of the earth, have learned to utilize the various clouds and shells found only in the sky."

"They were originally the people of the sky, but like us, they developed a faith in Bass..."

This is inevitable in the process of contact between the two nations.

In the time of Kalgara, the main weapons of the Shandians were spears and bows and arrows, but now they have been replaced by powerful shellfish.

The traditional spear became a secondary weapon and a ceremonial tool.

"Zannick."

The chief drank the pumpkin juice in his cup in one gulp and said in an absolute tone:
"At least, no one wants to fight a war that will last for hundreds of years..."

"..."

The captain was silent.

It’s not that he was persuaded by the chief, he was originally on the same side as the chief.

Gan For, Zannik and Chief Shandia had reached a tacit understanding with each other a long time ago.

It's just that they all need to be responsible for the people who trust them, just like the warrior leader must speak up for the warriors under him even if he fully agrees with the chief's words.

……

After thinking carefully for a long time, Zannick finally spoke.

"I actually thought carefully about what the little blue girl said. She said that Rolando and the ancestors' regrets were not a bad thing."

"I wonder, if we hadn't been swept here by that fortuitous ocean current... would our homeland, our race, have faced a darker, more cruel future?"

“Perhaps our encounter with those Sky Island people was truly arranged by God in secret?” He suddenly laughed as he said this.

"You know what? I heard they said those Qinghai people down there actually don't have wings."

But coincidentally, the Sky Islanders and the Shandians both have a pair of almost identical wings.

Is this a bad joke played by God?
"Eh!"

Slapping his thigh, Zannick stood up.

"You're right! The hatred and conflict between the two races cannot be passed on to the next generation!"

"The earth will not reject anyone!"

As he said this, he prepared to go outside and tell the warriors in his tribe about his decision.

"Hey hey hey~"

"Why are you in such a hurry~"

The chief quickly stopped the other party.

"I told you, this will take time."

"And what's the point of us taking the initiative?!"

The Shandia people have never been the ones at fault; they have always been the victims. How could the victims be the first to propose reconciliation?
"Just wait, until those Sky Islanders truly realize their mistakes, wait until they apologize from the bottom of their hearts and take action... that's when a new future for our two tribes will begin."

……

"Yo~ Long time no see, both of you."

"Miss me?"

The chief and the warrior leader, who had reached an agreement, had just walked out of the room when they saw Osi's smiling little face, and they were both surprised.

"Miss Ossi? Didn't you guys go back?"

"Could it be that he got lost and couldn't find Yunhe?"

The chief asked curiously, looking at the familiar figure.

"Yes, we have indeed been back once."

"We came here to transport the gold."

Ossi pointed in the direction of the temple.

"But it's only been a few days... Didn't you say it would take nearly a month to get here by boat?"

"So we just flew. It only took about an hour..."

"..."

A month by boat and an hour by flight is very reasonable.

Chief Shandia, who had no idea about hypersonic speed, nodded and tactfully stopped dwelling on the topic.

"The gold is in the main hall of the temple. We have collected it."

"But you don't even have a boat this time. How are you going to transport it?"

"Don't worry about that. I have my own way. Right, Sister La..."

"Eh? Sister La?"

Osi turned around and found that La, who was behind him just now, was gone.

Where did it go?
Where is my little sister?

"Hurry, help me find it!"

……

La actually didn't run far. The three of them found her in front of the golden clock tower in the square after just a few steps.

At this moment, she was standing quietly in front of the historical text on the base of the bell tower, gently stroking away the moss that even the Shandians could not remove.

The golden girl standing under the golden civilization appears so harmonious and sacred.

　After some thought, it seems we still need to give a resolution to the conflict between the Sky Islanders and the Shandians.

　　I don't actually like the answer Oda gave to this question in the original work.

　　Two peoples with deep-seated historical conflicts seamlessly coexisted after facing a single powerful enemy together. While this ending was beautiful, it was extremely unfair to the Shandians. Throughout the entire story, only Gan Fall deeply reflected on his actions and sincerely pleaded for forgiveness. The Skypiea people, on the other hand, didn't even offer a single apology before directly transcending history and moving towards reconciliation.

　　I have always believed that there is nothing wrong with pursuing peace and the future, but only after facing history squarely and taking responsibility for it can we be qualified to talk about the future.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)