One Piece: Nobody knows Devil Fruits better than me.

Chapter 262 Laugh Tale!

no doubt.

After hearing Rayleigh's account of the secrets of 'Laugh Tale'...

Even those born in the Year of the Snake are not immune to wavering in their hearts.

What Rayleigh said was news that was absolutely enough to shake the entire ocean.

The island of Laugh Tale, which people yearn for, is a small island with 'nothing'.

But at the same time, it truly contains 'everything in the world'—to be precise, it points to a world.

That was the 'previous era' that existed before this era, an era that was destroyed.

And Roy naturally thought of the mural in the land of giants, Elbaf, from the original story.

The mural depicts three worlds—the 'First World' and 'Second World' that have passed, and the 'Third World' that is currently unfolding.

And the 'Poneglyphs' that Vegapunk told him about on Egghead Island.

"The world has been destroyed twice."

What Rayleigh and his companions witnessed was undoubtedly the 'wreckage' of destruction.

“At the center of the murals in Elbaf is a huge ‘tree’ that spans three worlds. In the original story, everyone believed that the tree must be the world tree of Elbaf, ‘Adam the Tree’.”

But now, Roy has a bold guess.

Is it possible that the tree wasn't the Adam Tree at all, but rather the 'Pillar of Creation' that created the Adam Tree and is the source of all Devil Fruits?
Roy recalled the contents of the murals in the land of giants.

Leaving aside the content of the Third World.

There are flames on the earth.

Humanity succumbed to desire, and touched the forbidden sun.

Then the 'Sun God' descended.

The Earth God was enraged and, together with the serpent of karmic fire, plunged the world into darkness and death.

From that moment on, they could never see each other again.

This is the content of a mural from the First World.

The forest god dispatched demons, and the sun relentlessly spread the flames of war.

The people of Half Moon had a dream.

The people of the moon also had a dream.

Humans ascended to godhood after killing the sun.

The sea god's wrath then rose.

From that moment on, they could never see each other again.

This is the content of the murals from the Second World.

Combined with the murals on the Abyss, Roy had a guess in his mind.

"First of all, all the 'gods' on the murals can be regarded as 'Im,' that is, the shadow of the Pillar of Creation, the malice of the world."

There is a flame on the earth—a spark, or perhaps a wish.

That must be the era depicted in the murals on the Abyss.

It was an era of abundance, where people could obtain everything by following the flames of their inner desires and making a wish upon the Pillar of Creation.

Until a human broke the taboo.

"David Jones."

The first cursed one, Davy Jones, made a wish and made a pact with 'God'.

Roy now almost knew what that wish was—he wanted the world to be interesting and dangerous, and for the world to be free.

Therefore, the concept of 'freedom' was born, which is the descent of the 'sun god' mentioned in the mural.

Freedom is the original desire and the beginning of all taboos—it brought freedom and liberated the bound 'god' for the first time, so it is both hope and destruction.

What happened next, Roy wasn't quite sure.

But what is certain is that Im, who gained his freedom through Davy Jones, triggered a massive disaster.

The way disasters
"earthquake."

Roy had found the answer.

The wrath of the Earth God must refer to an unprecedented massive earthquake.

The earthquake caused the magma at the Earth's core to completely spiral out of control and detach from the Earth's crust—that enormous magma, large enough to engulf an entire world, was the 'Serpent of Karmic Fire'.

"Yes."

“Davy Jones longed for a free era; he was restless in the original era, which, though bountiful, was dull. But even so, he probably never thought of killing everyone.”

"So Im and he used the power of the 'Pillars of Creation'—the Serpent of Inferno covered and enveloped everything in the First World, but it did not actually burn it."

"And Davy Jones will surely be able to use this disaster to command everyone to leave the original world with him and come to the 'new world' to begin conquering the many races that originally lived in the world."

"The Pillars of Creation, which were likely transplanted into the huge cavity at the bottom of the sea at that time, are the 'evidence'."

That is what was recorded on the Abyss: the First King obtained the power of the gods and began to conquer the world!
Thus began the era of the 'Second World'.

In this era, Davy Jones began to conquer various tribes, and his method was quite simple.

"The forest god has dispatched demons, and the sun is relentlessly spreading the flames of war."

Devil Fruits were officially born in this era.

With the power of the Devil Fruit, Davy Jones successfully spread war throughout the world, eventually conquering the world and establishing that great kingdom—at that time, even Joy Boy might have been his subjects and subordinates.

As for the subsequent 'citizens of the half-moon' and 'citizens of the moon,' Roy doesn't have many clues yet, but he guesses that they should be related to the special inhabitants on the moon in this world.

And then...
"According to the records of the Abyss, Davy Jones was betrayed."

"The original twenty kings made a pact with Im and waged war against him."

"He and Joy Boy fought back fiercely, but were ultimately defeated!"

"so."

After killing the sun, humanity ascended to godhood.

This sentence describes the great war that led to the downfall of the great kingdom.

But
Why did the subsequent prophecy depict the 'God of the Ocean' as being consumed by rage?

Why is Im still angry when he has clearly won?
The answer speaks for itself.

"He did not achieve a true and complete victory—He was also betrayed."

Roy recalled the 'contract' signed by the initial twenty kings that he had seen in the Flower Chamber not long ago through Doflamingo's memories.

One name was missing from the contract.

That was the most crucial traitor.

Neferutari Lily

She likely betrayed Im, which is why Im was not able to gain complete freedom even after defeating Davy Jones and Joy Boy.

Therefore, He once again used the power of the Pillars of Creation to raise the sea.

Thus, the Second World was destroyed.

Im then transplanted the Pillars of Creation once again, moving himself and the bound figure to the present-day Red Line continent of Mary Geoise.

Thus, we have this era—an era belonging to the 'Third World'.

And that explains many things.

For example, the unique ocean currents that converge at the four seas in Reverse Mountain are likely caused by the huge cavity beneath Reverse Mountain leading to the First World, and the magma within it—the intense heat caused that special landform and ocean current structure.

It's even possible that the creation of the Red Line continent originated from this.

Up to this moment.

Luo Yi finally began to vaguely understand the full picture of this world's history.

Of course, he had many ideas in his mind, but he didn't think about them for long.

Rayleigh waited quietly for him to accept this information before the 'Pluto' continued, "Even Roger was quite startled at the time."

He recalled the reactions of the Roger Pirates members at the time.

Upon realizing that Laugh Tale's true nature was a gateway to the 'previous era', their first reaction was, of course, excitement!

"That's a whole world!"

A brand new world, brand new adventures—that's something men of the sea can't help but yearn for.

But it's a pity
“The power left behind by Joy Boy is resisting us. What was left there must have been his maximum power, and even we couldn’t break through those crystals to enter the ‘passage’ formed by the sunlight.”

That's what Rayleigh said.

"But if it were to dive normally, even a coated ship couldn't possibly dive to that depth, let alone pass through that lava."

In other words...
"We cannot go to 'that world'."

They reached the final island, but were unable to obtain the 'Great Treasure'.

This naturally made Roger's pirate crew very unhappy at the time.

But soon, their thoughts changed.

Because they could see that the passage continued to extend even after reaching the 'First World'.

It continued to spread downwards until it landed in the center of the First World, next to that huge crater.

That was the place where the Pillar of the World once stood, the former 'Divine Realm' of the world.

And there, they saw a figure.

"It's Joy Boy."

When Rayleigh recalled this part, he seemed somewhat dazed.

He could almost see the scene he had witnessed back then.

At the far end of the projection on the crystal screen, the figure sat cross-legged, raising his head. He smiled, his signature straw hat slung over his back.

That was a legend of an era, Joy Boy.

"He is dead."

"That's what Rayleigh asserted."

Yes.

In that dead world.

Joy Boy also perished here.

However, his death was quite unusual.

because
“He had been dead for at least eight hundred years, but his body had not decayed.”

Or to be more precise.

The Roger Pirates could see that Joy Boy's body was actually decaying.

But when the sunlight from Ravdru falls on his body, his body becomes full of vitality again.

"To this day, we still cannot understand how he did such a thing—it is clearly beyond the scope of Devil Fruit power."

Rayleigh shook his head slightly as he said this.

But at this moment, Roy could understand a little.

The essence of a Devil Fruit is 'wish'.

After the user dies, the wish returns to the world, becomes part of the cycle, and is reborn.

But Joy Boy is clearly an exception.

His power is the Nika Fruit, which symbolizes the power of 'freedom'.

He can assimilate everything in the world into rubber and manipulate it at will; this is clearly how Laugh Tale's 'Sunlight Passage' came about.

The 'freedom' granted by this fruit is so special that it can even affect the 'bloodline factor source power', thereby erasing Im's deep-sea contract and freeing him from constraints to a certain extent.

In other words, the rules that normal Devil Fruits must follow may not be so absolute for Joy Boy.

However, it should be noted that, according to Rayleigh's description at this moment...

Joy Boy chose to die in the First World, the place where the 'Pillars of Creation' were once rooted.

"The power of will and the energy of bloodline factors there must be incredibly concentrated."

The ability to be free, combined with a large amount of bloodline factor energy, is likely the reason that created that miracle.

In short, although Joy Boy died, even the Nika Fruit has re-entered the 'cycle'.

But his body still retained the last power he left behind before his death—the passage from Laugh Tale to the First World.

Beside him was a message formed by distorted light.

Congratulations on conquering the sea and finding the 'final island'!

Those who managed to reach the final island must have been among the freest people on the high seas of that era.

You must be the rebels of the 'Abyss,' my comrades.

You may already know about those three essential fruits, and have gained the possibility of fighting against the Abyss.

You might have already found clues to those three weapons and are prepared to fight against the world.

[You must be some amazing heroes. Now that you've discovered there's no treasure on the final island, you're probably thinking of giving me a good beating.]

[You're all probably very serious after seeing my comment.]

That was clearly a message from Joey Boy.

But now, you don't have to be so serious.

Because it was just a joke.

Next to this sentence is a sign.

That's the symbol for a 'smile'—D.

The members of Roger's pirate crew could almost imagine the laughter with which Joy Boy carved those words.

Since you can see my comment, it means the agreed-upon time has not yet arrived.

I grieve for you, for you accomplished everything, yet were unable to complete the final task.

I am also happy for you, because the world will not reach its 'end' in your time, and the final war will not come in your era.

You are free to return to your homeland and enjoy life with friends and family, which is far more precious than any treasure.

[Laugh to your heart's content, JOYBOY of that era!]

Rayleigh had to admit it.

When the Roger Pirates saw this message, they were completely stunned.

Even as noon passed and the sunlight began to slant downwards, they still couldn't understand the meaning of Joy Boy's last words.

But Roger soon discovered the problem.

As the sunlight ceased to fall, the 'sunlight tunnel' that ran through the entire deep sea also disappeared.

And just as mentioned before, the 'sunshine channel' itself is a real entity.

Its disappearance directly caused some disturbance to the ocean currents in the surrounding sea.

Waves began to rise throughout the area around Laugh Tale.

They weren't very tall, but they still crossed the island's base and crashed against the mountain in the center of the island.

And just as mentioned before, the entire Laugh Tale, including that mountain, is full of those strange 'rubber crystals'.

Their elastic properties leave a shallow 'mark' whenever seawater hits the crystal.

That was Roger's discovery.

because
"That mountain, from low to high, is densely covered with many such marks."

Rayleigh sighed.

“Every time the sea level rises, the waves crash higher, and the imprint on the mountain becomes higher.”

It's like parents recording their child's height.

Laugh Tale is a gateway to the First World, a telescope to glimpse the truth of history, and a 'beacon' that records how long until the world is about to be destroyed.

And that long record, which lasted for eight hundred years, was revealed to the Roger Pirates at that time.

It was at that time that they understood the meaning of Joy Boy's message and even realized what Joy Boy's plan was.

Joy Boy's corpse, in the deep sea, gains power from the sunlight, maintaining the existence of the sunlight portal and the strange crystals on Laugh Tale.

But don't forget—under the power of that Lord Im, the sea rises every few ages.

Islands and continents will gradually disappear until the whole world is submerged in the sea.

And Laugh Tale exists for this purpose.

When the sea completely submerged the highest peak of Laugh Tale, the sunlight could no longer reach Joy Boy through the 'sunlight tunnel'.

At that time, Joy Boy's body will gradually decay, and the power he maintains will gradually disappear—those strange crystals will dissipate, revealing the 'passage'.

That was the only chance Joy Boy left for the next generation of Joy Boy.

In other words...
The fact that people like the Roger Pirates were able to land on Laugh Tale and see Joy Boy's message means that they were born in the 'wrong era'.

The right person who arrived here at the appointed time had already sunk into the sea when he reached Laugh Tale—leaving only the soon-to-disappear 'passage' to the First World.

Laugh Tale, just as his name suggests.

It is a joke in itself.

And it was precisely at the moment of realizing this that...

"Hahahahaha!"

Roger and his pirate crew laughed amidst their silence and admiration.

"We've really been tricked!"

"Hey, hey, eight hundred years to plan a joke? What's wrong with Joey Boy's brain?"

Should we be thankful?

"I should be thankful, I don't want to go to war. My wife and kids are waiting for me!"

"It's a shame that guy is already dead, otherwise I would definitely beat him up for making that kind of joke!"

At that moment, Roger laughed loudly and raised the wine jug from his waist.

"Hahaha, so I arrived early?"