Shadows are everywhere, obscuring everything. Little remains of all that has gone before, but Dark Luffy still sees; and remembers.

"You told them some of the truth," a voice says, from within the dark, "but not all of it. Why not?"

It is an interesting question, so Dark Luffy thinks about it for some time.

Eventually, he settles on a response.

"Do you ever wonder," he asks hesitantly, "if what we did was right? Is it ever wrong to start something beautiful?"

It is the time of the darkness to be silent a while, but in the end it too has an answer.

"I have wondered, yes. Have you?"

"I have, before," Dark Luffy admits. "But maybe… I was wrong to wonder."

"Why do you say that?"

He hesitates again, and then says, with growing confidence: "I… I begin to question if the start is ever truly important. What if…"

He tails off.

"What if?" the voice prompts.

"What if it's just the journey, and the end? Maybe… maybe it doesn't matter how something begins, as long as the journey and the end are worth something?"

When the voice answers, it sounds dubious.

"So the end justifies the means?"

Dark Luffy ponders this for a moment. "I… don't mean that. At least, not quite. Maybe the start does matter, sometimes. But still… who is to say that this is one of those times? I think," His voice sounds stronger now. "I think it's going to be alright."

There is silence for a moment, and then a low, rumbling laugh fills every space at once; even the shadows.

"I think you might have taken this age to heart."

The accusation takes Dark Luffy by surprise, and he feels a faint smile quirk his lips. He turns around.

"Perhaps," he says. And then: "But maybe there is something to be said for it."

There is no reply, so he asks a question.

"What say you to that, Roger?"