Warning: Spoilers of recent manga chapters.
Disclaimer: Do I own it? Not yet it seems...
The overly dark room was big enough to accommodate a small rebellious army, but its dampness and stifling atmosphere gave off a most uncomfortable feeling to the man now standing in its doorway. With a heavy metal screech and a loud bang, the door was swung shut, casting the room back into a state of impenetrable darkness.
Dragon scratched his cheek, feeling distinctly wronged, in a strange and twisted way. The shady revolutionary was partly glad that none of his soldiers had to endure such claustrophobic torture, but on the other hand his ire was growing along with the constant feeling of being watched. Nerves afire and instincts screaming, Dragon's eyes narrowed instinctively as they gazed around, trying mostly to feel the dark void that was staring right back at him.
Whilst this was done, a small part of the commander's brain went back to the events that had led to the current situation and the man released a low and guttural growl. Whatever the Marines had intended to do, it was surely just pure luck they've stumbled upon his ship. The war on Baltigo with Blackbeard's fleet felt like it had stretched on forever, but after almost one week of standing on the tip of their toes and fighting almost continuously, the miniature war ended abruptly at a close stalemate for the bastard pirate. The fool had limped away to his ship when the first shouts of something went off on their main ship's deck. Whatever it was, Dragon was glad for the swift chance to escape.
Grabbing the upper echelons and the soldiers that could be saved from the wreckage, the head of the revolutionaries was well on his way to a spare hideout that would have done its job for the time being when the Marines of all people came tumbling down upon them, quite literally mind you.
Monkey D. Dragon was not a stupid man. He had known that it was impossible to avoid even more deaths lest he'd do something about it. He had ignored Sabo's continuous shouts of protest and even had to disentangle and disarm quite a few people before they accepted his sacrifice and moved on - just as he had insisted they'd do in such case. That no name Vice-Admiral had been almost ecstatic to 'welcome' him onto their ship and promptly drop him in this shithole, much to his chagrin and indignation. In spite of himself, Dragon allowed himself to sneer.
Oh, he'll pay.
A small swish interrupted his musings and before he could do anything more than raise an eyebrow, a full-out burst of laughter startled him enough to get into a more guarded stance. Carefully backing into the metal cage's wall, Dragon quickly assessed the situation and his chances of actually pulling off a murder as well as the off chance that someone will come down here to see him and move the body away before it could begin to rot and stink.
"Shishishi."
The strange hissing sound did nothing to quell his homicidal plans. But before he could further dwell into his dark schemes, the sound stopped as abruptly as it came and the owner decided to stop screwing around with his head and actually speak.
"What're ya standing there for old man? Take a seat, though it's kinda' cold, shishishi."
Something in Dragon twitched at that voice and the man was almost inclined to think he was speaking with a small child judging by the shrillness of it. Quickly balancing his options, the revolutionary decided that it couldn't be that bad, whoever it was down there. And it surely did not sound as a mass-murderer, though that never stopped someone from being one. Deciding to heed to the invitation lest he'd be making the kid angry, the black haired man moved forward, taking measured steps towards what he had considered to be the source of the voice.
Something slithered past his feet and he bit back a startled yelp, cursing his sudden lax in guard. Feeling the animal – or person? – moving again, he lifted a foot up in the air, feeling the movements as best as he could before bringing it down with enough force to make sure the thing was hampered and still.
Dragon blinked when the kid gave a howl of pain and the abnormal thing that turned out to be a limb writhed even more. Quickly lifting his foot up again, the tattooed man cursed the Marines. Just what kind of damned experiment had they thrown him in a cage with?
"Ouch! What was that for, old man?" Dragon could almost see the kid's pout glowing through the darkness.
Deciding to play it smug, the man answered nonchalantly. "If you let your limbs wander, you might lose them boy."
The small hmph was enough encouragement for the revolutionary to come closer.
"I just wanted to give you some kind of light-y thing that I've found here." The kid's voice was closer this time and Dragon could hear him move. "I can't light it though..."
The man couldn't help the snort nor the clicking of the tongue when the kid's strange limb almost slapped him in the face. Something hard hit the side of his head and his arm shot up blindly to search for it. A couple of struggling seconds later, the oil lamp was safely in his hands. With a heavy sigh, Dragon propped down where he was standing and struggled with the object for a few moments before a brilliant spark and a flame lit his face and a considerable radius around him.
"Woah, that's awesome! How did ya do that, eh?" His younger companion seemed pretty excitable about unusually silly things, especially for someone in a Marine prison.
Unfortunately, only his sandal clad feet were visible and Dragon realized with dawning horror that he'll have to sit closer if he wanted to see his cellmate's face.
"It's quite simple if you know how to light a fire." He didn't know why, but he had answered the kid anyway. If only to buy himself more time to consider his options.
His cellmate guffawed and something that sounded suspiciously close to a slap on the knee filled the air for a few moments.
"You should see my older brother. He can light really big fires!" His tone cracked when he hit certain words, such as 'older brother' and 'fires' and Dragon's interest was caught, despite the odd feeling of dread he could feel slowly crawling up his spine. Just who was this kid that could extend his limb at such an unnatural length and had a brother that could spit fire. The probability was very low, though he doubted the kid was insane. As much excited as he sounded, it was not the talk of a mad man. Heaven knows Dragon has had enough experience with those.
"Sounds interesting." He said absentmindedly, a plan slowly unraveling in his mind. "You should come closer kid, I can't see your face."
Surely every sane person on the face of the Earth would want their identities to remain hidden, if possible. Dragon knew for a fact that he'd have liked that very much, but unfortunately he couldn't do anything about it since the lamp was still in his hands. Deciding to be nice and share the light, if only to enlarge the small circle as much as possible, he placed the metallic object on the ground, smirking as the blue shorts of the kid were revealed.
The older man watched intently as his companion dragged himself closer into the circle with irritating slowness. His eyes widened and for a curious moment, his heart might have skipped a beat, before resuming its normal pattern. Dragon was half inclined to file this under Mind Plays and Other Traps, but the jet black, curious gaze of his son didn't feel like a joke.
Luffy stared up at him with a mixture of wonder and raw excitement only he could pull off without looking downright psychotic. His constant rocking was not helping, but the man pinned it to the thick boredom he's had to endure inside this cell.
"What's your name, old man?" His son suddenly scrunched up his nose, the large pools of black slithering down in confusion. The teen gave off the uncomfortable air of a dog sniffing a new person and it made Dragon feel almost self-conscious.
As if the kid could figure out who he was just by sniffing him.
The older man paused to let the actual reality of him having thought such a thing sink in and promptly squashed down the alarming need to bang his head on the cell's metal wall. Such idiotic ideas were prone to pass through this mind in such claustrophobic circumstances, given the pressure of the impending answer that Luffy will be given and then the awkward reunion that will most probably be better not remembered. Well, Dragon could always bang his head into oblivion after all this was over. Right now, he had better give an answer before Luffy started biting him or something. He didn't have a clue how his son would take the news, or if he will believe him, but the revolutionary did not have any choice in the matter anymore and in spite of any welcome distraction, the man knew there wouldn't be one this time.
It was just him and Luffy. Father and son.
Dragon never wanted anything more than to be swallowed by the cold, hard ground. The worldwide wanted criminal had felt a good chunk of remorse ever since he had practically abandoned the kid on Dawn Island and left him with his pathologically crazy grandfather. He knew Garp should not be left anywhere near a fifty foot radius of any innocent, pure child, but neither should Dragon. He had always felt that he wasn't worth shit for a parent and Luffy very much deserved someone that could take care of him and not be an internationally wanted man. But fate had not been kind to either of them and with his wife's death, Luffy had been left as equally alone as him.
However alone as he was, Dragon had had more than enough ways to squelch that loneliness. His work with the Revolutionary Army has proven more and more fruitful over the years. Unfortunately, the black haired kid did not have many choices about guardianship, but from what he had gathered on his short visits on Dawn Island, his son had managed to string up startling friendships with a whole crowd of people, including the Yonko Red Haired Shanks and Gol D. Roger's rebellious and murderous son. Not to mention that the bloody idiot that Garp was had dropped him on the mountain bandits' threshold and practically ordered them to raise Luffy and Ace. Though to be honest, Dragon had to admit that that had been one of the wisest ideas his lunatic father had ever come up with and it surely had helped Luffy to develop an acute set of survival skills if not anything else worthwhile.
Heaving a tired sigh when he saw the twin pools of black were still watching him intently, Dragon realized he might as well get onto it before Luffy's short attention span fizzled out.
"I am Dragon, the Commander of the Revolutionary Army." The tattooed man could almost see the gears spinning in Luffy's head and if the kid's concentrated face was not enough of a clue, his sudden irritating humming and mumbling was.
"Wait I heard-Oh yeah! Iva was talking about you when I met him in Impel Down! You were friends, right?" Luffy's face lit up in excitement and a grin started to slowly stretch his rubbery face.
Typical Monkey family trait – avoid connecting the dots in order to buy yourself more time. Garp and his son seemed to do it instinctually, but Dragon had the technique mastered down to the last muscle movement and facial expression.
"Yes." Dragon answered platonically, trying hard not to twitch dangerously at the mention of his 'friendship' with Ivankov.
Luffy nodded and continued humming, watching him closely, though in reality the older man knew his son was studying him with clinical criticism and already making assumptions about his level of power.
"How's Sabo?"
On second thought, Dragon had probably gotten a little ahead of himself with all that assuming his son was actually an analytical mastermind behind those wide, shining black eyes.
"Luffy," the commander began, temple throbbing dangerously at hearing the surprised question of "Wow, you know my name, old man?" and trying his hardest to remember this was not his father, but his son talking and therefore not someone he should probably beat just to be sure he remembered not to be an idiot. It was not the kid's fault he was a doomed failure as a parent anyway, "you do know that I am your father." It came out more of a statement than he would have liked, but it had the intended effect.
Luffy paused to regard the man in front of him with a – finally – suspicious look, though it melted unnaturally fast. "I knew that, but I wasn't sure I was supposed to say that."
A black eyebrow lifted up in surprise at the casual way the kid had put the problem and its implications. Dragon still wasn't sure if he should expect Luffy to start biting soon or not.
"What do you mean you weren't supposed to say that?" In spite of the fact that he turned out to be more surprised than his son should've been with this meeting, Dragon had a distinct feeling that there had been some talks about him through Luffy's – albeit short – life.
"Well, everyone was saying you were a pretty important guy and Iva said I should keep it a secret, though everyone pretty much knew, especially after the war, but I thought I shouldn't talk about it anyway…" Luffy trailed off, an index finger going in one of his nostrils for god-knows-what-reason. He looked unreasonably alike with his grandfather and Dragon almost felt compelled to shudder.
His son's words caught up to him just then and the older man decided to begin his usual ritual of tracking down the culprit – or culprits.
"Who told you about me in the first place?"
Luffy took a moment to gather his thoughts – at least that's what Dragon thought the unpredictable kid was doing – and scrunched up his nose, a gesture the older man learned it was used more on occasions where his son had to consider a situation carefully and think about it. The tactless kid was going to be the death of him.
"Grandpa did when we were in Water 7."
Now that was a surprise. Dragon thought the old man would be physically unable to hold a secret for as long as seventeen years. The revolutionary was grudgingly impressed.
"He suddenly appeared and started destroying the place and then fixed it back up. He told me about you and then hit me. That's that, I guess."
The implications slid off Luffy like water on a ship's hull. How the kid was considered such a dangerous criminal with as high a bounty as five hundred million, he didn't know. Dragon paused as he realized just what had happened when they 'were in Water 7'. Luffy and his crew had just burnt a Government flag, saved the wanted criminal Nico Robin and made her a crewmate and effectively assisted in destroying one of the three Marine strongholds along with an army of shipwrights and dismantlers assembled in Water 7. It had been a day of great success and Dragon could safely say that Luffy had positively impressed him. No matter his motivation, to burn a government flag was a feat which Dragon had deemed it impressive enough to grant him a point in his books. He had promised himself to congratulate his son for approaching this thing with such a revolutionary mindset.
"And then he started chasing us and trying to kill us." Luffy finished, totally oblivious to his father's inner monologue.
"I see. And he told you to not speak about me?" He had to know, if only for the kicks.
"Not really. My friends were really surprised, but I didn't really know who you were so I just shrugged it off." The level of honesty almost hurt.
"And after that, only in Impel Down did you hear about me from Ivankov?" That Okama had better explain himself why he just up and spilled out the beans.
"Yeah, he was talking something about the Revolutionary Army and you and I just told them you were my dad. They had really funny reactions!" Luffy chuckled as he remembered the incident.
"But you talked about me that time."
"Yeah, but then Iva said I shouldn't so I won't." The black haired teen declared, puffing his chest before he seemed to remember something and deflated immediately. "From tomorrow on, I won't!" He rectified.
Dragon shook his head in wonder. That occasion was the second time his son had busted into a Marine stronghold – the most secure and impregnable prison in the world and a seventeen year old had entered it – and wreaked the biggest havoc the place had ever seen in trying to save his older brother. If the man was surprised by Enies Lobby, he had been downright impressed and a good doze of his respect went to the kid for pulling such a feat off, even if in the end it had been for naught.
"Right, so these were the only two times they've told you about me." Dragon summarized, but was surprised when his son's face scrunched up again.
"No, that old Fleet Admiral said the same thing after he told everyone Ace was the Pirate King's son."
Oh. He forgot that his family line had made the worldwide news yet again. Not shocking, but Dragon was sure that a part of Sengoku was constantly dying when he heard their name and the shit they plunged the world into regularly. It made the black haired man smirk.
"Everyone was really surprised, but I didn't care because I needed to save Ace!" Luffy's declaration caught him off guard.
Dragon's eyes briefly flashed to the nasty scar on his son's chest. Now that was a reminder of one's weakness, no doubt the kid had disappeared to train for two years. Though the sad twinge in his chest was still present, Dragon had to admit that such a wound was only going to beckon him in moving forward from there on.
He had to hand it to the kid, going into Marineford in the middle of a war was the last thing any sane and pro self-preservation person would have done, but it was also a feat of such cunning and great bravery that Dragon's respect had increased exponentially over the span of the short days between Impel Down and the War of the Best. It had had such an impact on the world, not to mention a parent-impact, because even if Dragon was a shitty parent, he was still a parent – something that Garp and the newspapers were always constant on reminding him, since all they talked about recently was Luffy – so he did have a short moment of panic before his devious tendencies overshadowed his fear and made him realize just how much talent the kid had for these kinds of things, like riling up a crowd. Admittedly, Luffy had gotten hurt quite bad and then just disappeared from the face of the earth for two whole years.
Dragon was not part of the Strawhats, nor did he know them personally or even figured out much from the newspapers, but his 'world renowned criminal and fugitive' side had always had a knack for looking into the most detailed things and finding a million ways to solve them, so when Luffy's reappearance in Marineford after the war had been published, Dragon's sharp eyes immediately caught sight of the tattoo on his upper arm and its implications. Needless to say, the man had been allowed to relax knowing that Rayleigh – how Luffy strung that man up along in his adventures was nothing short of a miracle – was keeping an eye on him and thankfully Garp was out of the fifty feet radius necessary for Luffy's wellbeing. So Dragon hadn't found it in himself to be worried. After demolishing the three Marine strongholds, he had quickly figured out that Luffy could take care of himse-err, survive without life-long injuries that would impede him down the line. The Gomu Gomu no Mi is cunning like that.
"So how's Sabo?" Luffy repeated his earlier question, seemingly bored enough to start picking at his other nostril.
Dragon reeled back to his second in command's whereabouts and sighed. The kid had been all over him ever since that mind-breaking, soul-aching, nerve-wrecking day when he had regained his memories after Ace's death. The event was still revered by the lower echelons of the Army as nothing more than the Devil's curse for the three brothers. Obviously Sabo had snorted in derision – after he had finished screaming and crying his lungs out about Ace and Luffy – and let them be. It didn't matter to him what they thought, he had said. But the blond had been adamant enough to insist almost on a daily basis that he had to go and meet Luffy immediately – a request Dragon had finally gotten around to granting when the mess on Dressrosa finally entered its final stage of Impossible to Ignore Anymore. As far as he had heard, the reunion was very tearful and it ended with Sabo winning the Mera Mera no Mi, Ace's former Devil Fruit, and thus everyone ended up being content with the world.
Or so Dragon had thought. The blond had made sure his boss was informed of everything about Luffy from how he looked to how many straws his hat had and the overall appearance and combat capability of his crewmates. At least Sabo had deemed it time to stop destroying the headquarters after the first few days when he had finally gotten the hang of his new power. That was half the reason he had left Baltigo behind without much remorse. It had been a good island, but it wouldn't do for the Revolutionary Army's headquarters to be half-charred.
Going back to the question at hand, "He's fine. Been training for a while to use the Mera Mera no Mi. I saw it's quite difficult."
At the mention of his dead older brother's Devil Fruit, Luffy's face tightened up again, looking as if he might cry and Dragon froze in spite of himself. In retrospect, he should not have said that, or given any lead of conversation that might end up with Portgas D. Ace and his current whereabouts – as morbid as that had sounded. He didn't know what he'd do if Luffy suddenly started to cry, he wasn't used to that and he won't start now.
Dragon. Was. A. Very. Bad. And. Shitty. Parent.
He could just hope his son would pull himself together long enough to stop any further awkward back pats. With that prayer in mind, Dragon launched into another subject.
"How did you end up being caught? From what Sabo has told me, you were heading towards Zou."
The older man swallowed back a sigh of relief when he saw Luffy quickly regain his usual temperament. The teen nodded, though a flicker of a shadow passed behind his wide, black gaze.
"We climbed the big elephant and guess what was on it?" His eyes held nothing more than endless excitement.
Despite knowing that the ancient civilization of the Minks was living on that giant elephant already, Dragon decided to give his son the chance to explain it himself – if only to keep him occupied enough not to remember his sadly-dead older brother – so he shook his head slightly, signaling to the younger to continue. It was something else to learn directly from someone involved – a third-party of sorts – too. Dragon considered it an inspection for his sources.
Luffy seemed even more delighted, if it was possible. "There was a whole town of Minks- ah, they are animals that can talk and fight! They are totally awesome, you should have seen them." The dark shade returned to the kid's face and Dragon's eyebrow rose up in spite of being informed on the matter. "But there was a big fight there before we arrived with a Yonko's crew and the place was really wrecked..."
Snorting at the jutting lip his son currently displayed, Dragon had to admit that the name had escaped between his lips before he could stop it. "You mean Kaido."
Luffy nodded and proceeded on with his pouting fest. The older man resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. He surprised even himself with the fact that he knew what was probably going on in that rubbery head of his son's. But he asked anyway.
"What happened, Luffy?"
The black haired kid perked up at being addressed and scratched his head in puzzlement over the question.
"Oh, Big Mom's crew came before us and took Sanji away but-"
"No, I didn't mean that." Though Dragon filed it under Ask Later. "You seem," the revolutionary searched hard for the right word, "unsettled."
By the look in Luffy's eyes, the kid was not on the same wavelength. Sighing almost in desperation, Dragon continued onwards. "Why are you so sad when talking about the Minks? Did many die?"
There, he said it. He sincerely doubted a question could be any clearer than that.
Luffy's face dropped. He started to fidget under his father's scrutiny. He gave a sigh. Dragon blinked.
"I guess... I feel it's kinda' my fault that the Minks got hurt like that. I mean, I beat Mingo and made Kaido attack them."
The older man was thoroughly taken aback by the confession, but the real problem was how uninformed his son was. It was not because – or was it in the end? – the Strawhats that Kaido attacked Zou in the first place. As far as his trusted (?) sources had reported, Jack was searching for a Samurai. It was because of the Strawhats that Jack had left the island to search for the newly made convict Doflamingo.
"Jack was searching for a Samurai. Your crew had nothing to do with it." His words seemed to fall on deaf ears since Luffy shrunk even further under his confused gaze.
He mumbled a little to himself before deciding to share whatever he was saying with him. "We were helping some Samurais we met on Punk Hazard."
Now that was precious info. The revolutionary had not heard from Wano Kingdom for a while now.
"There's this guy Kin'emon and his son Momo that we met there. And after that they came with us to Dressrosa to rescue their friend." Luffy proceeded on with the story. "And they said they will come with us to Zou to search for their other friend, Rai-something."
The unspoken that's why to his earlier confession reverberated through Dragon's skull. The man felt a headache incoming. Leaving the matter of the scattered Samurais to the side, there was clearly no arguing with this kid. Sometimes, Luffy was so like Garp that Dragon felt himself somehow wronged. Why couldn't Luffy be more like him? Or even his mother?
Ignoring the snarky voice inside his mind that kept repeating that it was his damn fault for letting his father be the only major influence for seven years – and after that bandits – and not even visiting when passing by, Dragon decided to attempt a reconciling method.
"Jack was sent away from Zou because you defeated Doflamingo and he had to go and free him. If nothing else, you are their saviors."
Luffy's grin was back full force and it was almost dazzling in intensity. The kid could surely change attitude at a snap of the fingers.
"That's what the Minks said too. But I thought they were saying that because they were just nice. Shishishi."
Idiot.
Not even the Minks would be that welcoming if they didn't know better. It was obvious that the kid had attempted at connecting some dots others were not prone to connecting because it was obvious and the result was glaringly tragic. Dragon felt it was his duty to break the news to his son. The kid should stop playing mastermind hero. Now that he thought about it...
"Luffy, do you want to be a hero?" His question was not anymore deliberated than the others, but Dragon had to know. While his actions were always concluded to be piracy in the end, Luffy had had some really serious attempts at saving countries and so on. Fishman Island and Dressrosa being the obvious examples.
To his eternal relief, his son grimaced and crossed his arms. The disdain was clearly felt in between his words. "Of course not! Heroes have to share their meat with everyone. I want to have all the meat for myself."
Dragon had never been so baffled in his life, though he had to admit that the kid's logic – however faulty – was sound. For now.
"I see." The older man began rather reluctantly. "That's good." He didn't know what else to say and Luffy nodded.
Quickly searching for another course the conversation could take, Dragon's mind flashed back to a statement Luffy had made a few minutes ago.
"Wait, one of your crewmates was taken by Big Mom?"
The black haired teen considered it for a moment. "Nah, he left us a message and all. But he did go with them."
Dragon nodded, knowing that anyone who received an invitation to a tea party – or whatever else – from the Yonko had to go or they were in for a world of pain, as horrifyingly accurate as that was. Receiving the head of the person you loved most in a present box was not a nice experience – not that Dragon would know – though he had seen some really unfortunate examples.
He had accepted the invitation and visited the Yonko when her henchmen came for him. It had been a barely decent visit, though he didn't have that many nightmares about it as one would have thought, but it was a veritable alliance resource and he won't be wasting it. Not to mention that Dragon wouldn't risk the wrath of a Yonko. Even though they probably couldn't have pinpointed Luffy's location because the revolutionary had made quite sure to keep his distance, he wouldn't risk it. He didn't care about Garp though...
"So he must be coming back one of these days." The older man concluded. He knew that Big Mom wouldn't keep someone if she didn't have any need for him. Though he was curious why Luffy's crewmate was suddenly so important.
"Dunno." Luffy shrugged, adjusting the straw hat atop his head. "I was on my way to go get him when the Marines came."
In retrospect, Dragon should have done better at being at least a little concerned about why his son would attempt to break his way into a Yonko's stronghold of all places.
"Why?" That one word was all he could utter without needing too much consideration of the things Luffy had said.
"Because Sanji went there by himself and they're forcing him to get married!" Luffy crossed his arms, a quite dangerous expression on his features.
In front of him, currently displaying nothing more than a blank face, Dragon's mind was currently in an uproar, alarm sounds resounding with incredible power over his already jumbled thoughts. As much as he tried to make any sense of the situation, the revolutionary found himself in the surprising position of not being able to.
One of Luffy's crewmates, one of the Strawhat pirates, was currently on his way to get married on Big Mom's island. That meant he had to be endowed to one of her numerous daughters. For a chilling moment, the older man realized why these news were such a shock to him. Between the war with the Blackbeard Pirates and his haste to leave Baltigo, Dragon was not able to read any kind of message or newspaper, meaning he had been thoroughly cut off from the world for quite some time now – and it could have been a fatal mistake. As it was, he was thankful only the Marines were his problem now. Hopefully.
If Dragon would have been able to see their new bounties – which he was sure his son and crewmates obtained after Dressrosa – then the guy that had been taken to Big Mom must have had an absurdly big bounty... or a name.
Jet black eyes narrowed as they locked on their younger counterparts. Luffy had the decency to look surprised at the sudden suspicious look his father was giving him.
"Who is this crewmate of yours that got taken?" Damn that Sabo for not noticing such an important thing as a famous face. Or maybe he was one of the guys that left for Zou ahead of Luffy?
"You said his name was Sanji?"
The straw hat wearer nodded, albeit a little hesitantly. "Yeah, he's Sanji."
"Sanji what?" Dragon snapped, making Luffy flinch a little. "What other name does he have? What about his bounty? Did you notice something strange with it? Like an absurd amount of money being paid or-"
Dragon stopped as he focused on his son's dazed expression at the onslaught of questions. The kid was surely overwhelmed, but the older man simply had to know.
"Uhm," the teen began uncertainly. It wasn't that his father was behaving a little strange – Luffy had an inkling feeling Dragon was more on the scheming, controlling side, unlike him – though that wasn't really the problem. As much as he knew Dragon was his father, the teen still had doubts whether or not he should really be revealing his cook's family name. It might be dangerous, but then again, maybe his old man knew something about the blonde's family, or at least had some idea if they were powerful or not, "well, he didn't have a lot of money added to his bounty," only one hundred million, but that couldn't be so much, right? "but I remember it said he was wanted only alive."
Luffy snapped his mouth shut and almost gulped when he saw the wild look his father was giving him, though he knew Dragon's mind was not anchored in reality anymore. What was really strange was that this whole conversation was slowly driving him to the point of his own mind finally pinning Dragon's face under the label 'dad'. He had finally came face to face with the man he had heard so much about and was at last seeing for himself what he was like and how much those words thrown around were true or not.
For now, Dragon was none of the things people have told him he was. The older man was very smart, Luffy was sure of that, but he could also see he was absurdly thoughtful and was always thinking before acting – again, unlike him. At first, the younger pirate had trouble believing they were related, but he knew that they were at least through looks. His father had the same black hair and eyes. Same confused face he saw himself doing once when he was talking to Nami near the railing and he happened to glance at the water's reflective surface in that exact moment. And he also had the same burning curiosity, though for things different than Luffy.
"Then he must be pretty important for the Government." Dragon muttered to himself, but Luffy caught it anyway. His father's eyes locked on his once again, urging him to give up his crewmate's family name.
For the first time in his life, Luffy felt compelled to speak and he silently marveled what could have made him do it. Was this what they called a parent's power?
"Pekomamushi said his name was Vinsmoke."
Dragon felt his eyes widen to impossible proportions and his jaw slacken dangerously, though he considered this an insufficient reaction to the news he had just received. Some remote corner of his mind was celebrating yet another success of his amazing instincts, but that was where the happiness ended and the alarms began once again. How could he have been such an idiot to simply dismiss researching more deeply about Luffy's crewmates than a normal check up? He had not even batted an eye at Sanji's background – now he even remembered everything he had read about him too – since the kid was really unremarkable besides the powerful legs he was said to posses as 'Black Leg'. Was this one of Vinsmoke's twisted games?
No, it couldn't be. Luffy had said that he met him in East Blue, but he was pretty sure the Vinsmoke family – as extended as it was through the Blues – didn't have a worthwhile establishment of headquarters in the weakest Blue. So simply sending one of their sons there would be a stupid thing to do. Dragon was well acquainted with the Vinsmoke patriarch and he knew the man enough to realize he wouldn't do that willingly.
So what had happened? Was Sanji a runaway? Did they want to cover this up as much as they could? Was he banished from his home? If so, for what? From what Dragon had read, the kid had not been much older than nine when he arrived in East Blue.
His head was swimming with questions, but he knew his son didn't know the answer to any of them. If nothing else, it would make him even more confused. Now that he took a better look at Luffy, his mind unwillingly latched to the subject of how had the kid even found the guy. It was thoroughly irritating that his inquiries won't probably be answered any time soon.
"Did anyone know about this?" The older man just had to know if his son has been hiding something from him until now. Though the same snide voice from earlier interfered again, saying that it wouldn't have even been a secret since Luffy wouldn't have had any reason to tell him in the first place. Unfortunately, that made him even more aggravated.
"Nope, none of us. When we got to Zou Nami, Brook and Chopper told us about it. They were surprised too. They said he's the third son." Luffy explained, his words flying out of his mouth without control. The teen inwardly gaped at that.
Figures that that Sanji guy wouldn't have told even his own crew about it and Dragon silently applauded him. Even if it wouldn't have changed anything between the crewmates – though it would if some of them knew the name – it would have also been an unwanted dead weight on their backs through their adventures.
"I see." Dragon finally sighed, rubbing soothing circles on his temple with the hope his newly acquired headache would subside a little bit. He still had things to ask and explain to his son. "Are you sure you want to go in there?"
Luffy's indignant face greeted him when he finally deemed his headache passable enough to look up.
"Of course! I've got to save Sanji!"
The older man sighed and did something he didn't ever imagine himself he would do. "Be careful then." He warned. "It's easy to get lost on that cursed multicolored dough." Dragon paused as another piece of information occurred to him. "And don't eat anything as I'm sure you're prone to do when you arrive."
The black haired teen pouted and nodded. He was finally going to a cake island and he won't be allowed to eat anything! The thought of disobeying his dad came and went, but in the end Luffy decided to heed to his warning. He was sure that Dragon must have known what he was talking about.
"... Can I ask you something, dad?" Luffy's question surprised him more than it should have.
"Yes?" Dragon urged seeing as his son was hesitating. A black eyebrow shot up when the kid started sweating buckets and his mouth did a funny thing that left the revolutionary nauseous for a moment.
"I want to ask you something." The boy said, starting to tremble slightly.
If there was a time when the older man should be alarmed, it was this.
"What is it, Luffy?" If Luffy kept that trembling and fidgeting up, he'd end up with a seizure or something. Note: Dragon was no doctor.
Swallowing a rather large gulp that showed quite amusingly with his rubber neck, the younger man looked down and occupied himself by playing with his fingers as he spoke.
"... What kind of person was my mom?" In spite of his earlier plan, Luffy couldn't keep sidestepping the subject so he lifted his head up and stared at his father with a rather blank face that for the raven head was equal to a serious expression. His curiosity had been sparked for a while now, ever since he had met his dad in this dumpy black cell and the pirate decided this was as good time as any to ask about it.
Obviously, Dragon didn't know that so the first thing he did was to be shocked about the face and the question before his mind went into overdrive and began its usual process of analysing every possible reason for this sudden topic and its implications. Of course the kid would be curious, it was a wonder this wasn't the first thing he had asked him when they met. He was partly thankful for this restrained curiosity, as Garp's words could sometimes be misleading at best and he surely didn't want the old idiot opening his mouth on such subject. It was Dragon's decision to make what he'd tell and what he would leave out of the story.
"She was a wonderful woman." The man answered, his mouth suddenly dry. "And she loved you very much." The long haired man inwardly sighed in relief when it was over, though that did not last long. Alarm bells went inside his head the moment his gaze fixed on Luffy. Not even a muscle had twitched in light of the answer.
"Is she dead?" His tone was latched with pure, overflowing curiosity.
Dragon debated whether telling him would make a difference. At some point it will, especially with the innumerable possibilities the future holds so he settled for something that would put Luffy's special mind to rest for the moment.
"Let's say it's a mystery for now." Dragon's mouth twitched into a smile when his son's face suddenly relaxed and the kid mirrored his smile with a grin of his own.
"Yosh! Let's leave it at that!" Luffy laughed and stretched his arms above his head. "Say," the pirate cocked his head to the side, "how come you were caught? Weren't you with Iva-chan and Sabo?"
The revolutionary nodded. "I was, but we had a, uh, conflict with Blackbeard." The sudden dark look was foreseeable. Dragon knew very well the nature of the relationship between Luffy and that bastard.
"What conflict? Did he attack you?!" Luffy's exclamation echoed in the dimly lit room. His fiery gaze locked on Dragon's cold one and his fists clenched in the fabric of his pants.
"Yes, but my subordinates are all fine. We succeeded in driving them out of Baltigo. Sabo is fine, too." The man added, seeing Luffy open his mouth. It was a no-brainer really.
The raven head nodded hesitantly. "Okay."
A comfortable silence, unlike the last one, settled between the two. Dragon swiftly crossed the list of spent subjects of conversation inside his mind and he was partly disappointed to see only one remained. It was truly surprising how much speaking with Luffy could positively increase one's mood.
"How's it going with the quest of achieving your dream?" Luffy's head snapped up and a look of guilt passed over his face.
Dragon was confused. "King of the Pirates, right?" The man asked just to be sure. He was inclined to think he got it right, seeing as barely more than two years before in Loguetown Luffy had declared that to the whole world.
"Uhm..." Great, the kid started to fidget again. "I'm not sure I should say this...?"
Dragon blinked at the utter show of honesty, but felt the need to congratulate his son for the foresight. It was not safe to tell secrets to enemies, though the small pang in his chest at that word informed Dragon that he really didn't want to be considered as such by his own son. No matter how little they met and talked.
"Good job, Luffy." His statement was accompanied by an assertive nod. "You should not go around spilling secrets to strangers."
"Hm? But you aren't a stranger." The straw hat wearer remarked, jet black eyes alive with conviction.
Dragon almost smiled. "That's for you to decide, kid."
The teen nodded and considered this for a minute more before he shook his head. "Nah, definitely not a stranger. Say, what do you know about One Piece or Raftel?"
It was Dragon's turn to incline his head to the side. "I know about the four Poneglyphs, if that's what you're asking."
"Is that right? Us too!" Luffy grinned obnoxiously wide. "We heard about it not long ago! It's really awesome, right? Now we only have to search for the other three!"
"You do know that those Poneglyphs are heavily guarded by the Yonko." The revolutionary remarked. "Not to mention that the fourth one is lost. No one knows where it is."
In spite of the negative amount of information he received, Luffy did not seem affected. "We'll figure that out when we get there. But it was really surprising! You should have seen it! We all were so shocked and at some point we started yelling around. Shishishi."
"I was too when I first heard about it."
"Now I'm gonna go and get Sanji back and steal that Poneglyph and then come back to search for the others."
His son's statement made him choke. The black haired man was inclined to believe the kid was suicidal.
"Luffy, you-" Dragon snapped his mouth shut. There was no need to try and warn or tell him off. The kid would do whatever he wanted to and even if he was his father, Dragon couldn't and wouldn't control him. Luffy had to do whatever he felt like doing. That's what it meant to be free. But that didn't mean he couldn't give him one last encouraging word, something that the kid's mom had once said to him. "Make sure you accomplish your dream. That's got to be the outcome of your choices. Make sure they are not wasted, Luffy."
Luffy blinked in surprise and nodded, a small smile appearing on his face. "I heard that somewhere before. You know that person, too?"
The revolutionary smirked. "Let's leave that as a mystery as well."
The kid opened his mouth, but no words came out as the ship suddenly rocked dangerously. Despite their cell being on the very last level below deck, the shouts and gunshots that went off were heard and felt through the thick metal.
Dragon sighed and stood up along with Luffy.
"Seems like our companions have finally arrived."
His son nodded and cracked his knuckles – though Dragon wasn't sure how that was possible seeing as the kid was rubber – and grinned. The man's mind briefly flashed back to the begrudgingly acquired feeling of fascination he had felt back in Loguetown when the revolutionary had finally understood the potential of Luffy's Devil Fruit. So many years of thinking it was useless had been crushed down by that lightning strike. Truly an eye-opening experience. And as far as he heard from Sabo, he wasn't the only one who had been impressed by Gomu Gomu no Mi's feats.
The sound of the gunshots grew steadily louder before, at long last, the sound of footsteps stopped just outside their cell's door. Dragon wondered who the one handling the keys behind that metal barrier was. His question did not take long to be answered.
The heavy cell door moved with a starling screech of metal against metal and a thoroughly peculiar sight greeted them. Luffy jumped up in joy and ran forward to greet their savior – which was a fucking skeleton.
In spite of his foreknowledge about the strange bunch his son had strung together, Dragon still couldn't believe he was really seeing the real thing. It seemed that Soul King Brook's concert poster was no lie or exaggeration. The guy looked like death with an afro and as ironic and funny as it would sound, it was sadly true.
"Ah, Luffy-san. There you were!" Brook exclaimed, moving to the side to let his captain pass. Dragon stepped forward too, intent on making himself scarce the first chance he got. Unfortunately, Luffy was not as scatterbrained as he looked.
"You're leaving already?" The kid had on a pretty sad face. The corners of Dragon's mouth twitched.
"Hm?" Brook's eye sockets turned towards Dragon. "Who might you be?"
The revolutionary turned on his heel to face the musician. "I am Dragon, the Chief of the-"
"Ah, he's my dad." Luffy interrupted, chuckling good-naturedly. Dragon was half tempted to growl at him.
"Oh, I see! You are the Chief of the Revolutionary Army!" It seemed the skeleton had his fair share of information. Suddenly, the much older man bowed, taking his hat off his head. "It is very nice to meet you, too!" Brook said jovially.
Dragon nodded and made to step away again, but a last thing popping into his head stopped the swift exit.
"Luffy." His son turned towards him curiously. Noting that the marines might very well be on their way, the long haired man resolved to make it quick. "What do you think of an alliance between the Strawhat Pirates and the Revolutionary Army?"
The straw hat wearer cocked his head to the side in that annoyingly endearing manner of his that Dragon had learned it was Luffy's way of buying himself time to think while giving off the idea that he was confused by whatever the speaker was saying. This was a new and improved version of the last one. The man was grudgingly impressed and relieved at the same time. Luffy was no more like his grandfather than him, though sometimes they could have fooled him.
"No thanks." The answer shocked Brook more than Dragon.
The revolutionary allowed a smirk to crawl up on his face. This kid had freedom mastered down to an instinct. It was really something else to see the real thing and Dragon felt he could learn something from him. Either way, he was glad Luffy was not selling himself cheap in things that could make the difference between life and death. Alliances were double edged blades.
Dragon grunted and turned back to face the door.
"If ya' need our help just say it and we'll come." The act of picking his nose was certainly anti-climatic, but it brought a rare – though not so anymore in the last couple of hours of being locked up in that room with his son – smile on his face.
"Understood. We'll see each other again, Luffy."
His clanging footsteps faded in his ears as the shining sun and clear blue sky greeted him. In spite of it being barely a day, Dragon inhaled the sea's salty smell greedily, basking in the warmth washing the deck.
A battle cry on his right alerted him a bit too late of his incoming attacker, but before the sword handling marine could bring down the blade, five arms sprouted on his body and stopped him effectively.
"It is nice to see you again, Dragon-san." A smooth female voice spoke with mirth.
Dragon turned around to gaze at Nico Robin's smiling face, her arms crossed guardedly in front of her chest, ready at any moment to strike if necessary. The revolutionary nodded back in greeting before redirecting his eyes towards the deck for a closer inspection. It certainly looked like a battlefield, but nothing could compare to the amount of bodies that looked like have been mangled by bites. He certainly hoped Brook wasn't the one to do that kind of damage and before he could stop himself, a dark eyebrow shot up in surprise.
Nico Robin released a short laugh as she disabled another three marines. "We have a rather peculiar man in our little group at the moment."
Her words certainly stirred his curiosity. "Oh? You're not with the whole crew?"
The black haired woman shook her head and gestured towards the Thousand Sunny – a ship which made Dragon want to shield his eyes. It was a little too happy for his tastes, but he could clearly see his son sailing on it.
He only spotted an orange head aboard. Their navigator, Cat Burglar Nami, Dragon concluded.
"Why the sudden cut in personnel?"
"I could ask you the same thing." Nico Robin turned around to face him, a serious expression melting her previous smile. "Though I believe they are closing in fast." She gestured with her head in the opposite direction and Dragon turned around to see for himself. It was indeed his ship sailing towards them at full speed, Sabo's blond locks clearly discernable even with the considerable distance.
Figures those idiots couldn't stay put for at least a full day.
"We are heading towards Whole Cake Island-" The archaeologist began, but the revolutionary cut her off.
"Yes, Luffy has told me." Though his reply only aggravated him further when the black haired woman gave him one of those knowing looks. "Make sure to keep Luffy out of trouble."
If Robin was surprised by his order, she didn't say it. Instead, the woman laughed again. "I am afraid that is one promise I cannot keep, Dragon-san. Our captain is a special case." Brown eyes glinted with admiration and mischief.
The man sighed tiredly. "I tried anyway. Good luck taking back that Vinsmoke kid."
This time, Nico Robin was indeed shocked by his words. "How-"
"He's going to be one tough shell to crack." The Head of the Revolutionary Army continued speaking, not minding her confusion. "Better let Luffy deal with him and you search for the Poneglyph."
Before Robin could continue expressing her surprise at his informed state of their affairs, a talking lion emerged from below deck along with his son and Brook.
"Time to go. We've cleaned these guys well." Pekoms straightened his suit, his sunglasses glinting when his gaze settled on Dragon.
"What're the revolutionaries doing here?" The lion's question was lost on the long haired man. He was still in the process of figuring out how Luffy had managed to get another animal-man to join his crew.
Or was he a crewmate?
"Is he part of your crew?" The three Strawhats' head snapped in his direction. Pekoms only scowled.
"No." The lion positively growled. "I'm just taking the first ship to Whole Cake Island. It's not my fault theirs was the first to leave."
Dragon nodded. He did not want to make that lion attack him. Now he knew where those bites had come from.
"Yep." Luffy agreed, grinning. "Pekomamushi is helping us get to Whole Cake Island!"
"For the last time, Strawhat!" The Big Mom pirate barked. "I am the one threatening you to take me there!" Though his words were quite strange considering the situation, their meaning was immediately clear after the lion proceeded in mumbling under his breath – quite audibly. "You stupid blockhead will ruin my plan!"
"Luffy! Robin!" The orange haired woman back on the Thousand Sunny shouted, attracting their attention. She waved her hand to make sure she got her crewmates' attention.
"What is it, Nami?"
Nami stopped her obnoxious waving to yell back. "A big storm is coming so you should hurry the hell up and board the Sunny! We've got to leave soon!"
Luffy nodded and started towards his ship. "See ya' later, dad!" He waved a hand back at him.
Dragon nodded and turned back around to face his subordinates. They were close enough to the Marine vessel that he could hear their cries of his name and other appellatives. The man shook his head and stepped forward, preparing to board. He did not plan on staying more than he had to on the Navy ship. He doubted these no-names would hold anything worthwhile on their persons.
"Luffy was caught too?!"
Figures that that was the first thing Sabo would ask his boss after being detained on a Marine ship for more than half a day. He should have honestly expected it.
NEW MARINE HEADQUARTERS
Fleet Admiral Sakazuki was actually having a good day for once. No incoming wars or apocalyptic scenarios that included escaped Impel Down prisoners. No pirates to be dealt with immediately and no idiots trying to scare poor people into surrendering their money. No shitty Worst Generation for the moment to destroy countries or fight with Yonkos. No Garp and his gang of old timers to complain.
Yes, just perfect.
The Devil Fruit user looked through the window to the outside world, taking in the peaceful harbor and the barely seen waves of the ocean. A couple of seagulls flew by the glass, basking under the kind sun outside.
Sakazuki returned his gaze to the last pages of his paperwork and smiled. Like, a real upturn of the lips.
The best part yet: he might be able to finish it in half an hour and then take a relaxing walk around the Headquarters. It would be the epitome of this amazingly good day he was having.
A small pang inside his chest brought him back down to reality and the Fleet Admiral allowed a scowl to replace his earlier smile. He had been so lost in daydreams for a moment there that he let his guard down. Never in his entire career as a Marine was it going to be just a normal, uneventful day when nothing happened.
In his early years, the Devil Fruit user thought it might be just a normal thing, but he quickly concluded that it might just be his luck and fate in the works since most of his colleagues were allowed to have such days when happiness didn't have to be found in the simple act of sleeping early. That is why he worked so hard to keep things in a relative balance. Maybe, just maybe, he could have a normal – by normal people standards – day. Since until now no such thing had happened, Sakazuki was not one to hope in vain so he let his pessimistic nature dominate his thoughts once again.
Sighing deeply, the Fleet Admiral's hand moved to pick up the forgotten pen. It was still a probability that he would finish the paperwork quickly with nothing happening and then he could walk out of his office and be unavailable for the rest of the afternoon. Yes, that was a good plan.
Purupurupuru
Not so much anymore, it seemed.
Purupurupurupuru
Sakazuki glared heatedly at the blue snail.
Purupurupurupurupuru
The creature kept making that annoying sound, not even minding the death look its owner was giving him.
Purupurupurupurupurupuru
"Fine." The Fleet Admiral growled and lifted the receiver.
-Katcha
"Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, sir!" A man spoke on the other line, sounding a little out of breath.
The lava user could only pray nothing had happened.
"Yes? What is it?"
His subordinate paused at the dangerous tone, but picked up the hint and explained in a hurry.
"Sir, this morning I managed to apprehend both Strawhat Luffy and the Head of the Revolutionary Army, Dragon."
Sakazuki's blood ran cold. Something of that magnitude shouldn't have been reported only now.
"And why are you reporting this only now?" The man's fist clenched, a small hissing sound alerting the owner of his office desk's impending doom. It sadly went unnoticed.
The Captain gulped audibly over the line. "We have requested back up from a nearby Marine Station and have been occupied with the formalities, Sir."
Sakazuki gritted his teeth to keep from lashing out. He sincerely didn't want to see the end of this discussion, considering the subdued nature of the man on the other side of the line. This day had just got instantly shittier and the man wondered, not for the first time, how the fuck it was possible.
"I assume you are on your way to Impel Down then?" The silence that followed his question was the only answer needed.
"There was a problem actually, sir. The Strawhats' have attacked us with all their forces in order to liberate their captain." For dignity keeping purposes, the Captain abstained from reporting that the Thousand Sunny was populated by less than five people at the time of the attack. "They have unfortunately managed to free Strawhat. After a bloody and tiresome battle, the Revolutionary Army had attacked as well just after Strawhat's departure and our forces were not strong enough to handle both them and Dragon at the same time." The captain also decided to not mention that he wasn't even conscious when that had happened.
Sakazuki lifted an eyebrow at the words. "Strawhat freed Dragon?"
Of course he would, that kid knew who his father was and he surely wouldn't leave him there, though it still didn't sound right to him. If they were locked in different cells, it was a rather low possibility that he knew his dad was in the other one. One possibility was that a soldier must have slipped up or the straw hat wearer's hero streak suddenly skyrocketed and opened all the cells in case someone else was in there. Which might have been entirely possible now that Sakazuki thought about it.
"No, sir. They were both freed at the same time."
So their savior was the one with the hero streak. That or those two have been locked in the same cell. The notion brought forth a cold, ruthless wave of vertigo. In spite of his better judgement, the Fleet Admiral asked.
"Did you lock them in the same cell?" The growl made his interlocutor stutter.
"Y-Yes, Sir! We-We did not have th-the space since o-other prisoners were locked in the other c-c-cells!"
The day humanity will receive a grim reminder.
Sakazuki blinked when that voice entered his mind. The thought felt alien for the situation, but he completely agreed with it. Shrugging and deeming it the fault of the precarious situation he was currently buried neck deep in, the lava user proceeded to give his stupid subordinate a good lashing for his idiocy and apply other derogative methods that might be effective enough for the fool to understand the gravity of his situation.
Yes, the day when those two would be locked in a cell would certainly be a grim reminder. Even more now that the reminder was upon them and Sakazuki had to sacrifice his days from now on waiting for the impending doom to overcome the world. He just hoped that nothing too big has been discussed in that little cell. Though considering his hoping charts, the Fleet Admiral felt compelled to prepare for the incoming war.
A/N: Yes, I possibly screwed up the timeline what with the war on Baltigo, that as of chapter 818, still didn't begin and Luffy's departure, but in my defense, this was written somewhere before and after 812 so I didn't know!... yet.
And YES, I screwed up the teams, but since I said this was written some months ago, I only assumed. Besides, Robin fit in with my plot and I won't just change her like that ;-;
Did you like me dancing step around the subject of Luffy's mother?
... me neither, but I wasn't going to delve into inventing family history. I've invented enough things in this xD
I hope Dragon's input was consistent enough.
Kudos to those who caught the reference on Inside the Dragon's Den at the end xD
Please tell me what you think! As always, reviews are loved and feedback is needed! :D
Also, hi! Forgot to say that in the beginning o3o