To LA LATINA: Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
To VoyagersUnite: Thank you so much. I'm not that good at writing.
To fernmoon and Ax Deros Kuro: Thank you!
Seeing the smaller boy that was clearly Luffy, Hancock started gushing, "Oh my god, my Luffy-kun is so cute!!"
Garp jawdropped, "Since when was he yours!?"
"He can walk pretty well... he's always looked younger than he was.." Law mused, remebering hinself helping Lami walkp.
"He's three." Dragon gruffly stated.
Everyone watched in amazement as the child walked with the lady. Most kids could barely walk steadily at that age, but Luffy seemed fine, holding the lady more for comfort than for stability. The smaller boy made grabby hands at the lady he was clinging too. They all expected that Luffy wanted to be carried, until the lady said, "Luffy... I told you, I can handle the groceries on my own."
Smoker nearly dropped his cigar. Most kids older than him would have insisted on being carried and wouldn't even want to help, and yet this small boy wanted to help with groceries.
Luffy pouted, making most of the women and Bartomelo swoon over his cuteness and awesomeness, "But Oka-san, I'm strong! And they look heavy!" Luffy's mother eventually relented, handing the smaller boy a bottle milk, "Take care of it!"
"Our captain has such a warm heart at such a young age, yohohoho!" Brook sang.
"We have a SUPER captain!" Franky yelled.
After getting glared at by Dragon for trying to flirt with who was apparently his wife, Sanji had inspected the groceries, "Flour, sugar, fruit, milk... looks like they want to make a cake."
"Who was it for?" Chopper had gone to Dragon to tug on his cloak. He was Luffy's father, he must have known.
But Dragon didn't respond, even looking slightly miserable if anyone could even tell.
"Oka-san, what are you making?"
Luffy's mother merely smiled and said, "It's a surprise!"
"Luffy never metioned a mom.." Usopp wondered, only for Nami to roll her eyes, "Idiot, he didn't even know he had a father."
"Ne, Luffy, I can carry the groceries on my own. Would you like to play with your friends?!"
Kidd had expected the child to say yes. Anyone who knew Luffy, even for a second, knew he was playful to the core.
Thus, he was shocked to see the younger boy look so sad.
"They're not my friends."
Zoro started looking around warily. Whoever made his captain sad would pay!
"Eh? Why not, Luffy?"
"They say I'm a monster, all bacuse i acdently kicked a ball into a shed and it bend."
Chopper wanted to cry. He had been treated the same way as a small reindeer. He hadn't expected his captain to go through the same thing.
"Honestly I expected him to get along better with kids." Bege commented, being the only pirate who acrually had a kid.
"Seems like his stregth got in the way of it," Drake murmured.
"It's 'because' and 'accidentally', and you dented the shed." Luffy's mom thought, before saying, "Come one, Luffy! I heard Grandpa is visiting."
Luffy perked up, before grimacing, "Grandpa? Why?"
"What's the grimace for, boy!?" Garp yelled.
"Apparently he's on break now." Luffy's mother opened the door, "Hello, Garp-san?"
Said marine appeared in the doorway.
"Ehh!?! Garp-san looks so young!!" Coby commented.
"Duh, stupid-marine! It's been like, what, 15 years! Of course he'll look young, unless you're me!" The age changing Supernovs boasted.
"Ah! Hello! And there you are, Luffy! Lemme give you a Fist of Love!!" Garp swung his fist towards the boy.
Luffy's eyes widened, before leaning backwards, dodging the fist before landing unceremoniously on his butt.
"You shitty gramps! You seriously used Haki on him at that age!?!" Sabo screeched, Garp rubbing his head sheepishly.
"I swear I can't tell if you're trying to kill him." Sengoku bluntly stated.
Dragon just looked exasperated at hus father's antics.
Everyone had no idea why the revolutionary had sent Luffy to live with his grandfather instead of remaining with his mother. Probably the same reason why neither had talked about her.
"Garp-san! I told you to stop doing that!"
"But see! He dodged it! Clumsily but he still dodged it!" The marine stated proudly.
A Den Den Mushi was heard, and Garp hurried to pick it up, before putting the snail down. "Sorry, Senny-boy asked me to go back to Marineford for emergency business.. I'm really sorry I couldn't celebrate with you guys."
Sengoku's eyes widened. He could remember the day when he had called Garp, back when he was an admiral, and Rocinante was still alive.
"I wonder what happened... I'm sorry." Bepo apologised as everyone looked at him.
Luffy's mother sighed, "Well, I can't stop you from doing your job. I hope you can make it next year then. As much as you hit him.. Luffy really enjoy's your company."
"He must have been really lonely if he considers his presence enjoyable," Sabo shot the snide remark at Garp, who just had a look of regret on his face.
"What happened?" Law asked Sengoku, who just told him to watch.This was the time where they had found Rocinante's fruit, who had been pretending to be mute the entire time until he had received his fruit.
Garp left, and Luffy just seemed content watching his mother bake, before their door was thrown open.
"Everyone hide!" A voice rang out.
"Ehh? What happened?!" Luffy's mother asked as she swept some flour off her apron.
"Marine battleships spotted on the horizon! Ten of em in total!"
"Ten of them.. it couldn't be.." Robin gasped. Garp bit his lip, and Sengoku looked towards the ground.
Smoker thought about it. Ten batteships... that was familiar...
Coby beat him to the realisation, "What?! Why was a Buster Call dispatched there!?"
Everyone's eyes widened, especially the Straw Hats. They remember how unfazed Luffy was as Enies Lobby was annihilated, but had shrugged it off as determination for saving Robin. They hadn't expected him to have actually experienced it.
"But why?!" His mom asked.
"We don't know. But they are coming from the port! All our boats are there."
Suddenly, the whole area shook.
"An earthquake?!" Shirahoshi asked.
"No. They fired the first volley." Crocodile grunted.
"We're staying. Maybe they'll fire and leave." Luffy's mother said firmly.
It wasn't before long until the ceiling started caving in, the only reason why they were still alive was that Luffy had managed to dodge the first few flaming beams until his mother had pulled him under the table together with her.
The duo waited as the ground shook, and the ceiling fell apart bit by bit.
"Poor Anchor..What did he do to deserve this?!?" Shanks growled. Benn tried to restrain his captain before he zapped everyone with Haoshoku Haki.
"Oka-san, I heard voices." Luffy's small voice rang out. Hancock started getting mad and ordered Sengoku to bring her all the marines who had participated in the Buster Call, only for the marine to retort,"Dragon already killed them!"
"This is Dragon's home island! We must destroy the roots of a plant to kill it completely. We must raze this island to the ground!!"
"Everyone else is innocent!!" Coby protested.
"raise? You can't raise something to the ground?!" Luffy whispered confused.
The Strawhats and Heart Pirates sighed inwardly. Luffy could always turn the most serious of situations into a joke, though this time was much more serious than anything else they faced.
"Shh. Luffy. Stay quiet." His mother hushed him, before, before hurriedly shoving him into a small cabinet that was barely waist height, just in time as a few marines burst into their home.
"Oka-san!! Oka-san!!" Luffy started screaming, seeing the marines beat up his mother through the small hole in the door, but somehow none of the marines heard his ear piercing screams.
"Are those marines deaf or what -yoi?!" Marco demanded.
"No. This is the work of the Nagi Nagi no Mi, Phoenix-ya." Law said.
"This is.. horrible..." Shirahoshi started tearing up. The other two princesses were equally shell-shocked.
The poor woman was knocked into the wall, and slumped against the cabinet. Blood trickled into the cabinet, and Luffy widened his eyes, feeling the stickiness of the blood.
Luffy started punching the cabinet in an attempt to get out, but his mother merely covered the door, causing Luffy to stop.
"Stop focussing on this random woman. Let's get the others." The marines then moved out, leaving Luffy screaming.
"Luffy.. I'm sorry you had to see this. Just close your eyes... this was just a nightmare.." His mother tried to coax him.
Rebecca closed her eyes. That was what Violet had told her when she was being manipulated by Doflamingo's strings.
Luffy's mother lost her grip on the cabinet, and slumped to the ground. Luffy carefully opened the cabinet, before seeing her corpse.
Law's breath came faster. He knew what it felt like. And Luffy was only three, while he had been thirteen.
Luffy immediately started shaking her body, wailing,"Oka-san!!"
After shaking the cold body for such a long time, Luffy had taken several heavy breaths, before staggering away.
Walking away, Luffy glanced at the carnage all around him. Corpses and blood littered the area.
Nami gasped, and did her best to not turn away. She had never seen so much blood n one place. But she would persevere for her captain.
Law and Robin looked at each other. Sometime after Dressrosa and Wano, he had admitted to both crews, that he was from Flevance. And it was common knowledge that Robin was from Ohara.
"The best of both worlds" was the usual saying. In this case, it was more like, "The worse of both worlds".
Unknown to Luffy, his screams had brought the marines back. As the small boy wandered around aimlessly, crying and trying to wake anyone up, the marines had seen the child.
" Mugiwara-boy! Watch out!" Ivankov had yelled, despite knowing whatever had happened could not be changed.
A marine had charged him with a sword from behind.
"That's dirty! Attacking a child from the back!" Izo protested.
Somehow, Luffy had dodged the initial strike, but the second strike had struck him in the chest. Lucky for him, he was hit with the flat of the blade, but the force had sent the small boy tumbling across the ground. He hit a rock, leaving a bloody gash on his forehead.
The marine raised his sword, ready to attack the boy who was still out of it.
"Luffy!!!" Sabo cried out, shooting fire at the marine, only for the flames to go through him.
"So.. he was killed?!" Kidd asked.
"You Dumbass! You clearly saw Luffy alive on Sabaody! How was he killed here, you shitty magnet!" Sanji yelled, lightly kicking the pirate in the knee.
Killer rolled his eyes as he helped Kidd up. His captian had kinda asked for that.
Smoker closed his eyes. Even knowing that Luffy was going to be the pirate king, a child that young should not have witnessed that, nor should have been killed in cold blood.
Tashigi had collapsed to her knees, tears running down her face. "This...this isn't Justice... " No wonder he was so eager to help the kids on Punk Hazard.
Hancock and Bartomelo were desperately trying to attack the marine, somehow not not hitting each other, only for their attacks to pass harmlessly through the man.
The marine was promptly knocked away, a man in a cloak standing behind him. His face was barely visible, but the tattoos on the man's facr were obvious.
"I'm sorry, Luffy. Happy birthday." Dragon muttered, just as Luffy passed out.
The Strawhats were surprised. Luffy always celebrated their birthdays, but had refused admantly to celebrate his own. The Heart Pirates also learnt not to mention that fact after Luffy had sent them such a solemn gaze that one time.
Now they knew why.
"That's why he passed Luffy to me. No one would try to do that to Dawn Island." Garp muttered.
Seeing Garp pout, Coby tried to comfort him.
Everyone else was surprised. How the hell had the smaller boy remained so cheerful!?
Well, Dragon was raised by Garp. There had to be a good reason why he left Luffy with Garp. Dragon ain't stupid, that gene skipped a generation.