I'm really happy to see this story has raised some interest :D

Now we move on to the plot itself. Let's see what you think ^^

The Enies Lobby Incident, Part I

When Edward Newgate entered the mess hall that morning, he did it to the sound of laughter and cheers.

"Did I miss something?" he asked Izo after picking up his breakfast, sitting on his usual seat.

Izo snorted in amusement.

"Sort of. Remember that article a couple days ago about Ace's little brother and his crew destroying Enies Lobby?"

Newgate grinned.

"Oh, yes, I do." He had been kind of impressed by the news. That had been a daring move for a rookie still in Paradise. Ace hadn't been kidding, that kid was really on the competition to become the Pirate King. Destroying Enies Lobby was certainly a stunt Roger would have pulled off without a second thought. The crew had been cheering on and off to Ace's little brother for three days. And they missed Ace, really. Newgate would have loved to see his reaction to the news. He remembered the wide grin on Ace's face when his brother's first wanted poster had come out; Newgate could only imagine how much prouder he must be after this.

Still, Newgate was very curious about the incident, because the article from a few days ago had been suspiciously vague where it came to concrete information. He suspected the government had a good deal of facts to edit about whatever had truly happened at Enies Lobby before releasing more information for the public to see.

Izo grinned back and turned the newspaper, with a new headline about Enies Lobby, around.

"Wanted posters are out."

"It's a pity Ace isn't here," Namur said, repeating the words that had been heard a lot these past few days, as he looked at his own copy of the newspaper. "I'd love to see his reaction to this," he added, pointing at a wanted poster. One with Ace's little brother grinning in that picture that didn't fit at all the purpose it had been taken for.

"You think they've met?" Haruta asked suddenly. "I mean, I doubt Ace would pass up the chance to meet with his little brother now he's gone to Paradise. He's always going on about the kid."

Newgate glanced around the table and noticed that Jozu was uncharacteristically silent, even for him. He had a piece of paper on his hand —not the newspaper— and was staring at it, ignoring everybody around him.

"What's Jozu looking at?"

"Oh, that? It's one of the wanted posters from the kid's crew. I'm not sure why, but it's caught Jozu's attention," Izo replied.

"Do you have it?"

"Sure," Izo said, handing him a stack of posters. "I'm not sure which one it is, but those are all of them."

At the top of the pile was the grinning picture of one Monkey D. Luffy above a bounty of three hundred million beli, a very respectable sum for a rookie still in Paradise. Roronoa Zoro, with a one hundred and twenty million beli bounty, followed, his picture far more serious and fitting for a wanted criminal. Newgate put that poster aside on top of Luffy's, looked down again, and froze.

"What sort of pirate wants his crew to be his family?"

"I don't need your help."

"Are you trying to get yourself killed? I had it under control, old man!"

"Hey, don't you dare die on me now old man! Pops!"

"I know it's the captain who chooses who to accept into the crew and all that, but if you keep bringing kids in I'm going to keep part of the treasure as payment for babysitting."

"Thatch may be a nuisance and a little shit, but he's my little shit of a baby brother. I'm not letting him die. I'm coming too."

"You had to go and blow the entire mountain up, didn't you? We can't have you at the same island as Roger, you're a pair of crazy show-offs."

"Oi, Pops, look! They sent an entire fleet all for ourselves!"

"You know, next time you assholes get drunk like that, I'm taking pictures. And they'll go straight to the newspaper."

"This family is getting too large, maybe we should consider some kind of organization system."

"P-Pop…s…? Y-You're okay…"

"Pops?" Izo asked, sounding worried. He leaned closer to him. "Are you okay? Your face went all white."

Newgate ignored Izo's question and turned to Jozu instead. Jozu was looking at him now, his face deadly serious and missing as much color as Izo had implied that Newgate's own face did.

"Tell me I'm not seeing things," Newgate asked, his voice barely a ghost of what it usually was.

"If you are, so am I," Jozu replied soberly.

Nodding, Newgate looked at the pile of wanted posters again.

In the picture on the top one, a teenager that couldn't be older than eighteen was smirking cockily, his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth as if he was thinking what his next move would be. His light hair —blond, it was blond, even if the poor coloring of the picture didn't show it— was matted with what seemed to be either dust or ash, and a column of smoke blocked out most of the background behind him.

The very same brat whose picture greeted him every morning from his nightstand looked up at him out of a newly-released wanted poster, his face as young as the time he accused Newgate of trying to start a daycare on their ship.

And, above a bounty of one hundred million beli, a name and an epithet confirmed both Newgate's greatest hope and worst fear.

Marco the Phoenix.

Marco, his first son, who was indeed alive and well again.

Marco, who had decided to become a pirate once more.

And Marco, whom someone was certain enough of having recognized as well to have given him the very same epithet from so many years ago.

"Jozu, I have to go on a trip. You're in charge of the crew until I come back."

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