I'm happy to see my rant last chapter had an effect :) Thank you to everybody who commented, it helped raise my mood ^^

Now we're moving into the AU proper. We're back to short chapters, too. Last update was an exception, mainly because I didn't find any point I liked to divide it.


Kuma's Actions, Part I

"What the hell do you think you're doing, old geezer?!" Ace's little brother —Luffy, best to start thinking of him by his name— yelled, still trapped by Newgate's hands. "WE COULD'VE HELPED THEM!"

"Really? How?" Newgate asked, and he didn't mean it in a cruel or mocking manner. Both Marco and Luffy were exhausted, clearly on the verge of passing out had they not been so worked up by everything that had just happened. "You can't even stand on your own."

"Maybe. But you could have helped them," Marco said, his voice cold, and it was like a stab to the heart. This was the first time Marco had spoken to him in thirty years, and his words were an accusation.

And the worst part was that Marco was right. Newgate could have saved those three, if only Rayleigh hadn't made it clear that he shouldn't intervene. Which begged the question of why Rayleigh had done it in the first place.

Newgate looked at Rayleigh.

The marines and Kuma were gone now, after Kizaru had admitted that if Newgate was to intervene they were too outclassed to capture the remaining Strawhat Pirates, and Newgate could sense their presences groves away from their position.

"It's something Kuma said," Rayleigh replied, and both Marco and Luffy turned to look at him. "He said that he was a member of the Revolutionary Army, and that he wanted to help your crew get away from the island," he addressed this last part to Marco and Luffy.

"The Revolutionary Army?" Marco asked, surprised.

"Why's that familiar?" Luffy asked, tilting his head to the side.

Marco sighed in that long-suffering way that Newgate had missed for so long. He didn't bother to hide his smile; neither Marco nor Luffy were looking at him.

"Don't you remember what your grandfather said? Your dad's the leader of the Revolutionary Army," Marco said.

Newgate blinked, caught completely off guard. Dragon was Luffy's father? And Garp's son? Newgate would laugh about the hilarity of the second one later, but for now he was too busy being astonished by the fact that, somehow, Ace and Luffy had found each other and become brothers.

Talk about fate.

"You mean the bear guy was helping us?" Luffy asked, surprised.

"Maybe," Marco replied. "What he did was odd, if you think about it. And the axe guy looked about ready to go fight him instead of us."

And then, to Newgate's surprise, Luffy laughed.

"That means they're okay?" he asked in such a relieved way that his mood was contagious.

"They should be," Rayleigh replied. "I had the impression he was sincere about wanting to help you. That's why I agreed."

"Okay! That's good, they'll come back then!"

A pensive look crossed Rayleigh's face then, and Newgate knew he was debating on something.

"Anyway, we should go back to Shakky's. The marines won't come after you now that they know we're here, but they'll be around for a few hours still," Rayleigh said at last.

"What about the Sunny?" Marco asked suddenly.

"Don't worry about it. Duval and his men are guarding it."

"Okay. Put us down, old guy," Luffy half-asked, looking up at Newgate.

Newgate held back a chuckle. Not only was Luffy recklessly rude, but Marco shook his head in a way that indicated this was very much the norm with Luffy, and Rayleigh laughed.

"No way. You two will fall on your faces if you try to walk." That was Newgate's response, but the truth was that he didn't want to let go of Marco so soon. He had his son sitting safely on his hand, and he wanted to keep him there for as long as possible.