Chapter 10

Hello, all! I'm back with the next chapter!

Side note: The timeline of this story isn't terribly important, but I would like everyone to realize that anytime there is a section about Luffy or Marineford (so far, anyway), it occurs a day or two later than what just happened with the Straw Hats. For example, Luffy woke up for the first time the same day the crew met Hatchi and Camie. And this chapter happens two days after the crew and co. all leave Sabaody. If you don't care, then just ignore this note. If you would like a complete timeline, let me know.

Standard disclaimer applies.

He was so damn bored. He wasn't allowed to do anything. Like, at all. He had tried singing but apparently that had bothered people. Bothered? What kind of people hated songs? And none of the doctor people wanted to talk to him. He had taken to pressing the button on the side of his bed to call the doctor people but then they took it away from him because he used it too much. They were all mean. All they would do was tell him to wait for Garp. No, Luffy had spent all his childhood waiting for Garp and dreading that he would actually come. That's one of the reasons he wanted to be a pirate in the first place! He couldn't even take a leak without telling someone first. And a man should be able to take a piss whenever he wants to. It was a man's right as a man.

He knew he should stay in bed to heal his wounds, just like Chopper would have said. But this stupid room was so boring. And Luffy had actually started looking forward to seeing Garp! He was losing his mind. The only interesting parts were when Coby showed up. He and Luffy would talk for a short time before Coby had to go be a Marine again. At least, that's what Coby said, but Luffy didn't understand. Did Coby stop being a Marine while talking to him? Luffy was still a pirate when talking to Coby or anyone else.

He did have one thing to occupy his time; thinking. Which was even less fun than sitting there not thinking. But Luffy actually had a lot to think about: his crew and his brother. He figured his crew was fine since Garp said they hadn't been captured. Nami and Robin probably had a complicated plan in place to come get him. He trusted his crew completely and he knew they wouldn't let him down. But… Ace. That was the problem. Ace needed help whether he wanted it or not and Luffy needed to figure out how to do that. Since he was going to be thrown into the same prison as Ace, then it shouldn't be too big of a deal. But his crew hadn't known about Ace being captured before and they probably still didn't know. And Luffy couldn't let them know to hold off on rescuing him because the Sea Prism handcuffs were keeping him in bed.

Luffy had never been exposed to Sea Prism for such a long time before and he hated to admit it, but it was taking a toll on him. It made him drowsy and weak when he was awake and he never felt like he'd actually gotten any sleep, despite spending most of his time asleep. His wounds were extremely slow to heal and almost seemed to be getting worse instead of better. The doctors assured him that he was making progress, but he felt worse each day and slept longer each day than the last. Which, he thought, actually helped with his boredom problem.

Luffy had woken up with an itch on his forehead that he couldn't seem to get at with any kind of maneuvering of his head and pillow and it was slowly driving him crazy. He was considering calling out for help once again when Garp walked into the room. It had been two days since he'd last visited, and a small part of him felt happy to see his grandfather.

"Grandpa! Finally! Can you scratch my forehead?" Luffy practically shouted.

Garp looked at Luffy incredulously before sighing and walking over to scratch his forehead. As he did so, he took a careful look at his grandson, noticing with dissatisfaction that Luffy had developed big dark circles under his eyes and his body was shaking slightly. He surreptitiously checked for a fever and found, to his displeasure, the pale skin to be slightly warmer than normal. He took a step back and saw Luffy's eyes slowly blink open, as if it was almost too much energy for him to stay awake.

"I hear you've been giving the staff a difficult time, Luffy," Garp said.

Luffy pouted, "It's not my fault. There's nothing to do here. Anything fun I try to do and they get mad at me. They should at least play a game with me or something."

"They're busy, Luffy. They have other patients to attend to and they can't spend all day in here trying to make you less bored."

Luffy just let out a breath before slumping back onto his bed. "Can you at least take these off, then?" he asked, lifting up his hands, causing the cuffs to clink. "I promise I won't go anywhere."

"No, Luffy. Those are on for a reason and I know you would try to go somewhere so don't even start," Garp responding, not wanting to tell Luffy the real reason he wouldn't take the cuffs on.

Luffy was pouting again. "Did you at least bring me something to do?"

"Well, all I had for you was your hat and I gave you that two days ago, so no. But I'm here so we can have a man-to-man chat. That'll give you something to do," Garp said.

Luffy's reaction was to scrunch up his face and try to fold his arms only to be stopped by the handcuffs. "It's okay. We don't have to," he said.

"Yes, we really do. I need to tell you that I know you're going to try to find a way to rescue Ace and escape Impel Down and that it is impossible. You'll just get yourself killed trying to escape and probably Ace as well," Garp said.

"If I die, then I die. I'm not going to spend the rest of my life in a cell, Grandpa. Ace doesn't want that either. I know he'll be mad at me for helping him, but I don't care."

Most of the time, Luffy either made no sense or acted stupidly. Garp was used to that by now. Luffy certainly hadn't gotten his brains from his father, and occasionally Garp regreted not giving him a better education. But there were times when Luffy would say something that did make sense and was actually very wise. His simplicity was two sides of the same coin and his straightforwardness could pierce through a complicated situation to its very core, delineating the good choice from the bad choice in a way that was rare. At times like those, like now, Garp was set back on his heels. At times like now, he saw that Luffy would actually make a very good Pirate King (though he'd kill himself before ever even slightly hinting at that). Garp knew that his grandson had immense strength, but he also knew that his strength was not what would earn him success – it was his simplicity and his odd charisma that had a knack for drawing people from all walks of life to him.

Barely a minute into the conversation and Garp knew that nothing he could say would deter Luffy from trying to help Ace. So he decided to present all the facts to him instead. "Luffy, you need to understand what's going to happen with Ace. You know who his father is, right?" Luffy nodded, still not understanding. "Then can you guess what his sentence will be? Hell, even if he was the son of some nobody, look at what he's become. He's third in command of one of the strongest and most infamous pirate crews of all time. What do you think the Government is going to decide for him?"

Luffy looked confused. "I don't know, Grandpa. I've never met the Government people so why would I know what they will decide? It doesn't matter who his dad is, either. And I thought he was already in prison. Are they going to punish him more?"

Garp exhaled a loud, disbelieving breath. "You don't have to meet them to know what they're gonna decide!" He nearly shouted. "He's in prison while waiting for them to decide what to do with him. And you may not care about his father, but why do you think I raised him in secret, Luffy? Why do you think that it's a secret who his father is? Why do you think he's so angry about his father all the time? Why do you think he wanted to make a name for himself, to get out from under his father's shadow?" Luffy just stared at him. "It's the same reason you didn't know about your father and it's the same reason you never met him. It would get you killed, Luffy. Both of you. People, especially the Marines, hated Roger. And nobody is terribly fond of the Revolutionary Army, either. People would look at you and Ace and see your fathers. They would kill you to hurt your dad, to get him to stop annoying the Government. Ace would be a way for people to let out their frustration at Roger. If the world knew who Ace was, he would have died before he was born."

Luffy's eyes were wide as he stared at Garp, fatigue forgotten. "But… It shouldn't matter who Ace's dad is. He isn't Roger. And Roger is dead so why are people still angry at him?"

"Because, Luffy, he was a pirate. Even you have to have realized by now that most people hate pirates. And Roger was the worst of them – or the best, depending on how you look at it. People hail Roger as a hero for what he accomplished, but he made enemies and people across the world were happy to see him die when he was executed. They don't want his son to become him and their hate for Roger is strong enough that they would demand his child be killed, too."

"That's stupid." Now Luffy was mad, no longer confused or disbelieving. "If they're gonna hate Ace, they should hate him for what he's done, not his dad."

"I agree, Luffy. It's messed up but that's how the world works. That's why I wanted you both to be Marines – show the world that you aren't defined by your parents. But you both turned out to be pirates anyway. And look where that's gotten us." Garp paused for a moment before adding, "So, can you guess now what Ace's sentence will be?"

"They're gonna kill him, right?" Luffy said.

"And can you guess what your sentence is going to be?" Garp asked.

"They're going to kill me, too." Luffy said simply. "If I don't rescue Ace. Sorry, Grandpa, but you can't stop me.

Garp sighed again. "I know I can't stop you, Luffy. But at least now you know what both your sentences will be. Do with that information what you want, but there it is." Here, Garp paused, wondering if he should actually reveal all the information. While he didn't want his grandsons to die, he knew that they had made their choices and he refused to betray the Marines by giving away too much information. He knew that Nefertari Cobra and some allies he had gathered were speaking to the World Government leaders in regards to Luffy's sentence. Garp realized that even if Luffy knew, it wouldn't change anything about what Luffy did, so he decided not to speak up. Besides, with their conversation ended, Luffy was falling back asleep.

"Go to sleep, Luffy. You still have a few more days before you are discharged so you can't do any rescuing right now." Garp stood up and grabbed the straw hat smooshed under Luffy's head and placed it on top of his grandson's chest as it evened out with deep, sleeping breaths. He noticed once more the paleness of his skin and the flush of his cheeks. His brow furrowed, Garp felt Luffy's pulse, noting that while it was steady, it wasn't nearly as strong as it had been two days ago. Luffy had also been able to stay awake longer than this earlier, even on the first day he woke up. Perhaps the Sea Prism wasn't a great idea. Sea Prism was what the Marines normally used for Devil Fruit users but the doctors had warned him that they typically waited until the patient was mostly recovered before placing such constraints on them. Garp had been adamant that his grandson would be able to heal despite the added drain, but he was almost ready to concede that perhaps he had been overly zealous in his insistence. He decided to find Luffy's doctor and see what the new symptoms might mean.