"You sure about that?" Garp asked, leaning back.

"Sir! Yes, Sir!" The denden mushi would have saluted if possible he thought. Cadets and their over-eagerness. "The only reported missing child from Hightown is one Outlook Sabo, reported a eleven years ago, sir!"

The marine leaned back. He'd hoped there would have been… more? Or at least some brats missing from Edge Town, or Grey Terminal. Not that he was unhappy so few kids went missing. That was a good thing. But it meant he was still at a loss. "Got a description of the kid?"

There was a pause and the sound of russling paper. "Blond, blue eyes. That's all I could get as a reliable description, Sir. You know how these Nobles are. Said the kid was 'the most handsome of his age group. Smarter than any other kid….

The usual. Garp Sir? Why are we looking into cold cases?" The denden frowned, "This Sabo was declared dead over a decade ago. Parents think that want to be priate-group in Grey Terminal kidnapped him for a ransom gone wrong."

"Oh? Any proof?"

"Well, no. But their other son is betrothed to the princess. The family is kind of high ranking."

"Meaning the brat would be an excellent target for those pirate-scum." Which meant that the chances this 'Outlook Sabo' was one of those brats raised by wolves around thirty percent. Not enough to get the family's hopes up. Plus, he wasn't sure he trusted the Nobles here not to make the kid just disappear. "Damn it. Good work, marine."

"Can I ask why?"

Garp fingered his beard as he thought about his choices. In the end, he figured taking care of two savage brats wouldn't be that much harder than one. And there was the chance he was wrong anyway. Or the third family was still alive… not that his men had any luck tracking down the shipwreck. "Found some old bones right at the border of Grey Terminal."

"The animals-"

"No!" He cut his man off. He might be lying through his teeth to give the family closure but he'd be damned if he blamed the very animals that had raised the kid. Besides, something had to have driven him into the jungle. "No, bullet hole in the skull. Looked like a dump job. I buried the remains, but if the family wants them back, I'll retrieve them." Garp wasn't worried about them calling his bluff. The Nobles wouldn't care enough to want the body, or even the closure he was offering really. Plus the marine would push to leave the 'body' at peace.

"I'll let them know." The denden nodded. "Anything else, sir?"

"No. That will be all. Good job, marine."

"Thank you sir!" The line went dead and he leaned back with a sigh.

He didn't react when Woop Slap came in, wiping away fish guts from his hands before going into the fridge and grabbing a beer. He was a bit surprised when the mayor offered him one. As he opened the bottle the other man sat across from him Woop spoke. "I take it there's been no luck tracking down the family of the other two, then?"

"Other two?" Garp relied innocently.

Woop just leveled a flat stare at him. "The blond and the little guy."

"Well, it's not like I know the family of the-"

"Don't sell me that line of crap, Garp. I was here when you brought that baby up to the bandits." Woop shot him down. "I still have some of those baby pictures you forced on me. I recognized Ace almost as soon as I saw him. And I'm sure you did, too."

Garp looked away. "It can't be. Ace died, along with Dadan and the rest. If he didn't… if that is Ace…" It meant the bandits likely hadn't starved that winter. That something had killed them. And it angered him. Especially since he had a sneaking suspicion that those damn wolves had had something to do with it.

"Then it just means Dadan gave her life to protect him." Woop Slap said, taking a sip of beer. "I know what you're thinking, Garp. I can't offer you comfort in this. All I can tell you is that in all the years we've had the Wolf-God and his pack as neighbors no one in this village was ever harmed. Not Makino, not the kids that would sneak off to play at the bluff. Not the farmers heading to the fields." He took a long drag of his beer. "Yes, they killed people. Thieves and pirates. That man who kidnapped Makino. So there is a chance some might have been involved. But back then the pack was maybe three or four wolves."

Garp closed his eyes against the tears that welled up. Woop Slap's words might not have seemed comforting but they were. He had known Dadan, even if only in passing. So the mayor would be aware of how strong the bandits were. Strong enough that a pack that small would have been killed without a single bandit being harmed. So while Garp continued in his heart to suspect those older wolves of some involvement, it wasn't the same as blaming them. That allowed him to admit what they both knew. "They raised Ace.

From a baby. All this time, and he was alive."

"They must have seen something in him. Or maybe the bandits themselves. We'll likely never know."

Garp nodded. Letting it drop as he once more mourned the loss of his friend. Who he was now convinced went down fighting, just like she always said she would. After a while, and another beer, he spoke. "Blond's a Noble's brat. Sabo. Family wrote him off not long after he went missing. Told them I found his body. Gunshot wound."

"And the youngest?"

"Nothing. No other missing kids, no ships lost at sea with kids in the right time frame and general area… I mean, got one kid a while back, but he's blond and older than the little one. Plus, that was the edge of the Grand Line. And I also know where that brat ended up. Tracked him down, so he's out."

"You could call your son." Woop shrugged when Garp glared. "If you can't find records with the marines of a missing ship in this area, and Shanks couldn't turn anything up after using his connections as a Yonko, that does leave one group left to try for information."

"He could just not have been reported missing. Maybe from Grey Terminal…"

"You and I both know at this point that brat got here by boat." Whoop stood, wincing as his back gave him trouble. "Call your son. We need something to call them instead of 'wolf-boys' and it's not right to have names for two but not the third." He scolded before leaving the room, likely to visit Makino before turning in.

He was right, of course. Glaring at the sleeping denden wasn't going to change that. At long last Garp attached the small black denden he had tucked away in his jacket before dialing the number he never called, but had memorized all the same.