"Luffy! Come on move your ass!" I yelled; however, my frustration fell on deaf ears as I tried to yank the stupid kid from the candy man. He was practically beaten into the biscuit floor, his eyes blank and his nose snapped at a nasty angle.

"Dragon! Let go! I'm gonna send tongue guy flying!" The raven snapped, as he continued to fight in my grip. It was like holding onto a flailing rubber monkey.

Gah, what is wrong with my stupid kid?

"Are you two coming? Believe it or not I'm not big on swimming..." Whitebeard grumbled, he was stood to the side, his eyes full of aspiration. "You sure you don't want me to grab the brat?"

"No! No, I'm good!" I shook my head, my arms wrapped around Luffy's stomach as I tried to fly off with him, it made no difference, he wasn't letting go of big mom's son. "Luffy leave him! This ship is sinking come on!"

"See son, funny thing is I don't think you have..." The old man sighed, finally shouting a "Lu, let go of him! The brat's is out-!" But Luffy interrupted him before he could finish, turning his angry gaze on the Yonko "PEDRO DIED BECAUSE OF TONGUE GUY! I GONNA SEND THE BASTARD FLYING!"

I didn't know who this Pedro was, but it did make sense why Luffy was so outraged, however that didn't stop the boat from sinking. "I-" What was I supposed to say? Don't worry about that? Of course not... I was sympathetic. Yet sympathy wasn't going to get us out of this mess.

Not to mention Luffy had beaten up this guy was bad enough. Who knows what stuff could happen to the future just for that happening alone? What bloody mess.

The old man had decided enough was enough, without a word, the blonde man marched over to Luffy and picked him up without much trouble. The young captain wasn't having any of it, flailing, kicking and shouting, Whitebeard took no notice.

"Alright let's get back to Moby..." The Yonko muttered quietly, I had let go of Luffy, I was still floating absently in the air "Uh, right. Thanks..."

The old man just shrugged, turning his attention back towards the Moby Dick in the distance and then to my absolute horror, he ran straight for the edge of the boat and leapt from it. Then a cracking sound of glass rang out into the air, making the world shake and Whitebeard was sent flying upwards.

Briefly stunned for a moment, it took me a split second to understand what had occurred. He had used the shock wave he had created as a way to launch himself, pretty crazy... this man's devil fruit was insane.

I flew after him, skimming over the ocean, when I reached the deck of Moby Dick, everyone was already badgering Whitebeard about the treasure he had stolen. He had practically stuffed the entire vault into a huge bag, which he was currently defending "Get off you little vultures! I stole it so it's mine! You know the bloody rules!"

"Come on Pops you don't need all that!"

"Yeah, give us some!"

"Stingy old man"

"SHUT UP THE LOTTA YA! You brats want to eat, right? We need to fix the ship as well! This isn't for me!" The Yonko snapped, this seemed to have the desired effect, the crew went quiet abruptly.

I finally noticed Luffy, he was still stuck under the old man's arm, the boy looked out of it, distant even, he wasn't struggling anymore or yelling. He was completely blank...

I walked over, more then a little concerned, especially considering the way he had been acting not even ten minutes ago. "Luffy? Are you okay?"

Luffy didn't respond, his gaze was glassy. I waved my hand in front of his face, no reaction, so in a light panic I prodded his cheek. Nothing... That was disturbing, hell, I don't think I'd ever even seen him sit still for this long. Whitebeard took notice after a moment, letting Luffy out of his grip, but instead of the kid bouncing straight away like he normally would have, he flopped onto his rubber face, going splat.

That did make me panic then, I lent over him pulling his face up from the planked deck floor. He's face was still blank, nothing in his expression or his ordinarily bright cheerful eyes. He was still staring off into the distance in a daze. When I called his name and I shook him, still no reaction.

I jumped all of a sudden when a large hand was placed lightly on my back, startled I looked over to who it belonged to. The old man was giving me a reassuring smile, he looked concerned, but admittedly it was pretty well hidden, but there none the less.

"Dragon I think your brother is fine, probably tired from his fight, we should take him back to your cabin" he told me, which let me confused, Luffy wasn't tired, he was in some kind of weird daze, nothing about this was fine.

"But Lu-" I started only to be interrupted with Whitebeard saying a little firmer this time "Come on, it's too loud here, Luffy needs some sleep in a quiet cabin"

Oh.

OH!

I looked around me, the whole crew were looking awfully worried, I hadn't noticed the noise they were all making, my brain must have cut out the sound. They were all talking over one another, I heard someone asking if they should get the old hag and another if they could do something for Luffy or me even.

"Oh yeah! Yeah, Luffy's just tired, he needs to go to bed. He just does this sometimes, it's been a while and I forgot" I faked a laugh, grabbing Luffy who I slung over my shoulder. With a bit of effort, I walked calmly through the crowd of concerned pirates, finding extremely hard not to bolt out right.

Whitebeard followed after me, giving his crew a stern look as he dumped the treasure, giving Atmos and Whitey strict instructions not to let anyone else near it, listing a couple of names. Marco tried to follow us, because of course he was worried over Luffy, but his captain told him "Marco, calm down. Lu's fine. He's just tired, he needs some sleep and he doesn't need you hovering over him. Why don't you go and find Vis and Jozu?"

"... But Pops! Dragon doesn't eve-"the Yonko stopped crouching down to Marco's height, giving the boy a soft hair ruffle "Son he's alright. He isn't hurt, the sticky candy brat didn't stand a chance... so go on, off with ya. I tell you about it later, okay?" With that Marco nodded tiredly, wandering off somewhere, hopefully to his own bed, he still looked awful.

The old man fell into step with me, giving me a half-amused grin, though it was lacking its normal spark "Dragon... you're a terrible liar, I see where Luffy gets it from"

"I'm better then him by a long shot!" I snapped slightly offended.

"Nobody is as bad as Luffy... but son you're still bad at it, all the same" The blonde man mocked warily, the normal edge to his voice was gone, making him sound flat.

"Why is he like this do you think?" I asked, staring up at him quietly, the man grinned a little more this time, but before I could question him about the weird face he was making, he said "Son, that's the second time you haven't corrected me"

"What are you talking about old man?"

"That's the third time I've called you son and you haven't corrected me" I gave the man a half-lidded stare was he serious "Are you seriously keeping track..."

"Yeah, Son, you still haven't done it" He was finally beaming, crooked grin back to normal, also back to giving me a headache.

"Really! What is wrong with you!" I said rubbing my temples with my free hand.

"Four times"

"Just stop..."

"Nope, absolutely not son"

I groaned loudly, what was wrong with this stupid old man! Seriously. "Don't you have other things to worry about?"

"Of course... but this one of the best things that's happened the last couple of days, well this and getting those handcuffs off you"

I frowned; a light smirk formed on the corners of my mouth "Where the hell did you get this family stuff from anyway?"

He paused, thinking about it for a second, then in a soft uncharacteristic voice "I've always wanted a family, ever since I was a kid... never had one growing up. Don't even remember having any parents. But I always felt like something was missing."

I looked up at him again, surprised, I never thought this guy was an orphan for a second, what with the way he treated his crew "Wait, hang on. You didn't even have any parents; then how do you know how to like be a dad?"

"Pfft, when Marco came along, I had no clue what I was meant to do with a child, it took me years to figure it out"

"How old was he?"

"Seven"

"He was seven! You took in a seven-year-old kid and you didn't even know how to look after a child..."

"Yeah, but he needed me"

"But how did you know if you'd be able to even take of him probably?"

"I didn't, but that didn't stop the fact that he needed me. But most parents aren't prepared for kids let's be honest, I bet you weren't with Luffy either... but I'm sure you turned out to be a good dad to him, considering what nice kid he is." I froze stiff, so much so that I stopped on the spot mid step. The guilt I felt was overwhelming, I turned my gaze towards Luffy, he was still draped over my shoulder, his face hidden under his shaggy black hair.

Whitebeard halted as well, gazing down at me in concern "Is Luffy alright? You're giving him a funny look"

I suddenly felt like I was being choked by some kind of invisible rope, the self loathing was ploughed into the pit of my stomach. I felt nauseous and sick, my soul was in horrid torment.

"No, I'm a terrible father... I gave Luffy over to the old geezer when he was a baby. Luffy has never even met me" I choked out, I felt so much shame it was unbearable. I expected Whitebeard to berate me for it, I wouldn't blame him if he did.

"Mmm. That Dragon certainly had questionable ideas... Garp? Really?"

I looked up at him, he was frowning but there was no malice, hate or even disgust, just mild disappointment, however the way he was watching me told me he was actually disappointed in me, just disappointed about the situation.

"Don't you think I'm terrible!" I blurted out; the old man tilted his head lightly brow furrowing more "You're not going to do that are you?"

"What! No, of course not!" I yelled without hesitation.

"Then why are you terrible?"

"Because I did that to Luffy!"

"Dragon, you didn't do that to Luffy, the future you did"

"We're the same person!"

"No, your not. You wouldn't ever dream of doing that to Luffy. Not in a million years"

I opened and closed my mouth, I didn't know what to say to that, so instead Whitebeard simply put his arm on my shoulder and smiled "As Luffy would put it the 'now' you are the important one, not the one that isn't going to be. You're not the same person anymore, so don't think yourself terrible for something you haven't done"

I quietly nodded, some of the guilt sliding away. Then something strange popped into my head, I wasn't the same person, then did that mean... I turned my eyes back on Luffy.

"Have you ever wondered what would happen if the future changed, but Luffy is still born like normal? How would that effect him?"

"Uh, yes. It has crossed my mind; I reckon that's why Luffy is like that now... maybe beating the crap outta candy cane didn't do him any good. He did seem to know him"

"You think? I knew he shouldn't have done that! Why did you stop me from stopping him?"

"Do you really think Luffy is gonna take any notice of what anyone has to say? Anyway, he had already started fighting him by the time you had even arrived, it was too late by then."

"Yeah, put I still could have stopped him from defeating him!"

"Son, you were having trouble against a bunch of fodder, because you were too stuck in your own head"

"I was not! I was fine, I Conquered them! Like literally with Conquerors haki and everything!"

"Mmm... I donno, son."

"WILL YOU STOP CALLING ME SON!"

"That's seven... also no."

"Why? Why, can't you just be normal old man? Not to mention this is important"

"I agree being my son is very important, son" Whitebeard chuckled, he was grinning at me again, I finally noticed that he still had his arm resting lightly on my shoulder. I shook him off, starting my way back towards mine and Luffy's cabin.

"Oh, fuck off old man!" All that caused was the Yonko to laugh loudly "GURARARAA! Rude little shit ain't ya, that's no way to talk to your poor old man" I groaned, yet my lips tilted up ever so slightly.

Well, I could be worse things then this man's son, but like hell was I telling him that.