Chapter I

It had been a couple months since Percy had arrived in the world of the Four Blues and he had learned a fair amount about the world. For starters, he confirmed that the Sea was really talking to him as it was literally impossible for it to be anything or anyone else. It kept him informed of things to avoid and other general knowledge that she felt the need to share with him depending on where he was at and what he was planning to do.

It helped that he was completely unaffected by her temperamental moods on the Grand Line.

He encountered a decent, but still not very large amount of people from the species that hadn't existed in his world and found some of them extremely friendly, and some of them extremely cynical and jaded, but he didn't really expect anything else. People tended to be judged on their appearance no matter what world they resided in, so Percy sought to judge them on a case by case basis after getting to know them as he had always done. Of course, some were just assholes for the hell of it too.

He didn't come across any pirates though. Well, he did, but he either swam underneath them to avoid them when in the Sea, or blended into the background by erasing his presence when on an island. Some of them were exactly what he expected: scum of the earth that did whatever they pleased to whoever they wanted and often killed or did worse to people who stood in their way. Others, however we're just people that wanted adventure or a loyal group or friends in family at their sides and didn't care for the propaganda that the World Government and Marines pushed.

The Marines… was just the biggest, most hypocritical crock of shit that Percy had ever seen in his entire life. 99% of the ones he had encountered had bought into the "Justice" brainwashing that it was literally sickening. Some used it to push their own agendas and steal money from good hardworking people. Others were convinced that any minor inconvenience or question someone would ask was a means for imprisonment or death.

"Absolute Justice" they had preached like it was a religion to be practiced or a cult to join and it sickened Percy. It pissed him off something fierce that some of those men and women willingly devoted themselves to the Celestial Dragons and helped them oppress and fucking enslave people.

All Percy saw them as were spoiled, corrupted shit-stains that were better off being eradicated to keep them far, far removed from the gene pool so future generations weren't totally fucked. Sure there was a rare - emphasis on rare - genuinely good marine every now and again, but the data indicated that it was a lost cause as long as the Celestial Dragons were around. At least to Percy.

Either way, he had gained some information, which was invaluable, but he figured it'd be dangerous to do anything about the current system, or even stay in the Grand Line until he had mastered Haki that the Sea told him about. With that in mind, he had decided to head to the Four Blues first and explore them while also training to be even stronger than the first time he was 11 in his original world.

Which was why he was drifting in the sea without a care in the world, enjoying the calming swells after traveling a notable distance. He didn't need rest by any means, but Percy wasn't in a hurry whatsoever either, so he figured that he'd take a nap.

The Sea felt no need to stop or warn him as he would encounter the grandfather of the young boy she favored in the coming generation. The boy that was going to turn the world on its head, and that was before Percy had arrived.

She wanted the two of them to meet and forge a bond. She wanted to see if the two who were much like a big storm came into contact, would they cancel each other out? Or would they combine into an even bigger storm?

LINEBREAK

Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp was a… unique man to say the least. He often ate at random, inconvenient and inappropriate times, would fall asleep whilst eating, picked his nose when he was disinterested, and was "Authoritatively challenged". The fact that he was best friends with the Fleet Admiral Sengoku only helped to keep him out of genuine trouble with his superiors.

Despite all of that, he was known by several epithets: Hero of the Marines, Fist of Justice, and Garp the Fist were the most common ones. He was famous for chasing the late Pirate King Gol D. Roger all across the globe and defeating the Rocks Pirates, captained by Rocks D. Xebec, by teaming up with Roger and his crew at God Valley.

All things considered, Monkey D. Garp was a good man. He adhered to his superiors when the situation was detrimental, but he wasn't blinded by the Marines' "Justice' motto, nor oblivious to the corruption of the World Government he served. In fact, the argument could be made that he joined and chose to remain in the Marines because he worried what would happen if he left them unchecked.

Of course, it was obvious to both those that knew him well and those that were highly observant that his family was his main motivation for sticking around.

First, his son, the Revolutionary and Most Wanted Criminal in the World Monkey D. Dragon didn't make things easier for him. They had a conflict of ideologies where Dragon believed in freedom and wanted to topple the World Government, and Garp didn't mind kissing a bit of ass to keep his loved ones safe. Although let it be known that Garp's methods of parenting were… questionable at best.

Second, his adopted grandson Portagas D. Ace, or as only a couple people in the entire world knew, Gol D. Ace; the son of the infamous Pirate King. Before Roger's execution, the always-smiling Pirate captain asked Garp to look after his son; a child who should never pay for their parents' crimes. Garp was understandably conflicted initially, but ultimately decided to abide by the man's last request, hiding the child away from the world and giving him his mothers maiden name.

The final member of Garp's family (not counting his wife, Vice Admiral Tsuru who was more than capable of handling herself) was his biological grandson, Monkey D. Luffy. Luffy was an innocent child, who much like Ace, was believed by many to be the "child of the devil" due to his father's less than legal actions.

The World Government would inevitably find out about them and their lineage and would do whatever they could to wipe them out before they would become a threat, and the last thing Garp wanted was a repeat of the Ohara incident that both condemned and victimized Nico Robin to take them out.

But those worries were pushed to the back of Garp's mind and he instead let his thoughts settle on the quaint little village that he left his grandchildren in. He was excited and frustrated to see them again as he had heard that Red-Haired Shanks had spent a substantial amount of time on the island and Luffy had eaten a devil fruit, likely by mistake that the brat Red-Hair had left laying around. He had no doubt his little grandson had been influenced by the pirate as well.

Garp was pulled out of all of those thoughts by the cry from one of his men in the crow's nest.

"Vice Admiral Garp, sir!" the grunt cried and Garp grumbled under his breath.

"What is it?"

"It seems that there's a boy off of starboard just floating in the sea, sir!"

Garp frowned at the news, not remotely expecting something like that. The Grand Line was a dangerous place and for a boy to be drifting in the treacherous waters couldn't bode well for him.

"Bring the ship closer. Is he injured?" Garp called and headed closer to get a look at the boy. He spotted the body easily, but it was too far to tell anything about the boy and his condition.

"No sir! No visible injuries. It looks…," the grunt began his initial report, but trailed off in bewilderment at what he saw through the spyglass.

"Well?! What does it look like?" Garp snapped. His patience was already wearing thin at the delay, but doubled since the delay in question was a boy that appeared hardly a year older than Ace.

"It looks like he's sleeping, sir!"

Silence fell over the deck as everyone present processed such an absurd statement. Several faces faulted and even Garp had a huge sweat drop on his forehead.

"EHHHH?!" the crew voiced their disbelief. With the ship close enough for Garp to make out more details of the boy, he saw the snot bubble indicating the boy was actually just asleep and promptly bursted into boisterous laughter with tears falling from the corners of his eyes at the absurdity of the event.

"BAHAHAHAHAHA! HE'S ASLEEP! HE REMINDS ME OF MY GRANDCHILDREN! BAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!" Garp bellowed through his laughter before it redoubled in volume and intensity. The newer men on the crew sweat dropped heavily, but the experienced ones just sighed at the Vice Admiral's antics.

"OI, BRAT! WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SLEEPING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEA?!" Garp yelled to the boy while he sent a hand gesture to his men to prepare to retrieve him. None of them were expecting a reply.

The snot bubble popped and the tick marks that followed on the boy's forehead were visible from the ship.

"YOU RUINED MY NAP, YOU SHITTY OLD GEEZER! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU YELLING FOR?!" the boy yelled back and caused tick marks to appear on Garp's forehead in turn.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU CALL ME YOU LITTLE BRAT?!"

"I SAID YOU RUINED MY NAP, YOU SHITTY OLD DEAF GEEZER! STOP YELLING AT ME!"

The two continued to trade insults at each other, earning another, bigger sweat drop from Garp's men before the boy apparently had enough and sunk below the depths. His actions caused everyone to pause, even Garp, and those capable of it detected the boy moving like a torpedo toward the ship by using Observation Haki.

Garp raised an eyebrow at the spout of water that flew from the Sea and deposited the boy on the deck of his ship. His attention was solely focused on the boy, but he idly noticed his men tensing in preparation.

Garp took a good look at the brat; if he was surprised at what he saw, he didn't show it. The boy, like he had guessed, was around Ace's age (10 or 11) with long raven hair save for the streak of silver on the left side, styled into a low ponytail with three bells braided into it and earrings that looked like they had come from Wano.

He was wearing an open top that similarly looked like it came from Wano and black shorts that stopped just above his knees with his feet bare. Secured at a shallow angle across his lower back was a katana that Garp could immediately tell was of high quality (perhaps a Great Grade or even a Supreme Grade) and cursed. The boy's skin was deeply tanned like he had spent every day since his birth on the Sea and had a dragon tattoo of sea and storm coiled around his right arm.

The feature that gave Garp pause however, were the boy's eyes. They reflected the waters they were on at that very moment, yet only gave the barest hints of wistful sadness, peaceful content, and aged wisdom. Things he had not expected to see in a mere child's eyes.

"Neat trick brat. How'd you do it?" Garp asked since he knew that there was no knowledge of a water based devil fruit, and even if there was, all devil fruits were weak to seawater.

"Eh? Mom told me my deadbeat old man was a Fishman," the boy said with a shrug, but the information surprised many. One of the braver ones saw fit to voice that.

"But you look human?!"

The boy turned to him and raised an amused eyebrow before the sound of bones popping and shifting rang on the deck. The brat then smiled a feral smile, only instead of his previously human teeth (with perhaps large canines that were barely noticeable) he had a maw full of razor sharp shark teeth.

"Care to test that?"

LINEBREAK

'It was good that I experimented with my abilities and the Sea gave me this idea, even if it was hard to understand just what the hell she meant at first,' Percy mused as his teeth shifted back to their normal form and silently enjoyed the pale face of the marine who spoke.

"BAHAHAHAHA! HE GOT YOU GOOD, JOHNSON!" the geezer broke into another laughing fit, turning Percy's attention back to him.

'Monkey D. Garp,' the Sea whispered inaudibly to him as Percy inspected the fabled "Fist of Justice". Percy could tell that despite the man's age he was strong. More importantly, Percy could tell he was a good man.

"So what's your name brat?" Garp asked with a smile, but Percy just raised an eyebrow.

"Rather rude to ask someone's name without giving your own don't you think, geezer?" Percy retorted but the man only began picking his nose with his pinky and a disinterested look on his face.

"Monkey D. Garp."

"Jackson Kamado D. Perseus. Just call me 'Percy'," Percy introduced himself and stuck out a hand to shake.

'Another who bears that initial, huh? But this one's different,' Garp mused as he shook Percy's hand.

"What were you doing napping in the sea? Those are dangerous waters y'know," Garp asked as he and Percy sat down right there on the deck.

Percy just yawned before he answered, "Nothing more soothing than the swells of the Sea, old man. I'm headed to the Blues and wanted to take a break."

Garp hummed in acknowledgment before he continued the conversation.

"What are you planning to do there?"

"The world is a big place and I want to see everything it has to offer," Percy told him with a small, peaceful smile on his face as his eyes looked excitedly at the horizon.

Garp smirked at Percy's response that prompted him to reminisce about his younger days and the trouble he had gotten himself wrapped up into.

"That right? I'm headed there myself - East Blue specifically - to see my grandchildren. You could ride with us in the meantime. Have food on the journey and come meet my grandchildren. BAHAHAHA!" Garp stated and began laughing at the end.

Percy just deadpanned at him. "You're not just going to let me go, are you?"

Garp's response was predicted.

"BAHAHAHAHAHA NOPE! YOU REMIND ME OF MY GRANDCHILDREN AND ALL THREE OF YOU ARE GOING TO BE MODEL MARINES! BAHAHAHAHAH!"

Percy snorted in amusement at Garp's words, catching the older marine's attention.

"A marine? No way in hell, old man! I'd kill myself before I join that corrupt and hypocritical shit show," Percy told Garp with a challenging look in his eyes; one that Garp responded to with a narrowed gaze of his own.

"Oh? You gonna become a damn pirate like my grandchildren too?"

Percy snorted again. "Hell no. I'm gonna go where I want, when I want to, and do whatever the hell I want to do there. I wanna be the one man with the most freedom in this world, geezer! If I need money, then I'll get a job or steal it from the scum of the earth or hunt bounties. I'm not unreasonable though, old man if I'm hungry, then I'll buy or hunt for food. But I refused to bow to anyone in this world!" Percy declared and Garp's eyes widened at the ghostly silhouettes that superimposed itself in Percy's place.

It was Gol D. Roger and his own son Dragon. Garp hid his smile, but adopted a semi-faux irritated look.

"You'll become a marine you damn brat! Along with Ace and Luffy! Fist of Love," Garp shouted and conked Percy in the head.

"Ow! Dammit old man! Marines abuse children now?! I'm not even your grandson, shitty geezer!" Percy shouted and rubbed his head. The fist hurt a lot more than it should have. Garp didn't care and sent a second one, but the second one told Percy why it hurt.

"You are now, brat!" Garp shouted as his "Fist of Love" came down toward Percy's head, but Percy quickly jumped back to dodge it. Garp raised his eyebrow at the action.

"Shitty old man, your fist hurt me. That was 'Haki', right?" Percy asked and Garp hid his surprise internally.

"You've heard of Haki, brat?" Garp asked and Percy nodded.

"There's a lot of dumbasses that don't pay attention to their surroundings and I overheard about it," Percy said before he adopted a look of contemplation. Finally he looked up at Garp again.

"Tell you what, old man. I'll go with you to East Blue and become your damn grandson, but you gotta teach me Haki!" Percy declared as he pointed at Garp.

"BAHAHAHAHHA! TEACH A BRAT LIKE YOU?! BAHAHAHAH!" Garp broke out into laughter again and Percy developed several tick marks. Again.

"What's the problem? Too shitty of a teacher? Or did you forget how to teach in your old age?!" Percy snarked and Garp stopped laughing.

"Fine brat!" Garp exclaimed and grabbed a piece of cloth to tie around Percy's eyes.

"Training starts now. DODGE!"

LINEBREAK

A month went by and Garp's ship was finally approaching Dawn Island in East Blue where two of his grandchildren resided. The third he had adopted (read: kidnapped and forced into) was alongside him taking in the sight of the peaceful little village named Foosha.

As per their deal, Garp had taught Percy the basics of Haki and had quickly discovered that Percy was a prodigy. Every lesson that Garp taught him, he took to like a fish (or Fishman) to water. For Percy, it was simple. Haki was the use of one's spirit - one's willpower - as an extension of themselves. Offense, defense, support, intimidation; Percy just had to will it into existence and work the way he wanted it to.

For someone who had simply willed his control over water and his other birthright abilities, learning Haki was easy enough to do. In fact, the only thing left for him to do was to fight stronger and stronger opponents to increase his own haki's strength, but even as he was his Haki was stronger than most. Percy merely credited his less than ideal life in his original world.

And that was when Percy wasn't using his own sensing abilities he had developed with his demigod abilities. He was several times more powerful and impressive when he did so.

Since Percy had taken to Haki so well, Garp even began to teach him the Rokushiki (6 Powers) martial arts style that was taught to marines of higher stations and the Cipher Pol (CP) agents. Percy was able to get the movement technique Soru (Shave) Tekkai (Iron Body) and the basics of the others down, but needed to increase his overall strength to master them.

From Observation Haki, Percy could tell that Garp was impressed, but he never let it show and continued to push Percy throughout the month of sailing. Percy was even able to keep his swordsmanship sharp by sparring with Garp's subordinate Bogard.

Other than training, Garp told Percy more about the world and the places he had been to over his career, pirates he's caught, and devil fruits he's encountered in person and Percy had come to find that he really didn't mine the geezer all that much. He was a good man and did genuinely care for Percy like he truly was his grandson.

Percy was broken out of those thoughts as the gangplank touched down at the docks of Foosha and he silently followed Garp as he analyzed and observed everything he could with both Observation Haki and his demigod abilities. Whilst doing so, Percy's attention was immediately drawn to a signature in the village's bar.

The boy was young - younger than Percy by four years - but his will was already strong and he had a devil fruit ability. On the surface, the ability felt like rubber, meaning it was a Paramecia type fruit, but there was something much stronger dormant in the fruit. It felt warm like the sun and just as kind. It felt like something or someone that just wanted to have fun and enjoy life.

'No. It feels like it wants everyone and everything to have fun and enjoy life. But there's a wrath there reserved for those foolish enough to take away one's freedom in its presence. A wrath similar to my own,' Percy analyzed and compartmentalized internally as they moved toward the boy.

Garp kicked the door to the bar open, straining the poor hinges in the doorframe and gave a wide toothy smile.

"LUFFY!" Garp shouted and practically teleported to his grandson to pick him up and rub his cheek against Luffy's.

"WAH! Grandpa! What are you doing here?!" Luffy shouted in his childish and squeaky voice.

"BE HAPPY TO SEE YOUR GRANDPA DAMMIT! FIST OF LOVE!" Garp shouted and struck Luffy with a Haki coated fist on the top of his head.

"IT HURTS!" Luffy cried as he rolled around on the ground and rubbed the newly formed knot on his head.

"I HEARD YOU ATE A DEVIL FRUIT! HOW CAN YOU BE A MARINE IF YOU CAN'T SWIM?!" Garp shouted and hit Luffy with another "Fist of Love".

"I DON'T WANNA BE A STUPID MARINE! I'M GONNA BE A PIRATE!" Luffy shouted in Garp's face so loudly that his own face turned red and steam came out of his ears.

"LIKE HELL YOU WILL!" Garp shouted and raised his fist again threateningly. Luckily for Luffy, he was interrupted by a cough.

"Oh, Makino. How are you?" Garp asked the beautiful young woman with green hair that was behind the bar.

"I'm fine, Garp-san. Who's the other boy you brought with you?" she asked and caused Luffy to turn his head toward the newcomer as well.

Garp proceeded to pick his nose with his pinky again and answered, "Oh yeah. This is a boy I found on my way here and adopted as another grandson. Introduce yourself, brat."

Percy rolled his eyes at the old man's antics and turned to the woman, Makino.

"Jackson Kamado D. Perseus, but you can call me 'Percy'. It's nice to meet you, Makino-san," Percy introduced himself politely and earned a genuine smile from the bartender.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Percy-kun."

"Brat. This is my grandson Luffy. Luffy, this is Percy. You'll be brothers from now on," Garp introduced the two of them and Percy offered a small wave with a smirk.

"Yo, Lu-chan."

"I'M MONKEY D. LUFFY AND I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!" Luffy shouted with a wide "D" shaped grin on his face and both hands raised in the air with his fists clenched tightly.

Before Percy could say anything in reply, he heard it. The faint melodious whisper of the Sea that he had come accustomed to. The serene sound of his oldest ally in the world he had found himself in carried an obvious undertone of excitement and anticipation.

While they couldn't hear her, Percy could tell that Garp and Luffy both felt her presence but only Garp had any idea of exactly what, or rather who she was and he paid close attention to his two grandsons in turn.

'D. Storm. Freedom. Joy Boy.'

Percy didn't even try to stop the equally large but lopsided grin that had come across his own lips.

"I don't doubt you will, Lu-chan."

Chapter I End