Posted early for spiritedfaraway, who went and reviewed every single chapter. You are amazing and I love you.


Three of Cups, reversed - Overindulgence, gossip, isolation...


A Couple Days Later

"Why didn't you mention Straw Hat can use Haki?!"

It was a good thing Sengoku's office doors were so thick, Noir mused. That shout had almost been loud enough to rattle the window panes. The Fleet Admiral was not happy. Noir had never seen Sengoku's eye twitch that bad before.

Garp huffed. "I never taught my grandson Haki."

"Someone had to - the brat's from East Blue."

Noir withheld a snort. Sure, East Blue as a whole was the weakest of the Seas. But it made up for that reputation by producing several of the strongest figures in history - Gol D. Roger, Silvers Rayleigh, Garp, Dragon, Luffy, Yasopp, Benn Beckman to name a few. All of them geniuses in their own ways.

"Well, I don't -" Garp cut himself off, so suddenly both Noir and Sengoku glanced at him in surprise. Garp turned to Noir, eyes narrowing suspiciously. "Noir, where exactly did you take your vacation three years ago?"

There was no point in lying. Not when it would only take a couple calls from either Sengoku or Garp to learn the truth. "East Blue." She shrugged. "Dawn Island. Very quiet, very relaxing." When Luffy wasn't around. That boy simply did not have an off switch.

A vein throbbed in Garp's temple. "Was my grandson able to use Haki when you were there?"

Garp already knew the answer to that. "Luffy didn't know what Haki was when I met him." Noir said bluntly. She was still pissed about that. She knew Garp's training methods weren't exactly comprehensive regarding theory or more intellectual work, but that was a major oversight for a man claiming to train Luffy to become a strong Marine.

Sengoku snarled. "Why did you train a pirate in Haki?"

Uh oh. Sengoku was furious. She needed to do damage control here. Noir raised a brow, affecting an unimpressed expression. "I did not train a pirate; I trained a fifteen year old brat. And by training, I mean I beat him into the ground a few times." Every day, but they didn't need to know that, "Luffy waking his Haki was not intentional."

Sengoku's Haki twisted, stretching out to try to determine the truth of her words. Noir kept her own Haki smooth - without so much as a ripple to give away her lie.

"Why were you beating up my grandson?" Garp asked, very nicely drawing Sengoku's attention to himself.

This time, Noir did not bother holding back her snort. Garp had no grounds to protest Noir's training methods. Sure, her training was harsh, and Sin usually glared at her for having to set the occasional broken bone, but she never put anyone's life in danger. Unlike Garp, who threw Luffy against the local wildlife without supervision. "You've met Luffy, haven't you? He's an annoying little fuck." A deflection, but no less true. She lost count of how many times Luffy had tested her patience.

Noir was pleased Luffy's Haki ability was annoying Garp though. Her vengeance was complete, and she even got Sengoku as a bonus.

The Fleet Admiral growled at her. "Whether it was intentional or not is irrelevant! Straw Hat is the only pirate to get past Smoker and enter the Grand Line in three years!"

Smoker was still stationed in Loguetown? Huh, Noir thought he would have transferred somewhere else by now. Smoker was never one for staying in one place for long. But if Smoker was the Loguetown base commander- "How the hell did Luffy get past Smoker?" Noir demanded. Haki or not, Smoker should have been able to take Luffy. Noir would have to give him remedial lessons in fighting Haki users next time they met. Smoker clearly needed them.

"He had unexpected help." Sengoku ground out, and from his expression the admittance was grudging. "Dragon interfered and allowed Straw Hat to escape."

Noir's brows shot to her hairline. Dragon, as in Dragon the Revolutionary? What the hell was he doing in East Blue? And why would he help Luffy?

Garp grinned. "He did see his son off then!"

Hold on- his son?

Sea-damned Monkeys. Why couldn't they make any sense?

But that answered her question of where the hell one of Luffy's parents was and why they weren't taking care of the brat. Not that it excused Dragon for up an abandoning Luffy to Garp's less than acceptable 'care.' If Noir ever met Dragon she was going to punch him in the nose, World's Most Wanted Man or not.

Sengoku snarled, slamming a fist that shook the paperwork piled on his desk. "This isn't a good thing, Garp! Straw Hat is the first pirate from East Blue since Fire-Fist Ace!"

"Haha! Those are my grandsons!"

Noir rolled her eyes. Typical Garp. But Noir didn't understand Sengoku's worry. "How are Luffy and my nephew different from any other pirate to try their luck on the Grand Line?"

"Other pirates aren't the sons of Dragon the Revolutionary and Gold Roger the Pirate King!"

Noir snapped her attention to Sengoku, her blood running cold. How the fuck did Sengoku find out Ace's parentage? Garp was no longer laughing.

She steeled herself. "Again, how are they any different?"

"Don't play dumb, Noir." Sengoku said. "Those two are the sons of notorious criminals. The threat they pose-"

"Is no different than any other pirate!" Noir snapped. "Bloodline has fuck all to do with it!" By the Sea, Noir hated that kind of logic. Noir's father was a mountain bandit and a right bastard. For fuck's sake, Noir was raised by Rouge and the Roger Pirates; none of them were law-abiding citizens! But did Noir follow in their footsteps? No!

And the opposite was just as true. Dragon's father was Garp! Hero of the Marines! Yet instead of working as a Marine and serving the World Government, Dragon was doing his level best to tear it down!

"Straw Hat and Fire-Fist are pirates." Sengoku said.

Oh, she hadn't noticed. "Luffy and Ace could have joined the Marines without a problem." Noir replied, acid dripping from every word. "At least until someone found out who their fathers are. Then their service records wouldn't matter; they'd be up on an execution platform faster than they could say 'Justice,' and everyone who once called them comrade wouldn't say a word against it because they'd be to busy calling for their heads to roll!"

Garp and Sengoku scowled.

Noir's lip curled. "Tell me I'm wrong." They couldn't, and they knew it. Noir huffed. "My nephew isn't stupid. Hot-headed and stubborn, but not stupid." She said flatly. Most of the time, anyway. There were some interesting rumors she heard that begged to differ.

"Why wasn't I informed of his heritage?"

Garp's Haki was sullen and sluggish - he wasn't going to talk anytime soon. Fantastic, she was on her own. Bastard.

Noir shrugged, nonchalant. "It didn't matter. Roger was dead. Ace was supposedly dead." She sent a blistering glare at Garp, who didn't even have the decency to look apologetic. "The Purges succeeded. By the time I learned of my nephew's survival, the information wouldn't have changed anything. He was already a pirate."

"You enlisted before Roger's execution." Sengoku countered. "Yet you never mentioned him."

Why the fuck did that matter? Roger was dead twenty years. "I joined after Roger contracted his incurable disease." Noir said. And, because she was getting irritable, she gave Sengoku a smirk and added, "Congrats, you executed a dying man."

"And what about your sister's relationship with the King of the Pirates?"

Rouge was her sister. Like hell Noir would have ratted her out. Not to men who would have killed her for the sole crime of loving a pirate.

Admitting that right now would be stupid.

"It's near impossible for women in my family to bear children. Genetic scarring in the uterus." Noir said instead. She didn't want to tell them this, it wasn't something her family talked about to others. Before Rouge, the last Portgas woman to bear children was fifteen generations ago. "When I learned Rouge was pregnant, I didn't think it was Roger's. It was too long after his execution. But I never thought she'd carry to term."

That she had, even after somehow holding and hiding her pregnancy for twenty months, was nothing short of a miracle.

That was why the news of Rouge and Ace's deaths wasn't a surprise. Heartbreaking, yes, but not surprising. And why learning of Ace's survival, of Garp's lie, hurt so much. Ace was the nephew Noir never thought she would have. The only child that Rouge or Noir would ever have. Garp robbed Noir of her family, of the chance to raise Ace as Rouge would have wanted. Noir and Rayleigh were to be Ace's godparents, for the Sea's sake!

Garp shrugged when Sengoku turned his glare on him. "It wasn't important."

Noir could practically see Sengoku's blood pressure rise with his temper. Normally Sengoku shouting at Garp was prime entertainment, but she didn't want to risk anyone overhearing the details of Ace's heritage. Sure, Sengoku's office doors were thick, but Noir wasn't keen on testing how well they were soundproofed. "Is that all?" She asked.

Sengoku's attention snapped back to her. "It is not." He snapped. "Who are you loyal to?"

She bristled. "If I was going to choose Ace over the Marines, I wouldn't have come back from my vacation." She snarled. Sengoku's doubt in her loyalty was insulting.

If she'd found Ace earlier, when he was still a child, Noir would have left. Between Ace and the Marines, Ace would have won every single time. But that hadn't happened. No, Noir found Ace when was already grown and making his way in the world. As much as it hurt to admit, Ace didn't need Noir in his life. He might not even want her in his life.

But Noir's crew did need her. She wasn't referring solely to Sile either. Her crew was filled with broken people that did not fit with the rest of the Marines. While she didn't doubt that her crew would band together in her absence, Noir didn't know if they could survive the political machinations of the rest of the Admiral ranks. Noir's greatest asset to her crew was her ability to protect them from the political maneuvering.

And Noir had promised Sile. She wouldn't break that now.

"Can I go now?"

"No." Sengoku tossed a file to her across his desk. Noir opened it and was met with a series of dossiers. "The Iron Eye pirates crossed into the New World two weeks ago."

Iron Eye. Noir knew that name. Asaji "Iron Eye" Dominic exploded onto the Grand Line from North Blue, leaving a terrifying reputation for ruthless brutality in his wake. He was the kind of pirate Noir had joined the Marines to protect innocent civilians from.

Beside her, Garp was frozen, Haki radiating shock and concern.

Noir could see exactly why. She listened with half an ear as Sengoku detailed Dominic's past, speed reading through the information in the file. A Marine turned rogue, stealing the prototype Marine warship dubbed "Project Subjugation." A highly classified project, meant to create three warships for the Admirals capable of before unseen lethality.

Why the fuck hadn't Sengoku sent an Admiral after the Iron Eye pirates yet? The stolen warship, the Relentless, was an unparalleled warship, and Sengoku had allowed pirates to have that kind of uncontested firepower for over a year!

"What do you want me to do with this?" She asked. Noir could get her contacts to keep eyes and ears out for any other information, but-

"If you encounter them, I expect you to take them out."

Say what now?!

Noir carefully did not react. That was the stupidest fucking order she had ever heard in her life. It's not just stupid, it's Stupid - the kind of Stupid she'd tried to beat out of her own subordinates because it only led to early graves. Was Sengoku trying to kill her and her crew? The Relentless against the Akatokuro? That wouldn't be any kind of contest.

Fuck that.

Noir was going to keep an ear out for the Iron Eye pirates, and if she heard so much as a whisper, she was taking her crew in the opposite direction. She was not going to get her crew murdered.

She closed the file. "Anything else?"

"Dismissed."


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