An intro to their life together, it's finally beginning.

Ahhh~ my new sem has begun and god the workload is killing me. Anyway, I've stock up on quite a few chapters of this fic and so here's another chapter.

Also, based on the responses on last chapter, I think most people actually picked B. So I'll do my best to go that way. Though I've never written from Ace's point of view so it would prolly be hard. But since this Ace would also be OOC, I guess it'll be fine. I'll try to maintain Ace's typical behaviour though.

Anyways, that it for the long note.

Enjoy~

Chapter 4 ~ A New Beginning

After they buried Rouge by the sea, Luffy followed Garp, reluctantly. The man had offered that he knew the best place to hide the baby, Ace, who would be hunted for his perfectly, equally red and human blood.

The trip to the east was unbelievably smooth, with no storms, and even the current and winds were in their favours. Carrying the weird dog figure-headed ship forward with odd lightness and ease.

On the way Luffy found out the old man was actually in a vice-admiral position and could've been an admiral, yet he rejected. What worried Luffy was how loose his mouth could be. Would hiding matter if Garp unpurposely spilled it himself. Though Luffy was sure he could protect Ace when it came to it.

Another few weeks and they were docking on a relatively large island in the East blue, the calmest sea in the world. Closing in, Luffy sensed a whole lot of weak presences along with several broken ones, but they were mostly on the other side. On this side, the presences felt quite cheerful, albeit weak. It was a humble village with many windmills, and a peaceful atmosphere.

"Follow me, Luffy," Garp called, "you'll be staying at my old house."

Luffy, wearing his typical black cloak, was carrying a sleeping Ace in his arms, and was following the older man at a more leisurely pace. He was also carrying a black sling bag filled with baby essentials that Rouge had prepared beforehand, even some baby 'how-to' books.

Apparently the house was quite a distance away. Throughout the walk, many of the villagers greeted Garp and gave the cloaked man curious looks, but with the trust they have for the vice-admiral, they generally ignored the mystery person.

They arrived at the edge of the village, or maybe the edge of the forest was more suitable. Since the foliage was thicker here and the village houses were barely visible anymore. There stood a worn down house, it was not too big but enough for at least 2 adults. However…the condition was…questionable.

Luffy raised a brow, "seriously, old man?" he asked with an unimpressed tone and scepticism in his eyes.

"Bwahahaha, call me ji-chan, you brat!" He yelled, causing baby Ace to stir with a soft whine.

Luffy shot him a glare which caused the man to sweat. It was weird how such beautiful eyes could look so entrancing and fierce at the same time.

After several days with Luffy on his ship, Garp realised the raven wasn't a normal human. The first hint was his aura, though it was just barely felt. Even his eyes were not normal, if anyone were to stare at it for a long time they would notice waves rolling in it. Secondly, how his weapon just dissipated into air, though that could have been attributed to some devil fruit.

Lastly was their extremely, too smooth trip when they crossed the calm belt and the grandline. It was as if the sea was calm, which should never happen. The sea was the definition of chaos and unrest, on the best of days.

Moreover, the boy barely slept while taking care of the baby, yet didn't look tired in the slightest. Apparently babies have no sense of time and like to cry anytime between 1 to 5 am, when they're supposed to sleep. Even most of his men look dead tired on their feet thanks to the baby's crying (he slept like a log though).

But he preferred not to point it out for now, treating it as normal. Some stuff is just better left unknown. Right now, it was safer if he didn't know anything, it was hard enough to make sure he kept his mouth shut about Ace. Yes, he admits that he tends to say stuff before his brain registers what was said.

Lowering his volume, he assured that the cabin would be fixed by the end of the day. He got his men to fix the cabin up to decent condition while Luffy took care of the baby. After spending several days with Luffy he realised his new grandson was mostly expressionless, but Garp was now watching the raven smiling softly at the baby in his arm, who was gumming his finger.

Many would say it was lucky that Ace had Luffy, but maybe the opposite was also true. He didn't know how Dragon picked up the boy, but still couldn't help notice how similar his real grandson was to this teen, making him feel slightly sombre at the reminder of his lost grandson.

All that didn't matter though, he had made up his mind, both Ace and Luffy would be his grandsons.

After his men finished working, he approached his grandsons laughing obnoxiously. "Bwahahahaha, it's done. I'll send you money occasionally," he said, "I'll also visit my cute grandsons," he grinned happily.

"No need old man, I can work to earn my own," Luffy replied, picking up the bag of stuff, and the baby book he was reading. It was normal, he had done some work before to earn money for himself and Rouge after all.

"Call me JI-CHAN!" The crazy marine yelled again, this time hitting his head.

It hurt a little, but Luffy barely reacted, only stared at the man. Honestly, if he knew Matilda and Dragon had such a crazy father, maybe he would've rejected taking his name (of course it wasn't true, he was extremely grateful for his name).

"And I insist, of course I will help my grandsons, bwahahaha," Garp exclaimed before leaving. Luffy almost, almost sighs.

Garp and his men actually did a great job with the cabin, it was clean and neat now. You could even say it was nice, albeit quite empty and worn out. It was a small, two storied cabin. Upon entering, he could see the bottom of the staircase. But on the left there was a generously large kitchen that would allow him to indulge his new hobby along with some bar counter, probably not suitable for the baby.

Further inside, there was a room on the right, and a toilet beside it. On the left was an empty space. The room wasn't very spacious, with a single floor bed and a small wardrobe. On the second level, there was a single master bedroom with a larger, elevated bed, toilet and a balcony. Luffy wondered why anyone would build such a house on the edge of the village.

(picture inserted here, visible in Ao3 or Wattpad)

After wandering about, Ace began falling asleep again. Deciding not to use the second level while Ace still couldn't walk, he went to settle the baby on the single bed. There were no cribs but they could just share since Luffy would probably sleep more, with nothing to do while his little companion sleeps. Besides, the bed would be wider than cribs.

"It looks like we'll be sleeping together, Ace," Luffy said, as he changed the baby's diapers.

The baby seemed happy at the idea and giggled sleepily, hand reaching at Luffy's busy ones. The siren's smile widens at the sight. As soon as the baby fell asleep, his fingers loosened, allowing Luffy to move him closer to the wall for space, and settling beside him.

Like the past few nights, in the middle of the night Ace cried out loud, waking Luffy up. Not that he minded, since he doesn't actually need sleep. Though not sleeping for a long time might drive him crazy, but that story's for another time.

"What's wrong little guy?" Luffy asked, rocking him back and forth in his arms. However, he wouldn't stop crying.

Worried and stumped, the siren leaned his forehead on the little one. Surprisingly he stopped crying instantly, staring into his eyes while his chubby hand grabbed onto some Luffy's raven locks. Luffy had to tuck some of his hair back to prevent the baby from chewing on it.

"Ga-ga bluugr," the baby gurgled, unintentionally slapping his face with his hands.

"What is it? Do you like my eyes?" Luffy asked, smiling a little. Not expecting an answer.

"Wagh!" The baby cried, giggling. This time throwing his arms above his tiny head.

"Oh you do, don't you?" The raven coo-ed, "but you got to sleep, how about a song?"

Without an answer, Luffy sang one of the songs Rogue taught him while he rocked Ace. Before the song even ended, the baby was asleep.

Luffy tried to put him back down only to have him begin crying again. At the end, Luffy laid the baby on his chest while he laid on his back, satisfied that he didn't cry.

"You're going to be a handful, aren't you? Gol D. Ace," the deity said, amused. The Ds were always amusing and strong, this time he would be raising one himself. He can't wait.

I hope that was good, and fluff-y.

My scaling's not very good hahahaha, so maybe the sketch shows a bigger house that the written. But imagine however you like, I just want to like make a estimate diagram.

(1472 words)