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With the fire having been completely extinguished and the excitement dying down, Garp ordered for a small contingent to guard the perimeter, with some of them assuming civilian guises to keep an eye on a few of the townsfolk who were spotted gathering just outside of the woods, having been drawn in by the commotion. Since the fire was of alien origin, standard coverup procedures needed to be executed. Proliferate any and all plausible rumors to ensure confusion, assume their places in the local authorities to declare the area off limits until further notice, and let time run its course for the locals to file the incident away as a random incident.

Shanks had been laughing incessantly since having entered the ship, with Garp having to take deep, measured breaths to stifle the urge to strangle the man. The two of them, with Luffy in tow; now back in human form, had been occupying a private meeting room with two guards stationed outside, with Garp setting the room to soundproof mode. A full hour had passed since then, with Garp forced to detail as much as he was willing to divulge to his fellow plumber, who had taken charge in keeping the boy occupied. Luffy had taken an adjacent seat nearest to the redhead, currently gorging himself on food that; at least to him, had magically materialized before him on the table.

"And what, pray tell, has been amusing about this entire situation to you?" the older plumber asked his younger contemporary, the latter's features nearly splitting from the ear to ear smile still present on him.

Shanks waved a placating hand as he replied, "Oh come on! How can this not be? I just never thought that Luffy of all people would be the one to find it."

A vein popped on Garp's forehead, his face going red with anger. "And why is that so funny to you?!" he snapped at the very top of his lungs that the guards outside flinched despite not hearing the sound, the vibrations reverberating through the hall.

Shanks sighed, aiming a snide look at his superior officer. "Better than losing our heads over it being someone else."

Garp pressed his lips into a thin line at that remark, unable to completely refute the man's point. "And you honestly believe we're not in any deep shit right now?"

Shanks turned to Luffy, who was happily distracted by the food that continuously appeared on the table every time he cleaned his plate, thoroughly amazed with a wide smile on his face, cheeks engorged. The redhead smiled wanly as his gaze shifted to the thing that was on the boy's left wrist. "And you're thinking of removing it?"

"And why shouldn't I?" Garp asked matter-of-factly, folding his arms in front of him. "What he has with him right now is the most powerful weapon in the galaxy, and if the history behind it is true, then probably in this entire universe. In his hands, I don't even want to think what disaster it'll spell."

Shanks huffed. "It might not be that bad."

"Just imagine, Shanks, if he somehow manages to turn into something worse," Garp motioned warningly. "Hell, it doesn't even have to be a Pyronite, a Conductoid, or even a damn Galilean, he's a goddamn ticking time bomb to end them all."

"He's still your grandson," Shanks reminded, patting Luffy on the head, which the boy didn't object to, all too absorbed in filling his stomach. "And I believe that fate is at work here." He shot a meaningful glance at Garp. "'It' didn't choose him."

This caused the Vice Admiral to narrow his eyes, half contemplative, half intrigued. "Are you certain?"

"Or…it might have changed its mind, or something else," Shanks ventured. "Whatever the case, Luffy is who the Omnitrix bonded with, and whether it's by accident or not, I believe, no, I know that he can wield it."

Garp made a noise that sounded like a mix between a whimper and a snarl. "I don't want to have to be the one to pick up the pieces when this kid ends up tearing the entire planet apart."

Shanks chuckled, and pointed out, "You weren't really doing much anyway."

Garp's brows crinkled. "Come again?"

Shanks waved a hand once more and said, "For now, let's focus on the immediate issue. On that note, where is he?"

Garp's brows tightened into a scowl. "...Where's who?"

Shanks could only keep grinning. "You know who I'm talking about. You do have his number, don't you?"

"You are about this close to having your head examined in the morgue at HQ," Garp threatened, but Shanks watched as his shoulders seemed to relax. "And fuck if I know, I'm not his keeper. He could be in some backwater timeline for all I care."

"You would be correct, Garp, though I do wonder what your definition of 'backwater' entails."

Shanks's grin could have split the very sky while Garp could only throw his head back, but not before punching in a drink to pop out of the table. Paradox pushed off the wall to approach the trio. He nodded to Shanks, who returned the gesture, then landed his gaze on Luffy, and on the very familiar accessory on his wrist.

"It's reset."

The device itself resembled a large wristwatch, which was primarily black in color in terms of the band bonding it in place, with gray highlights and four tube-like attachments that converged on the faceplate, which showed a green hourglass pattern. On opposite ends of the dial was an activation button. Paradox also caught some wear on the finish, with scratches in several places. It would take some time for the in-built nanomachines to fully repair the damage, so until then, it needed to be monitored for any unforeseen glitches.

"Luffy," he called the boy's name, which drew the latter's attention alongside a bright smile.

"Mister!" Luffy exclaimed, looking up from where he was seated. "I kept my promise and got to your house. So, do I get a reward?"

Paradox chuckled, as did Shanks. Conversely, Garp was already on his fifth bottle of booze; the really strong kind. "You already have it. Look at your wrist."

Luffy blinked, then looked down at the mystery bracelet that he was still wearing. He placed down the chicken leg he had yet to gobble down and went about to remove it, when it still wouldn't budge. He then presented it to Paradox, believing that the man could be the one to take it off. The man instead just smiled and told him. "Luffy, do you know what that device is called?" At the shaking of the lad's head, Paradox provided, "That is the Omnitrix."

"Omu…Omumu…" Luffy struggled to pronounce it until he settled with, "Mystery bracelet."

"Omnitrix," Paradox repeated ever patiently. Garp could only bark out a laugh.

"You see? The boy's an idiot," the man boasted. "Can't even find his way through a paper bag, much less tell his left from his right, or his palm from the back of his hand." He paused, then deadpanned, "Believe me, he really can't. The back of his hand, I mean."

Paradox nuzzled his chin, humming in thought. "Hm, that's not necessarily true. The boy simply needs an education. A proper education where he can at least be functional in the endeavor he wishes to partake in."

"Puh, good luck with that," Garp said with a scoff, bringing his bottle to his lips. "I tried. The best I can do is knock him around and hope for the best."

"You know that isn't true," Shanks admonished the man. "All you've been doing is toughening him up, yes, but he could learn so much more. You've barely scratched the surface of his potential. And without…'you-know-what' inhibiting his development, he has every bit of a chance of making it out there."

"His potential is what I determine it to be," Garp retorted after taking a swig. "He's going to be a marine, and any further instruction he might need will be facilitated at Marineford."

Luffy, who had been barely following the conversation along as he kept eating, caught the usual spiel his grandfather would give and reflexively responded with, "I don't wanna be a marine! I wanna be a pirate."

Garp glowered at his grandson while Shanks snickered. "You're going to be a marine whether you like it or not, and that's final. More now than ever. Unless, of course, this brat here is willing to take you in." He thumbed towards Shanks.

"Maybe I should," Shanks considered.

"Really?!" Both grandfather and grandson said in contrasting intonations.

"Me and Buggy practically grew up on a ship," Shanks elaborated. "And Rayleigh raised us pretty well, so I don't see any reason why it would be an issue. It'll be an extra mou-," the redhead paused, "several mouths to feed, but I think we can pitch him in. It just means Uta will have a playmate."

Garp glowered at the redhead, muttering dangerously, "The 'issue' is if I'll even let you."

"Gentlemen, please," Paradox interjected placatingly. "We're here to discuss the matter of the Omnitrix and what ramifications it might hold after having been rediscovered. I already know, of course, but that's neither here nor there. Let's at least stay on topic."

Garp scoffed. "Which I'm sure you had nothing to do with it being on Dawn Island in the first place." The man shook his head with a gruff breath and continued, "Plumber HQ has been hounding for it for centuries and would have found the damn thing long before I was even born, but you expect me to believe that it's been rolling around the Kingdom of Goa's backyard just waiting for anybody to come along and slip it on? Forgive me if I find that just a tad too played out."

The veteran was tempted to wipe the man's smile off when Paradox replied, "I'm sure the previous wielder had other things in mind before the Great Flood left him with no other choice."

"A choice which you no doubt had privy knowledge of and could have divulged to us at any time," Garp said pointedly.

"By the Galactic Code of Conduct, I am only allowed to provide assistance well within my power if it has no drastic bearing with the course of history," Paradox stated. "If I just haphazardly provided spoilers, that would only serve to undermine the natural flow of a timeline unless I was explicitly meant to intervene. And on how the Omnitrix has proven itself to be so elusive, its systems had been severely damaged with no opportunity to properly recalibrate, leaving it inert and in a dormant state, which naturally rendered it invisible to even the latest model of scanners. It was practically dead until it latched on to the first sapient lifeform that came in contact with it."

"You call this sapient?" Garp deadpanned as he thumbed at Luffy, who was picking at his nose with a goofy, lopsided grin on his face and giggling like an idiot.

"Maybe if you had raised him less like an animal," Shanks lightly admonished.

Garp rolled his eyes. "Hmph! And what's with this sudden interest in my methods of raising my own grandson? What I do with him is my own business."

"Far be it for us to meddle, Garp, but should you really be this reproachful when you're planning on placing the boy in Dadan's care anyway?" Paradox slyly pointed out, much to Garp's embarrassment.

Shanks shook his head with a laugh, remarking, "You want nothing to do with pirates, but you're fine with throwing in your lot with bandits? You can be a real character sometimes, old man."

"One. I've got those asshats completely under my thumb," Garp assured him. "So long as I don't shove them into a cell, they'll do what they're told." He then added begrudgingly, "Within certain liberties. Two. I would imagine that being inducted into an Emperor's crew is going to bring its own share of headaches. Now then, let's hurry things along and just tear that thing off. We have the equipment."

"I would prefer it if we ask the boy for his opinion first," Paradox suggested, much to Garp's dismay with a shaking of his head and waving of his hands in front of him. "Luffy, the Omnitrix on your wrist. Do you wish to have it removed?"

Upon hearing this, Luffy, patting his bloated stomach in satisfaction, seemed to think it over and nodded. "Yeah."

Garp paused in his worry, looking hopeful. "But can I keep it? It looks cool." And then all of the negativity came crashing back.

"No, you cannot keep it!" Garp snapped, shooting out of his chair. "The Omnitrix will be confiscated once it's been extracted."

Luffy frowned, not really getting what 'extracted' meant but definitely not good if his grandfather was the one suggesting it. "No," he protested.

"Yes!" Garp insisted back.

"No!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"This might take a while," Shanks commented as he too moved to order a drink, with Paradox sighing through his nostrils, his smile never wavering.

After an hour of the duo arguing, Luffy had fallen asleep on his seat from the exhaustion of the day.

Shanks took to that moment to resume the conversation. "So, Luffy is supposed to find the Omnitrix?"

They ignored Garp's snarl as Paradox replied, "In this timeline, at least. In others, he ate the Hito Hito no Mi fruit that you still have in your possession."

Shanks closed his eyes. So that's why it passed on Luffy. A part of him had expected it to be him. It was only after Roger reached Raftel that they found out that he hadn't been the one Joy Boy was waiting for. No. That hadn't been his role. His role was to pave the way for the true inheritor, which he had assumed would be Luffy based on how uncanny his personality was to that of his dear captain. It would seem that, in this timeline, fate had other plans. But perhaps…

Garp huffed. "At least he won't stay an idiot. That thing is supposed to supplant his will with that of Joy Boy. All fruits have a degree of sentience that influences those who consume them. The accumulated wills of those who previously wielded such abilities."

"The nature of the fruit infuses itself to the wielder's DNA," Shanks elaborated. "Sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

Garp scoffed. "The principles are similar, but still vastly different. To my knowledge, the one who wields the Omnitrix doesn't suffer from the regular weaknesses."

"That is indeed correct, Garp," Paradox stated, having taken a seat next to him, fingers steepled. "But the Omnitrix still works in a similar fashion as the Devil Fruits. Or should it be the other way around?" He chuckled. "Devil Fruits were only possible because of the Omnitrix, after all. When the Great Flood occurred, whether the previous wielder was aware of it or not, in its attempt to try and preserve their life, the failsafe activated, but because of the damage done to its integrity, it leaked much of its stored DNA from the Codon Stream into your Earth's biosphere. Out of the 1,000,912 samples, only 70 at most remain."

"After land masses started to appear again," Shanks chimed in, "was the planet deemed to be sufficiently habitable. There are still colonies up in orbit today, but a lot of the humans here are descended from those who chose to return."

"Ah," Garp nodded. "Those humans would go on to rebuild the world with the technology at the time, and things would have been back to normal. But…"

"The flood wasn't natural," Shanks said in a subdued tone. "It was planned."

"Indeed," Garp nodded. "And the scientists tasked at the time on gathering what they could of the scattered DNA ended up falling under their thrall, leading to the engineering of the Devil Fruits. Power, but at a steep price given the state of the world. The perfect bait."

"The original Twenty," Shanks muttered. "The ones who betrayed Joy Boy."

"Don't be so eager to reach such conclusions," Garp pointed at the redhead. "The Celestial Dragons themselves are just patsies. No, the one who orchestrated that whole mess is still at large, which someone here could stand to be more open about."

Paradox was still all smiles. "All we've been doing is maintaining what little stability and value we have to the GF," Shanks pointed out, kicking back and propping his feet on the table. "We're just the planet's wardens. Earth isn't just a colony, it's a Prison Planet, a dumping ground for refugees, criminals and the unwanted." There was a moment of silence before he added, "Luffy could be the key-"

"Stop," Garp said, though his tone lacked his usual bite this time. "Luffy isn't the key to anything other than living his life the way-"

"The way you want it?" Shanks cut him off. "He needs to make his own decisions."

"Like what you have in mind for him?" Garp challenged back. "Let's say that the Omnitrix is the key to finally getting Earth its freedom back. What, we train and groom him to be the hero? Like the next Ben Tennyson?"

Paradox's eyes lowered slightly. "Benjamin wouldn't have wanted it to be that way. Luffy is not to be a pawn or tool in anyone's machinations. We can train and educate him, yes, but if we deny him his freedom, we would undermine everything that Ben ever stood for. Joy Boy tried to emulate him, but in the end, even he had his shortcomings."

"Tch, the guy was a total imbecile," Garp scoffed. "He may have had good intentions, but he was too idealistic, too naive, and far too trusting. When he thought he had a breakthrough, he was betrayed. In the end, he wasn't able to accomplish the freedom he promised Earth." And neither did Roger, which was left unsaid, though Shanks could read into it. "What chance does Luffy have?"

"Why don't we give it to him?" Shanks voted.

"...Do you even know what the GF will do once they catch wind of the Omnitrix having been found?" Garp warned. "There's a reason why nobody in the galaxy has been stupid or suicidal enough to bring up any topic related to it."

"It could just be the spark we need," Shanks argued.

"Damn it, brat, you can't play politics with these dipshits," Garp rebuked. "The damn thing has left such an impact that its tremors are still felt to this very day out in the vast cosmos. The Earth may have been held at a regard equal to that of the other planets once upon a time, but that was only ever possible because we had in our hands the one thing that could make or break a civilization. The Omnitrix might as well be greater than the One Piece itself. But look at it now," he gestured to what was on his grandson's wrist, "just a shell of its former self."

"So slowly rotting away in our little slice of the quadrant is fine with you?" Shanks asked coolly. "Face it. We might not last another century the way things are going. Our world lost any semblance of worth to the GF a long time ago. We're a waterlogged planet that can barely fend for itself, and to make matters worse, we keep shooting ourselves in the foot after each passing generation. We are abandoned. They never cared before, what makes you think they'll give a shit now?"

Garp was still primed to argue, but knew that he couldn't deny the man's points for long. The Galactic Federation had long left their branch of the Plumbers to be a self-governing organization while still technically operating under their authority, which managed to afford them some leeway in their operations, though there were agents who still answered and reported directly to them.

Earth's Magistratus, being one.

"When I first ran into the Plumbers a little while after Loguetown, I thought that they were different from the World Government," Shanks remarked wistfully in recollection, reclining

against his seat as he was staring up at the ceiling. "Guess I was still reeling from the captain's death, and well, I needed a place and some time to get my head in order. When I came to learn about all of…this," he gestured to the entire room, "things just weren't the same anymore. I find out that there's an entire universe out there, that we as a species aren't really all that alone. Then, I went to the colonies…"

He trailed off with a heavy sigh, running a hand over his red tresses. "I wasn't allowed to mention anything about Earth, or about where I came from or who I was. I was just another cadet fresh out of basic training, managing traffic and busting small-time crime. Heh, imagine me, a pirate playing at being police." He let out a humorless chuckle at the irony. "Then I was allowed to visit other planets. It was only later down the line that my 'talents' were noticed that I was promoted to Magister. After a while…I was done. I packed up and went straight back to Earth, ready to start off fresh."

"Keh, you should have just kept your nose clean," Garp remarked drily. "You've made your point quite clear, Shanks, but I still fail to see how Luffy can incite so much as a blip in the current climate we're facing. Earth is already on thin ice as it is since Egghead was established. It was only because of Vegapunk negotiating that they let the whole thing off with a warning. One more mishap, and we're done."

"Then we take things slow," Paradox finally chimed in, much to Garp's displeasure. "We place the boy through a trial run of sorts and see how he fares. We'll take turns in instructing him."

Garp opened his mouth, ready to disagree to the proposal, when he landed his gaze on his slumbering grandson. Staring at the boy, he closed his eyes and released a difficult sigh. "Fine. We'll try it your way. But, if this whole scheme somehow ends up going sideways; and I'm sure it will, the Omnitrix is as good as buried. Preferably several thousands of feet under the Earth's crust."

"And I'm sure you'll personally see to that," Shanks followed with a chuckle, drawing more than a few curses from the older man. "It's a good plan, Paradox, but I won't be here for long. We're set to depart in about a month's time, and I don't think Luffy will stand to benefit much from what I can offer."

"Fair enough," Paradox agreed. "Which only leaves much of the grunt work to you, Vice Admiral." Garp glared daggers at the smiling time traveler. "Might I suggest starting him on…that."

Garp's brows crinkled as he bore a hole into Paradox, and said, "Fine." A grin then tugged at the corner of his lips and added, "That only means putting him through the whole nine yards a lot earlier than I intended."

After finalizing their terms, the meeting adjourned without much fanfare, with Paradox disappearing in a flash and leaving the room to be occupied by three once more. Shanks rose from his seat and was about to head to the door when he turned to Garp for the final time and said, "If this does end up going sideways, I'll take full responsibility. You won't have to worry about your place in this."

"Cheeky brat," Garp griped. "Just fuck off already."

With one last smile, Shanks cut Luffy a glance before exiting. With the man gone, Garp slumped against his chair, the most exhausted he's ever been as he lamented the dilemma he now found himself in. "Why me?"

The next day…

Luffy found himself awake on his own bed in what had to be the first time in months, not that it was immediately apparent to him as he spent a few minutes staring up at the ceiling before rolling across the cot until falling off the edge. Landing face-down, he remained this way for another number of minutes before pushing himself off the floor. With his hands in front of him, his gaze idly caught what was still on his left wrist and immediately perked up.

It was the Mystery Bracelet, or what the old man had called it.

"Omnitrix…" Luffy found himself muttering, as if in a trance, eyes sparkling at the accessory as the events from the previous night came flooding back. He didn't really get it, but he instinctively knew that this thing did something to him. Something that turned him into some weird rock thing that was on fire.

He wanted to do it again.

Fiddling with the device, he tried to remember how he made it work. Just how did he do it? He slapped and smacked the face plate, hammering it with his enclosed fist. When it didn't react like it did, he furrowed his brows in question. Maybe he needed to smash it against something hard again?

He kept examining the odd bracelet, and he blinked when he caught what looked like a button sitting just below the face. Before he could shift his forearm so that the button could face him, he caught a similar button at the other end. Tilting his head, he shrugged and pressed his finger on the button below, feeling it give and being startled as the faceplate popped up. He watched with fascination as the hourglass pattern lit up a bright green before shifting into a diamond shape, allowing a black spot at the center to reveal itself.

His eyes lit up like stars as he remembered that the face could now be rotated as well. The dark spot seemed to change shape as he did, prompting him to spin it faster and faster until-

The door was slammed open with an audible bang, and before Luffy could even look up, Garp was on his grandson like a bullet and grabbed him by the forearm. He pressed the button that was on the other end, causing the light to die down and the face to fall back in place. The man glared furiously at him, who could only glare back in question as to why he was mad this early.

"You. Bath. Eat. Train," Garp listed crossly before pulling him out of the room and marching straight towards the bathroom. He opened the door and entered with Luffy in tow, having realized that he needed to be with the boy at all times to keep him from tampering with the watch, grateful that his sharp hearing had managed to catch the sound of a beep that could have only come from the Omnitrix.

Luffy let out cries of pain as his grandfather scrubbed him fiercely enough to tear off skin, the boy struggling futilely against the man's iron-like grip.

SPLASH!

"GYAAAAAAHH!!!" Luffy screamed from the water used to rinse him. He then took note that it wasn't as boiling hot as it usually was.

Once Garp was done bathing him, Luffy ignored the stinging of his rosy pink skin as he was being dried, with the already exasperated Vice Admiral having to slap his hand each time he tried to fiddle with the Omnitrix again. Upon being dressed, he continued to obstinately tweak with the device, only for Garp to grab him by his right forearm and lug him the entire way to the outside, where he was thrown on the ground hard enough to flip over on his back before landing on his stomach. Even then, Luffy again fiddled with the watch, causing Garp to kick him straight in the face and knocking him over a second time.

"Listen up, dumb grandson, after you've eaten breakfast, I'll be switching up your training," Garp said in a strict tone, the sun shining over the imposing figure he was cutting, his arms folded in front of him. "So hurry up and catch some fish!"

Luffy stared up at his grandfather with a blank face, when his hands seemed to act on their own to once again try and activate the Omnitrix. Garp smacked a hand against his forehead before taking out a handkerchief from his breast pocket and lunged at the boy. The two wrestled briefly before Garp successfully tied the cloth securely around the device, but this only prompted the boy to bite into the handkerchief before being slapped hard against the cheek.

"Stop doing that!" Garp snapped, and kept manhandling the boy until the latter finally relented.

Pouting in disappointment, Luffy could only hang from his grandfather's grasp as the man was forced to accompany the boy to the nearby stream. Once they arrived, he squished his grandson between a narrow gap of rock formations. When he made sure that the boy wouldn't be able to pull himself out or free his hands, he spun on his heel and leaped over the creek to find and gather firewood. After walking for about a few minutes; while picking up every dry piece of wood along the way, he came upon an old tree that looked like it was due to be cut down, its branches bare save for a few shriveled up leaves desperately clinging on.

He gently placed down the pile he already had with him on the ground and marched up to the old tree. Grabbing the middle with one large hand, he casually pulled it out of the ground, roots and all, and tore it apart. When he was satisfied, he gathered just enough of the now dismantled tree to add to the previous pile and left the rest in case anyone else would have a need. Before he could begin to make the trek back, something on the ground about five feet away caught his eye. Doing a cursory scan of the forest floor, he spotted more and more randomly scattered about.

They were branches, all of which were coal black.

He lifted his gaze and stared deeper into the winding forest and could make out that the fire from the previous night had very nearly reached where he was. A sigh abandoned his lips after surveying the damage, with a part of him hoping that this wasn't just some omen of things to come.

Catching some fish along the way, Garp came back and was thankful that Luffy was still trapped, albeit struggling. Ignoring him, he went to work setting everything up, and before long, ten fishes were skewered and propped by a roaring fire to roast. Taking out his flask, as it was never too early to drink, he downed a few gulps and watched the boy continue to squirm as a distraction. A myriad of thoughts ran through his mind as Luffy remained undeterred, a rush of pride tugging at the corner of his lips at the displayed stubbornness.

"Hey," Garp started.

Luffy stopped in his struggle and looked down at his grandfather. "Hm?"

Garp clenched his teeth and closed his eyes, his next words caught in his throat, remembering to his chagrin that he really wasn't fond of having conversations like this with his grandson. Mostly because the boy would barely pay any attention. He still felt like he needed to ask anyway. "Why do you want to become a pirate?"

Luffy stared at his grandfather, then cocked a brow. "Ha?"

Garp took in a patient breath. "Why do you want to be a pirate, Luffy?"

Luffy didn't respond immediately, becoming distracted as his nose twitched from sniffing the fish that was cooking. He then opened his mouth, about to give his usual answer when he seemed to hesitate for a second. Was this just another lead up in trying to convince him to become a marine?

"You can go ahead and tell me, Luffy," Garp encouraged simply, lacking his usual harshness, his way of speaking quite casual.

It would be a full minute before Luffy responded with, "Because Shanks is a pirate."

A thin smile etched itself on Garp's lips at that answer. "So, if Shanks wasn't a pirate, then you wouldn't want to be?"

"No, I'd still want to be a pirate," Luffy replied, and he braced himself. When none of the usual pummeling came, he stared quizzically at his grandfather.

Garp seemed to stare off into nothing, taking another swig from his flask before asking, "And what kind of pirate will you be?"

"Hm? What kind of…pirate?" Luffy blinked at the entirely new question. "A really strong pirate, I guess."

"No, I mean, what will you do when you're finally out at sea?" Garp specified. "Will you hop from place to place? From island to island? Robbing people? Hurting them?"

Luffy frowned. Now this was where the conversation was getting familiar. "Shut up! I just want to be a pirate!"

"Why do you want to, then?" Garp pressed on. "As far as I can tell, you don't even seem to know what really goes into piracy. Are you just gonna figure it out along the way?"

"Shut up! Being a marine is stupid!"

Garp belted out a humorless chuckle. Now his grandson was even more confused, and perhaps even a little worried. "Luffy," the man began again, "let's say that you're finally a pirate. What are you going to do? That's really all I want to know."

Luffy continued to regard his grandfather suspiciously, opening his mouth to speak when he hesitated again, actually chewing on the question. What would he do as a pirate? Sail around? That was already a given. Steal from people? Well, maybe if they had food, he could steal some if they didn't need it. Then again, Big Sister Makino always told him that stealing from people is bad, so he could stand to not do that. Fight other pirates? Maybe if they did something bad and hurt his crew, he would definitely do that.

"When I become a pirate…" Luffy began.

Garp listened intently.

"If I become a pirate…then that would only mean I'll be free."

Garp blinked, pulling his head back as the lines of his forehead creased. "Free?" he repeated questioningly.

"Yeah," Luffy nodded.

Garp stared at his grandson intently with a raised eyebrow. "But you're already free."

"No, I mean, I'll be free to do whatever I want," Luffy clarified, and this made his grandfather scoff.

"Puh, so you just want to be a lout," Garp surmised with a dab of disappointment. He wasn't exactly expecting anything particularly profound, but a part of him still couldn't help but be let down. "What a worthless dream."

Luffy frowned. "It's not worthless!" he exclaimed emphatically.

Garp sneered as he snickered derisively. "Oh, sure. Next you're gonna say that you want to be the best pirate there ever was. I'll tell you what you're gonna be. Just an over glorified bum. You want to be free? Fine. You're free. Nobody is gonna get in your way if all you're ever gonna do in the end is loaf around."

Luffy fumed, clenching his teeth in annoyance and budding anger. "You shitty old man!" He trailed off with a huff and a pout, turning away. Garp could only sigh as he added in a low tone, "That's not all I want."

The Vice Admiral shot his grandson with an imperious brow, condescending as he said, "Oh? What else would that be? You expect food to come alive and just march into your mouth?"

Luffy opened that very mouth to retort, when he averted his eyes briefly in thought. Huh. That could be-

He then shook his head, trying to stay on topic. "That's not all I want. That's not the end of it."

"Heh, then surprise me, grandson," Garp said in a mocking and amused tone. "What seems to be this oh so grand dream of yours?"

Luffy gave his grandfather the stink eye, debating with himself if he should really tell what Garp was sure would be something so asinine that it could have only been cooked up by his grandson's dimwittedness. He'd heard some pretty lofty ambitions in his heyday, but he was sure that his own blood couldn't possibly meet even the most absurd of them.

He took another swig, and it had to be at that moment Luffy chose to say it.

The man choked on his drink much to the boy's surprise, curling in on himself as he turned away from the fish and coughed against the back of his hand. When he steadied his breathing, Garp looked up at his grandson, eyes wide and mouth agape. "W-What?"

"Hm?" Luffy sounded. "I said, when I become a pirate, I'll…"

Garp could only sit still in place, his arms going limp as he fixed the boy with the most gobsmacked expression the latter had ever seen him make.

"L-" Garp's mouth was the driest it had ever been. "Luffy…"

Everything around him seemed to swirl as his mind went back. Back to how stale and musty the air was.

Years ago…

"You…wanna run that by me again, 'cuz-'cuz I swear that my ears were already too full of your shit for a moment there," Garp said flatly, picking at his ears with his pinky. Dressed handsomely in his marine uniform, the newly promoted Vice Admiral looked past the metal bars at the once great pirate that had eluded him for years, now sitting harmlessly in a dark, dirty cell awaiting his execution.

"I want you to take care of my kid," Roger repeated lazily, his focus more narrowed on the newspaper he was reading despite the dimness of the chamber, having to rely on what little torch light filtering through the gap of his cell.

Garp's left eye twitched. "Please tell me you're not serious." When Roger didn't answer, "Hey, are you-"

"Man," Roger cut him off without a care, "can you believe this? Like, Garp, can you even read half the shit they put in here? Just a waste of perfectly good paper."

Garp ground the corner of his jaw. "Did I just fucking hear you right in that you want me, the guy who's had it out for you in the past twenty or so years, and who I owe a veritable chunk of my success to in my venerable career as a marine, to take care of your brat? Did I just hear that right or do I have to call somebody else in as a witness?"

Roger didn't give any reaction, seemingly still invested in the paper, though Garp was certain he was just doing so on purpose to dance around the subject. Annoying him was just a sweet bonus. "Roger, do you have any idea what you're asking of me?"

"Yeah?" Roger responded. "What's the problem?"

"... I fucking hate you," Garp said curtly.

Roger grinned, looking up from his paper and saying, "Whatever you and the government got against me, leave the kid out of it. You can have my head on a platter, but not his."

A now severely irritated and exasperated Garp ran a vigorous hand through his graying hair. "Fuck me, since when in the hell did you even decide to have a kid? Don't tell me you just picked up some random whore off the street."

Roger snorted. "Hey, hey, the hell you sayin' about my girl, Rouge? I'll have you eating out of my ass with that fucking mouth."

"Like hell," Garp grunted. "What if I say no and decide to just go with this to HQ?"

"You're not gonna do that," Roger said assuredly.

"You really don't know me all that well, then," Garp challenged.

"Oh," Roger began, directing a finger at the other man and said, "I think I know all I really need to know about you. More than I thought I did."

Garp rolled his eyes. "Is that just some of the 'secrets' you discovered down at that so-called island? What'd you call it again? Rafter?"

"Long before that, actually," Roger refuted. " And it's Raftel. One of my crewmates was a Plumber who spilled everything once I won his trust."

"Sunbell," Garp named, though both of them knew it was just an alias. "He reported back to headquarters a week after your disbandment. What else did he tell you?"

"Just enough," Roger admitted. "Why? If I dig a little too deep, you'll kill me?" He trailed off with a humor laden chuckle, only to be met with nothing but silence instead of the usual banter. He lifted his head up and it was there that he picked up a cold shift in the other man's demeanor. "So it's like that, huh." He sighed, dipping his head. "You don't need to worry about me shooting my mouth off. In a few days, it won't even matter."

Garp scoffed, rolling his shoulders. "And you think that changes anything? I'm still not gonna take care of your woman or your kid. I already have my own family problems."

Roger perked up after a moment. "Oh yeah. That boy of yours. Where's he now?"

"He quit," Garp answered simply, leaning back against the wall next to the door, crossing his arms.

Roger blinked unreadably. "Sorry to hear that."

Both men fell into an unbearable silence, with only the crackling of the torches providing any sound.

"I'm sorry," Roger spoke again.

"... For what?" Garp asked, though he already knew the answer.

Roger smiled wanly. "Honest opinion, Garp. Do you think it was all worth it?"

…

"The hell are you asking me for?" Garp shrugged. He pressed the back of his head against the wall. "You're the one who got to sail all over these rough waters, been a pain in mine and the government's ass, and became the most notorious and wanted man for years to come. I would've taken you to be more proud, Mr. King of the Pirates."

Roger blinked once. "King…of the Pirates?" He chuckled hoarsely as he carelessly discarded the newspaper, having requested it from Garp earlier. He tested the words as they passed through his lips. "Ridiculous. It was the media who came up with that baloney. Who was it again?"

"Some up and coming hack," Garp replied derisively. "Morgan, I think his name is. What's the problem? I thought you loved being 'Pirate King'."

Roger expelled a breath through his nostrils. "Ha! Those parasites will write anything these days. Not that I didn't have any fun with it though, but being Pirate King…wasn't exactly the be all, end all of everything. Not even close."

"Hm?" Garp inched his head ever so slightly in the cell's direction. "Close to what?"

Roger played with his cuffs as he seemed to be working up something to say. "It's…" Garp felt the man shake his head. "You're gonna think it's stupid."

"As less or more as I already do of you?" Garp asked with a roll of his eyes.

Roger batted his eyelashes. "Aw, so you do care."

"Just spit it out already!" Garp snapped.

Roger mused on whether he should, but reflecting on his current circumstances, he might as well. Plus, he was with a friend.

And spat it, he did, albeit in an embarrassed and subdued tone.

"What?" Garp turned his head to aim a glance at the gap of the cell door.

Roger then repeated it, much louder for him to better hear.

Garp's expression froze, blinking slowly as his mind was racing to register what he had just been told. "Excuse me?" A small grin flashed across Roger's lips as he let the man work it out on his own.

The Vice Admiral slowly pulled away from the gap to fix a blank stare at the floor, mouth hanging slightly open.

Roger had to be lying.

There was just no way.

For the longest time that he had known the man, he had never, not even when they were just casual with one another, mentioned anything of the sort to him. It was just too ridiculous.

The Vice Admiral bit back a choke, working to catch his breath before he could no longer hold it in, "HAHAHAHAHAHA! What the hell?!"

Roger chuckled hoarsely, satisfied by the man's reaction.

"No way!" Garp said between laughs, leaning over as he slammed an enclosed fist against the door and nearly breaking it. "There's just no freaking way! You son of a bitch, you gotta be shitting me!"

Roger himself began to laugh out just as loudly, if not louder. "Got 'ya good, didn't I?!"

Garp wheezed between breaths, finding himself unable to stop as he busted out laughing. "Everything! After everything! After all this time! Are you fucking serious right now?! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Both men's laughter continued to echo throughout the chamber, with some of the guards by the main office of the prison being drawn in, only to be barred by a man wearing a wide fedora that shaded his eyes. With only a silent shaking of his head, the marines present shared unsure glances before reluctantly relenting.

Garp rubbed away the tears in his eyes after calming down, trailing off with a cough. "You're a real piece of shit, you know that?"

Roger chortled throatily. "Yeah." The two shared another glance before devolving into a series of low snickering like two kids that were in on a joke. Clearing his throat, the condemned man resumed speaking. "About my offer. You can just-"

"Sure."

Roger blinked, looking up with his mouth hanging slightly open. "Excuse me?"

Garp gnashed his teeth together, as if struggling to word out a response. "What? You want me to shout it from the roof? I'll take your brat off your hands."

Roger blinked twice more, opening and closing his mouth when he settled with just dipping his head with a relief he didn't know he could feel. "Thanks, man."

"Save it," Garp snorted. "This ain't charity. If it were up to me, I'd have anyone who so much as sneezed in your direction taken in.

"But…"

The Vice Admiral decided to leave the rest of his words unsaid.

Roger closed his eyes. "This is…really all I can give."

Garp winced in disgust. "Ugh! Cut the sentimental crapola. I doubt you would have even made for a good parent. I'd like to think I have you beat in that department."

"No arguments from me," Roger said with a snort before looking up, sensing that this little parley between them was drawing to a close. "Just tell me one more thing, Garp."

"Oh what, you want me to take care of your ship too?"

"Fuck no!" Roger scoffed with an unabashed grin. "We got that thing leased. No, what I want to know…is if it really exists."

Garp narrowed his eyes. "'It'?"

Roger grinned cryptically. "Back in God Valley. It was when we were duking it out with Rocks. I asked him why he was there, what could have possibly justified him being there."

Garp's eyes softened, some of his old regret from that day seeping in. "Midway into the battle, he cursed at me for butting in, raving about some unattainable treasure. That if we hadn't come along, he would have hightailed it out of that place with his real prize in tow."

"Was that before or after I kicked his shit in?"

"Before."

Garp rolled his eyes in recollection. "Must have been when I was under all that rubble. What was it? I always thought he was there to bring back Pirate Island's crown."

"Tch, as if. Whatever it was, it sure as hell took precedence over the rest of the World Noble's treasures," Roger revealed. "Everything else mattered little. His crew, his life, if he could have gotten his hands on it, he was more than certain that it would have secured him his dream. To truly become the ruler of the world."

Garp frowned at this new information. "What was it, then?"

"It's been years, but I could never forget what he called it. Something he said to be of unimaginable power…"

…

"Hey…"

Garp cracked his eyes open, having been broken out of his musings by his grandson calling out to him. Luffy furrowed his brows in mild confusion and frustration, wondering to himself why his usually loudmouth grandfather had become uncharacteristically silent. "Hey!"

Garp sighed, glancing down at the flask still in his hand. He shook it haphazardly to check if it still had any left, and much to his relief, there was the telltale sloshing of liquid. A ghost of a smile then passed through his lips, a hand reaching up to his eyes to massage the bridge of his nose, choking out a mild chuckle. "What?"

"You feel asleep," Luffy told him.

Garp groaned. He did, did he? Explained the flashback, or…maybe he still couldn't let go. "Luffy."

"What?"

He just knew he was going to regret this. "You want to be a pirate?"

Luffy's eyes widened, then nodded his rapidly. "Are you really sure you want to be a pirate?"

His grandson kept nodding until his head was nothing but a blur. His grandfather allowed for a small grin tug at his lips. "Fine then. If, and I say if, you want to be a pirate, I'm gonna expect you to prove to me that you've got what it takes."

"What…it takes?" Luffy repeated bemusedly.

"Yeah," Garp sighed. "If you can pass the new training I have in mind for you; and I don't really have high hopes that you will, I'll let you become a pirate. Anything you want."

Luffy could hardly believe what he had just heard. "R-Really?!"

"Yeah…" replied Garp, causing his grandson to let out a whoop of excitement. "Shut your trap! I said only if you pass my training. So, what's it gonna be? You gonna get with the program or keep being a smarmy little shit? The choice is yours-"

"Yes!"

Garp released an exhausted sigh after taking a moment to watch his grandson being giddy. Strangely, or maybe not, he allowed a small grin to once again come to his bearded face. "Alright then, consider it official! We got ourselves a deal, grandson!"