Chapter 1: Hachinosu
It comes in the papers and that's how Garp gets the news first, though he won't tell that to Sengoku, who tries to break it to him easy. He's never been good at that either, but that's something Garp will keep to himself too.
FORMER ADMIRAL AOKIJI SPOTTED WITH THE BLACKBEARD PIRATES!
What a farce. Spotted? He was eating with 'em! That wasn't spotted, that was straight up camaraderie. It leaves a sour taste in Garp's mouth that not even rice crackers will alleviate. The crummy snail photo paints the idiot's face in dour colors, though his mouth is open like he's laughing. Garp can see the pull in the corners of his mouth, his eyes hidden by those sunglasses.
Dumbass wasn't happy there. Sengoku keeps grumbling, his goat keeps munching, and Garp isn't one to reminisce. It doesn't do anything but give you an upset stomach. But still, when Sengoku leaves to grumble to Tsuru, Garp finds himself looking at Kuzan's photo from when he and Garp were the same rank.
And like he knew it would, his stomach starts rebelling.
CAPTAIN KOBY CAPTURED BY BLACKBEARD!
Tsuru-chan finds him this time, grumbling in much the same way as Sengoku. But she's better at breaking the news to him, though he already knew. The newscoo, Washington is his name, always gives Garp an early copy in exchange for spicy crackers.
The picture is just a snapshot of Koby from his first medal ceremony, and then a grainy image of an island Garp never fucking liked. The left eye of that big skull rock was still punched out, and the tiny scar on the back of Garp's knuckles itches. The stupid right eye from Roger almost seems to wink from the photo. Wang Zhi never got it fixed which makes sense because when had pirates ever fixed anything?
Koby's photo keeps drawing his attention though. There's a light there in his eyes. A fire, warm and bright and hopeful.
When Tsuru-chan leaves to go grumble to Sengoku, Garp throws the paper in the trash. No more reading, time for action.
When the ice thaws, Garp sits in a cell, dozens of cannon balls chained to his limbs to keep him down. Pretty dumb, he could just throw them all once he's feeling less tired. Kuzan sits outside the cell, a newspaper in his hand. There's a picture of him on the front page, back when his hair was still black.
Roger was still alive then, and Kuzan still had that bright light in his eyes. Like Koby.
Kuzan doesn't say "Why him and not me?" but Garp almost wishes he did. Why didn't you come and save me, old man? Why did my light go out? Why couldn't you protect me too? Just another failure in a long line of his failures, though this one may be the worst. Dragon at least stuck to his guns, had something to fight for. Luffy kept that damn dream though it made Garp want to pray to some God the government didn't like to keep him safe. Ace at least found what he was looking for in the end.
But Kuzan still looked at him with those sad eyes, still just as lost in the dark as he always was. Garp had never been the light he was looking for, because how can the blind lead the blind? His greatest failure is the one just like him after all.
"He's really worth it huh?" Kuzan asks. There's a photo of Koby on the third page, wrapped in bandages but his eyes are burning bright. Garp wishes he could say that Kuzan was too, but instead, all that comes out is just another mistake because old dogs don't learn new tricks.
"Only time will tell."
