The kids were already sleeping, tired from a whole day of training with Garp. The vice admiral made a habit of appearing there for a couple of days every two months and trained them to become great marines. "Vacations" that's what he called them. As if someone needs a vacation once every three months. The Marines wouldn't give a normal marine so many free days, but he was the Hero of the Marines, the one that defeated Rox Pirates and Don Chinjao, so they turned a blind eye to his multiple trips to the Goa Kingdom.

For Dadan he wasn't all that. For her, he was the idiot kid who spent his time trying to outsmart pirates and steal their treasure. And her first love.

She never understood why he decided to join the Marines, but he has been protecting her and her family with his influence, so she can't complain, even if he used that to blackmail her into taking care of Ace and Luffy.

She didn't mind, although she always pretended she did. Dadan was not one to show her soft

side to anyone, not even an old friend.

She picked a bottle and two cups and brought them outside where Garp was sitting under a tree trying to keep the small fire lit. She filled a cup and gave it to him before sitting by his side.

They always had nights like this when he came to town. Where they had time to themselves to talk about their lives, the world. It became a habit since Ace came into their lives.

Before that they hadn't talked in years, Garp left Foosha to be a Marine 30 years ago, and between that and bringing Ace, they only met a couple of times. He left town as the idiot who broke her heart when he decided to join the Marines and came back as a hero and vice admiral.

"You failed once again to make them change their ideas about being pirates?"

"This is your bad influence Dandan. I am sure of it" Answered Garp, shaking his finger in front of her face.

"Don't blame me for that, blame that pirate Red Hair Shanks. But they are just like you when you were their age." Garp laughed, it was so long ago that sometimes he forgot how he was as a kid. "Remember that time you tried to steal my dad's treasure?"

Garp remembered that day. The truth was that he wanted to know more about the mysterious young bandit girl who had been terrorizing Foosha Village and being able to steal the patriarch of the mountain bandit family seemed like the best plan he had. It was a stupid plan, and it didn't work that well and Garp ended up in a cage for a long week, being fed by Dadan, till he asked to be trained by the family.

"I do, I ended up in big trouble because of that. I would be dead if you didn't feed me."

"I still don't understand how you ended up in the Marines. You hate the Celestial Dragons, what made you become one of their lapdogs."

"There are forces out there that control everything Dadan, and if to protect those I love I have to pretend I don't hate them I will do it."

"That means blackmailing me into playing mother to these two?"

"Mother?! More like their grandmother"

"Idiot." Dadan drank a little more and rested her head on Garp's shoulder and he put his arm around her to draw her a bit closer to him.

It was a familiar feeling being like this, after all, they had been teenage sweethearts, but that was a long time ago. It was a simple time, no pirate golden age, no marines, just two kids trying their best and having fun stealing treasure. For her, after Garp there was nobody, there was no man in Goa Kingdom quite like him, but she found her family, Dandan's family. They had been orphans, and runaways that she welcomed in her home and took care of, slowly building her own family.
For him, a world of adventure, the king of pirates, a wife, a son, a grandson, and loss, death, and regrets. His adventures would fill books and books, but now he just had his grandsons, Luffy and Ace.

Now they had a strange relationship, quite friends, sometimes quite some more but they never talked about it, Giving it a word would only end in pain.

"You understand why I need them to join the Marines… They are both sons of men despised by the world but they can't bear their fathers' sins, they are just innocent kids. They would be safe in the Marines, I would be protecting them. That's the only way I can do that."

"I know" She assured, kissing him on the face and holding his hand.

"Thank you for taking care of them, Dadan."

"Garp, thank you for bringing them to my life"