The Grandfather's Little Ones
The mountain bandit known as Curly Dadan could be somewhat careless with her responsibilities and not the most detail-oriented person, but even she noticed that something odd was happening with her young charge, Portgas D. Ace, as time went on. The six-year-old boy was growing more slowly than the rest of the children; most people wouldn't even believe that Ace was four, let alone the six years he actually was. Ace's development was slower than it should be in every aspect.
When she had no choice but to accept reality, she could only call the boy's grandfather, Monkey D. Garp.
Almost simultaneously, in the village of Foosha, a young bar owner named Makino was helping the little boy, who should have been around four years old, but hadn't grown a single centimeter since he was a year and a half. Monkey D. Luffy smiled widely at her, a smile more dazzling than the sun itself, as he made claws with his hands to be lifted and probably fed. Makino cradled the child, accepting the harsh truth of her suspicions – suspicions that it was time to share with the boy's grandfather, Monkey D. Garp.
-o-o-o-
When Monkey D. Garp not only received one, but two calls from the caretakers looking after his grandchildren separately, the Vice Admiral of the Marines only informed the Fleet Admiral that he had a family emergency and left Grand Line, leaving Sengoku with all the work dumped on him. That was the damn hero of the Marines; Sengoku shouldn't be surprised, and in reality, he wasn't. But sometimes, he felt like grabbing Garp by the hair and forcing the damn alpha prime to work.
-o-o-o-
Monkey D. Garp arrived alone in his hometown in the Goa Kingdom a month later, first going to see Makino. He smiled upon seeing his little grandson staggering toward him.
"I thought something was wrong with my boy," he said, puzzled to see his robust grandson well and healthy.
Makino finished closing the bar and made sure they were alone before speaking.
"Don't you see, Garp?" she asked. Garp blinked without understanding, then followed the young woman's gaze toward his grandson, his perfect, sweet, and healthy grandson.
"What?"
Makino took a deep breath at the Vice Admiral's question and took a seat.
"Garp, how old Luffy is?"
"Four," he replied, still not understanding.
"Now, look at your grandson and tell me, how old does Luffy appear to be?"
Garp looked at his grandson, who smiled sweetly while eagerly sucking on his milk bottle after settling on Garp's lap, and blinked in confusion.
"He... Luffy just grows a bit slowly," he murmured.
"No, he doesn't grow a bit slowly, Garp. Luffy hasn't grown a single centimeter since the day he turned one and a half. Either you say it, or I do," warned the woman.
"No."
"His scent hasn't been revealed yet because he hasn't chronologically reached seven years, and most of us here wouldn't be able to smell it because we are betas, even if he had. But I'm completely sure... Luffy is an Omega Little."
"Shut up," he ordered, hugging his grandson and extending his Haki to make sure no one was eavesdropping. "He can't... he..."
"He can, and he is," Makino told him firmly.
"The government is after them, the whole world is after them, they're extinct, they can't lay a finger on Luffy." Luffy was his treasure, his grandson who would one day be a Marine like him; he couldn't be an Omega Little, it was too dangerous, everyone wanted to get their hands on an Omega Little since their extinction.
"Deceiving ourselves won't help. Only you can protect him. You have to do something before he turns seven, and his scent tells the world what is already evident to us," the young woman spoke harshly.
-o-o-o-
Garp had wanted to run away with his grandson as soon as Makino forced him to face Luffy's reality, the danger his grandson was in. But he still had to see Dadan, and besides, the mountain would be a much safer place for Luffy than the village; it would be easier to hide him in the mountains.
Of course, that was his plan until Dadan received him holding an angry and sobbing Ace in her arms. Maybe he was sensitive because of what had just happened, but his eyes looked at Ace with panic, at his other grandson who was about to turn 7. Ace, who nowhere seemed like a child about to turn 7, Ace who didn't speak clearly, who was having a tantrum for Dadan to let him go, Ace who barely seemed a little older than Luffy.
"No," Garp whispered.
"In a couple of months, he'll be seven, and neither you nor I can deny it," Curly Dadan told him harshly for the first time. She didn't need to say what she suspected; Garp's eyes told her the same. The curly woman handed Garp the child who immediately calmed down, looking at him with big eyes in a freckled and childish face.
Fuck Dragon, Fuck Roger, Fuck both for leaving this to him. But thisd two kid were his grandchildren, and Garp had to protect them from the world.
-o-o-o-
There were shouts back and forth, threats from both sides, accusations flying in every direction. In the end, the only reason Vegapunk agreed to help Garp was the compelling argument the gruff Vice Admiral presented against him.
"What you're asking me to help you do is a sin, it will harm them."
"The world that covets them will do more harm if it discovers them., starting with the World Government we both work for, will cause them more harm. The Celestial Dragons gouged each other's eyes out for having them."
And although Vegapunk hated that Garp was right, he couldn't deny it was a solid argument. It took months to find a way, based on suppressors made for omegas and a Devil Fruit that created illusions. The day Vegapunk put those bracelets on the wrists of the children was one of the two most horrible days of his life. When the scent of hibiscus and sea from the older of the two children, who had just turned 7, extinguished due to the bracelet, both his and Garp's tears struggled to escape against their will. And the younger one... they would never even know what he smelled like. Three months later, when both children grew an inch each, Vegapunk knew he had succeeded, but he felt no pride or joy. He felt like a sinner against the world... against those two children.
"It's for their own good, it's to protect them," Garp whispered to himself to console himself. The scientist hoped it would work for the man because that consolation would never work for him. This world should be a safe place for these two divine beings, but instead, it was a crappy world where they would only be coveted by everyone.
"Never remove the bracelets; otherwise, they will revert to who they truly are," Vegapunk warned the Marine the day he left with his two grandchildren, leaving him behind.