Chapter Text
I had been outside hanging up the laundry the day Portagas D. Ace had come to us, or rather the day he had been dropped off. In the midst of hanging the bed sheets on the line to dry, I heard the sound of crunching twigs and leaves under foot from the direction of the forest path and looked up. Everything seems to be in order, I thought, Dogra is piling up the collected fire wood by the side of the house, with Magra. Poah is digging up a bone he buried last night, Monkey D. Garp is walking toward me from out of the forest, and the rest–– GAH GAH GAH GARP! I dropped the damp sheet I had been about to clip up and gasped. At the sound, Dogra and Magra looked up from their piling and shrieked as well, dropping the firewood.
No no no! It can't be! I was not supposed to see him ever again! We even moved our base and everything! How did he find us? Why didn't the watch give a warning? How did he get past with out them seeing? Are they still alive?
I decided to go on the offense, HOW DID YOU FIND US!?" I shrieked in a panic, then inwardly cursed myself. Damn it! That was supposed to sound fierce not terrified. Garp was dressed in his Vice Admiral's uniform, his coat bunched bizarrely to one side. At my words, menace oozed from his pores.
"Did you really think I would not be able to find you?" He growled. I tried to say something but my throat would not work.
"Bah that's not important, I don't have much time, I'm not on vacation. Down to business." Garp continued dismissively. Just like that the feeling was gone. I knew it. It is all over now. He's here to bring me in. Why did he wait so long? Scrambling back a few steps, from the mountain that was Vice Admiral Garp, I frantically looked around for a weapon. I spied the axe that Dogra and Magra had used to cut wood. It is my only chance. It's owners were now inching behind the side of the house and the rest of my family was sneaking peeks through the windows. Cowards! I silently yelled at them. I looked back at the axe, and tried get my knees to stop shaking so I could move and grab the weapon with out falling. It's a good ten feet away maybe if I dive for it…
"Don't worry Dadan I am not going to arrest you. If you do as I ask." Garp interrupted, reading my thoughts. His tone was probably meant to sound reassuring, but I was anything but comforted.
"Wh What do you me-mean 'if you do as I say' that is blackmail, you can't blackmail me!" The instant the words were out of my mouth I wished I could take them back. The supportive whoops from my family faded as the atmosphere turned lethal. Garp's eyes glinted out at me, pupils contracting and suddenly I knew how mouse must feel when face to face with a hawk.
"Can't I?" He murmured quietly his voice filled with menace.
"Yes! Absolutely Garp-san!" I announced, too happy I was still breathing to care. I ignored the glares that were now being shot my way from the house.
"This is not black mail, it is a favor between friends, right Dadan?" Garp asked. His cheer returning, like the first day of spring after a long winter.
I groaned internally he gets whatever he wants doesn't he. Friends? Hah!
"Yes Garp-san." I droned, quietly.
"What was that?!" The deadly atmosphere was back as quick as lightening.
"YES GARP-SAN!" I chirped, resisting the urge to tell him to bug off.
But Garp wasn't paying attention any more, he was looking down at something in his arms. I strained to get a look at what he was holding. The something was making a soft sighing noise, almost like a baby. Garp brought out a light blue bundle from under his coat. What the? That kind of looks like a baby. But Garp? With kids? Haha, yeah right. Garp got straight to the point offering the baby to me,
"I want you to raise him." I smothered a laugh. Hmmmm maybe my hearing is going… I am getting older after all, I am not what I once was… could have sworn he asked me to raise this brat.
"What did you say?" I asked. As he tried to place the baby in my arms. I retreated a few steps. However, Garp did not appear to be listening because he just continued walking toward me.
"His name is Ace, and in exchange I will over look your crimes. I will be back soon to check on him and train him." He told me as he seized my arm with his free hand and place the baby in it with his other. When Ace almost fell, my other hand automatically came up to cradle him. I was still gaping at the Vice Admiral.
WHOA WHOA WHOA. Hold up!
"WAAAAH! WAAAH!" I stumbled, unable to process what had just happened.
"We can't raise a baby! Who do you think we are? Were bandits not nannies." I yelled at him.
"I know exactly who you are Dadan," he threatened, looking up from the bundle "and if you don't want me to forget our friendship then you will do this for me, keep him safe." My arms tightened around the bundle in response to the fear erupting inside me, Garp gave the baby one last kiss on the forehead before turning to leave.
"Whose child is he?!" I screamed after him but he was already across the yard and at the head of the path waving as he went.
"I'll be back to check on him when I am on vacation." He yelled back without turning.
How am I going to explain this to them? I wondered turning with Ace in my arms and toward the curious faces now venturing out form the door way.
A baby being raised by bandits, what a joke. A Baby. A baby. What was the brat's name? Ace… he said Ace. Ace what? No last name? Was Garp the father? NO! No that would be ridiculous. Garp's kids would be demons like him. And look at the baby he is rather cute and not demon-like, no way is he a Monkey. But why did Garp bring him here? He knows full well who we are. He could have brought him to the Marine HQ and found parents there. Why us? Who is this child? Oww! Something is pulling on my hair. I snapped out of my reverie and looked down at the source of the pain. My eyes met the dark, almost black eyes sparkling in the afternoon sun. The baby gurgled when he saw me looking at him and clapped his hands, letting go of the fist of my orange hair he had been yanking on. I then realized that we were alone with a baby. AHHHH! Its awake, I mean he's awake. What do I do? I knew this was a bad idea, I know nothing about children What does it want? Food? The toilet?
"Dogra get food" I barked, panicking. A confused Dogra ran into the house to fetch some food.
"Magra get the toilet….." My command was met with silence. No that wasn't right, I thought, trying to make my way through the fog of panic filling my brain again. The baby gurgled louder. AHH! Is it in pain? Is there something wrong with it?
"Dadan" came a worried voice from behind me.
No time for that, I thought and screamed
"Magra get the medical kit!" Magra ran into the house, spurred on by the panic in my voice. Almost running over Dogra, who was on his way back out with a stick of meat. I sunk to the ground, facing away from my shocked and confused family. Dogra skidded to halt a foot away.
"Dadan what's wrong are you hurt? Magra is coming with the medical kit! What did Garp do to you?" He demanded in a voice shrill with fear. In the next instant Magra came skidding to a stop next to Dogra with the medical kit in his fist.
"Dadan I got the stuff, where are you hurt?" He asked. I finally found my voice,
"No Garp did much worse," I said, rising to my feet and turning around and holding Ace up so everyone could see. "The evil son of a gun has charged us with taking care of this baby or he will arrest us."
"WHAT!" They all screamed.
Surprisingly it was only a month before I saw Garp again. The day he reappeared I felt like death, having not had a decent night sleep since the brat had been dropped off. Magra had made a makeshift crib from wood and rope and it had been decided that because it was warmer in my bedroom, then the rest of the house, it would go in there. I had objected until my family had pointed out that if the baby got sick and died Garp would have them all for lunch.
So as a result, I had not gotten more then an hour of sleep a night thanks to the brat. First it was the bottle, then the diaper, then he wanted to play (I was pretty sure normal babies were not supposed to play this much), then it was the bottle again, then the diaper, and so on the rest of the night. The morning was Magra and Dogra's shift so they would watch Ace while I would give the rest of the men their orders for the day. I felt it was my duty to look after Ace and so I rarely let Ace leave my sight. I can only imagine what trouble some of the younger bandits might get into with him. Might accidentally leave him alone in the bath to get a towel, or take him with them on a hunting trip, or toss him around and forget to catch him. Letting my imagination create scenarios made me shutter. As a result it was I who bore most of the brunt of the tantrums when it was bath time, tantrums when being woken up from a nap, and tantrums when being put to bed. I do not get it, he makes such a big deal about going to bed then hates to be woken up. The past month had taken a toll on me and was the reason I handed Ace's breakfast responsibilities over to my two most trusted members, Dogra and Magra.
From my bedroom I could hear them babbling, well Ace was babbling, Magra and Dogra were making "goo goos", and "gahs gahs" to entertain the brat. I knew it would only last so long. In the last week, Ace had seen what the others eating their breakfast, or more accurately had seen the bacon and taken to crawling over to the table to demand his share. Why does he want it, he can't even eat it? Ace's teeth had yet to come in completely, so he was limited to milk, and this concoction of mushed berries and herbs that Magra made. As the weeks wore on Ace was increasingly losing interest in playing with Magra and Dogra in the mornings and becoming more and more demanding, biting toes and pinching ankles till someone dropped a piece of bacon for him to gum on. This morning was no different and a few grunts of pain later Ace was gumming on some bacon. It is kind of funny to watch. I admitted to myself. As I walked out of my room to sit at the table.
At that moment the door to the house flew open, everyone leapt up to grab their weapons. But it would have been in vain because framed in the doorway surveying them like a giant tiger, except in my opinion even more frightening, was Vice Admiral Garp. He had ditched his uniform for a yellow and pink flowered shirt.
"Why are you here Garp? We have done as you wished, what more do you want?" I bravely demanded.
"Is that any way to speak to a friend Dadan?" He asked. His cheerful tone was undercut by a dangerous edge that had ice growing on the walls. Oh Shit, now I've done it. I was surprised when Garp bent, picked up Ace, and began rocking him gently. Ace had lost interest in the bacon when Garp had burst in, preferring to clap his hands and giggle. Traitor, that's the enemy Ace. I silently chided the baby.
"I came by to check up on Ace. I was planning on staying longer since I was on vacation, but Senguko-san called and well- I will be heading out again soon." Ace was falling asleep, to Garp's gentle rocking. How on Earth does he know how to get a child to sleep? I marveled at how gentle Garp was. Why did he leave him with us if he obviously cares a lot about him?
"Garp who's - –––"
"I know what you want to know Dadan. I will tell you, but first I am going to put Ace in bed then we can talk, grab me a bottle would ya?" He cut off my retort with a wave, as he left the room to find Ace's crib.
"Huh? Who does he think he is ordering me to get him a drink, I am a bandit leader not a waitress." I huffed off to the kitchen. I found the entire family hold up in there, terror obvious on their faces.
"What does he want Dadan?" Dogra asked.
"I don't know. But I intend to get some answers" I announced, more bravely then I felt.
"We will be in here if you need us."
"You cowards! Get out there and start doing your chores! Somebody go watch Ace." I ordered and left the room, but not before giving each of them a rap on the head and grabbing a bottle of sake. When I returned to the main room, Garp was sitting on the steps leading up to the open front door. I placed the bottle next to him. He grabbed it and got up, gesturing for me to follow.
"Not here," he said and led me to a small clearing a short ways back down the path through the forest. He stopped and sat down beneath a tree on the edge of the clearing and opened the bottle of sake. However instead of drinking, he turned to me.
"Ace's parentage must remain a secret to the world Dadan," said Garp seriously.
"Wha Wha Why are you being so dramatic all of a sudden?" I asked, baffled at what could be so important about the baby. I had never seen Garp so grave. I sat down across from him.
"Ace's mother and father are dead."
Yeah genius, I figured that out on my own.
"His mother's name is Portgas D. Rouge, she died in childbirth due to the strain of holding back the labor for many months past the original birth date."
"Why would she do that? Was she an idiot?" I snorted, Garp whacked me on the head.
"Ouch" I screeched feeling a lump forming.
"Pay attention! I arrived at the island shortly before she gave birth, she was expecting me. When I found her, her last words to me, as she handed me the child, were that she wanted him to have his father's name. She choose his name to be Gol D. Ace. I think you have probably heard of his father." Garp continued talking, but I had could not seem to hear him anymore over as I pondered the name.
Gol. D…. Gol. D…. GolD…. Gold Roger. HOLY SHIT! What has Garp done. He has killed us all. The government, they will have admirals execute us. What was that Garp said "you have probably heard of him" hell, who has not heard of the damn Pirate King, the most feared and awed man in all the seas?! I had heard the reports of the Marines marching through cities and villages of neighboring islands, and had seen this island's own villages swamped with Marines all searching for any sign that Gol D. Roger had spent time there. Now I know why there have been so many of them around... I wish I did not know. The World Government, the Marines, are all out hunting for this child. Do they even know Roger has a son yet? My vision was fading around the edges. The image of Ace rolling around on the floor popped into my brain. How could such a cute child be the spawn of such a devil? Why Garp? I know we did some really bad things but do you really despise us that much? I was starting to hyperventilate. Get a grip Dadan. I felt a stabbing pain in my head that snapped me out of my spiraling. Garp had punched me again. OUCH!
"Dadan don't go dying on me now. It won't get you out of this. You owe me. Ace will stay with you. We both know that his name must just be Ace for now, maybe forever, I plan for him to become a Marine hero too. Then maybe he'll be safe, maybe he'll be free. I will train him myself of course when the time is right."
A Marine hero, the son of the pirate king. If I was not so panicked about the thought of the Marines bearing down on my base I would have laughed. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.
Thinking back to earlier, when Ace was napping in Garp's arms. Is he really the son of that man? And Garp? Garp the Fist, Garp the man who captured the Pirate King, is his son's hero?
"Roger asked me to take care of his son. And despite his father's crimes, his son is innocent, Ace is innocent of them all."
"The world will never see it that way," I stated. No, I thought, he will be a monster in the eyes of the world, a demon. This poor child, this innocent child will bear the sins of his father. Although, I mused looking at Garp it seems he has a strong protector. Why doesn't Garp see him as a monster that he once hunted down? I would have thought him of all people would see him as a threat.
"He will survive. I will make him a marine Dadan." Garp vowed.
I just stared at him, unable to comprehend this man's will. Why is he doing all of this for the son of his greatest enemy.
"Why Garp? Why did you save Ace? Why do you protect him?" I asked.
He was silent for a long time, sitting against the tree, his head tilted back eyes closed almost as if asleep. Seconds turned into minutes. Maybe he is sleeping? That bastard, leaving me with this ticking time bomb and not even bothering to explain himself. I was just about to hit him over the head with a stick when he spoke,
"Even when he was faced with a cloud of enemies beyond his power, Roger would never run away."
Huh? What does this have to do with anything? I wondered, other then just how reckless and stupid Roger was.
I scoffed "Was he suicidal? I thought running away was his strategy?"
Garp kept going like I had not spoken, glancing at me before turning his attention back to the trees.
"That's right his crew would. But he would never do that, because he'd leave the people he loved behind"
How does Garp know all of this? I suppose when hunting a guy for years you get to know him pretty well. Oh what does it matter? I asked about the reason Garp takes care of Ace?
"If he ran, he would put his nakama in danger. Its not that he wouldn't run away, he just would not let the enemy have a chance at his nakama."
And by enemy you mean you. Well knowing you as I do. I can definitely see why, you're a psycho.
"He would change into a sort of demon in those situations. Why, he once destroyed the entire military of a country for insulting his nakama. He was short-tempered and selfish"
Oh no. I thought, my heart sinking "demon," "destruction" no please tell me Ace inherited his mother's temperament, Please. Please. Ace is already showing signs, not letting people take his bottle away, stealing people's food. At least he is still a baby.
I could only stare while Garp continued, my mind drawing the frightening similarities between father and son.
"But he was also naive and simple, like a child. Because he had a similar childhood to Ace's, or like the childhood Ace will have, growing up with out his parents."
Wait a second, how could Garp possibly know what Roger's childhood was like? Ace will be different I know it. He must, I thought, desperately. The way Garp is describing Roger sound an awful lot like he is describing himself. If Ace turns into a Garp or Roger what will I do? I can barely take these visits let alone having a mini Garp around constantly.
"He hated to lose those he loved." Garp paused to take a long swig from the red sake bottle.
Oh boy is that true. I thought remembering the tantrums Ace throws every night I put the toys away and told him it was time to sleep. He calms down once I tell him a story, but still nowadays I am getting bruises from his punches and kicks.
With a deep breath Garp continued.
"He was reckless, yet survived to become the King of the Pirates, although he gained a bad reputation, his crew trusted him completely. Even I as a Navy soldier respected him, I couldn't help it." I was not surprised to hear this. These two are very alike no wonder Garp respected him.
"That is why I decided to take care of Ace" Garp finished dramatically, almost as if he was making a vow. Wait just a darned minute, where has he been all those nights at 3:00 am changing dippers and feeding Ace. Where has he been when it is time to give Ace a bath, he can't even talk yet and we have to wrestle him into the tub. While Garp is off having a jolly time playing soldier. The bastard, if Roger could see how you honor your promise now, I bet he… I remembered what he had just told me about him and sighed. Well seeing as they are so alike he would probably approve. But his mother certainly wouldn't have.
Indignation and my sleepless nights caught up to me making me forget who I was talking to as I pointed out,
"We are the ones taking care of him," Garp's head shot up, pupils contracting.
"Huh. Have something you want to say?" Yes I hate how you just dumped us with the world's most wanted kid. No, the most wanted person in the world. Nonetheless I thought better of it and, gritting my teeth, crunched out.
"No, not a thing."
"Don't worry to much Dadan. Soon the government will be distracted. A dragon is rising in the west that will catch a hold of the their attention."
Is he being serious a real dragon or is that some kind of joke or code? A dragon? What the hell does that mean?
"What are you talking about, Dragons? I have not heard anything about a dragon."
"The government is not adept at fighting dragons and soon it will take the their attention away from Roger and his progeny. The possibility of Ace will be forgotten." Garp reassured me.
All this trouble over a boy. I sighed I guess I understand why he can't stay with Garp, but still… I hate him for forcing this danger into my home? I agreed with Garp on one thing, the child is innocent. Nonetheless every marine from here to headquarters is scouring the Earth looking for this him. The government isn't stupid; they will have figured it out by now, where Roger was before he was captured. Garp has brought the might of the World Government down upon us. DAMN HIM! We will have to be very careful, nobody must know.
Later that night after the bed time story I was placing one last blanket around Ace, and looking down at his peaceful sleeping face I promised I must make sure the government never becomes aware of what else resides in this base. To protect ourselves. And to protect this child. For as much as I wanted to deny it, Ace had become a part of my family, tantrums and all, and I would keep him hidden. Then I went off to bed to hopefully get some sleep before the brat woke me up.