Chapter Text
Sometimes, a little thing could change a story. A simple change of weather could lead to the survival of many people.
And it’s what happened twenty years ago, only one year after the new pirate Era created by Gold Roger’s last words.
Baterilla, a little island from South Blue was under a massive storm. A storm so massive for the South Blue sea that it was highly unexpected and therefore very dangerous. Because of that, the fleet admiral had decided to pull out his men from the little isle before the storm hit. They were there for a full one year already, and there wasn’t any pregnant woman anymore. The risk of a spawn from Roger’s blood was now unbelievable.
Unbelievable but it is not impossible with the Will of D.. Rouge was in her cottage that some villagers had helped her secure before the storm began to rage on.
Sitting at her little kitchen table, Rouge was listening to the thunder rolling furiously, the sea crashing against the coast, the rain hitting mercilessly the walls. She was drinking a lukewarm herbal tea, writing some memories in a logbook while slowly, tenderly rubbing her still flat stomach with her other hand.
She was at her seventeenth month of pregnancy, a fact deemed impossible but it was what saved her and her little bean. She put down her quill and leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. They still weren’t safe; they would never be if she were honest with herself but now she could relax. The marines would not step on Baterilla anymore if never. With how they made the villagers hostile against them and the world government… No more Marine would approach Baterilla.
It was what she thought, but later that month, a single Marine came to the now peaceful island. Rouge was watching him from the top of the cliff near her little house.
From there, she could watch the coast and the port without being seen by anyone else.
With a frown, she watched the man talking with some fishermen at the port before climbing the path leading to her.
Rouge’s house was isolated. Up on the highest hill of the small island and the path he took was leading only to her, and her only.
She waited five minutes still observing the man before turning and walking to her cottage. Ready to meet the man. The Hero of the Marine wanted something from her and she was not a coward, never the one to turn her back to a potential enemy. She was ready to face him.
When Garp was finally at the top of the cliff, a single-story dwelling in the corner of his eyes, he was received by a fierce and strong woman. Even in her long pastel summer dress and a hibiscus flower in her hair she looked dangerous and imposed respect and wary.
Even if the woman was still slim, not even looking pregnant or like a young mother who already gave birth, the Marine knew she was the infamous woman who had held Gol D. Roger heart in her hands. The woman who could have claimed the title of the Pirate Queen if she had wanted to.
She was standing tall in front of him, making him feel small. Him, Garp the fist, Hero of the Marines, a man who had faced some of the most monstrous and powerful individuals of the seas, a man who faced and defeated the Rocks Pirates without a once of fear! was feeling small.
This woman with her long strawberry long waving hair with a delicate flower tucked behind her ear, her freckles, her chocolate eyes, a soft baby blue summer dress and a simple pair of sandals? She was making him feel weak. Portgas D. Rouge was a force of nature not to be underestimated.
“What does the Hero of the Marine want from a poor weak woman of the South Blue?”
Garp scoffed, she was far from weak and they both know it.
“Roger. Roger sent me; he gave me his last will and made me promise something.”
“And I should trust the man who sent him to the scaffold?”
Rouge crossed her arms under her chest and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, on the side of her flower, leaving her hand against her cheek. Garp eyed her hand, his guts telling him to be wary of the lady, something was off, as if her gesture not that genuine.
“They sent troops of marines here on suspicion only. I am here, outside of work, because Roger himself told me about his future child and his beautiful wife, his words. He made me promise to keep them safe if I could. I couldn’t come before without looking suspicious.”
Rouge snarled an ugly laugh with a smirk.
“You, a Marine. Made a promise to the Pirate King? I hope you know that you sound like a mad man.”
“Ann or Ace.”
Rouge eyes widen at those names. She sighted and went to her house, opening her door and looked at Garp above her shoulder.
“Come.”
It was a single word but Garp followed the order. Sengoku would be jealous, really. The fleet admiral could be impressive when he gives orders but in comparison with Portgas? Sengoku was nothing.
Sengoku would shout orders at the marine troops to make them execute his instructions while the woman could ask a mountain to move with a whisper and the mountain would apologize before moving swiftly. It was the impression she was giving off.
Garp followed her into the house with confidence—Marine Corps lesson 101: Be confident, don’t show to the enemy that they scares you.
Rouge was already sitting at the kitchen table looking serious, lips thin, deadly serious. How to blame her? Rouge with a graceful movement showed him the other chair on the other side of the table. He sat with a murmured “thank you” before locking his eyes with her, serious too, for once.
“You weren’t lying. Roger really sent you here. The bastard.”
She laughed in a breath.
“When he said he would be sending someone to help me, to protect our child if anything goes wrong, I would never imagine that he would send the man who sent him be beheaded in his hometown.”
She growled, running a hand in her hair.
“He could have sent Rayleigh! But no, too simple, not enough fun!”
She let another frustrated growled out of her mouth.
“But I guess this bastard was intelligent. Who, with a sane mind, would think that a Marine, a hero! The one known to be his rival and whom finally get him and put in front of the justice to help his pregnant wife?”
Garp burst in a loud laugh stopping her in her ranting. The woman throwing the deathliest of all the death glare toward him. He scraped his throat; his laugh dying instantly, this woman is terrifying. Roger the “demon”, as people likes to say, was a saint next to her.
“As you said, asking me was intelligent and a way to strongly protect both of you. And I accepted because I don’t condone what happened here. This hunt…”
“Don’t you say. I’m a firsthand witness here.”
He coughed a little at her chilling tone, she made him feel slightly ashamed to rambling about this touchy subject but again, who could blame her?
“But I can’t protect you there.”
“So you’re not fulfilling your promise to a dead man?” She raised an eyebrow leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms on her lap.
“I will, if you allow me to move you to a little island in East Blue.”
Two brown eyes pierced him, evaluating him with a single eyebrow raised with incredulity.
“East Blue?”
“There is a little town there, on my home island. It’s known to have a sort of protection by me. It would be the most secure island in all the seas for you to raise your child.”
Rouge put her head backward, looking at the ceiling while thinking about the offer. It was tempting. Garp was right after all, no one would think to find the child and the widow of the pirate king on the home island of his most known “enemy.”
And even if not spoken and official, the island has a tacit protection with the name of Garp the Fist attached to it, and no one wants to have this Vice-Admiral after them. Rouge also wouldn’t have to face the guilt and the resentment from the town people after the witch hunt that took place in the search for her and her future child.
With her decision taken, she stood from her chair and started to walk toward another room but before stepping out, she casually told Garp with barely a glance above her shoulder.
“I accept.”