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The most confusing part of ending up on the Flying Dutchman was the fact that, despite having traveled all over the world, Roger had no idea where could a Dutchman be from. The second most confusing part was that it seemed to be a regular non-flying ship, if in some state of disrepair, to put it mildly.
To put it bluntly, Roger was quite shocked to find it was still seaworthy.
The third and final confusing part of finding himself on the deck moments after his execution was the fact that everyone seemed to expect him to answer to the captain. Roger hadn’t had the opportunity to ask the man his name; He just tossed him overboard.
He expected that to be the start of their fight, not the end of it. Ah, well. All the more reason why he’d never have submitted to him.
The rest of Roger’s new crew took one look at his wide grin and clearly decided they were perfectly okay with the change in management.
They weren’t like his real crew — no one could match them unless they died and joined Roger, and he’d prefer they took their time when it came to this — but for the purpose of passing the time, they’d do.
The Flying Dutchman was a decent ship. She wasn’t Oro Jackson, of course, but Roger couldn’t begrudge her that. And, once he finally trained his new crew up to his standards — or as close as they’d get — they managed to bring the ship out of the depths of disrepair it had fallen into.
The crewmates grumbled and complained about that far more than they ever did about their change in captains. Apparently the Flying Dutchman’s purpose was to be an omen of disaster and strike fear in the hearts of all those who spotted her.
Roger had done that well enough during his lifetime no matter the ship he was sailing on, so he didn’t put much stock into their complaints. He had been far too busy trying to find some proper red sails.
They received new people occasionally. The pattern, as far as Roger could tell, was them having been notorious pirates while alive. And, as some of the older crewmates informed him, following his death the rates of their arrivals increased significantly.
The ship never became crowded, thankfully. People moved on as much as new ones arrived, providing a steady stream of change.
Roger had one goal before he could decide to move on: he would find out what happened to his wife and child. And if he heard about who reached Laughtale after him, that’d be a nice bonus.
That’s why every new person got an introductory interrogation in his quarters. He offered them some snacks, and some drinks to loosen their tongue, and asked a few basic questions pretending to fill in a questionnaire… And then he’d pounce. What were the news from the living world?
In the end, he found out about his son (son! He had a son!) mostly by accident. An ex-warlord — well, Roger supposed he had still been a warlord while dying — had gripped incessantly about the fire logia rookie who defeated him.
Roger had already liked the sound of that rookie before the ex-warlord shared his name: Portgas D. Ace.
In hindsight, Roger supposed he should have expected for the kid to carry his mother’s name. It would have been a clever way of keeping the child safe until it grew into his strength.
(Back in the earlier days, when he was a bit less careful in his questioning, he heard about what the marines had done to Baterilla. He held faith in Garp and the man’s respect for their rivalry, but… He couldn’t help but worry.)
But, clearly, Ace survived. And now, he was ready to take the world by a storm!
With each new arrival, Roger squeezed out more and more information about his son’s exploits. He heard about him joining Whitebeard’s crew (he would have preferred if the boy had continued to captain his own crew, but perhaps he needed to grow into it; Whitebeard was a solid choice for a starter crew) and about becoming the Second Division Commander. He heard about Ace meeting up with his younger brother (at least he knew then that Rouge had been fine, that she managed to move on and find love in someone else after his death) and him tracking down a traitor from his crew.
When he heard about Ace being captured by the marines, he grew uneasy.
When the execution’s date was drawn, Roger made up his mind.
The dead weren’t able to interact with the living world much, but it didn’t mean they were entirely without options. Their purpose was to seed terror wherever they went and remind mortals about their… Well. Mortality.
There was no reason why Roger shouldn’t be able to bring the ship closer to Marineford. To strike fear in the marines’ hearts and to distract whoever might have attempted to harm Ace.
If he could give his son even the smallest of edges, he was sure the boy would survive.
He hadn’t expected to see his other sons in the process, too.
Buggy, he only saw from a distance. The flash of the familiar blue hair and bright red nose, alongside the bright yellow of Roger’s strawhat was too recognizable to miss, even as they were pushing the ship they were on as fast as it could go. As for why everyone on the ship was wearing prison clothes, well. Roger supposed he could take a guess at that.
Shanks, he saw a bit more clearly. The boy — man, now — had been aiming to attack Kaido’s ship, he thought, but gave up on that when it became clear that Roger was on a collision course with no intention to slow down or evade.
Roger waved at Shanks with a wide grin, receiving a wave in return. Even if they couldn’t exchange any words, he had been happy to see both of them, even just for a moment.
He hoped they wouldn’t end up on the Flying Dutchman for many more years.
Shanks had a crewmate of his snipe something on board of Roger’s ship, but he couldn’t focus on it much when they were charging Kaido.
Afterward, once Kaido had given up on seeking death that day upon realizing he’d have to deal with Roger immediately afterwards, he could look at the message his son had sent him.
It was Ace’s wanted poster. Roger was finally able to see what his youngest son looked like.
Then, as his fingers caressed the edges of the paper, he realized there had been a second poster- Of Buggy. Then another one of Shanks’ himself. And then, finally, one last: of a young boy with a sunny smile wearing Roger’s old strawhat.
Ace’s brother was called Monkey D. Luffy, Roger had found.
…He supposed he did set up Garp and Rouge together, but still. They hadn’t needed to go quite that far.
But family was family and Roger would love all of his sons equally, nailing the posters in his cabin where they could be the last thing he saw when going to sleep and the first thing he saw when waking up.
And when the next arrival confirmed all of his boys made it out of Marineford alive, he sobbed in proud relief.
