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“Lieutenant commander Helmeppo, Lieutenant commander Cobby, reporting for duty.”
Garp doesn’t even look from the paperwork he’s doing.
“We’re reporting for duty, sir,” Helmeppo repeats.
The Vice-Admiral still doesn’t move. “I didn’t ask for you. You’re dismissed.”
“Sir,” Helmeppo starts again. “With all due respect-”
“We heard that Portugas D Ace had been imprisoned in Impel down, sir,” Cobby finishes for him.
Garp still doesn’t look up, but his hand tighten on the pen. “That is correct.”
“And,” Cobby continues. “We know he is your grandson.”
“So?”
“So we’re… reporting for duty.”
Garp seems more and more annoyed, if not angry, with the way the conversation is going. Something twists in Helmeppo’s guts. He knows Garp won’t hurt him, not the way his father did, but he can’t help the way his body still react, even after months.
He really wishes he could get over this soon.
“And you’re dismissed,” Garp says, getting him out of his thoughts. “Don’t make me repeat it.”
“Whatever you’re panning, we can help! We will show ourselves worthy of your trust! Please. We’re reporting for duty!” Cobby all but screams. His eyes are closed. He’s scared.
Cobby is different from him. Helmeppo is a marine because his father was. Because it was the easiest thing to be and he always did things the easy way. Cobby on the other hand… Where Helmeppo is a marine in his blood, Cobby is a marine in his guts. He fought for this tooth and nails. This is his dream.
And he would throw it all over for Garp. That’s the power their mentor has on him. The Vice-Admiral Garp is that kind of man. That’s why they both decided to follow him to hell if need be. Because Garp is the kind of man he is, they will do whatever is in their power to help him betray the marines and free Portugas.
And because Garp is the man he is, there is no way he’s going to let his grandson get executed.
If it had been Helmeppo in prison, and Morgan with that kind of power, he knows his father would have let him get executed without a second thought to keep his rank. And that is exactly why he knows Garp will act. Because Garp is different.
Because Garp is the man they chose to follow.
“Both of you,” Garp says between clenched teeth. “You’re dismissed.”
“Sir, don’t you trust us?” Cobby asks.
“You’re dismissed,” Garp repeats.
“I know we’re not as strong as you, but we trained hard. We can be useful. We won’t disappoint you or be a burden.”
“You’re dismissed.”
“Sir, we’re ready to put our lives in line. We accepted it when we became marines.”
“You’re dismissed.”
It’s impossible. Helmeppo can’t believe what he’s about to say. But Garp trusts them. He knows he does. So he’s not fearing betrayal, and he’s not trying to protect them, then...
“Do you really plan nothing?” had he been wrong about the man?
“You’re dismissed.”
“No, that’s impossible,” Cobby says. “Sir, you don’t need to protect us, we-”
“Is that the man you are? Abandoning your child?”
“Get out!” Garp all but barks at them, and Helmeppo is out of the office before he realizes his legs have moved.
“That’s impossible.” he pushes a hand into his hair. “He must be trying to protect us or something.”
“I think there is nothing planned,” Cobby says in a small voice, next to him.
“What? Why?” Helmeppo had been the first one to doubt, and now Cobby is saying that?
“Vice-Admiral Garp was crying,” he says. “When he yelled at us. I really think… I really think he’s going to let Portugas die.”
Helmeppo had been too scared to notice, but… trust Cobby to always see what others can’t see. He saw some good, some bravery in Helmeppo, after all, when Helmeppo didn’t even know it was there.
“This is bullshit.”
Cobby raises his head to him. Helmeppo doesn’t often swear, but this is…
This is not who he thought Garp was. And if Garp isn’t who he thought he was then what is he even doing here, with a stupid marine uniform?
“I’m going for a walk,” he says. “Don’t follow me.”
“Where are you going?” Cobby asks.
“I don’t know!” But he does know.
He does know and he knows this is stupid. Cobby deserves his dream. Cobby deserves his place in the marines, next to Garp.
Cobby deserves someone better than Helmeppo. Someone who wouldn’t do something stupid like taking pity in a man he never met.
But what can he says? He seems that he had developed an attachment to people deemed worthless by their parents within the last few months.
So, yes. He knows where he’s going. He’s going straight to hell. Also known as Impel Down.
Getting in is already a challenge. He uses all the limited authority he he has, and almost all the favors his fellow marine owe him. Turns out, having helped people has its perks, even if he did it more out of guilt for his past actions than out of actual desire to help.
Cobby had told him once it didn’t matter why he was doing something. That the result to the people he helped stayed the same.
He thinks Cobby is too pure of heart, too kind for the wold they live in. And he probably will get himself killed, so he’s glad Cobby isn’t with him.
Still, when, by some miracle, he manages to reach the last level of Impel down, he wishes his best friend was with him to lend him a little bit of his courage.
They’re scary. The criminals here are scary. He realizes Portugas might kill him on sight, as soon as his cuffs are gone. He knows nothing about the man, besides that he’s Vice-Admiral Garp’s grandson and Whitebeard’s second commander.
Thankfully, he doesn’t look violent when Helmeppo reaches his cell. He just looks tired. Resigned. Like a man who is prepared to die, and maybe he is.
“Who are you?” Portugas asks in a row voice and Helmeppo wonder how long he’s been down there. Did he had water? Food? He hopes against hope the fishman next to him at least had some water.
“My name is Helmeppo, Lieutenant Commander. I’m the son of Captain Morgan.” He curses himself the second the words leave his lips. After all this time, he still defines himself by his father.
“I’m sorry, should I know who that is?”
Helmeppo jumps. “No, that’s. Um.” He fumbles with the keys in his hands. By some miracle, the guard he pickpocket them from hadn’t noticed. “I have the keys?”
Portugas blinks. Once, then twice, as Helmeppo opens the door. He seems lost, and honestly, Helmeppo doesn’t blame him. “What are you doing?”
“The same thing I did all my life, I guess,” Helmeppo says he opens the door. “I’m acting impulsively on my feelings and doing whatever I want without regard to the consequences to people around me or myself. I mean, I’m not really use to it actually having consequences on myself, I didn’t think there would be consequences, until there were, but now I know. I know and I’m doing it anyway.”
Portugas seems more and more confused. “What?”
“I’m breaking you out.”
“Why?”
And that’s the five hundred million Berry question.
“I told you, because I want to.”
“No one risks their life on a whim for someone they don’t know,” Portugas seems distressed. But not at the idea of being betrayed or anything.
He seems actually worried about Helmeppo. Some marine he never met. And he’s the one who talks about helping strangers.
“Well, I mean, someone has to, right?”
“No!” The screams that comes out of Portugas’ mouth make Helmeppo stops on where he’s working on the cuffs. “No, someone doesn’t have to. This is- I am-”
“Ace,” the fishman in the cell says. “He’s gone so far. Let him help. If it turns out it’s a trap, how worse can things get?”
Portugas doesn’t say anything from a long time, before he finally says. “You said your name was Helmeppo, right?”
Helmeppo nods.
“Could you free him too?” he asks, nodding at the fishman. This is Jimbei, former shitchibukai, and Helmeppo realizes out of his depth he is.
“Um. Yes. Sure.” The more the merrier, he guesses. Or, maybe not, in this case, but he doesn’t really know what he’s doing, anyway. “Could you keep the cuffs on, even if they’re unlocked? I’m going to pretend I’m transferring you.” He’s not sure if it work, but he has no other ideas.
The other two nod, and so, they start walking toward the exit.
As expected, they don’t make it very far before someone intercept them, asking what’s going on.
“I’m transferring these two prisoners to their new location, sir,” Helmeppo answers, putting as much as his acting skills as he can. It’s not fantastic, but he’s better than Cobby, at least. For a man who spent years among a pirate crew, you would think his friend would have learned to lie at least semi-properly.
One of the men in front of them whispers something in his partner’s hear and for a second, Helmeppo thinks that’s it. It’s over. But then the marine just says, “Ah, yes, we heard of the transfer. Please go ahead.”
It’s surprising, but he’s not one to pass on a blessing, so they keep going.
“I can’t believe it worked,” he mutters once they’re out of ear-sight.
“Hey,” Portugas says, the ghost of a smile on his lips. “At least you’re a better actor than my brother.”
He guesses he will take that as a compliment.
Their luck runs until they see the sky, and honestly, Helmeppo didn’t think it would take them this far. However, this is apparently when it runs out because a squadron is here and one of them screams. “What are you doing here? Why are the prisoners outside?!”
Portugas turns toward him. “Is that sword just for decoration or do you actually know how to fight?”
Helmeppo swallows. He realizes he might have to fight fellow marines. Hurt them. He can’t do that. He never met the men, but they’re wearing the same uniform. It could be him in that squadron. It could be Cobby.
“They’re my comrades. Don’t hurt them,” he finds himself saying. This is ridiculous. He’s giving orders to Whitebeard’s second division commander.
Portugas turns toward him. “You know you’re betraying them, right? You know they stopped being your comrades the second you broke me out?”
Helmeppo doesn’t say anything. Part of him feels like crying. He’s a traitor. After all the effort he put, he’s a bad marine. Because he acted rashly, on a whim. He’s a failure.
He nods. “I know, but…”
The man clicks his tongue and sighs. “Fine,” Helmeppo hears him say, and the seastone cuffs fall to the ground.
One second, Helmeppo is looking at them, and the next…
It’s warm. There is a literal wall of fire between them and the men.
He knew. He knew this was Portugas’ power. He read the files. He just didn’t imagine a man who looked so weak, earlier, in the cage, could do this.
He didn’t imagine it would be so beautiful.
“Let’s go,” Portugas says, and he grabs his arm before running toward the sea. “That should gain us a little time.”
Helmeppo isn’t listening to him. He’s running, running away from the life he always knew, running away from the life his father wanted from him, and he knows he shouldn’t care that much about his father, not now, but he does. And, despite it all, it’s mortifying to think his father would be even more disappointed in him if he saw him now.
But Portugas’ hand is warm on his wrist, not burning, just warm, and there is a smile on the man’s lips, and for a second, just for a second, he doesn’t regret acting on his stupid desire without regard for the consequences.
Portugas’ hand leaves his wrist as soon as they reach the shore. It takes him a bit of time to recover and when he does, he realizes Portugas and Jimbei are arguing.
“It will be safer for us to split up, and you will be faster in the water,” Purtugas says.
“You think I’m leaving you? After what happened? There is no way-”
“Please. We don’t have much time. I will be back to you. I promise. Do you trust me?”
The fishman seems annoyed. “You know I can’t say anything to that.”
Portugas smiles. “I know.” he moves to hug Jimbei. “Thank you. I’ll see you soon. If you see Pops before me, tell him I’m sorry, and-” his breath seems stuck in his throat. Is it really the same man Helmeppo saw set the world on fire minutes ago?
“He knows,” Jimbei says. “See you soon. I mean it.” And then he jumps into the sea.
“Pops?” Helmeppo asks before he can think twice about it.
“My dad.”
“Vice-Admiral Garp’s son?”
Portugas seems embarrassed. “No, um. Whitebeard. He’s not my biological father, before you get any funny idea, and Gramps- Garp isn’t my biological grandfather either.” He winces. “But Whitebeard is my dad.”
“Oh.” That makes a lot of sense, in a way. “Are you collecting fathers?”
What a stupid thing to say. Helmeppo is usually smarter than this.
Something he can’t quite read passes on Portugas’ face. “Maybe so,” he says. “Where is your ship?”
Right. His ship. The ship he completely has ready to go for their escape.
“About that…”
“Don’t tell me you don’t have a ship.”
Helmeppo can’t say he really didn’t expect them to go this far. “We will figure something out,” he says instead, as he starts walking on the shore. They will. They have to.
There is a heavy mist starting to raise. It will not help with the localization of a ship, but it might help them staying a bit hidden, at least.
Helmeppo is trying to think of a way to get a ship, any ship, when he hears a hushed voice calling him.
He turns to see a shadow in the water. A shadow on a ship. He swallows, then slowly turns toward it.
“Cobby?”
His friend shushes him. “Get in.”
“What are you doing here?”
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m deserting, is what I do!”
“No, you-” he hadn’t wanted for this to happen. He had acted alone specifically for this to not happen. Cobby was ready to betray the Marines for Garp, but it’s not Garp who gave them the order, is it?
“You’re my best friend. Did you think I would have let you do this alone?”
“Looks like you found yourself some valuable companion,” Portugas says behind him, and Helmeppo can hear a smile on his voice. There is a gentle tap on his back, urging him to get on the ship, and he can’t help but obey.
“You’re impossible,” he says, as they prepare to sail.
Cobby just smiles. There is an eternal pose on the deck, and both Helmeppo and Portugas’ eyes catch it.
“So, where are you taking me?” Portugas asks. He looks awfully quiet for a devil fruit user between two marines -ex marines, Helmeppo supposes- on a very small ship, with no idea where he’s going. But then again, he was scheduled for execution not one hour before, so maybe, like Jimbei said, it doesn’t get much worse than that.
“I have a rendezvous point with Whitebeard.” Cobby sounds scared, when he says the name. He probably found a way to contact the crew of one of the most dangerous pirate of the five seas, on his own, and then managed to convince them it wasn’t a trap, somehow. Helmeppo knows Cobby. He would have been scared out of his mind.
“No,” Portugas says he sounds like he’s convincing himself. “No, they shouldn’t even be near here.”
“What do you mean?” Cobby asks. “Of course they would be nearby, they were ready to raid Marineford for you.” He still sounds scared, but he says the words like they’re obvious, because they are. It’s common knowledge that Whitebeard would come and save any of his captive men.
“No, they-” Portugas is sitting on the deck of their small ship, his forearm on his knees and his head down. Helmeppo can’t quite see his face, but he sees the way his body shakes slightly when he mutters, “These idiots. They shouldn’t have- for someone like me-”
“Looks like you found yourself some valuable companions,” Helmeppo says, feeling some sudden surge of confidence. Portugas must be realizing it’s the same thing he said earlier, because he let out a small snort.
“I wasn’t one hundred percent honest, earlier,” Cobby says from where he’s manning the tiller. “I wouldn’t have left Helmeppo alone, even if it hadn’t been you, but because it was you, I had one more reason to do it.”
Portugas raises his head. “I don’t think we met.”
“We didn’t,” Cobby says, and Helmeppo his relieved, because if his best friend had hidden that from him, they would have needed to talk. “But Luffy saved me. When I had no hope left, he helped me find my way. It’s a way to repay my dept to him.”
Portugas’ face lights up at the mention of Monkey D Luffy. “You met Luffy!”
“Right as the beginning of his journey, actually.” Cobby smiles as well and for a second, they’re not in the middle of betraying the strongest force in the world.
“And you?” Portugas asks, turning toward Helmeppo.
“I met him too. He kicked my ass, actually,” he says, before adding, in a hurry. “I deserved it, to be honest. Since then, I… I guess it’s like Cobby, in a way. He made me change. For the better.”
“Yes,” Portugas says. “Yes, that’s exactly what he does.” And he smiles, and Helmeppo thought the fire was beautiful earlier but this?
This is the most beautiful thing he’d seen in a while.
The mist, or maybe some kind of higher power, seems to protect them, because no one comes after them. Soon, the boat falls silent once again, and Helmeppo finds himself out of things to do. He looks idly around the small ship and finds a first aid kit.
Right. Maybe that can be useful. Neither him or Cobby are injured, but Portugas looks pretty battled up. He looks at him up and down, wondering where he should even start.
“Show me your wrists,” he settles on. The cuffs have left angry, bloody marks, and he knows the risks of infection, especially with seastone on a devil fruit user. Purtugas used his power earlier, so there is no piece of seastone left in his skin, at least.
Why does he even care, anyway?
“Are you a doctor?”
Helmeppo shake his head. “No, but with this guy as your best friend,” he points toward Cobby, “one has to learn first aid.”
“If he takes inspiration from Luffy, I bet you do.”
Cobby just smiles. Maybe taking inspiration from Luffy is a compliment for him. Portugas just drops his hand in Helmeppo’s waiting ones.
“Don’t burn me,” Helmeppo half jokes.
“I already did,” Portugas says, and when Helmeppo looks up, he can’t quite see his face.
“What?”
“You guys know you’ll never be able to go back to being marines after today, right?”
“I don’t know if I want to go back anyway,” Helmeppo does his best to not look at Cobby when he says this. When the boat says silent, he decides to elaborate, as he starts washing the injuries on Portugas’ wrists.
“My father isn’t a good person.”
The hand in his tightens slightly, but Portugas stays silent.
“I joined the Marines to be like him, and I stayed to be different than him. And even then, I can’t get myself away from him.”
He’s not sure why he’s saying that. There is just something about the man in front of him, about this entire situation, about the fact that Cobby doesn’t says anything, that pushes him to talk. He finishes cleaning up the wounds and starts getting bandages out, and then, still looking at his work instead of the faces of either men in the boat with him, he starts again.
“For people who know him, I’m Morgan’s spoiled brat, and that’s an identity I can’t run away from. For people who only heard of him, well, I’m still the son of a Captain who was arrested for being too violent with his subordinates. Do you know what it takes for this to happen? And even to people who don’t know the first thing about him, I feel like all they see is him, when they look at me. This is ridiculous, they don’t know, but I do, and I can’t move from this. His blood is in my veins, and there is nothing I can do about this. I don’t know if I make sense, but-”
“No,” Portugas says. His hand is still lax in Helmeppo’s, but there is something tense in his voice. “No, you make perfect sense.”
“In a way, maybe staying in the marines would have made me think of him constantly. But maybe it wasn’t the problem at all, because he will be with me all my life, no matter what I do,” Helmeppo finishes, very fast.
Portugas hums as he hands him his other hand, and let a small silence, broken only by the waves, settle in before asking, “Does everyone make you feel like this?”
Helmeppo looks at Cobby. He’s been quiet during all the conversation, focusing on navigating the ship. “No,” he says. “Not everyone.”
Portugas’ eyes follow his on Cobby. “I see,” he says. “You found your Luffy, then.”
Cobby’s shoulders shake a little, but again, the comparison probably doesn’t bother him, on the opposite.
A marine who admires a pirate. They’re a weird bunch, all of them.
No one says anything more to that. Helmeppo finishes his sad approximation of first aid and they finally reach a small, deserted island.
“It’s here,” Cobby says.
The place looks absolutely empty. There is no ships beside theirs. “I don’t see Whitebeard,” Helmeppo comments. He wonders how long they will have to wait.
“If he’s here,” Portugas says, “we will know it soon.” He jumps into the beach, naked feet in the sand, and Helmeppo wonders when was the last time he felt sand on his skin. Maybe he thought he wouldn’t be feeling it ever.
But he doesn’t have time to dwell on that because there is something bubbling under the water. He looks at Cobby to find him looking back at him.
“What’s happening?”
“He’s here,” Portugas says, and there is awe in his voice, but when Helmeppo looks at him, he has a hand on his face and he’s biting his lower lip. “That stupid old man. He really came.”
“I heard that.”
Helmeppo looks around. The low voice came from the ocean. But that’s impossible, right?
Except, impossible doesn’t seem to be part of Whitebeard’s vocabulary, because the next second, and gigantic ship emerges from the depths.
Helmeppo, stupidly, takes a step back. “What? How?”
“Well, maybe you were supposed to, stupid old man!” Portugas’ voice is wet, but he sounds like a child.
One of the most dangerous man in the world, the one who created a wall of fire between them and the marines not one hour before, sounds like a child.
And when Whitebeard finally jumps ashore, Helmeppo can understand why.
The man is tall. And it’s not just his physical appearance, everything in him is impressive. He’s a great man, and he looks like one. Helmeppo feels very, very small, but Whitebeard doesn’t look at him. His eyes are screwed on Portugas.
“Let me look at you,” he says, and for a second Helmeppo feels like he’s in danger. Portugas is battled, possibly with internal injuries, starved and dehydrated, and he focused on his wrists for some reason. Maybe Whitebeard will direct his anger on them for the state of his second commander.
But he doesn’t. There is no anger in his body language as he opens his arms, and invitation for Portugas to nestle in them.
“I’m so glad you’re okay.”
Portugas’ shoulders are shaking, and he’s muttering something Helmeppo can’t quite catch. Helmeppo feels strangely out of place. He also feels something he understands as longing.
Has anyone ever showed him that much kindness? That much protectiveness? Would anyone ever do?
It feels wrong, somehow, to be jealous of a man who had been locked up in a cell for the past weeks, but knowing it doesn’t make the feeling in his chest any easier.
“And who are they?” one of the Whitebeard crew member asks, pointing at him and Cobby.
“They’re Helmeppo and…”
“Cobby,” Cobby answers, in a daze, his eyes no leaving Whitebeard.
“Cobby,” Portugas repeats. “They saved my life, and…” he eyes Whitebeard, a bit hesitant. “Helmeppo might be in need of a father.”
What? What is he implying?
“Oh?” Whitebeard’s smile is large on his lips. It could be scary, but for some reason, for the first time of the day, Helmeppo isn’t scared. “Is that so?”