Parents' Love Left Behind (Part 1)

On Green Cliff's lawn, Uncle Witt fell silent after his hearty laugh.

As if he had thought of something sad, he looked pained, his brows tightly furrowed!

Uncle Witt said, "Luo Han, how much do you know about your parents?"

Luo Han said, "I only know that they died not long after I was born!"

Uncle Witt asked, "Then do you want to know their story?"

"Yes," Luo Han replied simply.

Luo Han looked at the lonely expression on Uncle Witt's face. It seems my parents had an unusual relationship with Uncle Witt and Uncle Kate!

He thought to himself.

"Your parents..." Uncle Witt began recalling events from twenty years ago.

Luo Han and Cole listened attentively from the side.

"That was twenty years ago. We were eighteen then!

It started when we found a stranded pirate ship as children. Your father, Vinson Carter, Kevin Kate—who is Uncle Kate—and I...

Used the newspapers from that pirate ship, along with a Den Den Mushi that could read the news.

To decipher all kinds of news! Back then, it was like opening the door to a new world.

We learned from the newspapers that the world was vast.

There were four seas, and our Ring Tree Island was located on the Grand Line.

We also learned of the legend of One Piece: 'Anyone who can travel the entire Grand Line can be crowned the Pirate King.'

Of course, we also learned how cruel the outside world was.

The slaughter between pirates and the Marines under the World Government, the slaughter between pirates and island natives.

After learning all that!

We began desperately training our bodies, filled with longing for the outside world and fear for Ring Tree Island's unknown fate.

Before we left, we even stole and ate Scale Fruits.

As time passed, we gradually grew stronger and stronger.

Until the year we turned eighteen, the three of us could no longer suppress the ambitions in our hearts.

On a moonless night, we remade that stranded pirate ship from back then into a small boat.

Then we set sail!

Our luck was not very good! Not long after setting out, the strange and ever-changing weather of the latter half of the Grand Line...

Separated us in a storm.

After we were separated, each of us met with different circumstances.

I was washed ashore on an island where the Marines were stationed, so I joined the Marines.

Because I had eaten two Scale Fruits, my physique was quite good.

I soon received an invitation from the Marine Headquarters Military Academy, where I spent the next six years.

Then I set sail again as a Rear Admiral of Marine Headquarters.

After another two years of fighting pirates of every kind, I was promoted to Vice Admiral.

Until I encountered your father, Vinson Carter, during a pirate suppression operation.

That was when I learned that your father, Carter, had been swept up by the storm and ended up with the pirate crew he had joined.

Seeing that he had some skill, the pirate captain took your father Carter in as one of the ship's fighters.

After that, much like me...

Thanks to his powerful physique, your father quickly rose through the ranks aboard the ship.

He became the pirate ship's chief combat captain, effectively the third most important person on that ship.

Because I had been training at Marine Headquarters all that time, I had no idea your father had become a pirate.

And not just any pirate, but a great pirate with a Bounty of 300 Million Berries.

When we met again at sea, we were both very happy.

Though our identities were different now, we still remembered why we had left Ring Tree Island in the first place!

We only wanted to see the world! And, while we were at it, gain the strength to protect our hometown, Ring Tree Island.

That battle with your father's pirate crew ended with losses on both sides.

Fortunately, neither your father nor I was hurt!

After that, your father and I kept in frequent contact.

We tried to find Uncle Kate. Neither of us believed anything could have happened to him!

Until something happened that brought the three of us together again.

At the time, the World Government issued an order to Marine Headquarters.

They ordered Marine Headquarters to send a Vice Admiral to a village in the Giant Kingdom to receive a Devil Fruit.

At the same time, information about that Devil Fruit reached your father's pirate captain.

By then, both your father and I had grown weary of years of killing. Once we learned that there was a Devil Fruit even the World Government considered important...

We both decided to seize this opportunity to take that Devil Fruit.

Your father and I both knew it was time to leave this cruel sea and return home.

Because in recent years, there had been more and more pirates, and the Marines had gradually lost their control.

We did not know what day Ring Tree Island might be found by pirates!

That would be a disaster neither of us wanted to face.

Afterward! I voluntarily accepted the order.

Because of all the pirates I had killed over the years...

The World Government was willing to trust me, and I set off for the Giant Village.

The pirate crew your father belonged to also began heading for the Giant Village.

We arrived at the Giant Village's receiving point almost one after the other. It was located on the east coast of the Giant Village island.

There were rocky cliffs on both sides, with only a five-meter-wide path in the middle leading to the Giant Village.

Yet there was not a single person at the receiving point. The World Government's spies had been brainwashed; they would not deliberately miss the appointed time.

Something must have happened?

Since the World Government spy had not arrived, naturally the Devil Fruit had not appeared either.

Your father's pirate crew and I temporarily kept the peace. Your father and I briefly exchanged glances, and we both had the same thought: Wait for an opportunity.

But the calm did not last long. As enormous footsteps rang out, two giants came charging over.

In the distance, a World Government spy clutching a wooden box came speeding toward us like an arrow loosed from its bow, using a combination of Geppo and Soru.

He was just about to reach the sea!

Suddenly!

"Hegemony Country!"

A solid slash shot forth, surging like a rushing river between the warship and pirate ship, cutting through them.

The box containing the Devil Fruit flew into the air.

The World Government spy had already been reduced to ashes by that slash.

A figure moving at extreme speed suddenly appeared beside the giants and caught the box.

"Ah, hahahaha... The Giant Village is not a place where you can come and run wild!" A five-meter-tall man laughed in the direction of the warship and pirate ship.

Then he secretly smiled at your father and me.

By then, your father and I had both mastered Observation Haki, so we naturally recognized each other.

What followed was a chaotic battle. Under the deliberate guidance of your father and me, a three-way melee began between the pirates, Marines, and giants.

During the chaos, your father and I told Uncle Kate—the big man who had killed the World Government spy—about our plan.

He agreed as well. Kate wanted to go home too.

But he did not want to hurt the giants, so we decided to leave quietly.

In the battles that followed, we deliberately fought together, letting the giants hold the pirates back.

Meanwhile, I secretly gave the order for the Marines to retreat in an orderly manner.