"Is that you? Lowett, the 'Triangle Spellbreaker'..."
At that moment, Garp's unreadable murmur echoed by his ear.
Lowett was startled inwardly, but his expression did not change in the slightest.
He looked up at Monka, then turned back and answered neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Sorry. Sharing a name with a pirate is quite troubling for me as well."
Monka's mouth twitched.
That ability to lie with his eyes wide open...
Garp was taken aback, then clutched his stomach and collapsed onto the sofa.
"Pfft, hahahahaha! Hahahahahaha!"
"Not... bad, hahahaha, exactly... Triangle Spellbreaker just happens to share your name, hahahahaha!"
Garp laughed until tears came out, giving him a thumbs-up without the slightest regard for his image.
"Oh, no, my stomach..."
After laughing for several minutes, Garp sat up while panting heavily, his shoulders still shaking as he clearly struggled to hold it back.
Lowett looked innocently at Monka. The latter spread his hands, then shook his head.
"Lowett, Vice Admiral Garp... he didn't mean anything by it."
Didn't mean anything?
...He had meant to see whether Lowett had let go of the past and was willing to cooperate with the Marines in erasing all traces of his existence.
In keeping with a mage's habitual caution, Lowett had undoubtedly made a fool of himself.
"But this is good too. With that level of caution, I can rest assured when I return to report..."
Garp reined in his laughter and said, "Quite a few of those useless, corrupt officials are still hounding you. The Gorosei only chose not to pursue the matter because Branch 153 suffered heavy losses and needed to be placated."
Government officials!
The Gorosei!
Uh... useless?
The topic was far beyond what Monka and Lowett could involve themselves in, so they obediently chose to listen.
"Really, it's only natural. Such a trivial matter was brought all the way to the Gorosei. It would be strange if they didn't get scolded..."
The matter had limited influence to begin with and was insignificant to the Gorosei. With subordinates like these, how could the Gorosei possibly be in a good mood?
Fortunately, Garp quickly skipped over the topic and spoke seriously.
"The main reason I came back to the East Blue this time was you!"
"Me?"
Lowett froze.
Not Luffy?
"Yes!"
After hesitating for a moment, Monka began to explain.
"Vice Admiral Garp, I think Ensign Lowett, he..."
But before he could finish, Garp continued.
"I wanted to ask whether changing your identity from pirate to Marine has left you with any psychological burden."
Lowett: "..."
Huh?!
Huh?!!!!
"What... do you mean by that?"
Lowett's face was full of question marks.
"It's... you know."
Sorry, I really don't!
He looked at Monka in bafflement. After frowning in thought for a moment, Monka suddenly understood.
"Oh~ I remember now! You mean 'Fire Fist' Ace, who set sail a few months ago, right? I heard he had been living in Vice Admiral Garp's hometown and is related to you... So the rumors are true? Uh... sorry."
Under Garp's imposing glare, Monka lowered his "noble head," apparently unafraid that his crown might fall off.
Lowett understood.
So that was it. I see.
After calculating every possibility, Lowett had failed to account for himself—the butterfly, or rather, a Butterfree-level butterfly—whose flapping wings had caused these consequences.
In the summer of Sea Garden Era 1517, Garp's greatest worry was probably that Ace had set sail.
Not that "Ace had gone to sea."
But that "Ace had become a pirate."
As the Posthumous child of the Pirate King, he should have lived an honest, quiet life under the World Government's relentless manhunt.
Yet Ace had not only failed to hide his identity, he had even set sail with great fanfare. In just a few months, his bounty had surpassed one hundred million. He had yet to suffer a defeat at sea, and his fame was rapidly rising.
Before even reaching Sabaody, busybodies had already dubbed him a "Supernova."
Correspondingly, Marine Headquarters was paying increasing attention to his existence, and the atmosphere was growing more solemn by the day.
If this continued, Garp feared Ace's identity would be exposed, leading to... an outcome no one wanted to see.
Just then, he learned that an East Blue pirate had sacrificed an arm to help the Marines capture pirates... and had successfully become a Marine under Aokiji's cover.
Clinging to the hope of a drowning man grasping his last straw, Garp had come looking for him.
Even without any experience to learn from, wasn't he still a good positive example?
But...
"Sorry, but I'm afraid I'll disappoint you, Vice Admiral Garp... Fire Fist Ace and I have nothing in common that can serve as a reference."
Lowett answered calmly.
"Why?"
Garp's eyes widened as he rose to his feet. "Do you think Ace was born a bad person?!"
Actually, I was.
Lowett mocked himself inwardly, then shook his head. "No. Ace set sail a few months before I did, so he can be considered my senior. I was fortunate enough to see his wanted poster... The greatest difference between us can be seen directly from those posters."
That was already a tactful way of putting it. After speaking, Lowett looked at Monka.
Monka understood. He opened a drawer and rummaged through a stack of wanted posters, quickly finding those of Triangle Spellbreaker and Fire Fist, both marked with large red Xs.
"I'd like to see what kind of medicine you're selling in that gourd of yours..."
Garp muttered displeasedly as he snatched the wanted posters over, only to freeze immediately.
Although most of Triangle Spellbreaker's face was obscured by the red X, the unwillingness and fury on his face were still clear to see.
Then there was Ace.
Standing beneath the Spade Pirates' flag, Ace had one hand on his hip as he made a goofy face at the photographer. His eyes held only longing and anticipation for the future, without the slightest hint of gloom.
This was the result of their completely different reasons for going to sea.
"Lowett" had gone to sea because he had been forced to, furious at the World Government's inaction and utterly lost about the future. Ace, meanwhile, naturally did not regard the Marines or the World Government as anything important. They were merely opponents, not obstacles, and he naturally yearned for the sea.
So when the opportunity arose, "Lowett" decisively abandoned his past as a pirate.
But Ace never could.
All of a sudden, Lowett noticed that Garp had visibly aged several years. Even his vigorous Life Aura had dimmed somewhat.
Monka looked left and right, silently blaming Lowett for being too blunt.
Lowett answered with a look that said, Short pain is better than long pain. The elderly can't withstand despair, but they can withstand even less the despair that comes after hope.
"I see. So that's how it is..."
Garp pressed the wanted posters against the desk and lowered his head, the wrinkles on his face pulling backward.
"I actually... knew it all along. Ace has always been like this."
Because he had no parents and had been bullied since childhood, Ace had grown accustomed to hiding behind strength. As a result, he had an extremely complicated relationship with the word "parents."
After learning that he was Roger's son, the resentment and rejection born from years of loneliness, sorrow, and confusion were more like a child sulking, venting, throwing a tantrum, and acting spoiled.
But precisely because he was still a "child," that sulk was even harder to erase.
He had known this all along, hadn't he?
"Forget it. I won't think about it anymore..."
Suddenly, Garp flicked his hand and straightened his back.
"Even if I don't eat donuts, the donut shop won't necessarily close. Life still has to go on..."
"What an excellent metaphor, Vice Admiral! Simple, easy to understand, and vividly apt!"
Garp: "..."
The sorrowful mood was utterly ruined. Even Monka choked.
Giving Lowett a speechless glance, Garp waved his hand. "That's enough. You two... please remember to keep this confidential. Not many people at Headquarters know about this."
Lowett and Monka immediately saluted.
"Understood!"
"Alright, I'll be leaving now."
With that, Garp walked to the front door, opened it, and went outside.
"If you truly wanted to, Ace wouldn't be able to get away at all, would he?"
Creak...!
The door slowly closed. Watching Garp's aged figure gradually disappear behind it, a trace of amusement appeared in Lowett's eyes.
Could a ruthless figure who had chased Roger around like a headless chicken truly be helpless against Ace?
That was the Grand Line, a Grand Line where ships had to follow magnetic routes!
Not the Four Blues, where one could roam around and hide at will.
And Ace was merely a "rookie," practically clueless about the Grand Line.
If Garp had shown even half the enthusiasm he had when pursuing Roger back then, he could probably have caught Ace and beaten him like an Ansai waist drum the very day he entered the Grand Line.
And yet...
He had not.
On one hand, he chose to let go, knowing Ace belonged to the sea. On the other, he tried to hold him back, unwilling to see him walk down a path of no return.
This contradiction could be seen in every elderly person's attitude toward an unworthy younger generation.
Even when he had come looking for Lowett, he had only wanted peace of mind.
The once-renowned Demon of the Marines, the unyielding "Iron Fist Vice Admiral," now even needed to search for the courage to face reality...
"In the end, he's grown old!"
Lowett let out a long breath.
Beside him, Monka sighed at just the right moment.
The two froze for a second, then turned to look at each other.
But before either could speak, the front door was suddenly yanked open.
Seeing Garp reappear in the doorway, both of them went blank.
"Uh, I nearly forgot the important matter..."
Garp scratched his short white hair and said, "I'll be back. When I return, I'll bring a group of people with me. You'll be responsible for escorting them to Loguetown and handing them over to Smoker there... Mm, that's all."
After saying that, Garp shut the door and vanished once again.
Lowett: "..."
Fair enough!
That was very Garp!
The delivery has arrived. If nothing goes wrong, the contract status should be updated tomorrow.
Ah, this hurts so much.
Recommendation slots are set every Friday. This week is already over, and next week has already been arranged. That means Big Tree will have to go without recommendations for at least two weeks, with the earliest chance being the 30th at the end of the month. The new-book period is only one month in total! [Manually vomiting blood]
If only I had released the book on Thursday or Friday. If only I had notified the editor earlier to make signing easier. This is a lesson—friends who want to write books, remember to learn from it.
But then again...
It seems like...
I've never completed the perfect process of getting a recommendation slot during the second week after releasing a book, hehe (ૢ˃ꌂ˂ૢ)
Before you continue