After the brief surprise, Garp steadied his emotions. The kindly smile remained on his face as he said, "Come to think of it, I haven't introduced myself yet..."
"Vice Admiral Garp, the Marine Hero. Don't tell me you think you're some nobody?" Ortolan rolled his eyes and mocked.
"Hahahahaha! You brat, you really have no manners. But I like that!" Garp laughed.
After a pause, Garp continued, "As a user of the Goro Goro no Mi, I'd never heard of you before. Looks like you only set out to sea recently, right?"
"More accurately, I haven't gone to sea yet." Ortolan nodded.
"Is that so?" Garp's eyes lit up. "Then are you interested in joining the Marines? Our benefits are pretty good, you know. You're still young, so you might not understand, but the job market is very competitive these days. Public-sector positions like ours are highly sought after, and Marine Headquarters is famous for its excellent benefits. You..."
After Garp rattled on for quite some time, even Bogard beside him could no longer stand it. He quickly coughed, reminding Garp to rein himself in.
Only then did Garp come back to his senses. He hurriedly said, "But before we get into all that, we should learn about each other first. Are your parents still alive? What's your family situation like? And how did you end up clashing with the Roger Pirates?"
"My father has already passed away. My mother... is still alive," Ortolan said, looking slightly awkward.
"Your father has passed away? That's truly regrettable..." Garp sighed softly, then continued, "But that's just how the New World is these days. It's a complete mess. Still, if you join the Marines, things will be different. You can bring your mother to live in Marineford too. We have a residential area for Marine families there, and it's very safe."
Ortolan fell silent for a moment before saying, "My biological mother is Charlotte Linlin. Are you sure she can live in Marineford?"
Garp froze, then asked in astonishment, "Charlotte Linlin? Which Charlotte Linlin?"
"Obviously the one you're thinking of. The Great Pirate, Big Mom, Charlotte Linlin," Ortolan said bluntly.
If meeting Charlotte Linlin had taught Ortolan anything, it was what she had warned him: never underestimate the Marines' intelligence network. If they wanted to investigate, there was no way Ortolan's identity could remain hidden.
In the original story, Ace had almost no connection to Roger. His mother had died when he was born. Yet even under those circumstances, once the Marines noticed him and thoroughly investigated his background, they still uncovered his identity completely, even with Garp covering for him!
So Ortolan had no intention of lying this time either.
Garp was completely dumbfounded by Ortolan's answer. What... what kind of situation was this?
He had thought he had found a promising recruit, a real treasure. Instead, the kid was Charlotte Linlin's son. It was like discovering you had won a 360-million-Belly lottery, only to look at the ticket and realize the claim deadline had been yesterday, making it completely worthless!
"Aren't you a Bane?" Garp finally recovered and asked with a pained expression.
"I was abandoned as a child, so my father raised me. I took his surname. Speaking of which, my old man was also a pirate, Bane Saronis. I don't know whether he was bragging, but apparently he used to be a Great Pirate with a bounty of two or three hundred million Belly. That was all before I was born, though." Ortolan dealt Garp another heavy blow.
Good grief, both of his parents were Great Pirates!
However, Garp did not care much about Ortolan's deceased father. Instead, a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes. "You mean you didn't grow up in the Big Mom Pirates?"
"Mm. I grew up on Tyrean Island," Ortolan said.
"Then have you met Charlotte Linlin?" Garp asked eagerly.
If Ortolan had never met Charlotte Linlin, there was still plenty of hope. His talent was right there for all to see. Even if his background had some blemishes, they were not necessarily impossible to erase!
"I have. The reason I clashed with the Roger Pirates was because we had an unpleasant encounter on Cake Island before that," Ortolan said frankly.
Some things could have been told with nine parts truth and one part lie, and he probably could have fooled them for a while. But Ortolan still chose to speak honestly. Since his background was already problematic, the rest of his record had to be clean. If he tried to deceive them now and got exposed later, that would be far too awkward.
"Even my Goro Goro no Mi was only obtained from her not long ago," Ortolan added.
Garp was completely numb now. He rubbed his temple with a headache and said, "So you're already considered a member of the Big Mom Pirates, just one who hasn't gone to sea and made a name for yourself yet? A pirate recruit?"
He had thought he had picked up a fine Marine prospect, only to find out he was a pirate prospect?
Earlier, Garp had been considering how to bring Ortolan to Marine Headquarters. Now, he was considering whether he should send Ortolan to Impel Down instead.
But the procedure did not seem right either, did it? Ortolan had not been issued a bounty, and he did not appear to have committed any pirate acts.
"Not at all!" Ortolan said righteously. "Although Charlotte Linlin thought highly of me and invited me to join the Big Mom Pirates, even promising me a Sweet Commander position, I refused."
"You refused, and she still gave you the Goro Goro no Mi? You're not lying to me, are you?" Garp looked at Ortolan suspiciously.
"More accurately, the Goro Goro no Mi was my father's 'inheritance.' My father found where it was, but he never went to claim it because the fruit was on Skypiea at the time. Later, I told Charlotte Linlin about it, and she helped me retrieve it. As for why... perhaps she wanted to use it to win me over. Or perhaps she wanted to make up for abandoning me back then?" Ortolan stroked his chin as he pondered.
"So that's why. No wonder the Goro Goro no Mi had vanished without a trace for so many years. It was on Skypiea?" Understanding appeared in Garp's eyes. Then he looked at Ortolan and asked, "Charlotte Linlin is a renowned Great Pirate of the New World. She thinks so highly of you, so why did you refuse her in the end?"
"I don't want to be a pirate. My father didn't want me to follow his old path either. Is that reason enough?" Ortolan answered calmly.
In truth, his old father had never made such a demand. He had even hoped Ortolan would carry the pirate profession forward. But no one could possibly investigate that matter, and using it now made his reason more believable.
"I see..." Garp crossed his arms, his face full of conflict and helplessness.
After a moment, he could not help asking, "How do you feel about Charlotte Linlin? Do you hate her because she abandoned you?"
"Not really." Ortolan shook his head decisively, then said, "I've only met her twice in total. Before that, although I knew she was my biological mother, I had no particular feelings about her. If I had to put it into words, she was like a stranger. But during those two meetings, she took very good care of me. She helped treat my illness and gave me the Goro Goro no Mi. How should I put it... compared with hatred, I think I have a fairly good impression of her."
"You could easily tell me pretty lies about something that can't be verified, just to fool me," Garp said, rolling his eyes.
"There's no need. Speaking plainly is just how I... cough. I actually intend to join the Marines, so to avoid trouble in the future, some things should be made clear from the beginning. That way, no one will be put in a difficult position later," Ortolan sighed.
"You intend to join the Marines too?" Garp asked in surprise. "I thought you said all that earlier to make me give up. With an identity like yours, that's really what you're thinking?"
Ortolan looked at Garp with some anger and demanded in a low voice, "So even you, the Marine Hero, support judging people by bloodline? The noble are born noble, and a pirate's child can only become a pirate?"
Garp was stunned by the rebuke. After a long while, the hesitation and uncertainty on his face gradually faded, and his gaze became firm. "No. I firmly believe that good and evil, nobility and lowliness, were never things that should be decided at birth. They are choices people make for themselves!"
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