Garp: If you join the Navy, you can bring your mother to live in Marineford.

After the brief surprise, Garp calmed his emotions, still wearing a kind smile as he said, "Speaking of which, I haven't introduced myself yet..."

"Vice Admiral Garp, the Marine Hero—you don't think you're unknown, do you?" Ortolan rolled his eyes and quipped.

"Hahaha, you little brat, so rude, but I like it!" Garp laughed heartily.

After a pause, Garp continued, "You're a user of the Goro Goro no Mi, but I've never heard of you before. Looks like you just set sail recently, right?"

"To be precise, I haven't set sail yet." Ortolan nodded in response.

"Is that so?" Garp's eyes lit up. "Then are you interested in joining the Marines? You know, the Marines have pretty good benefits. You're young, so you might not know, but the job market's tough these days. A public-sector gig like ours is a hot commodity. Marine Headquarters is famous for its perks, and..."

Garp rambled on for a while until Bogard, standing nearby, couldn't take it anymore and cleared his throat to remind him.

Garp snapped back to reality and quickly said, "But before all that, we should get to know each other first. Are your parents still alive? How's your family situation? And how did you end up clashing with the Roger Pirates?"

"My father has passed away. My mother... is still alive." Ortolan's expression turned slightly awkward.

"Your father has passed? That's a shame..." Garp sighed, then added, "But that's how the New World is—chaotic. If you join the Marines, though, it's different. You could move your mother to Marineford to live. There's a residential area for Marine families there, very safe."

Ortolan was silent for a moment, then said, "The woman who is my mother by blood is Charlotte Linlin. Are you sure she can live in Marineford?"

Garp froze, then asked in surprise, "Charlotte Linlin? Which Charlotte Linlin?"

"The one you're thinking of—the Great Pirate, Big Mom, Charlotte Linlin." Ortolan said bluntly.

If there was one thing Ortolan had gained from meeting Charlotte Linlin, it was her warning: don't underestimate the Marines' intelligence network. If they wanted to dig, his identity wouldn't stay hidden.

In the original story, Ace had almost no connection to Roger, and his mother died at his birth. Yet even then, once the Marines noticed him and investigated his background, they uncovered everything, despite Garp covering for him!

So Ortolan had no intention of lying this time.

Faced with Ortolan's answer, Garp was dumbfounded. What... what was this?

He'd found a promising recruit, thought he'd struck gold, only to discover he was Charlotte Linlin's son. It was like winning a 360-million-beri lottery, then checking the ticket and finding the claim date was yesterday—expired!

"Aren't you a Bane?" Garp asked, wincing as he came to his senses.

"I was abandoned as a child, so my father raised me. I took his surname. Speaking of which, my old man was a pirate too—Bane Saronis. I don't know if he was bragging, but he claimed he was once a Great Pirate with a bounty of three or four hundred million beri. That was before I was born, though." Ortolan dealt Garp another blow.

Great, both parents were major pirates!

But Garp didn't dwell on Ortolan's deceased father. Instead, a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes. "So you weren't raised in the Big Mom Pirates?"

"No, I grew up on Tyrean Island." Ortolan said.

"Have you ever met Charlotte Linlin?" Garp asked eagerly.

If Ortolan had never met her, there was still hope. His talent was undeniable, and even if there were some stains on his background, they could be erased!

"I have. The reason I clashed with the Roger Pirates was because of an unpleasant encounter on Cake Island before this." Ortolan remained honest.

Some truths could be mixed with lies—nine parts truth, one part false—to buy time. But Ortolan decided to be straightforward. If his background was already problematic, his foundation had to be clean. If he lied now and got caught later, how awkward would that be?

"Even my Goro Goro no Mi came from her not long ago." Ortolan added.

Garp was completely stunned. He rubbed his temples in frustration and said, "So you've already joined the Big Mom Pirates? Just haven't made a name for yourself yet? A reserve pirate?"

He thought he'd found a Marine recruit, but it turned out to be a pirate prospect?

Earlier, he'd been thinking about how to take Ortolan to Marine Headquarters. Now, he was considering sending him to Impel Down.

But that didn't seem right either. Ortolan had no bounty and no record of piracy.

"Not at all!" Ortolan said firmly. "Charlotte Linlin thought highly of me and invited me to join the Big Mom Pirates, even promising me a Sweet Commander position. But I refused."

"She refused, and she still gave you the Goro Goro no Mi? You're not fooling me, are you?" Garp eyed Ortolan suspiciously.

"To be precise, the Goro Goro no Mi was my father's 'legacy.' He found its location but never went to get it because it was on Skypiea. I told Charlotte Linlin about it, and she retrieved it for me. As for why... maybe to win me over, or maybe to make up for abandoning me back then?" Ortolan mused, stroking his chin.

"I see. No wonder the Goro Goro no Mi was missing for so long—it was on Skypiea." Garp's eyes showed understanding, then he turned to Ortolan. "Charlotte Linlin is a famous Great Pirate in the New World. She valued you so much. Why did you refuse her in the end?"

"I don't want to be a pirate. My father didn't want me to follow in his footsteps either. Is that reason enough?" Ortolan replied calmly.

In truth, his old father had no such wish—he'd even hoped Ortolan would carry on the pirate legacy. But that was something no one could ever verify, and using it now added credibility to his story.

"I see..." Garp crossed his arms, looking troubled and conflicted.

After a moment, he couldn't help asking, "How do you feel about Charlotte Linlin? Do you resent her for abandoning you?"

"Not really." Ortolan shook his head decisively. "I've only met her twice. Before that, I knew she was my biological mother, but I had no feelings about it. If anything, she was like a stranger. But those two meetings, she treated me well—helped with my illness, gave me the Goro Goro no Mi. How to put it... I have a fairly good impression of her, more than hatred."

"You could easily say something flattering to fool me about something so unverifiable." Garp rolled his eyes.

"No need. Speaking plainly is my... ahem, I actually intend to join the Marines. So to avoid future trouble, it's better to lay everything out from the start, so no one ends up in a bind later." Ortolan sighed slightly.

"You actually want to join the Marines?" Garp exclaimed. "I thought you were trying to discourage me. With a background like yours, you'd think that?"

Ortolan glared at Garp with some irritation and demanded, "So even you, the Marine Hero, believe in bloodlines? That the noble are born noble, and a pirate's child can only be a pirate?"

Stunned by the retort, Garp stood frozen for a long moment. Then the hesitation and doubt on his face gradually faded, replaced by a resolute look. "No. I believe that good and evil, nobility and baseness, are never decided at birth. They are choices people make themselves!"