Looks Like I'll Have to Visit New Marineford

"Luffy."

Hearing Luffy's heart-wrenching cries of pain, Garp stared at the battlefield, stunned.

Luffy choked back a sob and raised his head, his face drenched in tears.

Beside him,

Sakazuki merely glanced sideways, her exquisite face full of scorn.

"Luffy, have you ever resented me?"

Tears fell one by one from his eyes. Garp wept silently.

"Grandpa."

Luffy's tears stopped. Seeing Garp weep like rain, he felt miserable too.

"What am I supposed to do? Why wouldn't you live the way I told you to? Did you think your grandpa would hurt you?"

Garp couldn't hold it in any longer.

He turned and looked at Luffy through his tears, his mind filled with memories of Luffy's childhood.

"Grandpa."

Luffy clenched his teeth, unable to speak through his sobs. He didn't dare meet those pain-filled, clouded eyes.

"Why? Why wouldn't you listen to me? I trained you and guided you from the time you were little, but why did you have to become a pirate? Why?"

"If you and Ace were Marines, I could protect you openly."

"But you became pirates instead."

Tears streamed down Garp's face, and he was starting to lose control.

"What am I supposed to do?"

His whole body trembled uncontrollably. Garp seemed to be asking himself, as much as he was asking Luffy and Sakazuki.

"Grandpa, I don't hate you."

Luffy sniffled, doing his best to smile as he spoke from the heart. "Thank you for raising me, Grandpa. I really, really am grateful. Now I'm going to die, so... so..."

He broke down halfway through, sobbing too hard to speak. "So I'm sorry."

It felt like needles stabbing him. Garp clutched his chest, overcome by the pain.

"I want to ask you for one last favor. Help me. Help me save them."

Luffy kept knocking