Zephyr: People Like Garp Deserved to Be Frozen Solid

"Zephyr, you bastard, what the hell are you going crazy for? Want to fight me!?"

On the Dog-head Warship, Garp rubbed his bruised, gleaming-black eye socket and spoke irritably.

Zephyr was not Morgan. That punch hurt far more than the scraped, bleeding skin on his chest.

"I'm only giving you this punch for those young people who could have walked the right path but ended up going astray!"

Zephyr said darkly, his expression sour.

Luffy, Ace, Sabo, Kuzan... oh, and what was his name again? C-Coby, right?

Right, and Dragon too.

Six rising stars, signposts for the future of the world—what the hell had you taught them to become!

Pirates, pirates, still pirates! The rest were either rebels or revolutionaries, and the only remaining good seed had talent but was a coward at heart!

What the hell had you taught them!?

The more Zephyr thought about it, the angrier he became. He knew Garp was a carefree old rogue, but he had not expected him to be so careless that only half of his six disciples had turned out right!

Even a prodigal teacher would not be this bad!

You damned old popsicle!

Zephyr stared at Garp, recalling Kuzan from the story, that fellow who had "betrayed his master" just like Borsalino. Yet he felt utterly satisfied inside.

You old bastard, you deserved to be frozen! You needed to be frozen solid!

"You..."

Garp immediately lost some of his momentum. He roughly understood what Zephyr was talking about—Dragon...

"Garp, tell me, exactly how old is your grandson now!"

Casting aside all other thoughts, Zephyr stared fixedly into Garp's eyes and asked anxiously.

Please!

"I know about Dragon... Ah, grandson—g-grandson, you mean Luffy?"

Garp's pupils suddenly contracted as he stammered out his reply.

"Of course! You bastard only ever told me about this one grandson. What, do you have others?"

Zephyr understood what Garp was thinking, but now was not the time to say it aloud.

Ace, Roger's son, Garp's grandson...

"Yes, I do have an older one."

Garp's words were somewhat vague. He had no intention of hiding Ace, but he did not want to bring him up himself either.

"I don't know the older one. Hurry up and tell me, how old is that grandson of yours named Luffy!?"

Garp did not want to say it, and as an old brother, Zephyr could tolerate that for now. But he absolutely had to know Luffy's age.

"Six. Luffy is six this year."

Garp finally answered. Though he could not look after his grandson at all times, he knew his grandson's age and birthday.

"Six years old, six..."

Zephyr muttered as he quickly recalled when that Red-Haired brat had met Luffy... Seven. When Luffy was seven years old.

Zephyr suddenly relaxed inside. Good, there was still time. One good seed had not yet gone astray.

At that moment, Garp recovered from the sudden questioning and looked at Zephyr in surprise.

"You old man, why are you suddenly asking me something like that? Do you want to meet my grandson?"

Garp joked, about to burst into laughter, when he suddenly saw the serious look on Zephyr's face.

"Hey, hey, no way..."

Garp felt his teeth ache. Luffy was one thing, but Ace... Could Zephyr have found out?

"What, you don't welcome this grandpa of yours to take a look at your grandson?" Zephyr said, feigning displeasure.

"It's not that. It's just a little sudden..." Garp muttered, before his gaze suddenly sharpened.

If Zephyr knew, it would not be a problem. He trusted his old brother, just as it was fine for Sengoku and Tsuru to know.

But the World Government...

"Zephyr, do you know something?"

Garp decided to test him. He could be honest, but he would not bring it up himself.

"You found out?" Zephyr feigned surprise.

Garp took a deep breath. "Since you already know, I won't hide it anymore. Zephyr, actually..."

"Then you know too, right? Red-Haired Shanks, formerly an apprentice aboard the Roger Pirates, recently came to the East Blue.

A great pirate who should have been in the New World quietly came to a peaceful sea like the Four Blues. There must be some unspeakable secret behind it.

Sure enough, I found an interesting wanted poster among the ones in the East Blue.

Buggy the Clown."

Hearing this, Garp froze completely. I was ready to tell you about Roger's child, and you were also talking about Roger's child—but it turned out we weren't talking about the same child?

"Two former apprentice members of the Roger Pirates have gathered in the East Blue. Do you think they might be plotting something?"

Zephyr spoke seriously. He did not want to know about Ace's existence yet. At least not before meeting that child.

Ace had spent his entire life trapped by the shadow of his father. Zephyr did not want to approach him under that identity.

Garp smacked his lips and gradually came back to his senses, his heart suddenly tightening.

Wait, two former apprentice members of the Roger Pirates had gathered in the East Blue. What were they trying to do? What was in the East Blue that was worth gathering for?

Could it be... they had discovered Ace!?

Garp spotted the blind spot and immediately grew anxious. No, he could not let Ace get in contact with them. Ace could not become a pirate—he had to become a Marine! Only then could he survive!

"Hah, Zephyr, thank you for telling me about this. I'll return to the East Blue immediately. You..."

Garp wanted to say something, but when he saw Zephyr's resolute expression, he suddenly did not know what to say.

"Garp, I still have some vacation time this year. I'll go to the East Blue with you," Zephyr said firmly. "I suspect Roger's remnants intend to harm your grandson."

Hearing this, Garp froze again as a clear chain of logic formed in his mind.

He knew that Zephyr had always been furious over his dead family. From then until now, that anger had never faded.

He also knew that the Marines were aware of Red-Haired Shanks appearing in the East Blue, but because of the World Government's orders, they could only pretend not to see it.

The Marines did not know why, but looking at Dracule Mihawk, one of the current Shichibukai, then at Red-Haired Shanks, whose record against Mihawk was evenly matched, they could roughly guess that the World Government wanted to recruit him.

Garp knew Roger and his crew would not cause trouble for no reason, but if someone provoked their companions, they would never let it slide.

Garp was confident that Foosha Village had simple, honest people. Even if Red-Haired went there, nothing would happen.

But Zephyr was different. He had never killed a single pirate in his life, yet pirates had harmed his family.

Zephyr did not know about Ace, but after learning that Red-Haired was in the East Blue, in Garp's hometown, he had quietly kept an eye on the matter until he discovered that Roger's remnants were gathering.

In Zephyr's eyes, the purpose of Roger's remnants gathering might have been to target the family of the man who had once been the Roger Pirates' greatest enemy.

Zephyr did not want his own tragedy to repeat itself.

Garp felt that he understood everything. His eyes burned as he looked at Zephyr, his old brother.

"Good, Zephyr. This time, the two of us will return to the East Blue together and show Roger's brats how adults handle things!" Garp laughed heartily and declared confidently.

Zephyr nodded. It seemed the most basic, important matter could be resolved. He would never let those outstanding young seedlings go astray!

Chat Group.

[Zephyr: Thank you, Mr. Flender. You have helped me tremendously.]

Only after Zephyr finished reading the story of One Piece and sorted through his memories did he realize that the origins of this Chat Group, its background, and how it operated had already been implanted in his mind. He had simply been too consumed by anger to notice.

Now that the truth was clear, he was filled with gratitude toward Flender for possessing most of the top-secret information about his world without using it to threaten him.

"Those words sound awfully familiar."

Flender felt somewhat helpless. Could it be that every new member who saw their own story would say the same thing to him?

[Flender: It's nothing, Mr. Zephyr. I told you, we came bearing friendship.]

Friendship. Zephyr revealed a bold smile.

[Zephyr: Then in my eyes, this friendship is truly invaluable.]

[Dumbledore: Indeed.]

[Samuel Oak: That's right.]

Suddenly, the other two members appeared at some point.

[Ding! A change has been detected in group member Zephyr's fate line]

[Basic gift pack has been distributed]