"Zephyr, you bastard, what the hell are you going crazy for? Want to fight me!?"
On the Dog-head Warship, Garp rubbed his dark, shining black eye socket and snapped irritably.
Zephyr was no Morgan. That punch had hurt far more than the scraped, bleeding skin on his chest.
"I'm just giving you a punch for those young people who could have walked the right path but ended up going astray!"
Zephyr said darkly, his tone equally unpleasant.
Luffy, Ace, Sabo, Kuzan... oh, and that one guy, C-Coby, right?
That was right, Dragon had to be included too.
Six rising stars, future beacons for the world—what the hell had Garp taught them into!
Pirates, pirates, all pirates! The rest were either rebels or rebels, and the only lone seedling had talent but was a deserter at heart!
What the hell had he taught them!?
The more Zephyr thought about it, the angrier he became. He knew Garp was a carefree old rogue, but he had never expected him to be so careless that only half of his six disciples had turned out right!
Not even a prodigal child could be this bad!
You damned old popsicle!
Zephyr stared at Garp, recalling Kuzan from the story—the guy who, like Borsalino, had "betrayed his teacher and forsaken his ancestors"—yet he felt immensely satisfied.
You old bastard, you deserved to be frozen! You needed a good freezing!
"You..."
Garp immediately lost some of his momentum. He roughly knew what Zephyr was talking about—Dragon...
"Garp, tell me, exactly how old is your grandson now!"
Casting aside all other distractions, Zephyr fixed his gaze on Garp's eyes and asked tensely.
Please!
"I know about Dragon... Ah, grandson, g-grandson, you mean Luffy?"
Garp's pupils suddenly contracted, and he answered with a slight stammer.
"Of course! You bastard, he's the only grandson you ever told me about. What, do you have others?"
Zephyr understood Garp's thoughts, but now was not the time to say them aloud.
Ace, Roger's son, Garp's grandson...
"Yes, there is an older one."
Garp spoke vaguely. He had no intention of hiding Ace, but he did not want to bring him up himself.
"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 the moment. But he had to know Luffy's current age.
"Six. Luffy is six this year."
Garp finally answered. Though he could not look after his grandson all the time, he still knew his grandson's age and birthday.
"Six, six..."
Zephyr muttered, quickly recalling when that Red-Haired brat had met Luffy... when Luffy was seven.
Zephyr's heart suddenly relaxed. Good, there was still time. One promising seedling had not yet gone astray.
Only then did Garp recover from the sudden questioning and look at Zephyr in surprise.
"You old bastard, why are you suddenly asking me something like that? Want to meet my grandson?"
Garp joked, about to burst into laughter when he suddenly saw Zephyr's serious expression.
"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 old grandpa to take a look at your grandson?" Zephyr deliberately asked in displeasure.
"It's not that. It's just a little sudden..." Garp muttered, before his gaze suddenly sharpened.
If Zephyr knew, then it was not a big deal. He trusted his old brother, just as it would not matter if Sengoku and Tsuru knew.
But the World Government...
"Zephyr, do you know something?"
Garp decided to test him. He could be honest, but he would not speak first.
"You found out?" Zephyr pretended to be surprised.
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, once an apprentice member of the Roger Pirates, recently came to the East Blue.
A great pirate who should have been in the New World secretly 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 East Blue's wanted notices.
Buggy the Clown."
Hearing this, Garp froze completely. I was ready to tell him about Roger's child, and he was talking about Roger's child too—but it wasn't 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 said solemnly. He did not want to know about Ace's existence yet. At least, before meeting that child, he did not want to know.
Ace had spent his whole life trapped by his father's identity. Zephyr did not want to approach him with that identity.
Garp smacked his lips and gradually came back to himself, his heart suddenly tightening.
Wait, two former apprentice members of the Roger Pirates have gathered in the East Blue. What do they want to do? What is there in the East Blue worth gathering for?
Could it be... they found Ace!?
Garp spotted the blind spot and immediately grew anxious. No, I can't let Ace come into contact with them. Ace can't become a pirate—he has to become a Marine! Only then can he survive!
"Whew, Zephyr, thank you for telling me this. I'll return to the East Blue immediately. You..."
Garp wanted to say something, but when he saw Zephyr's resolute gaze, 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 that, Garp was stunned again. A clear chain of logic formed in his mind.
He knew Zephyr had always been furious over his dead family. From that time until now, that anger had never faded.
He also knew that the Navy was 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 Navy did not know why, but looking at Dracule Mihawk, one of the current Shichibukai, then at Red-Haired Shanks, whose combat record was evenly matched with Mihawk's, the Navy could roughly guess that the World Government wanted to recruit him.
Garp knew Roger and his crew would not stir up trouble for no reason, but if someone provoked their companions, they would never let it slide.
Garp was confident that Foosha Village's people were simple and honest. 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 watch over the matter until he discovered that Roger's remnants had gathered.
In Zephyr's eyes, Roger's remnants might have gathered to target the family of the man who had once been the Roger Pirates' greatest opponent.
Zephyr did not want his tragedy to repeat itself.
Garp felt that he understood everything. His eyes blazed 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 confidently.
Zephyr nodded. It seemed the most basic major problem could be solved. He would never let those outstanding young seedlings go astray!
Chat Group.
[Zephyr: Thank you, Mr. Flender. You have helped me greatly.]
After finishing the story of One Piece, Zephyr discovered while sorting through his memories that the origins, cause and effect, and operating methods of this Chat Group had already been implanted in his mind. He simply had not reacted because his mind had been consumed by anger.
Now that the truth was clear, he was deeply grateful that Flender possessed most of the top-secret information on his side yet had not used it to threaten him.
"Those words sound so familiar."
Flender felt somewhat helpless. Could it be that every new member who saw their own story would say something like this to him?
[Flender: It is 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 exceptionally precious.] [Dumbledore: Indeed.] [Samuel Oak: Exactly.]
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.]
Before you continue