Your Grandson Better Brace for a Beating!

"..."

The atmosphere on the training grounds was bizarre. Wright lay on the ground, twitching, as the justice filling his mind was gradually overwhelmed by searing pain...

"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts..."

Who am I? Where am I? What happened to me?

I'm Wright! A major at Marine Headquarters!

Old Man Garp just attacked someone out of nowhere?!

This is Marine Headquarters! The Training Camp grounds! There's a fleet admiral, two admirals, and a whole bunch of vice admirals sitting up there! How could Old Man Garp, how would he dare, how could he possibly...

What the hell was there that he wouldn't dare do?!

What the hell just happened?!

That old bastard was still laughing? How arrogant! This was absolutely intolerable! I was definitely going to...

"Uh... Vice Admiral Garp... hello there? Hahaha..."

With difficulty, Wright cast one... then two Holy Light Spells to heal himself completely. He climbed to his feet and forced a smile. "Well... how could I possibly not answer you, right...? I was just too... too excited. Yes, that's right, too excited, so I froze up!"

"I agree to whatever you said, sir. All of it, hahaha..."

"..."

Heh, a way of survival? Who didn't know that?

"Oh? You said that yourself, brat Wright!" Garp picked his nose with the little finger of his right hand, then turned to Sengoku and shouted, "Hey! Sengoku! You heard him! This brat agreed to come with me, so you can't assign him to anyone else!"

"...?"

What the hell? Go with Old Man Garp? Join Old Man Garp's command? No way, my goal was Kuzan! Admiral Sengoku, please, please don't agree!

"..." Sengoku shot Garp a vicious glare. "You bastard, Garp! Get back here right now! Look at you, making a fool of yourself in front of the younger generation!"

"As for Wright... are you sure he agreed willingly?"

"Didn't he?" Garp turned back to Wright and blew on his fist.

"...Well, reporting to Admiral Sengoku... I... I did indeed... agree willingly!"

If you did that willingly, I'll eat my Justice Coat!

Sengoku pressed a hand to his forehead. "Fine. We'll do it this way..."

"Big Brother Kong, sorry you had to see that. I'll deal with that bastard Garp when we get back..."

"It's nothing, it's nothing!" Fleet Admiral Kong laughed heartily. "I'm only here to observe the ceremony. You can decide the personnel assignments. This class of elites is so lively. With Garp looking after them, I'm quite relieved, hahaha!"

It was precisely because Garp was in charge that I was even less relieved!

No, Rosinante had to be rescued!

After thinking for a moment, Sengoku said, "There are three Devil Fruit users in this class. Garp has already taken one. The other two will be left for the others."

"Smoker, Rosinante, you've both learned about the ideals of the vice admirals. What are your thoughts?"

"Reporting to Admiral Sengoku! I hope to join Vice Admiral Kuzan's command!" Smoker answered without hesitation—he had always gotten along well with Kuzan.

"Admiral Sengoku... I have some other thoughts. I hope to speak with you privately." Rosinante, however, made a different choice from the rest.

"..."

Sengoku looked at Rosinante's solemn, resolute face. After a long silence, he slowly nodded. "Then we'll discuss your matter last."

"With the three Devil Fruit users assigned, we'll start with the remaining seven members of the Elite Squad. State your preferences in order!"

Over the next while, the Training Camp students chose the vice admiral units whose ideals aligned with their own. Wright, meanwhile, huddled with Smoker and Rosinante, looking utterly miserable. "Sigh, I originally wanted to serve under Vice Admiral Kuzan and live freely... Now it's over. Old Man Garp is definitely going to beat me half to death!"

"Then why did you go with him?" Smoker asked in surprise, though he also felt a little relieved—if Wright had gone to Kuzan, Admiral Sengoku might have assigned Smoker to another vice admiral.

Rolling his eyes at Smoker, Wright said bitterly, "Old Man Garp rushed over and started throwing punches without a word. If I hadn't agreed, do you believe he wouldn't have crippled me on the spot?"

"Can't you heal yourself? Even if you get crippled, it's no big deal. It's not like he'd beat you to death."

"..."

Smoker, you're getting cocky, aren't you? Is your brain malfunctioning because all the big shots are here and you don't dare smoke a cigar? Want me to give you a friendly slash?

Noticing Wright's increasingly dangerous gaze, Smoker wisely changed the subject. "Rosy, what are you thinking? You're not choosing any of these vice admirals?"

Rosinante, who had been silent the whole time, opened his mouth and habitually pulled out a cigarette. Before he could light it, though, he shuddered and came to his senses, hurriedly putting it away.

On the podium, Garp and Kong watched with glee as Sengoku withdrew his sharp gaze from Rosinante—and the cigarette in his hand. Sengoku's face had gone as black as the bottom of a pot.

Unaware that the big boss had already set his sights on him, Smoker touched the cigars in his pocket, resisted the urge to take one out, and looked at Rosinante.

Rosinante sighed. "I... have a mission I must complete. There's something I absolutely have to do, and perhaps only I can do it..."

"Oh?" Smoker was about to ask further when Wright raised a hand to stop him. "Smoker, everyone's got their own story, right?"

"Go do it, Rosy. Don't forget to develop your ability. If you really develop it to that extent... then maybe you really can accomplish what you want to do."

"If there's anything you can't handle, let us know. We brothers will help you sort it out together!"

The graduation ceremony ended. The students... no, the graduates, said their final farewells to Chief Instructor Zephyr before following their new direct superiors to their respective bases.

Rosinante was taken by Sengoku to his office for a private talk. Old Man Garp, however, did not head to Sengoku's office to mooch Senbei and tea. Instead, he stared blankly at the backs of Sengoku and Rosinante as they left.

"..."

Others might not know, but Wright knew. Well, Wright himself knew that he knew...

Rosinante was Sengoku's adopted son. Sengoku had never married and treated him as his own child.

And Rosinante's full name was—Donquixote Rosinante. He was a descendant of the Twenty Kings, the second son of former Celestial Dragon Donquixote Homing, and the younger brother of the future Shichibukai, Donquixote Doflamingo!

Kind-hearted and gentle by nature, Rosinante and the embodiment of evil, Doflamingo, were practically the polar opposites of light and darkness.

Back then, Rosinante had watched his brother personally kill their father. Now, he was about to use his own power to stop his increasingly deranged brother.

Once he left... the consequences would be impossible to predict.

But Old Man Garp probably didn't know about this. At least, not yet—even Sengoku, Rosinante's adoptive father, did not know at this point!

Then what was going on with Old Man Garp?

Since when had this old fool become so sentimental? He wasn't yet the semi-retired man he would become more than a decade later, after going through the incidents involving his two grandsons...

Damn it, my Observation Haki isn't strong enough. I can't sense the thoughts of a top powerhouse like Garp. Then...

"Wright, brat!"

"?"

Old Man Garp seemed to recover from his melancholy almost instantly. He turned and walked toward Wright. "Stop staring at that father and son. It's been a long time since we father and son have seen each other too. Come on, come on, spar with me!"

"Old bastard! Wait—"

Without another word, Garp dragged Wright toward another training ground—the high-grade training ground reserved for officers. From the look of things, there was no escaping today's beating...

What the hell did you mean, staring at that father and son? Old bastard, did you just leak some important information without realizing it?! And you were the one staring at them, weren't you?!

Who the hell is father and son with you? Who wants to spar with you?!

Father and son...

Holy shit!

I get it!

Around this time, Old Man Garp's son, Monkey D. Luffy's father—Monkey D. Dragon—was probably leaving home to strike out on his own because his ideals clashed with Garp's...

Why the hell are you beating me just because your son ran away from home, you old bastard?!

I can't beat you, but I'll definitely beat your grandson!!