"You mean..."
When Shizi spoke again, her voice trembled despite her efforts to hide it. "That baby was Rouge's child?"
"I don't know. I'm only telling you what I saw."
Noah shook his head and said calmly, "Vice Admiral Garp was completely open about it when he did that. He didn't try to hide it from the rest of us on the ship."
"Even the officer who served as his adjutant on board only knew that the baby was called Ace. He didn't even have a surname. Maybe he was just a war orphan Mr. Garp had rescued. It wouldn't be the first time he'd done something like that, would it?"
"No, no..."
Shizi grew agitated, her voice rising. "Knowing Garp, if it had just been an ordinary orphan, he would've left the child with the Marines to be raised. Why would he go out of his way to send him to the East Blue...?"
"But what about Rouge?" she murmured distractedly. "Where is she? Is she even still alive? Why hasn't she contacted me all this time?"
The answer to that question was rather cruel, and Noah didn't want to give it to her directly. Instead, he sighed softly. "If you want to know so badly, why not ask Mr. Garp yourself?"
"Even if I'm mistaken, or Ace's name is just a coincidence, will you really refuse to look into this possibility just because you've been biased against Mr. Garp?"
"Garp..."
Shizi's gaze fell on the Den Den Mushi on the coffee table.
After a long, silent hesitation, she finally picked up the receiver and dialed a number that was at once utterly familiar and utterly strange.
Buru-buru~
After a long wait, the call connected. Noah heard a familiar, booming voice, grumbling with irritation. "Hello? Who is this, calling in the middle of the night? Doesn't an old man need to sleep?"
As if you need sleep. I can hear you crunching on senbei even now.
Noah silently rolled his eyes—if that had been possible.
"It's me, Garp."
Shizi finally spoke, her voice low, after a long silence.
"..." The other end of the line fell silent. Then came a heavy thud, as if an entire basket of senbei had hit the floor.
To Noah's confusion, Shizi suddenly held the Den Den Mushi at arm's length.
"Shizi!!???"
The next moment, a deafening shout exploded through the room, nearly shaking the roof off. "Hey! Is that really you? Did I hear right? It's really you, Shizi! Hahaha! What made you call all of a sudden?"
His voice was full of delight, but Noah couldn't make it out. The Den Den Mushi was so close to his ear that he'd temporarily gone deaf.
After a bout of ringing in his ears, Noah could finally hear again. The Den Den Mushi was mimicking Garp's expression perfectly, tears and snot streaming down its face.
"...It's been three years. Three whole years! Why haven't you contacted us all this time? The last time I called you, you hung up right away. I started wondering if I'd done something to offend you..."
"..."
Watching the snot run down the Den Den Mushi, Shizi silently moved it a little farther away before speaking softly. "Rouge was my adopted daughter."
The voice on the other end cut off.
A moment later, an incredulous cry—at a volume far louder than before—rang through the entire living room.
"Whaaaaaat??????"
Noah suddenly tipped backward and collapsed onto the floor, staring blankly at the upside-down sky beyond the window. This time, he was sure he'd really gone deaf.
He couldn't hear anything, couldn't make out a sound, and couldn't even feel time passing.
But when he turned his gaze from the stars in the night sky back to Rear Admiral Shizi across the coffee table, he saw her covering her mouth slightly, tears welling in her eyes.
The misunderstanding must finally be cleared up, right?
He smiled suddenly. Seeing two old friends, who had fought side by side for years against an era overrun by pirates, reconcile was truly wonderful—especially when he was the one who'd brought it about.
It really was best to say what needed to be said. If everyone just communicated openly from the start, how many misunderstandings in this world could be avoided?
Still, perhaps Shizi couldn't be blamed.
Noah let his gaze drift back up to the night sky. The clouds had cleared at some point, and the moon shone down on the earth.
Who could have guessed, years ago—or even many years later—that, just before death came and life faded away, deep inside Impel Down, so dark and bottomless,
the man who was a blight and scum in the eyes of countless people—the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger—would grin and entrust his wife and child to Garp, his mortal enemy who had pursued him ever since the Rocks Pirates fell?
Thousands of kilometers away, over a stretch of ocean,
a battleship carrying more than two hundred new recruits from the Marine Headquarters Elite Training Camp was speeding toward Citrus Island.
In a room on the ship's second floor, the shower stopped. Momousagi stepped out wrapped in a towel, drying her wet hair as she went to stand in front of the mirror.
Through the mist, the mirror reflected her familiar, exquisite features. Innocence and allure blended together just right; even the faintest smile was enough to make hearts flutter.
"Changing back all of a sudden is strangely hard to get used to..."
Momousagi gazed at her reflection for a while, then shook her head with a laugh. She went into the bedroom to change into her nightclothes and get into bed.
She'd taken a long time to shower. Her skin had felt sticky, and there had been a faint smell of sweat, as if she hadn't washed for two days and nights. Her sensitive nose had found it deeply unpleasant.
Who could've seen that coming...?
Thinking back to the moment a few hours earlier when she'd suddenly returned to her original body, Momousagi felt speechless.
That stinking cat really couldn't be relied on. How could its ability suddenly wear off and reverse after only a few days?
Considering Beaver-Cat wasn't human and had limited control over and mastery of Devil Fruit abilities—and that its own species' transformation talent only lasted for a short time—Momousagi could just about understand.
But why had their bodies returned to normal instead of their minds returning to their respective bodies?
If they had, at least she would've been the one left at Shizi's house, rather than Noah, back in his male body.
The angry tone Shizi had used when ending the call was still fresh in Momousagi's mind, and she couldn't help feeling sorry for Noah.
It hadn't been entirely her fault, but there was no doubt the boy had been thoroughly screwed over this time.
The next time she saw him, she'd have to apologize sincerely, then find a chance to make it up to him.
And there was no need to mention the mission to persuade Shizi to return to Marine Headquarters. Momousagi sighed. She knew better than anyone that it had failed completely.
She lay in bed, thinking quietly, when a faint vibration came from the bedside.
"Hmm?"
Momousagi turned her head and glanced over. The sound was coming from the miniature Den Den Mushi she'd left beside the bed.
Who would be calling so late?
She had a vague sense that something was wrong, but answered right away.
Before she could even speak, the familiar voice of a young man—one she'd gotten to know all too well over the past few days—came through.
"Hello, Commodore Gion. Do you remember what I told you? Repaying you for your guidance by persuading Rear Admiral Shizi is a duty I can't shirk..."
The voice paused, then turned strangely smug, as if the speaker were rather pleased with himself.
"Well, the mission's finally done! It probably won't work, but I still wanted to ask: considering how dangerous this mission was, shouldn't there be, uh... you know, some kind of extra reward when I get back?"
The third update—this makes up for the chapter I missed the day before yesterday. Good night, everyone~
Before you continue