In the blink of an eye, the masked men had reached Ace. Half-Face Mask grabbed him by the hair and hauled him up.
Perhaps because of the pain, Ace slowly came to.
He blinked, the first thing he felt being the tugging at his scalp. Before he could figure out what was happening, an icy voice rang out beside his ear.
"Portgas D. Ace, blood of the Pirate King. Capture complete!"
"What the hell are you talking about?! My Pops is Whitebeard! I have nothing to do with that man!"
Hearing Half-Face Mask's words, Ace bristled like an angry cat. Forgetting everything else, he hurriedly argued back.
Everything Ace knew about the Pirate King had come from others. Although pirates worshipped him like a god and everyone wanted to become the next him, ordinary people hated him to the bone. Ace had never really felt any familial affection for him to begin with, and his childhood had been utterly bleak because of him, so naturally, he wanted nothing to do with him.
Later, Ace had met Whitebeard and finally experienced something that could probably be called a father's love. Whitebeard was also the second person he acknowledged as family. The first was Garp. Although Ace refused to admit it aloud, he had long since accepted Garp's place in his heart.
So, as far as he was concerned, Whitebeard was his father. No arguments accepted!
But to everyone else, those words were merely a futile struggle to escape his crimes.
"Stop making excuses, Ace. Your identity is already perfectly clear. And next, you will be executed before the eyes of the entire world!"
At the word "executed," Garp's body trembled again. He instinctively looked up at Ace, and just then, Ace noticed Garp too and looked toward him. Their eyes met.