Chapter Text
“Take care of my kid for me, will ya?”
Roger’s words echoed in Garp’s mind as he made his way up to the house on the cliff, overlooking the coast of Baterilla. The town was quiet in the early morning hours, its inhabitants still asleep after the festivities last night to ring in the new year. It wasn’t the first time he made the trip, but after speaking to Rouge yesterday, he knew it would be the last.
As incredible as her perseverance and will were, they were running out, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
When Garp left her house hours later, he was cradling a baby in his arms.
Gol D. Ace, his mother had named him in her last breath.
Garp carried him through the port town, only stopping to pick up basic supplies like diapers and baby formula. Technically, he already had everything he needed on his ship, but actually seeing the little boy made him nervous. The journey to East Blue would be long, after all, and babies needed food to grow more than anyone else.
Why didn’t he know how much he’d need? How come he felt so insecure? This shouldn’t be so hard when he already was a father, but he really hadn’t been home enough to learn all these things for Dragon. That boy had been able to run away and yell at him before Garp had even really processed that he had a child.
But Ace didn’t have a mother that Garp could rely on, so until he got back home, Garp himself would have to take care of him.
Garp was Garp, though, and he didn’t even make it to the port before running into trouble.
And for once, it actually wasn’t even his fault.
Tsuru was waiting for him with a few men behind her, face set in an expression that let him know she wasn’t here on vacation or a standard deployment. She was here for him.
“So that’s the child?”
Well. Shit.
“This? Um. It’s a child, yes, but I wouldn’t say the child…”
“Garp.” Tsuru sighed. “Just hand it over and we can forget you ever tried this.”
Hand him over? And then?
They’d kill Ace. Tsuru would be kind enough to let it happen outside of Garp’s view, but that didn’t change the outcome.
Garp looked down at the child in his arms, sleeping soundly, completely unaware that his life was in danger.
His life that had only begun hours ago. Ace had done absolutely nothing yet. He hadn’t tasted any food, hadn’t laughed, hadn’t seen day turn to night or winter to spring, hadn’t made any friends, hadn’t learned anything, hadn’t had the chance to become a person.
Hell, per the old sailor’s tradition, he didn’t even count as fully alive yet because while he’d been named, he hadn’t seen the sea yet.
Garp couldn’t let his life end before it even began. He pulled Ace closer to his chest.
“He’s innocent.”
Roger, for as much as Garp liked him, hadn’t been. He’d broken laws, even perfectly reasonable ones, fully aware of the consequences. Over the course of his pirating career, he’d accumulated quite a lot of blood on his hands, and he’d have continued if he could. In the end, Garp hadn’t been able to do anything except watch him die on the scaffold.
But Ace was not Roger, and no child should have to bear the sins of their father.
“I know,” Tsuru said. Her voice was very diplomatic, which let Garp know there was absolutely no point arguing with her. She had her opinion and wouldn’t change it, and talking it out would only make it seem like Garp was in the wrong, like it really would be best for everyone if he gave Ace to her, like that was his duty, or ‘justice’. She had a way with words that Garp could never hope to emulate.
He had to remember that it was their job to kill Ace, to make sure no child of the Pirate King would be allowed to live in this world.
If he handed Ace over, Garp would be the one killing him. It would be the exact same as murdering Ace right here in his arms. The little boy wouldn’t even notice what was happening before all of his bones were crushed in Garp’s famous fist.
Bile rose in his throat.
He couldn’t do it. He’d closed his eyes to obvious injustice more than once in his line of work, had chosen the greater good over the life of individuals, but this time, he simply couldn’t bring himself to do it.
This was just too cruel.
His mind was blank as he slowly stepped forward until he was right in front of Tsuru. With one hand, he slowly let go of Ace. And then he balled it into a fist and rammed it into the face of the woman he’d called his best friend for the better part of his life with as much force as he could muster.
Tsuru reacted on time to avoid her entire face being broken, but she was still sent flying backwards into her crew, toppling a few of them over.
The rest immediately raised their guns and started firing.
And they were aiming at Ace.
If Garp had been alone, he would’ve fought. Tsuru was the most annoying opponent he could think of, but Garp was strong, strong enough to take on her and all her subordinates if he needed to.
But Ace wasn’t. At not even half a day old, he couldn’t fight, couldn’t protect himself at all, couldn’t even attempt to run.
So Garp did something he hadn’t done in decades: He turned tail and ran. He sprinted out of town and into the fields behind it, keeping Ace cradled in his arms as shots rang out behind him. He kept his legs moving and moving until he reached a forest and the sounds of his followers turned more and more quiet and eventually disappeared entirely. And even then he kept running until he found the sea again.
His steps only slowed when he saw a fishing boat moored to a tiny dock next to a tiny house. All of it looked quite abandoned, but from what Garp could tell, the boat was still functional. It would have to do, and if it did belong to someone, he really couldn’t offer them anything right now.
He jumped into the boat, dropping his bag without much care as he set sail, away from his pursuers.
It didn’t occur to him that he had essentially just committed treason until Baterilla was only a tiny speck in the distance. Not even Sengoku could or would just let him get away with this. Decades of serving the navy, and he knew none of it would matter anymore as long as he didn’t turn back to bring them Ace.
“Fuck,” he muttered, and of course Ace blinked awake at that. Garp would have to be careful, or the kid would swear like a sailor before he even knew his own name.
He’d have to do better. Garp could ignore for a moment that he just ruined his life without a second thought to what he was doing, and just try to take care of Ace the best he could.
“Good morning, Ace,” he tried again, smiling at the little boy in his arms who was curiously staring back at him. “Looks like it’s gonna be just the two of us for a while, out at sea.”
There was no captain, no first mate, and no crew, and Ace’ parents were both dead, meaning Garp really couldn’t do the sailor’s baptism, but it felt wrong to just do nothing, too.
So, Garp unwrapped all the cloth that was keeping Ace safe from the slight chill of early January in this tropical region, and gently lowered him into the water, careful to keep his head above the surface even through the small waves.
Ace squirmed when he first came into contact with the cold seawater, but soon started splashing around, eyes wide in fascination as he giggled happily.
“That’s the sea,” Garp explained, “it’s unfathomably huge and dangerous, but it’s the most beautiful thing in this world.” Ace answered with excited sounds, as if he could actually understand what Garp was telling him, and agreed. “You love it, huh? Already taking after your good-for-nothing father, I see. Though I guess your mother loved it as well, so there might just be hope for you.”
Pulling Ace back out, Garp dried him with the cloth before wrapping him up again and placing him on his lap so he could see the horizon where the sea met the sky.
“Welcome to this world, Ace.”