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“I have no sympathy for pirates, but family is another matter.” Garp spoke, completely ignoring his longest friend as the man stood the other side of his eldest grandson. His mind going back into the memories of the first time he saw the crying infant cradled in his dying mothers arms.
When Roger had asked him to save his son, to find Rogue and protect her and Ace; he nearly turned him down but the guilt of turning his best friend rival into the marines at his request was overwhelming. So he followed the trail, but Garp didn’t expect to have to witness the death of Rogue as well.
Holding Ace for the first time nearly had Garp in tears, especially when the tiny little hand managed reached out from the bundle of blankets and caught his finger in a tight grip that shouldn’t have been possible.
Leaving him with Dadan was one of the hardest decisions Garp had to make. He was thinking of giving the little boy to Makino, but his niece was slightly too young and only just managing to get used to the responsibility of taking over from his mother as the owner of Party’s Bar. He couldn’t keep Ace with him, there were too many people in the marines that would be able to recognise the steel grey eyes that were purely Roger and as he grew, he had no doubts that the boy would take after his father.
Dadan wouldn’t coddle him, she would help him stay strong especially with what he would face in the future.
The first time he saw Ace protecting Luffy... He was overwhelmed with fondness and love for both boys but struggled to show it, the only thing he could do was ask the boy to join the Navy. If the Navy thought both his boys were loyal to them, then maybe they wouldn’t be killed for the blood that ran through their veins.
“Ace you fool, why couldn’t you have just listened to me and done what I asked?” Garp choked out as tears fell down his cheeks, he tried his hardest to hold them back but there was no way that he could. Especially when he heard Ace call him ‘old man’ like he always used to.
Garp wasn’t sure if he had ever heard Ace call him Gramps or Grandpa, it was always old man or other kinds of insults.
“If you’re feeling any doubt over what must be done, I’m afraid I can’t just take any pity on you Garp.” Sengoku spoke up from beside the two, the business part of him wanted this over and done with, it wanted the War to be over, the lives lost to be stopped. But the human part of him, it was loyal to his best friend, he wanted nothing more than to unlock the cuffs holding the Logia captive and let the boy go free so that Garp didn’t have to lose his grandson like Sengoku had lost his son.
“If I had any doubts, I would have done something by now.” Garp pointed out to his boss, he couldn’t call Sengoku his friend right now; not with Ace beside him in chains.
Garp nearly spoke up once more before something caught the attention of everyone as the war seemed to dim to silence except from shouts and screams of fear above them, getting closer as everyone looked up to find out exactly what was going on.
The Vice-Admiral face-palmed at the sight of his youngest grandson falling from the sky with a large number of pirates and prisoners alongside them. He knew that Luffy had broken into Impel Down, knew that he had tried his hardest to try and get to Ace before Ace had gotten transported away from the prison; he wondered if Ace knew that.
“Luffy!” Ace shouted out for his brother in shock and fear, a fear that Garp felt too, he didn’t know what he would do if he lost both grandsons in one day.
“He broke into Impel Down” Garp muttered to Ace, quiet enough that Sengoku didn’t hear him but he noticed Ace stiffen as the words ran through his mind in a cycle. “Reports came while you were still there, not long after I got back here... He tried to get you out before you got here”
Ace seemed to whimper softly beside him, Garp wondered if his words made the boy realize just how much his little brother cared for him.
“Garp your family is ruining things again!” Sengoku snapped to his Vice Admiral in annoyance, although Garp could easily note a small hint of amusement in his voice.
Luffy probably would never remember meeting Sengoku, the boy was only three when Sengoku had tracked Garp down after Garp had decided to stay a little longer than his vacation days. Sengoku wasn’t the Fleet Admiral then, so he had no qualms about tracking his best friend down and knocking some sense into him. Sengoku also ended up spending a day or two extra with his friend and got to fawn over the little toddler who was a mischievous thing even then.
“It seems so” Garp murmured lightly, his eyes darting between his eldest and his youngest
His eldest looked like he was breaking right in front of his eyes, something he never even saw when Ace had learned who his father was.
“Ace! I’m here!” A voice echoed through Marineford, even with the shouts of anger and pain filled the bay; the voice still reached the three men who wished that this war didn’t have to come about.
“Luffy” Ace whispered in shocked confusion.
Ace seemed to glance across the bay to where his brother stood, heaving and soaked from his dip in the water. Clenching his fists behind his back, Ace dropped his head as tears began to fall.
Luffy had managed to go through the whole of Impel Down and had managed to escape too; all for Ace.
“Please...” Ace choked out, his voice breaking as tears dropped down into the scaffold below him “Gramps...”
Garp stiffened the moment he heard his eldest call him Gramps, his eyes darted to where the young man was curling in on himself.
“Help me...”
Those words were something he never thought he would hear either Luffy or Ace speak.
The Navy was his home, the marines had been his family since he was younger than Luffy. The only family he had other than the marines was his wife on Dawn who blessed him with his son, but even then he lost the both of them; his wife had fallen prey to pirates that had decided to attack his home island while his son was with him. And he had lost Dragon when his son had learned of the truths of the marines and their ‘absolute justice’.
It was a well kept secret between Garp and Dragon that majority of the knowledge that Dragon had about the marines and the best bases to hit for the information he needed was from Garp himself.
Over the years, since the loss of Roger, Garp had become indifferent to the marines and their desires. He fought for the people, defending them from the dark pirates of the world, from those who would do them harm for fun; it was why he didn’t care what Sengoku ordered him to do over the years. He fought to protect those that needed protection, and was determined to train the ones he saw good in.
It was why he liked Koby and Helmeppo.
The boys were good followers of the old marine ways. They understood that there were good pirates and bad pirates just like there were good marines and bad marines; Koby was determined to beat Luffy but not because he was a bad guy, because he was an outlaw while a pirate.
He hoped his boys would be able to forgive him for his next moves.
Without hesitation, Garp pushed himself from the floor of the scaffold, shooting himself to the side and over the head of his eldest grandson to clock his friend across the side of the face with an armament covered fist. Silence rang through Marineford as Garp spun on his heel and yanked at the chains that held his grandson down.
“What the... Gramps?!” Ace spluttered in shock as he was lifted up from the floor with ease as if he was still a little jungle brat.
“Newgate!” Garp yelled across the bay in the silence, the visual den dens recording everything going on around them. He rearranged Ace in his grasp “Catch!”
“What?!” Ace yelped in surprise before his eyes widened and he yelled in shock and confusion as he suddenly found himself airborne.
Garp snorted in amusement at the shouts of surprise from marines and pirates alike , he didn’t stay still long enough to see whether or not his old rival had managed to catch his grandson; instead, he took a dive off of the scaffold before darting through the frozen marines that were around him.
He wasn’t surprised when three specific members of the marines suddenly arrived beside him, running alongside as the marines began to shift; unsure on whether or not to fight against the Hero of the Marines or leave him be.
Sengoku was still out of commission considering the punch to his face with Armament Haki. Akainu was elsewhere doing sneaky things while Kizaru and Aokiji hesitated, Aokiji had practically been raised by Garp from a young man while Kizaru knew just how hard the man hit and didn’t want to experience that.
Koby and Helmeppo didn’t even hesitate to join Garp in running away from the war and towards the pirates the moment they witnessed their mentor knock down Sengoku and save Ace. Obviously Ace meant something to Garp if he was going against the marines for him, so they followed the only positive parental figure in their lives. Koby could always join Luffy on the Thousand Sunny with Helmeppo and Zoro, he didn’t seem to mind that idea because he knew could still protect those who needed protecting with how Luffy had been destroying dangerous forces to protect the civilians of the islands.
The other figure to join them was Bogard, he knew the moment he saw Luffy falling from the sky, that there was a high likelihood that Garp was going to side with his Grandsons.
Bogard had been by Garp’s side since he was a young private, he had been there when Garp returned to the ship from Baterilla with a newborn infant in his hand; because Ace was so small that Garp could easily have held him safely in just his hand. He had watched on protectively as Garp left him on the ship of the docks of Dawn and stayed by his side from then on. Then when Garp had received an encrypted message from Dragon, Bogard was the only one he trusted to be with him as backup and then his mentor and friend appeared with another child, this one was not a newborn but barely into his toddler years with a bandage around his leg.
Dragon had given Luffy to Garp after his son had gotten shot while they were being chased by marines who had no hesitation about shooting first and asking questions later. Thankfully, Dragon admitted, Luffy had been cradled in his cloak and if anyone did spot that he had a child with him then they were dead before they even thought about mentioning it to someone.
The four former marines were lucky as they ran through the pavillion, the other marines were still shocked and had no commands coming in from higher ups which meant they were floundering.
It wasn’t until they reached the bay that everyone seemed to wake up from their shock and the fighting started again, this time, the marines were aiming for their former Vice-Admiral and the three running with him.
“Grandpa!” Luffy shouted with worry before he jumped into the fray, it seemed that now he knew Ace was safe, he was worried about the only blood family he knew outside of Makino.
Garp grunted lightly in amusement, not even phased as Luffy started fighting to get to them so he could help them leave Marineford without more issues arising.
He noticed Koby roll his eyes fondly even as his breath was coming quick.
“Old man! Get your ass in gear and get outta there!” Ace called in worry from where he was held in his Pop’s arms, shock and worry running through him at what was happening with his Grandfather.
“Call me Grandpa you brat!” Garp automatically responded to his grandson as they continued running, the pirates around them seemed to understand that the tides had turned and they could retreat to safety. Every now and then, Garp smiled in pride as one of his three tugged a pirate up from where they had tripped on the ice; their four becoming a whole crowd that fought to get back to the ships that would get them to freedom.
“I will when you get to safety!” Ace quipped, the whole world already knew that he was Gol D Rogers son, he had no qualms about adding being the grandson to Monkey D Garp to the family tree.
Luffy had already announced who he was to Garp, the visual den den’s had also caught it which sent the world into whispers; which also meant the whole world now knew that Luffy and Ace were brothers. But that wasn’t something either of them were bothered about hiding, if people were smart, they would easily note that Luffy was far too young to be the son of Gol D Roger.
Garp huffed a laugh as he ran, his eyes clocking two figures that he knew he needed to grab. One hand automatically reached out and grabbed Crocodile by the back of his shirt before reaching over and grabbing Luffy up too.
“You’re a brat” Garp informed Luffy fondly and grinned at the familiar snicker that slipped from his exhausted grandson. He tucked him against his shoulder like he used to do when Luffy was a toddler and needed a nap, before tucking Crocodile under his arm even though the man gave a disgruntled noise of protest “Cool it lad, it’s been a time and I ain’t letting you run off before we’ve had words”
“You can’t scold me like a kid anymore, old man” Crocodile grumbled and huffed, looking away at the look he gained from Garp in response.
“You’re still the brat that used to run around with mine before you disappeared on him.” Garp responded easily as they continued running, his stamina slowing down a little now that he had a large passenger under his arm, carrying Luffy was easy so he made no difference.
“You three follow me” Garp ordered his marine brats and smirked at the resolute nods they gave him.
“Koby!” Luffy grinned tiredly when he noted that his old friend was running besides them, he glanced around and laughed a little “Uncle Bo! Helmet!”
“one day you’ll get my name right” Helmeppo sighed with a shake of his head, his breath coming on short as he tried to keep up with the pace of the others. He gave Bogard a look of gratitude as the man suddenly grabbed him before he could lose his footing.
“Garp!” Newgate called and gestured for the marines to join them on the Moby Dick, something Garp did without hesitation as he threw Crocodile up, followed by Koby and Helmeppo who both yelped in surprise as they were lifted off the ground. Luffy still clung to Garp as Bogard gave the man a dry look, using skywalk to jump onto the ship before Garp could even think about throwing him.
Garp landed on the Moby with a soft grunt and was surprised when Ace threw himself at him and Luffy.
“Garp!” a groggy voice shouted across a speaker, which turned the heads of everyone, up to the scaffold where Sengoku had awoken with the help Kizaru.
Garp stood tall on the ship, Luffy was clinging onto him on the right while Ace, on his left, was gripping onto Luffy’s arm and ‘coincidentally’ was wrapping an arm around Garp at the same time.
“My grandson asked me for help Sengoku” Garp informed his old friend loudly, he knew how much those words meant to the Fleet Admiral because Rosi never got the chance to ask his father for help in saving the little boy he had practically adopted. A boy who was just like Garps own grandson’s, a pirate who was also a Supernova. “I could never, and would never, deny them that request”
That was something the boys never seemed to realise as they grew up, if they ever asked him for help, he would help them. But all his boys were stubborn with asking for help.
Roger asked him for help and Garp did his best, but due to outmanoeuvring the Elders, he wasn’t in time to save Rogue. Rogue asked him for help and he took Ace with him to Dawn to keep him hidden in the ‘weakest Blue’. Dragon asked him for help and Garp responded immediately and got Luffy safe too. What the boys didn’t know was that Dadan had asked him for help with Sabo... Garp sent Dragon to Dawn in his place as Garp was too far away to have arrived in time to do anything. Only for them to lose the blonde after all.
“You’ll be an outlaw for this” Sengoku warned his friend, not even caring anymore that the world could still see what was happening. Garp knew that Sengoku was already thinking about retirement, this would just push his friend to that end point and whatever he did now didn’t matter because the Elders were going to be furious with the whole situation either way.
“I have always stood for justice” Garp pointed out to his friend as he slipped the marine coat of his shoulders and let it slip down the figurehead of the Moby Dick, down to the ice below. “But this... Publicly executing a boy, not for his crimes, but for the blood of a father he never even met. It’s wrong, and when my grandson asks me for help, I will help him. You asked me to watch on as you killed a boy I held the day he was born. A boy I watched grow into the fine young man he is today, even if he did choose to become a pirate; and I know you would have ordered the death of my youngest grandson if I had stayed still and silent on that scaffold.
“I will always stand for justice... But the marines just aren’t the kind of justice I live for any longer. It has been twisted and turned into something dark that only benefits one group of individuals. And they don’t give a fuck about anyone else” Garp finished his little speech, even from the distance he was, he could tell that his friend understood and probably agreed with him but was too close to the top these days to do anything about it. “Let’s get outta here Edward”
Whitebeard huffed lightly at being ordered about but he noticed that his allies and his children were all safe on the ships. He gave a short whistle signal before the ships dove below the waters of Marineford, leaving the danger behind as the marines fell into chaos with four of their own going against them; one of them being the Marine Hero who had fought against Rocks D. Xebec and Gol D Roger and was the only one still alive of the three.
When they were submerged, Garp slumped down to sit on the figurehead, pulling both his grandsons into his arms as the dam of tears broke and he sobbed against them; his fears of losing his boys flowing over as Luffy and Ace grimaced but held into their grandfather.
“S’okay Gramps” Luffy whispered softly to his grandfather, trying to reassure him that they were both okay even though he also couldn’t release the hold he had on Ace’s wrist.
“We’re both here Gramps” Ace murmured to him just as softly as Luffy as he tried to avoid looking at his crew who he felt he’d broken. Oars Jr was still lost to them, as were a number of others and it was all Ace’s fault.
Ace yelped in surprise as Garp clipped the boy across the back of the head before nudging him back a little so he could be eye to eye with his eldest.
“Those men fought for you because they are your family. Don’t let their deaths be in vain by drowning yourself in guilt Portgas D. Ace. If you hide yourself away, I will be putting you through your paces for months until you get it through your thick skull” Garp promised him, his voice thick with emotion and tears as he held Ace’s gaze. The moment Garp noticed tears welling in his grandsons eyes, he tugged the boy back into a hug and held him as he sobbed silently against his chest.
The Whitebeards seemed to understand that the three needed their space and left them with the other three marines and Crocodile as their guards. Although, they were surprised that Crocodile decided to stand guard over a former Vice Admiral rather than attack Whitebeard like he’d already tried once already.
By the time Whitebeard decided it was safe to break the surface of the ocean, Garp had managed to calm down enough to release his eldest grandson, nudging him into the waiting arms of the other commanders who immediately clung to Ace.
Without much distraction anymore, Garp remembered exactly why he currently had a hold of his youngest rather than the boy being safe with his crew. And Luffy seemed to come to the same realisation as he slipped from his grandfathers hold and tried to inch away from him.
“Monkey D. Luffy!” Garp scolded sternly and even Ace winced a little, it was rare for Garp to use their full names and even rarer for him to scold them. Usually he shouted about this and that but never outright scolded them.
Luffy cringed before he squeaked and shot to hide behind Jimbei who had joined them on the Moby the moment he realized they would be safe there. Iva had joined them too since they knew Garp through Dragon and also knew Crocodile, plus they wanted to keep Luffy safe for their friends peace of mind.
The commanders had gone silent in their reassuring of Ace being okay and loved and forgiven as they watched the former Marine Hero stand straight and scowl sternly at the small rubber pirate hiding behind Jimbei. Whitebeard also watched on, amused, as he recognised Garp’s upset of being one of a father/grandfather to their family and Whitebeard had already figured out that Luffy had something to do with the prisoners arriving with them free from Impel Down.
“Punching a Dragon?! Impel Down?! A war?!!!” Garp questioned, his worry fraying at each issue as Luffy sunk down to hide but whined lightly as Jimbei chuckled and stepped aside.
“Okay... One, the bastard Dragon shot my friend because he’s a fish man!” Luffy huffed weakly in defence and didn’t notice as Jimbei stiffened in shock, “Two, Ace was in Impel Down, was hoping to get to him before but I got hit with the poison guys wave so Iva had to help me and I was asleep for hours with it... And Three, I didn’t mean to join a war. Was hoping to save Ace first”
Ivankov stiffened lightly at the reminder of the poison that had been thrown at Luffy, their eyes flickered around until they saw Marco the Phoenix who they knew was the head doctor of the Whitebeard Pirates.
“Phoenix... could you check over straw-boy? The lad has faced all levels of hell and poison from Magellan. He’s gone through my adrenaline shot and miracle cure... But he still needs medical attention” Ivankov requested, and even though they minimised the issues, Marco immediately jumped into action and ushered Luffy down to the medical bay; ignoring how the boy complained and pointed out that his own doctor was better.
Luffy’s muffled complaints grew quieter and Garp shook his head fondly even though he was still exasperated about his grandson’s actions.
“So what’s your plan now Garp?” Whitebeard asked as he allowed the other doctors on his crew hook him up to the oxygen machine.
Garp shrugged as he moved to sit opposite the old Captain, he smiles lightly as Koby and Helmeppo joins them as close as they were comfortable in getting to him.
“Retirement sounds boring... Could join my good for nothing son, or sail myself and help others...” Garp sighed lightly and nodded in gratitude as he was offered a bottle of sake “The youngest two of my three former marines could easily join Lu if they asked, and the oldest probably wouldn’t go anywhere unless I did. I can’t risk going home... It’ll be too dangerous. It might already be dangerous there.”
“You should call Shanks and ask him to put Foosha under his protection” Ace pointed out to his grandfather lightly when he finally managed to settle with Whitebeard rather than being mother henned by Marco and the other doctors and nurses “The higher ups will leave it alone then... Right?”
Garp hummed lightly in thought before he nodded. That could work and his old home village already liked Shanks. “We’ll do that once Luffy is with us or he’ll pout that he couldn’t hear the idiot red head.”
Ace snorted at his grandfathers dry tone and rolled his eyes before he paused.
“Gramps...” Ace spoke softly, soft enough for very few to hear him as Garp focused on the young man “Thank you.”
“All you have to do is ask Ace” Garp responded just as softly.