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He had already been having a pretty shitty day when his sister got hold of him by transponder snail, still hours away from Marineford; breathy voice tight with nerves, unsure how Sakazuki was going to react to the news, but too far away to stop him from doing anything stupid.
Lady Crocodile had been taken into custody and transported to Impel Down under suspicion that the child she was carrying was Gold Roger's and that it had been Kuzan who had been ordered to track her down and bring her in at any cost by Admiral Sengoku.
With the DDM receiver still held in his hands, magma boiled up to the surface of his skin in response to his rage, and the plastics and metals beneath his hand were warped by the pressure and heat. If he saw Kuzan before he managed to get his anger under control, he was liable to rip his spine out through his throat.
Fucking ice bastard dick.
By the time his ship was docked at Marineford, his temper was decidedly under wraps, but even so, he was still visibly steaming. Literally. Steam rose from his body in wisps where he was keeping his magma reined in tightly.
His control was impeccable, but as angry as he was, there was no way he could stop it.
Sakazuki stormed through the halls of Navy Headquarters, tearing a warpath from the docks to Kong’s office, passing dozens of his fellow officers, all of them stepping out of his way when they caught sight of his face. Onigumo and Doberman, who had both witnessed Sakazuki at his absolute worst before, hesitated to stop him. Even Kong’s administrative assistant, a fierce woman who would usually not hesitate to stop him, let him pass without a word, watching him warily over the top rim of her glasses.
Admirals Sekiko, Sengoku and Zephyr were inside, in a meeting with the Fleet Admiral. They turned in their chairs to stare at him, and for a moment, he hesitated, his hand still gripping the door handle.
Then he pictured Crocodile down in Level 6 of Impel Down, and the handle started to glow with red heat.
Admiral Sekiko — whom he served under — raised an eyebrow at him, her red lips turned down in a frown. “What’s the meaning of this, Sakazuki?” Her voice was a chilly rasp, as it always was. Her long, blonde hair was pulled away from her face in an immaculate updo, her long, elegant legs crossed at the ankle, tucked to the side, and beneath the chair she was perched on. Ever the lady, though Sakazuki knew she was capable of extreme levels of violence if push came to shove.
Kong leaned back in his chair, heavy arms crossed, looking at Sakazuki expectantly.
Unclenching his jaw, Sakazuki bit out the words, voice crackling with anger, “Kuzan was ordered to bring a woman into custody and deliver her to Impel Down, where she’s been placed in level six.”
Sengoku cleared her throat, eyes narrowing behind the lenses of her glasses. “That's correct. The order was mine. The woman is Crow Newgate, Whitebeard’s daughter. Currently heavily pregnant with a child that we suspect may be Gold Roger’s.”
Kong raised a brow, but nodded. He’d given the task of finding Roger's rumoured mistress to the Third Fleet. Lifting one hand in a placating manner and assuming it was chivalry that had Kuroryu's son so furious, “If you protest to her placement in level six, we can look into having her brought up to level one.”
Sakazuki scoffed, forgetting for a moment that he was speaking to his superiors. “I protest her imprisonment at all, sir. The child isn’t Roger’s.”
“You seem certain, Sakazuki. Explain.” Victoire pointed at him, icy eyes narrowed.
“The child is mine, ma’am. Crocodile and I have been…intimate for some time now. Four years.”
“A pirate, Sakazuki? I expected better of you.” Victoire shook her head. Perhaps the words would have bothered him if he didn't think this was exactly the type of situation his old man would have gotten himself into.
“Daughter of a pirate, with no bounty attached to her name.” He frowned at her, still prickly with irritation, his rage mellowing out to a gentle simmer. “Regardless of what you may think of me now, you’ve approved the imprisonment of a woman thirty-eight weeks pregnant with my kid.”
Kong pinched the bridge of his nose, but nodded his assent, looking to Sengoku.
She sighed, “I’ll order her release. Kuzan can return her to the island he found her on.”
“No.” Sakazuki grunted, turning on his heel and leaving, “I’ll go get her. Kuzan can stay far the fuck away from her.” He snarled at the thought of Kuzan going anywhere near her again.
The door slammed behind him, and an echoing silence followed his departure, each of them quietly shocked by the blatant disobedience and disrespect from a man who, while generally grumpy, was a damn fine Marine.
Sekiko tsked, turning back to face the Fleet Admiral, "I have to ask, because I never thought I'd see the day that Sakazuki would do something like that for a woman, but why are we sending pregnant women to Impel Down.
“Orders from the Gorosei,” Sengoku muttered, wishing she had Garp's uncaring disrespect for the Tenryubito, “Roger's bloodline is to be eradicated."
Sekiko swallowed, her gaze dropping to the floor. She knew better than to question orders from above. It was a dangerous thing to do when one couldn't be sure the people around them wouldn't turn them in for seditious words to get another step higher on the ladder.
Zephyr, silent until now, leaned forward, crossed arms resting on his knees, words he perhaps hadn't meant to say being spoken into the hushed silence of the room, "How far is too far?"
—
Magellan and his lieutenants have Crocodile out of her chains when Sakazuki arrives through the Gates of Justice. Crocodile, looking very pregnant and soft, was exuding a murderous aura that had everyone standing no less than ten feet away from her. Besides Hannybal, that was. The Vice Warden was grasping her elbow, a faux-contrite expression on his face, the light in his eyes doing nothing to disguise his ambition.
Sakazuki gave Crocodile a once-over as he descended the gangplank, relieved to see that she seemed unharmed, albeit furious.
Crocodile relaxed a fraction when she saw him, clearly not prepared to truly let her guard down until she was far from the underwater prison. She took a step toward him, but Hannybal's grip stopped her. Sakazuki glared at Vice Warden until he dropped her elbow, and without a word, swept Crocodile towards his ship. Shooting a venomous glare at Hannybal when he opened his mouth to protest.
“Thank god it’s you who came to get me…” she murmured, relaxing further with his arm around her shoulders. He looked down at her in confusion, watching the anger melt away from her face to reveal a noticeable panic. Crocodile placed one hand on her belly. “Your daughter was attempting to arrive in spectacularly dramatic fashion. My water broke while they had me in level six.”
Sakazuki faltered for half a step, gaping at Crocodile. “She isn’t due for two weeks.” His hand heated up a touch, and he apologized when she glared up at him.
“Well, I’ve been a little stressed, Sakazuki. She’s coming now. Hope you’ve got a doctor on board.”
–
A pain-filled scream.
A string of curses.
Crocodile’s voice was rasping. Strained from her shrieks.
A sharp cramping in her belly. An endless pressure bearing low between her hips, as though she was being split in two.
Sakazuki's heat was behind her, supporting her back, murmuring encouragement against the shell of her ear. He was smart enough not to mention the finger-breaking grip she had on his hands. How ignorant would he even begin to be to complain about a possible minor fracture when his lover was in the process of pushing their child out of her body?
He placed a kiss against her temple, eyes dropping to the doctor at work between her thighs. A pathetic, small part of him was relieved that the most recent doctor assigned to his ship was a woman. Being with Crocodile was a test of his jealousy control at the best of times. If he'd had to fight the green-eyed monster down in the event the doctor delivering his child happened to be a man, it would have been embarrassing.
And beyond ridiculous.
The sort of thing neither Crocodile nor Borsalina would ever let him live down.
And he couldn’t have that.
After what felt like hours, the doctor told Crocodile, “One last big push.”
The result, besides a scream from Crocodile, was a tiny cry from their child.
A soft, helpless, mewling cry. The doctor placed the baby on Crocodile’s belly, and she let go of her death grip on one of his hands and curled her hand around the baby to keep her there.
And it was a girl, like they thought. Squished and red and wet. Surprisingly thick, dark hair matted down on her impossibly tiny head. Quieting against her mother’s warmth. Tiny fists curled. Eyes kept closed. He could tell Crocodile’s weeping without seeing her face, as she held their baby close.
Sakazuki couldn't take his eyes off his daughter’s tiny body. Even when one of the nurses lifted the baby from a protesting Crocodile’s grip. “It’ll only be for a moment; we have to make sure everything’s okay with her.” The words were gentle and kind in the face of Crocodile’s whines.
He bumped his head against the side of her face, and she looked at him, eyes watery with unshed tears, “She’s so tiny, Sakazuki. How did we make something that tiny?”
“I don’t know.” He kissed Crocodile, her hand cupping his jaw, thumbing away the tears that she was nice enough not to mention —she’d bring up later, telling him it was cute that he was able to cry when their daughter was born.
The baby was brought back over, placed into Crocodile’s waiting grasp. Swaddled tightly, make soft inquisitive noises, eyes opening cautiously. Sakazuki had expected to see a pale colour that would have likely darkened into a shade of green similar to Crocodile's, but instead their daughter’s eyes are dark, like Sakazuki’s own.
“What are we naming her?” Sakazuki asked, keeping his voice quiet, his finger running over the plump red cheek, moving the edge of the blanket so he could see her face better.
“I was thinking of Luffy.” She whispered, dropping against him more heavily as exhaustion caught up with her.
“Luffy?”
“Mm. Doesn’t mean anything, not yet.”
“A name for her alone?”
Crocodile’s mouth quirked, “Something like that.”
Crocodile offered Luffy to him to hold, and Sakazuki took her, hesitating. He held her carefully, like he was terrified of hurting her. He cradled her so carefully in his large hands, where she looked as small as a kitten. Sakazuki stared down at her, an utterly lovestruck look on his normally stoic face.
The grumpy furrow of his brow eased, content to watch her.
—
When Luffy was a few weeks old, Crocodile told her lover that her father wanted to meet his granddaughter.
Sakazuki, cuddling little Luffy close to his chest, stared at her as though she’d just started speaking in tongues.
“Uh…”
“What was confusing about what I said?” Crocodile grumbled, sitting next to him.
“It’s just, does he know I'm his granddaughter’s father?”
“I’ve told him, yes.” She leaned against his side, resting her hand on Luffy’s back. “His exact words were, ‘I probably won’t like him on principle, but I still want to see my grandbaby.’”
“Oh, well, when you put it like that, how can I refuse?” She smirked at his quiet sarcasm, watching him lift Luffy up his chest, nuzzling his nose into her shockingly thick hair.
—
They meet Whitebeard on some island in the New World. Sakazuki doesn't know whether it had a name or not; all Crocodile had told him was that it was where Whitebeard kept a safe house. Given the need for discretion and privacy when meeting not only his granddaughter, but his daughter’s beau as well, neither of them argued against the meeting place.
Sakazuki had seen Whitebeard before, had fought members of his crew, but he’d never been close enough to be intimidated by the old man’s height.
Not as though Sakazuki was a short man. He wasn’t used to looking up at people. Add in the factor of Whitebeard’s deep glower, and Sakazuki was experiencing something he never had before.
Fear.
He narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth in annoyance. What the hell did he have to be afraid of? It’s not like he had been sleeping with/shacking up with the man’s daughter for four years. And it’s not like he had also gotten said daughter pregnant or anything.
Luffy didn’t seem to mind that her daddy was holding her tight; her only response to the tightening grip was a contented sigh.
Crocodile grinned, hiding the expression behind her hand. Oyaji's glare grew fiercer the longer Sakazuki delayed letting him hold her.
A clash of wills between a proud Papa and a proud Grandpops.
—
Luffy grew up a daddy’s girl.
Unsurprising, really, given her father’s inability to let her go. Whitebeard’s first time meeting his granddaughter was far from the last time Daddy and Oyaji clashed over who got to hold her. And Crocodile just let them argue it out, holding her baby girl in the meantime.
Perhaps she was spoiled, but you’d never know it based on her behaviour. Everyone would always say she was as sweet as sugar, pure sunshine, and an absolute angel.
Whenever this was said about their daughter, Sakazuki and Crocodile had to laugh wildly.
Luffy was chaos incarnate, hidden behind an angel's face. Sengoku had been complaining about the fact that Luffy seemed to live by the idea of “I think I will cause trouble on purpose!” for such a long time that she had hesitated to allow her to join up with the Marines.
Of course, all it had taken to change the Fleet Admiral's mind was Crocodile bringing up the fact that Whitebeard would probably be ecstatic to have his granddaughter join his crew. A simple sentence that had caused Sengoku to begin imagining just how much trouble the demon would cause as part of a Yonko’s crew. The same simple sentence that caused the girl’s father to glower, scowl, and growl at his wife, who had smiled, rather cheekily at him, eyes glittering with amusement.
So, Luffy joined the Marines at sixteen, following her very proud Daddy’s footsteps.
—
Meeting the notorious pirate, Eustass “Captain” Kid, had been pure luck. Luffy was nineteen, on leave with no babysitters, despite her father's agitation about her going to a resort without some companions.
The Fleet Admiral had volunteered her grandson, Captain Trafalgar D. Water Law, only to be shot down by a very angry Akainu. “Your morbid-ass grandkid can keep as far away from my girl as possible. If I find out he’s sniffing around her, I won't hesitate to cut his dick off.”
So, she was by herself, out of uniform, a little bit drunk when she spied him from across the bar, nursing a beer, goggles pushing up spiky red hair and sharp amber eyes tracking her movements. Like a wolf watching its prey.
She smiled at him invitingly. She thought he looked familiar, figuring he probably had a bounty poster circulating. She didn’t care; he was hot, and she was horny.
If they ended up fucking all weekend, well, that was between them.
Except that months later, Law arrested Kid.
Kid was surprised to see Luffy, the hottest chick and the best sex he’d ever had, wearing a captain’s jacket.
Luffy was less surprised to see Kid, happy but a little horrified because her father was standing right there.
“You’re a marine! Shit, I didn’t realize they had any as hot as you!”
Luffy gaped and slapped her hand over his mouth, “Shut up, oh my god, please shut up!” She froze, suddenly very aware that Kid was staring over her shoulder, wide-eyed. She took a peek and smiled sheepishly at Sakazuki.
Sakazuki very calmly grabbed her around the waist and lifted her away from the pirate. Hushing her when she started to protest. In desperation, she shouted, “Kid, run now!”
Sakazuki huffs at her, “Don’t do that.”
“So, I’m just supposed to stay quiet and let you kill a guy I slept with!” Luffy yelled dramatically, held under one of her father’s arms like a misbehaving kitten. Snarling back at her father when he snarled at her.
Kid leaned and whispered to a flabbergasted Law, “Admiral’s daughter or not, you think she’d go out with me if I asked her?"