The day before Luffy left Twin Capes.
On a remote island, several people shouted at the sight of a single man who had appeared there.
"It's Hawk's Eye!"
"What are you doing here?!"
Hawk's Eye, Dracule Mihawk.
His arrival threw the place into chaos.
"I'm not interested in you, so stop making such a racket."
"Where are Red Hair and his officers?"
After saying that, one man quietly and quickly stepped deeper into the forest.
"A camp on a deserted island like this... You're as carefree as ever."
Mihawk followed after the man who had gone into the woods, and the others could not stop him, forced to part out of his way.
By then, the man who had entered the forest was facing Shanks and his officers, who were seated on the ground.
"Hawk's Eye?"
"Y-Yes, Captain!"
"He's behind you."
"Behind...? Gah!"
Mihawk had already come up behind the man.
Shanks looked up at him with a fierce expression and spoke.
"Well, well~. We've got a rare guest."
"But I'm in a terrible mood right now... Did you come to settle things again?"
"I gave up on settling things with a one-armed man a long time ago."
"I found an interesting pirate, and when I heard what you used to say all the time, I came here."
"About that interesting kid from some little village."
"That story... Don't tell me?!"
Mihawk took a sheet of paper from inside his coat and walked over, and Shanks, now standing, took it from him.
Seeing that, the other officers also approached Shanks and looked at the paper in his hand.
""Hahahahahaha!!!""
Everyone who saw the paper, including Shanks, burst out laughing.
"Luffy's first bounty is incredible!"
"We knew he was something special from the start!"
"Hey! Bring the booze! It's a party!"
"Where'd the guy who was just whining about his hangover go?"
"Shut up, Beck! If we don't drink on a day like this, when will we?!"
"Hey, Hawk's Eye! You should stay and drink too!"
Amid the rising excitement, Shanks looked down at the paper Mihawk had handed him and murmured, "So it's begun, Luffy."
*****
At Marine Headquarters, in the large conference room.
Along the long table in the spacious room, Marine officers sat in a row, and at the head seat at the far end sat Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
Across from Sengoku, several wanted posters were hung on the wall, and beside them stood a man with black sunglasses and a green afro, speaking.
"Even in East Blue, which is called the weakest sea because its average bounty is three million berries, anyone over ten million is treated as a major figure outside the Grand Line."
"The clown Buggy, with a bounty of 15 million; Captain Kuro, a pirate believed to have been captured by the Marines but who was actually still alive, with 16 million; Admiral Krieg, with 17 million; and even the saw-toothed Arlong, with 20 million... All the major figures of East Blue were defeated by a single pirate."
"That all happened in just one month, and on top of that, he's recently been in contact with Pirate Empress Boa Hancock, one of the Warlords of the Sea!"
"Anyone with half a brain knows the two of them have had a connection for a long time, Rear Admiral Brannew."
"Ahem, that is true, Admiral Akainu."
"Is there anyone here who doesn't know that brat? There's no need to introduce him like he's someone we're seeing for the first time."
At Akainu's words, the atmosphere among most of the officers grew restless, and Brannew spoke again.
"Yes... As most of you know, Monkey D. Luffy is Vice Admiral Garp's grandson and was formerly affiliated with the Marines."
"According to Coby, who was once his subordinate and is now a colonel at Headquarters, he is known to have declared that he would become a pirate."
"Aside from property damage, the crimes he committed include assaulting Colonel Nezumi and his men from the branch office that colluded with Arlong. However, as mentioned earlier, Brigadier General Prinprin of the branch office testified that those actions were for the purpose of saving lives."
"Thus, the only proper criminal charges are assaulting Colonel Coby and his men, and property damage... However, at the request of Fleet Admiral Sengoku, Vice Admiral Garp, and Admiral Akainu, we have decided to set his bounty based not on the severity of his crimes, but solely on his current strength."
"Taking into account the strength and growth rate he showed even when he was in the Marines, at the young age of fifteen, the bounty has been determined."
"Monkey D. Luffy's bounty is... 100 million berries!"
"O-One hundred million?!"
"That's an absurd amount."
"And it's his first bounty?"
"Still, Arlong was an officer in the Sun Pirates under Fisher Tiger, so 20 million was way too low."
"Even so, isn't 100 million too much?"
As Luffy's bounty was set at an enormous amount, the room grew noisy with the officers' chatter, and one officer even stood up and addressed Brannew.
"Rear Admiral Brannew, even a first bounty exceeding ten million berries would mark someone as a major figure."
"The 80 million berry first bounty of Boa Hancock, whom you just mentioned, was already an extremely unusual case."
"Considering that, 100 million is far too much...!"
"That's enough."
"Fleet Admiral..."
"That was the last item for this meeting, was it not, Rear Admiral Brannew?"
"Y-Yes, sir, Fleet Admiral."
"Everyone except Akainu, leave."
"Then... we'll conclude the meeting with that final matter."
Many of the officers seemed to have more to say, but at Sengoku's words they stood and began to leave the room.
After Brannew left last, the door closed, and the only people left in the room were the two at the table and one more man seated on the sofa in the corner, making three in total.
"Puhahahahaha!!!"
"Why are you still here, Garp?! Get out, you eyesore!"
"His first bounty is 100 million? Does that even make sense?"
"Don't laugh! We're talking about your grandson!"
"So, are you going to keep the promise I asked for?"
"Haa... Fine. He's got a bounty now, but the Marines have decided not to arrest Luffy unless I order it or some special situation arises."
"If a battle becomes necessary, you'll need Headquarters' approval."
"Approval from Headquarters to fight pirates? That's the kind of treatment reserved for Yonko or people on that level."
"You're the one who asked for it!"
"It was something Luffy asked me for back then."
"He said it offhandedly, that if he ever ended up becoming a pirate because he had his own reasons, he didn't want to fight the Marines, so I should help him then."
"Back then I just gave him a flick on the forehead and told him not to talk nonsense... But now I see he said it with this situation in mind."
"Luffy's a thoughtful kid."
"And that thoughtful kid's idea of a future is to become a pirate?"
"So what? Luffy isn't the kind of guy who'd steal from innocent people or kill them."
"By the way, according to Coby, that Hancock girl said something about boarding Luffy's ship... Can a Warlord of the Sea even do that?"
"It's forbidden to become the subordinate of another pirate, and it's also forbidden for a Warlord to form an alliance with pirates other than the Warlords."
"If that's true, then she'll be stripped of her title... But first we'll need to contact Amazon Lily and confirm the facts."
"By the way, why are you so quiet now that Luffy's become a pirate? I thought you'd be the most worked up of all..."
"...I'm not qualified to say anything."
Garp leaned his head and upper body back against the sofa and continued.
"From the middle on, he did it because he wanted to, but I was the one who forced him into the Marines when he hated it at first."
"And then I wasn't there beside Luffy when he was at his hardest."
"As a Marine senior and as a grandfather, I failed in both responsibilities. What right do I have to say anything to Luffy?"
"The world isn't so easy that every parent can be by their child's side when they're needed most."
Sengoku's voice was subdued as he spoke to Garp.
The gap left by the suppression of his usual sharp intensity was filled with a sorrow whose source could not be known.
"Ahem. In any case, since we've set his bounty that high, even if he doesn't need to fight the Marines, the chances of him running into major players have gone up."
"He won't be traveling alone, so if he doesn't want to get the people around him hurt, he should go back to being a Marine on his own."
"If things could all work out that neatly, it would be nice..."
"Sengoku-san."
"Ah, Akainu... Sorry to keep you waiting because of Garp."
"What did you want to speak about separately?"
"I had intended to say it directly, but... what I just said to Garp was everything."
"I kept you waiting because I wanted to hear your opinion on it."
"...Proceed as you see fit."
"Is that all right? I thought you'd object."
"He said he'd become the Pirate King, didn't he... Then eventually he'll have to pass near Marine Headquarters."
"I'll take action myself then. That will be enough."
"I understand what you mean. You may leave now."
"Then..."
Akainu said that, picked up a sheet of paper from the table, and stood up.
Then, as he opened the conference room door and walked out, he turned his head back.
"Ah, Garp-san."
"What is it, Akainu?"
"I may not owe anything to you, Garp-san, but I still... have a responsibility to bear as a teacher."
"I'll settle the matter with my wayward disciple myself."
"By whatever means necessary."
With those words, Akainu closed the door and left the conference room.
Afterward, Garp stared at the closed door for a long while before finally speaking.
"Responsibility as a teacher, huh... Not a bad relationship."
"You should worry about your own disciple, Kuzan."
At the time the two were speaking, Akainu was looking in a certain direction from a window in the corridor.
There, atop the wall surrounding Orius Square, was a place now cast in shadow.
"Around this time... that spot was in shadow."
Akainu recalled Luffy lying atop the wall where his gaze had been directed in the past.
Back then, Luffy had been lying on the shadowed wall, and Akainu himself had been standing behind him.
*****
"Taking another break, Luffy?"
"What the hell do you want now, old man?"
"I said I'd train you when you came back from your mission, didn't I?"
"I just got back, so cut me some slack."
"...Fine."
"That's unexpected."
"If you don't like it, get up."
"...It feels nice being back here after so long, all mellow and lazy. Let's just rest together."
Without a word, Akainu stepped into the shadow and sat down beside the reclining Luffy.
From atop the wall, the Headquarters harbor and the warships moored there stretched out in a line.
It was always a noisy place, with countless Marines coming and going, but that day the harbor was unusually empty, and not even the smallest sound could be heard.
The blue sea extending beyond the harbor to the horizon was calm, and clear sunlight shimmered and rippled across its surface.
Meanwhile, beneath the shadow, the two of them felt a tranquility as though all their worries had drifted away beyond the sea.
"Old man, do you know why I always act so contrary?"
"Because you're a hopeless brat."
"...I have nightmares sometimes."
"I have them often, and the memories in them are too vivid."
"What does that have to do with you acting disrespectful to me all the time?"
"In my dreams, I was an orphan living in an orphanage. I didn't even have a grandfather."
"When I was little, the only things I heard from the people at the orphanage were, 'Why are you acting like that?', 'Don't do that,' and 'Don't talk back.'"
"The memories from school were always the same too. I'd beat up the kids who called me an orphan."
"Every time that happened, the teacher would make me lie face-down and swing a stick at me, and on top of that he'd say, 'Why are you acting up when you don't even have parents?'"
Luffy vividly imagined, one by one, the things he had experienced in his nightmares.
At the time, Luffy had not recalled the memories of his previous life, and the fragments of those memories he felt so vividly in his dreams were treated like nightmares.
"So when you say things like, 'Why are you acting like that?', 'Don't do that,' or 'Don't talk back,' something starts boiling up inside me and I end up rebelling."
"Of course, that was true with my grandfather too."
"Who the hell did that to you?"
He looked down at the reclining Luffy with an expression filled with anger and said, "I'm telling you, it wasn't something I actually experienced."
"I'm saying I had those reactions because I dreamed about things I'd never actually gone through."
"If anything, it's more like a kind of delusion."
"...I only said what was necessary to teach you."
"I'm not blaming you, old man."
"The things you and Grandpa said to me were different from those."
"I really felt like you were saying them for my sake."
"..."
"Anyway, what I wanted to say is... heave-ho!"
Luffy stood up from the ground, turned his body around, and continued speaking.
"I'm always grateful, so don't get hurt just because I mouth off at you... that's all I mean."
"I'm not so weak that I'd be hurt by the likes of you."
"Then that's good."
Luffy turned around, looked down at Akainu, who was seated there, and smiled as he went on.
"Then let's go train now."
*****
As the Luffy in his memory said that and went down from the wall, Akainu once again gazed at the sea spread out before him for a long while.
If there was one thing that had changed about him since then, it was not only the place where he stood, but also his relationship with his disciple.
"Luffy..."
The moment he called Luffy's name, the wanted poster in Akainu's hand instantly blackened, burned away, and turned to ash.
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