"There is something," she admitted quietly, drawing my attention. "I wonder if Roger never asked you about him."
"About who?"
"His child, Pebble. You have a nephew. Did you truly not know?"
"What?"
I sat down again, staring at the woman, while she leaned back in her chair with that irritating smile of someone who knew more than everyone else. Older, wiser—so she liked to think.
I did not believe her.
And yet something inside me listened to Yangtze.
Hope.
Something vague that I could not quite grasp.
Roger, my brother… had a child?
"Before he went to the scaffold, he came to me," she began, lowering her voice and glancing around cautiously to make sure no one was listening. The information she was about to share was priceless, and it had to remain a secret.
"He knew you would come here sooner or later, so he left a message for you."
I straightened and held my breath, waiting for the next words.
Fragments of my last conversation with Roger drifted through my mind like fog, and I suddenly remembered with astonishment that we had argued more fiercely than ever before.
"He entrusted the child to Garp."
"A Marine?!" I growled, my eyes widening in disbelief.
Yangtze nodded slowly, fixing me with an accusing look.
"He did not have time to look for you. You disappeared like a stone sinking into the sea."
I lowered my head humbly, although a dozen curses about my own stupidity—and Roger's—burned on my tongue.
"He gave the child the best protection he could," she explained patiently, noticing my regret. "But now your time has come, Ralagan."
She leaned closer.
"The child is growing up on the island of Goa in the East Blue. Garp may be a Vice Admiral of the Navy, but hiding the Pirate King's child is both disgraceful and dangerous. If the truth is discovered, he will be lucky if they do not hang him."
Her eyes flashed.
"And as for Roger's son…" Yangtze suddenly grabbed my hand across the table, squeezing it with surprising strength. "They will throw him into Impel Down. They will murder him quietly and bury the truth."
"I won't allow it!"
I jumped to my feet, ready to sail to the East Blue immediately.
"Make him happy," she said calmly. "That is what Roger ordered."
I was already opening the door, ready to obey my captain's final command, when suddenly I stopped.
My lips tightened.
I turned back to the old woman.
"How? My pact with Jones binds me to the ocean. The Banshee needs a captain."
I emphasized the last sentence.
Yangtze sighed deeply, almost with pity.
I looked at her.
And suddenly I understood.
"You can do something," I said slowly, forcing a smile that never reached my eyes. "You are an ambitious old woman. I may have beaten the devil in a game… but you…" I leaned forward slightly. "You want to trick him."
Not long after our conversation, the Banshee left the port of Katorea.
Within a few weeks spent in Alabasta I began receiving reports that the Navy had seized several of my islands. I did not particularly object. The Navy was still preferable to some random pirate crew, and I planned to reclaim those islands after visiting Goa.
Moreover, the recent massacres committed by my crew had not escaped the attention of the World Government, and I was certain that sooner or later they would demand explanations—and payment—for the victims.
I suspected that the last naval patrol had already placed the final nail in my coffin.
Someone would follow my trail eventually.
Which meant I had to leave the Grand Line.
Unfortunately, I was trapped in the harbor.
Yangtze needed time to deal with my contract.
It would take even more time and effort to deceive Jones—although personally I doubted that such a thing was even possible.
But all of that paled in comparison to the knowledge that I had a nephew.
In my mind I already called him my son.
Thoughts about him consumed me completely.
I imagined his childhood.
The future I would give him as the greatest pirate in the world.
I imagined what he looked like.
And in my thoughts I repeated the name Roger had given him.
Ace.
Five years of drinking had passed since Roger's death, but I hoped somehow the child would forgive me.
Surely Garp had placed him somewhere safe, among people who loved him.
After all, he was my brother's son.
A little pirate prince.
By birth alone he deserved respect and admiration.
I wondered what he liked.
What he did.
What his voice sounded like.
What his eyes looked like.
What interested him.
And whether he would love the ocean as much as we had loved it.
"I will take him," I thought while sitting before the fireplace in Yangtze's house, while the old woman searched through dusty books written by gods knew who about gods knew what. "We will live together. I will teach him how to sail and navigate, show him the depths of the ocean and the power of the whole world. He will learn to fight for what he loves and believes in."
"He will be the best."
I promised myself that.
Meanwhile Yangtze muttered quietly over her books.
The waiting irritated me. It dragged on endlessly, and the old woman barely spoke.
She did not say what I should do, or whether there was anything I could do at all. So I wandered aimlessly around Katorea. Eventually I even considered conquering the city and making it my headquarters. But before I could take the first step, Yangtze ordered me to leave.
"You said you have enough souls to pay this year's debt."
"Well, I do. Those beasts kill everyone without hesitation."
"Then bring them to the devil," she whispered. "Pay him… and sail to Goa."
She shrugged.
"During the journey you will gather part of the next payment. Then you can sail across the Blues. It will always bring you closer to the child."
She placed a dusty volume bound in dark leather on the table.
"The devil does not interfere in your affairs. As long as you pay your debt, he will not touch you."
She rose from her chair and began wandering through the rooms, her taffeta skirts rustling as she searched through talismans, bracelets, bones, and various small objects.
From this strange collection she selected three medallions hanging on long cords and pressed them into my hand.
"Go, Ralagan. There is no time!"
"What are you talking about? Why do I need these?"
She pushed me through the hallway toward the door, while I watched in confusion as she forced my coat onto my shoulders and muttered to herself.
"Yangtze—!"
"Pay your debt and sail to Goa. They need you," she snapped, pushing me outside.
I straightened myself, took my hat from her hands, and turned to leave, realizing that her mood was not simply one of her strange whims.
Before I could take my first step, Yangtze suddenly grabbed my wrist and forced me to turn back toward her.
"Beware of the Heavenly Dragons and the Navy, Ralagan. Their shadow is already falling across your path."