"Beware of the Heavenly Dragons and the Navy, Ralagan. Their shadow is falling across your path."
Without another word I left, almost running toward the harbor, and if anyone had stood in my way that day, the Grand Line would have been deprived of Alabasta.
Because once before Yangtze had said almost exactly the same thing.
"Beware of the Navy, Ralagan. Their shadow lies across your road."
Three years later my brother died on the Navy's scaffold.
Moving quietly through the deserted streets of Katorea that night, I felt that something was wrong. The sound of the waves seemed to warn me and summon me at the same time. There was a scent of gunpowder and steel in the air, and the sky over the desert kingdom of Alabasta was already heavy with storm clouds.
Just like during the battle of Edd.
Just like the moment when we faced the mighty fleet of the Golden Lion and trusted only in our luck while watching the coming storm with stoic calm.
Something bad was happening aboard the Banshee, and I was certain of it.
Yet I also knew that whoever stood against me that night—I would win.
But when I reached the harbor and stood on the dock facing a Navy warship, the unease suddenly faded. The waves no longer sounded so threatening.
The Banshee stood intact beside the pier.
Her slender hull, covered with greenish seaweed, rose proudly on the waves, deceptively calm, like a predator hidden beneath the depths waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
There were many soldiers aboard the Navy ship, but they did not look as if they were preparing to land.
Why had they come?
Alabasta had no military problems.
"I knew this legendary ship must belong to someone important," a voice said behind me, "but I didn't expect it to belong to an Emperor."
I turned around.
Garp stood on the platform a few steps away from me, wearing a white uniform and the coat of a Vice Admiral, his hands casually buried in his pockets.
Hero Garp.
The man who had fought the Pirate King countless times.
And never won.
I smiled at him—half nostalgic, half venomous—as if we shared some deep intimacy rather than a history of brutal battles.
"You didn't expect to see me alive," I remarked, looking down at him from my height.
The sailor nodded slightly and looked away.
"You know how it is, Pebble," he said quietly. "I thought you'd follow him soon enough."
"And I didn't. Disappointed?" I snarled.
He laughed without malice.
"Why did you come here?" he asked after a moment.
I tensed immediately, ready for an attack.
"Mind your own course."
"I would," he replied calmly, "but I have my orders. You sailed straight to Alabasta—on the Banshee, the fastest ship in the world." He glanced toward my vessel with admiration. "Fishman Tom did excellent work."
"What do you care, you old fool?" I snapped, raising my voice and spitting to the side with open disgust. "Who do you think you are? Leave me alone and go away while I'm still giving you the chance."
"You are responsible for the brutal murder of six crews—"
He had barely begun speaking formally when I burst into harsh laughter and spat a string of curses.
"And you're going to judge me?" I stepped closer, looking at him from beneath the brim of my hat with a venomous smile. "Come on, Garp. Arrest me. Throw me into Impel Down."
I said the name of the prison with almost pleasurable relish, watching the flicker of horror in the Vice Admiral's eyes.
He knew exactly what I meant. And knowing me, he did not want to provoke anything.
Perhaps he trusted his own strength, but fighting someone who had nothing left to lose was never a safe bet.
"It wasn't the Navy's fault—" he tried to reason with me calmly.
But I straightened violently, my breath hissing through clenched teeth.
"It wasn't the Navy's fault?! You miserable bastard—how dare you say that!"
The atmosphere changed almost instantly.
The wind roared across the harbor, dragging the storm clouds closer, and the waves slammed furiously against the hulls of the ships tied to the docks. The gusts were so strong they nearly tore my hat from my head, and I had to hold it down with one hand while glaring at the stunned Garp.
"You hunted us!" I shouted. "You killed him! And now you're paying the debt you created that day."
"Vice Admiral! A storm is coming! It's heading straight for Katorea!" one of his subordinates shouted.
But I did not take my eyes off Garp's burning gray ones.
He did not know how—but he understood that I had summoned the fury of the ocean.
Even back then he had suspected what I had done. Though perhaps he had never truly believed I would go that far.
Human beings always prefer doubt.
"Stop this, Pebble!" he shouted.
"On one condition," I replied pleasantly.
The wind stopped instantly.
"How could you…? Your Devil Fruit shouldn't allow that—"
"He entrusted the child to you," I growled coldly.
I did not care about his shock. Or his disbelief.
It was none of his business how I knew.
"Yes," Garp snarled. "Because the boy's only aunt was drowning herself in Atlantis."
I took another step forward, ready to give the order to attack and slaughter every Marine present.
"You have no right to speak about where I was or why," I said coldly. "I'm informing you that the child belongs to me. I will raise him myself, so stay away."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?"
The confusion on his face told me everything.
He had no idea how I had learned about the child. And in his mind I was never supposed to know.
In that instant the pieces fell together in my head.
Garp intended to make Roger's son a Marine.
He wanted to give my child to the Navy.
What else could I do but laugh?
This stupid old man had no idea what would happen to Ace if he ever crossed the threshold of Marineford.
"Did I stutter?" I laughed. "I said the boy is mine. Do you hear me?
"Do you have any idea what would happen if someone discovered the truth? They would hang you for treason—and they would torture him to death before wiping his memory clean!"
"I will not allow your damned Navy to take this child away from me. The boy belongs to me!"
I shouted the last words and turned away without waiting for an answer.
And Garp said nothing.
I would even wager that in that moment we both felt a strange thread of understanding between us. In silent agreement he gave up his claim to my nephew, knowing that no harm would come to him.
"Ralagan! He's going to become a Marine!" Garp shouted after me.
I laughed loudly.
"Over my dead fucking body!"