"But you know what, Pebble?"
Sabo looked at me across the flames while we were sitting on the beach that evening, roasting pieces of bear meat over the fire.
"I didn't know you were that strong."
"We've only known each other for half a day. You'll see much more," I replied with a smile, pleasantly flattered by the admiration in the blond boy's eyes.
"And where will you live? On your ship?"
He was clearly the more level-headed one of the pair, and his concern was absolutely charming. A seven-year-old boy worrying about my accommodations was more than adorable.
"No. If I had to wander to your junkyard every day, I would go mad. There are plenty of big, solid trees in this forest, so I think I'll build a house in one of them."
"A tree house?! Really?!"
Ace spoke to me for the first time in nearly thirty minutes.
While I had already gained an ally in Sabo, my nephew had remained firmly against me. The promise of the voyage still tempted him, but his natural stubbornness forced him to resist as long as possible, and he had decided that silence was the best strategy.
"I want to do that too! I'll live with you! I don't really have anywhere to live anyway! Can I?"
"Tch. I have to stay with Dadan. Grandpa Garp would kill me…"
"Nay, he won't do anything to you," I said calmly.
Ace looked at me with surprise and stopped eating for a moment, which I noticed was one of his favorite activities.
"How do you know? He told me to live here and told Dadan to take care of me."
"Before I came here I had a little chat with him. He agreed that I should take care of you. Do you want his permission in writing?"
"What for? I can't read anyway."
He snorted with complete honesty, unaware that in that very moment I was already considering buying every book in the High Town.
"So… can I live in a tree house with you?"
"Aye, mate. Together with Sabo, of course."
"And nobody will do anything about it?"
"If anyone tries, I'll skin them," I replied with a smile, earning even more admiration. "Sabo, what do you mean you have nowhere to live?"
"Well… because I was born in Grey Terminal and I don't have any parents and I've been living in the forest for two years and it's pretty cool," he said in one breath.
I gave him a mocking look.
He may not have understood the meaning of it, but he sensed that I did not believe him, because he quickly turned his head away, blushing.
"Oi, Pebble."
"Don't call a woman 'oi,' tiger's cub."
A sigh was my only answer.
Then Ace looked at me very seriously.
"What do you think about Gol D. Roger?"
His face shimmered with a thousand emotions—expectation, anger, sadness—and it was obvious that everything depended on my answer.
I was in no hurry.
I had already noticed his reaction earlier when Roger's name had been mentioned, and I suspected that Garp had managed to fill his head with nonsense.
"The best thing is not to think too much about the dead, darling," I murmured vaguely.
But as befits a seven-year-old boy, he demanded details.
"But you know that I'm his son, right? And that the demon's child has devil's luck and they should cut off my head!"
He was speaking nonsense, but the conclusion behind it was obvious. I watched him silently and allowed him to pour everything out.
When the tears finally stole his voice, I made a silent decision.
Everyone who had filled his head with that garbage about death and cursed blood would pay for it.
Regretting life?
Being ashamed of being born?
They would pay dearly.
Even if demons dragged me to hell afterward.
"Listen, Ace. You said you wanted to sail the sea one day…"
I placed the barrel beside me and stretched comfortably on the sand, using my rolled coat as a pillow.
"When you cross the Red Line and reach the other side, you'll hear things about Roger that nobody here in the Blues knows."
The sky sparkled with a million stars.
It was wonderful to lie there, listening to the ocean, watching the sky, and sharing the beach with two seven-year-old boys.
At that moment the meaning of Yangtze's words finally reached me.
They need you.
"Listen carefully and remember what I'm about to tell you. No real pirate will ever speak badly about the King. It was Roger who showed people that they could be free. Anyone who says otherwise deserves to be hanged."
"I…" Ace wiped the tears from his freckled cheeks and sniffed loudly. "I want to be free too."
"Me too!" Sabo shouted happily. "And we'll sail the seas! I'll write a book about it!"
If he wants to become a pirate, you will bless him and make him the greatest child of the sea.
I will, Ed.