"All right, quit worrying about it."
Garp patted Ace on the head and spoke in an unusually gentle voice.
"Here. Put this on."
Then he produced a full Marine uniform.
The instant Ace saw it, unpleasant memories of what had happened back in Alabasta flashed through his mind.
He immediately shook his head.
"No way."
Garp actually looked a little apologetic.
"Well, this old man hasn't taken care of you in a long time, so I thought I'd wash your clothes for you."
"But I might've used a little too much force…"
He glanced toward the nearby pile of fabric that had been thoroughly shredded in the wash.
"So you'll have to make do with a Marine uniform."
"I'm not wearing that!"
Ace pouted.
"I normally go around shirtless anyway. I don't need a jacket. Just give me some pants."
Garp scratched his head and gave an awkward laugh.
"About that…"
"Your pants are gone too."
His eyes drifted toward another pile of ruined cloth.
Ace immediately became alarmed.
"What about my underwear? You didn't wash that too, did you?"
"You mean your briefs?"
Garp shook his head.
"Of course I didn't wash those."
"But if you want Grandpa to wash them for you, I don't mind."
"I DO MIND! I'll wash those myself!"
Ace's face reddened from sheer embarrassment.
"And why did every single piece of clothing you touched get destroyed?!"
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
"You just wanted me to wear this Marine uniform!"
"Can't you fulfill your grandpa's little dream for once?"
Garp suddenly looked pitiful.
"And I really didn't do it deliberately."
"Worst case, we'll stop by a town in a few days and buy you some new clothes."
That part was actually true.
Garp had genuinely, completely accidentally destroyed Ace's clothes while washing them.
Of course, wanting to see Ace in a Marine uniform was also a completely genuine desire.
When Ace saw the old man giving him such a miserable, almost abandoned look, he ultimately could not bring himself to refuse.
He took the uniform.
Garp's entire demeanor changed instantly.
"YES! THAT'S WHAT I WANTED!"
He whipped out a camera and immediately began taking picture after picture.
Click! Click! Click!
Ace stared at him.
All right.
That pitiful expression had definitely been fake.
Still…
Whatever.
He could indulge the old man this once.
He was his grandpa, after all.
With that thought, Ace turned his attention toward Smoker and resumed sparring with him.
Meanwhile, Trafalgar Law's submarine remained submerged beneath the sea, quietly following their warship.
Garp sat off to the side drinking tea and happily flipping through the photos on his camera.
He had already sent Tama and Tashigi back to Sphinx Island ahead of them.
The others were currently heading toward Hachinosu, and Garp had deliberately kept that detail from Tama because he did not want her worrying.
With nothing else to occupy his time, he could only read the newspaper, take pictures of Ace wearing a Marine uniform, and occasionally train Ace and Smoker.
Then his eyes landed on two words printed in the paper.
En-chan.
Pfft!
Garp sprayed tea everywhere.
"What the hell is an En-chan?!"
His eyes widened in disbelief.
"Cain has an older sister?!"
He immediately tried to contact Cain and demand an explanation.
Garp had been stuck in Wano recently, where information from the outside world was slow to arrive.
On top of that, Sengoku and the others had deliberately kept the whole En-chan situation from him.
After all, if that old man learned about it, he would absolutely charge straight into Uta's concert and make a spectacle of himself.
So everyone had silently agreed not to tell him.
Garp had only discovered the story now.
But when he tried to call Cain, he realized something else.
The Den Den Mushi he normally used to contact him was missing.
Garp searched the entire warship from top to bottom.
Nothing.
Only then did he finally remember.
He seemed to have left the damn thing aboard Smoker's warship.
"No good."
"I'd better tell Sengoku…"
…
Several days later, on an island in the Calm Belt…
After spending quite some time traveling, Cain finally arrived to pick up Ace and Luffy.
Almost the instant he reached the island, Luffy sensed his presence.
"It really is Cain!"
Luffy burst out of the jungle.
He did not even wait for Cain to say hello.
His arm stretched backward in an instant, rubber tension building until it was pulled taut. Flames erupted around his fist, heat rolling through the air.
"Come on! I'll show you how much stronger I've gotten!"
"This time, I'm not losing!"
"Gum-Gum—Fire Fist Gun!"
The blazing fist tore toward Cain's face, carrying a fierce gust of wind with it.
Cain raised an eyebrow.
Interest immediately lit up in his eyes, and an amused smile appeared on his face.
He had never forgotten that the fastest way to make Luffy improve was to give him a proper beating every now and then.
And there was no better whetstone than Thunder Bagua.
Faced with the incoming fist, Cain neither dodged nor blocked.
He simply stood there and took it head-on.
BOOM!
Flames exploded.
The shockwave blasted outward, scattering dirt and dust in every direction.
Yet such a powerful attack only pushed Cain backward by a single centimeter.
Nothing more.
"Oh?"
Cain chuckled.
"Opening with the traditional Emperor greeting, huh?"
"Guess I should answer properly."
His right hand tightened around his weapon.
Pale purple lightning instantly wrapped around it.
Threads of Conqueror's Haki flowed along the weapon as an oppressive presence quietly spread through the area.
Luffy's pupils shrank.
Memories of being absolutely dominated by this exact move flashed through his mind.
Danger screamed through every instinct he had.
Without daring to underestimate it, Luffy immediately concentrated Armament Haki over his head and prepared to endure the blow.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Cain swung.
Purple lightning and Conqueror's Haki crashed directly into Luffy's face.
BANG!
Luffy had no chance whatsoever to resist.
His body traced a beautiful arc through the air before disappearing straight back into the jungle and crashing heavily into the undergrowth.
Then there was silence.
Cain lowered his weapon and stared in the direction Luffy had vanished.
He scratched his chin.
'Crap.'
'Why did I aim for the head again?'
'That was a mistake.'
'Still, I only used a tiny bit of Conqueror's Haki.'
'And I kept the physical strength down to about eighty percent…'
'Luffy should be fine, right?'
Before Cain could think any further, a furious woman's scream nearly pierced the sky above the entire island.
"LUFFY!!!"
"WHO DID THIS?!"
Cain's mouth twitched violently.
'Oh, crap.'
It seemed he had just angered someone extremely troublesome.
A moment later, Hancock burst out of the forest.
Before Cain could say anything, Armament Haki had already wrapped around her leg as she launched a vicious kick straight at him.
"You dare hurt my Luffy?!"
"DIE!"
Cain had absolutely no interest in getting tangled up with this obsessive woman.
He knew perfectly well that if he actually started fighting her, it would never end.
So he immediately dodged and ran.
He had only taken a few steps when he nearly crashed into Rayleigh, who was strolling leisurely toward them.
Rayleigh was carrying Luffy, whom he had apparently just pulled out of the bushes.
Cain took one look at him and went silent.
A gigantic lump had swollen on top of Luffy's head.
His face was bright red, his eyes had rolled back, and drool hung from the corner of his mouth.
He was very clearly unconscious from a single blow.
Cain rubbed his nose.
'Okay.'
'Maybe that was a little too hard.'
Rayleigh looked at the scene and shook his head helplessly, though there was obvious amusement in his eyes.
He watched Cain standing there while Hancock repeatedly smacked him in the back of the head and laughed.
"You've been training with Shanks for quite a while now."
"Do you really have no idea how much stronger you've gotten?"
"There was no way Luffy was going to stay conscious after taking a hit like that."
"So that's…"
Cain sounded genuinely surprised.
"…how it is."
Without him even realizing it, he had already become that strong?
Another impact rattled the back of his skull.
Hancock was still hitting him.
Cain finally lost patience.
"Instead of standing here beating me, shouldn't you be treating Luffy?!"
"This is a rare chance for you to personally take care of him!"
Hancock immediately stopped.
"Hmph!"
"I shall deal with you later."
Then her entire expression transformed.
Her voice became so sweet it practically dripped honey.
"My darling~! I'm coming to tend to you now!"
Cain stared after her speechlessly.
Then he turned toward Rayleigh.
"What about Ace?"
With all that noise, Ace should have appeared by now.
Rayleigh blinked.
"Ace went back to the New World."
"Didn't he tell you?"
"He left with Garp."
"…What?"
Cain froze.
When he had left, Uta had told him the wedding was only a week away.
Getting here had already taken two and a half days.
If he had to go searching for Ace now, there was no chance he would make it back in time.
He had originally planned to surprise both Ace and Luffy.
Instead, Ace had surprised him.
'I really should've called before coming all the way here.'
Going to Whitebeard's territory now was completely unrealistic.
All Cain could do was rely on the Den Den Mushi network and hope someone knew where Ace was.
He called Marco first.
Marco explained that he had only recently returned to Sphinx Island from Wano.
Ace and Garp were nowhere to be found, and he had no idea where they had gone.
There was, however, apparently a female swordsman and a little girl staying on the island now.
Marco had asked them too.
Neither knew where Garp and Ace had gone.
Cain sighed.
Then he tried calling Garp.
Unexpectedly, the instant the call connected, Sengoku's voice came through.
"So this is why that bastard Garp insisted that I find this Den Den Mushi!"
"This is what he uses to contact you?!"
"How long have you two been secretly plotting things behind our backs?!"
Click!
Cain instantly hung up.
His heart nearly jumped out of his chest.
'How does Grandpa manage to lose everything he touches?'
Technically, he could contact Garp through Sengoku.
But this involved Shanks.
Better not let the Marines know anything about it.
Cain had no choice but to try Garp's official Marine Den Den Mushi instead.
Someone answered.
But the voice that came through belonged to Yasopp.
"So it's you, Cain!"
At that moment, Yasopp was rowing with both hands.
After an exhausting journey, he had finally managed to return to Red Hair territory when Cain's call came through.
"What's going on, Yasopp?"
Cain was thoroughly confused.
"Why do you have my grandpa's Den Den Mushi?"
Yasopp's temper immediately exploded.
"That damn old man forgot to take it back from me!"
"How is that my fault?!"
"And why are you looking for him anyway?"
"Oh."
Cain paused.
"Well, it's about Shanks."
"And actually, I should probably tell you too…"
"Your captain is getting married."
There was silence.
Cain suddenly remembered that Yasopp was, in fact, a member of the Red Hair Pirates, so telling him was only reasonable.
After thinking about it, however, he added,
"You won't make it here in time anyway, so don't bother coming."
"And remember, don't tell anyone about this."
"The whole thing has to stay secret."
"Actually, even the fact that Shanks is getting married has to stay secret."
"Okay, bye!"
"WAIT! YOU DAMN BRAT, EXPLAIN WHAT YOU—"
Pururururu…
Cain hung up.
Yasopp could only throw his head back and howl at the heavens.
Why the hell had he ever gone to Water 7 in the first place?!
He had already missed the opening of Uta's concert.
Fine.
Then he missed the East Blue concert too.
Along the way, he had gotten dragged into one disaster after another.
At first, he had even congratulated himself for going to Water 7 because it meant escaping the crew's month-long drinking punishment.
In the end, he had not escaped anything.
They had forced several barrels of alcohol down his throat anyway.
Then he reached Wano, barely had time to rest, and Garp started firing cannonballs at him.
Yasopp had been forced to row all the way back to Red Hair territory with his own two hands.
And now—
He was going to miss his own captain's wedding too?!
Worse, he was not even allowed to tell anyone about it!
Was there no justice left in this world?
Why was he always the one getting screwed?!