"Rouge?!"
Roger's pupils contracted sharply.
There was no mistaking it. The freckles on the youth's face, the name that matched his sword, the surname Portgas, and the island of Baterilla—it all pointed to one truth.
Suddenly, Roger burst out in wild excitement, shouting, "That's my son?!"
Buggy & Shanks: "Eh?! Captain's son?!"
"Why is he all grown up already?!"
Rayleigh looked at the frenzied Roger, deep in thought.
"Maybe… that's the future."
"That youth had Whitebeard's symbol on his back. He must be one of Whitebeard's crew. But we've never heard of any new recruits on his ship."
"And look—Garp's hair is completely white now. That's definitely not the present."
Still… so Ace had some kind of connection to Garp?
Did the Captain entrust his child to Garp in the end?
Rayleigh, fully aware of Roger's physical condition back then, could more or less guess the truth.
Jabba, sitting cross-legged on the bed, sighed.
"So the Captain really did make it to the end of the Grand Line after all."
Otherwise, why would his son be targeted like this? Why would the Marines make such a spectacle of a public execution?
Though, to be honest, the Captain's son looked like he was in rough shape...
Back in the same era, Whitebeard laughed his booming "Gurararara!"
"Looks like that's your future little brother, huh?"
Meanwhile, in the present timeline.
On Whitebeard's ship, the crew were fuming in disbelief.
"What the hell is that old man Sengoku saying?!"
"Yeah! What's he mean, talking about Ace's parents like that?"
"Oi, Oyaji, do you know what's going on?" Bista turned and asked.
Whitebeard let out another belly laugh. "Gurarara~ Ace told me about his past. But it doesn't matter. We're all children of the sea."
["That woman defied all conventional wisdom. Out of pure love for her child, she kept him in her womb for twenty whole months."]
["And the moment she gave birth to you, she died from the strain."]
Ace's fists clenched tightly behind his back.
["One year and three months after your father's death, a baby was born—carrying the most cursed bloodline in the world."]
["That baby… is you."]
Sengoku's voice was cold, firm.
["You must've known."]
["Your father is… Gol D. Roger, the Pirate King!"]
Silence.
The entire world went still.
It was as if everyone's brains had short-circuited, temporarily shutting down from sheer shock.
Ace's teeth clenched hard, veins bulging from his forehead.
He was disgusted—furious.
The very thing he had always hated people bringing up… had now been made public to all.
In Impel Down, the current Ace reacted exactly as the Ace on the screen had—down to the smallest twitch.
Sengoku, however…
The revelation he had planned to deliver himself had just been scooped by the screen.
The loss of control over such sensitive information gnawed at him.
On Whitebeard's ship, the crew exploded into a storm of voices.
Especially among the Spade Pirates, whose eyes widened in disbelief.
Ace… was the son of their enemy?
The Pirate King?!
[Edward Newgate: Gurararara~ So what? Ace is my son. We're all sons of the sea—Pirate King or Emperor, none of that matters. Ace is still Ace! Holding sons accountable for their fathers' sins is pure foolishness, Sengoku!]
[Monkey D. Luffy: Hey! You pigeon-headed guy in the video! Don't say stuff like that in front of Ace! You'll make him mad!]
[Marco: Ace's big bro is a funny guy, yoi. But still, it's okay, yoi. Whether Ace is the Pirate King's son or anyone else's, he's family to us.]
[Gecko Moria: Gihihihi~ So he's the real son? That's a miracle. Anyone related to Roger should've been wiped out back then.]
[Usopp: Nani?! Luffy, you and Ace are brothers, right? So does that mean… your dad is also the Pirate King? Huh? Wait… that doesn't sound right.]
[Franky: Awooo~ I remember Luffy's dad was some super badass too! But not the Pirate King, right?]
The Straw Hats' ridiculous logic made everyone dizzy.
They vaguely remembered something about Luffy's lineage… but the actual names escaped them.
[Monkey D. Luffy: Oh, that? Ace and I have different dads. Mine's Dragon. Ace's dad is Roger.]
[Nami: You idiots! Don't talk about that here!!!]
[Usopp: Yeah, Luffy, it's your fault! That was supposed to be a secret! We're doomed! Are we gonna get silenced by the World Government?!]
[Nico Robin: There's also a chance we'll be hunted down. Or sunk to the bottom of the sea.]
[Usopp: AAAAAHHH ROBIN, don't say scary stuff like that with such a calm face!]
With their usual banter, the Straw Hats somehow managed to steer the conversation completely off-track.
[Emporio Ivankov: Hold up! Straw Hat Boy's dad is Dragon? Which Dragon?!]
[Sengoku: Looks like it's all been exposed now. Yes—our investigations confirmed it. Portgas D. Ace is the son of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. And Straw Hat Luffy, sworn brother of Ace, is the son of Dragon—the most dangerous criminal in the world, the leader of the Revolutionary Army!]
[Donquixote Doflamingo: Fufufufufufu~ The most infamous criminal of the past, and the most wanted criminal of the present… and their sons became sworn brothers? Oh, now this is interesting—fufufufu!]
At the Revolutionary Army base.
Sabo had just returned from a mission when he saw the screen—and froze.
"Wait—what?! The Chief has a son?!"
Everyone turned to look at their leader.
Dragon nodded calmly. "Yes. He's my son."
"EH?!"
The group scrambled to dig out Straw Hat Luffy's bounty poster.
"…Doesn't look anything like him," someone whispered.
Sabo stared at the smiling face on the poster for a long time.
Without even realizing it, his expression softened into something gentle and affectionate.
"He seems like a sweet kid…"
There was… a sense of deep familiarity.
The name Portgas D. Ace too—both his name and face triggered something deep inside Sabo's memory.
A fragment of a conversation flashed through his mind:
"Luffy, promise me you'll stay normal."
"I will."
The kid had answered seriously, then pushed open a door.
"Hey, Ace, so your dad was Roger, huh?"
"…Luffy..."
Were they the ones?
And what was his connection to all this?
Sabo found himself lost in thought.
Back in the Shinobi World.
The Chūnin Exams in Konoha had been suspended.
Orochimaru's invasion plan had to be postponed. It wasn't time yet—and with the village on high alert, it would be risky to act now. Tsunade was reportedly returning too. If she arrived early, things could go south quickly.
Naruto had just finished practicing the Rasengan—though he hadn't even managed to burst the water balloon yet—when Jiraiya dragged everyone to Ichiraku Ramen.
"Watching a movie should be done with food!"
That's right. They were completely treating the screen like a movie.
"Pirate King… sounds like a pretty bad guy," Naruto muttered, brows furrowed. "But…"
"…Is a bad guy's son also a bad guy?"
"…That can't be right."
Kakashi happened to arrive then, while Sasuke stood nearby, visibly distracted.
Kakashi, however, understood.
It was the same as what his father had gone through.
The slander, the whispers—how the world punished those who hadn't done anything wrong.
Just like Naruto, who had suffered all his life for being the Jinchūriki.
Sometimes… it wasn't the child's sin.
It was the world's need to vent its hatred.
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100 P.S = 1 Extra Chapter