"Ararara~ Ace, look, it's Grandpa!"
Garp made a silly face at the one-year-old Ace, but Ace just responded with an oddly disgusted expression.
Due to Michael's intervention, Ace wasn't born after an extended twenty-month pregnancy but was delivered at a normal time.
So, compared to the original timeline, Ace was born a full year earlier.
"Grandpa, ugly."
"Ahahaha! What a funny little guy you are!"
Garp firmly rubbed Ace's small head. Kids speak from the heart! Kids speak from the heart!
"Father, Admiral Sengoku is here."
Rouge's voice came from outside the courtyard. Garp looked up and saw Sengoku pushing open the door.
Sengoku wasn't wearing his Marine uniform but a standard-issue white suit given internally.
"Have you lost your mind? It's been a full month since Michael received his medal, and all you've done is sit at home playing with your grandson! No one expects much from you at G-3, but could you at least show your face at Marine Headquarters once in a while?"
"Hmph! A dried-up old bachelor like you could never understand the joy of spending time with family!"
"Try remembering your real job before you go around pretending to be a loving grandpa, you senile bastard!"
Sengoku barked at Garp a few more times, clearly venting some pent-up frustration. Then he sat down beside him.
He extended a finger and gently poked Ace on the cheek.
At that moment, two people who were supposed to be enemies met for the very first time in an oddly peaceful encounter.
Sengoku moved cautiously—after all, he'd never handled an infant before.
Even when he'd taken in Rosinante and Michael, they were already too old to be called babies.
"Hey hey hey, your finger's thicker than Ace's arm." Garp brushed Sengoku's hand away in annoyance.
"You didn't just come here to yell at me, did you?"
"Yell at you? I could kill you right now!" Sengoku's frustration flared again. "Your wonderful son, Monkey D. Dragon, has formed some so-called Freedom Fighters after leaving the Marines! And now he's overthrown the government of an entire kingdom!"
"W-What? I knew the Freedom Fighters got involved in the Sorbet Kingdom's civil war, but you're telling me that a bunch of protesters managed to overthrow a regime?!"
Garp was visibly shocked by Sengoku's words.
He knew how strong his son was, but bringing down a country wasn't something strength alone could accomplish.
Even someone like Kaido needed to install a puppet regime to rule Wano.
The Sorbet Kingdom was one of the stronger nations in the South Blue. It was also one of the most vocal opponents of abolishing slavery and the abolition of human trafficking, heavily inspired by the Celestial Dragons.
And now, this kind of country was suddenly... just gone?
Sengoku, of course, knew that the kingdom's ruler was a tyrant. He knew the actions of that regime had nothing to do with "justice."
But for the sake of balance and "relative peace," he had to turn a blind eye under orders from the World Government.
If he were speaking only from a personal perspective, he would even say Dragon did the right thing.
But... he was an Admiral—currently the highest decision-maker in the Navy.
He could not tolerate the existence of the Freedom Fighters.
"I'm here to inform you: from today, Monkey D. Dragon will be on the Marines' wanted list."
"The bounty... is one billion Belly."
Sengoku expected Garp to be shocked—or even furious—at this news. But his old comrade didn't even lift his head.
He paused, then suddenly recalled something about Garp's personality...
"Zzzzz..."
Staring at Garp's comically swollen snot bubble, Sengoku swallowed everything else he'd meant to say.
Then he turned and walked out of the house.
"Admiral Sengoku, you're leaving already?" Rouge, who was hanging laundry in the yard, asked curiously as she saw him exit.
"Yeah. That old fool Garp fell asleep again."
Only then did Sengoku notice Rouge's platinum-blonde hair.
He hadn't paid it much attention before, but now that he looked closer, it was identical to someone else he knew—someone from his own family.
Even the luster was the same.
"By the way, Rouge, what's your child's name again? Ace?"
"Yes, he's already one year old."
"What a coincidence..." Sengoku shook his head, then looked at Rouge deeply.
"Make sure you put serious thought into his education."
"We absolutely can't let Ace walk the same path as Dragon—becoming part of the Freedom Fighters, or worse... a 'pirate.'"
...
Three days later, Sorbet Kingdom.
"Overthrowing a tyrannical regime turned out to be way easier than I imagined." Ivankov twisted his enormous head while doing a bizarre yoga pose at the table.
"But rebuilding a country afterwards? Waaay too hard! Fwah—ha!"
"It may be difficult, but it's a step we have to take." Monkey D. Dragon sat at his own desk, buried under piles of paperwork.
"We exist to liberate the people, to overthrow those oppressive nobles, and to bring equality and peace. We can't just leave behind a broken mess."
"Dragon-san is right. Overthrowing tyranny with force alone won't bring peace to the world. Establishing a new order afterward is the key."
A white-haired woman walked in, arms full of more documents.
She had changed into the uniform of the Freedom Fighters—Olvia.
"Since even our great strategist agrees, I guess I have no choice but to stop complaining and work my butt off! Fwah—ha!"
"Rather than working, I think you should look at them first."
Olvia smiled, put down the stack of files, and opened the door once more.
Two people stepped inside.
Ivankov jumped up, spun midair, and vaulted over the desk.
"Kuma! Ginny! My dear little siblings! You two actually look pretty good in that uniform!"
"Just like I told you when I broke you out of prison—let's change the world together!"
"And the first step in changing the world... is dealing with all this paperwork! Fwah—ha!"
Outside the room, Saul looked down at the excited Ivankov and chuckled.
"Nyah-ha-ha-ha-ha, you're just trying to slack off, aren't you?"
The room burst into joyous laughter.
...
Though the Sorbet Kingdom was in ruins, its people brimmed with hope for a new life.
So not long after the war ended, reconstruction began in earnest.
It was also a way for the living to mourn those lost in the war—keeping themselves busy, using time and hard work to heal their pain.
The Freedom Fighters led by Monkey D. Dragon didn't sit idle either. They joined all aspects of the rebuilding effort.
Naturally, that included the renowned Ginny and Kuma, now heroes in the Sorbet Kingdom.
But today, Ginny and Kuma came to a church that had once tended to wounded civilians and Revolutionary soldiers alike.
There, a strange man was sitting.
He wore a Marine officer's uniform.
Wings grew from his back, and his hands glowed with a soft light.
An elderly man, gravely ill, recovered miraculously after a short while.
"Thank you, Marine-san."
"May the gods bless you, old man."
After seeing the elder off, the strange man turned around to face Kuma and Ginny.
He smiled warmly.
"Would you two be willing to take me to see Dragon?"
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