Year 1522.
Recently, the world received shocking news that raised many conflicting debates and opinions of those who were aware of world affairs and those that were somehow related to the issue. Everywhere, the only thing that people could gossip about was how Portgas D Ace, also dubbed as Fire Fist Ace and known for being the second commander of the Whitebeard Fleet, had finally fallen into the hands of the marines and would be executed several days later.
When the announcement became public, it caused a wave of commotion that rippled across the seas. For those familiar with the balance of power in the world, the implications were nothing short of terrifying. Everyone knew what this meant. The capture and public execution of Whitebeard's "son" could only lead to one thing.
A war.
Edward Newgate, the man they called Whitebeard, was one of the Four Emperors of the Sea, feared and respected by all. He cherished his crew above everything, calling them his "family." And now, one of his precious sons was about to lose his head at the hands of the Marines. The entire world knew that Whitebeard would never stand by and watch. If Ace's life was to be taken, oceans would run red before the deed was done.
The Marines understood this as well. That was why the entire Navy headquarters was on full alert. Officers from every sea were summoned back to reinforce Marineford, and countless soldiers volunteered for what they believed would be the greatest battle in modern history. The World Government even called upon the Seven Warlords of the Sea, knowing that without their combined strength, the odds of victory against Whitebeard and his massive fleet would be slim.
But while the world's strongest forces gathered in one place, chaos erupted everywhere else. With so many Marines being recalled to headquarters, lawless seas grew bolder. Pirates and criminals took advantage of the weakened security, looting and terrorizing villages unchecked. Once again, the innocent paid the price for the ambitions of the powerful.
The increased number of crimes was not the only thing that made the marines feel a sense of helplessness. In fact, they were even more distressed when they noted that the ship that belonged to the Whitebeard Pirates, the Moby Dick, had been spotted to finally make a move along with those other ships that belonged to the pirate crews that had allied themselves with the Yonko.
But suddenly, all of them disappeared from the radar!
Because of that unexpected piece of news, the marines were distraught over the fact that they would not be able to detect when, where, and how would those pirates retaliate.
Anyway, no matter what happened out there, Ace would not be able to do anything as the man himself was being held in the lowest level of the infamous water prison, the Impel Down, a prison that was located right underneath the Calm Belt.
Portgas D Ace, now twenty years old, was chained to a cold stone wall. Heavy Sea-Prism shackles bound his wrists, sapping away his strength. His body bore fresh bruises and wounds, a testament to the violence he had endured since his capture. Yet despite it all, his spirit remained unbroken. His eyes still burned with that fierce, unyielding fire that defined him, and his mouth curved into a familiar, defiant smile as he looked at the man sitting outside his cell.
To be specific, the old man was sitting with his legs crossed comfortably on the cold stone floor, right outside of the cell that Ace was in. There was also a bag of crackers held in one hand, while his other hand was used to hold onto a piece of his favorite food.
That man was none other than Vice Admiral Monkey D Garp, Ace's adoptive grandfather.
Garp sat cross-legged on the floor, a bag of crackers at his side and one in hand, munching as if this were an ordinary family visit and not a meeting between a Marine hero and a condemned pirate.
"You haven't eaten anything decent since you were captured, have you?" Garp said, his tone half teasing, half concerned. "Knowing your bottomless stomach, I'd bet you're starving."
Right on cue, Ace's stomach gave a low, rumbling growl.
Ace shot him a glare. "Shitty old man, your grandson here is hungry. You planning to let me die from hunger before the execution?"
Looking at the pathetic sight of his grandson, Garp could not help but to throw a piece of cracker into the cell, and the next second, Ace caught it with a bite, as if he was a dog getting a treat from its owner.
It was a pathetic sight. But hey, beggars could not be choosers.
Plus, it was only because the other person was his grandfather that Ace did not mind acting like this.
"Consider that to to be your last meal from me," the old man said nonchalantly.
Ace swallowed the dry food and smirked. "Not like you ever fed me a proper meal before."
Another cracker was thrown to his forehead in response. Though his forehead was hurting, Ace grinned and used his strong teeth to catch the oddly hard cracker with his teeth.
"Hmph! Since you're a pirate now, there's nothing that I can do to protect you anymore. Nor can I protect Luffy in the future," Garp suddenly said after a few moments of comfortable silence between the two of them. "But then again, even without my protection, there is no way that you two foolish brothers are going to die at such a young age. Isn't the only reason why you are being so relaxed right now is because you have a backing even bigger than that darn Whitebeard?"
Ace smirked at the old man's words.
"We still don't know what is going to happen. Don't be so confident that you folks can achieve your goal just because you managed to catch me."
"What? Are you waiting for Whitebeard to come and get you out of here? Hmph! Not when I'm here!"
"Oyaji is not that reckless."
"Then? You're waiting for her?" Garp raised his eyebrow. His hand blindly searched for another piece of cracker inside the bag, but realized that he already ate everything when his hand had grabbed nothing but air. He threw the empty bag to the back and snorted.
"Hah! She's not a reckless brat like you."
Ace shrugged his shoulders in response. Although he was confident that his family would not let him die, it was not like he had a clue of what they were going to do to get him out of his troublesome situation.