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"I do not belong to the sea, Dragon."
The Snake Princess smiled softly, tucking a strand of her golden hair behind her ear. "I am a flower of Kuja; my roots are here."
She pulled up Dragon's hood, stood on her tiptoes, and pressed a light kiss to its edge.
"You are the wind that belongs to the sea," She said with a gentle smile, tinged with a rare girlish playfulness, as though satisfied with her own words. "If the wind stops moving forward, is it still the wind?"
Her delicate hand smoothed the creases on the front of Dragon's cloak as she murmured, "Or perhaps… a dragon hidden within the wind. Who's to say? You have your path, and I have my responsibilities."
The two embraced lightly by the seaside. After a long moment, the Snake Princess stepped back, turned, and strode decisively toward the towering Kuja City.
Kuma remained by Dragon's side, watching her retreating figure.
"Let's go," Dragon said, pulling at his hood.
Without a word, Kuma raised his hand and gave Dragon a firm pat on the shoulder. In the blink of an eye, both of their figures disappeared from Amazon Lily Island.
---
High above the sea, something was speeding through the sky.
It looked like… well, no, it 'was' a baby's swaddling bundle!
Inside the bundle, a baby boy with faint black hair was sleeping soundly, a sweet smile occasionally tugging at the corners of his mouth as if dreaming of something wonderful.
Around his neck hung a serpent-shaped pendant, and tucked beneath it was a slip of paper.
Unaware of his circumstances, the swaddled infant flew rapidly over the sea, traversing the Calm Belt and entering the First Half of the Grand Line. He soared over islands, kingdoms, and towns, heading unwaveringly toward the imposing Red Line.
---
''Marineford – Marine Headquarters''
"BOOM!"
The sudden explosion startled the patrolling Marines, who immediately rushed to the source of the sound with trained precision.
"It's Vice Admiral Garp's office…!"
"The building collapsed? Good heavens, the ceiling is completely gone!"
"There's a massive hole in the floor, too… and Vice Admiral Garp is lying in it!"
"Wait! What's that in Vice Admiral Garp's hands?!"
The Marines cautiously advanced into the wreckage of the famed Marine Hero's office, weapons at the ready. Behind the half-destroyed desk, the wall-mounted plaque with the words "Laughing Justice" hung askew, one corner cracked. It swung precariously before falling with a resounding crash.
In the corner of the now skylight-exposed ceiling, small stones rolled to the ground, while glittering motes of dust floated in the air.
Reaching the massive pit that had decimated the floor, the Marines finally saw what Garp was holding.
"It's… it's a baby?!"
All of them froze in astonishment. Looking closer, they saw that the swaddled infant was lying in Garp's massive hands as he snoozed away in the middle of the crater.
The Marines collectively facepalmed.
"Vice Admiral Garp… Seriously?!"
'POP!' As if to punctuate their exasperation, the bubble of snot emerging from Garp's nose burst, startling him awake.
"Ah! Oh no! I dozed off!"
"How could you fall asleep like this?!" The Marines shouted in unison.
"Huh?" Garp sat up, glancing around in confusion. "What are you all doing here? Are we under attack?!"
"We're the ones who should be asking you what happened! This place looks like a battlefield!"
"Ah…" Garp rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I was just sitting here in my office when something suddenly crashed down…" He then noticed the infant in his arms, his eyes widening in surprise.
"What is this?!"
"We should be asking you that!!!"
A timid Marine spoke up, pointing to the pendant around the baby's neck. "Vice Admiral Garp, there's a note tucked under the necklace…"
Garp, his massive hands dwarfing the infant, carefully lifted the serpent-shaped pendant and retrieved the paper slip. Squinting, he began to read aloud:
"Mon… Ha…zzzz…"
"Mon-what?!" The Marines leaned forward eagerly, but when they looked up, they found that Garp had dozed off again, one hand clutching the baby and the other holding the note, with a fresh bubble forming on his nose.
"HE FELL ASLEEP AGAIN?!"
'POP!' The bubble burst. Startled, Garp exclaimed, "Ah! Fell asleep again… ahem, ahem!"
He carefully read the familiar handwriting on the slip of paper:
"Monkey D. Luffy."
Garp slowly pronounced the name, then burst into hearty laughter. "Looks like this is my grandson, huh?!"
The surrounding Marines initially nodded, then froze in shock. "Your grand… GRANDSON?!" they exclaimed, stumbling back three steps in disbelief.
Their eyes darted between the completely open ceiling and the office that resembled a battlefield. Why on earth had Vice Admiral Garp's grandson fallen from the sky?!
'You little punk...' Garp glanced up at the sky with a scowl. One after another, they were treating the great Marine Hero like a babysitter!
"Waaaa! Waaah!!!"
Suddenly, the infant in the swaddle began to wail loudly.
"Vice Admiral Garp, your grandson is awake!"
"No kidding! I can see and hear that, too!" Garp grumbled, staring down at the crying baby in the bundle. He was at his wit's end. Sure, he had taken in Roger's son, Ace, but he had left child-rearing to his friends back in his hometown. What was he supposed to do with a bawling baby now?
Wait… on second thought, maybe he 'did' have a solution. Couldn't he just use ''Haoshoku Haki''?
"Vice Admiral Garp, you can't use Haoshoku Haki on a baby!" Shouted a sharp-eyed Marine, sliding on his knees in front of Garp.
"Just a tiny bit…" Garp chuckled, cradling the squirming infant in his massive hands. "I can control it well enough; he'll stop crying in no time!"
"That's still not okay!" The kneeling Marine protested, leaning in to observe the baby closely. He nodded firmly. "He's just hungry! From the looks of it, he hasn't eaten in a long time…"
"That brat!" Garp immediately started scolding his absent son. "How can you let your own kid go hungry like this?! When you were a baby, the most I ever forgot to feed you was… uh… a week!"
"A WEEK?!" Gasped the Marines, collectively sucking in a breath.
"Oh, right. I think I've still got some senbei left…" Garp muttered, holding his grandson in one arm while rummaging through the remains of his smashed desk with the other.
"You can't feed senbei to a baby!!" The Marines shouted in unison, their protests echoing.
"Waaaah!! Waaah!!!"
Little Luffy's cries grew even louder, piercing through the chaos.
With a resounding ''THUD'', the "Laughing Justice" plaque finally fell completely off the wall, sending up a cloud of dust that swirled in a golden ray of sunlight.
---
'(End of Chapter)'