Marineford.
The long stone corridor.
Garp had not gone very far from the main meeting room.
He stood leaning heavily against the cold wall, listening intently to the clear voice echoing from the video inventory system screen in the sky.
He honestly thought he could hold his emotions together.
After all, he was the legendary Navy Hero, Monkey D.
Garp.
He was the fierce man who had beaten Gol D.
Roger in combat and chased the Golden Lion Shiki across the seas.
What kind of massive storms and tragedies had he not witnessed in his long life?
But he could not hold his composure this time.
That old man shown on the video inventory system screen, crying while face-down on the cold stone ground, was actually him.
That was the future version of himself, the version of him who completely failed to save Ace from his execution.
The future him who allowed himself to be knocked down by Luffy’s desperate punch and then lay on the steps crying in absolute agony.
With his back pressed against the wall, Garp slowly slid down until he sat flat on the floor.
There was absolutely no one else in the wide corridor at this moment; only the bright golden light from the large window shone through, falling directly upon his slumped body.
Bastard…
He cursed out loud into the empty space, bitterly cursing himself.
You useless old geezer.
Clutching his hair with both hands, his short, messy grey-white hair was pulled into an even worse mess.
You cannot even protect your own grandson when it matters most, so what kind of hero are you supposed to be?
The painful sound was muffled deep in his throat, making his chest ache with a wave of suppressed emotion.
Sengoku’s heavy footsteps suddenly echoed from the far end of the corridor.
The old man was wearing his formal Fleet Admiral uniform, walking forward with urgent, rapid strides.
He had rushed out of the office the exact moment he saw Garp fall to the ground on the video inventory system screen.
At the corner of the corridor, he immediately saw Garp crouching miserably at the base of the wall.
His grey-white hair was completely disheveled.
His large hands covered his face entirely.
His expression was hidden from view, but his broad shoulders were shaking uncontrollably.
Sengoku stopped walking.
He stood there, and for a rare moment in his life, he did not know what to say to comfort his friend.
Stop watching it, Sengoku said softly as he walked over and crouched down on the floor beside him.
The stone corridor fell into a deep silence.
Only the faint sounds from the video inventory system screen still drifted over from the outside windows.
About a full minute passed in silence.
Garp finally took his heavy hands away from his face.
His eyes were completely red.
There were clear traces of water at the corners of his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away using his uniform sleeve.
The old man braced his palm against the wall and forced himself to stand up.
Sengoku.
Yeah.
About the future public execution.
The corner of Sengoku’s mouth twitched slightly.
He knew exactly what Garp was going to say next.
There won’t be an execution like that, Sengoku stated firmly.
Garp looked down at him.
At least not this kind of tragic execution, Sengoku said in a very low voice.
This massive screen in the sky has already exposed every single detail to the world.
The future has already changed because of it.
Ace is still safely on Whitebeard’s ship right now.
Teach hasn’t even gotten his hands on the Dark-Dark Fruit yet.
The entire timeline of the incident has been altered.
Garp remained silent for a long moment.
But the Gorosei won’t ever let Roger’s bloodline go free.
Sengoku did not respond to that.
Because what Garp said was the absolute truth.
Just now, in front of the entire world, the video inventory system screen had loudly declared that Portgas D.
Ace is the biological son of the Pirate King.
This shocking news had already spread to every single sea, every island, and every civilian town.
The Gorosei had probably already issued secret orders.
They could not possibly act as if they had not heard such a massive revelation.
Garp clenched his fist tight.
Sengoku, I’m only saying this to you once.
…Go ahead and say it.
Whoever dares to touch my grandson in the future, I will absolutely never forgive them.
Garp’s voice was not loud at all, and it had absolutely nothing to do with his usual grinning self who constantly ate rice crackers.
Whether it’s dangerous pirates, or the Marines, or those powerful people living up there on Mariejois.
Sengoku looked him dead in the eyes.
You know exactly what you are saying right now.
I’m perfectly sober.
Garp slowly loosened his clenched fist and pulled a round rice cracker from his uniform pocket.
He took a large bite, chewing the snack with a loud, echoing crunch.
But his eyes were still completely red.
Sengoku stood there in the corridor, watching Garp eat the rice cracker bite by bite, crumbs falling all over the clean floor.
He suddenly felt incredibly tired.
It was not a physical kind of tiredness.
It was the deep, exhausting kind of fatigue that comes from being the Fleet Admiral for half a lifetime, maintaining the rigid order of justice for decades, and then one day a giant screen appears in the sky to tell you that the thing you protected has cracked apart.
From the very beginning to the very end, it had cracked completely.
In the New World, on the deck of the Moby Dick.
Ace finished watching the entire footage of Garp crying on the steps of the execution platform.
He did not say a single word.
The surrounding pirate crew members were all discussing the scene, their voices forming a low, buzzing murmur across the ship, but he did not hear a single word of it.
He only saw one clear thing.
That stubborn old man who had beaten him since he was a child, called him a brat, and thrown him into the dangerous forest for training, was lying on the ground crying.
And he was crying entirely for him.
Ace, Marco said as he walked over to his side.
Ace slowly turned his head around.
Marco saw that his eyes were completely red; he wanted to say something comforting but swallowed the words back down his throat.
…It’s nothing, Ace muttered.
He turned his head back toward the massive screen in the sky.
Let’s keep watching the broadcast.
Those were the exact same words that Whitebeard had spoken just a moment ago.
Pops looked down at him from his giant chair without making a single sound.
But Whitebeard’s massive hand slowly loosened its tight grip on the long handle of Murakumogiri.
He picked up his large sake cup and took a deep drink, the alcohol dripping from his chin onto his chest.
The wide deck became very quiet.
Out on the distant sea, the Moby Dick rocked gently back and forth in the ocean waves.
On the video inventory system screen, the heartbreaking image of Garp lying on the stone steps had not yet faded away.
That image was deeply seared into the retinas of everyone watching across the world.
The legendary Navy Hero.
Caught between the absolute order of justice and his own family, he lay on the ground, completely unable to choose either side.
In the past timeline, inside the tavern.
The moment Gol D.
Roger saw the image of Garp crying, he had put his sake cup down on the wooden table.
He was no longer joking around.
He was not cursing.
He was not grinning his usual wide grin.
Garp, Roger murmured softly to himself.
Rayleigh sat right beside him, also remaining completely silent.
The two of them quietly watched the old man lying on the stone steps displayed on the video inventory system screen.
Roger spoke up: Garp and I fought against each other for a lifetime.
I truly did not expect that he would actually raise my child and let him live safely for twenty years.
But the future timeline…
Roger quickly closed his mouth.
He wanted to say, “But in the future, he couldn’t save him from death.” But he simply could not bring himself to say those words out loud.
Because the person who could not be saved in that future was his own son.
And the old man who failed to save him was his most trusted rival and friend in this life.
The small tavern became incredibly quiet.
Roger suddenly stood up from his chair.
Rayleigh, let’s drink.
Didn’t you just say you were done…
Just drink, Roger said, pulling all the cups on the table that still had sake in them directly toward himself.
Tonight, we are going to drink this entire tavern completely dry.
Rayleigh glanced at his emotional captain and picked up a cup.
The two of them clinked their glasses together in the quiet room.
There was no formal toast spoken.
They were just drinking.
Absolutely no one in the world anticipated what would happen next on the screen.
The dramatic background music on the video inventory system screen changed without any warning.
The sad piano music cut off completely, replaced by a segment of extremely fast electronic music, with a sharp metronome clicking incessantly like it was on some sort of stimulants.
This was actually a fixed segment of Austin’s video editing style; after a heavy, emotional inventory section, a lighthearted one had to be inserted.
In his own words, this was called emotional regulation to prevent the viewers from getting too depressed.
Of course, he had no idea that his current viewers included the Three Admirals, the Four Emperors, the Pirate King himself, and the Gorosei.
A large text title suddenly appeared on the video inventory system screen.
The font used was incredibly flashy and multicolored, looking completely different from the previous solemn golden characters.
[System Notification: Marine Admiral Actor Salary List (Unofficial · Purely Made Up · Don’t Take It Seriously But It’s Actually Pretty Serious)] In the main square of Marineford, a hundred thousand Marine soldiers looked up into the sky in unison.
A thick vein throbbed violently on Sengoku’s forehead.
What the hell is this supposed to mean?
Kizaru pushed up his sunglasses with a curious expression.
Aokiji took his hands out of his warm coat pockets.
One of Akainu’s eyebrows twitched in annoyance.
The Three Admirals looked up at the strange title in the sky, simultaneously falling into a deep silence for three full seconds.
On the video inventory system screen, Austin’s voice rang out across the world, his tone completely different from before.
The previous low, heavy, and trembling narration was entirely gone, replaced by a cheeky, cheerful tone that was clearly looking to have some fun.
Alright, family.
Let’s put the heavy topics aside for a brief moment.
Let’s talk about something lighthearted.
The Three Marine Admirals are known to everyone as the World Government’s strongest combat force.
But has everyone across the seas noticed a specific problem…
Photos of the current Three Admirals quickly appeared on the screen: Akainu, Kizaru, and Aokiji.
The combat performance of these three individuals is highly linked to their salary and benefits.
Down in the crowded square, a daring Marine Lieutenant Commander muttered softly to his friend, What exactly does that mean?