【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 459 He is still alive

"Grandpa!?" Luffy exclaimed in surprise upon hearing Lucci and Sabo's words. "He's here!?"

"No, I have a feeling that Grandpa is watching me." Lucci's body trembled slightly as he said this.

"And it was a fist of love." Sabo shuddered as well; he would never forget how painful his grandfather's fists could be.

Seeing the fear on Lucci and Sabo's faces, Luffy jumped onto the railing and sat down, then smiled and said, "Oh! Lucci, I saw Grandpa in Water 7."

“Really? When?” Lucci flinched, unable to imagine seeing his grandfather again. He might miss him, but he certainly wouldn’t miss his beloved fist.

"Shortly after you left Water Seven, when we were waiting for Franky to finish building the Thousand Sunny, because the Merry was broken, I didn't know when he appeared because I was sleeping," Luffy explained with a smile.

"You were sleeping, and then he appeared?" Ace's voice was tinged with nervousness; he couldn't even imagine how terrifying it would be if he encountered his grandfather while he was sleeping.

"Yeah, escaping from the Buster Call was really tiring, hee hee hee." Luffy grinned. "By the way, Lucci, he said he's going to give you and Ace a fist of love."

Ace and Lucci stared at Luffy with stiff expressions. "Did you do something?"

"I didn't say anything." Luffy's eyes darted around, and he pouted to one side. "I didn't tell Grandpa that Lucci and Ace were together, nor did I tell Grandpa that Lucci had lost his memory, which is why he wanted to use his loving fist to knock back Lucci's lost memories."

"You idiot!" Lucci tugged hard at Luffy's cheek, unable to imagine how miserable he would be when he met his grandfather again.

Sabo calmed down and tugged at Lucci's arm. "Let it go, Luffy didn't do it on purpose."

Lucci and Ace couldn't help but roll their eyes at Sabo, "We're the ones who're going to get punched by love's fist."

"Luffy, how many crew members do you have now?" Ace asked. He remembered that the Straw Hat Pirates' bounty posters seemed to include more than just the few he had seen. He recalled Jinbe's words to him, "Nicole Robin joined you too?"

"When you met Luffy in Alabasta, wasn't Robin already a member of Luffy's crew?" Lucci asked, puzzled. Judging from their level of trust at the time, he had assumed that Robin had already joined Luffy.

"Yes, 10! Robin joined me after Alabasta," Luffy replied, then excitedly gestured towards Ace, "Ace, I'm telling you, I found a musician! His name is Brook, he's a skeleton, but his hair is the coolest! And guess what, he can poop!"

Lucci and Sabo exchanged a glance, a nervous smile on their faces. "Does such a thing really exist?"

"Of course! I'll introduce you to Brook then. He's amazing; he knows a lot of music!" Luffy said excitedly.

Ace shook his head, not particularly surprised that Luffy could find such a rare species as a partner. "Where did you find it?"

"In the Devil's Triangle, I fought a guy who looked like an onion head. He had a huge, cool ship, and it swallowed us whole! During the fight, he was inside the belly of a really big giant, like a zombie giant named Oars," Luffy said with a grin. "I also tried out my new skill!"

Lucci and Sabo stared at Luffy in a daze; they already knew who Luffy was talking about.

Ace finally let out a choked sound, his eyes widening slightly. "Gecko Moria? A Shichibukai?" Ace finally said it.

Luffy just looked at his three shocked brothers with a puzzled expression, then frowned and said, "Yeah, it's a lot of fun there, with lots of strange animals. It's a shame Sanji and the others won't let me take those animals out to sea!"

"Luffy, can't you have any self-preservation instincts?" Ace gasped in horror. In just the first half of the Grand Line, Luffy had already challenged two Shichibukai.

"What's that?" Luffy asked, tilting his head curiously.

“No, he didn’t do any of that.” Sabo groaned. “I thought he only did those things, destroyed Enies Lobby, declared war on the World Government, and fought the Celestial Dragons. But he actually fought two Shichibukai. What other surprises are there that we don’t know about?”

“Alright, I think I can’t listen to this anymore…” Lucci muttered to himself, standing up in a daze and walking towards the cabin. “Maybe I should ask Marco when we can get to that island where Luffy can train.”

"Hey, it's nothing." Ace snapped out of his daze, grinning mischievously, and put his arm around Lucci's shoulder to stop him from leaving. "Luffy is Luffy. Have I never told you about my childhood adventures with Luffy? This idiot was once..."

……

Mount Gorbo, Bandit House

"Dadan!"

Dadan looked away from the pot she had been stirring and stared at Makino, who was standing in the doorway panting. She wasn't usually in such a hurry, except for that newspaper article about Ace's execution (which she was still terrified of). Thinking of this, Dadan's heart tightened. Had something happened to the three of them again?

"What's wrong, Makino?" Dadan stood up nervously and walked up to Makino. "Is there any new information about those three rascals?"

Makino had just reached the top of the mountain and was a little out of breath. She placed her hands on her knees and gasped for air, unable to answer Dadan's question. But a bright smile appeared on her face as she handed Dadan the newspaper in her hand. "Take a look at this!"

Dadan snatched the newspaper from her hand, clutching it tightly. When Dadan read the headline, "One of the criminals who committed a mad act against Marine Headquarters, Portgas D. Ace, is the son of the Pirate King Gol Roger!!"

Dadan took a breath. She knew how much her son hated being the son of the Pirate King. Why had it been exposed? Dadan held her breath and quickly scanned the rest of the article. When she saw what her sons had done to Marine Headquarters, she grinned. They were absolutely insane! But she was incredibly proud of them.

Makino had recovered and was holding onto Dadan's arm tightly as she read the rest of the newspaper with her. She had skimmed through it before coming and hadn't expected them to do something so crazy.

But she was happy because she had received another message from the boys about their outburst, which meant they were all safe and sound. Especially their smiles—so bright! They looked so happy. Makino looked fondly at the photos of the four boys in the newspaper. Wait, four?

Makino immediately took the newspaper from Dadan and carefully examined the four boys in the photo: Lucci, Luffy, Ace… Makino stared in astonishment at the fourth boy… That was… Makino covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face, “That’s… That’s Sabo!?”

“Sabo?” Dadan’s proud expression faltered for a moment. Following Makino’s gaze, she saw a photo of them grinning triumphantly after graffitiing at Marine Headquarters. In the photo, a grinning young man stood next to Ace. He looked very tall, wearing a top hat and a scarf around his neck.

In the close-up of her face in the photo below, she could see the curly hair peeking out from under the brim of her hat. She could even imagine the familiar golden hair. Dadan ran her trembling fingers across the image, trying to remember those once-familiar features. The next second, Dadan screamed, "Sabo!!"

Dadan immediately turned to face Makino. "He's still alive?"