“Luffy! This is bad, something happened to your grandpa!”
For a moment, Nami even forgot that this newspaper cost 100 Berry more than usual. In wealthier places, nobody would even bother picking up a 100 Berry coin if it fell on the ground.
But for Nami, when lives weren’t at stake, 100 Berry was a huge deal.
Under normal circumstances, Nami would relentlessly harass the News Coo over those 100 Berry until it finally gave in and lowered the price.
In the end, it was the words printed in the newspaper that changed Nami’s mind. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of keywords like “Garp” and “fall,” and the combination instantly gave her a bad feeling.
Compared to money, her companions were more important. Forget 100 Berry, even if another hundred million were added on top, she wouldn’t be tempted.
Just as the News Coo was celebrating the fact that the demon before it hadn’t continued bargaining, Nami’s shout had already reached Luffy’s ears.
“My grandpa? What could possibly happen to him?”
“The paper says he encountered a shipwreck, and now his fate is unknown in pirate territory… maybe he was captured.”
“Shishishishi! No way. Who wrote that article? Something like that’s impossible. You definitely read it wrong.”
After hearing Nami, not only did Luffy not panic, he actually clutched his stomach and fell over laughing, as if he’d just heard the greatest joke in the world.
Luffy had quite a psychological shadow when it came to Garp.
Anyone who had been tied to balloons and sent flying into the sky as a child, tossed into jungles full of wild beasts, thrown into abysses, and regularly subjected to the Fist of Love would end up traumatized by that person.
With that kind of training method, it might’ve been better to just let Luffy punch battleships alongside Garp. Looking at it that way, it was hard to tell who the actual biological grandson was.
Deep down, Luffy already had a kind of fear toward Garp. His first instinct whenever he saw him was to run. And because of that, he simply couldn’t believe anyone could defeat that monster called Garp, much less capture him.
“Who’s joking with you?! Come look for yourself!”
At that moment, the tyrant of the ship displayed her power. Nami grabbed Luffy by the head and yanked him up, shoving the newspaper right in front of his face.
“This was an order issued by Marine Headquarters yesterday, and this is today’s newspaper. Look at what it says!”
【Marine Hero Garp encountered a shipwreck while carrying out a mission. Nearby residents are requested to assist the Marines in searching for Garp’s whereabouts. Upon discovering any traces of him, please contact the nearest branch immediately.】
【According to this paper’s latest information, Garp’s light-or-death remains unknown】
“N-No way… someone could actually do something like this…?”
The smile had already vanished from Luffy’s face. From carefree laughter to seriousness, and now to disbelief—it all happened in an instant.
“How could a shipwreck trap Grandpa? That makes no sense…”
The power of the sea was terrifying. Back during the Battle of Edd War, without the assistance of the weather, the Golden Lion’s massive fleet would never have collapsed so easily. But Luffy was comparing it to himself.
Back then, even he had managed to survive a shipwreck. So how could Garp, who was far stronger than him, possibly fail?
“There’s more news after that. Finish reading first. There’s no confirmed death report yet, it only says his light-or-death is unknown.”
Hearing Nami’s words, Luffy hurriedly flipped the page, finally noticing the information they had ignored earlier.
“Shanks? Shanks formed an alliance with the Beasts Pirates and the Big Mom Pirates?!”
Bang!
A dull thud came from the nearby deck as Law, who had his own ship yet practically lived aboard the Straw Hats’ ship every day, collapsed onto the deck. The news had clearly shocked him immensely.
“What did you just say?!”
Right now, the Polar Tang was following right behind the Sunny. Law had just gone back to his ship to arrange a few things, but the moment he returned, he heard this explosive piece of news.
He still didn’t know about Garp’s situation, but an alliance of this scale had already surpassed his understanding.
Before he had even fully stood up, Law hurried over to the Straw Hats and rather rudely snatched the newspaper away.
“What’s wrong? Is it really that serious? Those guys were pestering me before about creating some kind of grand fleet too. Isn’t this the same kind of thing?”
“Not even close!”
Luffy’s comparison irritated Law. Even though he was gradually being assimilated by the crew’s atmosphere, he still couldn’t accept Luffy’s utter lack of common sense.
Forget the current Straw Hat mini fleet—even the Straw Hat Grand Fleet from the original timeline couldn’t compare to this alliance.
“What are you even thinking?! These are completely different kinds of things! Kaido, Red Hair, and Big Mom are all monsters at the very top of the sea. Any one of them alone is enough to put the Marines on maximum alert. And now those three have allied… Are there really any opponents left for them on this sea?”
Current-day Law had no obsession with becoming Pirate King anymore, and there was now news about his only remaining family. The news shocked him, but it wasn’t enough to make him afraid.
What Law thought about more now were matters related to Doflamingo, but no matter how he looked at it, Doflamingo would never gain the favor of three Emperors of the Sea at the same time.
The situation Law faced now was actually the same as before.
The ones truly worried about this were Kin’emon and Kanjuro.
“Kanjuro, did you hear that? That Kaido… actually formed an alliance with someone.”
“Not only an alliance, but the people he allied with are terrifying as well. The difficulty of our objective has increased yet again…”
Kin’emon and Kanjuro spoke quietly among themselves. Just one Kaido had already given them endless headaches, let alone three.
They had sailed aboard this ship for quite a while now and were no longer completely ignorant about the outside world.
The current Kin’emon understood clearly just how terrifying the concept of an Emperor of the Sea was. Looking at the current seas, Luffy and the others were already considered a fairly powerful force. If even they became afraid, Kin’emon had no idea where he could find another group willing to help.
Although Luffy still hadn’t agreed to do anything for them, simply finding a crew daring enough to head to Wano Country was already no easy task.
However, Luffy’s next words put them at ease.
“I see… then this is really troublesome. How are we supposed to rescue Grandpa?”
“Rescue… your grandpa?”
Law, who had been leaning by the ship’s railing contemplating life, nearly fell into the sea headfirst. Just like Luffy, he had only read half the newspaper earlier and completely ignored the part about Garp.
After rereading the other half of the paper, Law’s expression sank into deep thought.
“Although according to our plan, we were going to Wano Country sooner or later anyway, are you sure your grandpa was captured by them?”
“I think that’s what the newspaper meant, right?”
“Your grandpa is the Hero Garp. Do you think you could defeat him while he’s weakened?”
“Well… when we rescued Ace, I don’t know why he didn’t fight back, but I think… I probably can’t defeat him.”
“Good. If even your grandpa couldn’t defeat them, what makes you think you can rescue him? How are you planning to save him? With just the few people on your ship?”
Luffy froze in place, then sat cross-legged on the deck and began thinking hard. However, judging from his stiff expression, his CPU seemed to have burned out.
You can read ahead upto 75 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon.
Become a Patron!