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“Hey Pops...” Marco hummed carefully as he read the latest newscoo, a small wince running through him as he read everything that had been written about his nephew/little brother (in the two years that they trained all the rookies, he still hadn’t figured out how to relate Luffy to him. He was his Pops’ grandson, but he was also his partner’s little brother).
“Hmm?” Whitebeard hummed curiously as he relaxed in his chair, the heat of the sun helping him doze contently, ever since Teach had been punished and arrested, the seas had been calmer and quieter, and the family had been content to relax and protect their territories. Especially since Big Mom had been encroaching, they were lucky that Luffy and his crew were going through Fishman Island when they were, it resulted in the royal family being protected.
Although, it had amused the Whitebeards when Luffy had also handed Neptune his jolly roger to add to the protection. Neptune had been hesitant to inform his old friend about this until Marco had found it and started laughing, Whitebeard had just huffed fondly and called Luffy a brat to Marco before explaining to Neptune that the Straw Hats were not only allies but also family.
“Lu’s gotten into some trouble again” Marco informed his father as he flew up onto his shoulder, knowing that his father would want to know what was going on “He and Law decided to break Doflamingo’s hold on Dressrosa...”
Whitebeard stiffened underneath his son as he heard about the actions of his grandson, they were close to Dressrosa as it was.
“Ship on the horizon!” Thatch called from up on the crow’s nest, his latest punishment from his elder brother for one of his recent pranks. He hated lookout duty, but seeing the Sunny on the horizon was a welcomed sight rather than seeing any marines or idiot rookies. “It’s Little Lu!”
Marco grimaced lightly for his nephew’s backside at the fact that his Gramps Ed was possibly the first one to catch a hold of him after the release of the story by Morgan’s.
Whitebeard continued to relax in his chair as the Sunny approached them, surprise that his grandson hadn’t rocketed himself across the water at the Moby. Although, Ace was visiting Sabo which Luffy knew, and maybe Shanks and Beck had managed to get their son to think before acting.
“Permission to board?” Sanji called over to them tiredly.
“That’s a stupid question, get over here kid!” Thatch responded without even getting permission from their Pop’s, the Straw Hats never needed permission to board the Moby. Thatch dropped down from the crow’s nest and frowned when he noticed how tired Sanji looked, immediately, he grabbed his protégé and dragged the blonde protesting down to the kitchens so he could get him some food. The elder chef knowing that the blonde usually ate very little and would often need to be pushed especially when exhausted like he looked.
Vista followed Thatch’s lead and made a beeline for Zoro, the swordsman protesting weakly but huffing as the elder dragged him to the infirmary with Chopper on his shoulders.
Franky was still looking after the Sunny while Brooke and Robin watched in fond amusement as their crew were immediately swarmed by the others.
No one commented as Luffy tiredly aided an injured Law onto the deck, neither of them protesting as Law was accosted by Marco immediately, the blonde checking over the young Captain before easily hefting him up into his arms and carrying him to the medical bay.
Luffy watched them go before he stretched himself up onto his Gramps Ed’s lap and curled into him.
“Hey Grampa” Luffy greeted tiredly as Whitebeards arm moved to cradle Luffy closer to him, his eyes opening and roaming over his grandson, checking him over carefully. He easily noted that the injuries to his grandson were mainly surface wounds except for the tiredness that he showed very obviously.
“Want to explain?” Whitebeard rumbled questioningly; he’d decide what he was going to do when he learned about why the boys had done what they’d done.
“Mingo was the one to kill Uncle Rosi” Luffy explained quietly as he leaned against the giant Captain, a yawn breaking through his determination to stay awake, he hadn’t slept very well since they left Dressrosa, more worried about his boyfriend’s injuries than he was his sleeping pattern. Usopp spotting the Moby was a lifesaver, and the captain had ordered his crew to make a beeline to his grandfathers ship so that his boyfriend and his crew could get the best care outside of Chopper since Chopper was also exhausted. “Traffy’s been planning revenge for years... Promised him before training that I would help. Mingo needed to be stopped too, he killed royalty, controlled them, made them into dolls Grampa...”
Whitebeard sighed lightly as he held his grandson closer, stroking his back lightly like he used to do with Cara when Cara was small and refused to sleep.
“Anyone know you were doing it?”
Luffy hesitantly shook his head lightly as he felt the exhaustion wash over him again.
“Just our crews... Papa is gonna be mad... Saw Uncle Sen but got Law outta there quick cause of the new admirals coming...” Luffy yawned before he soon drifted into sleep, accepting the soothing motions from his grandfather.
Whitebeard smiled fondly at the small figure curled into the crook of his arm before he moved his attention down to Robin as she approached him. He gestured for her to join him on the arm of his chair and watched as she gracefully raised herself up with her powers until she was sat on the arm opposite her sleeping Captain.
“We tried to get the two of them to tell one of their guardians about the plan” Robin hummed lightly as she watched the boy fondly, he had become a younger sibling to her the moment that he gave her a reason to live again. But she always knew he was safe with the elder Captain’s, no matter how mad they were at him.
“Why didn’t any of you contact us?”
Robin shrugged lightly in response, something that made Whitebeard raise an eyebrow at her as she remained unphased by the stern look.
“It was Law’s decision...” Robin admitted softly, they all knew how cathartic revenge could be even though it was dangerous to focus solely on revenge; thankfully Law also had Luffy in his life so dying to end Doflamingo wasn’t an option for him “The former Warlord had destroyed his life, killed the one man that he had in his life that he trusted after so much heartache and pain due to his home... Law had been determined to get revenge before we even met him. Luffy was surprisingly the one to offer common sense and aided him in coming up with a situation that allowed him to get the revenge without losing his humanity. Sengoku may catch up with us, though he may not as the fall of Doflamingo is also something he has been after too, he also allowed Law to leave Dressrosa before we were caught.”
Newgate sighed lightly at the information he gained, his eyes flickering between watching his sleeping grandson and watching the horizon for any sign of one of the others that took the two’s health to heart. He had noticed that Shanks and Beck had become just as protective of Law as they were of Luffy these days but so had Marco after Law had saved Whitebeards life. His eldest son taking on the surgeon as an apprentice during the training years, but also getting the go ahead from Sengoku to handle the surgeon should he ever feel the need to; just like several of the elder pirates had the same go ahead from Garp and Shanks with Luffy and sometimes Ace.
“Pops! Papa G is on the Den Den!” Haruta called up to his father, something that made Robin snort in amusement at the name the Whitebeards had come up with for Garp. The marine had been a common sight on the Moby whenever he could get away for some free time, so common that the crew had all started to sometimes go to Garp whenever they needed advice; coming to see the man as a second father figure which shocked Garp and sometimes caused him to become distant due to his past failures with raising kids.
Newgate had reassured his lover that he didn’t have to act like a father figure to his crew, that it was just a term of endearment for him. Garp was still wary but accepted the term anyway, never really taking the paternal route with the crew besides Marco and Ace due to the link he had with the two of the already.
With a nod of gratitude to Robin as she drew the den den up to him, Newgate smiled lightly.
“He’s safe with me, love” Whitebeard rumbled, already noting the worried look that the den den portrayed, it was a look that only Luffy could cause Garp to wear. “He and the others arrived about ten minutes ago, he’s fast asleep with me while his swordsman and partner are with Marco in the medbay and his cook is with Thatch in the kitchen to get checked over where he’s comfortable.”
Two years had managed to get them all protective of the young crews, all but three of them being younger than Ace was, which baffled many minds when they realized the chaos that had been caused by the small crew throughout the East Blue and the Grand Line. Not even Ace had managed to defeat a Warlord and free a country from a hidden agenda, he just about managed to keep up with Jinbei for five days.
Garp sighed in relief as he accepted the information.
“I’m in the East, can’t get to see him for some time...” Garp grumbled lightly “Any idea what was going through their minds?”
“Rosi...” Whitebeard told Garp softly, knowing that his partner would understand why his grandson had done what he did in the same of the marine that Garp had loved as a nephew. The conflicted look on the Den Den revealed what Whitebeard assumed Garp was thinking “Law has been planning to get revenge for his father for years... He and Luffy finally got it. And saved an entire country at the same time...”
“We can’t exactly punish them for saving a country...” Garp pointed out carefully, something that made Whitebeard and Robin both snort in amusement. While Garp was always stern with his youngest, he never wanted to punish him, usually finding reasons for his grandson to escape being put over a lap unless Beck or Newgate overrode the decision.
“They also worked together and were never alone, so they looked out for each other. We all made sure to stick to a duo, so we were never alone” Robin spoke up, shocking Garp since he hadn’t realized that she was there. “The only reason they both ended up in the state they are is because Doflamingo played dirty and overwhelmed them. Same as Zoro and Sanji...”
Garp hummed lightly “Thank you Robin... Ed, leave ‘em be. I know I can’t tell Red and Beck to do the same, but I have a feeling Senny won’t be upset with them either. Not after he’s wanted revenge on the idiot for just as long, if not longer.”
Newgate chuckled softly and gave a nod before Garp hung up the den den. He sighed lightly as he relaxed back again, this time moving his arm to draw Robin against him like his grandson was; something that shocked the young woman but she didn’t protest as she relaxed into the hold, her eyes gazing fondly at her Captain.
“Sleep Miss Nico, I shall keep you both protected even from Red” Whitebeard suggested softly and was surprised at how quickly Robin slipped into sleep, he could tell that she wasn’t in a complete doze until he ended up moving her to curl around Luffy, only then did she fall asleep completely.
-
“Grampa Ed?” Luffy yawned lightly, as he woke, he looked confused at Robin next to him before he smiled softly and placed his hat upon her head. He shifted and jumped up to sit on his grandfather’s shoulder, leaning against him still a little tired.
“Feeling better?” Whitebeard inquired softly.
Luffy had managed to sleep for nearly three hours, in that time he had been informed of the different stories from the Straw Hats as to what had been going on since they entered the public eye again.
Finding out that the group had been the ones to save the children on Punk Hazard wasn’t as surprising as he thought it would be, although, finding out that they had kidnapped the scientist that had experimenting on the children was a surprise considering Smoker had been on the island and could have taken him. Finding out that Law had worked briefly with Ceaser Clown to try and get information about Dressrosa and, in turn, had gone against Smoker was slightly worrying until Luffy had admitted quietly that Smoker had shown Law exactly how he felt about him doing that without talking to him first; apparently Smoker would have gone along with it if he had been asked because he knew how important Rosi was to Law and also how important removing Doflamingo was since Smoker hated the Warlord too. Something that increased when they found out that Doflamingo had attacked Smoker after the pirate captains had left, something that definitely added to Law and Luffy’s desire to end the former Celestial.
Hearing that Zoro had redirected the Sunny after Luffy had given them the order to get to Zou so that they could go back and get their Captain and Law was surprising, but he easily noted that Luffy was grateful rather than irritated with his best friend. Although, also hearing that his grandson had his own grand fleet now made pride burst within him.
Whitebeard was surprised to learn that one of the reasons that Franky and Brooke remained on the Sunny was because of the prisoner being on the Sunny along with a samurai and the true prince of Wano. He was tempted to suggest that they come onto the Moby, but he wasn’t going to make them uncomfortable, even though seeing Momo would reassure him that one of his son’s families lived on. He missed Oden greatly, but he would let it be and focus on his grandson instead.
“Yeah, was better after Mingo but then fought a new Admiral...” Luffy hummed lightly as he started waking, he grinned brightly when he spotted a large plate of food next to the chair and gave his grandfather a curious look, immediately eating it all in one gulp the moment he was given the go ahead.
“So, you’re heading to Zou?” Whitebeard questioned softly, unphased by Luffy’s eating habits since Garp could eat like it too.
Luffy nodded lightly as he gazed out over the horizon.
“Need to get Traffy’s crew” Luffy confirmed, his eyes focusing on his crew mixed amongst the Whitebeards, he was glad to note that Sanji was looking much better with Thatch beside him, the two of them laughing and joking while Zoro was still accepting a light scolding from Vista about something as they sparred. The only ones not visible were Marco and Law, but Luffy wouldn’t be surprised if Marco was double checking Law and making sure he was one hundred percent okay before he was allowed to escape the medbay. “Then heading to Wano, promised to help Momo...”
“Do you need backup?”
Luffy remained silent at the question as he thought over the offer, his eyes roaming over the Whitebeards as well as his own crew mixed together. Having them around would be helpful, but he also didn’t really want to include them, just in case something went wrong.
“Not right now” Luffy decided as he glanced at his grandfather “We should probably ask Izou if they want to join us... And Marco will probably want to come once he finds out what we’re doing, I think I’m lucky Uncle Smokey didn’t find out what we’re doing otherwise I’d have him with us too...”
Whitebeard chuckled lightly, being careful not to wake Robin who was still dozing in his arms. “Marco will most likely inform Ace and Ace has a friend in Wano too... Izou will wish to join you, I have no doubt about that. I would suggest you head out within the next hour, little Prince, or you may be delayed by your Papa... While I and your Gramps are understanding of your reasonings, he and your dad will probably still tan your hides for both Dressrosa and Punk Hazard.”
Luffy scrunched his nose with a small whine of exasperation, but Whitebeard easily noted the fondness as well.
“Love you Grampa” Luffy whispered to him before he gently picked Robin up and dropped down to the deck, cradling his archaeologist and moving her to the Sunny where Franky was waiting to take her from him.