139 Awakening of Dawn

Dawn Island, Goa Kingdom, Foosha Island.

Today was an important day, perhaps one of those moments when everyone in the world stopped, even if just for a brief moment. Garp the Fist, the Hero, was holding the newspapers with shivering hands inside his small hut.

'It can't be...'

He had been staying on this island for several months each year for 'private' reasons; although in the G1 they presumed it was his 'vacations', the truth was far from that.

BAANGG!

The door of his hut was blasted open, and in came a rather big woman with auburn hair.

"Oi Garp! Ace is trying to flee!"

It took him a while to process everything; it was difficult to think straight after what he had just seen in the newspapers.

"Go and get him, Daddan!"

"I can't; he's already at the port and he defeated all of us too! Luffy and Sabo are there... Garp, aren't you going to see him off? He finally managed to escape."

The more she spoke, the more her tone switched from one of exhilaration to one of pride. Yes, the brat had managed to escape. Another individual, this time a man wearing casual attire and missing an arm, slumped on a sofa with an exhausted expression.

"Did you let him go, Zephyr?"

"You think I would...? The boy managed to resist a fist from me; there's a gigantic chunk of the forest missing now. You should go now before he leaves. When you told me that we were going to be 'instructing' a group of lads... I never expected this."

"Wahahaha!" He laughed off as if he had received two of the greatest news of the day. He casually walked away, dropping the newspapers for the ex-Admiral Zephyr to read before walking away.

The man in question wore his glasses, and his eyebrows lifted up, "W-What...?".

"Lemme see!" Daddan went to read as well, and her heart nearly stopped.

"Is that the monster Garp wants those kids to defeat?!"

Zephyr clenched the newspaper with a thrilling smile on his face, "I must say... even I did not expect this. Veyron... five years later and you're still giving us a lot of surprises."

"That's the same boy that avenged you, right?" She had heard his story; three years ago when Monkey D. Garp returned to Foosha Island with a friend in tow, she didn't know what to expect. The old bastard was already very troublesome on his own. But as it turns out, Garp had brought in an old comrade with a single purpose.

To create the next generation of marines. Or so he said.

Zephyr accepted this proposal. He didn't only need holidays; he needed his retirement... relaxation and perhaps a new change of tune. His family was gone, and the target of his revenge was taken care of. His disappointment in the world government was immeasurable... but at the same time, there were those in the organization that brought hope.

Admiral Aokiji, Admiral Shironeko, Vice Admiral Gion, Vice Admiral Ain... there seemed to be an ever-increasing number of marines who put justice as their main priority instead of the world government's orders.

Everything related to one individual... the same boy that gave him hope and so... he decided to become an instructor instead after the new four admirals were chosen.

He was told he'd 'train' one of the best possible seedlings among the younger generation that could in the future become the peak of the marines. Words coming from Garp surely couldn't be empty and he delivered... the three lads that he was training had a lot of potential.

The problem was... none of them looked like they were ever going to be Marines. Especially the straw hat brat and not to mention... a secret the hero of the Marines had kept from the whole world. He held in his custody the son of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. His son Portgas D. Ace was such a strong-willed individual...

Aside from Ace, there was also Garp's own grandson and son of the most wanted man in this world, Monkey D. Luffy. It was safe to say those two kids were both children of 'devils'.

Then there was a loyal boy named Sabo, a boy that belonged to the nobility of the Goa Kingdom but that rejected that life with adamancy.

All Garp needed to do was go and get Dracule Veyron... and he'd have assembled the worst troublemakers in this world on a single island. But that had been Garp and Zephyr's biggest regret.

Year after year the newspapers flooded in, every time a different commotion involving either Veyron or his subordinates. Every time he was labelled as the devil, scum, the worst the world had to offer... yet every time his actions brought a smile to their faces.

Wherever the liberators were involved, lives were saved, countries were freed, and people felt gratitude... but they also left a resentful world government. His most debatable action was the destruction of Enies Lobby. A corrupt court that he and Garp knew should not exist in this world. Thousands of lives were lost, a responsibility Veyron shouldered on his own.

It had reached the point where Garp didn't give a fart anymore... it didn't matter if they didn't become Marines. As long as they followed an irrepressible path... and as long as they became as strong as 'he' was... but the more Zephyr looked at the news, the more he realized: Veyron can't be reached.

...

"Wait, Ace! DON'T GO!" The bandits yelled from the edge of the island, screaming their lungs out towards the boy who was dressed in casual clothes, wearing a cap and smirking towards them, his hands were holding the very same edition of the newspapers that Garp had been reading as well, he clenched it just as hard.

"Ace! I'll catch up to you soon!" (Sabo)

"The Pirate King will be me, Ace!" (Luffy)

His two brothers yelled at him, saying their farewells. A sense of nostalgic euphoria washed over him. They had worked and trained hard to the utmost for those last three years... and although he cursed his grandfather and teacher with fervor, it was undeniable what the two of them had done for the three siblings.

"I'm leaving, guys! LOOK UP FOR ME IN THE NEWSPAPERS!"

"Where do you think you're going, kiddo?".

The atmosphere tensed all too suddenly when a man appeared as if teleporting to the island's edge. Luffy and Sabo both gulped audibly.

"Geezer..."

"I told the three of you that if you wanted to leave this island, YOU HAVE TO DEFEAT ME FIRST!".

Garp's entire arm was coated in Armament Haki with lightning sparks breaking through, his Conqueror Haki.

On the other end, Ace smirked and did much the same, also coating his arm in Armament Haki and a powerful will of the Conqueror that, although not at Garp's level, was no joke either.

"I won't wait... Veyron's name is already too big. If I don't start soon, I'll forever live in his shadow, even though he's two years younger than me. You wanted us to surpass him, didn't you? Then you have to let me go now, Geezer!"

"Ace!"

WHOOOOSHH!!

Garp's body flickered, and so did Ace's. If there was something the three of them knew, it was that defeating this old man who looked senile was next to impossible. But although each of them longed to be the captain of their own ship, they were, at the end of the day, brothers.

"We won't let you, gramps!"

<Soru! >

WHOOOOSHHH!!!

Two other silhouettes rushed to aid, and Garp found himself in front of three smiling, challenging teenagers. Luffy's body smoked, and his arms were coated in strong Armament Haki. Sabo wielded what looked like an iron pipe, but this pipe was also coated in Armament Haki.

Their training for the last three years hadn't been a joke at all. More than a disciplinary regime, it was more accurate to call it labor imprisonment. A regime that ignited the passion in their hearts, the passion for freedom.

He punched forth with moderate strength, retaining the tears that threatened to leave his eyes. On the shore of the island, Zephyr had already caught up, and he watched everything going on with awe. His disciplines, one by one, displayed the strength of geniuses that, although not at the level of a monster like Dracule Veyron, were quite formidable on their own.

RUMBLE!!!

BOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!

The clash of three powers drew devastating waves of Conqueror Haki that made the powerless bandits of Goa pass out helplessly. It wasn't a clash capable of splitting the skies, but it was a clash of powerhouses nonetheless.

Garp grit his teeth and felt his strength recede; the spearhead of the attack was Ace. Both siblings didn't slack down, but with his Conqueror Haki, Ace was able to fend off the majority of his momentum.

BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!

Three hits blasted him away towards the island while the three siblings laughed in utter joy.

"We finally hit gramps!" (Luffy)

"Oi Garp! HOW DOES OUR 'LOVE' TASTE!?" (Ace).

"Hurry up and go, Ace! He was surely holding back, go on before he changes his opinion!" (Sabo).

"Oh, sh*t, you're right! I'LL BE WAITING FOR YOU IN THE GRAND LINE, SABO, LUFFY! By the time you come... I'll be the strongest man alive!" (Ace)

"As long as you don't become the Pirate King, I don't care!" (Luffy)

"You two-! You dream too much!" (Sabo)

...

Garp sighed and scratched his head, looking at the clear skies above, pronouncing a new dawn with a setting sun. Zephyr walked next to him.

"You're gonna let him go just like that?"

"He's ready... there's nothing else to teach him; what's left is for him to know what the true world is like."

"The true reason why you did this... is it really to go against Veyron?"

"... that brat... it's only him against the whole world. I never thought, I, a marine, would have to stand by and see how a criminal changes the world for the better."

"Does this mean you give up on the Marines?"

"No, the Marines are the bastion of justice that must exist to maintain law. But now I have realized. Sometimes it takes more than justice. When the law is rigged, the world needs outlaws. There are some of us who are made to follow the rules, there are others who are made to break the rules."

He stood up and dusted himself off, watching his adoptive grandson, a child he came to acknowledge as his own. The child of the Pirate King, with the purest of hearts.

"Let the kids create a world where laws are fairer for everyone. Such a utopia is the vision we Marines must maintain. This world is in desperate need of outlaws and dreamers... like Veyron. I'm just making some more, that's all."

He walked up to the rejoicing Luffy and Sabo, ready to deliver some love, since those two still needed to train a bit more before sailing away like Ace.

Zephyr smirked and followed after. "I don't know if what we're doing is right or not. But I'm looking forward to seeing the future of these dreamers".

The newspaper he had been holding was released and brushed away with gusts of wind.

There were a lot of important articles: News about the Kingdom of Alabasta and important revolutionary movements in the southern Grandline at Paradise. Fear of the celestial dragons against an ever-increasing threat and their diminishing numbers descending from Marie Geoise into Sabaody and other regions.

Massive outbreaks taking place in Impel Down from mysterious sources. The plunder of the National Tribute from the Kingdoms in the New World by the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock... but that wasn't even scratching the surface.

The main article depicted a picture that seemed to be taken from a high point of view; one of two gigantic goddesses standing on top of Onigashima holding two majestic lightning and aiming them at their feet.

'The Yonko Kaido of the Beasts has been defeated by the Lightning God Dracule Veyron, and his main base, Onigashima, has disappeared from the map.'

It gave a brief explanation of the power struggle between two emperors where even Yonko Big Mom, the Yonko Whitebeard and the newly crowned Yonko, Shanks... were also involved. Garp and Zephyr hadn't heard of a battle of this scale since God Valley.

It came attached with a whole page that served as a wanted poster. The crowning of an unwilling Emperor of the Seas.

...

The Devil God, Yonko Dracule Veyron.

ONLY DEAD.

6.000.000.000 Bellies.

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