The time was 8:35 a.m. The weather was bright and pleasant.
The place — a packed convention hall overflowing with people.
As a combined venue for two major press conferences and a comic convention, the crowd was enormous. The mix of attendees was diverse, and the noise — truly chaotic.
Voices overlapped everywhere: people chatting, others on the phone, families laughing together, children whining and parents doting, a few rowdy brats throwing tantrums, and vendors shouting out their sales pitches from every direction...
It wasn't exactly deafening — you could still hear other sounds — but the constant buzz of chatter felt like a swarm of flies buzzing right beside your ear. It made people restless, irritated, unable to focus.
And since most people just strolled through an event like this casually, it was all too easy to miss things.
Like Uzumaki Naruto, for example — who had been happily wandering from stall to stall. Somewhere along the way, he realized that his companion was gone. Uchiha Sasuke had disappeared — and Naruto had no idea when or where he'd gotten separated.
Naruto wanted to go look for him, but when he turned around, he saw the sea of people — a human flood rolling like a tide. Moving with the flow was easy, but trying to push against it? That was another story.
Not to mention, it would only cause chaos for everyone else. Just the thought of forcing his way through that airtight wall of bodies was enough to make anyone hesitate.
It was like driving into a one-way street — the only thing you could do was keep going straight ahead. It wasn't that you didn't want to do anything else; the situation simply didn't allow it.
"Oi, brat. What are you doing here? Lost your parents?"
Suddenly, Naruto felt a heavy hand press down on his head. Judging from the feel, it was definitely a palm — and before he could react, an unstoppable force began rubbing his hair back and forth. After a few good seconds of rough ruffling, the hand finally withdrew, leaving Naruto dizzy and disoriented.
After about ten seconds, the world stopped spinning. Naruto tilted his head up to see who had mussed up his hair — and a familiar face came into view.
"Ah! It's the super awesome Garp-jii-san!"
Naruto's eyes went wide. In his mind flashed an image of the laughing old man throwing a thunderous punch, his laughter booming like thunder as the heavens themselves seemed to tremble.
"Hm? You know me?" Garp bent down to study the little blond kid before him. After staring for a while, he confirmed he didn't actually know this boy. "Member?" he asked casually.
"Yup! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Garp-jii-san!" Naruto grinned, hands clasped behind his back, standing straight with pride.
"Uzumaki Naruto, huh? The name rings a bell…"
Garp pressed a finger to his forehead, frowning in thought. He tried to dig through his memory for related info — and all he could recall was: Naruto is a group member.
Scratching his head, Garp reached out and grabbed Vegapunk by the collar — who was about to be swept away by the flow of people — and yanked him back to his side.
"Don't carry me like a cat!" Vegapunk grumbled, but Garp ignored him and returned to his earlier question.
"So, kid, what are you doing here? You get separated from your folks?"
Naruto shook his head. "I didn't come with my parents. I came with Sasuke. But… while we were walking around, Sasuke disappeared somewhere."
Garp glanced around at the massive crowd. For a kid to lose sight of his friend here? Totally understandable.
"In this kind of crowd, you've got almost no chance of finding him by searching. Just send him a message and pick a meeting point," Garp advised.
Naruto looked around at the solid wall of people again. Yeah, finding Sasuke in this chaos really did feel like an S-rank mission. So he nodded in agreement. "...Okay."
After a moment, Garp asked, "Wanna come along with us then?"
Naruto didn't even hesitate. "Sure!"
"Then let's go!"
Garp grabbed Naruto with one hand and set him on his left shoulder, steadying him with a big palm to make sure he didn't fall.
"(⊙o⊙) Wah—!"
From seeing nothing but legs to suddenly having a bird's-eye view — Naruto cried out in delight. His eyes darted between the stalls on both sides of the road and the pretty girls walking past. He was so excited he nearly forgot why he was there — until the private chat notification chimed.
Only then did he remember he hadn't messaged Sasuke yet. The moment he opened the chat, he was greeted with a furious scolding that made him slump over in shame.
Garp didn't notice Naruto's mood; all his attention was on Vegapunk.
"Vegapunk," he said seriously, "can you create someone identical to another person?"
He wasn't joking — Garp had received devastating news yesterday. His beloved grandson, Ace, had been captured by Blackbeard and handed over to the World Government in exchange for the title of Shichibukai.
Worse yet — Ace's execution had already been announced. The higher-ups were discussing the date. Because of this, Sengoku had literally been tearing out his own hair in frustration.
Both of them were stressed beyond belief.
Fighting someone like Whitebeard, who still surpassed even his prime, was a nightmare no one wanted.
The top brass of the Marines wore grim faces, but no amount of protest from two old warhorses could sway the World Government's decision.
So, Sengoku and Garp decided they needed another way.
The first plan that came to Garp's mind was the "Fake Ace" Plan — for which he sought help from the one and only Vegapunk, the scientist said to be five hundred years ahead of his time.
"That's simple," Vegapunk replied coolly as he walked beside Garp. "Just clone him. The first clone will take about two months to create. After that, each additional one will take only a month."
"One month… two months…" Garp's brief spark of hope was crushed by the second half of that sentence. He let out a long sigh.
They didn't have that kind of time.
The "Fake Ace" Plan — failed!
The idea of tricking the World Government by letting Blackbeard trade a fake Ace for the Shichibukai title, making him guilty of fraud — dead in the water.
So Garp turned to his backup plan: dive into Hell itself, grind monsters, and save enough money to buy a Resurrection Coin.
With his status, retrieving Ace's body after the execution wouldn't be an issue. Once he had it, he could simply use the coin to bring him back.
If this plan worked, the only problem left would be the Whitebeard Pirates.
Whitebeard — Newgate — a man who placed family above all, a hero who valued loyalty more than life.
In short, he cared. Deeply. Even if the Whitebeard Pirates didn't mobilize their entire force, Whitebeard himself would surely go alone.
Even if Ace would ultimately be fine, Whitebeard would still go — because he cared for his son.
"If my son's life is in danger, and I, as his father, do nothing… he'd be heartbroken!"
That's exactly what that old man Newgate would think.
In short — war was inevitable.
But whether they won or lost, Ace would survive.
And that meant Garp would have no reason to fear — no reason at all to avoid the coming battle.
-----------------------
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(End of Chapter)