Staring at the man before them—this self-proclaimed "friend of Garp" who wore a shameless grin and looked unreliable no matter how you sliced it—
Ace, the most mature of the three brothers, let his expression darken completely. He tightened his grip on the metal pipe in his hand, clearly not buying a single word.
"Hmph. You really think we'd just take your word for it and believe you?"
"Ace, isn't he Grandpa's friend?" Luffy tilted his head innocently as he asked.
In his simple worldview, if someone said so, then it was probably true.
Incidentally, throughout One Piece, Luffy is the only main character who never has inner monologue narration. Put another way—this kid genuinely doesn't overthink things. Whatever's in his head comes straight out of his mouth.
Seeing Luffy like this, Sabo hurriedly grabbed him and whispered urgently, "Luffy! You can't just believe whatever someone says! What if he's a bad guy?!"
"Hey now, you can't just throw accusations around like that," Gern said immediately, putting on a wounded, wronged expression as he spread his hands."I'm an honest man. I never lie."
The moment Luffy heard that, it was as if he'd found proof on his side. He turned to Ace and Sabo and shouted, "See?! He said he never lies!"
"This idiot…" Ace muttered, rubbing his forehead as he looked at how easily Luffy trusted others.
He knew better than anyone that trying to reason with Luffy was pointless. Instead of wasting words, it'd be far more effective to test the man directly—with action.
In a split second, Ace made his decision.
A sharp glint flashed through his eyes as he let out a low shout and swung the metal pipe in his hands. It tore through the air with a shrill whistle as he smashed it straight toward Gern's shoulder, where the man was leaning casually against the grass!
Yet in the face of this sudden attack, Gern didn't even lift his eyelids. He remained in that lazy, relaxed posture—but then—
In the very next instant, something bizarre happened.
Ace's metal pipe passed straight through Gern's body, as if striking nothing but empty air.
Bang!
The pipe slammed hard into the ground behind him, sending grass and dirt flying.
Where Gern had been "hit," faint white, translucent ripples spread outward like disturbed water—then vanished, restoring his body to normal.
"W-What?!"Ace's pupils shrank violently as he stared at the completely unharmed Gern. A chill shot up from his feet straight to his scalp.
"W-Why can't we hit him?!" Luffy's eyes went wide, his rubbery mouth forming a perfect "O."
As a rubber man, Luffy wasn't afraid of blunt force—but an ability that let attacks pass straight through the body was something he'd never even heard of.
Or rather, in the remote East Blue, the very concept of a Logia-type Devil Fruit was far beyond their understanding.
"What… what kind of ability is this?!" Sabo's face went pale as well, sweat seeping into his clenched palm around the pipe.
"Damn it! I don't believe it!"Ace grit his teeth, the stubbornness and refusal to lose buried deep in his bones fully igniting."Everyone, attack together! I don't believe his entire body works like that!"
Before the words even finished leaving his mouth, Ace charged again, with Sabo right behind him. The two pipes whistled through the air with ferocious momentum.
Luffy reacted as well, swinging his fists wildly as he launched himself at Gern.
Faced with the three boys' near-simultaneous assault from different angles, Gern didn't even change his posture. He continued leaning lazily against the grass—
And even lifted a hand, yawning casually.
For a time, every single attack—Ace's swings, Sabo's thrusts, Luffy's chaotic punches—
Passed straight through his seemingly defenseless body, striking nothing but empty air. Not even a single strand of his hair was touched.
After a long moment, watching the three boys pant heavily, drenched in sweat after pouring out their full strength to no effect—
Gern finally decided he'd had enough fun.
His gaze passed over Luffy's stubborn, indignant face and Sabo's tense, wary expression, before settling on Ace.
A trace of complexity flickered through his eyes.
It couldn't be helped.
This kid… looked far too much like Gol D. Roger.
The shape of his brow, the line of his nose, the way he pressed his lips together—there was that same faintly stubborn, sharp presence. It was almost a mirror image of that man.
Back during the God Valley Incident, when the Roger Pirates had forcefully landed—
Gern had still been nothing more than an ordinary Marine, desperately trying to defy fate. Even then, he'd caught a distant glimpse of a young, high-spirited Roger in his prime.
Of course, the Ace before him now couldn't be said to resemble Roger one hundred percent.
The freckles on his face carried the gentle imprint of his mother, Portgas D. Rouge. The finer details of his eyes and features leaned more toward her softness, lacking some of Roger's cutting edge.
But for someone like Gern—who had seen Roger with his own eyes and possessed extraordinarily sharp perception—
This level of resemblance was more than enough.
This was Roger's blood. Without question.
That raised a question, though.
Why hadn't Ace's identity sparked widespread speculation or turmoil across the seas?
Gern knew the answer perfectly well.
First, there simply weren't many witnesses from the old era left.
Those who had lived through Roger's peak and remembered his appearance clearly had either retired long ago—like Rayleigh—
Or were gathered deep in the turbulent New World. In places like the first half of the Grand Line, let alone the East Blue, people who truly knew Roger's face were exceedingly rare.
Second—and most crucial of all—
You couldn't just declare a boy someone's son simply because he resembled a deceased legend.
Baseless speculation like that would get you laughed out of a Marine branch office at best, labeled a lunatic at worst.
Lookalikes on the sea were uncommon, but not unheard of.
And more importantly, Garp's cleanup work back then had been flawless.
Using his authority and influence, he had perfectly concealed Ace's origins and entrusted him to the bandit Dadan to raise.
There was also the joint Marine–World Government task force that had once hunted for the "Pirate King's bloodline"—
And who had been in charge of that operation?
Himself.
At the time, even when he'd gone searching alongside Enel, it had all been little more than surface-level theater…
So in a sense, Gern himself was one of the "umbrellas" that had allowed Ace to grow up safely.
These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, finally condensing into a nearly inaudible sigh.
The Pirate King's child is not the Pirate King.A scapegoat's child… is still a scapegoat.
Gern let the playful expression fade from his face. Looking straight at Ace, he suddenly spoke in a calm, even tone:
"Kid—brute strength and stubbornness alone won't take you very far."
...…
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