Several days later—the New World, within the sphere of influence of one of the Four Emperors, Red-Haired Shanks.
On an island flying the flag of the Red Hair Pirates.
Inside a small-town restaurant, the atmosphere was… bizarre.
By the window, Enel sat with absolutely zero decorum, holding a honey-drenched apple pie in his bare hand and chomping into it in huge bites, occasionally letting out satisfied tsk-tsk sounds.
Across from him, Bartholomew Kuma's enormous frame quietly occupied an entire chair by itself. He held a steaming cup of hot cocoa with both hands, the gentle posture forming a stark contrast with his overwhelming size.
And at the head of the table—
Gern Reginald Sigmar and Ace were practically competing, shoveling thick skewers of meat—charred on the outside, juicy on the inside, sizzling with fat—straight into their mouths like starving beasts!!
Dragged here by Gern against his will the entire way, Ace's stomach was full of fire.
So even with his mouth stuffed to the point of bulging, he still ranted nonstop through muffled speech.
"Mm—hey, hey, you bastard… what the hell are you trying to do?!You don't arrest me, you don't kill me, you just drag me all the way out here…And then you say you're taking me to meet some 'guy who has my father's vibe'?!Who the hell would believe that kind of crap?! What are you really plotting?!"
Hearing Ace's tirade, Gern paused mid-bite, shot him a look filled with pure disdain—
Then, without a single word, raised his hand and delivered a crisp, merciless flick straight to the back of Ace's head.
Bang!
Ace's forehead slammed into the table. He clutched his head and shot upright, roaring in pain.
"Bastard! What the hell was that for?!"
"Tch… sigh!"Gern pulled his hand back, his tone exaggerated, as if he were the one who'd suffered a great injustice.
"Think about it—I fed you, gave you a place to sleep (even if it was under surveillance),showed you the New World (even if it was by force).I've been this good to you…"
"And you still won't even call me 'Dad.'"
"PFF—!!"
Ace almost choked to death on the meat lodged in his throat. He slapped his chest hard, coughing violently, his face turning beet red.
After finally catching his breath, he exploded like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, leaping up and pointing straight at Gern's nose.
"You BASTARD!!!What do you mean I won't call you 'Dad'?!Does that even make sense?! Am I your son?! What relationship do we even have?!"
This lunatic's logic was completely incomprehensible!
A kidnapper demanding the victim call him father?!Were all top-tier New World monsters this deranged?!
Looking at Ace, who was practically vibrating with rage, Gern didn't get angry at all.On the contrary—he looked amused.
He casually ran a hand through his slightly wild black hair, then slowly stood up.
Looking down at Ace—whose body trembled with fury—Gern suddenly put on a deliberately solemn expression.
He even intentionally imitated the tone of a certain man once hailed as the "Strongest Man in the World," stretching out his hand and declaring in a deep, heavy voice—solemn, dignified, and infuriatingly punchable—
"Become my son!! Ace."
"Carry my name, and run free across this sea!!"
Ace: "..."
For a single instant, it was as if the entire restaurant had been muted.
Even Enel stopped chewing, his mouth twitching as he stared over.
Kuma's hands paused around his cocoa.
Ace's expression froze completely—shifting from extreme rage… to extreme confusion…
Then into a look of utter disbelief, as if he were thinking:
Did this guy get kicked in the head by a Sea King or something?
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something—anything—but found that no words could possibly keep up with how absurd this situation was.
In the end, thousands of thoughts condensed into a dead-fish stare and a single sentence squeezed out through clenched teeth, heavy with exhaustion.
"…What the hell… is wrong with you…"
Seeing Ace's expression—like he'd just swallowed a fly, a mix of speechlessness and this guy is beyond saving—
Gern didn't feel embarrassed at all.
Instead, he frowned deeply.
He withdrew his outstretched hand, rubbed his chin, and fell into thought, muttering to himself as if no one else existed.
"Strange… that doesn't make sense…"
His eyes swept back and forth over Ace's face, full of resistance, as though examining a test subject that didn't match the expected results.
"I remember it clearly! That old man Whitebeard beat this kid senseless first,and only after he was completely beaten into submission did he reach out to recruit him…"
"The process should be about the same…"
He carefully reviewed his own steps against Whitebeard's example.
Overwhelming power? (✓)Beaten into submission? (✓)Invitation extended? (✓)
Mm. The steps were perfectly identical!!
"Then why is it that when he reaches out, he gets a son—and when I reach out, I only get the look you give an idiot?"
Gern's brow furrowed tighter and tighter, utterly baffled.
He lowered his head and examined his own sharp, well-tailored outfit (even if he wasn't wearing a Justice cloak).
Then he assessed his body—honed through countless trials, brimming with power—
And his aura—weathered by years, steady as a mountain(at least, in his own opinion).
"Could it be…" he muttered uncertainly,"…that I'm lacking that so-called… 'fatherly presence'?"
For the first time, Gern began to doubt himself.
Was it because he'd spent too many years scheming, his presence too sharp, not "kind" enough?
But then he shook his head and proposed another hypothesis, his gaze sharpening as he locked onto Ace—like he'd finally found the root of the problem.
"Or is it that…""…Ace here hasn't suffered enough to truly crave fatherly love?"
When Gern said this, his tone was deadly serious—as if he were genuinely considering whether to increase the intensity of his physical persuasion…
Or adopt other methods to "stimulate" Ace's emotional need for a father.
At that moment, Enel finally couldn't hold it in.
"Pfft—!"
He burst out laughing, nearly dropping the apple pie in his hand.
Even Kuma—silent and immovable as a mountain—felt his fingers twitch almost imperceptibly around the cocoa cup, thinking to himself:
Maybe I should go back and tell Ginny to talk with Toritoma and Lipo…After all, Mr. Gern is at that age where becoming a father makes sense~
Listening to Gern's completely unfiltered, utterly deranged analysis—and watching him seriously contemplate how to "radiate fatherly love"—
Ace felt his temples throbbing violently.
He'd had enough.
Slamming his hand on the table, he shot to his feet and roared:
"You BASTARD!! Who the hell would ever need your fatherly love?!And another thing—don't treat me like some pathetic kid starving for affection!!The name I carry comes from my mother!!"
Gern's train of thought was interrupted. He looked up at Ace, whose face was flushed red with fury.
"Ohhh~! I get it now!"
"It's not that your desire for fatherly love is lacking!"
"It's that you haven't been beaten enough yet!!!"