"Heh-heh…"
"The scene looks pretty heartwarming!"
"Looks like over in the pirate world, since everyone's basically human, it ends up feeling closer to everyday life—more grounded, more like real flesh-and-blood people…"
Soul Reaper World.
In a general store on the outskirts of Karakura Town.
Watching what was happening before their eyes, Isshin Kurosaki sighed with emotion.
Yes.
Right now, in his mind, he was also being dragged back to memories from…
…about ten-plus years ago—around the time Ichigo had just been born!
Back then,
Isshin Kurosaki had been just like Garp.
Taking baby Ichigo—still wrapped up in swaddling cloth—from his wife Masaki Kurosaki, holding him in his arms, and fussing over him to make him laugh.
The same kind of protagonist!
The same kind of overwhelming "background"!
Only now did Isshin realize—
between Luffy and Ichigo, there were way too many similarities for it to be a coincidence!
In a sense,
Ichigo could also be called…
…the "Background King" of the Soul Reaper world!!!
"Heh-heh…"
Fanning himself with a gently swaying folding fan, Kisuke Urahara nodded and laughed brightly. "Yeah… just a moment ago it was a chaotic battlefield, and in the blink of an eye it turns soft and warm!"
"By the way, if that's the case, then Straw Hat Luffy should be raised by Garp, right?"
"So why is it that later on, he ends up becoming a pirate?"
That was something Urahara genuinely couldn't wrap his head around.
By all logic, with a grandfather like that—an absurdly powerful Marine hero—
Luffy's future growth path should have been shaped by staying near Garp, being influenced day after day…
and ultimately walking the same road.
Following in his footsteps and becoming an outstanding Marine, right?
But the reality…
was the complete opposite!
It was baffling!!!
"Could it be because of Garp's position—he's usually swamped with duties, and has to stay at Marine Headquarters most of the time!"
"So… he didn't have time to look after the kid, tossed him to someone else to raise, and then while raising him, he accidentally went down the wrong path!"
"And that's how Straw Hat Luffy later unexpectedly became a pirate?!"
Yoruichi offered her guess.
In her view, that was highly possible—and the most reasonable explanation.
Otherwise,
a perfectly normal kid
somehow becoming the polar opposite of his own grandfather?
That wasn't common at all!!!
"But…"
After pausing for a moment, Yoruichi continued with a playful grin, teasing, "That said, this Straw Hat family—three generations, grandpa-father-son—their identities are really a mess. They don't match up at all!!!"
Grandfather: Marine.
Father: Revolutionary Army.
Grandson: Pirate.
That kind of bizarre combination was eye-opening.
If you didn't know better,
you'd think they were a family stitched together at random—
like the three of them didn't share a drop of blood at all!!!
—
Meanwhile,
right in the middle of Urahara and the others talking—
on the transparent light-screen, the picture flickered, and the ranking video continued:
No surprise at all.
After successfully entrusting Luffy, Dragon turned away without even looking back, leaving—his figure vanishing from the screen.
Clearly,
with his personality and that sense of responsibility,
in the days to come he would, without hesitation, throw himself right back into the revolution—
expanding and strengthening the Revolutionary Army!
After that,
Dragon's "screen time" disappeared completely.
The video's focus returned to Garp.
As a grandfather—an old man—he took on the responsibility of raising his grandson!
But…
what surprised the audience was—
Garp's childcare style was ridiculous.
Starting from when Luffy was still an infant, he kept him at his side the whole time, bringing him along as he followed himself—
riding on Marine warships,
executing missions while running all over the world!!!
And on top of that,
there were several times
when he was "taking care" of Luffy
where, because he was careless—and because he didn't control his strength—
he nearly hurt him by accident, and the baby almost died!
That whole chain of flashback snippets
made the viewing atmosphere—rarely—turn lighthearted.
In the Soul Reaper world, in the pirate world…
the strong viewers of both worlds were all amused by this thoroughly unqualified "stay-at-home dad" version of Garp!
"So…"
"There's no way he's actually raising the kid himself!"
"Next, if I'm not wrong, Garp's going to act like a hands-off boss and hand his grandson off to someone else to raise, right?"
Inside Las Noches.
Gin Ichimaru wore his foxlike smile, eyes narrowed as he guessed with pleasant certainty.
Honestly,
as early as the earlier part of the viewing,
he had felt the same confusion as Urahara—
about Luffy's later identity as a "pirate."
It didn't seem likely.
Not under normal circumstances!
There was no reason Luffy would just randomly become a pirate—opposite to his grandfather.
But now,
after watching that segment,
Gin finally understood.
So it was that Garp couldn't raise a kid—so in the end, with no other choice…
…he had to hand Luffy, his own biological grandson, to someone else.
And because of that,
Luffy's later growth veered off the expected track—
even swinging to the extreme, until he became a pirate!!!
"Gin…"
"You're right."
Upon his throne,
Sōsuke Aizen nodded in agreement. "The truth is probably exactly that. And it's precisely because of this… that at the end, on the Summit War battlefield, we'll get that famous scene where a grandfather makes a move to save his grandson, won't we?"
Within those black eyes,
a glint of sharp insight flashed.
Aizen had already guessed the direction of what came next—
and the likely outcome.
And because of that,
starting from this very moment,
he accepted Garp's identity as the "Fourth Background Character."
...
As for everyone around them—
the other Espada and Arrancar,
because Hollows were born lacking emotion, and because they had never lived anything like a human emotional life—
their reactions stayed flat.
They showed no great interest,
and few of them joined the discussion at all.
And so,
under the collective gaze of Aizen's trio and the entire Arrancar army—
the follow-up ranking video
continued playing this segment about Garp's past—
Just as expected!
The audience hadn't guessed wrong!
Left with no choice, Garp truly made the decision to hand his biological grandson Luffy over to his hometown—
to the village chief of Foosha Village, and the companions around him—to raise!
He became completely hands-off!
And from then on, aside from occasionally returning to the East Blue,
you could almost say he completely let Luffy grow up however he pleased!!!
And also,
because of Garp…
among the Four Seas—this so-called "newbie village"—more than half of the pirates
got casually dealt with by him on the way back during his return trips!
And that led to—
as time went on—
East Blue, that entire region, being labeled by the world as…
…the weakest sea!!!
After that,
the video fast-forwarded.
Several more years passed.
Then, one time, when Garp returned to Foosha Village again—
he discovered, to his surprise,
that the Luffy he had "trained," the one he was waiting to reach enlistment age so he could immediately join the Marines—
for some unknown reason,
was now shouting all day long that he wanted to become a pirate—
to charge into the Grand Line!
That instantly made Garp absolutely furious!!!
(End of Chapter)
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