In the early morning at Windmill Village's port, a small sailboat sat quietly at anchor. Rhett stood at the bow, his blood mist swirling as he loaded the last of the supplies onto the ship. The three little ones, carrying their weapons on their backs, ran excitedly across the deck.
"Everyone ready?" Rhett turned and asked.
"Ready!" Ace held his longsword high, nearly hitting Sabo in the head.
"Ace, watch it!" Sabo yelled at him with shark teeth.
"Sorry, Sabo." Ace scratched his head.
Ann silently checked her heavy sword, making sure the straps were secure.
Sabo, looking a bit nervous, touched the longsword at his waist. "Uncle Rhett, are we really going to catch pirates?"
"Of course," Rhett grinned. "But don't worry. With your uncle here, all you need to do is —"
"Make a cool entrance!" Ace interrupted.
"No. Save up money. I could give each of you a ship, sure. But I don't think you'd want that."
Ace and Sabo both jumped. "We have to earn our first ship with our own strength!"
Rhett looked up and suddenly thought of a few people:
Roger: "Rayleigh, I burned your house down."
Rayleigh: "That's fine. I stole your ship."
Roger: "You're not mad at me?"
Rayleigh: "That's why I didn't save your son."
Rhett shook his head to clear away these strange thoughts.
Roger's first ship came from his first mate. Luffy's first ship was a barrel. What a couple of charm magnets. Neither of them paid for their ships. And here Rhett was, spending an entire Navy warship's worth of berries just to forge a sword.
Huh. Did he not have charm or something?
"Let's review what we covered about going to sea. Ann, you go first."
Ann tugged on Rhett's pinky. "If there's danger, call Uncle Rhett."
"Sabo."
"If we can't win, run away."
"Good. Ace!"
"During a fight, don't worry about honor. Throw sand in their eyes. Aim for their legs. Poke their eyes. The winner gets to be the one who talks big."
"Good."
Ace pulled Rhett closer by his sleeve and whispered carefully, "Uncle, shouldn't we hide the fact that we're the Pirate King's kids? In all the stories, secret identities like that are super important."
What a thoughtful kid.
Rhett thought for a moment. "Well, I think it wouldn't actually matter. The only thing is, it would put old Garp in a really awkward position. I'd kind of feel bad for him."
Tom was safe while Roger was alive. They only went after him after Roger died. Rhett now was no less than Roger — he had an even bigger organization, in fact. Even if Ace went around the streets shouting "Roger is my father" right now...
In the original story, Ace's secret got out. And honestly, an old, battle-worn Whitebeard couldn't intimidate the seas anymore. That's why they targeted him in the first place.
If they really wanted to kill Roger's son to make an example out of him... Rhett didn't think that reasoning held up at all.
Here's the fatal flaw: back when the Navy was searching for Roger's child, they were killing anyone they suspected, innocent or not. If they suddenly came out and said, "Oh, we killed the wrong one, THIS is the real one"... wouldn't that make them look completely stupid?
Rhett's guess? The real reason they wanted to go to war was to enter the New World. They wanted to use Whitebeard's death as a stepping stone to establish a foothold there.
Why not Big Mom or Kaido? Either they had too much territory, or they weren't sick enough.
Whitebeard, compared to Linlin and Kaido, didn't really operate like a normal pirate crew. There were no heavily guarded outposts on the islands he claimed. Fish-Man Island flew his flag, but you never saw his crew there. He ruled through intimidation, not occupation.
And the Whitebeard Pirates were built entirely around Whitebeard himself. His territories were protected by his reputation alone. The moment he fell, everything would crumble instantly. If Kaido fell, King could take over. If Linlin fell, Katakuri could take over.
If Whitebeard fell — honestly, Marco in the original story wasn't really on the level of a true first mate. (In this book, I gave him Conqueror's Haki. He suffered from appearing too early. Without that boost, he'd be lacking a bit too much.)
If a battle-worn Whitebeard was the one protecting Ace, then the World Government would go out of its way to prove that Ace really was Roger's son.
But if Rhett was standing behind Ace — an Emperor of the Sea — and not just Rhett but the entire Roger Pirates crew backing him up... the World Government would do everything in its power to prove the exact opposite. They'd pull out all the stops to show that Ace was lying. That he wasn't Roger's son at all.
---
The first stop was naturally Shells Town.
In front of the bounty poster wall at the harbor tavern, Rhett pointed at a few wanted posters. "See these? Pirates with bounties under 400,000 berries are basically small fry who just went to sea. Perfect for practice."
Ace stood on his tiptoes and pointed at a poster of a thuggish-looking pirate. "This one! He looks super weak!"
Sabo muttered, "What part of him makes you think he's weak..."
But Rhett nodded approvingly. "Good eye. This guy robbed a fishing village yesterday. He should still be in town."
The blood mist spread out quietly and soon locked onto its target — a brawny drunk who was boasting about how he had "once taken down a Navy vice admiral."
"Go," Rhett said, giving the three little ones a gentle push. "Remember the plan."
Outside the harbor tavern, the drunk giant "Scarhead" Baz was standing on a sake barrel, bragging to his men, "You know, I almost killed a Navy vice admiral back in the day!" He showed off his scar-covered arm. "See these? I got these in that big battle."
"Now," Rhett said from where he crouched on the rooftop. "Stick to the plan."
Ann charged out first. Her small body and giant heavy sword made for a striking contrast, but every step she took made the ground tremble slightly. Before Baz could react, the heavy sword came swinging at him with a whoosh.
"THUD!"
Baz's hastily raised sake barrel was shattered into pieces, splinters flying everywhere. He stumbled backward, most of his drunkenness gone. "Where did you come from, you little brat?!"
"Over here!" Ace leaped down from the roof on the right. Mid-air, he drew the gun, fired a shot, then slung it back onto his back and pulled out the longsword Rhett had bought him.
Rhett: That's right, I taught them that. Who said you need to know how to cook to judge a meal? You think I learned nothing from hanging out with my big brother Spencer? He was an excellent marksman.
"BANG!"
The bullet shot Baz's hat clean off his head. The moment Ace landed, his longsword shot toward the man's ribs. But—
"Too slow!" Baz grinned cruelly and raised his own blade to block. But then he felt a cold chill on the back of his neck.
Sabo had somehow circled around behind him. The tip of his silver-white longsword rested gently against Baz's neck. "Don't move. Move and you die."
His voice was very quiet.