"It was just a few wrong words! Did she really have to turn us into this?!"
Ace grabbed Marco's hair and shook back and forth against him.
"How were we supposed to know? Besides Pops, there's actually a good father in this world whose daughter would desperately go looking for him?"
Yamato kept biting Marco's hand without letting go, shouting in a muffled voice.
"EXACTLY… THAT BULL-HEADED GORILLA FROM MY FAMILY IS A BASTARD TOO! HOW WERE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THERE'D BE SUCH A GOOD FATHER OUT THERE? IT'S NOT FAIR!"
Thud! Thud!
"You two."
Marco finally reached the limit of his patience and hammered both of them on the head.
"Quiet down. We still have to arrange Pops' funeral tomorrow."
"And don't expect me to use Haki to undo this for you. Putting aside whether it would even work, after that old man Garp smashed my head earlier, my Haki still hasn't recovered properly. I don't have the absurd amount of Haki it would take to cancel this ability, and whether it'd be effective is still unknown."
"Looking for the Red Hair Pirates won't help either. You two caused this trouble yourselves, so you need to solve it yourselves."
"Even if Pops were still here, he probably wouldn't help you. He'd definitely make you handle it on your own! If nothing else works, apologize sincerely and get her to forgive you."
Marco looked at the two of them and sighed helplessly.
Right now, both Ace and Yamato looked about six or seven years old.
The two of them said pitifully, "But we already apologized, and she's still mad at us. She's acting just like a kid, completely unreasonable!"
Who could have imagined it?
They had merely run into someone on the road, yet these two pirates in the prime of their youth had been knocked back into childhood.
The culprit was Jewelry Bonney, one of the Supernovas of the Worst Generation, known as the "Big Eater."
The cause of the whole incident had to be traced back to Cain's plan.
During the Summit War, he had taken Bartholomew Kuma away ahead of time.
As a result, the one who appeared on the battlefield in Kuma's place was a Pacifista.
Bonney cared deeply about Kuma's safety, and after noticing something was wrong, she immediately rushed toward the waters near the battlefield without regard for anything else.
Since the Blackbeard Pirates had already secretly withdrawn, Bonney was not captured.
Instead, she was chased all the way by Aokiji, who had been responsible for patrolling the area.
She could only keep running for her life, escaping until that very night.
It was then that she ran into Ace and Yamato, who were heading back with bags full of food supplies.
After fleeing continuously, Bonney had exhausted all her strength and was so weak she could barely stand.
Ace was never cold-hearted by nature, and Yamato was kind as well.
Seeing her in that state, they shared the food they had just bought with her.
After wolfing down the food and replenishing her energy, a little color finally returned to Bonney's face.
Looking at the hands that had offered her food, she hesitated for a moment.
She did not reveal her own identity, but out of gratitude, she spoke of the purpose of her journey.
She was looking for her father, Bartholomew Kuma.
The man also known as Tyrant Kuma.
After all, Ace and the others had participated in the Summit War. Maybe they really did have some clues.
That was why Bonney told them.
Hearing the name "Tyrant Kuma," Ace and Yamato froze.
Kuma's reputation outside was not exactly good. In the pirate world, no one did not know his name.
Then they thought about their own fathers.
Ace's father was the Pirate King, Roger.
His name was famous across the world, yet he had never fulfilled a single day of responsibility as a father.
Because of the infamy caused by the beginning of the Great Pirate Era, Ace had suffered countless cold stares.
Yamato's father was Kaido, one of the Four Emperors.
Beatings and scolding were common, hunger was normal, and that was not even mentioning the explosive shackles used to restrict her freedom.
Both of them had extremely awful impressions of the word "father."
So they subconsciously projected their own experiences onto Bonney.
With the attitude of people who had been through it before, and combined with all the rumors and infamy surrounding Tyrant Kuma, they began guessing about Kuma and Bonney's relationship as father and daughter.
"Tyrant Kuma? That guy is famous for being ruthless. Don't tell me… he abused you a lot? Are you looking for him to get revenge?"
Ace frowned and voiced his guess.
Yamato nodded along, her face full of indignation.
"Judging by the way you eat, you must've gone hungry a lot like me. Does he often refuse to feed you and lock you up too…?"
They had meant well, but those words completely enraged Bonney.
At her core, Bonney was still only a nine-year-old child.
Faced with slander against her father, she did not care whether they meant it or not. She immediately fired off a beam of light!
By the time Ace and Yamato reacted, they had already been turned into their current seven-year-old selves.
Even after the misunderstanding was later cleared up and they learned the truth—that Kuma truly loved Bonney deeply, and their relationship as father and daughter was genuinely very close—
Even after understanding all that and giving a sincere apology, Bonney was still angry and refused to undo her ability for them.
After all, Bonney was still essentially a child.
When it came to her father, sulking was not something that could be resolved in just a day or two.
And that was how things had ended up like this.
Since there was truly no other choice, Marco and the others brought Bonney with them to the New World.
Bonney also wanted to find clues about Kuma, so she followed them.
In the end, Marco could only shake his head helplessly and give his solution.
"If there's really no other way, then take her with you. In that war, most of the situation was arranged by your younger brother Cain. There were far too many schemes and hidden moves involved. If it's about Bartholomew Kuma, he might be able to find some clues."
"But there's no time!"
Ace anxiously pointed out the problem.
"After turning smaller, there's no way we can reach the meeting place in time. If Little Oars Jr. hadn't grabbed a few Sea Kings to help pull the ship earlier, we wouldn't have been able to return to the New World so quickly. Going there now would be really troublesome, and that's without even mentioning bringing one more person."
Yamato also nodded.
"Cain's dragon really is great! It's way cooler than that bull-headed gorilla from my family, the color is prettier too, and it can fly through the sky. A Mythical Zoan… and it can fly."
In an instant, Yamato and Ace's eyes lit up.
Marco swallowed and instinctively stepped back.
"Why are you two looking at me?"
…
Morning, Shakky's bar.
Cain was being princess-carried on Uta's lap, his face flushed with embarrassment as Law examined him from the side.
He had wanted to refuse, but Uta had him completely under control.
If Uta became unhappy, who knew whether she would use his strong body to forcibly occupy "her" own delicate one?
"All right. There's basically no problem now. As long as she doesn't use her ability while emotionally out of control, she'll be fine."
Law withdrew his ability, but his tone grew heavier.
"But Cain-ya, I'm still worried. This Demon King you mentioned, the one capable of destroying the world… honestly, it's completely disrupted my plans."
"So you're saying?"
Cain looked up at him.
"I intend to follow you and go to the Big Mom Pirates." Law spoke quietly.
"If something goes wrong halfway, I can at least help."
"Thanks a lot, Torao."
"It's Trafalgar Law."
As his words fell, a pale blue circle of ability enveloped the two of them.
Light and shadow shifted, and their misplaced bodies finally returned to normal.
The moment they switched back, Uta's face turned red instead, her expression turn shy.
Shakky sat to the side, calmly observing the two of them.
Just then, a commotion came from outside.
She turned and saw Garp and Sengoku walking in with Rayleigh between them, one on each side.
Rayleigh's head was covered in lumps, and all three of them looked exhausted.
Clearly, they had not rested well last night.
The moment Law caught sight of Sengoku, his expression changed slightly.
However, he said nothing.
He simply raised his hand, activated his ability, and vanished from the spot in the blink of an eye.
Seeing this, Uta hurriedly jumped off Cain and ran off to pour water.
Cain shook his head and was just about to say something when he saw Garp quietly creeping toward him.
Garp did not look drunk, but there was a faint smell of alcohol on him.
He raised a hand and gently patted Cain's shoulder, lowering his voice until almost only the two of them could hear.
"Girl, I really am sorry about yesterday. That brat heard all the stuff I said about the money."
"Now I'll tell you another secret…"
"Actually, when Cain defeated Golden Lion back then, there was a bounty involved."
He paused, glanced to the side, and only continued in a whisper after confirming no one was paying attention.
"Although Marines can't claim pirate bounties, Cain at the time didn't belong to the Marines, nor was he a pirate… so the portion of the bounty that belonged to him did indeed exist…"
"But because his achievement of defeating Golden Lion was never made public, while the Marines had indeed taken the man in, that money was kept under this old man's care…"
"As for that brat Cain, he has no idea about this at all! Back then, I only gave him a tiny bit. It wouldn't even count as a drop in the bucket…"
Garp's voice grew even softer.
"So you understand, right? Next time I find a chance, I'll hand the money to you."
Cain froze in place.
So when this old man had given him money back then with that generous-looking face, it had actually been his own money in the first place?
Cain looked helplessly at the old man in front of him, reached out, and kneaded his face while shouting.
"GRANDPA, YOU MISTOOK ME AGAIN!"
"NANIIIIIIIIIIII?!"