Chapter 4

After their conversations, Luffy was about to be handed to Garp. Luffy was crying, he didn't want to leave Dragon and Iva. He was crying 'Papa' and 'Iva'. Dragon felt himself and Ivankov cry at the sight, but Dragon steeled himself. It was for Luffy. To protect Luffy. The screaming of the boy was heard above the lightning of the storm, which had summoned itself again.

Luffy's desperate cry would always haunt his mornings. He would always feel empty without his sun. But his sun needed protection right now, which he couldn't provide. He couldn't risk Luffy getting caught in the hands of the World Government. He couldn't give up his identity.

"Wil- Will I se- e... Papa and Iva aga..in?" Luffy asks through his sobbing. Dragon feels his heartbreak into million pieces. He thinks about what he had done to get such an adorable kid.

"Yes. We will. I promise I'd make sure of it." Dragon said as he cradled the kid tenderly. He slid a silver-colored chain, which had a red prism hanging from it, into Luffy's neck. He opened it to show Luffy his, Iva's, and Luffy's picture. A last souvenir for him to remember his days with them. Luffy looked at the picture and started crying again.

"Keep it to yourself," Dragon said, "Do not show it to anyone, ok?" Dragon said and he could Luffy stiffen that upper lip of his and nod his head. He knew he was risking a lot, but his son deserved to remember his Dad and Iva. He deserved to have the pleasure of seeing the picture when he missed him. He made careful arrangements for that and no one would suspect that a picture can be within that if they didn't know what they were looking for in the first place.

Ivankov gave Luffy one last hug before Dragon nodded hesitantly and took heavy steps toward his Dad. He gave the wailing boy to his Dad. He placed stones on his heart. He kissed the boy on his forehead, Luffy sniffled trying to stop himself from crying that moment. But when he detached his lips, the wailings started soon enough.

He couldn't risk his son. He heard the desperate wailings, cries and screams for him. He felt helpless. He ran his way to his cabin locking himself, crying out his eyes from the detachment of his dear son, steeling himself for the upcoming days without his little sunshine. It was making his heart crack. But he promised that he would make a world, where no one had to feel this again. He would protect Luffy in his own way. He would protect him always. And they will meet once again. But he will keep his promise, he will visit Luffy, he can't just go and abandon in his kid forever. He can't just go and leave his sunshine alone. He will visit him when there will be time. But first, he had to put down the government bastards which were growing feathers.

He and Ivankov returned to the Army after a week. If anyone noticed how stressed they were, or how sad they were, they didn't question them. Dragon jumped into his job with fervor with a wanting to destroy the institution that made him give up his son for a better life. He would do his best and overthrow the World Government one day. He had never been fond of clicking a photo with his son, but in the last few days, he had clicked some. To remember him. He ran his hands through the wide smile, reminding him what he gave up and what he had to do to achieve his goal. The World Government will regret it. It will crumble under the heat of the fire. The fire of the World itself.

.

It was evening, and the poor babe had already fallen asleep. The toddler kept on crying for his Dad throughout the journey, which Garp made constantly trying to keep him busy. He gave him some of the toys which Dragon had packed for the kid, but he kept on throwing it all over, only demanding for his Dad. Some even fell in the waters, but due to the waves they were thrown back to the small dinghy. He also kept on trying to jump off the dinghy but Garp wouldn't let him. He couldn't just lose the adorable baby. Garp looked at the sky, it was less cloudy now. No dark clouds, no heavy storms, no howling winds. When Luffy was crying, any normal person, who didn't know them would think that the child was crying due to the storm which had been in action.

But Garp knew what had happened. He knew that his Grandson was going through the painful separation of the possibly first person he had ever seen in his life. Garp knew this pain. He had felt it always when he had to leave Dragon in the Foosha Village for his betterment. He knew the gaping hole in the heart which occured due to the lack of presence of someone. But it was all for the kid's goodness.

The night summoned itself, the moon was clear, the waves were calm, and the winds were whistling a lullaby. In the mid of these were the two. Grandpa and the grandson. Garp had fallen asleep, when he saw themselves enter a calm region. He had let the anchor down and slept holding his grandson, without a care. Luffy woke up and the first thing he searched for was his Dad. He sniffled a sob and remembered his father's last words. His tiny hands held the small trinklet his Dad had given. He opened it to see his Dad, Iva and him. He bit his lower lip to stop himself from crying. But tears flowed from his eyes, relentlessly.

A transparent watery hand was placed at the small boat, and Luffy tried to smile. The figure stood up slowly and climbed in the boat and picked up Luffy, who snuggled himself in the transparent figure's chest. They went down in the ocean where the figure tried making Luffy happy, making him smile. And it worked.

Garp heard the splash of water and was jerked awake. He was alone on the boat. He was freaking alone. His grandson was no where to be seen. He panicked. It was his first day with his grandson and yet he had managed to kill the boy. Without thinking anything, Garp jumped in the ocean and the sight left him speechless. His grandson was playing, running, laughing, and freaking talking in the sea. Garp didn't;t know how long was he staring, but he felt that he needed oxygen. He dived up. His mind wandering at what he had just seen. But one thing was sure, his grandson, Luffy was safe.

The gears of his mind turned in a rapid pace. What is Luffy? It did made sense that Luffy could be in water and play there, coz it's his freaking mom. But if Luffy was the son of the sea, then what is Luffy? A demi-god? Or what? Then he remembered his best friend's words. But still it didn't make any sense.

'I saw Roger talk about this, but it can't be. Luffy's no deity!!!' Garp's mind shrieked.

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When Makino first saw the crying boy attached to Garp, her heart broke. She just couldn't understand why the boy, so small was crying. Garp was pouting, holding the boy close to his chest, letting him sob. The boy had been crying since the last week when he was separated from his Dad. Only stopping his wailings at the sight of food or candies.

"Why is he crying?" Makino asked, she herself felt on the edge.

Garp frowned.

"Papa..." Luffy let out a choked sob, as he tried to rub his eyes with his tiny hands, messily. It was so cute!!!

Garp looked around, seeing no one around, he sighed and said, "He had to leave his Dad." Before Makino could question further why this little kid was separated from his blood, Garp spoke. "His Dad is Dragon, my son." Makino gasped, understanding the problem.

"... Dragon?" Luffy asked as he raised his head for the first time from Garp's chest and blinked away the tears. His hands automatically went to the red prism hanging from his neck, hidden from everyone's sight by his shirt. Garp nodded at him.

"Why don't you introduce yourself to Makino?" Garp asked trying to avoid the topic. Luffy messily rubbed the remaining tears from his glossy eyes as he looked at Makino. The same soul-piercing stare. Makino stepped a foot back before her back hit the bar counter. She felt afraid. She felt nervous when the boy's brown eyes meet her. She was certain she saw the boy's eyes turn golden for a second. After what seemed like hours to Makino, Luffy gave a wide smile. A smile, which can make anyone do anything for him. Then he spoke.

"Nika. I'm Nika." Garp froze at that. His eyes turned to horror as he looked at Luffy, detaching him from his chest as he held the brat by the shoulders. His unspoken horror was just coming to life.

"... What did you say?" Garp's chest was pounding, his heart was beating rapidly. Luffy tilted his head, before again speaking the word, but Garp quickly shoved his hand to Luffy's mouth, stopping the kid from speaking. He placed the kid gently on the counter, looking him straight in the eyes. He could feel Luffy pouting through his hands. He gulped once more.

"Your name is Luffy. Monkey D. Luffy." Garp said, trying to drill the name into his mind. Luffy tilted his head again, seemingly not understanding a thing. If it would have been any other time, he would have to stop himself from not cooing.

"Why?" The small brain could really not handle the name, it seems.

"What did your Dad call you?" Garp was ready to trash his son if he heard that he called him Nika. But he knew that was not the case. He noticed the tears were back in Luffy's eyes.

"L-Lu," Luffy sniffled a sob again. Garp ruffled Luffy's hair softly, giving Makino a side glance. He could see that the lady was confused. Yet quiet.

"How about we call you Lu?" Garp asked, trying to prevent him from any future dangers. Luffy seemed to tear up again.

"No," Luffy said, wanting to only be called Lu by his Dad. "Luffy."

Garp nodded.

"You hungry, brat?" Garp asked and as a clue Luffy's stomach rumbled, making Garp and Makino laugh and Luffy pout adorably. Makino served Garp and Luffy and saw the kid struggle with his fork. Mostly trying to figure out what he was supposed to do with the fork. He looked so damn captivating!!! In the end, it was Makino who fed Luffy, with Luffy enjoying the company of the barmaid.

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It has been six months, six freaking months, since Dragon has not seen the cheery sunshine smile. Since he had not heard any giggles of his son. Since he had not heard his son babbling all about what he has doing the whole day. Since he had not seen any of his stories, not read him a story at bed time. Dragon took a deep breath calming himself, he saw the papers lying on the table. Another Kingdom on the verge of civil war, another kingdom in the verge of destruction, another kingdom were people will have to pay the price of the Marines.

And in mid of this, Dragon can only graze his hand on the sunny smile of his son. The Government was relentless in finding him. They were using his previous disappearence as a golden chance and were trying to find what, where and why was he not present in the revolutionary army and why was the revolution still going on.

Dragon's attention span was decreasing at a alarming rate. When he would see a kid at the age of Luffy, no one would know what was going in his mind. But Ivankov could tell he was missing Luffy. Ivankov was in Dragon's cabin, reporting him about the Kingdom, Dragon banged his fists on the table, making him visibly flinch. Ivankov had noticed Dragon, his friend, losing his calm exterior and with each mission, with each fallen kingdom or heinous act of Government, he could Dragon losing his temper.

"Dragon-boy," Ivankov pitied his best friend, "Go visit Luffy." He gave a smile to Dragon. He even wanted to meet the boy, but Dragon was getting more antsy without him. "I and Kuma will manage here till then."

Dragon bit his lips, he sometimes would get confused how well his friend could read him. He thanked him and made a beeline to his railings and disappeared in the winds, coz he was the wind himself.

.

Dragon was in the High Town, not to pick fights with the nobles like he used to do, but to buy some gifts for his kid. What will Luffy like? His mind kept on questioning him. But he knew his kid more than anyone. He knew his passion for drawing, for sea, for adventure, for stories and for food. He picked up some delicacies, a story book, which contained more picture, and a stuff tiger, which he knew instantly will be loved by his son.

He crossed the forest which came in the path to Foosha Village. Last time he had been here, he was terrorizing Dadan and the animals. It was fun. He knew for one thing that Luffy would be given off to Dadan or Makino and all his senses told him the boy would be with Makino. He was proved correct, when he entered the bar and was meet by Makino, who was cleaning the tables, which a tender smile on her face. His eyes went over to the black haired toddler who was leaning on to one of the bars with colors in his hands.

He decided to be sneaky. He could see Makino watching him curiously, his every movement but when he removed his hood and he could the realization dawn on her. She smiled tenderly at him and didn't mind him anymore. He took his steps forward and saw what his son was drawing. He could a green blob with red and skin colored on the upper part, a violet colored blob nearby and in the middle of those he could see a bright red blob with a wide grin on the upper half. The background had sea and he could the sea taking shape of human. The trees with the green blob and the wind with the blue colored scribbled everywhere. He chuckled, making Luffy turn his head towards him.

He gave the brightest smile he could offer and opened his arms to him. He could see his son cock his head once and then his face morphed into that of realization and he leaped from his seat and jumped into Dragon's arms. The boy looked so happy and Dragon was sure, right there and now, he wouldn't be able to leave his son soon. His sunshine was smiling with glee at him and snuggling as close as he can to him. Dragon ruffled the kids hair softly and the said kid looked up, his eyes all glossy.

"I missed you!" Luffy sniffled. Dragon couldn't help but bring his son to one more hug. It felt assuring to have him in his arms like before. It felt as if the void inside him was slowly filling up with his son. It felt good. It felt like heaven.

"I missed you too, Lu!" Dragon grinned at him. He gave him the candies, delicacies, the story books and the stuffed tiger he got from him. Luffy forgot about the books and the tiger and with his grabby hands he reached for the sweets and candies, though Makino scolded him for gobbling them right now and told him to eat at dinner. Luffy pouted at her, making her give up.