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Chapter 41
"Nice, very crisp sound! Good head~ Good head!"
One of Dadan's watching subordinates unconsciously clapped and cheered, but was immediately scared back by Dadan's vicious glare. He instantly realized he had been too impulsive and now quietly waited for his fate after Garp left…
"Pain, pain, pain, pain, pain!"
"Damn old man, it really hurts! Ace left without telling you, not me! Why are you beating me up for no reason?!"
"This old man is just testing whether all your training these years had any effect—not beating you just for fun! Besides, you're supposed to join the Navy with me eventually. Without some real skills, how can that work?!"
Luffy rubbed the huge swollen lump on top of his head and roared at Garp.
"I'm seriously pissed off!! Take this—'Gomu Gomu no… Rocket Headbutt'!"
Luffy stretched his head back first, then launched it forward using the momentum!
But Garp caught it effortlessly, pinned Luffy's head to the ground with his leg, and sat down on it himself.
"You're too weak! Right now you're not even as good as my two little disciples. Train harder, or when you get to Navy HQ, people will laugh at you for being a nepotism case."
Hearing Garp mock him, Luffy's anger exploded, but with his head firmly pinned, he couldn't move. He could only shout furiously at Garp:
"So you think you're tough, huh?! Stinky old man! Let go of my head!"
"I'm saying it again—I'm not joining the Navy with you! I'm the man who's gonna become Pirate King!!"
Hearing this, Garp grew even angrier at Luffy's stubbornness and started hammering his head with punch after punch.
"I told you to become Pirate King? Your idiot father was the same, you're the same, Ace was the same too! What's so bad about joining the Navy?! Do you have to be on the opposite side of the Navy?!"
The thud thud thud sounds kept ringing on the ground. Inside the whole room, besides the nonstop thud thud thud, only Luffy's loud painful screams remained…
Looking at Luffy beneath him acting like a dead pig that fears no boiling water, Garp felt somewhat mentally exhausted and finally stopped his fists.
He picked up his Vice Admiral cape that had come loose from his overly large movements earlier, said nothing, and slowly walked out the door.
His back looked so desolate and lonely, yet no one in the room dared approach him. He walked alone, unknowingly arriving at the entrance of Party's Bar.
Jepack, who had originally planned to finish drinking and return to the ship, just happened to push the door open at that moment. Seeing the old man in front of him looking like a defeated rooster—so dejected—he couldn't help feeling a bit of sympathy for him.
Looking at the entire One Piece story from beginning to end, Garp was undoubtedly the most tragic character. His son rebelled against the Navy and founded the Revolutionary Army, now the Navy's number one enemy.
One grandson who seemed a bit slow-witted was successfully brainwashed by Red-Haired Shanks, ate the "Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika," and shouted every day about becoming Pirate King. In the end, he became an Emperor through family connections and rapid power-ups, but his strength was still lacking. Whenever he faced truly powerful opponents, he always seemed to need someone to save him, or had to overdraw his life force just to gain a bit of attack power—like he was living a checkpoint game.
The other one was even more tragic: his friend's son died right in front of him, yet he couldn't intervene and had to stand on the opposite side. The urge to kill Akainu burned too strongly.
And finally, he used his life to teach the final lesson to the escapee king. Truly a great yet tragic old man!
Thinking of this, Jepack couldn't help feeling sad for the old man and silently thought: Looks like I should treat old man Garp a bit better from now on.
Pushing the door open again, Jepack saw Garp's lonely figure and wanted to say something comforting.
"Oi~ old geezer, didn't you go see your grandson? How come you're back already, looking like you lost eight wives?!"
Garp heard Jepack's voice, looked up at him, and surprisingly didn't retort.
Not knowing what happened, Jepack walked forward, put an arm around Garp's shoulder, and asked curiously again:
"What happened? Even a cheerful old man like you is acting all melancholic now?"
Seeing Jepack persistently asking, Garp finally spoke softly:
"Kid, do you really want to know that badly? Then how about fighting this old man once, and I'll tell you?"
Jepack was startled by these words, immediately let go of Garp's shoulder, waved his hands, and said:
"I'm actually not that curious anymore."
"If you just want to beat me up to vent, you can say it directly, I…"
"This old man really just wants to beat you up to vent!"
Before Jepack could finish, Garp cut straight to the point.
Jepack was instantly speechless.
"…Are you crazy or am I crazy… I didn't even finish talking, and you just said it. I refuse directly."
"I don't have any masochistic tendencies. I just wanted to say you can drink more alcohol—get through tonight, and tomorrow you'll be a cheerful old man again!"
"Luckily I still have some pretty good booze here. Here—take it and drink!"
Without waiting for Garp to agree or disagree, Jepack stuffed a bunch of bottles into his arms—beer, red wine, foreign liquor, even the limited snake-year edition Feimao that Jepack himself was reluctant to drink.
Then he patted Garp's shoulder and said comfortingly:
"Everyone is born with their own set path in life. Even if it's head-breaking and bloody, it's the path they chose themselves, right? Forcing it is useless—it'll only backfire."
"Occasionally offering support and putting yourself in their shoes is also a good choice."
After saying that, Jepack didn't wait for Garp's reply. He turned and walked along the village road, leaving the tavern and heading back toward the Ten'en.
Garp watched Jepack wave goodbye as he walked away, then looked down at the pile of bottles in his arms. The corner of his mouth curved into a small smile.
"What a stinky brat… even trying to lecture this old man!"
Then he turned and went back into the tavern to taste the drinks Jepack gave him one by one.
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