Dark.
Suffocating.
Then blinding light pierced my eyes.
"UWEEEKK! UWEEEKK!"
Wait. Is that my voice? Why does my voice sound like... a baby's cry?
My body was wet, cold, and large hands lifted me roughly. I tried to protest but only cried louder. My lungs felt like they were breathing air for the first time—because they truly were.
"Congratulations, Rouge-san! A healthy baby boy!"
Who's speaking? I forced these heavy eyes open. My vision was blurry, catching only vague shadows. An old man with a white mustache. Several others moving quickly around me.
"Give him to me..." a very weak woman's voice said.
I was transferred into arms that were warm but trembling. The strong smell of blood filled the air. This woman... she was dying.
"Ace... your name is Ace..."
Ace?
PORTGAS D. ACE?!
Realization struck me like lightning. Memories flooded in—a plane crash, my body destroyed, then darkness. And now... I'm a baby? In the world of One Piece?!
Impossible. This is a dream. Or I've gone insane.
But this unsteady heartbeat is real. The air touching my skin is real. The embrace of this dying woman... is real.
"Live happily, Ace..." the voice grew weaker. "Don't let anyone say you shouldn't have been born... Mother loves you..."
Portgas D. Rouge. The woman who held her pregnancy for twenty months to protect her child from the Marines. My mother now.
"ROUGE! HOLD ON!" the old man shouted.
The arms around me loosened. The warmth faded. The heartbeat that had been ringing in my ears... stopped.
I cried. Whether from infant reflex or the grief that suddenly struck my tiny chest, I wasn't sure. Perhaps both.
"Damn... Rouge..." the old man—seemingly a midwife or doctor—sounded desperate.
Time passed. I didn't know how long. My consciousness drifted in and out like waves. Each time I woke, different hands held me. Different voices whispered.
Until finally—
"So this is my grandchild?"
That voice was heavy, hard, and familiar even though I was hearing it directly for the first time.
Monkey D. Garp.
I was lifted by enormous hands. Rough as stone but holding me with a strange carefulness for a man his size.
"You're Portgas D. Ace, aren't you?" Garp studied me with sharp eyes. "Good name. Strong. But also a heavy burden, kid."
He knew. Of course he knew. Garp knew who Ace's biological father was—Gol D. Roger, the King of Pirates who had just been executed.
"Listen well even if you're just a baby," Garp continued in a serious tone he rarely used. "The blood flowing in your body doesn't determine who you are. Understand? What matters is how you live. Not who your parents were."
I stared at that weathered face. Hidden grief was there. Loss. Garp had just lost Rouge, the woman he had promised to protect.
"Grandpa will look after you. Until you're strong enough to look after yourself. That's a promise."
Garp hugged me—awkward and too tight—but warm.
And for the first time since being reborn, I felt... safe.
Three months passed in a strange haze.
Being a baby was torture. I had the mind of a twenty-seven-year-old adult but was trapped in a body that couldn't even roll over on its own. Couldn't speak. Couldn't eat by myself. Even going to the bathroom—let's not even start on that.
But these three months also gave me something precious: time to think.
I am Arya Kusuma. An architect from Jakarta. A One Piece fan who had read the manga up to the final chapter before I died. And now I am Portgas D. Ace—a character who was supposed to die at Marineford, stabbed by Akainu in front of Luffy.
No. I won't let that happen.
I know the future. I know where the dangers lie. I know who the enemies are. And most importantly—I know how to become strong.
But the problem was... I was still a damn baby.
"ACE! Wake up! We're leaving!"
Garp's loud voice jolted me from sleep. He lifted me without warning, tucking me into a makeshift sling he'd fashioned from his Marine uniform.
"Where are we going, jii-chan?" of course I couldn't speak. What came out was just "Aaa... uuu..."
"We're going to Foosha Village! Grandpa has a friend who'll take care of you!" Garp laughed loudly—his signature earsplitting laugh. "Her name is Dadan! She's a bandit but don't worry! Grandpa already threatened her nicely! GWAHAHAHA!"
A bandit?
Oh. Curly Dadan. The mountain bandit boss who would become a surrogate mother to Ace, Luffy, and Sabo.
A small Marine ship carried us across the sea. The ocean wind struck my face. Salty but fresh. Blue sky without a cloud. Waves glittering beneath the sunlight.
This was East Blue. The weakest sea but the birthplace of legends—Roger, Dragon, Luffy.
And now... me.
"You like the sea, huh?" Garp noticed me staring at the water. "Good! That means you've got an adventurer's blood! But don't become a pirate, understand?! Become a Marine like your grandpa!"
If only he knew what the future held, he'd surely regret saying that.
The ship docked at a small pier. A quiet village with simple houses. Foosha Village. The place that would become Luffy's home later.
"Garp-san!"
A young girl with green hair came running. Makino. She was still a teenager, perhaps seventeen or eighteen years old. But her smile was already just as gentle.
"Who's this?" she looked at me with sparkling eyes.
"My grandchild! His name is Ace!" Garp handed me over just like that.
"Eh?! Garp-san has a grandchild?!" Makino received me carefully. "Hello, Ace-chan... you're so adorable..."
Her scent was different from Garp's. Soft. Like bread and flowers. I decided Makino was a good person and gave her my best smile.
"KYAA! He smiled!" Makino hugged me tighter. "Garp-san, can I be the one to take care of him? He's so precious!"
"You can't! Grandpa already has a plan!" Garp took me back. "Besides, you're still young. Focus on your bar first!"
We left the village and entered a dense forest. The footpath grew narrower. Tall trees blocked the sunlight. The sounds of wild animals echoed in the distance.
This was the road to Dadan's hideout.
"DADAN! GET OUT HERE!"
Garp's shout sent birds scattering in fright. A large wooden door swung open roughly. A tall woman with curly orange hair and a fierce face appeared.
Curly Dadan.
"WHAT NOW, GARP?! I don't want—" she stopped when she saw me. "Don't tell me..."
"This is my grandchild! Ace!" Garp immediately handed me over. "Starting today, you're taking care of him!"
"HAH?! I REFUSE! I'm a bandit, not a babysitter!"
"If you refuse, I'll arrest all your men and throw them in Impel Down."
Dadan broke into a cold sweat. "You... bastard..."
"And I'll send money every month for food expenses."
"How much?"
"Five hundred thousand belly."
"ONE MILLION!"
"Seven hundred fifty thousand. Final."
"...deal."
The fastest negotiation I'd ever witnessed.
Dadan looked at me with a complicated expression—irritated, confused, and just a little sympathetic.
"Who are the parents?" she asked quietly.
"None of your business," Garp answered quickly. "What matters is, take good care of him. If anyone dares to harm him..." his aura turned dark. "I'll come. And you know I mean it."
Dadan swallowed hard.
Garp crouched down in front of me. His large hand patted my head gently.
"Ace. Grow into a strong man. No matter what anyone says about you, about your blood, about who your parents are. You determine your own worth. Understand?"
I looked into his eyes. The eyes of a man who had seen too many wars, too many deaths, but still chose to protect.
If I could speak, I would have said: "Thank you, jii-chan. I won't betray your expectations."
But what came out was only: "Aaah... uuu..."
Garp laughed. "Gwahahaha! What are you even saying?! Alright, Grandpa's leaving now! Dadan, take good care of him!"
He left just like that. His back as straight as a mountain as he walked away between the trees.
Dadan and I stood in awkward silence.
"...ck. What am I supposed to do with a baby?" she muttered. "Hey! You lot! Get a bed ready for this kid!"
Several bandit underlings emerged from the hideout. They stared at me with bewildered expressions.
"Dadan-san is raising a baby now?"
"Not raising! I was forced into this!"
"But he's cute..."
"SHUT UP AND GET TO WORK!"
My first night at the bandit hideout was noisy. Very noisy. Shouting, loud laughter, sounds of drunken revelry. But strangely... it didn't feel lonely.
Dadan placed me on a makeshift bed of old clothes. Rough but warm.
"Don't fuss, alright," she said while drinking sake. "I'm not good with babies."
I stared at the wooden ceiling full of cracks. Moonlight filtered in through the gaps.
This is a second life.
A second chance.
And I will not waste it.
I will live. I will grow strong. And I will change the cursed fate waiting for me at Marineford.
No matter how long it takes. No matter how hard the road.
I, Portgas D. Ace—or more precisely, Arya who was reborn as Ace—will survive.
The flame of destiny has begun to burn.
And nothing can extinguish it.
TO BE CONTINUED