Garp sighed as he walked down the street. He didn't know what island he was on, he didn't pay any attention when the navigators told him where they went after he told them to just sail somewhere. All he knew was that they were somewhere in New World.

It had been nearly two years since the disaster at Marineford, when Luffy, his sweet and adorable little grandson, showed up to free Ace; his somewhat less adorable, by no means sweet, hotheaded grandson. He'd almost lost them both that day. He'd almost lost them both just like they lost Sabo all those years ago.

Sometimes, he honestly didn't know why he turned down Dragon's offer of joining him in overthrowing the World Government. When his son left the Marines, he had said that he couldn't take the corruption anymore, and that he wasn't going to just stand by and do nothing while the Government destroyed innocent lives for no reason. That wasn't why he became a Marine.

He turned him down, though. He said that they had a duty as Marines. He didn't even know what that meant anymore. The Marines weren't the same organization they used to be when he first joined them all those years ago, back when he was young. Before Roger and he started chasing each other all over the oceans, whether to share a drink (or several), as the old friends they were, or to fight it out as Pirate and Marine. Back then, the Marines would have never dreamed of executing someone because of who their father was.

Or maybe they would, and he just didn't see it, wasn't willing to see it.

He'd done a lot of thinking in the weeks following the Battle, and in the end, it had been Ace and Dragon who convinced him to stay in the Marines, when he snuck out to make sure Ace was really alright. (He sure was surprised to see Sabo alive, and Dragon's second in command. He never saw that one coming.) 'If you don't like the corruption, then stay and do something about it, from the inside. Don't quit and let it grow unchecked.' Was what Ace said, Dragon just told him to be useful and stay, he could always use another pair of eyes within the ranks. Which, of course, made Garp wonder just how many Marines answered to Dragon, and how high up the chain they were.

So, he got himself put in charge of training and recruitment. And he made sure, whenever he was overseeing a training session, that he beat- er, trained, a few simple truths into the trainees heads. The world is not black and white. Marines are not always the good guys, and Pirates are not always the bad ones. Your bloodline does not determine who you are, your actions do. It was slow going, but if he could teach them the Moral Justice code that he followed now, then hopefully by the time they rose through the ranks, there would be less men like Akainu with his Absolute Justice.

He'd been secretly meeting with his son, Shanks, and Marco a lot too. He'd had enough of the World Government, particularly the Celestial Dragons, having their way and nobody ever calling them out on it. He never thought he would ever be in this position, he was betraying the Marines, but in his mind, they betrayed him first when they tried to destroy his family that day in Marineford.

His problems with the Celestial Dragons went back years, ever since his first trip to Sabaody, ever since the first time he truly saw their arrogance and cruelty for himself. The noble had been sitting on his slave, trailed by body-guards and other slaves, all of them dressed nicely. It wasn't until later that he learned just what kind of slave they were to be allowed such nice clothes. One of the boys had been no older than ten. That was the day he decided that he would play nice, but he would take them out the first chance he got. That was before he realized just what would happen to him if he were to try and strike back against them. If he were to do something like what he was planning, then his home and family would be put in danger.

So, he kept his head down. Rose through the ranks, gathered men around himself that he could trust to follow him, and not the Government. Visited slave houses and the auctions, purchased slaves and then freed them, attacked their masters outright to free the slaves. Most of the time he made it look like Assassins or Pirates, in later years he even made it look like the Revolutionaries did it, but he stayed loyal to the Marines and kept quiet about everything else that happened. It was just the slaves he took outright action for.

Then, of course, it became personal when he was told that a Celestial Dragon killed Sabo, one of his grandsons. Sabo may have been new to the family, but when Garp decided that you were part of his family, then it didn't matter how long you were there. Family was family. The fact that he now knew Sabo to be alive didn't matter.

Speaking of family, according to Ace, Luffy was alright, and training with Reyleigh... although he supposed that it was almost time for Luffy to make his reappearance. He still couldn't believe that everyone was saying his precious grandson was dead, as if! Luffy was a Monkey D.! He was stronger than that. As if a little thing like being grazed with a magma covered fist would be enough to keep him down, at least not permanently... Maybe for a week or two. Tops. Especially with a good doctor... that Surgeon of Death, he was a good doctor. He wasn't worried about Luffy, the boy was strong.

Oh, who was he kidding? He was worried to death and the only way he would stop worrying would be when he either saw Luffy in front of him or saw in the papers that he had returned.

"You know, Gramps, I'm surprised you're here, and not waiting for the Sunny to arrive in New World, with the Whitebeard's." He heard a voice coming from behind him. When he turned around, he saw none other than Sabo, leaning casually against a wall. As if Marines and Revolutionaries meeting up off the battle field was an every day thing.

He raised an eyebrow, "I could say the same of you." He said.

Sabo shrugged. "Boss had a job for me, if I hurry I should still be able to make it." He cocked his head to the side. "That doesn't explain what you're doing here, with your men, and not there, without your men."

Garp sighed again. Normally, he would be giving the boy his 'Fist of Love', but this wasn't the place, wherever this place was. "I don't even know where 'here' is." He said with a shrug. "I told my navigators to just sail somewhere."

He could see the wry amusement in Sabo's eyes, "And then when they tried to tell you where they sailed to, you didn't even stay long enough to listen? For all you know, they could have sailed you to Revolutionary territory. You know, we don't really like Marines much..." He said thoughtfully.

Garp snorted. Sabo was a manipulative one, always had been, even as a kid. It was just slightly more obvious back then. "If this was Revolutionary territory, then my ship would never have been allowed to make port." He said sarcastically.

Sabo hummed. "True. True. So, having an end-of-life crisis?" He asked with a raised eyebrow and a mischevious grin.

Garp fixed him with a glare and wondered how on earth he got such a difficult brat for a grandson. Oh yeah, Luffy liked him and he made Ace laugh and smile.

Right.

"Just, thinking. Its been two years since I almost lost both of my grandsons. And then it wasn't long before I found out my other grandson was still alive..." He shook his head. "This world is messed up." He muttered.

Sabo snorted. "You can say that again, why do you think I stayed with the Boss after they found me? I could have just let them drop me off at the nearest Revolutionary-controlled island, ya know." He said sarcastically.

Sabo sighed again and glanced down the street. "I better get back to work. Before my target disappears. See you around, Gramps." He said, and then he was gone, like he was never there to begin with. Garp stared for a moment before he snorted and kept walking.

No wonder the Marines were having such a hard time catching or otherwise fighting those guys. They were apparently masters of disappearing, even when your staring right at them.

He sighed and kept walking. He should probably find out what island this was... Ah, it didn't matter. After all, if this was Pirate or Revolutionary territory, they wouldn't have let his ship anywhere close to their waters. Let alone actually dock.

He wished he could go meet his grandson, but this was a bad week for sneaking around. After all, this was the first chance he'd been able to get away all month. He'd had an Admiral shadowing him around, he was just glad it wasn't Akainu, though... After being under such scrutiny, he couldn't afford to disappear for a while. He sighed again, bought some meat kabobs he could eat while he walked, and headed back to the ship. It was getting late, he should probably check in with his men, make sure nothing came up while he was gone.

He didn't think it did, they would have probably come to find him if it did. Besides, he should probably stick close, so he could get word as soon as Luffy made his reappearance.

He was sitting in his room eating his rice crackers, they really needed to find somewhere so he could stock up on some more before he ran out, when one of his men came in with a paper from Paradise. The man grinned before handing it to him. "Little Luffy is back, Boss. And it looks like he's stronger than ever." The man, Roberts, said. This was one of his most trusted. Roberts had been with him for years, he was one of the few who knew Luffy and Ace personally from back when the boys were still young and living with the bandits. For that matter, he was one of two men who knew Luffy from back before he took the boy to live with the bandits.

Roberts, Coby, and Helmeppo were the only ones who knew that he was now working alongside the Revolutionaries, in a sense, to destroy the corruption that was the World Government.

And the three of them were in complete support of it.

Garp took the paper and smirked after reading the Headline proclaiming Strawhat Luffy to have returned, and that he apparently made his spectacular return by dealing with some impostors who thought they could make it big using his name. It also said that he destroyed a Pacifista with one hit, barely even trying. Well, it didn't actually say that, he was reading between the lines and looking at the picture. Some lucky reporter had managed to get a shot of Luffy in the air, with his fist just about to connect with the Pacifista's head. Judging by the satisfied smirk on his grandson's face, he was enjoying the destruction, and wasn't finding it hard.

Garp laughed. "That's my boy." He said quietly, looking at the picture proudly.

"Sir, do you want us to cover your absence so you can go see his entrance to the New World?" Roberts asked, he was hoping his boss would say yes.

Garp narrowed his eyes in thought. "No, I better not. Just because I'm no longer being followed like I was last month doesn't mean they're not still watching. Who knows which of those new guys they forced on me are one of theirs." He muttered. He was still sore about that. His crew was largely hand-picked by himself, and he picked only those he felt he could trust not to be spying on him for Akainu, or worse, the Government. Until recently, when he was forced to bring ten fresh-from-training Marines onto his ship that he knew nothing about. He had no idea which of them were spies, or which of them were honest-to-goodness fresh meat.

Roberts frowned, but nodded. He was kind of disappointed, he had been going to get Coby and Helmeppo to watch things here while he snuck away with Garp to see the little brat.

After a moment of staring at the paper, Garp reached into his pocket, pulled out a key, and unlocked a drawer in his desk. Inside, were three Transponder Snails. One each to Dragon, Sabo, and Ace. They were all white, which meant that they couldn't be tapped, which was good considering that if anybody even knew he had them, he could be in trouble for treason. The fact that they were for family would not matter to some of those Absolute Justice idiots.

He pulled another Snail out of his pocket, this one had a Strawhat Jolly Roger painted on the side. Sabo had slipped it into his pocket earlier during their talk. When he did that, he had no idea. He had found it later on when he was walking back to the ship. He could only assume that Ace had the other one and would give it to Luffy later on. They probably gave Luffy a Snail each so he could contact them whenever not long after the Battle.

"Those brats of mine are going to cause even more trouble now that Luffy is back. All four of them." He muttered. Maybe he should have retired years ago.

"And yet, you wouldn't have it any other way, would you Boss?" Roberts asked, looking at the collection of Snails. He could only shake his head and wonder how on earth it happened that Garp was the only one of that family who wasn't a criminal. He pushed aside the thoughts that maybe Garp wasn't the best parent aside. He knew Garp wasn't parent material, and that wasn't the point here (He raised four criminals, come on!).

Garp laughed again as he set the new Snail down beside the others, closed, and locked the drawer again. "No, no I wouldn't have it any other way."