"I've thought about it for a long time, and the Revolutionary Army is the only group that would need to be this secretive. But he just refuses to tell me where I can join them. It's so annoying."
For the first time, Ace told Sabo about the suspicions he'd been having lately.
That immediately piqued Sabo's curiosity. He had never imagined that his brother's father might actually be part of the Revolutionary Army.
If that were true, then they wouldn't even need to set sail and search for them. They could just join directly.
"Ace, do you know where your father is? Let's go find him tomorrow!"
Ace glanced at him. "He won't even tell me anything. What good would it do if you went to see him?"
Drunk and swaying, Sabo vigorously shook his head. "No, that's different. You're his son, so maybe he won't let you join because he's afraid you'll be in danger. But I'm not his son. I can join!"
Ace's eyes lit up in realization, but he quickly snorted.
"Dream on! Unless I get to join too, I'm not taking you to meet him... Besides, now that I think about it, I don't even know where he is."
"He's always sneaking around mysteriously. Everyone thinks Mom doesn't even have a husband anymore, and he still refuses to show himself. What an annoying guy."
In the shadows outside the three brats' secret base, two figures were secretly listening in.
Rowan's expression was somewhat strange.
After all, it seemed the fates of all four children had undergone enormous changes because of him.
Ace, who had originally dreamed of becoming a pirate, now dreamed of joining the Revolutionary Army because his parents were still alive and because of Roger's teachings.
As for Sabo, perhaps he would still end up walking the same path he had been destined to take.
Of the four, the one whose fate had probably changed the most without anyone intending it was Nami.
Instead of growing up in Cocoyasi Village, she'd grown up in Foosha Village. She had even sworn brotherhood with Luffy, Ace, and Sabo, becoming Luffy's older sister.
In the future, Arlong's Fish-Man Pirates would never come to the East Blue. She wouldn't have to endure that suffering, and Bell-mère wouldn't die.
She could grow up like a normal child, become an adult, and then pursue her own dreams within a world governed by order.
Rowan suddenly realized that perhaps this was precisely why the Revolutionary Army existed.
To turn this world, which was practically hell for ordinary people, into somewhere better. Somewhere people could actually survive.
Somewhere the next generation of children could grow up normally.
Perhaps that alone gave everything they were doing meaning.
Rowan had never considered himself a good person.
But now, seeing children whose fates had changed for the better because of his efforts, perhaps he could count as one after all.
In his memories, the original dream shared by the three brothers of Foosha Village had been to set sail and become free.
In a sense, Ace had inherited Roger's will. He'd set sail at seventeen, become one of that year's Supernovas, and eventually been taken in as Whitebeard's son after challenging him.
But now, he probably wouldn't set sail to become a pirate anymore.
Roger's influence played a large part in that. Which meant the man beside Rowan, who knew the truth of the world, probably believed that the Revolutionary Army could truly succeed.
Thump.
At that moment, Roger flashed behind Ace and punched him on the head.
"Ow! That hurts, that hurts! Who was that?!"
Ace clutched his head and spun around, only to see his masked father standing behind him.
He immediately understood.
Today's runaway adventure was officially over.
"You brought your little brother and sister all the way out here, and you still haven't gone home even though it's already nighttime. Do you seriously think you did nothing wrong?"
Seeing the brother he'd just sworn brotherhood with getting hit, Luffy immediately leaped onto Roger's back and opened his mouth to bite him.
Before he could sink his teeth in, however, Roger reached back, grabbed him, and held him up in front of his face.
"So you're Garp's grandson?"
Little Luffy flailed his arms wildly, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't reach Roger.
"You damn Mask Demon! I'm gonna beat you!"
Smack.
Roger promptly gave him a knock on the head.
"What do you mean, Mask Demon? You should call me... Hmm, call me Grandpa!"
But the one-track-minded Luffy didn't care. He kept swinging his fists, still shouting about the Mask Demon.
Smack.
"Call me Grandpa!"
"No! I'm gonna beat you, Mask Demon!"
Smack.
"Call me Grandpa."
Little Luffy stubbornly resisted, his head already covered in bumps, yet he remained unwavering in calling Roger the Mask Demon.
Ace saw his little brother being carried off by his dad and charged at him several times, only to be kicked back each time. Even Sabo wanted to join in, but little Nami stopped him.
"It's no use. This has happened lots of times already. Luffy never admits defeat, but he'll be fine. Uncle knows how much force to use."
Little Nami sighed as she spoke.
She felt that this newly sworn little brother of hers was a bit stupid. It was just calling someone "Grandpa." Yet every single time, he'd rather get beaten black and blue than give in.
Soon, a hint of admiration appeared in Roger's eyes beneath the mask. He hoisted the half-pigheaded Luffy onto his shoulder.
"One of these days, I'll make you willingly call me Grandpa."
"No! You're a big, big, biiig Mask Demon!"
Little Luffy remained stubborn to the end, but the moment he finished speaking, his head lolled to the side and he passed out.
Ace planted his hands on his hips and said irritably, "When we get back, I'm telling Mom you knocked Luffy out again. And I'm telling Aunt Bell-mère too. Just you wait!"
Roger smacked his son on the shoulder. "If his grandpa Garp gets to act like he's my elder, why can't I become the Grandpa of the Monkey family? Hmph!"
Then Roger remembered why the three brats had run away from home in the first place. Smiling, he gave Ace another pat.
"You did well this time. If someone insults your family again, that's exactly what you should do. Charge over and beat the crap out of him!"
Ace glanced at his unreliable father. "You don't have to tell me that. But Mom's definitely going to be angry when we get back."
Roger glanced toward Rowan, who was still hidden in the shadows. After thinking for a moment, he used his other arm to hoist little Nami onto his shoulder.
"Say goodbye to your friend. You've been running wild all day. It's time for us to go home."
Ace clenched his fist. "He's not just our friend! Sabo is our brother. We just swore brotherhood. We even drank the sake of brotherhood. Nami too. We're all siblings now."
Those words reminded Roger of the hot-blooded antics of his own childhood. Then, thinking of Rowan, who still hadn't revealed himself, he gave Sabo a serious once-over.
"Hmm. Then say goodbye to your elder brother. We need to hurry home, or Rouge and Bell-mère will keep worrying."
Little Luffy was already fast asleep, blowing a snot bubble. Ace and Nami said goodbye to Sabo, while Sabo absentmindedly waved back.
However, just as Roger was about to leave with them, Sabo ran after him and bowed deeply.
"Un... Uncle."
After hesitating, Sabo decided that "Uncle" was the better choice.
"Ace told me that you know a lot about the Revolutionary Army's ideals, so I'd like to ask you to introduce me to the Revolutionary Army!"
Roger looked at the gap-toothed kid in front of him.
He was wearing the formal clothes of a noble, yet he clearly couldn't care less about etiquette or appearances.
A noble from the Goa Kingdom?
"Kid, you're a year younger than Ace, aren't you? At your age, do you really understand what the Revolutionary Army represents?"
Sabo answered firmly, "I do! I only learned about their ideals through Ace, who learned them from you, but I know they're exactly what I've always dreamed of!"
The next instant, a powerful aura spread through the area.
In a heartbeat, the uncle who had seemed fairly amiable just moments ago suddenly felt like a ferocious beast. The oppressive presence forced Sabo back several steps.
"Kid, you could die."
Roger's voice turned grave.
"Do you understand death? Once a person dies, they lose everything. What the Revolutionary Army is doing is something people can lose their lives for!"
Under the pressure of Roger's Haki, Sabo struggled for breath, yet forced himself to straighten his back.
Little Nami, still slung over Roger's shoulder, reached over and tugged at his ear behind the mask.
Ace, following behind, secretly grabbed Roger's pants and gave them a tug.
No reaction.
He tugged again.
What kind of adult bullied a little kid like this?
Sabo was already scared stiff.
After Ace tugged on them several times, Roger's Haki finally faltered, forcing him to reach down and pull up his pants.
Smack.
After giving Ace another knock on the head, Roger glared at him. "Keep pulling and they're going to fall off!"
Ace scratched his head and grinned foolishly.
Roger sighed helplessly before saying, "Only those who do not fear death can truly become members of the Revolutionary Army. If you've already prepared yourself for that, then naturally, you already are one."
After leaving behind those seemingly cryptic words, Roger departed with the three brats.
On the way back, he'd still have to let Ace show himself to the villagers. Otherwise, the warmhearted people of Foosha Village would probably keep searching all night.
With Garp watching over it, this village was completely different from Whitebeard Newgate's impoverished homeland.
Perhaps that, too, was the result of the choices Garp had made.
And so, after Ace and little Nami waved goodbye to him, Sabo remained where he was, still pondering Roger's words.
He already was?
But he...
"He's right."
A voice interrupted Sabo's thoughts.
He spun around and discovered an extremely handsome man sitting beside the campfire. The stranger even poked at the firewood with a stick, making the flames burn brighter and illuminating their secret base.
"Who are you?!"
Sabo slowly shifted his position, placing a hand on the iron pipe leaning nearby as he stared warily at the stranger.
Rowan put down the small stick.
"Weren't you just asking Ace's father about me? Revolutionary Army, codename Ember. You can also call me Sir."
"Hmm... We actually met once a few years ago. Little Nami was only one year old back then. Ace secretly carried her out to show her off to you. Don't remember?"
Sir?
Little Nami was one?
Seeing that Sabo was still wary and suspicious, Rowan remembered that his current appearance wasn't wearing the mask.
So he took out a mask and put it on.
Then, in an instant, he appeared directly behind Sabo.
Rowan reached out and patted him on the shoulder.
Sabo immediately whipped around and swung his iron pipe, forcing Rowan to step back and dodge.
"Oh? Not bad reflexes."
"Ace's father stopped wearing a cloak because he didn't want people mistaking him for me. He also changed his hairstyle and clothes. You can take a look at this wanted poster. So far, no Teleportation Fruit has ever been discovered. Put all of that together, and you should be able to confirm my identity."
As Rowan spoke, he handed over a wanted poster.
It was his own.
A bounty of 3.2 billion Berries.
Aside from the words DEAD OR ALIVE, it also identified Rowan as a member of the Revolutionary Army and included brief descriptions of some of his known abilities.
"The Revolutionary Army's... Cloaked Man?"
The solemn expression on Sabo's face gradually turned to delight.
Then he remembered what Ace's father had just told him.
Once he no longer feared life or death, he was already one of them.
So did that mean the moment he'd made his decision, this gentleman from the Revolutionary Army had already accepted him?
Ace's father was incredibly powerful and understood the Revolutionary Army's ideology so well. That meant Mr. Ember must have been together with Uncle earlier.
"Figured it out?"
"S-Sir... I want to join the Revolutionary Army!"
Rowan removed his mask and smiled, gently shaking his head.
"You're still not ready. Right now, you're nowhere near the level of ideological understanding required of a Revolutionary Army member."
Sabo tightened his grip on the iron pipe. "I'm strong, sir! Ordinary adults aren't even a match for me. And I'm not afraid of death! I'm not afraid to die!"
Rowan waved his hand, then gestured for Sabo to come sit beside him.
"Whether you're truly afraid of death isn't something you can prove just by saying it. Because... perhaps you've never actually witnessed death."
"More importantly, you haven't truly formed the ideology of a Revolutionary Army member yet, have you? Simply hearing Ace repeat what he's been taught isn't enough for you to genuinely understand what the Revolutionary Army stands for."
Sabo walked over and sat opposite Rowan, looking at him earnestly.
"Sir, then what do I have to do?"
"Then what do I have to do to become a member of the Revolutionary Army?"
Rowan replied, "If you've made up your mind, I'll send you to one of the Revolutionary Army's assessment centers. Only after passing the ideological assessment will you truly become a member of the Revolutionary Army."
Sabo immediately nodded. "I can do it."
"Don't be so hasty."
Rowan looked at Sabo. "In fact, there's something I need to tell you. In a certain sense, the Revolutionary Army isn't free."
Freedom in the past, that word had been precisely why Sabo hated the circumstances of his birth.
But where had that feeling really come from?
Was it simply because of all the tedious rules and etiquette he had to follow as a noble, or was it because of the miserable lives of the ordinary people living in the Gray Terminal?
His guilt made him unwilling to acknowledge his identity as a noble. His family had failed to twist his personality as he grew up. Instead, it had only made him more desperate to escape.
"In fact, I've always believed that absolute freedom shouldn't exist in this world. What is absolute freedom? Do you think those pirates who burn, kill, and plunder are free?"
Sabo didn't know how to answer.
Because in the past, he truly had believed that Pirate King Roger, the man regarded by the world as the freest man alive, represented freedom itself.
"Kid, in the future envisioned by the Revolutionary Army, pirates will not be allowed to exist. What we want is for everyone to possess relative freedom, or rather, to be able to live their lives without constant hardship."
"Freedom and order are inherently opposite concepts."
Rowan looked at Sabo. "That's why I said you haven't truly found your own will yet. You still don't understand what you actually want, or rather, what you want to bring to this world."
At that moment, Sabo finally fell silent.
He no longer shouted about wanting to join the Revolutionary Army like he had before.
All this time, he'd simply been yearning for the dream Ace had described to him.
But as for how those dreams Ace spoke of were supposed to be achieved, or what kind of conviction would be needed to make the necessary choices along the way, Sabo didn't know.
Until now, he'd simply wanted to join the Revolutionary Army without thinking any further than that.
"Sir... I know pirates can be really, really bad, but there's something you might not know. I actually..."
"You're actually a noble of the Goa Kingdom, right?"
Rowan smiled. "The Goa Kingdom is one of the World Government's member nations. Have you seen the darkness within the Goa Kingdom's royal guards, or perhaps within the East Blue Marine branches?"
Sabo answered only with silence.
But he truly despised that feeling, the attitude of standing high above everyone else and looking down upon all other lives.
"That's exactly why I said you don't yet know what you should do, or what you would need to do for this world and for those who come after you once you join the Revolutionary Army."
Rowan stood up as he spoke.
"You want to set sail simply because you want to escape the restraints your bloodline has placed upon your heart."
"Escape, rather than change."
"Sabo, go and learn."
Sabo raised his head.
"Sir..."
Rowan placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Leave this place for a while and liberate your mind through learning. Think carefully about what kind of future you truly want to see."
"Strengthen your conviction."
"And then, go make that future a reality."
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