Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Compared to other days, the sea was calm. In the middle of those gentle waves there was a not so big boat, a man could be seen, his tired look indicated that he had not been able to sleep well lately, which was not far from reality, he had not been able to sleep properly for two weeks, only taking naps of less than thirty minutes. It was a miracle that he was still standing, Krookodile, a red Ground-type crocodile was next to him, he looked exhausted, and next to the Krookodile there was a Sylveon that kept moving and looking around, Crocodile, the name of the man who sailed that ship had the rest of his Pokémon in their respective Pokeballs.

In the distance an island could be seen in the distance, and not only that, but he could see a Navy ship. If this was some kind of trap, he swore he was going to kill the "Navy Hero" or better known as Monkey D. Garp.

Crocodile had only a week to assimilate the situation in which he was somehow involved. First, he was going to have a son, and after that, Ivankov was going to do his Horu Horu No Mi magic and finally his body would be of the right gender, but when the child was born, Dragon told him that the child was dead.

And instead of facing the situation in a healthy way, he decided to take a revolutionary ship and run away and then after a week of having run away, Garp, The damn Fist, contacted him through a Den Den Mushi and told him that he had his baby, according to, the only thing Dragon told him was he wanted to give a normal life for the child, a life away from piracy and revolutionaries... Seriously? The hatred that Crocodile had for that man only increased.

In less than an hour they were already docking the ship on the shore, the first one to touch the sand was the pink Pokémon, Sylveon looked around, feeling restless, looking with his eyes for the Vice admiral or the baby he had. Crocodile was the next to get off the boat, and last his Krookodile, who was wagging his tail restlessly. The dark circles under the adult's eyes looked marked, but he didn't seem to mind the lack of sleep, more important for him was to know if Garp actually had his son.

Finally, in the distance he could see the silhouette of the Vice Admiral, and not only his own, but also that of his faithful Pokémon, although he didn't really care about the Vice-Admiral's Pokémon or the Vice-Admiral himself, he could only notice the small blanket wrapped around something in the Vice-Admiral's arms. And finally he heard it, it was just like that day, after 15 hours of labor he finally heard his baby crying, he remembered fainting due to fatigue, although now he suspected that it might have been due to anesthesia, not for nothing he had felt a picket in his arm, and when he woke up, Dragon had told him that the child had been born dead, his lungs had a respiratory failure too serious for a newborn to bear it, Dragon had tried to convince him that the crying he had heard had been a hallucination due to fatigue, Crocodile never believed him.

He got out of his thoughts when he heard the crying even closer, and saw Garp in front of him, with the baby in his arms, his round cheeks, the escase but cute hair that the child had on his little head, his small hands, everything about him was small, although his face was red from crying, he felt the tears pooling on the edge of his eyes, Crocodile at that moment knew that the fifteen hours of labor and pain had been worth it, Garp held out the baby to give it to him. His hands trembled, or well, one of them, he was afraid of hurting the baby with his golden hook, Garp seemed not to care much about Crocodile's concern since he helped him carry the baby, and at that moment, the baby stopped crying and opened his eyes, Crocodile could swear that he fell in love with them, they were big, round and of such a dark brown that from afar they should look black. When the baby saw that he was not in the arms of the one who had taken care of him for those two weeks he was confused, but the warmth that enveloped him made him feel calm and somehow much happier, making him smile with his little lips, making a giggle escape from his mouth.

Crocodile after a long time, he felt peace when he heard his baby's laughter, Garp just looked at him, understanding the feeling, Garp's Slaking carefully watched every movement of the baby with attention, he had been delighted with the child for two weeks, after all.

"Dragon didn't give me a name for the boy, I decided to call him Luffy, do you have a problem with that?" Garp asked, watching as Crocodile rocked the baby in his arms.

"none of them, to be honest, I hadn't even thought a name for him, besides somehow... It suits him well" The Krookodile next to him looked at the baby enthusiastically, Sylveon felt the same enthusiasm as the Krookodile. "But I don't understand, why did you do it? I mean, why did you call me and tell me you had my baby?"

"My son can be an idiot, although he told me that the baby's mother was not interested, I doubted him, and I researched enough and came to you, and I felt it was unfair that you didn't know about the baby" Garp spoke taking his gaze away from Crocodile for a few seconds.

"Thank you... If it wasn't for you I would still think that my baby was dead" Crocodile lowered his gaze, fixing on the sand under his feet "Do you have any condition so that I might be able to stay with Luffy?".

"Yes, even if it's your son, I don't want the boy on a ship that will constantly be being hunted by Marines since his father is a pirate" Garp started walking indicating the other to follow him "I would like Luffy to be raised here, it's a quiet island... Well, at least Foosha Village is, everyone knows each other so there won't be much danger, and I want Luffy to decide what he wants to do with his life for himself, or maybe I can turn him into a Marine"

"Don't you think you're asking too much by wanting him to become a Marine?" Crocodile interrupted him doubtfully.

"Whatever, I just want Luffy to grow up with a quiet childhood, or at least a normal childhood" They finally arrived at what seemed to be Foosha Village.

"But I'm a pirate, the Marines are constantly behind me, I would love to stay with Luffy in a quiet place until he's a teenager but don't you think it would be a little difficult?" Crocodile questioned.

"I know your situation well, I can take care of the Marine for a few years, your only condition will be that you do not leave this island, I will have the Marine away from this place" Both adults stopped in front of an older man who was waiting for them with a Kangaskhan by his side, the mayor greeted Garp with a calm nod.

Crocodile's Pokémon followed him closely, silently admiring the baby who also admired them, although by orders of their trainer the Pokémon returned to their Pokeballs.

Garp showed him the small town that looked quite calm, they arrived at a house that was not so big and was close to the beach, maybe it would be a good idea to do some renovations, some of his Pokémon were big and they couldn't even get in the front door well, and not to mention that some of his Pokémon hadn't even finished evolving.

"You can stay here, the things I bought for Luffy are here, bottles, formula, a crib, clothes, it has everything" Garp opened the door, showing the homely place, indicating the others to enter.

"From what I saw in the newspaper, your Pokemon team consists of big Pokemon, so we could make this place bigger eventually" Garp walked towards the kitchen as Crocodile followed him "Now, I'm going to teach you how to prepare Luffy's bottle"

Crocodile saw how Garp quickly and efficiently prepared not one, but two bottles, which seemed curious to him, so he decided to ask "Is one for breakfast and the other for lunch?"

Garp raised an eyebrow and laughed at him "Are you an idiot or something? It's Luffy's breakfast, being a Monkey D. means eating for two or three people, didn't you notice that Dragon also eats like he has a black hole in his stomach?"

What Garp said only made him think for a few seconds, he knew that Dragon bastard was "Gentlemanly", but he had always been a kind guy, or at least he was when they met. Crocodile snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the baby whining and squirming in his arms, probably because he could already smell his food.

When Garp told him to give Luffy he did it without asking, he watched as the Vice-Admiral carried the baby with one arm, he seemed to take special care with the baby's neck, while with the other he held the bottle, Garp brought the bottle to the child's mouth, which began to drink the milk with emotion.

"You should always be careful with his neck, it's quite fragile so a bad movement can even kill him" Crocodile seemed worried at the last thing Garp had mentioned "If you see that he's drinking too fast, take it off, he may choke, and if he drowns, put the baby on your shoulder and pat him on his back" the baby complained about having the bottle taken away, so Garp gave him the bottle again, when Luffy finished the two bottles, Garp put the baby on his shoulder

"And don't forget to pat him so that he burps the air he might have inhaled while eating, he gets a little restless if he doesn't" The baby was already feeling sleepy at that moment, closing his eyes for sleep, Garp handed the baby back to Crocodile arms without asking him.

"That's the main thing, besides, Luffy still doesn't regulate his eating schedule, so you should do it for him, you know he can take two bottles, three times a day" Crocodile was actually questioning how so much food could fit in something so small, but he knew that the baby's diapers were going to be the real problem.

Garp caught his attention again "What are you thinking so much about? I didn't know that you were the kind of people who got lost in his thoughts" Garp sighed, looking at Crocodile "What I'm going to explain to you now is essential to take care of him"

It was already getting dark, and Garp had explained the most important things to him, changing diapers, making Luffy's bottle, carrying him properly, knowing when he was hungry, and other things.

It was a lot of information for just a day and he had told Garp about it, but he hadn't taken it very seriously and he just told him that with time he would get used to taking care of the little Monkey D. Luffy.

A yawn left his lips as the baby woke up from the little nap he had had after eating, Crocodile looked like someone who urgently needed about fifteen hours of sleep. But Crocodile didn't care much. All his Pokemon had come out of their Pokeballs so they could meet his trainer's little son.

Normally, Pokémon teams consisted of six, it was decreed by the world government that a Pokémon team could not exceed that number of Pokémon, but he was a pirate, and pirates broke the rules, so for pirates it was more common to have a team of more than six Pokémon.

In fact, half of his Pokemon were usually big, or well, they still needed to evolve, which meant, they would grow even bigger, the house had to be remodeled over time, but what if the dust gave his baby allergies?

Zorua climbed on the shoulder of his trainer to be able to look at the baby from closer, he couldn't help but feel proud about that the "little thing" was of his trainer, a thought that was shared by the rest of the Pokémon that were around Crocodile, admiring the human baby with affection.

Chapter Text

Crocodile opened his eyes wearily, feeling his eyelids heavy he looked at the clock hanging on the wall, it was four in the morning, and Luffy was crying, he got out of bed and looked at Luffy's crib.

He let out a yawn while holding Luffy in his arms, rocking him carefully, trying to calm him down, which didn't work, he decided to try something different, he went and prepared a bottle of milk for Luffy, but to his great surprise, it didn't work.

"Luffy, please, what do you want? It's four o'clock in the morning and we both need to rest."

The baby looked in the direction of the window, moving his arms while crying, Crocodile sighed "A walk?" He tried to guess, to which the baby babbled, something strange for a baby who had turned just one month old a couple of days earlier. However, he still felt a little reluctant to the idea, it was cold outside, and it was dark, the sun hadn't even come out yet.

But the baby stared at his father.

And at that moment Crocodile wondered who had taught Luffy to do the dreaded 'puppy look' although it was possible that Luffy was doing it subconsciously, he sighed, feeling weak from giving in so easily. Luffy really wanted a walk at four in the morning huh?

Maybe it wasn't a bad idea after all, if Luffy got tired, he could possibly sleep until 7:00. It would be more than perfect.

But Cocodile decided to cover Luffy with a blanket and wrap him, he knew Luffy was going to complain, he always complained when he had to get dressed, obviously he was going to be against being wrapped up with a blanket.

What if he turned out to be a kind of scantily-clad exhibitionist when he grew up? Crocodile shook his head immediately, pushing that line of thought away. He didn't even want to imagine it.

Thanks to Arceus, his thoughts took another turn more... nice. Looking at a Luffy wrapped tightly in a blanket, noticed that in fact, wrapped in such a way, he looked like a Caterpie or a Metapod.

Sylveon went to lie down on the couch just to keep sleeping, Crocodile was a pirate, an unusual one by the way, so it wasn't like something was going to happen to him.

Crocodile finally left the house with the baby in his arms, Luffy stopped fussing and complaining once they went outside, instead, he started laughing and looking at everything around him with clear amazement. The place was calm and peaceful, he could hear a Hoothoot in the distance while walking along the coast, the sounds of the waves could be heard right next to him.

Luffy looked calmer, although his cheeks were a little red from the cold, his body was warm from the blanket that covered him (Although he still didn't like the blanket that limited most of his movements)

Despite his efforts, Crocodile felt defeated, the sun was already slowly rising over the horizon, and Luffy seemed to still have the energy to stay awake. He sighed, and decided that it was time to go home, maybe he could get the child to sleep once he got to the house.

When Crocodile entered his house, slight snoring could be heard coming from his little baby, he blinked slowly as he looked at his son, the idea of that Luffy was probably feeling lonely in his crib cross his mind and... Yeah, that made sense.

Crocodile had made the decision to take the baby to bed with him instead of leaving him back in his crib. Luffy unconsciously curled up in the space between his father's neck and shoulder, looking for a warm place.

Somehow, the walks became something common for Crocodile and the little Luffy, whether in the day or at night, the baby loved them, especially when they were accompanied by one of the pirate's Pokémon, they were usually Sylveon, Zorua or Krookodile, sometimes they were Garchomp and Crocalor, other times they were Hippowdon and Leavanny, And sometimes were Palossand and Chansey, however, Luffy expressed his affection for all of them with babbles and happy sounds, when Luffy grows up he can probably walk next to them, or ride on their backs like if they were a Mudsdale.

It was a quiet day today, they were shopping since Luffy's formula and diapers were getting scarce, so they had to buy more, plus he had to buy some vegetables for lunch

The weird thing this time, was that a girl (who was hiding pretty bad behind the poles of the street lights) was following them. Even after the shopping, the girl was still following him, so he decided to confront her. He stopped his walk and turned around, looking at the carriage where the girl was hiding, although the carriage started moving, leaving the girl with no place to hide.

"What are you doing? Who are you?" Crocodile spoke in a harsh tone, while Luffy was being cleaned by Zorua, because according to the Dark-type Pokémon, the baby was dirty, Luffy was just laughing because of the tickling caused by the Pokémon's tongue.

"I'm... I'm Makino! I wanted to see Mr. Garp's grandson" Makino played with her hands slightly nervously, feeling embarrassed "I wanted... to see if the baby was as scary as Dragon..."

"Dragon? Do you know Dragon?" Crocodile asked doubtfully.

"Yes! when I was younger, and he was quite scary" Makino spoke, remembering him, a shiver went down her spine, he shook his head, deciding to concentrate on the baby "I don't think he looks like Dragon, in fact he looks a lot like you!"

Crocodile was flattered, even though he knew his son didn't look like him, he didn't even know where Luffy got so much cuteness, Dragon was scary, and not to mention himself.

Luffy was weird, and Crocodile knew it.He snapped out of his thoughts upon hearing his baby's laughter, thanks to Makino being playing with his little hands.

"He's so cute" Makino spoke with a smile on her face, she was delighted with the little baby.

Luffy seemed to like Makino, and not only Luffy, even though he had only talked to her for about only five minutes, Makino looked like a nice girl, and she was easy to get along with. Her presence was light and pleasant.

"If you want you can come to see him more often" Crocodile gave a slight smile when he saw how Makino's eyes lit up.

"Really!?" Makino jumped up with excitement, to which the baby laughed, moving his arms with excitement.

Almost five months had passed and Luffy was a pretty energetic baby, Makino came often to visit them both, and Crocodile could swear that girl was an angel, one day, he swore that he was going to give her a city or a country, she deserved that and much more.

The little baby was face down on the carpet, he tried to raise his head, but after a few seconds he lowered it again while laughing happily. Crocodile was preparing the fourth baby formula, he had a monstrous appetite. While Sylveon and Zorua watched as the baby babbled while the baby played with the pink ribbons of the Pokémon.

"Don't you think he is adorable?" Zorua looked at the pink-ribbon Pokemon while licking some of the baby's messy locks.

"If you're talking about how Luffy is filling the carpet with snot and drool, yes, it's adorable." The Zorua sniffed in Luffy's direction again, he was  going to get a pillow to make him more comfortable. The Sylveon watched as the Zorua tried to grab one of the sofa cushions, but it was bigger than the Pokemon itself so he ended up crushing the Pokemon

The Sylveon was about to go to help the Pokémon but a hand stopped him, it was his trainer, so being obedient, he continued to take care of the baby, Crocodile took the pillow and lifted it so that Zorua could get out, he did, and quickly climbed on Crocodile's shoulder.

"Sylveon, can you go get Lu's bottle? Crocodile smiled calmly as he watched as the Pokémon accepted and went to get what he had asked for.

The rest of the Pokémon were on their lunch break, Zorua and Sylveon had offered to keep an eye on Lu while he prepared the bottle, so now they could go eat.

The Pokémon gave him the milk. "Well Luffy, it's time for lunch" Crocodile looked at the floor where his baby was supposed to be, exactly, SUPPOSED, WHERE WAS HIS BABY!?

Crocodile started looking for the baby all over the room feeling desperate, threw pillows from the couch, lifted the couch itself to see if Luffy was down there (somehow).

But he heard his baby's laughter and felt the relief coursing through his veins, for just being a baby, Luffy was already giving him a heart attack.

Wait, the laughter came from outside the house..?

SHIT.

He looked in the direction of the window, where he had heard his baby's laughter, and his surprise was great when he saw his baby in the arms of a Pokémon (Who probably didn't know how to hold him and might break his neck, which only made him angrier).

It was a wild Mankey that had his baby! When the Pokémon noticed the adult's gaze on him, he started climbing the trees, still holding the pirate's baby in his arms.

"I'm going to make you a roasted Mankey... And then I will give you as food for Krookodile... Guys, I need you, NOW" Crocodile shouted as he jumped out the window and started chasing the Mankey, his Pokémon were coming after him, although they didn't expect more wild Mankey's to appear and start running next to the other Mankey holding his baby, if it wasn't for Luffy's laughter he wouldn't know which Mankey was holding him.

He needed to think of attacks that wouldn't hurt Luffy, but would leave the Mankey shaking.

An idea popped into his mind and he looked at his adventure companions.

"Krookodile, below" The Pokémon nodded and began to dig to be underground.

Sylveon on the other hand, tried to catch the baby and get him away from the wild Pokémon with his ribbons, but the Mankey evaded them with agility.

Krookodile came out of the hole, jumping on the Mankey that was holding Luffy, but the Mankey avoided him, causing the Dark-type Pokémon to crash into a tree, causing it to shake.

Zorua used Krookodile as a springboard to propel himself into some bushes, there was a glow for a few seconds, and when Zorua came out, he had transformed into a Mankey

It seemed that Zorua had totally deceived them since they had thrown Luffy into his arms, he obviously caught him, the problem was that Sylveon mistook him for one of the real Mankey, since his ribbons had become entangled in his legs, making him fall, to which another Mankey took the baby from his hands. Zorua ended up falling on Sylveon, causing them to stay behind the others.

Crocodile looked at them out of the corner of his eye, sighing as he continued to chase the Mankey "I need a sandstorm, so I'll get to them" The Pokémon on his team that had the attack nodded.

Hippowdon was the first, he growled and used the sand attack.

Krookodile who had returned underground after being used as a springboard was the second, emerging from the earth and growling loudly, continued with the attack sequence.

And finally Palossand who was on Hippowdon's back because of his speed was the last one.

A big sandstorm was created, thanks to that Crocodile was able to move with greater speed, being close to reaching the Mankey.

His body turned to sand, he was so close, he could even already feel the warmth of his baby in his arms, he could already hear him babbling incoherences again.

Until he returned to reality, and noticed that the storm had not turned his head into sand as well, Mankey took the opportunity to distract the adult and threw a fruit at his head.

Crocodile would have caused one of his Pokémon to destroy the fruit, if it wasn't because the blow had caused him to fall into a small stream, which made him splash on the ground generating mud, which made his Ground-type Pokémon also fell into the water next to him.

He got up from the stream with his clothes soaked with water, looking at the Mankey's who were making fun of him with hatred, apparently for the Mankey's this situation was hilarious.

He looked at the Mankey's with a look that promised pain, Garchomp stood next to him, letting out a growl to intimidate the Mankey's, Crocalor let out his own growl, trying to imitate Garchomp, but his growl came out more like a high-pitched scream, which only made the Mankey's start mocking and laughing at the Fire-type Pokemon.

Crocalor started shouting things to the Mankey's that Crocodile did not understand, but nevertheless Crocalor looked angry, however the anger did not last long when a seed bomb went straight to his mouth (Courtesy of the Mankeys) so that he would stop complaining.

That caused large flames to shoot out of Crocalor's mouth, burning nearby vegetation in the process

Garchomp went into a state of panic and hysterically threw dirt to turn off the fire of the plants while Crocalor was crying, still releasing a small flame as he ran back and forth in panic

Chansey and Leavanny were the only ones left.

Leavanny tried to throw her silk, hard enough to break the branch the wild Mankey was standing on, still mocking at him with the baby in her arms, who claps as he let out some happy babbles.

Chansey was already prepared to catch the baby in her arms once the branch fell.

What they both did not expect was that the Mankey jumped off the branch the moment it broke, causing the branch to hit Chansey and Leavanny.

Crocodile was getting desperate, until he saw how a Dolphin Pokémon used his water gun on the Mankey, making him back off and let the baby go. Worried, he ran until he saw how the little infant was caught by Garp, who raised an eyebrow while looking at him, Crocodile looked down with a frown.

His Pokémon team arrived one by one, all disappointed and sad to not be able to recover the baby successfully.

But it was a surprise to see that Garp and his Pokemon just started laughing.

"What's the matter? Did the Mankeys eat your tongue?" Garp laughed some more and looked at the face of his little grandson who was laughing with him "But look how cute you are Luffy, it looks like you have been eating well, you feel heavier than usual"

The baby started sucking on one of his hands while extending the other in the direction of his Grandfather's Slaking to be carried.

Garp complied with the little baby's whim and let the Pokemon hold the baby.

Crocodile and his Pokémon looked on, exhausted, they looked at them in disbelief.

"What was that? Why were the Mankeys so smart and strong?" Crocodile spoke curiously as he watched the older man, hoping that for the first time Garp would give him a reasonable explanation.

"Before anything, I'd like a cup of tea, I brought rice crackers, so let's go to your place" Garp spoke as he started walking, it wasn't even a suggestion, it was an order.

Finally, a moment of peace, everyone was at Crocodile's house, Luffy was taken by his grandfather while laughing with happiness.

"You're so cute little Luffy, no wonder the Mankeys kidnapped you." Garp laughed while Crocodile brought him the tea he had asked for.

"Now, are you going to explain to me why the Mankeys were so strong?" Crocodile questioned, to which Garp sat the baby on his knee, taking a sip of tea.

"They're not strong, they're just smart and they always move in a pack, you just have to know how to handle them" Garp replied calmly.

Crocodile sighed as he sprayed some Hyperpotion on Crocalor's wounds, because all of his Pokémon, even indirectly, were destroyed

"Hey Crocodile, honestly i wanted to ask you something" Garp caught Crocodile's attention, who looked at him doubtfully.

"What?" Crocodile questioned while looking at Garp who stopped playing with the baby who was babbling incoherences.

"I know that the thing with Luffy is something sudden, and I expected it to take a couple of months to be able to ask you properly, so what are you going to do? I understand that you are a pirate, but that you disappeared out of nowhere is making the government suspicious, and let's not forget that Whitebeard and Dragon might be after you" Garp watched Crocodile's reaction as he spoke, he looked surprised, Crocodile probably hadn't even thought about that properly

"To be honest, I hadn't thought about that, I was just focusing on taking care of Luffy" Crocodile sighed as he finished healing his Pokémon with the Hyper Potions, it was inconvenient that there wasn't a Pokémon center in Foosha Village, as far as he knew, in Goa City there were Pokémon Centers, the only bad thing was that it was exclusively only for nobles (too stupid).

"I want to make a proposal to you, how about becoming a Shichibukai? I thought a lot about that, you will be protected by the government, so neither Dragon nor Whitebeard will be able to lay a hand on you."

Crocodile opened his eyes with surprise, it didn't sound bad, besides, The Shichibukais were pirates with high rewards, his dream was to be the Pirate King, so it wouldn't be a bad way to get back to the wanderings. Besides, Luffy would be the prince of pirates, he didn't dislike the idea totally, he just needed to find a way to become Shichibukai at an age where Luffy didn't completely depend on him.

"Sounds good, but what about Luffy? I don't want to take him with me on a pirate ship, it can be dangerous for him" Crocodile took a rice cracker and ate it while looking at the adult with doubt.

"Well, I could take care of him, he'll be a great Marine from now on." Garp laughed heartily, ignoring Crocodile's noticeable frown.

"No way, Luffy will be someone with a quiet life, a life that he chooses for himself and not by being forced by his crazy grandfather" Crocodile spoke in a harsh tone, to which Garp laughed, while Luffy frowned.

"Well, well, it was a solution for right now, but you're right, it would be nice if we started this plan when Luffy is a little more independent, how about when he's four years old?" Garp calmly suggested, noisily biting a rice cracker.

"Despite the nonsenses you might say, this sounds pretty coherent." Crocodile seemed surprised by the coherent suggestion Garp had given.

"It's decided, when Luffy is four years old, we will start with this plan" Garp made some funny faces at the baby who started laughing with joy.

"One last thing, I noticed that when you carry Luffy you do it with extreme care and you seem a little uncomfortable, so I assume it's because you have that golden hook in your hand" Garp searched through his clothes until he found a box that he handed to Crocodile.

"Isn't this some kind of trap so you can stay with Luffy and catch a vile pirate like me? Crocodile questioned raising an eyebrow to which Garp let out a couple of laughs.

"If I had wanted to do it, I would have done it already, our power difference is huge" Garp spoke as he watched Crocodile open the gift, he was surprised to see that it was a prosthetic hand.

"Is this for me?"Crocodile took the prosthetic hand with his good hand, admiring it in silence.

"Do you see anyone else in this room who has lost a hand?" Garp raised an eyebrow in disbelief while Crocodile placed his prosthetic hand on his stump, noticing that he could actually make slow movements with the prosthetic fingers.

"Take your baby" Garp handed Luffy to Crocodile, who more confidently took his baby, who laughed and babbled.

"I can't put in words how grateful I am Garp, really, thank you very much" Crocodile spoke sincerely to the adult, a faint almost invisible smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

"Don't worry about that, after all, you keep me informed about my grandson and you are taking care of him in the best possible way" Garp spoke sincerely, smiling calmly, watching as the baby babbled and played from time to time with Crocodile's hand.

"If Luffy was under my charge, he would probably feel very lonely, there is always a lot of work with the Marines, and it could be a dangerous place for a baby as small as him" Garp continued talking while chewing on a rice cracker.

"I didn't know you were able to recognize dangerous places for a baby" Crocodile spoke with irony and a hint of surprise, to which Garp frowned.

"Don't push your luck brat, I can tell Slaking to hold Luffy so I can hit you" Garp threatened, to which Crocodile deliberately ignored him and looked away.

"You can't hit your grandson's father, old man." When Crocodile spoke, Luffy started laughing, clapping his little hands.

"Odd mad!" The little baby babbled, struggling a little, but laughing at the end.

At that precise moment, a fist with Haki flew into Crocodile's face, hitting him hard, Garp was only laughing at Crocodile's expression after the blow.

Chapter Text

Navy Headquarters.

Paradise, Marineford.

It was normal that tranquility reigned in that place, talking about news or monitoring the current state of the Yonkous and their movements, Sengoku on quiet days sometimes invited Garp to eat cookies accompanied by his goat and the seagull that It was always in his head.

But this was different.

A meeting had been held, where the senior officers of the navy had issues to address.

This time the center of that meeting was the recent disappearance of the pirate Crocodile who was last seen on a ship stolen from the revolutionary army, assuming that from a pirate he became a revolutionary, but they had not heard anything about that man for months, and that worried the world, especially Sengoku, who suspected that the man had some relationship with one of the oldest Yonkous.

All because of a coincidence that they both had an Eeveelution, although there was still the possibility that it was a mere coincidence, perhaps Crocodile had gotten it on the pirate black market, in addition to that almost encounter that was observed by Tsuru, who mentioned that both were on the same island, so Crocodile tried as quickly as possible to escape.

Therefore, since it was an assumption, Sengoku had told his suspicions only to those he truly trusted.

But that wasn't the problem now, as he had already said it was the sudden disappearance of that pirate.

"I've already said it, Crocodile is not just any pirate, he is possibly part of the revolutionary army, we must keep an eye on him if we don't want to have problems". The man spoke while watching Garp eat his rice cookies, paying attention to the conversation, some marines talked among themselves about possible ideas of where it could be.

This situation had been repeated over the months, at least having Luffy kidnapped about two or three times a week, Crocodile had noticed that the Pokémon miraculously did not harm his son, and even when one of them fell and It was about to hit the ground, they grabbed it and apparently scolded the Pokémon that almost dropped it.

Luffy had turned seven months ago a few weeks ago, he believed that the so-called "seven month crisis" was a myth. the universe sometimes liked to laugh in his face, so it was no surprise when he saw that he was wrong. 

He was glad that Luffy could sit up on his own, he moved his head, almost crawled, but it seemed like the baby preferred to roll over instead.

And Crocodile couldn't help but almost scream when he saw that Luffy's teeth were coming out, they were so small, the two lower front teeth.

He had tried to give him puree, being careful when he swallowed, ground food, fruit, and he noticed how Luffy was starting to give up milk, although Luffy still seemed to love it, he tried to give him more solid foods.

As he had mentioned before, Crocodile was with Zorua chasing a herd of Liepards who were carrying Luffy by the collar of his shirt with some drawings of Pokémon, Krookodile stayed at home, since Luffy had started to get into the habit of biting her tail and thanks to that her tail was sensitive.

Krookodile loved his trainer's son, but somehow The baby's bites felt like the ones of a seven-year-old child, she understood that the boy was getting his first teeth and possibly hurting, but her tail wasn't some kind of toy for bite, nor were the furniture in the house.

This time everything was normal, Crocodile always managed to have his child before the grove, and he was about to catch him while the baby laughed with joy and the Liepard who was carrying him purred at the child's laughter.

"Crocodile is a dangerous pirate, being related to the revolutionary navy makes him worse" Sengoku put a reward poster on the table with Crocodile's photograph printed on the paper. A disinterested and at the same time sinister grimace decorated the pirate's features when he noticed the presence of the cameraman of the reward posters, which was captured in the photograph.

"If he goes up a couple more numbers, we must offer him a position as warlord; and if he rejects it, we must capture him at any cost."

The little boy stammered a few attempts at words until something he said not only shocked the adult or his Pokémon, but also all the Pokémon that surrounded the little baby that was being carried by a Liepard.

"Da... Da... Pada?.. Dapa?.. Dada!". The little boy said with joy as he extended his arms towards Crocodile, wanting to be carried by him.

Crocodile in shock approached the little baby, while a proud shine appeared in his eyes and feeling like almost crying. His baby, his Luffy had said dada, he had said him Dad! (or the closest and most decent thing a seven-month-old infant could say)

Crocodile reverently stroked his son's chubby little hands as the baby smiled and laughed, the Liepard doing nothing to stop that.

But like that time, near the river, he felt himself being wet by the fresh water and came to his senses, noticing how his baby was no longer in front of him. But not one, but two Tangrowths, who took him and began to follow the Liepards while Crocodile tried to free him-self from their vines. It was impossible.

Zorua had tried to save him, bad idea, they caught him too.

Crocodile didn't resist, he had thought of it as a plan to be able to see where those Pokémon wanted to take his child, anything could absorb the water from his body with a simple movement, something that he had been learning to do in recent weeks.

A few minutes passed and finally it seemed that they had arrived.

It was a cliff, Crocodile had been scared when he saw how the Liepard was walking closer to the edge but he simply lay down and left the baby sitting down, starting to clean it with his tongue.

Instead, the Tangrowths had left him and Zorua and then walked away, walking at a slow pace to the Liepard who had his son.

The other Liepards kept their distance, but they were close, just lying down.

On the other hand, the one who had his baby and was still cleaning her didn't growl at him when they approached. Zorua doubtfully went to the other Liepards to clarify his doubts about why they brought his trainer's baby here.

Luffy laughed as he continued to be cleaned and Crocodile couldn't help but let out a little giggle too. The little baby, hearing the adult's laughter, stretched out his arms to be carried. The Pokémon next to him didn't protest and instead pushed the baby a little so that Crocodile will take him in his arms.

He carefully crossed his legs and placed the baby on his knee, swinging him slowly while the Liepard watched him calmly.

The baby had decided to set his sights on the sea and the sky, admiring the sight of warm, changing colors before him. He loved it. The smile on his face was so charming, so happy to finally be able to reach that place.

Dusk arrived and it was time to return home, Luffy would be hungry soon.

He watched as Zorua said goodbye to the Liepards who had been cleaning him the entire time, thinking that the black on his fur was dirt.

The herd of Liepards finally left and Zorua climbed onto Crocodile's shoulder quickly, settling there.

"What did they tell you?" Crocodile observed his little Pokémon who was trying to arrange his fur the way he liked.

"What I understood from them was 'We're only fulfilling the child's request"

Zorua looked at his trainer and then at the baby.

"They said that he'd asked to go to the place where he could observe everything, that's why the Mankeys, and well, Pokémon and animals in general wanted to 'kidnap' Luffy".

Crocodile looked with shock at his baby, who was sucking his thumb, and felt the adult's gaze.

"So you're not even a year old yet and you already want to see the world where you're going to be free, little brat" Crocodile ruffled the child's hair carefully "This child will reach the top, I can feel it"

Zorua gave an amused snort, a smile forming on his snout. “I have no doubts about that.”

They continued on the way back in silence, simply reflecting on today's event. Crocodile knew that this wasn't even the end, he could feel that he had simply begun. Although he would like to be surprised, everything had been turned upside down since Luffy had come into his life.

And maybe that was just fine. Just the way it had to be.

It was impressive how time passed, it had already been 12 months since that day he suffered for hours, all thanks to the boy who was now sleeping on Hippowdon's back. Something he had learned in those months was that Luffy liked to sleep next to the pokemons, he seemed to dislike being alone, and he really liked physical contact, whether it was hugs, sitting next to someone, whatever.

Even when he woke up from his nap and was alone, he would walk to the nearest Pokémon and go back to napping next to it. But today was a special day, and he had to wake up the child. With care, he approached and took him in his arms.

The boy, with difficulty, opened his black eyes while yawning, but when he opened them fully, he smiled upon seeing his father.

"Dada! Dada!" The child laughed with joy upon feeling a kiss on his cheek while his father carried him.

He cooked breakfast with the child still in his arms, a skill he had acquired for the amount of time he had been taking care of his son. When he finished breakfast, he sighed and looked at Krookodile, Zorua, and Garchomp, who were the ones watching him.

"Do you want to take a walk?" The three Pokémon nodded quickly, Crocodile gave a small smile, before any outing Luffy had to have breakfast, so he prepared his bottles and fed him, helped him burp, and finally placed him on Krookodile's back.

The boy seemed already used to it, so he simply sat comfortably, snuggling up on the Pokémon's back. And the Pokémon left the house, and Crocodile walked to the kitchen, he had to think about what special thing to prepare for the child.

The nap with Hippowdon had been cozy, but the boy would always prefer to go out for little walks; he liked his dad's Pokémon, he loved them like a family, and they returned the same affection.

Crocalor always made funny faces, and the naps with him were very warm and cozy, naps with him on cold days were always the best.

Sylveon always took him with his ribbons, and he could play with them, and Sylveon always liked to put clothes on him that, in his words, looked cute on him.

Krookodile was something else, he loved riding on her back, besides he almost always spent time with her, and time with her was always fun.

Chansey was kind and always said nice words to him, and also healed the wounds he got when he tripped while walking.

Palossand was fun, they both always played in the sand, or whenever Luffy wanted to, Luffy really liked the sand, although sometimes he ate it, his dad said that wasn't right.

Leavanny was nice and one of the few who carried him in his arms, and he always made little hats with leaves for him so that the sun wouldn't bother him or burn him.

Zorua was very funny, he liked to play with the pillows and him, although dad said he shouldn't bite them, the same with the sofa legs.

Garchomp had awesome fangs all over its body, and it was so cool when it fought and "trained," although he still didn't quite understand the meaning of the word.

And Hippowdon, did he already say that naps with her were the best? Besides, she could always build sandcastles with him.

The boy stopped observing the quiet landscape when he was suddenly picked up; he was ready to cry for being taken away from Krookodile when he noticed it was his grandfather.

"Od mad" The boy got excited and hugged his grandfather, who smiled completely joyfully.

"Eh. Old man? Your father is filling your head with nonsense," The man sighed. "I'll give him a beating, but other than that, look how cute you are, Luffy! You're already so big, look at that belly, it seems like your dad is spoiling you a lot by feeding you. Well, at least we know that belly won't exist anymore when you become a muscular and very strong marine," Garp chuckled while gently pinching the child's little rolls, who burst into laughter.

"You've grown so much, today I managed to make time to come see you, today is your birthday after all." Garp observed how his grandson tilted his head to one side, not understanding the last word he said, so he simply laughed and started carrying him, although Krookodile, who was the one carrying the child, looked at the elder disapprovingly, who sighed.

"Alright, you can continue on your walk, but you must bring it back. We will be making preparations for the birthday party." Garp once again placed the child on Krookodile's back, to which Zorua seemed to be the happiest.

Slaking, who was next to Garp, protested a bit; he wanted to carry the little boy. The Marine indicated something to his Pokémon, to which Slaking immediately nodded his head.

At that moment, both Garp and Luffy, along with his dad's Pokémon, continued with their respective walks.

After a few minutes, they finally arrived at Party's Bar. The bar belonged to Makino, and despite being only thirteen years old, Makino took care of it.

According to Woop Slap, it belonged to her father, but when he left, he abandoned both the bar and his daughter. The place had been gathering dust for years, so Makino thought about renovating it when she was twelve, and there it was. Since she was young, Woop Slap and his Kangaskhan helped her out, although of course, the bar wasn't open for a long time.

Makino was cleaning the bar, but she smiled when she heard the doorbell ring. She walked where the Pokémon were and carried the little Luffy "It's good to see you, happy birthday, Luffy!" The girl spun around on her own axis even with the little boy in her arms while hugging him. A Tangela quickly left the kitchen upon hearing the child's name.

Garchomp greeted the shiny Tangela, that was Makino's Pokémon which, interestingly, resembled her because of its color. Makino observed her Pokémon and smiled at it while bending down to show the little baby in her arms.

"Look, Tangela! It's little Luffy's birthday!" Makino said with complete excitement while the Pokémon also rejoiced.

Woop Slap was sipping a cup of coffee at one of the tables with his Kangaskhan, who was sharing snacks with the Snorunt in her pouch. The mayor raised an eyebrow when Makino quickly approached him to show him the child who would be turning one year old, although, of course, the girl first showed the baby to the Pokémon and then to him.

Luffy laughed when both the adult and the Pokémon watched him. "And to think he's already turning one, the little brat grow up so fast, happy birthday," The mayor said as the boy puffed up his cheeks, that word again.

Luffy didn't understand that word, he didn't know its meaning, although to be honest he didn't understand many words but that word 'birthday' was strange and caught his attention more than other strange words.

Makino simply smiled calmly, although she realized something.

"Crocodile must be preparing Luffy's birthday party" Makino watched Garchomp, hoping for a positive response.

Although the doorbell rang, indicating that someone had entered.

"To tell the truth, Garp is taking care of that, he kicked me out of my own house saying to go to Goa with Luffy to buy something nice" said Crocodile as he entered Makino's Bar, sighing. The baby, upon seeing his dad, started to laugh happily.

"I suppose he's using the rest of your Pokémon as hostages" said Woop Slap as Makino quickly approached him, handing over the smiling baby.

"Exactly," Crocodile greeted Woop Slap and carried his son, who was making small babbling sounds.

The mayor finished his cup of coffee, "Well, today seems to be an important day, Makino. I'll close the bar for you, accompany Crocodile to Goa," Woop Slap said calmly, to which the girl looked at him in astonishment.

"Really?" The girl asked with a sparkle of excitement in her eyes.

"Of course, you can't trust Crocodile to choose clothes, I'm sure he's going to buy the baby a suit for his birthday" when Woop Slap said that, Crocodile felt offended.

A suit would fit Luffy perfectly, thought Crocodile.

"Thank you very much! Although, won't it bother Crocodile?" Makino looked at Crocodile with a hint of curiosity.

"No problem, you're quite a pleasant girl, Makino" Crocodile said calmly, to which the baby confirmed with a little laugh.

Makino nodded with a smile and went to tidy up and take off his work clothes, leaving the two men alone while Crocodile observed Woop Slap.

"Now, can you tell me why Luffy can't wear a cute suit on his birthday?" asked Crocodile threateningly, to which Woop Slap raised an incredulous eyebrow.

"Are you seriously asking that?" The mayor thought it was some kind of joke, but Crocodile didn't joke around.

Makino arrived before any dispute could arise over about why the baby should wear a fancy suit for his birthday, Woop Slap internally thanked the thirteen year old girl.

I'm ready! Let's take a little walk," said the girl with green hair with a smile, to which Crocodile forgot the topic of the fight, so he simply nodded while his son was still in his arms.

"See you, Mr. Mayor!" Makino said goodbye, walking out of the bar with her Tangela, followed by Crocodile and his Pokémon.

"Garp said he would have everything ready in two hours, if you want you can go and take a walk around," said Crocodile, downplaying it while Woop Slap gave a small nod.

The little baby opened and closed his hand in a waving gesture while letting out some small babbles of "bay bay."

The mayor laughed a little, returning the farewell gesture to the baby as he got up from his seat to start tidying up to close, his Pokémon began to help him.

Luffy was calmly observing the road, Makino was watching him calmly, when Luffy made eye contact with the girl, he chuckled a bit, to which Crocodile gave him a few pats on the back.

After a few minutes, they finally arrived at the kingdom of Goa. Makino looked enchanted by the entire place; she even stopped to look at a shop for a few seconds, but Crocodile called her attention so she wouldn't get lost.

Well, now they were in a store, maybe, just maybe Woop Slap was a little bit right.

Just a little bit.

"He looks angry," Makino said.

"He is angry," said Crocodile, confirming Makino's suspicions.

There was Luffy, in a suit, he looked adorable, clearly, the problem was that the boy didn't like it.

Puffed cheeks, furrowed brow, clenched hands, everything indicated that he was about to burst into tears at any moment, Crocodile decided to change him out of the clothes he was wearing before.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea, after all, it's a total struggle to put clothes on the baby and maybe a suit wouldn't be a good idea. He was about to pick him up again, but the baby, indignant, looked away to avoid seeing his father.

At that moment, something broke inside Crocodile's chest.

Luffy extended his chubby little arms towards Makino, deciding that she would carry him from now on, Crocodile felt replaced and hurt.

It's a relief that they didn't let Pokémon into this store, or Krookodile, Zorua, and Garchomp would have felt crushed inside.

Once, Krookodile growled at Luffy when he bit her tail hard enough to hurt. Instead of crying, Luffy looked at him angrily and refused to come near for a few hours, the worst suffering for Krookodile.

Crocodile sighed, that simply went straight to his heart.

Makino looked nervous, she didn't want Crocodile to get angry with her, although when she looked at the adult, he gave her a small smile.

"Makino, carry Luffy, we'll go find something nicer and more comfortable for him," said Crocodile calmly while folding the suit that had caused the child's anger.

Makino nodded, doing what she was asked to do; carry the baby. who seemed calmer in the girl's arms, just like with the pirate's Pokémon. Makino's Tangela was kept in its luxury ball (a gift from Crocodile, since Makino didn't have a Pokéball before, as they were scarce and somewhat expensive in villa Fosha, and she had never been in Goa before).

"Maybe it's a good idea to stop and eat something, maybe that will help with Luffy's mood," mentioned the adult as he was followed by the girl to the store exit.

The baby's eyes sparkled when he heard the word "food" and looked at his father with a puppy-like gaze.

"Dada! Food" it was impressive how Luffy was able to almost perfectly pronounce the word Food, as well as the word "meat" since the rest of the words were certainly difficult for the child.

"Eh, Mr. Crocodile, I didn't bring that much money," Makino interrupted with a slightly nervous tone.

"Makino, I'm inviting you, don't worry, besides, this way you can get to know more dishes to have at the bar, so take advantage of this experience," Crocodile spoke to Makino in a calm tone to ease her nervousness and doubt, to which the girl smiled slightly and nodded.

The food was quick, Luffy already had his teeth so it wasn't too difficult for him to eat solid food, in fact, he loved meat so that was mainly what he ate. Makino, despite being a young girl, helped a lot with that, she explained to Crocodile what things he could eat and what he couldn't.

Although Makino and Crocodile had banned Garp from feeding Luffy, since he once tried to make the child eat a whole piece of meat by himself (the meat was almost raw, It's worth noting that he was also forbidden to cook.) under the excuse that he already had his first tooth and could do it, just because he was a Monkey D.

When they finished their meal, they continued with the walk, although it was already time to return or the old marine might do something to Crocodile's Pokémon that he had as hostages.

Although before leaving, Crocodile disappeared for a few minutes, leaving Makino with Luffy in her arms, although he quickly returned saying he had seen a cute outfit for Luffy. They left the kingdom of Goa and started walking towards Crocodile's house.

"It surprises me how time flies," said Makino, watching the adult as she walked calmly with her Tangela following her, eating some berries.

"Don't even mention it, I still remember when I arrived here and Garp handed me over to Luffy," Crocodile said with a tone that gave off a hint of nostalgia. He patted the baby on the back a couple of times, which made him laugh. 

"Now that you mention it, I recall that Mr. Garp brought Luffy here with you," said the girl, stepping forward a bit.

"Let's say that when Luffy was born, they took him away from me, but a friend helped me find him again, and I owe him my life," said the adult calmly.

Just at that moment, Zorua came out of his pokeball, staying on Crocodile's shoulder to observe the boy and fix some messy strands.

Makino hesitated to ask more, so they remained in a comfortable silence as they arrived at the adult's house.

Although it was strange, there was too much silence, it seemed suspicious, Crocodile frowned and indicated to Makino to stay behind him and handed over the baby while the rest of the Pokémon he currently had with him came out of their pokeballs.

Just at that moment when he opened the door, he saw the baby's grandfather marine wearing a party hat and had shouted "SURPRISE" so loudly that Crocodile felt the ground tremble a little.

The baby who was in Makino's arms (who also got scared) got so frightened that he jumped, clinging to the girl's shirt as his eyes began to glisten.

Just when Crocodile was about to scold him, the baby started crying loudly and screaming, reaching out his arms towards his father. Crocodile gave Garp a nasty look and carried his son.

"Garp, can you tell me how it occurs to you to throw a surprise party for a baby who is turning one year old? He doesn't even know the meaning of surprise yet," Crocodile scolded the old marine, though of course, he knew that wouldn't pass through the old man's thick skull.

"Well, now he really knows what surprise means," the old man grimaced at the baby's crying. "Besides, this kid will be a marine; he can't be scared by a surprise party."

Makino glared at the marine, "Now I understand, it's not that Mr. Dragon was scary, it's that you traumatized Mr. Dragon," said the girl as she entered the house, followed by the other adult and the baby who was slowly relaxing, along with Crocodile's pokemon and Makino's Tangela

Woop Slap, who was giving some snacks to the Pokémon, watched as they entered the house.

"First of all, I tried to stop that old man with this silly idea of a surprise party, and you know he's as stubborn as a mule," said the town mayor, raising both hands.

Crocodile sat listening to Woop Slap's words while the baby in his arms slowly began to stop crying, Crocodile's Pokémon looked at Garp with disdain.

Just at that moment, Crocodile's Crocalor took a big gulp of air and unleashed a flamethrower at the marine. The Pokémon trainer's eyes widened in surprise and he looked reproachfully at his Pokémon. Garp had been blackened by the fire, hair, clothes, everything.

The marine glared at the Pokémon even though he heard a few laughs. The child had stopped crying to laugh at his grandfather, Garp took a breath to avoid hitting the Pokémon that had burned him, and he focused on watching the baby laugh at him.

Makino also laughed a little, very discreetly.

Woop Slap laughed without hiding it.

And Crocodile handed him a cloth to clean his face, holding back laughter.

Now the baby looked happy, and Crocalor was proud, although of course he risked burning a marine of such high rank. Crocodile's Palossand looked at him disapprovingly for taking such a risk, severely questioning his mental health.

Now, with the birthday boy in a happier mood, Crocodile noticed the decorations; they were simple but lovely, with a few balloons and colorful streamers.

"Well, what is supposed to be done at a one years old birthday party?" Crocodile questioned, observing Garp who was now clean and in his normal color.

"No idea," replied Garp.

"Don't look at me," said Woop Slap.

Both elderly people watched the girl who was giving snacks to her Tangela.

Although Makino jumped slightly, startled at feeling watched, "Why are you looking at me? I'm thirteen and I'm the only girl here," she said, referring to the fact that she was the second youngest, after Luffy of course, although they didn't know how they would celebrate a one year old's birthday with just four people.

"Have you ever celebrated a birthday?" Makino questioned, observing the adults who averted their gaze to avoid answering the question, Makino sighed knowing she was, in fact, hoping for too much.

Crocodile thought, alcohol, party, food, more alcohol, drunk adults, locked in his room because his birthday ended with his brothers and father drunk.

"Well, normally adults talk, and children play," said the girl, so she extended her arms expecting Crocodile to hand her the child, which the adult did.

"Can we go play outside with all the pokemon?" The girl didn't wait for a response and left the house, followed by, well, all the Pokémon, leaving the three adults inside.

Crocodile sat on the couch and Garp repeated his action.

"I don't think talking about politics is a good idea," said Garp, bursting into laughter.

"If you say anything about politics, I'll personally kick you off this island," Woop Slap threatened, to which Crocodile stifled another laugh.

Crocodile watched through the window as Makino helped Luffy walk to chase the Pokémon, as if they were playing "tag, you're it"

He observed a bit curiously how the Kangaskhan's offspring was also playing with all the Pokémon, and he noticed that this offspring was not exactly a Kangaskhan, but rather a Snorunt.

Now Luffy was walking alone while escaping from Crocalor and hiding behind Woop Slap's Kangaskhan.

Although at one point Makino stumbled, the first to approach was Kangaskhan and helped her up. Makino said a few things to the Pokémon and continued playing; now it was Tangela's turn to catch someone.

"It seems you noticed," said the town mayor, to which Crocodile jumped a little at his sudden speech.

"Noticed?" The fruit user questioned.

"Or maybe you're so distracted that you didn't notice," said Garp while eating some chopped fruit. (which was for Luffy initially).

"Shut up, it took you 6 years to realize," said Woop Slap, to which Garp laughed a little more.

"Now that you mention it, I've noticed that Makino is quite close to Kangaskhan," said Crocodile, observing how everyone continued playing outside.

"Of course, after all, Kangaskhan was the one who raised Makino during her childhood," said the town mayor calmly, glancing sideways as Luffy was chasing Kangaskhan's baby.

"Are you serious I had heard that Kangaskhan adopted baby pokemon and eggs, but not humans," said Crocodile, observing the mayor.

"Yeah, well, Makino was a year old when Kangaskhan found her," he said as he stood up to pour himself some tea.

Crocodile said nothing, just watched as Makino played with his son in the yard and the other Pokémon.

Crocodile was someone quiet, or sarcastic, or simply didn't talk much, just responded briefly.

And honestly, he blames his father for that, as he was someone overprotective, too much to be honest, and he wouldn't let him talk to anyone who wasn't part of the crew.

But it was surprising how he was now chatting so calmly with the other adults, while the children and Pokémon continued playing outside. Occasionally, Makino would come to fetch the tray of chopped fruit, and it was amusing to see how Kangaskhan peeked through the window to confirm that Garp would hand over the fruit.

It was finally time for the cake, maybe Luffy couldn't eat much, but Crocodile could agree that it would be nice for Luffy to blow out the candles, finally a good idea from Garp.

He got up from the sofa and walked towards the yard, a small smile appeared on Crocodile's lips upon seeing the scene before him.

Luffy was inside the kangaskhan's pouch along with the pokémon's snorunt baby and Zorua (who had somehow sneaked in there), all three sleeping. Makino was next to them, asleep on top of the Pokémon's stomach, one of her arms hugging the Pokémon and the child. The rest of the Pokémon were sleeping around the kangaskhan, although the only ones awake were Woop Slap's Pokémon and Krookodile.

He took a step closer, the mother Pokémon gave him a threatening look, to which Crocodile raised both hands (he was wearing his prosthesis today) in a gesture of peace.

Although Luffy opened his eyes at the movement, and upon seeing his dad, he smiled and extended his arms to be picked up, Kangaskhan had no choice but to hand the child over to his father.

The Pokémon started to wake up after that little nap, Sylveon took care of nudging Makino a bit to wake her up too.

"It's getting late, it must be time to eat," said the adult, to which his Crocalor was the first to run towards the house. Luffy squirmed in his arms upon hearing the word eat and looked at his father with tearful eyes.

As if he were saying, 'Dad, take me to eat or I'll start crying here and now and won't stop until you give me meat.'

Crocodile sighed a little and walked with the child in his arms, followed by the girl who yawned while rubbing her eyes.

Now they were all inside, it was a miracle that everyone fit in the house, Crocodile was grateful that a few months ago he had expanded the house for his Pokémon.

Crocodile was surprised that Garp had prepared a birthday cake in advance, it wasn't that big, well, yes it was, but it looked good, it had white cream, a bit of fruit, the sponge cake was white and looked soft.

He felt Garp give him a light tap on the shoulder, "I'm not that stupid, you know? I looked for the best so the child could eat," The marine smiled proudly.

"You did nothing, you wanted to make the child a chocolate and almond cake, I made this cake, damn old man." Woop Slap complained about Garp, who laughed at him.

"We can also give some to the Pokémon, I will find a way to make it more suitable for everyone, since, well, there are more Pokémon guests than people," said the town mayor, observing the group of Pokémon who looked offended, even his own Kangaskhan along with Snorunt, although Crocalor was more focused on drooling over the cake.

Everyone got ready, put a small candle on the cake, and Woop Slap was about to turn off the lights, but the sound of knocks on the door interrupted them. Curious, Crocodile left the child on Hippowdon's back to go see who it was.

When he opened the door in surprise, he awkwardly pressed the doorframe, feeling slightly how his good hand trembled from the force exerted on the door while he looked at that person.

For a moment, he thought the worst, he had nothing to lose by asking, but he couldn't help that his voice came out with a touch of disdain and threat, as if the man's presence meant some kind of threat to him and his son.

What are you doing here...

Kuma

Chapter Text

The man raised his hands a little in a sign of peace; he is not looking for fights. Kuma sighed looking at Crocodile with a calm smile with a hint of nervousness.

"Crocodile, long time no see," Kuma decided to speak first, still looking how Crocodile watched him cautiously.

"You didn't answer my question," Crocodile spoke in a low tone, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Don't worry, Dragon doesn't know I'm here," when he said that, Crocodile breathed a sigh of relief, although he still looked at him cautiously 

Crocodile was about to speak again, to question him about what he was doing here. At his door. On his son's birthday. But Kuma spoke before he could verbalize his doubts.

"I came to check on you guys, you know, it's been a year since you escaped from the revolutionaries and I wanted to see if you were doing well" as he spoke, Crocodile could notice a slight hint of nervousness in his voice, and that certainly calmed him down a little, "And as I told you, Dragon doesn't know anything about this, I told him I had some business to attend to without specifying anything to him," Kuma concluded, fixing his hat a little

Crocodile felt like an idiot for a moment, it was thanks to Kuma that he was here right now, he helped him escape and told him to meet with Garp, and now he mistrusts him. 

You can't blame him for being a little cautious — or paranoid, failing that — Kuma works with Dragon, who started all this trouble, although it was a little unfair to compare him to his boss.

Crocodile sighed, turning away from the door and opening it so that the other man could pass.

"You can come in, Luffy was about to blow out the candles" Kuma nodded slowly and with a little excitement in his walk he entered the house, being followed by Bewear who had a present in his paws and looked quite cheerful.

Kuma was a little surprised by the amount of pokemon inside, and wondered how the house was so big to hold so many.

The revolutionary could not help but be surprised to see the baby playing on Hippowdon's back with a small Zorua by his side.

Garp stared at him as soon as he set foot inside the house, it made him feel a little exposed to tell the truth, well, at least until Crocodile came to his side.

"I guess we have a surprise guest" Woop Slap announced, watching the newcomer. To which Kuma gave a quick wave with his hand 

"Bartholomew Kuma, it's a pleasure" he introduced himself to the older man, not knowing that he was the mayor.

"Woop Slap, mayor of the little town near here, you better not cause trouble, I have enough with this decrepit old man here" The man spoke calmly while pointing at Garp, who grimaced almost instantly.

"Ha, first a pirate, and now a revolutionary? Hmph, this only gives me more reasons to start Luffy's training to become an honorable Marine" Garp grumbled, crossing his arms while frowning.

"Garp, Luffy will decide what he will be when he grows up, and neither you nor I have the power to make his decisions" Crocodile snapped out with a touch of finality, to which Garp frowned again.

"And more respect than this 'revolutionary' is the one who informed me of your wonderful and charming son's plan," Crocodile spoke with a slightly dismissive tone, a wry smile tugging at the corner of his lips. Garp did not claim, and instead just stayed quiet, possibly accepting responsibility for the situation a little.

Makino came curious to observe Kuma together with her beloved Tangela.

"Hello! I'm Makino and this is my Tangela," Makino picked up her pokemon in her arms. The Tangela let out a little excited shout, in a way of greeting.

The girl opened her eyes with surprise a few moments later, hugging her Tangela close to her "Right! And this is Luffy. Luffy is having a birthday today, he's Mr. Crocodile's son and he's quite a lovely boy," Makino excitedly exclaimed, clearly brag about the little boy.

Luffy watched the newcomers and blinked incredulously, first he watched the adult and then the pokemon that came with him.

And then watched the adult again and then the pokemon again.

Was it his idea or were they both identical? 

The boy came out of his few thoughts when he was carried by his father, let out a few small laughs, watching the Bewear who was still holding the gift.

Although now it was time for the cake, so everyone went back to their places, this time with two new guest.

Crocodile approached the cake with Luffy in his arms "So, shall we light the candle?," Garp questioned as he reached into his pockets for something to light.

At that moment Crocalor — who was being charged by Garchomp — made a small flare to light the candle.

Luffy's eyes sparkled with excitement even though he didn't quite understand what was happening 

Zorua climbed on Crocodile's shoulder and watched the child. 

"Well, now Lu, you must blow, do you understand?" 

The pokémon spoke to the boy, to which the boy slightly tilted his head without understanding.

The black pokemon sighed and tried to show the child how to blow.

Finally, Luffy seemed to have understood. He took a breath into his tiny lungs, preparing to blow.

Leavanny was hugging Chansey, holding the urge to cry for the very emotional moment.

As expected the first time he tried, Luffy only managed to blow out a little drool when trying to blow out the candle

Makino laughed a little and brought a couple of napkins to wipe the baby's chin that was full of saliva from his failed attempt

Garchomp sighed and placed himself in front of the baby.

"It seems like you're having a little trouble, so, I'm going to help you, okay? On the count of three"

Kuma was watching everything with curiosity, it seemed that genuinely the dragon-ground pokémon was talking to the baby, and it seemed to be a common thing for the rest of the people at the party.

The boy opened his little eyes with surprise, he knew the much acclaimed 'count of three' sometimes his father used it to carry him, other times when they were carrying him.

When the Mankeys carried him in the trees, when they gave him food, when one Mankey threw him at another Mankey.

Or just when he was being taken for a walk by his dad's pokemon.

Something always happened when he reached number three, and this time the baby understood that he should do the same as his dad's pokemon.

One.

Two.

Three!

At that moment the baby made his best effort to blow, clearly having his difficulties, but the small flame of the candle was extinguished, thanks to a small puff that the dragon-ground pokemon had given, but those are details.

Crocodile knew that Garchomp helped Luffy, but he didn't say anything, just smiled. He settled his son in his arms more comfortably, looked at him and placed an unruly strand behind his ear and smiled at him.

"Hey brat, stop growing up so fast, please" 

A light and quick memory appeared in Crocodile's mind; how Luffy had learned to walk. One quiet day, he was training his Pokemon while Zorua and Sylveon were taking care of Luffy, there was a bit of a serious fight and they left Luffy for a moment, and the boy a few moments later just got up with difficulty and walked to where his father was trying to calm his pokemon.

Crocodile felt so proud for his son, and of course, his pokemon also made a small celebration, in which even the forest pokemon who were trying to kidnap Luffy ended up joining somehow.

Garp clearly clapped loudly while laughing.

Makino hug her Tangela.

Slaking had joined Leavanny and Chansey to cry, also the Kangaskhan of Woop Slap was in there, Palossand was trying to calm them all down, although of course he understood them since he was also quite proud that Luffy had completed his first year of life.

Zorua had jumped from Crocodile's shoulder to Hyppowdon's back to celebrate alongside Marshtomp, Palaffin, Crocalor and Krookodile.

Honestly, Kuma felt a little out of place, the same with his Bewear that still held the small gift on his front paws.

Sylveon was carrying Luffy with his ribbons, while the baby, or well now one-year-old child was laughing contentedly while being lifted up.

Although Woop Slap started to cut the cake, all Luffy's attention went there.

Everyone had their piece of cake, pokemon, pirate, marine, mayor and girl.

And clearly Luffy with his piece of cake, who — to no one's surprise — was eating it with his bare hands, soiling his clothes and his face.

Kuma's pokémon noticed the gift on his paws and finally took enough courage to approach the boy.

The boy watched the Pokémon bear with a black body and a pink head with curiosity, it was that pokemon that looked too much like that man with bear ears.

The Pokémon extended the gift to him, although Luffy watched him with more curiosity.

"How do I explain it to you...?, " 

The pokemon bear questioned himself, the boy just looked at him with his bright little eyes, he had stopped eating cake because of the pokemon.

"You have to break the wrapper," 

The pokémon took a corner of the gift and tore the paper a little.

Luffy seemed to understand, with his —still— sticky hands he put the plate aside so he could concentrate on the gift and tearing the wrapping

He took his due time, but the gleam of excitement in the boy's eyes were an early gift in itself for the pokemon

The boy curiously observed his gift already revealed; it was a cute red drum.

Krookodile put her piece of cake aside to approach the child and gently tap the toy with one of her front limbs.

The sound captivated the boy and he quickly imitated the action of the pokemon, seeing that it sounded nice he laughed and beat the drum more.

"I thought it would be a nice gift for Luffy" Kuma shifted his gaze from the little boy to Crocodile who was eating his piece of cake

"Well he quite likes it" Crocodile spoke calmly, a small smile spread across his lips at the sight of his son's excitement

"He's definitely going to play that drum while you're sleeping" Garp appeared out of nowhere next to both of them while letting out not at all discreet chuckles.

"Well, at least Kuma hasn't given him a book of all the laws of the navy" Garp frowned slightly 

"Hey, at least I'm trying to educate him" Garp protested. 

"Garp, can you explain to me what good is it for a child who is just turning one to know the internal laws and rules of the navy?" Crocodile watched him severely.

"Well, so as not to break any navy laws" Garp spoke calmly as he took Luffy in his arms, the boy tried to take his drum again but couldn't.

"Besides when Luffy becomes a future Vice Admiral, he will put you two to Impel Down" Garp said, too casually, to which the boy cried 

Crocodile watched him disapprovingly as the boy continued to cry.

Slaking tried to carry him but that didn't work to make the child stop crying, instead that, only made him cry louder.

At that moment the boy opened his teary eyes and the first thing he saw was Kuma's Bewear, and he stretched out his arms in his direction, wanting to be carried 

Crocodile watched the interaction curiously, he didn't quite know the nature of the Bewear, only that they were quite affectionate.

Kuma honestly was slightly nervous.

Slaking did not want to let go of Luffy, he had been offended when the child did not want to be in his arms, but when he heard his crying he sighed and extended the child to the pokemon bear, who seemed nervous.

The child stretched out his arms crying, until finally his crying stopped when he was carried by the Bewear, who felt pressured due to the looks not only of people but also of the pokemon.

The Bewear carried the child with his eyes closed in fear of seeing him, as far as possible, although he slowly opened his eyes when he heard the child's light laughter.

The boy was laughing much more comfortable, he had stopped crying once he was charged by Kuma's pokemon

Without noticing her, the girl had approached with a smile without saying anything she stood on a chair to be able to be at the height of the Normal/Fight pokemon, although of course she was a few centimeters short to be at the same height as him.

But that was beside the point, the girl carefully settled the boy on the pokemon's front paws.

The pokémon was wagging his tail as if he were a happy puppy, but his front paws were almost shaking, he was afraid of squeezing the child too much and maybe breaking his spine, a common fear for a Bewear, more for one who was carrying such a little child.

The pokemon never carried a child before, but the feeling was simply unique, especially when the child clung to his soft fur closing his eyes, possibly being about to take a nap.

 Of course, the boy had been awake all day, leaving his nap aside so possibly all the exhaustion of the day had accumulated in him.

Maybe he should add Bewear to his list of pokemon he loves to sleep with.

Crocodile watched with a slight smile to his son and as he was already sleeping clinging to Kuma's pokemon.

Kuma next to him smiled slightly, refusing to say that his pokemon was capable of breaking an adult's back relatively easily.

Besides, his pokemon looked too cheerful to interrupt him.

Chapter Text

Luffy was trying with all his might to get loose from his grandpa's strong grip

Although of course this wasn't working so well

The boy had tried everything, biting, hitting, throwing, and nothing, nothing was working

Garp kept walking, holding the boy's hand as they continued into the woods

But there was a slight doubt about that situation.

Where was his father? 

Let's resume the morning.

Luffy had already turned four, so Crocodile should already start trying to become a Shichibukai, therefore, he should leave 

Although it wasn't easy when your son was used to your ever-present presence for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for four years 

So, sure enough, the boy was now in his room crying thinking that his father would abandon him forever 

Inside the room was also Sylveon along with Leavanny and Zorua, the three were trying to convince the boy to open the door, but said boy, full of tears, flatly refused to do so

Crocodile was outside with the rest of his pokemon, waiting for the kid to open the door, which seemed like it wouldn't happen anytime soon

"Why are you all and daddy going to abandon me" the boy snapped through tears watching Sylveon

"Luffy please, we already talked about this, your dad is a pirate and he has pirate things to do" Sylveon calmly explained, although it only made more tears welling up forcefully from the boy's eyes

"But we're not going to abandon you, we're just going to go to work and come back next week, okay?" Leavanny gently stroked Luffy's head, trying to convey the sincerity of his words through his touch

"Can't I come with you?" Luffy whispered in a pitiful and choppy tone, watching Zorua who was lying next to him

"No, you know what pirate means, and it's dangerous for you to go with us" Zorua explained with a small sigh 

"But I'm the son of a pirate, right? I'm supposed to have been born very strong because I'm the son of a pirate," the boy whined a little more 

"It doesn't work like that, you have to get very strong to go out to the sea, it's very dangerous" Sylveon spoke, choosing his words carefully, although there were clear signs that the child was going to start crying again.

"But, maybe if you behave yourself, someday your father will let you accompany him on a pirate adventure" Zorua said interrupting before he started crying again 

Both Leavanny and Sylveon shot a sidelong glance at Zorua, who had an complicit smile on his face 

But the boy's eyes lit up and he quickly wiped the tears from his face.

Since he learned to speak he knew that his father was a pirate, and well unconsciously he ended up admiring them a lot, to the point that he also wanted to be a great pirate like his father, so going on an adventure at the sea with his father sounded like the best idea ever seen by man

Oh, and also his uncle Kuma contributed a lot to this fascination, maybe he didn't see him every day, but he always came on his birthday and Luffy always asked for adventure stories both from him and from Bewear 

It was funny how Crocodile the year after letting a Bewear carry his son found out that the pokemon's strength was enormous, almost always fracturing his trainer's back simply by hugging him 

Thank goodness this never happened with Luffy, it seemed that Bewear controlled his strength quite well so as not to do any kind of harm to the child, anyway 

Although of course, this idea that Luffy wanted to be a pirate had been a bucket of cold water for his grandfather who was constantly trying to convince him that it was better to be a marine, but oh well, what could he do?

Luffy slowly opened the door, having Zorua in his arms he slowly poked his head out, until he felt his father's arms wrap around him and as the Zorua was escaping from his grip to climb Crocodile's shoulder 

The boy reciprocated the hug, clinging to his father, as if he were afraid that he would disappear 

Crocodile was about to speak but Luffy interrupted him

"So you're leaving and coming back in a week, right?" Luffy tried to look as calm as possible despite the slight tremor in his voice

"Yes, but I'll bring you a present, okay?" Crocodile murmured softly, carrying his son in his arms

"I don't want presents, I want my dad" the boy said in a trembling tone "I didn't know the island was so far away"

"Yes, but it's a suitable place for me devil fruit" whispered Crocodile 

Luffy knew what a devil fruit was, after all his father and Uncle Kuma had one.

Although he stopped to think for a moment, right place for his dad's fruit? His father's fruit allowed him to control and turn into sand, so was it a place with a lot of sand? How big could he make a sand castle in that place?

"Is it a giant beach?" Questioned Luffy watching his father with curiosity

"Not exactly, remember when I told you that story about a boy in the desert?" Crocodile asked, to which the boy nodded 

His father always told him stories before going to sleep, and he always tried to memorize each of them 

Crocodile walked slowly to the big sofa in the house, being followed by his pokemon

The only strange thing was that Krookodile was not with them.

Luffy watched as Hippowdon lay down on the floor, made a gesture for his father to let him go and walked slowly towards her sitting on her back while being watched by his father, Luffy felt a little nervous, although nothing that the comforting presence of his father's pokémon could not fix 

"It's only going to be a week, okay? Besides, if you need anything, Makino, Garp and the Mayor will be there for you" Crocodile spoke again, trying to make his voice as soft as possible 

Luffy felt calm, although the feeling of calm was ruined by hearing the name of his grandpa

Don't get him wrong, Luffy loved him, both him and his pokemon, but his training to be a marine wasn't the best.

Once, he left him in the forest when he was only two years old, his father had to do the food shopping for the week 

And if it wasn't for the Liepards who left him at home just when his father arrived, he would have possibly been some animal or wild pokemon's dinner, or something like that

The boy sighed, nodding calmly, unconsciously stroking Hippowdon's black back, hearing a reverberation or purr coming from her by the contact

Just at that moment her father's Krookodile arrived. He had something on his front limbs. It was something wrapped in a blanket of maroon red stripes and soft pastel pinks and blues

"Besides, did you think we would leave you completely alone?" Krookodile questioned, looking a little excited, Luffy slightly tilted his head, watching her curiously.

When it was close enough, the pokemon gently moved the fabric exposing part of the lump.

Luffy opened his eyes in surprise, was that what he thought it was?

Luffy gasped excitedly "A Pokemon egg?!"A big smile appeared on the child's face, how not know the pokemon eggs?

Since childhood, being constantly kidnapped by various Pokémon and —some of the attempts being successful— being taken to their dens, made the child know the eggs, and learned that that's where the pokemon came from

He was even present once when one of them hatched and a Purrloin was born from there, very cute by the way

Luffy knew that the eggs mostly came from two pokemon dads 

Wait a minute, two pokemon dads 

Why did Krookodile have a Pokemon egg? Maybe her...

Luffy opened his eyes with surprise finally falling into mind and observed the crocodile pokemon who watched him proudly.

Luffy knew that there were pokemon that had eggs alone, this was when the whole species was of the same genus, but that was not the case with the Krookodiles

There were different groups of eggs, so they didn't have to be the same species to have an egg, or something like that his father explained to him once he decided to ask him about it

So, it had to be one of his dad's pokemon, right? 

He watched each of them for a few seconds

"I know! Sylveon and Krookodile no?" Luffy looked proud, watching both pokemon who nodded

The boy let out a few small laughs proud of having guessed whose egg it was.

Although he felt his father's hand caress his hair so he watched him, now calmer 

"We will leave but Krookodile and Sylveon wanted to leave you a friend" Crocodile spoke calmly and a slightly funny smile on his lips 

The boy watched with surprise as Krookodile  handed him the egg, he held it in his hands feeling the warmth radiating, the boy's eyes were shining 

"A pokemon? For me?" The boy's words were nothing more than a reverent murmur, still taking in what was happening

Crocodile nodded "That's right, I think it's about time you got your first Pokemon" the adult spoke calmly "I got Sylveon the same way at your age" Crocodile watched as his son held the egg with great care and affection 

"Did your dad give you a pokemon egg too?" The boy questioned as he watched his father 

Crocodile let out a little sigh and nodded

"Yes, exactly the same way" he replied staying silent for a few moments, moments in which Sylveon approached the adult and lay down next to him, Crocodile stroked the head of the pink pokemon, his first companion 

Although a few minutes passed in which Luffy only admired the egg in his hands, but the boy spoke again watching his father

"Well! You guys should go" The boy exclaimed while smiling enthusiastically "How do you want me to take care of the egg and let it hatch if you are here?" Luffy laughed softly, now more animated than before.

Crocodile laughed at his son's joy but messed up his hair to which the boy claimed.

"Well we will leave, but there is one last thing" Crocodile got up from the sofa and left for a few moments until he arrived again with the child, now with a book in his hands 

The boy immediately recognized that book, opened his eyes with surprise 

It was an old book, but well kept, it was an encyclopedia, a pokemon encyclopedia

From the moment Luffy was born, he became fascinated with pokemon, which made his father not only read him bedtime stories; but also pokemon stories accompanied by the photos from that encyclopedia

The funny thing is that not only images of the Pokémon came out, but also the photos of the eggs —and also quite a lot of text, although of course Luffy had not yet learned to read—

"This egg can be either a Sandile, or an Eevee" the adult calmly spoke, opening the encyclopedia on the page of the first pokemon to be mentioned 

"It depends on the care you give it if it hatches faster or slower" Crocodile smiled gently when the child looked at the egg again

This was kind of a game, wasn't it? Guessing the pokemon and taking care of it as it should 

A small shiver of joy went through the back of the child who laughed joyfully 

"Okay daddy! Now everyone can leave, this is a challenge for me, I'm going to guess the pokemon in the egg and it's going to hatch before you come back"

Luffy already had a plan, he was going to ask Makino to read him the encyclopedia and depending on what she says, he's going to take care of the egg properly

Easy!

His father had left, being dismissed by his son, Makino, Woop Slap and his grandpa who had arrived minutes before Crocodile left on that boat

When his father's ship disappeared over the horizon, Luffy was about to walk where makino, but his grandpa's hand prevented him

And now we are in the present

His face impact with the ground, thank goodness the child managed to close his eyes or if he had not ended up with dirt on them.

Garp sighed watching the boy as Slaking carefully and gently put the pokemon egg on the ground 

Luffy sat on the floor shaking his face for a moment, he would never admit it out loud, much less in front of his grandpa, but maybe, just maybe that impact had hurt a little

He wouldn't say it out loud because his grandpa would say something like 'Do you really want it to hurt?'and I honestly didn't want a love fist, maybe he should call it a love stone fist instead

Anyway, he observed his grandpa's angry grimace

"Well, you'll stay here in the forest, you've been a spoiled child for too long, and not only for your dad, but for his pokemon too, but it's about time we started properly your training to be a marine" Garp crossed his arms with a look that left no room for discussion

Luffy frowned, slightly offended. He wasn't a spoiled child!

Although he would like to have Chansey or Leavanny here carefully rubbing the surroundings of the scratch on his knee to relieve the pain while saying 'healthy healthy frog tail if it doesn't heal today it will heal tomorrow' even though Chansey could really heal him easily. The words always made him feel better somehow

... Well maybe he was a little spoiled, but it was no big deal! he is a child after all!

The boy sighed, watching his grandpa who was already leaving, Slaking waved goodbye to him to which Luffy replied in the same way

And finally he lay down on the floor, although of course before this he placed himself closer to the egg until he had it by his side, he took it gently hugging it against his chest, obviously carefully and there he observe the sky.

The sky was bright as always, a cloud appeared but disappeared after a few minutes, some pokemon bird were flying over 

It was quiet, maybe too much, he began to move his foot anxiously 

He was about to get up from the ground and look for something to do but he felt something impact with his head, at the moment of impact he let out a small complaint sitting on the ground to observe what had fallen on his head

The boy looked with surprise at a small stone while unconsciously touching where the stone had hit him.

The boy looked up looking for where that stone had come from until he saw it.

It was a pokemon that I had not seen before but I did know its pre-evolution, although usually the pre-evolution was more playful about kidnapping him.

"A Mankey?" Asked the boy as he got up from the ground and took the egg in his arms 

"You dumb brat! I'm not a Mankey, I'm a Primeape. Now with that clear, get out of my territory or I'm going to break your teeth!" the pokemon threatened the boy, moving fast and furious.

"You can't do that" the boy said and started walking slowly towards the pokemon

"Hmph, there's nothing stopping me from being able to break the face of a child who invades my territory" The pokemon claimed waving his hand uneasily 

"I have a pokemon egg in my hands, a pokemon can't hurt a pokemon egg, unless they are natural enemies but those situations are too rare" the boy smiled at the pokemon standing in front of him, while the Primeape took a step back, letting out an angry snort

"... Touché" The Primeape muttered reluctantly 

"By chance... Aren't you a Giratina spawn?" Primeape muttered exhausted, sitting on the branch of a tree 

The boy next to him took a bite of his fruit while swinging his feet and watched him.

"What do you mean?" The boy asked to which the pokmon pulled his fur clothes out of frustration.

The damn kid had been following him all day, and he didn't even seem to be tired.

Who taught a fucking four-year-old to climb trees for the love of Arceus?!

"Oh, I forgot to mention, my grandpa left me here to train alone, but I really don't know what to do" the boy spoke while chewing his fruit.

The pokemon watched him with some disgust, but mostly with undisguised surprise

"Your grandpa? What kind of idiot leaves his grandson on the territory of a pokemon that can hurt him?" The pokemon questioned, to which the boy just laughed 

"This is nothing, my grandpa is a beast you know? Once he tried to send me to fly with balloons as part of his marine training to be like the" the boy laughed softly although this made him wobble too much, he opened his eyes with surprise when he felt that he was falling backwards and unconsciously affirmed the egg more with his free arm.

The pokemon reacted faster and helped him stabilize sighing relieved to see that the child was fine

The boy watched the pokemon with puppy dog eyes to which the pokemon sighed and helped him down from the tree 

The boy sat on the overhanging roots of a tree and watched the pokemon 

"Your grandpa sounds like someone scary" Primeape looked back at the boy

"It is, if it wasn't for my dad I would probably be in heaven or I would be a forest child" Luffy spoke unconsciously stroking the pokemon egg 

"Well, and then why are you here if your father takes care of you?" The boy looked down at his feet when the pokemon questioned him about that 

"Daddy is a pirate and he has pirate stuff to do, so he's not coming back until the week is over" the boy sighed a little sad and was about to tell him about his pokemon egg —obviously he had to brag about his next partner— but he hear the loud laughter of the Primeape

"Are you telling me, that your grandpa is a marine and your dad is a pirate? What an irony, and what do you want to be? A clown?" While Primeape was laughing, he didn't realize that the boy looked at him angrily 

The laughter stopped when something hit the pokemon's head

The Primeape stopped laughing and observed what had fallen on his head, with surprise he observed that small stone and then the child, a vein in his head became visible due to anger 

And the kid had realized late that maybe it hadn't been a good idea 

"He deserved it"

It was the most logical thought of Luffy while he was running from the enraged pokemon. Clearly if the pokemon had thrown a stone at him he should give it back especially if they laughed at his dad, that was gender equality right? 

He had heard that word from his father too many —few, actually— times so he figured it was the right time to use it 

Anyway, the Primeape got tired... Somehow. Apparently he couldn't compete with the great energy possessed by a four-year-old 

The cold wind hit his face and unconsciously the pokemon hugged his own body, it was getting cold so he figured it was best to return to his home.

With exhausted steps, he walked towards a hollow tree, he didn't even swing on the branches, he was too exhausted to do that

Finally he reached his beloved and so precious tree, carefully climbed up to the hollow and was about to lie down until he heard someone chewing loudly 

Furiously he looked in that direction, noticing the boy he had been chasing earlier

"You know? I was thinking that you should train me, I mean, my dad is a pirate and I must also get strong to accompany him" the boy gave a small yawn and his body trembled slightly from the cold

The pokemon watched him and sighed indicating to the boy that he could sleep in the pile of leaves that he had inside the tree, his home.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, now you better sleep brat, if you really want me to train you'll have to be up really early"

The pokemon spoke, a slight tone of annoyance oozed from his voice, although he quickly noticed  how the child was already sleeping, with one hand holding the fruit he was previously eating, and with the other one attaching the egg to his body in a protective way

For a moment, the pokemon saw himself in the boy, he was skinny, although it was noticeable that he ate a lot, but he immediately assumed when he saw him that the boy really didn't know how to fight, he was weak and any other pokemon could mop the floor with him

Besides, he was worried about the boy's grandfather, what was that about the love fists? How bad was his grandfather to think about such things besides leaving him in the forest to his fate?

Maybe he should train him a little, just a little, at least until he's able to stand on his own 

The pokemon took a bunch of leaves and left them on the child to give him warmth, and finally sat down next to him, although after a few minutes his eyes also began to weigh 

Until finally he gave in to fatigue and sleep, not without first remembering that he was doing this out of pity for the child, he was doing it out of compassion, not because he cared

Not at all

Chapter Text

The pig monkey pokémon gently sat up, yawning, and opened his eyes heavily. He looked across his home, a place filled with dry leaves, his nest, and his original bed that had been taken by the boy who was currently there.

He looked outside, observing the faint rays of light peeking through the entrance to his den.

It was still quite early; perhaps he should start training.

The pokémon thought about it for a few moments as he watched the sleeping boy, who had scratches, dirty clothes, and even a bruise or two.

It had been exactly one week since he had arrived, and he had decided to train him.

The boy was definitely weak and didn't know how to survive on his own. He should have died long ago if he had been completely alone in an environment that was definitely hostile to him. Of course.

The pokémon couldn't help but see himself reflected in the human boy for a few seconds.

He stopped watching the child and fixed his gaze on the ceiling of his home, lost in thought. Maybe the child deserved a break after so many beatings, which were, of course, necessary and would help him grow, both personally and physically.

However, it still felt a little strange to beat him up when in the past it was he who had been beaten.

He used to be weak, unable to take care of himself. With luck, he could find his own food.

It was one thing to be part of a pack, but quite another to be the weakest member of it.

Now everything was so different from how it used to be. He had plenty of berries all to himself and didn't have to fight to eat one. He had a nice den and, most importantly, he had a territory that no other Pokémon dared to cross.

But all this had cost him so much effort and time, and now he had a quiet and lonely life.

He would have liked someone to guide him, someone to teach him how to fight. Maybe that's why he was helping the boy? He wasn't even sure himself.

He knew this boy was having a hard time. His grandfather was a real beast, abandoning him to his fate without even coming to see him. What kind of monster was he?

Although if they talked about Luffy's father —Luffy had talked too much about him, until he'd had enough and threatened to push him out of the treetops if he didn't shut up— it was a very different story. Luffy described him as a loving and tender father, without mentioning his Pokémon, although more than once he wanted to ask about his mother, but something told him he probably shouldn't.

He also talked a lot about a Makino and a Woop Slap, and an Uncle Kuma. Luffy seemed to have a lot to live for, a lot to fight for. A lot to grow stronger for, and even though he was still a child, he still had a lot to see, a lot of people to meet.

A lot of people to love.

The Pokémon stood up, feeling a lump in his throat, clenched his fists slightly, and looked at the boy one last time before leaving his home and starting to walk as the sun's rays slowly began to grow stronger, illuminating the place.

The sun's rays hit the boy's face directly, the light bothered him, so he ended up slowly opening his black eyes with heaviness and annoyance.

He yawned slightly and rubbed his eyes. He gently hugged the Pokémon egg, which trembled at his touch. It was strange; the egg had been trembling quite a bit lately, but there was no other sign that it was hatching. Primeape had mentioned something about, "It's ready, but it doesn't want to come out."

Whatever that meant.

He got up slowly, wondering where his mentor might be. Although his attention was distracted by trying not to think about the pain, his body really hurt, his scratches burned, and his bruises ached, but that didn't take the smile off his face. He had counted down the days until the long-awaited date finally arrived: his father was due back today. With enough strength and effort, he managed to walk to the exit with the egg in his arms and set off. They needed a walk and to get away from Primeape's constant punches. Although, to be honest, they were much more tolerable than his grandfather's.

It had been a long time since he'd had enough time to call it free time.

And he really wanted to go to that place, so his short legs began to move.

He had tried to read the Atlas by himself, but he couldn't make sense of any of the words he saw, so he really didn't... Taken care of the egg as he had wanted to. But that was okay! Now he was training to be strong, and he had to be if he really wanted to take care of his future companion inside the egg.

The minutes flew by as he walked. He didn't know how much time had passed, but the sun was still in the same position it had been before, so he assumed it had only been a short time, maybe twenty minutes? Until he finally arrived where he had wanted to go.

He could feel the morning sun's rays hitting his cinnamon-colored skin as he sat there, closing his eyes, as black as his hair, with a sense of calm and relaxation.

The wind gently ruffled his hair, tickling him as he gently caressed the Pokémon egg, which trembled once again.

Luffy missed his dad.

He missed them all, too much, every day.

Small tears welled up in his eyes as he hugged the Pokémon egg to his chest, until finally he couldn't take it anymore, and more bitter tears began to roll down his face, soaking his cheeks. He sniffed hard as he rubbed his eyes with his fists.

He had to be strong, for himself and for his Pokémon companion. His father would come back for him; he had promised, and he said he would become stronger so he could go with him next time.

Garchomp had repeated it to him a hundred times; crying was okay, but he had to get up in the end, always.

He felt more warm tears run down his face to his chin and fall, the air ruffling his hair, and finally a smile appeared on the boy's lips as he rose from his sitting position and turned to walk back to Primeape's lair.

The cliff he had seen when he was born, when he was just a baby, and now he saw it as a big boy who had grown up over the years. He wondered if that cliff would see him accompany his father on his next trip to the sea, or if it would see him fall...

Wait.

Fall?

Since when was the cliff so weak?

The boy watched as the piece of cliff he had been standing on just a few minutes ago broke away. Luffy felt it and saw it all in slow motion, hugging the Pokémon egg to his chest as the wind further messed up his unruly hair. Until finally his back hit the water.

He tried to move his legs to get out, but the current was pulling him quickly to the bottom.

His lungs burned until he finally let out the remaining air in his lungs. The bubbles were able to rise to the surface while he could only let himself sink.

He watched as the darkness of the sea slowly consumed him and trapped him in it.

He felt his limbs as if ants were walking on them, his fingers tingling, but he couldn't really feel them.

As the boy sank to the bottom of the ocean, he still clung to the Pokémon egg; the ocean current dragged him away as consciousness slowly abandoned him to his fate.

When he woke up, the first thing he felt was pain. He couldn't even see properly; everything was blurry. His stomach hurt, as did his lungs. He sat up with a start, coughing violently until he ended up throwing up the salt water that had entered his body.

His little hands clutched his stomach as he hugged himself for comfort.

He felt a tremendous relief when his lungs finally began to function without further problems, breathing the air that entered through his mouth without having to cough. He let go of his stomach and rested his hands on the wet sand, clenching his hands into fists a couple of times before relaxing his grip. He tentatively patted around him, searching for the slightly scaly feel of his Pokémon egg.

But he couldn't feel it anywhere.

He opened his eyes wide, turning his head from side to side, searching frantically with his eyes. His trembling hands frantically felt his own body and then his surroundings a second time, just to find it. Where was his egg?

As his hands felt the sand around him a third time, trembling, they felt something warm, a strange skin. He fixed his gaze on it, looking at that Pokémon in wonder.

A greenish-blue Pokémon with red scales, it looked like a smaller Krookodile, much smaller and cyan blue, but it didn't look anything like it, yet it undoubtedly belonged to the species of Pokémon that shared characteristics with alligators.

<Don't worry, he's fine! I took care of getting you both out of the water, although I was a little rough> The little Pokémon lowered its head a little shyly, and finally the boy noticed a bite mark on his arm from which a little blood was oozing. He looked back at the Pokémon, then at his wound, and vice versa. After a while, he patted the Pokémon gently on the head, and in response, he began to wag his tail happily.

And finally, he saw it, intact, slightly hidden in the sand, but there it was. Relief washed over the boy as he got up to walk toward it.

Once in front of the egg, he knelt down and hugged it gently, but afraid of losing it. His eyes filled with tears and he felt his nose run as he watched the alligator Pokémon wag his tail happily. "Thank you, thank you so much!"

The Pokémon wagged his tail slightly, shaking his snout. <I don't want thanks, I want a favor!>

He slowly wiped away his tears and watched the Pokémon wagging his tail and began to run around him in circles with joy.

<Let me be your partner!> The Pokémon finally spoke, jumping with enthusiasm and joy.

The boy opened his eyes in slight surprise, but a smile appeared on his lips. "You can't be my first Pokémon, this egg here is, but would you be okay with being my second Pokémon?" The boy asked gently, to which the Pokémon quickly advanced, beginning to spin and jump around too happily.

His arm still gently touched the eggshell, which strangely felt warm, and finally a movement...

He quickly removed his hand, afraid that he had touched it too hard, or that the current had caused it to crash into something.

A small crack appeared, and Luffy finally understood. The Pokémon next to him also seemed to understand, so it stopped jumping around happily and sat down comfortably to watch intently.

The darkness was always there, he wasn't afraid of it, it didn't scare him, he simply existed and was there.

Most of the time there was noise and movement, he didn't fully understand it but it was welcoming, but other times everything was calm and quiet.

The only thing that was never lacking was warmth. That warmth enveloped him, and he was too comfortable to leave and move away from it, even though everything seemed to squeeze him to the point where he couldn't even move freely as before.

He was too comfortable in its warmth to give it enough importance until that day.

Cold and silent, but there was a lot of movement. It wasn't that long, but it was enough to make him react.

He wanted to leave, but at the same time he didn't. He admitted it, he was terrified. That warmth was gone, he no longer heard that soft murmur that accompanied him all the time, those distant words full of affection were no longer there.

He didn't know how long he had been like that, but he woke up to the sound of crying accompanied by a "Thank you, thank you so much!"

He wanted to see him, he wanted to meet him, he wanted to meet the one who lulled him to sleep with his words, who accompanied him in what was his darkness.

A knock, and the Pokémon inside the shell could feel whoever was on the other side getting anxious, until he realized what he was trying to do.

"I see you're ready now. It took you a while, but that's okay! I've been waiting for you all this time." The more he talked, the more he wanted to come out. He banged his head harder against the inside of his darkness, feeling it crack and faint reflections of light flood the darkness.

"I'm so happy you made it! I'm so glad that... you were born." With one last bang of his head, light completely flooded his eyes, and he felt dazzled and overwhelmed by the sudden brightness after having been in darkness for so long. He opened his eyes, slowly getting used to the sensation of light, and finally saw him. Him and only him. That was the voice, he knew it the moment he opened his eyes and stared at him.

He looked at the boy for a few seconds, black hair, dark skin, a few scrapes and bruises. He looked pretty dirty and beaten up... And he loved him.

He wagged his little tail happily and his slightly rough tongue touched the boy's cheek.

"Wow, I see you're happy to be here," the boy laughed, but he didn't pull away from the smaller Pokémon's touch.

The brown Pokémon let out a little cry of joy. He was happy; happy to exist, happy to be with the boy.

The Pokémon was small, brown with a small tail, four-legged, and had small black claws on its paws, as well as lines covering its body, including its pink belly.

Although there was a strange black line covering its eyes, simulating sunglasses, its small black circular eyes sparkled, as did the Pokémon's small teeth.

Totodile sighed with relief when it saw the boy hugging the Pokémon, which responded with soft purrs.

He thought to himself as he cautiously approached both the boy and the Pokémon, but at that moment, Luffy heard him and quickly pulled him toward him to join the hug.

If he had to describe himself in one word, it would be "bite."

However, this was because his vocabulary was still too basic. He didn't know many words and was still learning about the world, and it wasn't as if he had someone to talk to constantly to improve.

Despite his few weeks of life, he knows what loneliness is, although he still doesn't know how to live with it, constantly seeking affection and attention from other Pokémon, but they all seemed to ignore him, or directly showed their dislike for him.

He was really resigning himself to living in lonely for the rest of his life, until he saw him.

He had started to notice him a few days ago. He was nice, a little silly but nice, and he always spoke affectionately to the egg he carried with him.

He wanted some of that affection. Loneliness was suffocating him, exhausting him, consuming him.

It wasn't nice to be born and be alone.

The looks they gave him weren't nice.

Could he change that? He tried to approach that boy many times, but at the last moment he always ended up regretting his intentions, saying he didn't deserve it.

However, the opportunity presented itself, hitting him right in the face.

Although he didn't know if he should call it an opportunity, because at the time he hadn't seen it that way, but now he really couldn't deny it.

Maybe it wasn't him who was in that situation, maybe it wasn't him who was falling, but he felt panic and terror running through his veins. He didn't remember exactly what he had been doing, but he remembered that he started running desperately once he heard the loud splash in the water.

He wasn't an expert swimmer. As he said before, he was just beginning to live, and it wasn't as if anyone was teaching him the basics, but even so, the only thought that remained fixed in his head was to run.

He almost tripped, but that didn't stop him, and he threw himself recklessly into the water. He watched as the boy slowly sank, and began to move his hind legs uncoordinatedly until he could reach the boy. He sank his jaws into the boy's arm and began to use both his hind and front legs to propel himself and pull him out of the water.

His taste buds savored the mixture of salt water and blood, which were similar but no more tolerable, even though the blood had a more noticeable taste than the salt water and was more abundant.

It was difficult, but after a while and with a lot of effort, he managed to pull the boy out of the water. Despite his numb and stiff limbs, he used his snout to drag him a little way from the shore, although the metallic, coppery taste remained on his taste buds.

He looked at the child with the bite mark on his arm and examined him for a few seconds. It wasn't a big deal, according to his still undeveloped little mind, just a few drops of blood falling and staining the sand.

But almost instantly, he noticed that the child was missing something. He had seen it countless times, but it was always with him.

The little Pokémon egg.

Immediately, the Pokémon threw itself back into the water, his body still numb from swimming so hard, although he opened his vermilion eyes with slight surprise.

There was the egg, slowly sinking and being carried by the current into the depths of the sea, where dangerous Pokémon lived, according to what he had heard from Pokémon on the surface.

He moved his hind legs in an uncoordinated manner, accompanied by his tail. He felt the slight warmth of the sun's rays reflecting underwater in different directions, one of which was the cyan scales on his body, which reflected the light softly and gently.

But slowly that glow disappeared as he went deeper, following the egg.

He wasn't used to this feeling, he definitely wasn't used to this.

He felt that the deeper he went, the more his body was crushed, his lungs felt crushed, the pressure of the water was crushing him even though he could breathe underwater, but he couldn't give up.

He felt the tingling in his hind legs, but that didn't stop him. He was so close. He stretched one of his front legs until it brushed against the rough shell of the Pokémon egg.

One last movement of his tail before he could embrace and wrap the egg in his arms.

And he realized something once his front legs and tail were wrapped around the egg.

It was small.

It was to be expected, after all, and it wasn't the first time he had seen a Pokémon egg of that size.

You could say that when he himself hatched, he saw his "brothers" who had not yet hatched, and they were definitely small, similar in size to the egg he now held in his arms.

He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the rough sensation of touching the shell, unaware that the current was slowly dragging him and the egg away.

It was cold, and not even the sunlight reached his scales anymore. He was just sinking slowly into the depths of the sea.

He wiggled his tail slightly and felt it go numb, trying to move his hind legs while holding the egg with his front legs, but he couldn't. The cold was taking over his body.

But finally, he felt himself stop moving and fall into the abyss of the ocean. He felt himself crash into something that was soft compared to his scaly skin.

When he opened his eyes, he saw that he had definitely hit bottom. The surface looked so far away, and the light down there was so dim.

He was too tired to swim, so he stayed there for a few seconds thinking about what to do.

He felt a slight tingling sensation from the grains of sand getting between his scales, and he noticed a few stones here and there. The only good thing was that the current was no longer carrying him deeper, although being at that depth meant only one thing: he was no longer near the coast. The further you moved away from the coast, the deeper the sea became, and this was a perfect example of that.

As he said, he was relieved that it was calmer, until he felt a sudden current. He pressed the egg between his front legs and turned his head to look behind him.

His eyes widened, and his pupils shrunk as he took small, shaky steps backward.

Well, that thing was definitely a Sea King. Although he had heard different stories about them, he had never seen one in person.

Although at that very moment, the Sea King was staring at him.

Totodile tried to growl at it, indicating that it should not come near the egg, showing his small fangs that were still developing and wrinkling his little nose.

The Sea King imitated his action, only instead of looking like an angry little Rockruff —as Totodile looked— the Sea King was much more terrifying.

This caused the Pokémon, much smaller than the Sea King, to disappear in a few seconds into a small curtain of bubbles, leaving the large animal quite confused.

However, it quickly saw it swimming away at great speed, moving away from it quite quickly.

It only took a few moments to match its pace with a few movements of its fin.

Despite the cyan Pokémon giving it everything it had to save his life, the Sea King caught up with him in an instant.

Although Totodile tried to keep swimming and kicking his hind legs, the Sea King was faster and had already gotten in front of him, causing the Pokémon, who was in the process of learning to swim, to crash into its skin, which was slightly soft and smooth to the touch. Especially considering the speed at which the little Pokémon was going, it was like jumping into the water from a considerable height.

Although it didn't take away from the fact that it hurt, and well, he felt numbness in the area of his head.

The impact caused him to fall onto the sand, although he never let go of the egg in his arms. He couldn't allow anything to happen to it; it hadn't even been born yet and was already facing all kinds of problems.

That made him wonder what kind of "adventures" the little one would have once it hatched.

He was straying from the main topic. He was about to be eaten by that beast at any moment, but you couldn't blame him. His head felt strange after that crash, not to mention that the recently hit area hurt.

Was that a burning sensation he felt between his scales? No, the burning and the hot area were intensifying, his head was throbbing constantly, as if his heart were pumping more blood than usual, he felt strange, without really understanding what was happening.

The area felt hot, wasn't his blood supposed to be cold? He had heard something like that once, but he felt as if the blood in that area was heating up and hurting.

His little front paws clung to the egg, which strangely felt colder than it had been minutes before. He was afraid and didn't know what to do.

And while the little Pokémon was having his little crisis, the much larger animal was already opening its jaws to swallow them both.

But a sudden, loud sound interrupted the predator.

The sound was definitely a kind of screech, but it wasn't exactly the kind of sound that was annoying or uncomfortable. Totodile could clearly tell that it sounded like a little song, a little melody, except that it was too loud, and strangely, it made him feel dizzy.

He didn't know exactly how to describe that feeling. It was strange. He felt his head throbbing and his eyes squinting against his will.

Although he wasn't the only one, the large animal tried to bite, but it did so in another direction.

The Pokémon didn't know what was happening around him. He was disoriented and even closed his eyes for a few minutes that seemed like seconds to him, while he was being carried by a Pokémon much smaller than himself.

He couldn't really see it, nor did he even feel that he was being carried, only that he had fallen into a light sleep.

When he opened his eyes, he noticed that they were already back on the shore, although he would have preferred not to feel the sand directly in his mouth and between his gums.

He was still clinging to the egg and sighed with relief when he noticed that it had no cracks and was not broken.

Although he was slightly concerned that the egg felt colder than it had initially been when he touched it.

He spat out the sand in his mouth and tried to shake himself off as he left the egg, which was smaller than him, in the sand.

He wasn't a Pokémon trained to dig, nor was it even one of the attacks he could perform; after all, Water-type Pokémon cannot perform Ground-type moves.

Or rather, his front legs weren't made for digging in sand—much less solid ground—they were webbed and had membranes so he could swim faster in the water, but the problem was that when they touched something solid or partially solid, it hurt —especially if it wasn't cold—because they were quite sensitive.

But that pain or burning sensation he began to feel as soon as he started covering the egg with hot sand quickly vanished from his thoughts.

He was more focused on whether this would help restore warmth to the small animal developing inside the egg. He covered it, but not completely, so he could still see where it was.

Exhausted, he sighed, hoping that the heat of the sand would do its job, and looked out over the rest of the beach until he spotted a similar figure in the distance. His hind legs dragged, and he decided to lie down there beside it, breathing slightly exhausted.

Well, now he did take the time to feel the burning in the membranes of his front legs, but he didn't feel regret or anything like that. Instead, he felt happy and at peace. He closed his eyes for a few moments, trying to remember or identify the Pokémon, but it was impossible and only gave him a headache.

Minutes later, he felt the slight movement of the child beside him and instinctively tried to snuggle closer to him.

Well, he hadn't expected the walk back to his temporary home to be so long, or at least it felt long. He had been dragging his feet almost the entire way back, while the crocodile Pokémon that had been born a few minutes earlier refused to come out of the egg even though only the shell remained.

While the cyan alligator seemed to be bursting with energy, spinning around on his hind legs, he strangely didn't want to touch anything with his front legs.

Luffy knew the reason for this, although he didn't fully understand how it had happened exactly, only that it hurt the Pokémon, but it was strange how it jumped and spun around with joy, which couldn't help but make the black-eyed boy laugh slightly at his infectious joy.

Well, at least that made the walk home easier, as well as making it seem shorter.

He didn't know exactly how long he had been holding his breath, but once he reached the hollow tree, he let it out with relief. The Pokémon that had hatched a few hours earlier was taking a little nap.

Luffy was about to enter the hollow tree, but the sound of something falling made him move aside, opening his eyes in surprise when he saw his father's gift, the egg atlas —which he honestly regretted not having used in raising the little friend in his arms— 

Seeing that large book fall, he looked up, searching for the person responsible for that declaration of war, because, well, what child could survive being hit by a book that weighs more than three kilograms?

Looking up, he saw Primeape, no less. He open his eyes in surprise, waiting for a valid answer —his throat still hurt slightly from expelling the salt water hours ago, maybe he should tell his father—

<What are you waiting for? Just get out of here> the Pokémon said, almost enraged, jumping down noisily in a single leap. If you asked Luffy, he would confirm that he felt the ground beneath them shake, which gave him a chill, since the last time the ground beneath him shook, he almost died and condemned the life of the Pokémon in his arms along with his own.

It was strange that the cyan alligator Pokémon just stared at the primate Pokémon without flinching, looking only slightly confused.

<Your things are outside, and you're outside. Don't you think it's time?> The Pokémon crossed his arms, and Luffy laughed and left the egg with the Pokémon still inside on the ground.

Sandile complained, but the other Pokémon, being larger, carried it back into the egg and smiled slightly, showing his fangs.

Suddenly, the boy had hugged the Pokémon that had thrown the book directly at his head, and the boy couldn't help but laugh slightly.

"You're like my grandpa" The boy laughed, even though the Pokémon was boiling with rage and began trying to break free and push him away to hit him. He compared him to his grandfather, who had tried to kill or abandon him multiple times. Well, he wanted a comparison? He would give him reasons to compare him to that old man.

Although he didn't know how that damn brat didn't move even a few inches away from him, he really looked like a mini Mankey clinging to him. Uh. Scratch that. He looked more like a little Komala, the boy had attached himself to him with his legs and everything.

Poor Primeape, he tried to throw himself on the ground, roll around, and crawl to get rid of the one he now called "stupid flea," but apparently doing these things didn't work.

Luffy laughed, thinking that it was all a game, perhaps another one of his strange tests and training sessions, but he felt comfortable after all, so he didn't see this as an aggressive gesture.

"You're like my grandpa, except that you do care about me," the boy said as he closed his eyes, hiding his face in the fur of the wild Pokémon, who had simply remained motionless upon hearing the words of the four-year-old, sighing wearily.

Primeape gave the boy a few light pats on the back, which the boy took as a sign that he was returning the hug, so he snuggled closer to him.

<You're a stupid, foolish brat who has a hard time thinking, you know? From the first day you arrived, you said your dad would come back for you in a week> the primate Pokémon sighed, while the boy just laughed, although his eyes widened in surprise as he understood his words. <I see so much has happened that you forgot. Come on, I'll take you to the edge of the forest>

Luffy seemed happy with what he said and immediately took Primeape's hand. "You'll meet my dad! Oh, and Garchomp, Hippowdon, Crocalor, Chansey, Leavanny, Palossand, Zorua, Krookodile, and Sylveon"

Primeape blinked for a few seconds, taking in the number of Pokémon the boy's father had.

But while he was processing the information, the boy was already pulling him by his front paw toward the edge of the forest.

<How does he have so many Pokémon? I thought there was some kind of limit> said Primeape, curiosity oozing from his voice.

"Once my dad told my grandfather to shove the Pokémon limits where the sun doesn't shine," the boy said calmly about an event he overheard when he woke up hungry in the middle of the night.

The small incident that occurred a month ago was because Garp demanded that Crocodile respect the Navy's limit on the number of Pokémon. Crocodile responded humbly and calmly with, "Garp, with all due respect to the Navy, which is nonexistent, by the way. You can shove your pompous six-Pokémon limit rule where the sun doesn't shine. If I want to and can keep more than six Pokémon, I. Will. Do. It"

Luffy didn't understand the context of the situation; he was only thinking about eating, just some limits and sunlight, which was what he was currently telling the Pokémon holding his hand.

Totodile followed Luffy with Sandile still curled up and asleep inside the egg. Apparently, being born had exhausted him, and he decided to stay there and sleep, although Totodile, being bigger, had no problem carrying him but watched Primeape out of the corner of his eye, quiet and curious.

The primate Pokémon felt the gaze and sighed. Where had he come from? Maybe he should ask the boy another day.

Finally, they were almost on the outskirts when they could see the lights of a ship, neither too big nor too small, that was just docking at the city pier.

Luffy's eyes lit up when he saw the Jolly Roger flag flying proudly above the crow's nest.

When he was close enough, he narrowed his eyes. Was it a skull with wings? It didn't look anything like the drawing he had made! Nothing!

Without realizing it, he had let go of Primeape's hand as he judged the pirate flag in front of him.

He had had a little conversation with his father. If he were a pirate, he would draw the crew's Jolly Roger, and for some reason, he felt like drawing a Natu with its wings spread.

Luffy was an artist, he thought so himself, but a Jolly Roger of a skull with strange purple wings? Oh, and two swords. His dad didn't even use swords, he fought with sand. It would have been much better to put his hook and sand on it. He should talk to his father about that.

However, all thoughts vanished when he saw Crocodile smoking one of his cigars while lowering one of the wooden boxes, followed by Hippowdon who was helping him.

Luffy then took Totodile, who was still holding Sandile inside the egg in his arms, and ran.

"DAD!" The boy started running. Sandile woke up from Luffy's constant movement as he ran and the excited cry he let out.

The pirate looked at the boy in surprise but smiled and crouched down, placing one of his knees on the ground to support himself, not caring that his expensive pants would get dirty when he touched the ground to welcome his son.

Luffy jumped into his arms and somehow managed to make it comfortable for both himself and Totodile, who was holding the eggshell that, despite being broken, still contained the Ground-type Pokémon.

Luffy was crying as he felt his father's warmth.

He definitely had a slight attachment to him.

The user of the Suna Suna fruit closed his eyes for a moment, clinging to his son and strangely feeling his body a little cold. He noticed the Pokémon in his son's arms, but first focused on Luffy. Though the hug grew larger as the sand hippopotamus called the others, and they all wrapped themselves in an embrace around the child, who began to laugh with joy, shedding even more tears.

"You don't know how many stories I have to tell you," Luffy spoke for a moment without breaking the embrace.

"I can believe it, Luffy," Crocodile said, completely sure of his son's words.

Totodile, on the other hand, felt strange, felt warm.

Being in that hug had made his heart pound like it hadn't in a long time, and just remembering the last time he felt his heart pound like this made him want to cry.

And he couldn't help but remember part of his past...

Seeing that huge Pokémon looking at him so coldly, what had he done to make him hate him so much? 

It hurt, he felt his heart beating so hard that it hurt and felt like it was being squeezed.

But this was different. His heart was pounding so hard, and this time with warmth that didn't suffocate him. He didn't feel his throat hurt from trying to say something. Even his tail was wagging happily because of all the feelings he was experiencing at that moment.

Although being taken by surprise made him open his eyes in surprise and drop the egg he was holding in his limbs, the good thing was that Luffy reacted quickly, breaking the hug —by a miracle— and picking up the egg, watching the Pokémon's reaction when they saw Totodile.

<How big, I'd say he's a little chubby> said Zorua, watching the Pokémon from Leavanny's shoulder, who was carrying him.

<I think he's adorable, he's still clinging to his eggshell> said Skeledirge, watching and touching Totodile's head with his snout —although Totodile was actually holding the eggshell in which the real Pokémon was inside the egg—

<He's blue...> whispered Palossand, and at that moment, all eyes turned to Krookodile as if judging her.

<Don't tell me you're thinking what I think you're thinking about me> Krookodile said with slight distrust in her tone and warning, as if to say, 'If you're insinuating something, I'll bury you six feets under the sand'

Crocodile let out a small nasal laugh before approaching his son. "What do you have there, Luffy?"

"Oh, it's Krookodile and Sylveon's baby," he said calmly, showing his father the Pokémon egg, now open only at the top, and the tiny Sandile sleeping at the bottom of the egg.

At that moment, the parents of the aforementioned quickly approached as the little one woke up from all the noise.

He poked his head out of the egg to look around, but when he saw the large number of Pokémon outside, he got scared and quickly went back inside the shell, but he just poked his head out slightly, hoping they wouldn't notice.

At that moment, Luffy handed the egg to Sylveon, who took it gently with his ribbons, while Krookodile brought her snout close to the little one's head, giving him a little kiss.

"Family, meet my first two Pokémon," Luffy smiled with immense happiness.

And well, this meant another group hug, although at that moment Luffy blinked for a few seconds.

Wait, something wasn't right.

He quickly pulled away from the hug with the egg containing Sandile, followed by Totodile, and looked at his dad's crew.

Okay, his dad was wearing a green shirt with an orange jacket and a coat with a fleece collar. Okay, comfortable, and stealable for sleeping, his hook shiny as always.

Of course, it was nighttime and it wouldn't shine unless there was a strong light source, which wasn't the ship, but the strange firebird floating on the tip of the fire crocodile Pokémon's snout. It was strange; the bird seemed to be made entirely of flames, but it had a circular shape.

"And who are you?!" the boy asked, alarmed, taking a few steps back.

To which his father laughed softly and deeply.

"Luffy, it's something called evolution. You see, when a Pokémon reaches a certain strength and potential, its form changes, becoming stronger. This happens if we assimilate it to a level of strength that is at most the same as the Pokémon itself." The pirate had begun to speak calmly, although Zorua bit his clothes, calling his attention.

Of course, Luffy was tired and probably wouldn't understand this explanation, although once he saw it, he almost laughed when he saw how Luffy was staring at a fixed point among the trees, or maybe not. It seemed like he was dissociating, and one of his eyes was deviating slightly, the left one, to be exact. He patted him on the shoulder, and Luffy blinked repeatedly to look at his father, this time with both eyes in line. "I'll explain it to you another day. Now, why are you so dirty and covered in scratches? Where were you, and where is Makino?"

And at that moment, when his father mentioned that, Luffy smiled. "Oh! It's a long story, Dad!" He looked in the direction where he had left Primeape to hug his father, but of course, there was no one there, so he sighed exaggeratedly. Of course, he would leave as soon as he lost sight of him.

And possibly the Pokémon wouldn't want anyone to know about his existence, but of course that was Primeape's wish, not Luffy's.

And Luffy would tell his father every little detail about how he had spent the week.

"How about you tell us everything while we walk home?" Leavanny spoke, gently touching the boy's head, and he took the leaf that formed the Pokémon's arm in his hand and smiled.

"Sounds great!" he said and looked at the Pokémon. "Although I'm still curious, so then you used to be Crocalor, right?" he asked curiously, although he was surprised to see Totodile climb onto the fire crocodile's back and curl up there.

<Exactly> replied his father's only fire Pokémon, although at that moment he saw Sylveon approach and hand him the egg where Sandile was at the bottom, apparently whimpering because he was not close to the first person he saw when he opened his eyes, and had already developed a slight attachment to him.

Luffy carried the egg and the whimpers stopped. He smiled slightly, although unexpectedly he was carried by Leavanny as if he were a baby. He laughed slightly and curled up there. His story and his little adventure were long, so it wouldn't be bad to start now, right?

"You see, as soon as you left, I stayed with grandpa, but he go and abandon me in the forest," he began calmly.

Crocodile frowned and sighed. Of course, he couldn't even trust Garp once with a task as easy as taking care of Luffy or leaving him with Makino.

Luffy calmly recounted every detail as he was taken home. Crocodile was surprised when he mentioned a Primeape who took care of him and how Luffy related him to his grandfather, although of course, it seemed that the Primeape loved him more than his grandfather did. He sighed.

"You know, Lu? I know it sounds strange, but we all have different ways of loving. Some people don't know how to express it, or they only know how to express affection in one way, and that would be the way they showed affection to them. An example is you. I hug you and kiss you on the face, and the others show you affection that way, and also in their own way," he said, referring to the fact that the Pokémon treated him the same way.

"And you're used to hugs and a lot of physical contact, since we showed you affection that way since you were a baby," he said as he opened the door for everyone to enter the house and turned on the lights.

Luffy was placed on the couch, and Crocodile sat down next to him. Luffy wasted no time in snuggling up next to him and hugging him.

"I know it's hard to understand right now how your grandpa loves you, but I know he loves you very much. In time, you'll realize that." At that moment, the boy looked directly into his father's eyes.

"Maybe," he said in a soft tone, and at that moment Totodile came to snuggle up with them on the sofa, and Luffy laughed.

"You look exhausted. How about you sleep, and tomorrow we can make a little basket as a gift for Primeape?" Crocodile mentioned casually as he stroked the boy's head with his good hand, and the boy unconsciously closed his eyes at that touch.

"Sounds good, Dad," he whispered, blinking slowly and clinging to him.

The Sandile had fallen asleep as soon as it returned to the boy's arms, and Totodile was seeking comfort.

Crocodile watched his son fondly, seeing him nod off while hugging the Pokémon that were now his, his nakamas.

He thought about the supplies that were still on the ship. The chances of them being stolen were too low. The only possibility was the Terminal Gray, but he didn't think they would be foolish enough to break into a pirate's ship. That would be ridiculous.

Perhaps now he should rest with his son and his Pokémon, and tomorrow he would do the rest, since he too was exhausted from rushing to see his son as quickly as possible. Apparently, Luffy wasn't the only dependent one here.

He smiled slightly at his own thoughts and just carried the child, who didn't let go of his Pokémon. Crocodile watched as Zorua entered the kitchen out of the corner of his eye and motioned for him to come to his side. "Tomorrow we'll unload properly, now we need a rest."

He said to the sinister Pokémon, who howled slightly, jumping up and running to inform the rest of the group that they could finally relax and rest properly.

And so here they were now, in Crocodile's large room, as was usual, the older ones—now including our friend who had recently evolved—on the plush carpet that covered most of the floor.

Luffy was curled up in his father's arms, still holding the egg close, and Totodile was asleep on his stomach, impossible to move from there —Crocodile had already tried and was surprised to see how the little cyan alligator returned to the spot sleepwalking—

Although one Pokémon was missing, a Grass and Bug-type that he hadn't seen for an hour, which puzzled the adult, Leavanny loved sleeping with Luffy.

Curious, Crocodile —miraculously— managed to free himself from his son's arms and get out of bed, walking carefully so as not to step on anyone of the Pokémon on the floor, and finally left the room, noticing that the light in the living room was still on and curiously peeking through the doorframe.

"Leavanny?" the adult asked, and he could see the Pokémon sitting there sewing two leaves. Curious, he sat down next to him.

<It's for Luffy> said the Pokémon without even looking at his trainer, so focused was he.

"But it's late," said Crocodile with a sigh, and Leavanny followed him with another sigh.

<I'll be done soon. Tomorrow, Luffy will take a basket to that Primeape, right? I noticed that Luffy's face was more sunburned than the last time I saw him, so I'll make him a hat so that his face doesn't get so much sun> Crocodile decided not to question the Pokémon, although he didn't move from his spot, watching him work.

Despite his fatigue, he stayed with his Pokémon. Although they didn't talk much, Leavanny wanted to concentrate as much as possible on putting together Luffy's present to give him tomorrow morning. Although he wasn't usually very talkative either, that was something they both had in common.

He had begun to nod off, trying to fight sleep so he could stay with Leavanny a little longer, but then a calm and serene melody began to play throughout the room. He looked at Leavanny with heavy eyes. The Pokémon was gently rocking his body from side to side, his eyes closed as he did so.

The movement left Crocodile almost mesmerized.

And after a while, he simply gave in to sleep and fell asleep, his back resting on the back of the sofa while his head, thrown back, fell onto the backrest.

Leavanny opened one of his eyes, glancing sideways at his trainer, his smile widening when he saw that his trainer had fallen asleep to his Grass Whistle. Everyone was tired, even his trainer. But he was doing this by his own choice; his trainer should rest while he did this, although he appreciated his trainer's gesture of wanting to accompany him on his night shift.

He had always been like that, wanting to spend sleepless nights with him when he was still a little Sewaddle... The difference was that before, he couldn't get him to sleep easily. Too scared and paranoid as he was on his father's old ship, it was very difficult for Crocodile to rest properly.

But things had changed.

Crocodile was no longer that scared little boy.

And he was no longer that little Sewaddle who could only watch his trainer weaken from exhaustion and fear, unable to do anything about it.