"What... what?"
Yasopp looked as if he had been struck by lightning. He froze on the spot, and the flush on his face vanished instantly.
"Died from illness... ten years ago? How is that possible..."
"Not only that. Back then, your wife's funeral was arranged by that genius son you keep talking about. I heard he begged for a long time before a wealthy family in the village agreed to pay for it. From what I heard, it was handled quite grandly. The whole village went to pay their respects."
Beckman slowly flicked away some ash and continued stating the cruel facts he had gathered in a cold, objective tone.
"Oh, right. Let me correct one misunderstanding while we're at it. To be precise, you don't have a son anymore."
At that point, even Beckman, who had always treated a pirate's freedom as a sacred principle, couldn't help feeling a trace of contempt toward Yasopp.
'This bastard is truly a complete animal.'
'Either don't mess with a decent woman in the first place.'
'But since you did, and even had a child, how could you go to sea and ignore your family for more than ten years?'
'Back when the Red Hair Pirates stayed in Foosha Village for so long, Syrup Village was practically next door. Which one of us ever stopped you from going home for a visit?'
They had even joked about going to his house together for a meal.
But this guy spent every day getting drunk in Makino's bar and never once went back to take a look.
As for all that nonsense about "a man with family has weaknesses" or "being afraid the Marines or pirate enemies would target them," Beckman thought it was complete rubbish, nothing more than excuses used by cowards to avoid responsibility.
With the Red Hair Pirates' current standing on the seas, even the World Government probably couldn't be bothered investigating the family of some ordinary sniper.
Just like when the Shirahoshi descended last time. If she wanted to kill them, she could simply cross space and slaughter them directly. It would be effortless. She wouldn't lower herself to using cheap tricks like kidnapping family members.
Among everyone here, at most only Shanks barely qualified for the World Government's attention.
"No... wait. Let me think," Yasopp slapped his buzzing head hard.
He felt that he understood every word Beckman said, but once they were put together, he couldn't make sense of them at all.
"What wealthy family? What do you mean I don't have a son anymore? What the hell happened?"
The others were equally confused. They stopped what they were doing and looked over with curiosity and a bit of sympathy.
"To put it simply, the family that paid for your wife's funeral was attacked by pirates two years ago. Both parents were killed."
Looking at Yasopp, Beckman mercilessly tore away the final layer of cover.
"Because of that, your son, who had received such a huge favor from them and whom you're so proud of, voluntarily married into their family two years ago and took responsibility for caring for their orphaned daughter."
"Now he and the girl named Kaya are living happily as husband and wife. They spend their days planting flowers in the yard and drinking tea. I heard their child is about to be born."
Beckman blew out the last puff of smoke.
Honestly, from an outsider's perspective, he thought the young man named Usopp had done a good job.
He already had a family. The next generation was about to be born. His life was peaceful and happy.
There was absolutely no reason for pirates like them, who lived with danger every day, to stir up trouble.
Dragging innocent people like that into a whirlpool where death could come at any moment was too cruel.
"Wha... what? Married into the family?"
After hearing this, Yasopp's eyes instantly grew as wide as saucers, nearly bulging out.
He jumped up from the deck.
The shock and disbelief on his face immediately turned into twisted rage.
"How can my son be such a coward?"
Like a mad dog whose territory had been invaded, he paced back and forth across the deck, spitting vicious curses.
"He became a live-in son-in-law? No ambition at all! Hiding under a woman's skirt and enjoying some bullshit peaceful life? How could that possibly be the son carrying my blood? This is a disgrace! An insult to my pirate soul!"
"Hahahaha! Don't get so worked up, Yasopp. Look on the bright side. You're going to be a grandfather."
"Congratulations! You're the first one on this ship to have a third generation in the family. You've left the captain far behind."
"Hehehe! No! No! Nou're saying it wrong! He married into the wife's family. The child will take their surname. Yasopp isn't a grandfather. He's a maternal grandfather. Hahahaha!"
"..."
Seeing Yasopp's furious appearance, the Red Hair Pirates didn't notice anything wrong with the mood. Instead, they laughed and teased him.
There wasn't much malice in their voices.
They were all men drifting across the sea, living with their lives on the line. No one knew when they might die.
Deep down, they were somewhat happy that one of their companions would have descendants to carry on.
However, these seemingly harmless jokes sounded completely different to Yasopp, whose pride was extremely inflated and whose personality was already extreme.
Every word felt like a needle stabbing into his fragile and twisted self-esteem.
Swish!
Yasopp suddenly turned around and straightened his back.
He grabbed the custom sniper rifle leaning against the mast.
His eyes were bloodshot.
Like a beast that had been completely enraged, he strode toward the direction of Syrup Village with killing intent pouring from him.
"Hey! What are you doing, Yasopp?"
Sensing the abnormal murderous aura coming from him, Shanks flashed forward and blocked his path.
His brow furrowed slightly.
Yasopp's dark expression and clenched teeth definitely didn't look like someone about to offer wedding blessings to his son.
"Move aside, Captain."
Yasopp stared toward Syrup Village.
His teeth ground together, and the muscles on his face twisted from fury.
"I, Yasopp, will never acknowledge such a cowardly and self-degrading son! Becoming someone else's live-in son-in-law? Hiding in a greenhouse and living as useless trash? What kind of man is that? He's trampling my reputation into the dirt!"
"I'm going to knock some sense into him! I'll personally shatter that ridiculous peaceful dream of his! I'll make him understand that only the sea, only blood and gunpowder, are where a man belongs!"
"That's enough, Yasopp. His child is about to be born. Their family is living just fine. You've never fulfilled your duties as a father. Do you really need to suddenly run over there and destroy their lives?"
Shanks frowned even more deeply, and his voice carried a warning.
"Captain!"
Yasopp's legs suddenly gave way.
With a thud, he dropped to his knees in front of Shanks.
He raised his head.
Tears streamed down his weathered face.
But he wasn't crying because he felt guilty toward his dead wife.
Nor because he felt pain for the son he hadn't seen in years.
He was crying because of his nearly sick obsession with pirate honor.
"Captain! I've followed you through life and death for so many years. In all my life, I've never asked you for anything!"
Yasopp grabbed Shanks' pant leg tightly and pleaded at the top of his lungs.
"But this time, I'm begging you! Just let me go!"
"I can't allow this disgrace to happen! My great reputation as 'the freest man on the sea' and 'the world's greatest sniper' cannot be ruined by a useless son with no ambition. If people find out that Yasopp's son is a live-in son-in-law who washes other people's footwater, how can I ever hold my head high on the seas again?"
Looking at the crying Yasopp, who had sunk into stubborn madness,
Shanks fell silent.
He stood there quietly.
The sea breeze stirred his empty left sleeve.
After a long while, the sternness in his eyes finally softened into something complicated.
On one side were the perhaps innocent family members of a companion he had never met.
On the other was a companion who had followed him through life and death and entrusted his back to him countless times.
On the scale called emotion, as a pirate captain who fiercely protected his own people, he naturally, even selfishly, leaned toward his companion.
The only reason he cared about, and even sympathized with, the peaceful life of the young man named Usopp was because that young man carried the blood of his companion Yasopp.
Now that Yasopp had made his choice, no matter how he looked at it, Shanks seemed to have no reason to refuse or stop him.
"Fine... go."
Shanks let out a long sigh and finally stepped aside, opening the path toward the village.
"But Yasopp, I'm warning you. Don't touch that unborn child. I don't want you to look back on today someday and regret killing."
That was Shanks' final bottom line.
He knew very well that ever since Yasopp joined the crew, he had been like a proud lone wolf and had never asked him for anything.
Even back when everyone suggested making a stop at Syrup Village so he could visit home, Yasopp had refused with complete disdain.
He said that true pirates didn't need such emotional attachments and that he didn't want everyone changing course for his sake.
And to someone like Shanks, who valued loyalty and bonds, after returning and learning that his family had suffered such enormous changes, his wife dead from illness and his son married into another family, the pain and despair inside Yasopp might be ten thousand times greater than what they outsiders could understand.
Pain like that needed an outlet.
"Thank you, Captain! I knew you understood me best!"
Yasopp suddenly raised his head.
A trace of crazed joy flashed through his eyes.
He bowed toward Shanks.
Then he grabbed his sniper rifle and stood up.
Without looking at anyone else, he strode toward the quiet streets of Syrup Village like a fanatic heading for a battlefield.
"Beckman..."
Looking at Yasopp's retreating figure, filled with hostility, confusion rarely appeared in Shanks' normally firm eyes.
He asked softly, "Do you think... was my decision just now right or wrong?"
"Does it really matter whether it's right or wrong, Captain?"
Beckman lit another cigar and took a deep drag, letting the harsh smoke roll through his lungs.
He replied in that indistinct voice of his, "What matters is that Yasopp is our companion. Isn't he?"
Beckman narrowed his eyes as he looked toward Syrup Village.
'Right or wrong?'
'By normal moral standards, it is obviously wrong.'
'And not just wrong.'
'Terribly wrong.'
'Everything Yasopp just said and did has nothing to do with being a real man.'
'It was more pirate than the worst pirates.'
'More beast than a beast without feelings.'
'For the sake of his pathetic vanity and twisted pirate honor, he wants to personally destroy the peaceful life his own son has struggled to build.'
'It is completely insane.'
'But so what?'
'We are pirates.'
'And Yasopp is a companion recognized by our captain.'
'On this cruel sea, once someone is accepted as a companion, they become family you can trust with your back.'
'And if they are family, then you stand by them unconditionally, helped them, and cover for them, even if a mountain of corpses lay ahead, even if the entire world condemns you.'
"That's right... I know. We didn't do anything wrong."
Hearing his first mate's answer, Shanks slowly closed his eyes and clenched his remaining right fist.
It was as though he was convincing himself, or silently accusing the world.
He let out a long breath and forced all his guilt and confusion deep into his heart.
"The ones who are wrong aren't us. It's Rosse. It's the World Government. What's wrong... is this world they've twisted into something with no humanity, no freedom, a world that drives us mad."
With that final shout, it seemed as if Shanks had figured everything out.
His whole demeanor became clear and settled.
———
At the same time, far away above Mary Geoise, within the Cloud Palace, Rosse, who had been watching from afar, revealed an amused smile.
He gently nudged the sleeping Makino beside him.
A look of enjoyment appeared on her face.
'Tsk! How is there no humanity?'
'Isn't this world full of love and happiness?'
For Rosse, watching a drama he had been looking forward to for over ten years really did feel like following a great show.
He was genuinely curious to see what kind of performance both sides would deliver, as long as no SS-rank powerhouse stepped in and crushed everything.
And as for the coming father-son meeting, he was looking forward to seeing just how interesting it would be.
[T/N: Before I start, LEAVE A REVIEW, NOW! Ahem! So, this month's review is up in both my p@treon and d!scord. I talk about what will happen to the works going forward and it matters if you don't want your favorite fanfic to get axed. D!scord invite is in my WebNovel profile. Have a great day~]