Chapter Text
The boy with silver hair was sleeping in the Moby Dick’s medical quarters, surrounded by many of the Whitebeard commanders, all interested in the boy Pops brought back from the island. It was an obscure island in the New World, and one of the rare places in the second half of the Grand Line that didn’t defy all logic, that is to say, the island wouldn’t have looked out of place in one of the four blues. Thatch had come back to the ship after spending some time at one of the local bars, running up to Pops and telling him something about a ‘demon’ that apparently lived in the forest, wielding a black blade, and eating the local wildlife, all while apparently being the size of a kid. A local rumour normally got shot down on the Moby Dick, being deemed unimportant. The mention of a black blade however interested many.
Being pirates of their stature, the Whitebeards obviously knew of black blades, and what they symbolised. They knew that Hawkeyes also had one, though to be fair everyone knew of Hawkeyes in general following his clashes with the Akagami kid. Pops’ interest was piqued, and as such, he declared that he would search for this ‘demon’ and that he would be back shortly. Despite protests to go with him, he wouldn’t budge. It appeared to everyone that he wished to go alone.
Edward Newgate was a man who loved his family, and as such, expanding upon said family was something he always enjoyed doing. He had also been a pirate for many years and therefore could read between the lines. There was clearly a child on this island living alone in the forest, one who was skilled in combat and as such was hunting wildlife for food. This child also wielded what he assumed was at the least a graded sword, if the rumours of it being black were true. This was why he set out to find this child alone. His interest had been piqued, and he wished to see exactly what was going on, and if he could gain another son.
Setting out into the jungle, he expanded his observational Haki, and immediately sensed a young yet incredibly determined spirit, and next to it, a blade which he could realise now was most likely cursed. How a child was wielding a cursed black blade and not be dead was beyond him, though the spirit of the young one, only about half a mile away, gave him as good an indication as any.
After walking towards the Haki for a while longer, Edward stepped out into a clearing and saw a boy with astonishingly silver hair sitting atop a rather large tiger, with a sword that was clearly slightly too large for him in between his legs. The boy immediately noticed him, and immediately placed one hand on the hilt, drawing a morsel of the sword.
To Edward’s surprise, the blade was not black, at least not immediately. One second later, the tell-tale sign of Armament Haki had been applied to the blade. ‘To think he’s able to apply hardening at such a young age.’ Edward thought. He supposed armament that young was possible, but he had not seen it for himself. Even the brat Shanks took a while to get a hang of it.
So, the blade itself is not black quite yet, however, it was most certainly cursed, that much Edward was sure of, based upon the energy the sword presented, yet the boy was not afflicted by it, a testament to his will he supposed.
Edward allowed a smile to cross his face. Today was a good day.
“Gurararara, calm down young one, I have no intention of harming you, rather I had heard some rumours of a demon around these parts and came to investigate. Though I don’t see a demon, I only see a child, so colour me surprised. Would you mind telling me your name?”
The young boy, who couldn’t have been older than eleven, Edward reckoned, kept his hand on the hilt, and the other on the sheathe. Getting off the tiger, he stood on guard, his sword held in an Iai stance. ‘So, he’s still cautious’, Edward thought, ‘It seems he knows Batojutsu too, judging by his stance, how interesting’.
The young boy drummed his fingers on the hilt, but chose not to draw his sword any further, and answered in a low voice, “I don’t know my name. I don’t remember anything, only that I have to survive.”
Edward’s expression softened. The boy had amnesia, yet still had such a strong will, a will to survive that transcended his tender years.
“Would you like to come with me? My family and I will help you survive; you can grow stronger and have a family to protect with that will of yours.”
The boy’s hold on his hilt lightened slightly. “You’d take in someone you just met? For what reason?”
Edward smiled, eyes crinkling. “Because I am a pirate, and those I take in become my family. I have just met you, and yet I can tell you are someone who will do anything to protect those you care for, you are just yet to find people to care for in the first place.”
The boy’s hold on his sword fell away, now holding the sheathe on his left side, eyes widened. “I’ll go.”
With that, the boy fell unconscious, startling Edward into moving rapidly to catch the boy. He realised after catching him that the boy had been constantly channeling Haki into his blade upon meeting him, and had fallen unconscious from extended use. ‘It seems he’s not perfect at it yet, well that’s fine, I’m sure Vista will love to have someone to teach.’ He laughed internally, and turned back towards the ship, picking up the boy’s sword and taking them both back to the Moby Dick.
Having heard the story, the crew were a rather odd mix of emotions. They were certainly happy that they were most likely going to get a new brother though, Thatch was already planning what to cook for the kid, meanwhile Vista was entranced by the sword the kid had with him.
Vista gazed at the sword by the bedside in absolute awe. He’d only seen pictures of the sword, but this was undoubtedly it. The blue and white sheathe which has patterns of waves adorning it, with the golden guard and the white hilt adorned with blue diamonds could only be one thing.
“Shodai Kitetsu.” Said Vista breathlessly.
All the others in the room turned to him, confused.
“What do you mean?” Asked Marco, clearly lost on what Vista meant.
“That sword the kid has with him, is one of the 12 Supreme Grade Meito, Shodai Kitetsu. I don’t know how the kid has this, but its quality is on par with Hawkeyes’ and Pops’ weapons.”
Everyone in the room gaped. How the hell could the kid have a sword that incredible with him?
It was at this moment Pops spoke up. “I thought it could be of that quality, but I was unsure. It’s good to have it confirmed. The sword is cursed as well, yet the brat has managed to control it.”
At this point Vista had his eyes bursting out of their sockets.
“Isn’t that similar to Oden’s swords? I remember him mentioning their thirst for his Haki,” said Haruta.
“If that is the case, it means this kid has been either consciously or subconsciously feeding this sword his Haki, right?” Asked Vista.
Whitebeard hummed in acknowledgement. “I saw him use Armament Haki on the sword, but whether that was conscious or not, I’m unsure.”
Gobsmacked silence ran through the room. This child, for that was what he was, was using one of the 12 Supreme Grade Swords, all while funnelling Armament Haki into it.
Marco was the first of the commanders to recover. “Nevertheless Pops, I’m guessing that since he’s on board, he’s part of the family now?”
Whitebeard smiled broadly, “Gurarara, naturally, I’ve invited him into our crew, it’s only a matter of time until he accepts.”
The sentiment made all the pirates in the room smile wistfully, remembering when they’d first joined their crazy family.
“Thatch, Vista, I’ll be asking you two to train him in his Haki. It’s too dangerous for someone his age to go without guidance.”
Thatch and Vista both seemed rather pleased at the notion, no doubt looking forward to whipping the kid into shape.
A few hours later, as the evening stretched into night, the boy awoke in his room. He didn’t remember much before the forest, only a burning will to stay alive which has stuck with him, running through his veins constantly. He remembered the large man, however, the titan who the boy knew he wouldn’t be able to win against. In the jungle, he was the strongest, he hunted for his food, and used the sword that he's always had to assert himself. That was the first time in his memory that he met something he knew he couldn’t beat. He radiated power, and the feeling he always had whenever his sword turned black felt like it had been amplified hundreds of times over. He was surprised when the man was nice to him, and even more surprised when he offered him a place on his ship.
The man offered him a chance to grow stronger, and to protect a ‘family.’ He knew what the word meant, but the application of it was foreign to him. He’d be lying if he said the notion didn’t send lightning running through his body.
Nevertheless, he had been surviving on his own until now, and caution was something not easily got rid of. He turned to find his sword lying next to the bed, which he immediately grabbed. Getting out of bed, he held the blade in the Iai stance that his muscles remembered, but his mind didn’t, and slowly stepped toward the door, only to have it open in front of him.
Marco knew the kid was awake when he felt a fluctuation of Haki in the infirmary, and opened the door to make sure he was alright. What he saw was the kid ready to draw his sword at whoever entered. Marco couldn’t say he was terribly surprised, to be fair, the kid had been surviving on his own for a while, and according to Pops, even had amnesia. Caution had been necessary for him for a while no doubt. Thankfully, the kid didn’t swing at him though, choosing to remain in his stance before the conversation started.
Marco smiled at the kid. “Hey there, glad to see you’re awake. Do you remember speaking to the man in the forest?”
The boy nodded at that, so Marco chose to continue. “Well, on this ship, we all think of him as our father. So we all call him Pops or Oyaji. Didn’t he say something to you about having a family?”
The kid seemed less tense now, and his widened eyes indicated he was listening intently. Another nod from the kid prompted Marco to finish.
“Well if you were to join us, you’d be our family. We’d call you our brother, and everyone on the ship would be your family. Is that something you like the sound of?”
Finally, the kid dropped out of his stance, holding his sheathed sword in his left hand, while his right relaxed by his side. It was a few seconds before he spoke. “Can I go see him? That man?”
Marco nodded in affirmation. “Sure kid, follow me. His name is Edward Newgate, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you called him Pops.” He said cheekily, and he watched as curiosity bloomed on the kid’s face. Clearly, the kid wanted to know more about the relationship between everyone on the ship, not that Marco could blame him. He would concede they were unconventional, but to be fair they were pirates, conventions weren’t something they bothered with.
As they walked down the halls of the Moby Dick, a few of the crewmates turned and looked, before remembering that Pops had said something about a kid he’d found, so they shrugged and moved on. It wasn’t the first time someone had taken Pops’ interest after all.
Marco thought, as the kid walked just behind him, that perhaps he was a bit too trusting for someone in his situation. But he considered, if this kid, for that is what he is, can use Armament Haki at his age, then why not observation? Could he tell if they were lying? No, nothing that advanced, but perhaps his time surviving and hunting by himself had helped him identify who was a threat and who wasn’t. Perhaps the kid also realised that there wasn’t a chance he’d be able to beat the vast majority of people on this ship, even with the help of Haki.
Edward sat on his chair, watching over the deck of the Moby Dick, chuckling to himself when he felt Marco and his prospective new son making their way over to him. He knew that kid had what it took to be a part of his crew, and he couldn’t wait until he could call him one of his sons. Perhaps, the kid could take the second commander’s title when he’s old enough? Edward knew he was getting carried away, but that was a habit he wouldn’t kick for his children.
As he saw the two approach, he motioned for everyone to give them a wide birth, with people sticking by the railing, or heading inside, so as to not intrude on their conversation. The kid walked up and stood in front of Edward, a keen look on his face. Marco too dismissed himself, after telling them both he’d see them later, something he found very amusing. ‘He already thinks the kid will join the crew huh? I don’t imagine he’s wrong.’ It was the child who spoke first, surprisingly, just after Marco left. “What do you mean, when you call everyone here your son?”
Ah, Edward thought, he was confused by the dynamic. He knows what family means though, which is good. He let a soft smile onto his face as he explained. “It means that I treat each member of the crew as my children, and in return, they consider me their father. Many of the people here have never had families before, or have had bad experiences in the past, but I want them to understand that we are here for them now, and will look out for them, as siblings, and in my case, as a father. It’s not a requirement by any means, but all of the crewmates so far are perfectly happy with being my children.”
By the time he was done, he could see a look of contemplation on the boy’s face. It was admittedly a lot for a boy his age, who had clearly been through so much to take in, despite the amnesia. The boy’s response was rather surprising to him, however. “How… How can I be your son when I don’t even have a name?” Edward’s face softened. Clearly, the boy wanted reassurances, something the man would be happy to oblige. “I can give you a name if you want. It is what you’ll be known by from now on.”
The boy stared at him, and as if reaching a conclusion, nodded to himself, and simply replied, “I would like that. A name from you.”
Edward took in the boy’s hair, a distinct silver, and thought of a name that suited him perfectly. “Gintoki. Your name is Gintoki.”
The boy, no Gintoki’s eyes widened before he let a small smile onto his face. “I’d like to join your crew, Pops.”
Edward looked at his new son, Gintoki. “Welcome to the Whitebeard Pirates, Son.”
The Whitebeards learned a lot of new things about their new brother Gintoki since they first met him three months ago. The first, and perhaps most shocking, is that after he relaxed around the crew, and was no longer wary of defending himself, is that he was very lazy, and quite crass. This annoyed Vista and Thatch, who had been assigned to training him, since Gintoki was prodigious in combat. In fact, the only thing the kid took seriously was training, where he was advancing in leaps and bounds. What annoyed them about his prodigious talent, was how lazy he is in every other aspect of his daily life. Having been assigned to Thatch’s division, any chores he assigned the kid would somehow be foisted onto someone else, while the kid lazily picked his nose with his pinkie finger, before finding somewhere to doze. Another odd thing about him, was his love of anything sweet, to the point that the nurses were concerned about his blood sugar levels. Thatch had to constantly endeavour to make sure Gintoki wasn’t swiping food from the storage, often resorting to Observation Haki to make sure he could pre-empt any raids on sugary foods.
Despite Gintoki’s usage of Shodai Kitetsu, Vista had also bought him a wooden sword for practice, which Gintoki kept slung around his waist alongside the cursed sword. Despite its original purpose as a training sword, Gintoki had informed Vista in his typically lazy fashion, that the wooden sword was useful for fights where he couldn’t be bothered to kill people. Vista translated that as Gintoki not wanting to fight with the intent to kill unless he had to, which was a trait he respected in a swordsman. He smirked to himself. His new little brother was very interesting indeed.
Marco realised one day that his little brother had a great tendency to intentionally annoy people. One such example was a fight with some typically foolish rookies, thinking they could defeat a Yonko as soon as they left Paradise. Normally, Pops wouldn’t let a kid Gintoki’s age fight. He was only ten after all, but after evaluating their strength, which was a complete lack of Haki, and hardly any sword skills, he said that Gintoki could get a taste of a pirate fight. It was as such that Marco and Gintoki faced two of the pirates, one of the very few men that hadn’t been booted back onto their ship after being tied up. There was no point in them killing guys like this, especially with Gintoki around.
One of the pirates turned to Gintoki, and started jeering as the other one cheered him on. “Oi, what’s a kid like this doing facing us? Did that old man lose his mind or something huh?”
In response, Gintoki cupped his ear and asked, “What did you say?”
The man was confused, so he repeated, “Eh? I said, has the old man lost his mind?”
“No, after that.”
“You mean, ‘huh’?”
“Yes.”
“THAT’S THE LEAST IMPORTANT PART!” Yelled the one next to his friend, who, before they could say anything more, were both charged by Gintoki holding a wooden sword, which sent them face-first into the deck of their ship, not getting back up.
Gintoki then turned to Marco. “That was a boring fight, I didn’t even need Haki.”
Marco deadpanned him. “To be fair, you’re only ten years old, you’re aware that we aren’t going to be tossing you into fights against Marines, right?”
Gintoki simply waved him off as he walked back to the ship. “I know, I don’t mind really. I still haven’t beat Vista or Thatch anyway. I’m going to get some sugar while Thatch is still fighting. See you later Marco.”
His new little brother was really weird, but at the same time, he could tell how much his sibling loved everyone on the ship. He may not be open about his care for them, but Marco knew, Gintoki would do anything for the people he loved.
It had been a year and a half since Gintoki had joined the Whitebeards, and he had turned twelve recently. Gintoki had insisted he didn’t want very much, but he demanded a cake from Thatch, who knew he couldn’t back down, just like he couldn’t last year. He had supposed his brother could be indulged in his love for sweets every now and then. Izo however, had deemed it necessary to make Gintoki some new clothes, and that was how Gintoki found himself with multiple sets of Kimonos, which he now chose to wore all the time. Izo himself had a sneaking suspicion about the boy’s origins in Wano, and the fact that Gintoki loved the clothes so much only solidified the belief in his eyes. Gintoki and Izo also seemed to get along exceptionally well, with Gintoki often trying on new clothes that Izo sewed, perhaps because he was so pleased with his present. Though Gintoki never admitted it, always saying that it was because he had nothing better to do, which no one believed at all.
Gintoki was sixteen when he received an offer he absolutely had to turn down. “You want me to what?”
Whitebeard sighed, knowing this would take some convincing.
“I want you to take over the 2nd Division. You’re the perfect fit for it son, you’ve got the respect of all your siblings, and despite your age, your bounty is rather impressive. An average sixteen-year-old does not have a bounty worth 500 million Berries you do realise?”
Gintoki sighed, plotting ways to escape this fate. “I don’t want to. It’s too much work, just make me the lookout again or something. Besides, someone will come along who actually wants the role you know. Besides, I don’t want to have the responsibility of motivating people.”
Whitebeard frowned, knowing he couldn’t win this one. Though a compromise perhaps…
“If someone worthy of being commander of the 2nd Division shows up in the next three years, fine. If not, then it’s your job. Deal?”
Gintoki smirked, as if this was his aim from the start, (cheeky brat) before he nodded his head in agreement.
Gintoki was eighteen when he met Ace, the guy chasing after his father’s head obsessively. While he was normally unflappable, he found himself quite surprised that this Fire Fist Ace guy had gone head-to-head with Jinbei, the strongest fishman he knew. (Sorry Namur)
He could also tell that the kid was incredibly insecure, if his attempts to prove his strength by flinging himself at Pops constantly was any indication.
It was with these thoughts in his mind that he found the guy sulking at the figurehead.
Ace was severely annoyed. That shitty old man kept ignoring him whenever he tried to attack him, but nothing worked. Everyone on this ship was crazy, the bastards. The sooner he could off the old man and leave the better. As he felt movement behind him, he started, and whipped around, to find a man he’d only seen around the ship a few times. He felt like he’d seen him before though, he just couldn’t place it. The man in question was currently holding a slice of cake, slowly eating it as he looked at Ace with eyes that reminded him of a dead fish. With cake still in his mouth, he waved with his free hand and said “Yo.”
Ace couldn’t help but be confused by the guy. He was a Whitebeard pirate, right? What was up with him? Scoffing, he decided to ignore the man, choosing to turn back towards the sea.
The man was still there, even thirty seconds later. What did he want?
Suddenly, he sidled up to Ace. “I’m Gintoki, what’s your name?”
Ace decided it was easier to humour him at this point than ignore him.
“I’m Ace, but I’m fairly sure you knew that already.”
Gintoki nodded back. “It’s fairly hard to miss the man trying to kill Pops every day, though it’s a lotta fun watching you fail.”
Ace narrowed his eyes at that. He was starting to get the urge to punch the guy. “I’m not gonna stop trying. Shouldn’t you be tying me up or killing me for trying to hurt your captain?”
Gintoki shrugged at that, looking completely unaffected as he stood by the railing. “Just because you keep trying doesn’t mean you’ll succeed. Hell, you wouldn’t be able to beat me or Marco, so what makes you think you could deal with Oyaji?”
Okay, Ace had to admit that a vein was pulsing on his forehead now. This guy was such a pain! “You wanna see then? I don’t think you’d pose a challenge though.” He said tauntingly, wondering if he could bait the guy.
Then, in the next moment, he found himself on the other side of the deck, with his jaw in so much pain it felt on fire. As he stumbled and leaned against the railing on the opposite side, trying to see straight, he saw Gintoki standing in the same position that he had been when they were talking. “That was easy. I told you; you aren’t nearly strong enough for us to be concerned.”
Before Ace had a chance to counter, he suddenly found himself face to face with the man, Gintoki having moved at a speed he could hardly track. “Do me a favour and get stronger though, Oyaji wants me to be commander of the 2nd Division and there’s no way I’m doing that, so once you officially join the crew, I won’t have anything to worry about.”
Then, Gintoki turned and walked away, somehow having grabbed a second piece of cake while Ace wasn’t looking. “I’m not gonna join this crew, you crazy bastard!” He yelled after the silver-haired man. Gintoki’s only response was a wave over the shoulder, as he ambled away.
Ace cursed to himself. What the hell was wrong with all these people?
As the party for Ace’s promotion to 2nd Division Commander was in full swing, Ace found Gintoki standing next to him.
As they both sipped on their drinks, Gintoki opened his mouth. Ace pre-empted him.
“Don’t say it.”
“I told you so.”
“Shut up Gin.”