[Pirates] Retired Knight's Logbook

【fifteen】

Andrea felt a little melancholy in her heart, but she quickly cheered up again and looked like she was going to leave immediately.

But she was soon stopped again.

Shanks put on a half-hearted smile and asked her kindly: "You seem to have already chosen someone? Who is it?"

Andrea replied sincerely: "Mr. Whitebeard."

Andrea thought very well. Mr. Whitebeard's family had been exploited by the captain, so it would be just right to give the captain's family back to him.

Quite a perfect logical loop.

Shanks: "...you like Whitebeard?"

Andrea's eyes shone: "I really like Mr. Whitebeard's concept!"

Shanks: "..."

Shanks suddenly felt a little tired of competing with the other party, but it was impossible for her to go to Whitebeard anyway, so he kept him with a strong attitude.

His words were also very simple - after all, Andrea had promised to come to his side before, so just stay.

Seeing this, Andrea did not correct the other party's request to "come to him" as if he was joining the gang. She just held up Ace and confirmed again in confusion: "Are you sure? You need to bring this with you when sailing at sea. oh."

Shanks smiled: "Well, I'll just treat it as buy one, get one free."

Andrea always felt that the other party was gritting her teeth, but her original purpose of coming here had been achieved, so she didn't say anything more.

Andrea has already adapted to life at sea. After all, she was a member of the Roger Pirates before. The only thing she was worried about was Ace... and then she found that Ace adapted very quickly.

Including Ace, he was also very fast. He was the type to give up even at a young age before he could speak. In the end, it would even take everyone on the ship to look for him together.

The other members of the red-haired pirate group will naturally not have any objections to Andrea's joining. She is very strong, is also an old friend of their leader, and is also a beauty.

It's just...a beauty with a baby, an old friend, and a long conversation with the captain before boarding the ship...it's hard not to think too much.

And since we are all pirates, there is nothing we can't say if we have something to say, so if you have any questions, just ask them directly.

The representative is Beckman, the ship's most reliable mate.

Beckman did some mental construction and asked hesitantly: "Um... Leah, about Ace's father..."

Andrea frowned with a solemn expression: "He has no father!"

"..." It sounds serious! Did Leah agree to stay on the ship because she wanted to assassinate the leader? ! ——Beckman hesitated even more. After thinking about it, he decided to ask directly, "He over there..."

Andrea was stunned for a moment and decided to defend her friend: "He doesn't want to be a friend, so you can't force him. Don't bother him with this issue anymore."

"..." Beckman was silent for a long time, feeling that the wine glass in his hand was slightly unsteady, "Ahem... um... you, you don't mind?"

"Huh? It's nothing to mind...Although it has something to do with him, he may feel it is too heavy." Andrea felt that her mentality was not good at this point. She paused and said seriously, " Although he refused to let Ace call him father, he still allowed me to stay on the ship, so he agreed to raise Ace with me. And everyone helped me take care of Ace, I am very grateful."

Beckman sounded a little dazed: "...Wait, wait a minute, are you sure you have made it clear to the boss? After all, he has agreed to raise Ace..."

Andrea retorted seriously: "But at that time, he said that it would be more appropriate for Ace to call the person I like father. So I think what he meant was that I can stay here until I find the right person!" "

Andrea said, taking her finger out of the mouth of little Ace who was biting her finger and grinding his teeth, lowered his head and said seriously: "This is rude and unhygienic, do you understand?"

Little Ace responded with a big smile and reached for her hand.

Andrea put down her hand again, clenched it into a fist to prevent it from being used as a teething stick, and let Ace hold it. Then she looked at Beckman, who had complicated eyes, with clear eyes: "Beckman, do you have anything else to do?"

Beckman: "...No, no more."

Beckman watched the man carry little Ace out without any mental grudge. He subconsciously raised his hand to stop him, but because he found that he had nothing to say, he could only put his hand down, raised his head and took a sip of wine - —What else can I say!

No matter how this sounds, it sounds like the captain suddenly found out that he had a child but did not want to take responsibility, but he was not so heartless, so he left the mother and son behind, but still refused to acknowledge the child! Leah has such a good temper! Wouldn't it be enough to just stab him with a sword?

...Ah, no, that's his own captain, and he can't just sit back and watch this happen. Then just go find a more suitable candidate, right? He believed that according to Leah's standards, many people would be happy to be called father by Ace!

【sixteen】

Andrea had no idea how much of a commotion she had single-handedly caused.

I don’t know that Beckman went to find his captain afterwards, and Shanks just smiled and replied, "Hey - is that what Leah said? Everything she said is true."

He is a bit like Roger. They are both the type who don't care what they are said about, but they cannot insult their companions.

So when he was misunderstood to be Ace's biological father, he had no intention of denying or clarifying. It was like if Andrea asked back "Don't you want to" or "I don't have anyone I like", he would immediately respond.

...Of course, the result at that time was that he was angered by the person he liked.

Sometimes, I occasionally wonder if it was because he lied to her when he was a child and he received retribution at this time.

However, Beckman's words made him a little alert, and he went to Andrea to reiterate one point.

"Since you want to protect Ace, then let him stay here." Shanks put his chin in one hand and said it in a joking tone while drinking.

Andrea was stunned, looked at him quietly for a while, and then nodded slowly. Then, she saw the smile on the other person's face getting bigger.

Although from Andrea's perspective, she felt that her little friend had become a little erratic as she grew up.

But when I think about the fact that they were all under Roger's protection at that time and now they are working alone, it is normal for some changes to occur.

Everyone in the red-haired pirate group still likes little Ace very much. After all, the child is lively and lively, especially one like Jesus who was only a little older when he left home. He also has a certain empathic effect.

Of course, Shanks himself definitely has no objection to Ace. When he was in the Roger Pirates, he would play with Kozuki Oden's child, Kozuki Momonosuke, and he was also good at coaxing children.

In fact, it was precisely because Andrea remembered that he had the experience of leading Kozuki Momonosuke that after snatching Ace from Garp and running away, her first reaction was to ask Shanks for help.

Seeing that Shanks was treating Ace well, she didn't think there was anything wrong - Shanks had experience, and after all, he was Captain Roger's son! They were all favored by Roger, so shouldn't they help take care of his posthumous son? This is what Shanks should do!

Even so, she would also find that when Shanks took Ace, the crew members gave their captain mixed looks of relief and condemnation.

And when Shanks carried out his childhood habit of picking flowers and giving them to her when he saw them, he got a bunch of "Why are you doing this" looks in his eyes?

Andrea was still a little confused about this and asked Shanks in confusion: "What did you do to make them look at you like that?"

"..." Shanks stared at her steadily for a while, then smiled and said, "Nothing happened."

It was true that nothing happened except being pointed at by his own crew members from behind.

Until...the day the real thing happened.

As Ace grew older, his destructive power doubled. He was jumping up and down all day long and would not listen to anyone except Andrea - although this was essentially the result of the connivance of everyone in the red-haired pirate group.

Even though Shanks is the captain, he is dignified enough when he is angry, but... he is indeed very tolerant of children.

On the other hand, Ace would be angry because others didn't respect him enough. At this time, Shanks would be asked to comfort the child.

Andrea is the only one who treats Ace harshly - after all, she is the most polite person on the ship. In her educational philosophy, no matter how much you pamper your children, etiquette education is indispensable.

This aspect of etiquette even affected the other crew members, and after muttering for a while, the other crew members sacrificed their captain very thoughtfully - isn't it said that what goes up leads to deeds? The leader must take the lead! So Leah, you just need to pay attention to the boss!

Andrea felt that what they said made sense. From then on, the man who would have become the freest man on the sea lost a lot of freedom.

At least his freedom of dressing was completely lost.

When he tried to buy his first pair of floral underpants, Andrea looked shocked and asked 5-year-old Ace to burn the offending clothing. No one on the ship dared to say a word during the whole journey, except Ace who was having a lot of fun playing with fire.

As Ace grew up, Andrea began to feel a little worried.

When little Ace was seven years old, after she finally put the child to sleep, she went to Shanks and asked seriously: "Ace has grown up too... How old do you think he should be, Shanks?" When is it more appropriate to tell him his life experience?"

"...Are you asking me?"

"Yeah, after all, you know that, after all, Captain Roger's reputation can't be said about, right?" Andrea looked worried, "Fortunately, he looks more like his mother. Look at what he will look like when he grows up. The little freckles are exactly like his mother..."

"Wait!" Shanks, who was about to blurt out "What do you think I am?" interrupted her, "What?!"

"Huh?" Looking at the other party's stunned expression, Andrea was still a little confused and said hesitantly, "Ace's freckles are indeed inherited from his mother... Captain Roger doesn't have freckles, right?"

It shouldn’t be possible for a beard to cover freckles, right? Wrong location?

"...No, that's not it." After Shanks was stunned for a moment, a trace of annoyance flashed across his face, but he quickly adjusted himself and laughed.

"I like you." He said bluntly, looking up at the blank-faced black-haired woman sitting across from him. The smile on his face did not go away, "Since I was a child, always."