For You To The End Of The World

Chapter 10 - Family Bonds

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2 years earlier. Garp came to Lue as he had been thrown into the cell.

"Lue..." The exhausted father whispered as he came to the corridor that led to the front of the cell. Lue was all beaten up. Garp sat down. Lue was avoiding the look of his father's eyes. After a long silence, someone finally spoke.

"Please..." Garp started. Lue lifted his head a little, but not too much for Garp not to see it. The latter placed a hand over his eyes. "Lue...for the sake of your life, tell them." He begged while clenching his teeth. Lue glared.

"No." He answered. Garp jolted up.

"Why-?!"

"I won't tell anyone. Not even you...father." Lue stared at him with determination. Garp was shocked, but he kind of understood. But he could not give up so early.

"They'll torture you..." He said.

"I know." Lue answered.

"Then why are you still silent?" Garp asked. Lue was staring at the air for a while. He then spoke.

"For Ace...not to get caught..." He let his head down with a small smile. Garp frowned.

"You're giving that bastard a favour." Garp sighed. Lue knew how much his father actually liked Roger.

"Hah...You always call him a bastard...but you miss him sometimes..." Lue murmured with a laugh.

"Am not!" Garp exclaimed with shark teeth. "That bastard left you with such trouble!"

"I myself wanted it!" Lue said through his teeth. "I wanted for that kid to live..." He protested. Garp wanted to say something, but he stopped himself.

"You really care for him?..." He murmured. Lue smiled.

"Of course...I even consider him my own." He added. Garp sighed.

"Understand...but I cannot watch it anymore." He added.

"Don't worry-"

"You said you will be fine..." Garp remembered the talk they had the first time Lue went for Ace.

"And I am..." Lue lied.

"How so? Look at you, all bloody and bruised." Garp inspected his son one more time.

"It is all for...him, even though I would lie I don't miss him and don't feel guilty." Lue frowned.

"Those guys went for you, because of a notice we got from the high-ups." Garp explained.

"I already concluded that..." Lue laughed mockingly. He took a breath." I decided to keep my mouth shut the first time they handcuffed me." He smiled at his father.

"You're sneaky." Garp answered with a smirk. "But still it will cost you...much. I cannot possibly do anything for you, yet-!" He wanted to say but was cut by Lue.

"You don't have to do anything..." He said.

"But!"

"It was my decision. For him to be with me...but I can't go back. Not yet, they still need to think that he doesn't exist!" Lue exclaimed. Garp sat there in silence.

"You plan to sit here...for so long?" Garp knew how long they would change their minds.

"Yes." He answered.

"What about him?"

"..." Lue was silent. He knew...that Ace would change if he hadn't come back in a long time. "I...want for him to live..." He whispered.

"Is that your final decision?" Garp asked, Lue nodded. He sighed. "Then just like your brother, I will let you do what you decided, you're all adults now." He stood up and walked away. Closing the doors to the corridor was closing the only source of light that came into the room. Lue watched as his father's back disappeared in the dark. He smiled but it soon disappeared.

"Ace...I'm sorry, I was careless. But please endure it for a bit. I don't...I don't want them to find you..." He whispered and he felt like falling. So he did and he lost his consciousness. 

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A short chapter because I felt like I needed to explain what happened to Garp, since I added his dialogue in chapter 8.