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Kuzan watched the child run away at top speed as his men around him tripped over the rope around their legs. The soldiers shook their fists as they removed the rope around their legs as their commanding officer watched wistfully. The soldiers finished the untangling and made their way to chase the boy, but they were stopped by a long arm.
"Sir! Let us teach that young ’un a lesson! Stealing is bad after all. " A marine protested.
The admiral shook his head. Beating up a kid would not be a good look, plus it was just a few wallets. They had plenty of cash.
"Aokiji, he took your wallet? You keep vital information there? " His second-in-command said.
The ice admiral sighed and dismissed his men while he made them promise to not chase after the young thief. Kuzan activated his haki and sensed the kid under the Bridge, and so he sauntered off. He took a shortcut in between some buildings as a few locals gave him weird looks because only a few locals knew of this.
He arrived at the top of the bridge and jumped off the ledge. Kuzan couldn’t help but grin at the shocked look of the kid as he landed gracefully in front of him. Not many people knew of the location as a disgusting river ran under the bridge, but there was a little mound of land around the pillar filled with trash, but for the few in the know, it was more than trash. Kuzan froze a little of the river and sat down cross-legged.
"Hey kid, mind giving back my wallet?" Kuzan asked.
The young thief could only stare in shock, but when the admiral reached to grab the wallets the boy was holding, he immediately turned away. The admiral sighed and scratched his head.
"NO! You guys are very rich! Look at your white suits and stuff. "Rich!" the boy argued.
"You can keep the money if you want, but I need the actual wallets back- Wait. You don’t know who we are? " Kuzan asked, surprised.
"No? Are you guys important or something? And I can keep the money? "Yes!" the boy cheered.
Kuzan scrunched his eyebrows as he tried to figure out how the boy did not know about the marines. Some of his soldiers had the word Marine on their caps too! Plus, he was wearing his Justice coat, which was now folded on his legs. Oh fuck. The boy can’t read and most likely can’t write either. Who was taking care of his boy?
"Do you live here, kid? Where are your parents?" he asked.
"Yeah, nobody wants me, so I live here. My dad is dead and I don’t know my mother, but there was this old woman who took care of me for a bit before she disappeared," the kid answered. "And don’t call me kid! My name is Hiro! "
Kuzan nodded as he watched the kid rifle through the stuff around him. The old woman who took care of Hiro most likely died. Additionally, this boy was clearly very open to sharing and not as closed off as he had been when he was his age. This made him frown more, as the town had not changed at all, even though 20 years had passed.
"How did you know about this place anyway, old man?" Hiro asked.
Kuzan stared at the kid.
"Well, this was my place about 20 years ago. And don’t call me old! " Kuzan protested.
"If you say so. Wait that means the liquor bottle I found here had been yours! " Hiro said.
He dug around in the trash heap and pulled out an old bottle of liquor that had been clearly opened recently. Kuzan cursed himself for forgetting to pack one of his favourite bottles before leaving for officer school.
"Yea, it is mine. So why don’t you live in the Garbage Mound?" Kuzan asked.
Sure, the place was dangerous as it was filled with bums and the unwanted dregs of normal society, but there were people. Some of them might’ve had a heart and taken care of the kid.
"Well, I used to, but the people didn’t like me there, so I left. And how did you create the ice and not die from jumping from the top of the bridge? "
Ah. The kid must’ve been the product of people from that place. Probably due to prostitution or abandoned there. The kid was also most likely to be a product of a huge scandal down there to be shunned so much. Wait, how old was the kid?
"Wait, how old are you, kid?" Kuzan asked.
"I think I’m ten. I’ve been leaving marks on my leg at the beginning of each year because that’s the time when there are usually fireworks. The old lady said that was when I was born," Hiro answered. "Now answer my questions and don’t call me kid!"
"Well, I’m part of the marines, which helped me when I was your age." That was where I learned that technique and the ice I got it from a devil fruit, which is a fruit that gives you powers, but I can’t swim anymore, "Kuzan answered.
Hiro nodded at the information, and Kuzan knew he was a smart kid as he clearly was skilled enough to make contraptions that tangled people’s legs together. Hiro just needed someone that would help and believe in him, and Kuzan realised that he would have to be that person. He had to do what Garp had done for him once.
"Say, kid- Hiro. Want to become a marine? We have a school that trains people who want to be marines into marine officers. You won’t have to worry about having a roof over your head or about going hungry ever again," Kuzan said. "You can also leave if you don’t want to become a marine. I promise I’ll take care of you if you decide that. "
He didn’t want the kid to become a marine just out of obligation to him. That’ll be pretty shitty of him, and he wanted the kid to live a happy life. He saw too much of himself in the young thief, and it would literally pain his heart if he were to just leave the kid here.
"No more thievery anymore though. You’ll be upholding the law. We are the ones that uphold the law and arrest the evil wrong-doers after all. "
Hiro stared into the admiral’s eyes and considered his options. He nodded. He didn’t want to worry so much anymore. He wanted to invent his inventions without worrying about his health or food or whether he’d freeze to death.
"Okay! Then you’ll be like my dad! " Hiro said as he emptied the wallets and kept the money in a pouch that hung around his neck.
Kuzan froze in place because he had never imagined himself as a father in a million years, but he wasn't particularly opposed to it. The problem was, how could he be a dad to someone when he had no dad himself. He caught the wallets the his kid threw at him and tucked them away into his pockets as Hiro packed a few belongings into a small backpack that was obviously found in the trash.
"Ok, let’s go!" The kid cheered as he clutched the greyed bottle of alcohol in one hand.
Kuzan stood up and practically towered over the small child, so he picked the undersized boy up and placed him on his shoulder as he held his coat. The locals couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the newly appointed admiral on his shoulder with the local trash boy.
"YOU CAUGHT THE THIEF?" a marine yelled when he spotted Kuzan from afar. "WHERE’S MY WALLET YOU LIL SHIT-"
"Calm down now, Toshi, here are the wallets, and this little shit is my kid now, so if you have a problem with him, you have to deal with me," Kuzan said, as he tossed the wallets towards them.
His men could only stare at him dumbfoundedly as the duo gave them big dumb grins, which was rather weird looking on the admiral.