Chapter 108 The Meaning of Survival
After talking with Shigeru Takeshita, Ace did not leave in a hurry. Instead, he watched Shigeru Takeshita allocate an ordinary house to accommodate these minors. He also handed a card to Ryunosuke Akutagawa, and transferred a certain amount of living expenses to the card every month. He also arranged a contact person for them so that they could submit other needs to him through the contact person.
Of course, some organizations have tasks that require people to do, and these tasks will be delegated to them through contacts, allowing them to select within a limited time in exchange for additional money in addition to living expenses.
Simply put, it means providing shelter, basic living expenses, and a source of income to ensure their basic life needs, and that's it.
Ace didn't have any opinion on this. After all, his situation was worse than this back then, so he didn't think there was anything wrong with Takeshita Shigeru's arrangement.
Although Dadan's family are thieves, they are moral thieves and their living conditions are just average. When Ace was a child, he slept on the floor in a row with the thieves, and they lived and ate together.
When he grew up, he would go out hunting on his own, and would share the prey he brought back with the thieves in Dadan's family.
The way he gets along with Dadan's family is not like that of an ordinary family. It can be said that the relationship is more complicated.
Initially, the bandits adopted Ace, who was still a baby, due to the threat from Grandpa Garp. At that time, they were very repulsive to this child who they had to adopt because of the threat from the navy and who would increase their burden. However, after spending a long time together, they developed feelings for him.
However, the feelings of the bandits are very awkward, especially Dadan, who is very proud. He always says to him that he is annoying and troublesome, and calls him a bad boy, but never treats him harshly in life. Even when doing cleaning work, Dadan, as the leader of the bandits, will work with the bandits and rarely calls him. Even if he calls him, Dadan never takes it seriously after Ace ran away.
There was a period of time when he was a child when he was really noisy, which exhausted the bandits. Dadan's piercing roar could be heard in the base almost every day, but he never really wanted to abandon or hurt him.
They always said bad things to each other, but Ace knew that she really cared about him.
When the nobles and army of the Kingdom of Goa set fire to the mountains and killed people, it was Dadan who stood in front of her and told her to run quickly. In the end, she was severely burned and it took her several months to recover.
The living resources provided by the Kuroda Group are much better than those provided by Ace back then. Ace certainly doesn't think there is anything wrong with the Kuroda Group's handling of the situation. On the contrary, he is quite satisfied with it.
In less than an afternoon, the Kuroda Group had cleaned up the house so that it could be moved in directly, and all the furniture inside was available.
Ranpo Edogawa and Akiko Yosano went to Raibo Street with Ace without informing the president. When President Fukuzawa returned to the detective agency with the new recruits, he found that there was no one in the agency. A phone call came in and the two people were called back.
Seeing that the minors had divided the rooms and began to enjoy the future with some excitement, Ace, who was about to leave, called Akutagawa Ryunosuke and asked him, "Have you decided to let me take care of your sister?"
The current situation is different from when they were worried about the future in Raibo Street. They already have their own residence and can get everything in the future by themselves, and it will be safer. Compared with following me, living here may be more stable.
Akutagawa Ryunosuke did not answer immediately. He had thought about this question when he was assigned a room and sorted it out. Ace was already confirmed to be a member of the Port Mafia. If he followed him, he would most likely come into contact with the Port Mafia. Although this residence was also provided by the Mafia, the Kuroda Group had clearly stated that they would not interfere with their lives. In contrast, following Ace, he could not be sure what the situation would be.
Moreover, the detective had said that Ace was the son of the leader of the Port Mafia. As the son of a leader, he must be surrounded by dangers. Although Akutagawa Ryunosuke had great confidence in Ace's strength after their previous encounter, it was difficult for Akutagawa Ryunosuke not to worry about Gin staying with him given the situation around him.
He had no choice before, but if he had a choice, he would certainly prefer to keep the silver in a safer place.
Ace didn't rush him, just leaned against the door frame and waited for him to make a decision.
After a long while, Akutagawa Ryunosuke finally spoke in a low voice: "Can we change people?"
Ace was stunned, "What do you mean?"
Akutagawa Ryunosuke raised his head and looked at him steadily, "I want to follow you, Mr. Ace."
"Hey? I'm fine..." He looked at him curiously, "Can I ask why?"
"I would like you to teach me how to become stronger." He turned to Ace and said in a very serious tone.
"Haha, that's a good reason. So why do you want to become stronger?"
"I want to live."
"But even now, you can still live a good life." Ace counted on his fingers, "You have a comfortable place to live, your own partners, and someone who gives you living expenses every month. You are also a superpower with strong power, and you can earn a better life for yourself... Even without my teachings, your future can get better and better."
A confusion appeared in Akutagawa Ryunosuke's eyes. He opened his mouth and whispered, "I... I want to find the meaning of life." He lowered his head and his voice became a little softer. "If you can only survive by any means necessary, if you live just for the sake of living... I don't understand, what is the meaning of living like this..." He raised his head again and looked at Ace, "Can you give me the meaning of life?"
Ace was stunned in surprise.
He suddenly recalled his past self. At that time, when everyone talked about Pirate King Roger, they all said -
"Huh? How can a scoundrel like that have a child?"
"If the Pirate King really had a child, he would be strangled to death right after birth, right? Haha!"
"Don't be ridiculous. If a person like that had a child, that child shouldn't be alive!"
…
That's all the talk.
Deny his birth and hate his existence.
For a period of time, he was also immersed in self-doubt.
Few people knew his true life story, including himself. Until one day, he overheard a conversation between Dadan and his companions. When Garp entrusted Ace to Dadan, he told her about Ace's life story. They said that Ace's life story was too dangerous, so it would be better to send Ace back to Garp, and for self-protection, it would be better not to let anyone know that they knew about it.
At that time, in addition to the fact that he suddenly knew that he was the son of the Pirate King, which made him feel at a loss, he also overheard the conversation between the Dadan family, which showed that they wanted to abandon him. This made him hate the world for a while. All the bad words he had heard about his biological father came back to him at this moment.
——Before that, although he knew that he was sent by Garp to be adopted by Dadan, he never thought that Dadan and the others would abandon him.
He didn't listen any more, but ran away secretly by himself.
His birth was not expected, and he didn't even know whether he should live. But living is a human instinct, so he questioned himself and lived negatively.
During that time, he thought that he was abandoned by his adoptive mother anyway, so he acted very unrestrained every day. He unconsciously tested the bottom line of Dadan's family. On the one hand, he hoped that he would not be abandoned and that there were still people in this world who cared about him. On the other hand, he couldn't help but want to see how long they could endure before abandoning him.
So Dadan always thought that Ace at that time might have been old enough and could be very troublesome.
Before meeting his father, Ace always wanted to become the Pirate King and surpass Roger to prove that his birth was meaningful. He wanted to lift the shadow that had been hanging over his head since birth.
After a moment of silence, Ace's hand fell on Akutagawa Ryunosuke's head and rubbed it vigorously. "The meaning of life is not something that can be given by others. You have to find it yourself."
Akutagawa Ryunosuke's eyes dimmed, "I have looked for it, but I can't find it."
"Then keep looking, you will find it eventually. Didn't I tell you before? If you are confused, just go out to sea and have a look." Ace is not a man who preaches big principles, and he never speaks empty words, but he will speak from his own experience, "I once thought about whether I should live or not."
Akutagawa Ryunosuke was stunned and looked at him in surprise.
Ai smiled calmly and said, "My birth was cursed by many people. They all said that a child like me should not be born. But, only by living and constantly pursuing can I find the answer."
"So... did you find the answer?"
"...Ah." He looked at the sky outside the door, and his partner's high-spirited face seemed to appear before his eyes again. He smiled and said, "Found it."
He lives to meet them and to become the best partner and family with them.
Grandpa Garp, the Dadan family, Luffy, Sabo, the companions of the Spade Pirates, the companions of the Whitebeard Pirates, and... my mother, who I have never met but who used all her strength to give birth to me.
How lucky he was to meet so many people who loved him in his short twenty years of life.
"What is it!?" Akutagawa Ryunosuke asked anxiously.
Ace grinned and rubbed his head hard a few times. "Kid, you can't take shortcuts! The meaning of survival is to find treasures that can only be found by yourself. Other people's answers don't apply to you."
"What if, what if we can't find it?"
"Then keep searching until the day your life ends!" Ace turned around and gave him a smile as bright as the sun. "When that day comes and you look back at your life, you will definitely have the answer!"