Chapter 719: The Whole Story
Not only Ian and the others, but even Whitebeard was left dumbfounded after hearing Bonney's words.
He thought to himself, Ace actually has a sister!? How come I didn't know? Could it be that Roger, that old rascal, left behind an illegitimate daughter from his philandering days!?
I never thought Roger was that kind of person!
Even Ian and the others instantly conjured up a series of melodramatic thoughts, but only for a moment—everyone suddenly realized that Bonney had said... cousin!?
Whitebeard looked at Jewelry Bonney with suspicion and asked, "You are..."
"That's right! I'm from the Portgas family!" Bonney said energetically, hands on her hips. "Ace's mother is my aunt!"
With her explanation, everyone finally understood—so they were cousins.
"Ace's mother... is Portgas D. Rouge?" Whitebeard said with a nostalgic expression. "I do recall Roger once mentioning that he met a woman in the South Blue on Baterilla and had a child with her. It was precisely because I heard the surname Portgas in Ace's name that I recognized him as Roger's child..."
"Yes, Rouge is my aunt!" Bonney said, then suddenly bowed to Whitebeard. "Old man, thank you for taking care of Ace all these years!"
The usually rough and brash woman suddenly showing such politeness caught everyone off guard, but it was clear that Bonney's respect for Whitebeard was genuine.
"Hold on!" Whitebeard waved his hand. "I still have many questions. This isn't just about what you say—you claim to be from the Portgas family, but why don't you carry the Portgas surname?"
"Simple!" Bonney replied. "I take my father's surname, so of course I'm not a Portgas!"
"Then who is your father?" Whitebeard asked.
"This..." Bonney hesitated. "I can't say that!"
"..." Whitebeard said nothing, glancing at Bonney, but seeing her frank gaze, he didn't press further and instead asked, "Then why has Ace never mentioned having a cousin?"
"Because he doesn't know, and he's never met me!" Bonney shook her head. "As for me, I only saw him once when he was born. After that, he was taken away by Marine hero Vice Admiral Garp..."
Hearing Bonney's answer, Ian's mind stirred. Bonney actually knew that Ace was taken away by Vice Admiral Garp—that lent some credibility to her story.
So Ian also asked, "You were there when Ace was born?"
"Of course!" Bonney looked at Ian with less respect than she had for Whitebeard, because she knew Ian was Ace's close brother. By that logic, she could be considered something like an older sister to Ian, so she felt no fear toward him, even knowing he was a Yonko.
Still, she answered Ian's question seriously. "Aunt Rouge carried Ace for a full 20 months before giving birth to him. Without me, how could she have held out!?"
"What... what do you mean?" Everyone looked at her in confusion.
"Tch, honestly, a bunch of men..." Bonney said exasperatedly. "Do you think holding in childbirth is something you can just do with willpower!? Even if Aunt Rouge had enough willpower to forcibly delay labor, the baby inside her couldn't! A fetus staying in the womb too long would suffocate! And even if it didn't suffocate, Ace would keep growing, eventually killing Aunt Rouge!"
"Is... is that so?" The men, none of whom had ever experienced childbirth, had no idea about such things, so they stared at Bonney in bewildered awe.
Bonney rubbed her forehead in frustration, feeling that discussing this with Ian and the others was utterly ridiculous, but she patiently continued. "Back then, the Marines had already found the island where Aunt Rouge was staying—Baterilla. They suspected Roger had left descendants on that island, so they were strictly checking all pregnant women there. Aunt Rouge knew it was hopeless, but she still insisted on not letting Ace be born... but this is a normal human physiological process—it can't be defied. Aunt Rouge was just an ordinary person. Forcing it like that could have killed both her and the child. Fortunately, when my mother took me to visit her, we discovered that my ability could be used on the fetus in Aunt Rouge's womb—more precisely, when used on Aunt Rouge, it also affected the fetus inside her. So I stayed on Baterilla Island."
"Used on the fetus!?" Ian was shocked. He remembered that Bonney's Devil Fruit ability could make people older or younger. So that meant...
"Yes, my Devil Fruit allows me to freely change the age of myself or others!" Bonney said. "I call it the Age-Age Fruit. To prevent Ace from growing too fast in Aunt Rouge's womb, I would use my ability every so often to regress Ace's age, keeping him at around eight months. That's how Aunt Rouge managed to hold out until the Marines left..."
Ian nodded in realization. That made sense. As Bonney said, childbirth isn't something you can just hold in with willpower. The story of Ace's mother Rouge carrying him for 20 months before giving birth was illogical—no human pregnancy lasts that long, and it can't be achieved by willpower alone.
Moreover, Bonney clearly knew about this, making her words credible. After all, the Whitebeard Pirates only learned that Ace was Roger's son during the Battle of New Edd War, and they gradually heard these details from Ace himself.
In the end, Bonney said regretfully, "Unfortunately, I was very young back then and didn't have good control over my Devil Fruit ability, so I still caused harm to Aunt Rouge. After she gave birth to Ace, she passed away..."
"How old were you then?" Ian asked. "Did you eat the Devil Fruit when you were very young?"
"Yes, I've always loved eating since I was a child. One day, I accidentally ate a Devil Fruit I found somewhere, so I've been a Devil Fruit user since I was little!" Bonney replied, then glared at Ian. "As for how old I was then... Hmph, don't you know it's rude to ask a lady that question!?"
"Fine!" Ian raised his hands in surrender and didn't dwell on it. Instead, he continued, "Since you're from the Portgas family, why didn't your family ever look for Ace afterward?"
"Hmph!" Bonney got angry at the mention of this. "It's all because of those bastards from the World Government's CP. After Aunt Rouge died, they somehow found out and started investigating the Portgas family. Using that as an excuse, they attacked the family, severely weakening it. I was captured by the World Government. They discovered my Devil Fruit ability and didn't kill me but took me back instead..."
Hearing this, Ian suddenly recalled that in the original history, two people died during the Paramount War—one was Whitebeard, and the other was Ace. Ian had thought Bonney cried for Whitebeard and sought revenge for him, but now hearing this, he truly understood: Bonney cried for Ace's death, and she went after Blackbeard because he captured Ace and handed him over to the Marines—he was the root cause of everything.
Similarly, the one who killed Ace was Akainu. Bonney knew she couldn't defeat him, but she still shouted at him, "I won't forgive you..."
For her cousin, whom she had watched being born, Bonney undoubtedly had special feelings. Ian guessed that while in the World Government's custody, she must have seen Ace's wanted poster after he set out, recognizing the name Portgas Ace. Realizing her cousin had grown up and become a pirate, she escaped from the World Government at all costs, returned to the South Blue, formed her own pirate crew, and entered the Grand Line—all to meet Ace.
Unfortunately, in the original history, she never got to see Ace before he died...
But now it was different. Because of Ian, Ace was still alive, so Bonney had finally caught up with the Whitebeard Pirates...
Bonney, as a Supernova, had a bounty as high as 140 million Berries, yet she hadn't shown overwhelming strength, which seemed a bit disproportionate. Thinking it over, the reason for her high bounty was likely due to her capture by the World Government! In the original history, after the Paramount War, she took her crew alone to confront Blackbeard, who had already gained two Devil Fruit powers, seeking revenge. This showed how grief-stricken she was. But because she was too weak, she not only lost but was captured by Blackbeard. Blackbeard, seemingly knowing something about Bonney's background, used her to negotiate with the Marines, offering to exchange her for a warship!
And the Marines agreed without hesitation! However, the one who brought the warship was Akainu, causing the Blackbeard Pirates to flee in panic.
When Akainu saw Bonney, he said that learning of her escape from the World Government had sent a cold sweat down his back.
This indicated that Bonney was extremely important to the World Government and the Marines!
So Ian asked curiously, "What did the World Government use your Devil Fruit ability for?"