One Piece: Adopting Akainu at the beginning, adopted son Barrett

Chapter 49 He has to come out on his own

"Cough cough!"

Not long after, a middle-aged man in a suit and tie stood tall behind Barrett. He had a good temperament and his gold-rimmed glasses added a touch of nobility.

After attracting Barrett's attention with a cough, he smiled and said:
"Barrett, huh?"

"Ah."

"I am the butler that Master Ross has sent to show you around here. You can just call me Tokos."

Tokos, Ross's butler, was a gift from his father-in-law and has been with him for several years.

Just now, Ross, who had just returned home, gave him a task, which was to take care of the... uh... child in front of him?
Tokos looked at the eight-year-old child who was only a head shorter than him, and felt a little embarrassed for a moment.

Another monster was picked up, worthy of being Master Ross! The previous Sakaski has now become a lieutenant commander in the Navy and reached the peak of his life.

Anyway, he will be the one to take Barrett around for a stroll from now on.

"Ah."

Barrett responded, then stared blankly at Tokos, waiting for the other party's next move.

He didn't ask or hear anything, as if he was a machine that could be used at any time. It would run if he was told to start it, and would go into hibernation if he was not told to start it.

Although Mr. Ross had already talked about some of Barrett's conditions in advance and spoke highly of him.

but……

"Ugh."

Tokos sighed, and he finally understood what the master had said before.

----

"Barrett's thinking and emotions are very weak, and the shadows of war and childhood have had a great impact on him.

But he has great talent, so great that even I can only look at him with envy. I don't want him to become a tool without emotions! In that case, even if I train him, it will be useless, because he will one day run towards "freedom" alone.

I am a despicable guy who wants to use emotions to trap this beast and protect the Nasdaq family.

Tokos, he needs to step out and regain control of his emotions, and before that, I am the new, emotionless master of his tool.

And you, all of you, don't need to do anything. It is enough to just show your normal side, so that Barrett can understand how a normal person should behave, so that he can slowly blend in, gradually sink into it, and search for the miracle of opening his heart alone.

There is still a light in the darkness, and that is me.

There is always a miracle created from the ordinary, and that's you.

This is a calculation that will last for several years, making Barrett sink deeper and deeper in the quicksand of time, until a miracle opens his heart, until my light completely illuminates his miserable childhood!
Only in this way, when he looks back again, can I become the only light in his heart, and the entire Nasdaq family can be the place where all his emotions rest!"

---

As a butler, Tokos had to understand his master, so he knew that Master Ross might have discovered this gifted child a long time ago, but he just let him lose his way in his dark childhood.

It was not until now that Master Ross thought the time was right to take him back.

As Master Ross's butler, he thought he knew him quite well.

There may not be many good people in the whole ocean who can be compared with Ross, although he thinks he is a despicable person.

But that was just what he thought. For Barrett, Rose could bring him out of hell and help him find his human feelings again, and all he had to pay was to become a stable fighter.

They may not even be considered thugs, but rather family members who need to take responsibility for using violence.

If this matter were told to everyone, how many people would actually accuse him of being a despicable and shameless person who schemed against a child?

Greatness needs no words; judging by the heart, one can tell by the actions.

What's more, Mr. Ross must be very distressed for doing such a thing. He obviously loves his children so much, but he has to betray his own heart for his own goals.

And all this is just to love my family more.

"Come on, Barrett. I'll take you to get something to eat first. It's almost lunch time, so you can get acquainted with the family members."

Tokos said gently, put his hand on Barrett's shoulder, and walked with him forward, saying as he walked:
"There are many children adopted by Master Ross here. Don't worry. You are not special. You are just like them."

After he finished speaking, Tokos stretched out his other hand and pointed his index finger at a girl who was reading on the roadside.

He also pointed at a young couple, a group of laughing friends, several teachers who were walking to the cafeteria with their children, and so on.

They faced Tokos, some greeted him, some nodded.

Barrett watched all this calmly. These ordinary scenes reminded him of the time when he had just joined the Boy Soldiers.

That was one of the few memories he would cherish.

The young soldiers are actually very united because they are all a group of abandoned cannon fodder and they sympathize with each other.

The only thing they can get, and the only thing they can pursue, is a medal of symbolic significance.

No matter how many merits they have made, they will not receive more preferential treatment after the war like ordinary soldiers.

After all, they are just tools, they just need a goal to keep working towards, and that's enough.

For the sake of this hard-earned emotion, Barrett would try his best to take care of the weak every time, and he would feel happy every time he saw his companions survive.

but.

His kindness was not appreciated or welcomed, but instead led to betrayal again and again, and even infighting!

He didn't understand why he would take care of and protect such companions.
Do I still have hope? What am I hoping for?

Barrett didn't understand.

But he felt that strength was the only thing he could possess, something that could protect himself and allow him to survive again and again!
Until he was "rescued" by Ross and brought to this peaceful island that excited him.

It’s very ordinary and unremarkable, but warmer than anything before.

"This is the cafeteria. You can come here to get food at 8 a.m., 1 p.m., and 9 p.m. from now on. There is no limit on the amount. You can continue eating as long as you are not full."

Arriving at the cafeteria, Barrett followed Tokos in silence, silently memorizing this "rule" in his heart, and then watched the other party hand him the oversized lunch box.

"Today's lunch is curry rice with land meat. Fortunately, most of the time here we only have sea king meat. Vegetables are only available in the morning and evening."

Barrett took the lunch box with both hands and looked at the sumptuous dish in a daze.

Are these really edible? All-you-can-eat?
And, three meals a day?
(End of this chapter)