He was born a few years before Ace and Luffy were born into this world, his mother died a few years after he was born from a plague that she was infected with. Edward tried to do everything he could in his power but could do nothing to save her.

After Roger's death he had given up on trying to improve or become strong, maintaining his position of the strongest man in the world, but after his wife died and seeing his 3-year-old son crying for his mom, a fire sparked in his heart.

His son and the Whitebeard pirates were the only family he had now, and he swore to protect them no matter what. He reduced his consumption of sake and started training again, pushing beyond his limits, so he could protect his son and family.

Zeus, experiencing his mother's death at such a young age was hardened. His mother had always taught him the importance of strength, this world was cruel and his own strength was the only thing that would support him and keep him alive. She had always encouraged him to become stronger and after her death, he was even more determined.

Growing up with the Whitebeard Pirates he was way mature than his age and would read up books and newspapers as he discussed the world with his father.

He was still the youngest among all the Whitebeard Pirates, they treated him as their younger brother as they doted on him but at the same time recognized his intelligence and potential.

When he was 10, his father gave him the Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, the Lightning Dragon Fruit. This was something he had won from Kaido when they fought years ago and had preserved it to this date for his son who he now believed was old enough and mature enough to handle this power.

"Are you sure you want to give this to me? This is one of your rarest possessions" asked Zeus as he looked at his father and the fruit on the table. The fruit was dark blue with white stripes.

"Gurarara, of course, it's yours, who else is capable of wielding such a devil fruit than my own son," said Whitebeard as he looked at his son with pride. He was only 10 but the abilities he had shown had shocked him. He was truly a prodigy.

"Just eat it Zeus, or do you want me to chop it for you," said Thatch on the side as laughed at the shocked Zeus.

All the members of the Whitebeard Pirate were here, Whitebeard had actually managed to increase his strength and heal his injuries in the past 10 years. He no longer felt like a dying old man but a powerful man in his prime as he sat straight in front of them.

Zeus knew all about Devil Fruits from the books he had read and knew it was gonna taste like crap, he prepared himself as he ate the Lightning Dragon Fruit.

"Aargh, it's so bad, it's worse than I thought," said he as he finished the entire fruit.

In the next moment, his body started crackling with sparks. He looked at his palms and focused as he could feel lightning flowing through his veins as his physical body became stronger every second under the effect of the fruit.

He focused the lightning in his body and it created a spark of lightning with a boom as it resounded in the surrounding sea.

"There you go, already flashing your powers heh," said Marco looking from the side smiling at his little brother.

"Gurarara, now that's my son. You have the Devil Fruit now, you have been studying intensely the past 10 years, its time for you to train seriously. I and Marco will train you to use your Devil Fruit properly. So prepare yourself." said Whitebeard as he laughed joyously and the rest of the crew celebrated the occasion.

/---

7 Years later, the crew stopped at an island. Some guy called Ace had challenged Whitebeard saying he would take his head, of course, he wasn't able to do so. He was dragged by Whitebeard on the ship and he accepted him as one of his sons.

Zeus was happy to no longer be the youngest one on the ship, Ace had become like his little brother as they would spar together and hang out.

/---

2 Years Later

"Are you going to leave soon Zeus?" asked Ace as he walked with Zeus on an Island.

"Yeah, I have spent enough time with the Whitebeard Pirates, I need to go out and experience this world for myself. I have been under his protection all this time and with the name I have, I probably would experience it anyway but I still want to do it," said Zeus as he smiled.

"Your ambitions are so big, even I get scared, you make being the Pirate King sound like nothing," said Ace as he laughed as he knew his brother wanted to rule the world.

"You should dream big Ace, why limit yourself to just being the Pirate King," said Zeus as they reached the ship.

"You should meet my little brother Luffy, you would probably have an interesting conversation," said Ace as he laughed and got on the ship.

There was a huge commotion going on.

"Oi, Marco, what's going on?" asked Zeus as he boarded the ship.

"It is Teach, he almost killed Thatch and stole the Yami Yami no mi and ran away, if not for Old Man interfering in time he would have lost his life," said Marco in anger as he was taking care of Thatch as his Phoenix flames healed his injuries.

"Thatch!" screamed Ace as he rushed towards him. Thatch had been the first person who was friendly to him when he joined the crew and had always been nice to him.

"A-are you alright ?" said he shaking his body.

"I-I am fine Ace, it's just small injuries, you are just making it worse," said Thatch as he forced a smile.

"That Teach, I will kill him," said Ace as he raged and his fists turned into fire, but in that instant, there was a roar of a dragon from someone beside them, the roar shook the entire ship and the island they were on as the skies parted.

"Old man, what direction did that bastard go ?" asked Zeus as his body crackled with lightning as he had a cold look on his face.

"You sure you want to do this ?" said Whitebeard who was also angry as he pointed in a direction, he was more worried about Thatch than chasing after Blackbeard who ate the Yami Yami no Mi and flew away, his powers could not make him fly after all.

Marco who could fly was tending to the injuries of Thatch and thus he managed to escape.

"Yeah," said Zeus as he flew in the sky as his body turned into a huge dragon with dark blue and white scales. As they opened and closes they crackled with lightning, he roared once again as the sky turned dark and was filled with storm clouds. He spread his wings and the ocean waves surged as he flew in the direction of Marshall D. Teach.

Zeus was not just sitting around these past 9 years, he had trained hard and was able to utilize his fruit and was able to freely transform into his dragon form. He had gone out on several expeditions in the world as part of the crew. Despite not being a commander, he had made a name for himself.

He was no longer the kid who read books on the ship and marveled at the world, he was the 500 Million Bounty Pirate, Son of Whitebeard, The Lightning Dragon Zeus Newgate.