Well, this was originally going to be an oneshot, but since it had three distinctive scenes (and each scene now looks like it could stand alone as an individual chapter) I decided to break it off into three different parts. So expect three chapters, people ^^
Now, enjoy!
o.o.o.o.o.o
A nice day, such a really nice day. There were so very few of those lately, it was almost becoming a bother. He sighed in something akin to bliss as the light breeze blew past him, ruffling the ends of his coat. Yep, the day really was a damn nice one. The sun was shining bright, not a cloud in the sky, and considering they weren't on the Grand Line anymore, it was going to stay that way for quite an amount of time.
Such an unpredictable ocean that place was, not many could survive it. With its damn one-second-it's-sunny-out-and-the-next-second-I'm- there-bam-you're-dead storms, its islands no sane bastard could navigate or find (please do bear in mind that the person the narration is currently focused on is no sane bastard himself, making the last thought a very biased opinion), islands that should not be considered islands because they're either flying up in the freakin' sky or fully submerged in the damn sea. And millions of other bothersome things that make it such a fuuun place.
He cackled loudly, scaring the poor sailors scrambling around him and making them stumble under their loads. ''Now, now, no need to be scared boys. I'm just in a good mood.'' Then he proceeded to laugh some more.
Mind you, it was probably his good mood scaring the poor men so. He was considered one crazy old bastard y'know, even if his reputation greatly outweighed personal opinions and rumours circling about. People still admired him, just... from afar.
He turned to face the open sea again, enjoying the calmness of the waters around him, knowing it would be a whole different picture once they enter that blasted ocean. His trademark shit-eating grin wedged itself in place, and he was hard pressed not to begin laughing again.
He was in a damn nice mood. Why you ask? Well, because he was just returning from a visit to his cute, troublemaking, brat of a grandson. Aww, what fun that boy always was. And getting real strong too, he'll be making a fine marine soon enough. Unlike his ungrateful, hot-headed, stubborn twit of a brother.
Garp's expression darkened and the marines skirted 'just a tad bit' wider and quieter round him.
Ace just had to go and do it, didn't he? He just had to go and become a damn pirate, didn't he? And Garp had trained him to become a fine Marine too. He just had to go and trample all over his hard work and go to be the scum of the seas. It was hard-wired in that kid's brain to disobey every little thing he was ever told to do. Maybe it's his blood shining through. Then again, Luffy did the exact same thing, and he was related to Garp, so it couldn't be blood at work (he valiantly ignored something is his head screaming 'denial'... maybe he should go for a check up- of his head ... though, the last time he did that Sengoku ended up scolding him for permanently breaking the brains of their most prized doctors).
So now, Ace was a pirate, exactly like his damn father he so hard tried to not to be like. What a stupid boy. And to top it all off, he was now a member of the crew of Whitebeard. How shocking, and yet not, it was to hear he'd joined that old bastard... he'd almost choked on his cracker when he'd heard. That unpredictable brat, and his unpredictable whims! He was more surprised the old pirate managed to out stubborn that stubborn grandson of his... a feat he'd previously thought only Luffy capable of.
But at least he was safe now. Well, as safe as any pirate sailing on the Grand Line could be. But the boy was strong, so very strong, he could take care of himself.
Luffy now, he was strong too. Even if he was only fifteen still. Come to think of it, when was his birthday again? Ace would be turning nineteen in just over two months, so the rubber squirt's would be in about half a year then.
He'll make that brat a marine, so help him.
On another note, he didn't seem to be making too much trouble. Not that he'd need to make it, since it did a very good job of following the brat around.
He sniggered again.
That boy was a trouble magnet if he ever saw one. And he seemed to be fairing without Ace well enough, though he kept bugging him to take him to visit his brother. Nothing his Fist of Love didn't cure. The boy had gotten quite fast since he last saw him, he actually had to chase him through half the forest before he caught up. The squirt's appetite didn't suffer any either, and damn him if it didn't triple since his last visit. He devoured food by the tons now.
Maybe they should build a bigger ship and add it to the fleet for the boy to serve on, God knows they're going to need it to sustain that black hole of a stomach.
Pirate King, he snorted, I'm gonna get you for that one, Akagami. That annoying meddlesome brat, poisoning his grandson like that. Of all the rotten ideas to put into his head, to become a pirate... he was not letting that happen.
And why is it so much hotter all of a sudden, the sun is scorching, where is that breeze?
''Garp-san, '' he turned to see an officer saluting him ''we've entered the calm belt.''
Aaaah, that explained it.
''Well, I'm going under deck then. It's bound to get even hotter here. Bwahahaha'' he turned and strode towards the cabin doors on the other side of the ship.
''Garp-san!'' an officer came running through the very door he was heading to, yelling on the top of his lungs. He stumbled to a halt right in front of him.
''Th-the food keeps on disappearing.'' He raised an eyebrow at the lad, who hurriedly continued to explain. ''We- we stocked the fridge and the pantry full on our stop at Goa Kingdom. Th-there should be very little missing since we only left two days ago, and h-half the usual number of crew is currently on the ship. However, more than half of the food is now gone. W-we think there might be a stowaway on the ship.''
There was a few seconds of silence on the deck. Garp blinked and started laughing. Soon most of the crew followed after him.
''A stowaway? Don't be silly boy. Who would be stupid enough to board a Marine ship with that intention?'' There was a suspicious niggling in the back of his skull, he tried to scratch it out.
''Yea, '' someone shouted ''must be a mindless idiot!'' ''Or you're just some paranoid bastards down there in the kitchen.'' another one added.
The boy in front of him reddened in embarrassment. ''But it's true, the provisions are gone. And if it's a rat, it's a damn big one then!'' He looked at Garp ''Vice Admiral, come! See for yourself then.''
''Fine, fine'' Garp laughed ''I might as well grab a bite when I'm down there.''
The officer leading him twitched, knowing he didn't believe him. And it was a pretty preposterous thought, someone having the guts to stow away on a marine ship. Though, it would be less guts and more like brainlessness. Seriously, who would willingly board a high security ship under the orders of a vice admiral, with the said vice admiral (a very famous one in this case) on board. He tried to scratch the suspicious niggling, this time from the top of his head, away again.
''What will we do with the perpetrator when we apprehend him, Garp-san?''
Amused, Garp looked at the back of the audacious brat in front of him. He didn't even try to act like he believed there wasn't a possibility of the disturbance being anything other than a man. He liked those kinds of gutsy, straight-forward people... being one himself and all.
He was just about to open his mouth and say something when a commotion further down inside the ship distracted him. He marine in front of him flinched, and started trembling minutely. ''I say that no rat could ever cause that kind of noise.''
And really, any other rats than those monstrous ones found on some scant islands of the Grand Line could not possible be able to make that kind of noise. Garp could hear people shouting and the dull thud of a few impacts against the wood walls, actually he could even hear some of the cracks indicating the splintering of wood. Every once in a while someone screamed, from pain most likely. And every time the boy in front of him would flinch violently.
He quickened his steps, going ahead of the officer in front of him. He crossed the halls quickly, far faster than most marines there had ever seen him go. And he was curious as to what the thing making all that noise could be. Possibly, well, probably human, since they were in East Blue previously, and there weren't any suspicious creatures with the ability to board a ship unnoticed there. That brought up the question of who on that island could (im)possibly be stupid enough to do it.
Other than Luffy.
''...!''
Garp froze. The sound of the wood walls of the interior of the ship breaking could be heard now. The sounds of fighting having grown loud enough to draw the marines stationed on the upper decks and out on the deck to the kitchen, en masse. He could see people running by him by the heaps, almost forming a steady line. Though, by the sound of it, it seems that as many officers that arrive there they are still not enough to subdue who-whatever it is. And by the sound of walls shattering, just the same number of people are flung from the commotion to other parts of the ship.
He shook his head, no way in Hell could the troublemaker (if Garp had warning bells like any normal human, they'd be going off right about now) making their ship more lively be Luffy. It just wasn't possible.
Firstly, he wouldn't dare do it in fear of bringing his, the dear grandfather he so loved and cherished, wrath upon his head. He had trained his grandson too thoroughly to ever be able to forget his authority and do a stunt like this.
Secondly, though he may not acknowledge it, he was well aware his young grandson bore a kind of aversion towards marines. The kind in which he turned tail and ran for the hills yelling 'you'll never take me alive' and 'I dun wanna see jii-chan' (the latter of the two sentences earning him a loving bump on the head – thus leaving him unconscious – courtesy of his loving grandfather) the second he spotted a marine. (Little did Garp know that that little fear/aversion was going to abruptly leave Luffy in the next year or two, coincidentally overlapping with his coming out as a pirate)
Thirdly, the brat wanted to become a pirate – here Garp snorted, thinking 'fat chance of that happening'. So he would not board a ship full of marines, led by his marine grandfather and going to an all-marine destination, namely Marineford, where said (loony) marine grandfather would proceed to try to turn him into a respectable marine (which was going to happen anyways, if Garp had any say in it... which, he would sadly learn later, he had not).
And lastly, the kid had absolutely no kind of finesse at all. Luffy was most certainly not stealthy, nor sneaky, nor inconspicuous, nor quiet, nor trying to be quiet, nor patient, nor ingenious, nor lucky enough to possibly pull off an infiltration of a marine ship by himself (and no one in that village, or the bandits, would help him do something like this... even if he'd want to do it). It would require very quiet feet, perfect timing and a good plan to pass the sentries positioned strategically on the ship, not to mention luck, patience and sneakiness to actually lay low once he'd managed to get on the ship – things that have already been stated as absent as personality traits in that idiotic boy. He'd have been spotted immediately upon trying something.
Nope, Luffy was most definitely not the one to pull this stunt off. Njet, nada, no, nein, iie, ne.
With that all cleared up, Garp breathed a sigh of relief, let out a I-really-worked-myself-up-there-and-for-nothing sigh and got his feet moving again. The noise was louder, and closer, now. Maybe he'd walked some ways there while under thought... who knew, he shrugged it off and continued on his way unperturbed. The sound level steadily rose as he got closer, he started seeing marines nursing a few wounds along the hall.
One cradled his arm awkwardly with tears –silent ones though – streaming down his face, the thing must be broken. Not further off another was clenching his teeth, trying to brave the pain as a fellow marine gripped his upper arm and pulled then pushed it back into place. Garp winced sympathetically as he heard a pop; dislocated shoulders really were quite painful. He looked up to see someone flying right at him, he stepped aside and the rather tall man whooshed past him, crashing into a wall not two seconds after. He was just a few steps from the room that seemed to be the centre of the commotion.
Another reason why this could not be Luffy. He was sure even his monster of a grandson wasn't that strong. There were a lot of officers nursing injuries, and even more holes, dents and shattered planks of wood littering the walls, even the floor and ceiling. Not even that veritable hurricane of a child could cause this much damage... yet.
He stepped into the room, hearing very loud yelling from his soldiers, seeing men flying at the walls and crashing into them and each other with bruising force. The kitchen was in ruins, cutlery sprawled everywhere, plates in pieces, tables, chairs, cupboards and everything that could be moved was overturned and dented, some in pieces as well.
He brought up and arm and stopped another marine in the process of barrelling into him. Garp set the man, who was looking at him as if he'd seen Buddha himself, down and glanced up in search of the culprit.
And damn that boy had been right, no freaking rat could be responsible for this.
His gaze homed in on the cluster of bodies, where the white clad ones of his men were continuously being flung away from, and struggled to indentify the centre of the chaos.
Once he did, his eyes bulged out of their sockets, snot started dripping from his nose and his jaw opened so wide that one could have easily put a giant's fist in there and still have some space to spare. He could barely process what he was seeing in front of him.
There, right smack dab in the damn middle of everything was his foolish, troublemaking snot of a grandson, currently engaged in a fight against a sword carrying marine, a club carrying marine and about three other something-carrying marines... and winning.
That damn brat! So it was him. And he'd been trying to convince himself otherwise so hard. He could feel his fingers twitch, itching for that that rubber head he was soon going to punch the lights out off.
Though, on another note, the brat was doing far better than he'd expected. There were some bruises and cuts littering his body, but nothing serious or deep, and certainly nothing that would be able to handicap him in any further fighting. Impressive, considering the number of men he'd been up against, and the number of those he'd been able to injure. His movements weren't half bad either, far more flexible than any normal human – probably attributed to his devil fruit power – and punches that rattle the opponents very bones, unsurprising, seeing how his arms stretch to accumulate the speed and force and then return with unnerving accuracy on his attackers. He didn't know Luffy had gotten so accurate with his hits.
He suddenly jammed an elbow into the gut of a man just starting to swing down his club. The marine doubled over and didn't get back up, Garp thought he'd heard the crunch of a rib breaking. He blinked to see his grandson quickly stepping away from the horizontal swing of a sword and then stretch his arm backwards, yelling 'Gomu Gomu no Pistol' and launching the officer and his sword out of the room. And Garp would never admit it out loud, but there was a sudden feeling of pride blooming in his chest when he saw Luffy extend his leg horizontally and simultaneously deal with the remaining marines surrounding him.
But, it was quickly extinguished when it occurred to him again that it was his blasted grandson currently causing trouble in front of his own damn nose. He brought up his hand, instantly halting any and all men readying to attack the scrawny looking boy wearing the ridiculous straw hat. Luffy, who had his back turned to him, twitched and looked around wondering why they weren't attacking him anymore. He only caught a glimpse of his grandfather before Garp's fist descended and sent him flying through the wall.
The vice admiral looked terrifying, a dark aura swivelling around his form and fist raised. Though he had a wide (and rather proud too) grin etched across his face. It was gone by the time the kid pulled himself out of the rubble.
''OW, what was that for?''
A tick mark appeared on the side of Garp's head and he took a menacing step forward. Luffy, realising that it was his grandfather standing in front of him, that he was currently looking ready to kill something and that he was walking in his direction, started shaking minutely, inching backwards little by little.
''Luffy, what are you doing here?''
Luffy looked nervous. ''I hitched a ride, heh heh...'' he scratched the back of his head nervously.
Garp took another step forward, and, this time, all the marines took a collective step back. Luffy stood his ground though, though his shaking became a little more prominent.
''And why have you hitched a ride?''
''Aaah, because I wanna see Ace.''
Garp was in front of him in an instant, his loving Fist of Love ready and already in motion. Luffy yelped and clutched his head, a rather large bump already forming. ''What was that for?'' he wailed.
''Becuse I told you I'm not going to take you to see your brother.'' He bellowed. ''He is a pirate, and I don't need another bad influence on you!''
''Well, that's too bad,'' Luffy pouted, showing no fear all of a sudden, leaving the surrounding marines speechless. ''since I'm goin' now anyways.'' Then he blinked. ''And Ace is not a bad influence!'' he yelled and head-butted his grandpa in the stomach.
Garp hardly even felt it.
''So what are we going to do now?'' he asked after sending Luffy through the wall, again. Some of the men surrounding him thought that they would have to get a new ship, this one resembled cheese with all the holes littering it. At least the hull hadn't been wrecked under the sea line, meaning they would be able to get back to headquarters safely... hopefully.
''Go see Ace!'' the voice came from rather far away this time.
''We are not going to go see Ace!''
''Yes we are!'' the voice sounded a little closer.
''No we aren't!''
''We are!''
''No!''
''Are so!''
''Are not!''
The marines watched, speechless, as the grandchild and grandparent argued. Like kids. The strawhat wearing boy, now indentified as Luffy, had come right up to the vice admiral and they were screaming right into each other's face. Garp remedied that by beating the brat into the ground. There was a collective sweatdrop from the on looking crowd.
''And how do you expect me to take you to your brother?''
A few moments of silence passed as the boy tried to pull his head out of the floorboards. It occurred to Garp that the ship is really going to need repairs now. Another thing to be mad at his troublesome grandson for.
''Eashy..'' came the muffled response, his jaw movements were probably limited by the wood, seeing as his reply came out sounding like he gritted it out through clenched teeth. ''Aaah-'' his head came free ''You'll sail the ship to him.''
And he earned himself another loving bump on the head.
''You ungreatful brat! How do you expect me to 'sail the ship to him' if he is a lowlife pirate and I'm a marine!?''
Luffy grumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'like that'd stop you', and Garp started cracking his knuckles. Cold sweat dropped down Luffy's face at the terrifying sight. ''You'll be paying him a visit too!'' he yelled, and threw his arms up in defence.
A second passed and Luffy blinked, not feeling any impact. He dropped his arms slowly, only to see his grandpa frozen but blinking rather stupidly.
''Waaa, you actually have a good idea there, Luffy.''
The men around them sweatdropped again at hearing his words, collectively thinking, that was a given if you were to be the one to get him there.
''Yaay'' the scrawny kid started jumping up and down rather comically in their opinion, his arms raised high above his head and a grin brighter than the noon sun on a summer island almost devouring his face. Oh, and he was jumping up almost his entire height's worth in the air.
What kind of monster was this kid!?
He put almost half of the entire ship's crew out of commission, alone. They shuddered, the kid looked barely fifteen years old, still nothing more than a teenager, and he was already this destructive. They suddenly dreaded the day he would 'grow up', praying to all deities in existence that he does not become a marine. They wouldn't survive it. (This would be a good time to mention that over half of the ship's food supply was currently missing.)
Then again, they'd have to go up against him if he became a pirate.
Either way, it was a lose-lose situation.
''But first,'' Garp gave a shit-eating grin, ''we have to go to Headquarters.''
''Okay!'' Luffy grinned.
Then blinked.
Then his eyes grew to the size of plates.
''Nooo,'' he wailed, ''Not where the marines are, where Ace is!''
Garp laughed uproariously.
''There, there, maybe we should get some training in while we're there.''
''I DON'T WANNAAAA!''
o.o.o.o.o.o
That's it for part one. I don't know when you should expect the 2nd chapter, probably sometime after my exams finish (they finish next week). I hope you liked reading this, and reviews are always welcome (constructive criticism and all). Stay tuned for the second instalment! (Where more fun awaits!) ;)
-lily