Chapter 2: That I desire
Makino had attempted to dissuade Garp from taking Reggy along, but the man had been insistent.
"This'll be good for her!" Garp had chortled. "The air is fresher there and she'll see what's beyond of those books that she's always reading."
Makino had been doubtful that this would result in any good.
She was right in the end.
About a week after seeing the Monkey D twins, Makino woke up at the crack of dawn to someone banging at her door. Bewildered, she dragged herself out of her warm covers, warily opened the door, and had Dadan shove an unconscious and emaciated Reggy into her arms. Behind the large woman were frantic bandits, all bursting at a cacophony of desperate pleas.
"You have to do something!" Dadan shrieked. "Otherwise, Garp'll have my head at a stake!"
Feeling a tiny hands grasp at her skirt, Makino looked down to see Luffy in tearful hysterics. She jolted in full wakefulness and jumped right into action. "Someone get a doctor!"
A few hours later, Reggy was tucked in bed. The village doctor imparted any well-heeded advice before heading off. Dadan and her men, who all had been nervously waiting, crowded outside of the bedroom and exclaimed demands of the girl's wellbeing.
"She's fine," Makino assured the lot. "She just needs to rest."
"Rest?" one bandit said incredulously. "Rest from what? All she ever did up in the mountain was clean dishes and sweep the floors!"
"She needs rest because she nearly died from starvation, you fool," Dadan snapped.
"About that…" Makino crossed her arms and stared directly at the older woman. "How did Reggy turn out the way she did?"
Dadan flinched. "Look, it wasn't my fault! Every night, I always feed the boys—and, um, the girly scamp over there—food."
Makino's brows furrowed. "Is the food distributed unevenly?"
"No, no. The food's all piled up at the center of the cabin. It's a free-for-all, then. Everyone fights over the best slice of meat and the strongest end up sleeping through the night like a pig." She broke out into a loud guffaw, and then instantly settled down to a flat, "Oh shit."
Makino scanned across the room to see similar expressions on everyone's face. She sighed and propped her hands on her hips.
So what? Reggy would rather starve than participate in a battle for scraps?
Now that she thought about it… The fact that the seven-year-old would hold herself in such a dignified manner—while baffling, especially putting her in contrast to her twin brother—was actually a believable one. That was an assumption, though; Reggy could've tried to get something to eat before being constantly put to the side. Besides, Makino was sure that Luffy wouldn't be so inattentive of his sister not eating.
She poked her head in the bedroom. Luffy was sprawled across Reggy's form, but it was obvious that he kept an ear strained to hear the conversation, convenient stretchy powers and all.
"Luffy, did you notice Reggy not eating?"
The boy's eyes darted downwards, an evident guilty frown spreading on his face, but he looked up and cried out defensively, "I tell her that I'd get her something, but she always says no."
Well, that answered that.
It seemed that Luffy hadn't been aware most of the time, but when he was Reggy would turn down the offer for food.
"Did she explain why?"
Luffy scrunched his face. "She said that she didn't want to eat food that's contama—contamu—contamama—"
"Contaminated?"
"Yeah!"
"What!" Dadan's voice thundered from the other side. "I'll have you know that the food my boys and I bring are perfectly edible!"
Makino didn't want to think in such a way due to her sweet nature, but, well, she just had an uncharitable thought about Dadan's questionable meaning of edibility. Unless the floor in her cabin was sparkled like diamonds from the sheer cleanliness, Makino had a difficult time imagining anyone not getting some sort of organ infection. The gang before her didn't exactly appear the most hygienic.
Then again, perhaps these bandits were or happened to be impervious to dirt and germs. In either case, Luffy was someone Makino had no worries about considering he had an iron stomach. Could the same be said about Reggy? She was a Monkey D, but she was quite different compared to her brother and grandfather in terms of eating. One, she hardly ate the same amount that the two of them did; two, she didn't express the enjoyment of eating whatsoever. The latter could be refuted, though; Reggy was expressionless in general, so she could be displaying happiness in her own way…
Which seemed improbable.
Anyways, Reggy's deviance from anything Monkey-ish provided enough proof that feeding her bandit meals wasn't worth risking her health.
Makino decided that Reggy wasn't going to return to the mountains, regardless of what Garp had to say.
When she sent the bandits away, Luffy adamantly refused to leave Reggy's side. The poor boy was stricken with so much fear and concern for his sister that Makino didn't have the heart to tell him to leave. Luffy spent the rest of the day sitting by the bed and staring anxiously at Reggy.
It was around the afternoon that Makino returned to her house to hear Luffy cry out, "Reggy! You're alive!"
Makino hurried inside the bedroom to find Luffy grinning widely at Reggy and tears emerging at the corners of his eyes. Reggy pulled herself upright and leveled a quizzical look at her brother. There was a moment of realization filtering in her gaze, and the girl closed her eyes and sighed out, "Still here."
Makino was puzzled by what Reggy meant, but didn't think much of it afterwards.
