Tell it to the Marines
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Chapter 21
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"Fuck!"
All three boys snap up to look at her the second the word passes her lips, but Riskua can't quite help herself. She's dropped one of their only bowls in the shallow section of the river and it's cracked on the rocks beneath but she can't quite drum up the thought to really care right now.
"What the hell, Ri, that was our second to last bowl!" Sabo snaps, hand still holding the dishtowel Makino had lent them for an indefinite period of time, which he proceeds to whip at her. It snaps startlingly close to her face, kissing the air before her nose.
"Forget that," Riskua hisses, shooting to her feet and checking herself for her daggers. All four of them are there, her old ones on her forearms still and the new set Mihawk had sent by post -it had to be Mihawk, Shanks'd never be able to send anything by mail given his status- sheathed and strapped to her waist. "I can sense Garp."
Like a bucket of cold water had been through over them, the trio explode into action.
"To the treehouse! If we get there in time we might be able to hold him off!" The 'for a little while' isn't verbalised, but they all know the truth. Ace's just too proud to actual admit they have no hope of holding off the Vice Admiral.
Abandoning their pots -they can always get more, this is a matter of survival-, the four of them race the short distance between the river and the treehouse, hastily scrambling up the single rope ladder and they should really look into a second one. Riskua's the first one up, followed swiftly by Ace, and they don't even wait for Sabo and Luffy to finish climbing up before they're both pulling at each side of the rope, reeling the ladder along with the other two boys in.
Sabo and Luffy both tumble in quickly and don't even hesitate to begin battening down the hatches, so to speak. Which basically involves slamming the windows shut and locking them as swiftly as they can. She and Ace get the door, Ace hefting the heavy wood into position as she uses Armament to crush the metal hinges to the point of uselessness.
Not that a wooden door would stop Garp. Hell, she doubts stone walls would put a pause in his stride.
"How far away is he?" Sabo snaps as he links his fingers together, accepting her foot into the temporary step his joined digits make. Riskua jumps up, reaching just high enough to grab the rope above thanks to Sabo's extra push.
"Thirty seconds and counting."
Ace swears while Luffy, the crazy little lunatic, just laughs.
"We're gonna get 'im good this time," he declares, adjusting his stance so Ace can throw him up to her in their 'crow's nest'. Ah to be young and optimistic.
Sabo's next, jumping up off of Ace's back to grasp Luffy's hands, Riskua holding tight to the rubbery boy's feet. Ace snatches hold of Sabo's ankles and with a flare of Haki, Riskua pulls them all up.
From there, it's battle positions, peering over the edge of their hopefully secure enough hideout, armed with rocks collected for exactly this reason. They've all gotten to the point now where they can throw something mighty hard with Armament, useful little skill that it is, and they've even gone a few sharpened branches to act as spears if they tire of their earthy projectiles.
"Three seconds, to the East," Riskua grunts, reaching out to turn Luffy in the right direction at the same time Sabo leans over and adjusts Ace.
Right on cue, Garp comes crashing through the jungle, a tree falling as he powers right through his trunk like it isn't even there. Terrifying.
"Fire!" Luffy bellows, throwing his skull sized rock as hard as he possibly can.
Garp lets out a gruff kind of 'gah' sound, ducking the first attack. He blocks the next six or so, but clearly loses his patience, because-
"Return fire!" Sabo screams and they all hastily duck for cover, Ace snatching Luffy up and forcing him to stretch over the three of them.
Of course, Luffy's immune to blunt attacks and Garp's angry -oh god, she can feel it through Observation now, he's not pissed but he's irritated- enough to not think to embed them with Haki.
"Ow!" No, she takes that back.
Snatching up one of the branch spears, Riskua launches it at the marine, who bellows in rage and- and actually pounds a fist against his chest in his fury?! Is he mocking them?
"Bwahahaha! You brats think you can take me on?!"
It's like an earthquake when Garp's fist meets the base of their tree, the building rocking back and forth and they cling to one another for dear life.
"He's gonna knock us down!" Sabo cries and they all swear. There's only one way to save the treehouse and that's to-
"Flee!"
They all split from the crow's nest at Riskua's order, hastily retreating towards the thicket of jungle via the tangle of branches. It's a blessing the trees are so close together, or they'd never manage this otherwise.
"You brats! Get down here!"
A rock whizzes by unnervingly close to Riskua's head and she lets out a cry of surprise. She's echoed by another mad laugh from Luffy and when she looks at them all, the boys are grinning just as wildly as she is. It's a damn good thing they've practiced using the trees and their branches as an escape route before, because Riskua's pretty sure they'd have fallen to their death -by Garp's hand- otherwise.
Irritatingly enough, Luffy is the best out of all of them, living up to his family name and swinging effortlessly from the branches.
Ace sees this too, because he hastily latches onto Luffy's back, laughing joyfully as the younger boy eagerly puts more and more space between himself and Garp.
Garp who is swiftly catching up to them!
Riskua only just manages to get onto the next tree before the one she'd previously occupied is down by one of Garp's furious fists. God almighty!
The next twenty seconds feel like the longest of her life, and then everything just stops because she misses the next branch.
Screaming, Riskua scrambles for a better hold, lashing out with Armament in a attempt to attach herself to the nearby tree. She manages to dig her hand through the trunk like butter, leaving herself with a sure hold but accidentally snapping one of the thicker branches in her panic. The one Sabo's clinging to.
"Damn it, Riskua!"
She makes an attempt to help, and consequently loses her own hold of the tree. Both she and Sabo slam into several branches which only sort of cushion their fall to the dry earth.
They both land with a pained 'oomph' and then Garp's got a hold of the backs of their shirts, hoisting them into the air as if they're still ten and under, instead of the fourteen and thirteen they actually are.
"You damn brats! Just wait 'till I've caught the other two. You'll accept my training and become damn fine marines!"
"I ain't gonna be a marine, I'm gonna be a revolutionary!"
It's the first time this has actual come up in conversation, and Riskua is genuinely fearing for her life with the shade of red Garp turns.
"Revolutionary?!" He thunders, furiously shaking Sabo about. Or at least, she thinks he does, given Garp apparently cannot move one arm at once and is shaking her about too.
"Yeah…" Sabo stammers off, dazed navy eyes blinking rapidly as he tries to reorient herself.
"That's worse than a pirate!" Garp yells, hefting Sabo into position and then launching him like a missile towards the two fleeing brothers that're almost out of sight.
It's a direct hit and Riskua watches in morbid fascination as Ace loses his grip and falls to the floor, Luffy literally hanging onto the branch by the tips of his fingers.
"And you?" The snort that leaves his nose when his attention turns to her is like that of an aggressive animal right before it attacks.
"Still following Luffy!" Riskua hastily chokes out because she doesn't want Garp thinking she's gonna run off and join his troublesome son too.
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All too soon the three of them are caught, slung over one of Garp's massive shoulders and held there by one stupidly powerful arm as the other continues to launch rocks, branches, and, at one point, a whole tree at Luffy. Showing that the gods really do smile upon him, the little brat has dodged every last one, much to their envy. It's over soon enough though, because Garp decides he's had enough and launches himself him to the air in pursuit.
They all squawk in surprise, none louder than Luffy himself, as Garp keeps kicking at the air and physically tackles his grandson down from the trees.
"What the fuck was that?!" Ace screams from beside her and Riskua's pretty sure if Luffy's terrified screech of surprise hadn't burst an eardrum, that one definitely did.
"Super secret Marine technique which is taught to Marines only! Not pirates and certainly not Revolutionaries!"
At this, he grabs Sabo by his ankles and proceeds to wave him around like a prize. The blond boy has no choice but to go limp and pray Garp didn't decide to start his career as a lumberjack, only substituting Sabo as his axe. Riskua though, Riskua sees an opportunity here.
"Well maybe we'd want to be marines if you taught us cool stuff like that." She slaps a hand over Ace's mouth and the freckled boy -proving how sharp his mind is when he's paying attention- is quick to follow suit and forcibly silence the denial Luffy's about to sprout.
"Teach you Geppo?!" Garp laughs, laughs like a manic who's been told the funniest joke in the world. Which, hey, they can't really be called jokes, they're pretty damn strong for three teenagers and one preteen. "Not a chance!"
"But think of how much safer we'd be! I mean," mentally steeling herself because she'd never bring this up unless there was any great reason to do so, Riskua continues. "Imagine how easy it'd have been to find Ace and Luffy in that fire if we could have just hopped up into the sky to take a look."
Garp goes silent at that and she can smell the burning as the rarely used gears in his brain begin to turn. Catching onto her plan, Sabo nods furiously from where he's hanging upside down in Garp's grasp, hat lost somewhere in the chase.
"Yeah! It'd be so much easier to look after each other if we had that! I might even reconsider my choice for an ability like that!"
"Please Gramps?!" Luffy whines, Ace having whispered what they're trying to do into his ear and hastily commanded 'play along'. He throws out those adorable eyes that the whole lot of them can barely ever resist, along with a pout he's been skilfully crafting with Makino. Solely because he's noticed a good pout usually gets him extra meat. Which is damn devious of him, actually.
"You brats don't have the leg strength for it," Garp snaps, clamping each hand around the meat of a thigh and absentmindedly dropping Sabo in the process.
Both she and Ace hang limply in Garp's grip, Riskua uncomfortably tugging at her shirt to keep it around her hips and not allow it to roll up -or is it down?- her torso.
"We can get leg strength," Ace points out, squinting up at Garp as all the blood rushes to his head.
"Yeah, leg strength'll be well worth working for is that's the result," Sabo mutters, running a hand through his shirt blond locks and scanning the surroundings for his missing in action hat.
"Teach me, Gramps!"
Looking into Garp's eyes, Riskua gets the feeling they're going to be taught all right. It's just a shame Garp probably prescribes to the notion of 'pain is the best teacher'.
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A month passes and Riskua has never felt so much pain in her legs before. She hadn't realised just how much strength, how much speed and dexterity went into Geppo. She still wants to learn it, by god does she still want to learn it. But this hurts so much.
In a full split beside Luffy -who has no problem at all with the flexibility issue, the little brat- Riskua leans forwards until she can curl her hands around her foot, forcibly pulling her torso down. While Ace and Sabo might be ahead of her in terms of strength, she's leagues ahead in flexibility, much to their disgruntlement. They all have to work for this, to keep pushing themselves past their limits. And once they're past that, they have to push even further in order to crawl back to the treehouse for the night.
Each day, Garp laughs at them and proclaims they'll never manage it, but if anything that's even more of an incentive for them to keep going. Not one of them wants to prove Garp's doubt right.
It still doesn't stop the muscles on her legs screaming in pain every time she falls asleep, and they ache from all that screaming when she wakes up. More than once she's just collapsed after climbing down from the treehouse's ladder, and she's not the only one.
It's been a month, how long does Garp plan on staying here? He's still got a job, hasn't he? Shouldn't he have left them alone by now?
"Well brats."
At the address, all four of them look up hopefully, Ace and Sabo not quite in a full split but getting close.
"If you keep this up, you'll be ready to figure out Geppo in about a year."
"A year?!" Luffy screams, looking mutinous. "I bet I can learn it in half a year!"
"Bwahahaha! Not a chance! But you will learn it before you become a Marine! You'll shoot up the ranks!"
Ace and Sabo both abandon their stretches in order to dog pile Luffy, suffocating his denial before it can really be voiced.
Riskua just offers Garp a pained smile, slowly rising her from own stretch. "We'll figure it out and then master it, and use it to look out for one another."
Tactfully, she makes no mention of using it for the Marines and Garp does call her out on it, for all this his eyebrows lower and lips twist.
"Bwahaha! Even if you brats manage it, it'll take a lot more than that to even come close to beating me."
Yeah, Riskua doesn't doubt that. But they'll be a step closer at least.
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"You little brat!" Ace bellows, waving one fist around in Luffy's general direction as the youngest among them making a swift get away. "Get back he-" Ace cuts off, his eyes going wide and mouth popping open and besides Sabo, Riskua dissolves into helpless laughter.
"Did your voice just crack?" Sabo asks, struggling to keep his own mirth under wraps. But Ace's voice had just done the funniest thing, like he'd forgotten how to speak and just fumbled and ha! That was great!
"Do it again!" Riskua demands, prodding Ace in the side as if that's actually get him to make that same embarrassingly high pitch thing he'd just done.
"Yeah, do it again, Ac-" Sabo freezes, eyes wide and disbelieving.
Riskua has given up her hopeless battle of remaining upright, crumpling to the floor with laughter as Ace turns a semi-smug grin upon Sabo.
"Do what again, Sabo? Do you mean that croaky little squeak you just made?"
Crap. This isn't fair at all.
A year ago, Garp had collared both him and Ace, dragging them off into the wilderness for a 'man's talk' which involved a lot more punching and hunting than actual talking. But as it turned out, that'd been the Vice Admiral's attempt at a sex talk, one he didn't think Luffy needed yet.
The old bastard had looked so relieved when he was informed they already knew the facts of life.
Still, he'd warned them about girls -a distraction- funny feelings -ignore 'em, they'll go away- along with a whole lot of other stuff Sabo really didn't need to know.
Which is why he knows exactly what's happening.
His and Ace's voices are breaking. He's looking forwards to a velvety smooth adult's voice, but this is not a metamorphosis he's pleased about going through.
He wants the end result now, damn it.
It's okay for Riskua; she's got a nice mature voice now, the softness of childhood left behind. But she's always been the wisest of them, it's not a surprise she also sounds the part now.
Riskua who's laughing so hard she's actually crying.
"Months," she gasps, wild eyed and looking delighted. "There's gonna be months of this. You two are so going to be losing all your arguments."
It's an unspoken rule that the one to make another laugh in an argument loses it. It's why Luffy so rarely wins any of them, once his distinct lack of logic is taken into account that is.
Sabo scowls, folding his arms across his chest and glaring. At this point though, he doesn't dare to open his mouth, because of his voice goes again it'll just prove her point even more.
"Lose them all?!" Of course, Ace isn't that smart. The dark haired male laughs, planting one hand on his hip and running the other through his hair. "I won't lose an argument because of this thing, and I won't-"
His face slams into the floor.
Both Sabo and Riskua stare for a second, the only noise between them the steadily increasing rumbles of Ace's snoring.
"You know, I was a bit worried about the Narcolepsy thing at first," Sabo muses, jabbing his foot into his brother's ribs but getting absolutely no reaction whatsoever. "But it's actually pretty great."
Riskua blinks, wiping the small pattering of tears from the corner of her eyes before she grins.
"Sabo, go get the marker."
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Luffy can't quite remember what the argument starts off from, he can't quite remember why Ace storms off in a huff.
What he does know though, is the next day Ace's built his own little home in front of Dadan's yard and declared it 'Ace Country; for Aces only'. Which meant Luffy isn't allowed in.
Like hell if Luffy was gonna sit down and take that.
So now there's 'Luffy Country' across from Ace Country because Ace isn't gonna be Pirate King, Luffy is. But Ace is gonna be a pirate, so in order to become Pirate King Luffy has to be better than Ace at everything. Including living as a country, all on his lonesome.
Three days have passed since the establishment -Luffy's got no idea what that word means but Sabo said it so he has to be using it right- of Luffy Country.
Ace's doing everything by himself, hunting all the food he eats and he's been cooking it over a fire by himself and so that's what Luffy's been doing too. They don't hunt as a group anymore. Oh, they move together, always set off at the same time and stay in the same area.
Only now, Ave and Luffy go chasing after their own meat, while Sabo and Riskua still work together. Which means they're usually done first, but they don't seem to mind.
Luffy likes it when the two watch him, he's always pleased because his big brother and big sister get to see just how much he's improved. And he's improved a lot. With the mystery power, his Devil Fruit power and that awful strength training with Gramps, he's super strong now. He'll keep getting stronger and stronger, and then when he sets sail, nothing'll stop him. He'll gather the best crew in the world; he's already got Riskua so that automatically means he's got the best first mate in the world because Riskua's just that amazing. She knows the answer to everything, there's not been one question that Luffy's asked that she hasn't been able to answer in some way.
Sabo and Ace will both be sailing, even if Sabo doesn't want to be a pirate anymore. But the blond wants to fight for freedom, he wants to take down the nobles and the Celestial Dragons. Even Riskua's only spoke of them in hushed whispers, a look on her face like she'd eaten some really nasty food. Like, Devil Fruit bad. So Luffy doesn't like them either; they sound like really horrible people and they don't want another Pirate King in the world. So they were never gonna be his friends anyway.
It's all going well, Ace Country and Luffy Country are in a state of cold war -though Luffy doesn't know how a war can be cold, war isn't meat but that's how Riskua had described the situation so it must make sense to other people- but they all still sort of train together. Though right now it's more like when Ace does something, Luffy absolutely has to do it the same or better. He cannot, will not lose to Ace anymore. Which is why he's facing a crocodile much bigger than he is, and he's certain he can take it down with the mystery power. He really is.
Until suddenly he's not.
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Sitting in Dadan's living room, Luffy digs his fingers into the material of his shorts, worried eyes unmoving from the door Sabo's behind.
Sabo's hurt, Sabo's hurt because Ace was off hunting and Luffy was off hunting and Riskua had to come help Luffy hunt because the crocodile almost ate him. He's got scratches on his arms from the teeth scraping against him before Riskua managed to pull him out the way. But because she was there pulling him out the way no one was there to pull Sabo out of the way of the bear's claws.
And now Sabo's really really hurt and it's all Luffy's fault.
How is he suppose to be a good Captain, how is he suppose to look after his Nakama if he can't even make sure his own brothers are okay? His insides feel really bad, like sludge, or the earth after it's rained for days and they have to slug through the mud.
Luffy doesn't like it. He doesn't like knowing his failed, knowing that Sabo got hurt because of him. If Ace and him hadn't been so focused, then maybe they'd have noticed Sabo needed the help. He's so stupid.
Lip wobbling, Luffy bits on the flesh there, trying not to cry.
Beside him, Ace has his legs drawn up to his chest, face pressed into his knees as he hugs himself.
"We should have been paying more attention," Ace's voice is muffled but Luffy hears him anyway.
Ace's right though, Luffy's taken a while to come to the conclusion but all three of his older siblings always seem to be right when it matters. Out of them all, Riskua's always the one that's right the most, but Sabo says that's because she knows so much about the world, that she has more adventures and experience under her belt. Ace claims it's because she's a 'know-it-all-girl'.
If Riskua knows how to help Sabo's injuries though, then Luffy doesn't care at all if she's a know-it-all-girl.
"Is he gonna be okay?!"
Ace's on his feet and moving to Riskua before Luffy even realises she's come out the back room.
"Zaa, Sabo'll be fine. It was bad, but nothing that'll keep him down for too long." She runs a hand through her red hair, the other holding the brim of her funny brown hat.
At her words, the flood of nastiness in his stomach drains, but it's not completely gone. Like the muddy footprints that they've tracked into Dadan's house -no, it's Dadan's Country now- there's evidence of what happened. Luffy doesn't like it, he doesn't like the reminder of what happened to Sabo. But… but if he just ignores it, it'll happen again. Like if Dadan didn't tell them off about the mud they'd have kept doing it. Not that they wipe their feet now, but they don't live in Dadan Country anymore so it doesn't matter.
More importantly though, if he wants to Sabo to not get hurt again, Luffy's gonna have to change something.
He scowls, folding his arms and sitting on the floor again, chewing on his lips the whole time. It'd be so much nicer if it were meat, but if it were meat he'd be eating and not thinking and he actually really does have to do some thinking right now. Which sucks, but this is important.
If he doesn't want this to happen again to Sabo, if he doesn't want Sabo or Ace or Riskua to get hurt, then Luffy needs to start paying more attention. He's been getting stronger, but getting stronger hasn't helped today.
He… he was too focused on himself and because of that Sabo got hurt. So he can't do that anymore. He has to look after his brothers and sister too, he needs to be able to look after his future Nakama, to stop being so…. so…. what's the word for it? Is there a word for it?
"'Skua?"
Riskua's sat on the floor not too far away from him, bandaging a wound -ouchies are what kids call them Ace said and Luffy's not a kid anymore so he doesn't use that word anymore- on her arm.
"Yeah, Kinglet?"
"I need a word."
"Describe it?"
"I'm too focused on me, and not everything else…" Luffy trails off, not quite sure how else to explain it, other than to tell her all about what he's thinking and he doesn't want to do that. That'll take too long and the more time he spends thinking the less time he's going to be spending eating.
"Inconsiderate? Self-centred? Selfish?"
"What's that last one mean?" Luffy asks, tipping his head to a side and scowling as Ace snorts.
Ace can laugh all he wants, but when they set out to sea Luffy'll have Riskua and not him, so when Ace has problems he won't have her to help which means Luffy wins.
"It means you're only concern is really yourself. You don't consider others when you make decisions."
Luffy doesn't like the sound of that, but the more he thinks about it, the more it fits. Which is upsetting.
Grimacing, the boy tips his hat back and off his head, letting it rest on his back, hanging from the tie around his neck.
"And what's the opposite of shellfish?"
"Selfish," Riskua correct absentmindedly, wiggling a finger at Ace.
It shows how much Ace likes Riskua compared to when they first met, because he approaches without complaint and offers up his bruising forearm.
"The opposite of selfish would be selfless. Like giving all the meat away and keeping none for yourself." Nope. No way, Luffy hates that idea.
But he doesn't like selfish either.
"Isn't there a middle?!" He cries, fingers in his hair and tugging on the strands. They come away caked in mud and Luffy scowls. Damn it, Riskua'll definitely bully Sabo or Ace into getting a bath with him now. Luffy really can't be left alone in water. He'll drown.
"You just have to find the middle ground Luffy. But if you can recognise what action you consider is selfish and what would be selfless, then that's all you need to know."
He hasn't said what he's been thinking about, but the way Riskua smiles at him makes him feel like he's done the best thing in the world anyway.
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Riskua says she's staying with Sabo for the day, and the look she gives them has Luffy Country banding together with Ace Country for just the one day. Just to take down something big enough to feed all four of them. Because they're at fault for Sabo not being well enough to hunt.
It's only for today, Luffy tells himself, lips threatening to split across his face. Because it felt really good to be hunting with Ace again, to be carrying back their catch together.
He's not happy in the least with what they come back to though.
Eyes bugging out of his head, Luffy drops his end of the catch because this wasn't here before!
Stood proudly in front of Ace Country and Luffy Country, twice the size and equipt with what looks like several different slingshots on the roof, there's another hut. Luffy's reading is probably the worst of all of them, but he's not stupid; the sign on the front doesn't say 'Sabo Country' or 'Riskua Country'.
Instead, it says 'Sabkua Country'.
And Sabo and Riskua are waving at them from the window on the top floor.
"The fuck is this?!" Ace demands, dropping the other half of their catch, stalking forwards and stopping just before the new country to scowl at them.
"This is Sabkua Country!" Sabo calls down, laughing happily even though he's still covered in bandages.
"For Sabos and Riskuas only!" Riskua adds, crossing her arms on the windowsill, chin resting in her arms and a grin on her face.
"You're not allowed to do that!"
"Who's gonna stop us? Ace Country? Because that tiny country is only half the size of Sabkua Country!" When Sabo's done shouting down to them, he holds out his hand for a high five, which Riskua happily gives him. "We're twice as large as either of you two, and that makes us twice as important!"
"Does it hell!" Ace snarls, shaking his fist up at the two. He splutters when a water balloon collides with his face, Sabo having launched it down at the older boy with one of the many slingshots.
"Shishishi! Ace got hit!"
Luffy rapidly changes his mind on how cool Sabkua Country is when one of the shots hits him in the face instead.
"Ahh! Ace, help me!"
"Help yourself, Luffy Countr- Ack!"
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'… one of preteen age and three teenagers, proving exceptionally capable in combat from local reports. Should be considered for fast-track recruitment or otherwise an advisable crack down on behaviour…'
Monkey D. Garp lowers the latest report on Dawn Island, dark eyes scanning the office for any potential witnesses.
Upon finding no one present, the Hero of the Marines rapidly inhales the paper, chewing thoroughly until Lieutenant Zoran Christno's report is condensed into a workable ball. Taking aim, Garp fires the projectile neatly into the bin on the other side of the room, grinning proudly as it lands dead centre.
It's not that he doesn't want those brats enlisted; but if they're to be Marines they need to be enlisted just right. Done under his protection, carefully slipped into the ranks without the usual through background check.
Because Ace doesn't have any registered records, and Luffy's have gone 'mysteriously' missing ever since his stupid son went off and decided to take on the whole damn world at once. It's not exactly like the red-haired brat has a clean slate to start off from either.
It's a sad state of affairs when it's the noble's son that'd cause the least problems in an open enlistment.
No, if those four are gonna become Marines, it needs to be timed just right, done at just the right time.
Which is not right now.
Which means Lieutenant Zoran needs to be given something else to focus on. Something like a winter island in the throes of winter season deep inside the Grand Line. He'll forget about the four potential Marines soon enough, Garp concludes.
Just like every other officer that's overstepped their boundaries and reported in on the island protected by Garp the Fist of all people. If Garp says the island is a-okay, then it's a-okay. Why the hell do they never believe him? It's almost like they think he's an idiot or something.
"Garp! Are you playing with spit-balls again?!"
Snapping to attention at Sengoku's voice, Garp throws his head back and laughs.
"Of course I am!"
"You're not getting paid to chew paper! Get to work!"
"Bwahahaha! I need to go see Lieutenant Zoran about his transfer anyway."
"Transfer? Why would he want to transfer out of East Blue?"
"He asked for it! Bwahahaha!"
So, Garp's bit ended up being about 2,500 words longer than planned. He just kind of took over? Muscled his way into that bit at the end. (Though seriously, something like this has to have happened for Marines to not have been sent after Luffy and Ace, I can't see them avoiding notice for that long)
I love the independent countries that Ace and Luffy make in the manga -and I love that Ace's is built better than Luffy's and I think you can take a lot away from their characters in that- and though this is happening a few years later, I just couldn't leave it out. And when Luffy get's injured and Ace takes him to 'Dadan's Country' it's just the cutest little thing -I've got a lot of Ace feels okay? And a surprising amount of Sabo feels too- so yeah.
In other news, I spent all of yesterday drawing the new cover, which I'll be able to use for the new arc when we get to that. I'm excited, and reasonably proud of it too, regardless of my limited selection of markers. So there's that to look forwards to. Until then, I'll be using the amazing fanart I got from Thau.
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And because I'm a sappy weakling, I sent previews to almost every review -sorry if I missed you!- and if I've got a preview, I'll do the same. For taking the time to review, I'll try my very best to give you a bit of my time with a preview,
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Love your tired author,
Tsume
xxx