"The first stab of love is like a sunset, a blaze of color..."―Anna Godbersen,The Luxe
When Garp said training began in the morning he wasn't kidding. He chose to wake his grandsons up with the fist of love which only caused the boys to panic. Luffy having had Mihawk attack him in the night could sense evil intentions a ship away so his brown eyes darted open and his body moved into action.
"You're pretty fast." Garp smiled as the hammock Luffy had been sleeping on was now broken on the floor.
"Uncle Hawki attacked me often at night." Luffy grinned to his grandfather his brown eyes sparkling in the morning light.
"Shitty Geezer! You could'a killed us!" Ace snarled at his grandfather.
"But I didn't." Garp replied sticking his index finger in his ear clearing out the wax.
"But you could have!" Ace screamed back at the man as Luffy laughed at the exchange.
"You kid, you used observation Haki." Garp said looking at Luffy who smirked, his hat covering one of his eyes.
"Of course." He said in a flat tone of voice before pointing to his brothers.
"We all learned observation Haki a while ago." Luffy complimented his brothers who smiled back at him.
"Then it looks like I'll have to test you on that now won't I?" Garp said a shadow beginning to cover his eyes while he raided his fists into the air. The trio didn't wait for the fists to fly before they got the heck out of that cabin. When they exited the room they froze instantly even though danger was clear behind them.
"What-"Ace began
"The-"Sabo said afterwards
"Bananas…" Luffy finished quietly his eyes wide at the Sea kings staring at them from all around.
"Looks like we have some company." Garp said from behind them sending shivers up their spines.
"Why are there so many sea kings?!" Luffy exclaimed. Living in the grand line he had eaten many sea king dishes but never had he seen this many in one shot.
"We're in the calm belt." Garp said and Sabo turned quickly on his feet to face the older man.
"Why are we here!? This is called the sea king's nest and there's no breeze for the ships to sail through!" Sabo had been studying hard on everything.
"We have the propellers so we can get through without the wind, as for the sea kings… I figured that group of pirate scum would have trained you a little. Gaining some experience fighting sea kings will sharpen your senses!" Garp said bopping Sabo on the head with one of his fists.
"So all we need to do is kick their asses?" Luffy asked his grandfather who nodded his head and Luffy smiled before getting into his horse stance placing his hands on his legs.
"Ne, why don't we make this a competition?" Luffy said to his brothers who were smiling at the idea.
"Sea king meat is the best around…"Ace agreed thinking with his stomach.
"And we could test out our skills..." Sabo thought pulling his pipe off of his back accepting the challenge.
"We'll be in the east blue by morning so try not to get yourselves killed before then." Garp said letting the kids jump from the ship's deck into battle against the sea kings.
Luffy had used his haki to dodge the sea kings teeth and his armament Haki to break them when they did catch him in their mouths.
Sabo used his pipe to smash skulls and his kicks to push them back when they got too close. Ace used his flames to roast any and all that got too close to him.
"Ace!" Sabo screeched at his brother as he patted the hems of his blue coat from the flames that were beginning to burn it.
"Sorry! Don't get too close right now, Baka!" Ace scolded his brother earning a glare in his direction and a laugh from Luffy.
"Hurry up! I've already taken down 5!" He cheered sitting on a knocked out Sea king's head.
"Why are you telling us to hurry up? We've already taken down 10!" Ace said cockily causing Luffy's brow to twitch in annoyance.
"Then I'll take down 15!" He said jumping from his KO'd seaking and onto another one that was just asking him to fight it.
"Then I'll take out 20!" Ace snapped back jumping onto another one his fire fist blazing as Sabo rubbed his temples.
"These are my brothers…I am not allowed to drown them…" He mumbled to himself before smiling and jumping to another one.
Garp was laughing from the side lines; his grandsons were stronger than he gave them credit for. Turning his eyes away from the laughter and the battle he walked into their room looking at their bags of clothing.
"We'll have to get them a new wardrobe, there's no way I'm letting my grandchildren walk around in pirate attire." He scoffed gathering everything up in one go and locking it in a closet before replacing it with the typical marine outfit.
"There, much better." He smiled returning to the deck to find the boys laughing and fighting one another.
"Grampa, are we done yet?" Luffy asked and Garp chuckled
"How many each?" He asked and Ace and Luffy smiled.
"20." Luffy said proudly and Ace looked at him before his grin grew wider.
"25." Ace said earning a quick glare from Luffy.
"32."Sabo said causing both boys to turn to look at their brother.
"While you idiots are fighting over numbers I've been doing the work." Sabo shrugged but didn't suppress the smile on his face as both boys dropped their heads in shame.
"Next time I'll beat you both." Luffy muttered and Ace shook his head.
"Keep dreaming little brother."
"Bahahaha, you boys did well." Garp said making Luffy cheer and the two others to watch him suspiciously.
"Go rest up until lunch." He said dismissing them as another marine came out to talk with Garp.
"He let us off that easy…" Sabo said to Ace who nodded.
"Something's up." There was no way the old man was going to just let them rest. It wasn't until they went to change cloths that Sabo froze stiff.
"What is it? What's wrong?" Ace asked his brother who was pale as he turned around.
"O-Our cloths are gone." He said softly and Ace jumped to his own closet to see if it was true.
"What the heck are these pieces of crap?" Ace snarled holding up a marine's white and blue shirt.
"All of my clothes…Does he know how much I Spent on those!" He had his coats tailor made on Hand Island.
"I'm not wearing this. I'll go naked before they put me in a marine outfit." Ace said dropping the shirt on the floor.
"I agree we're pirates." Luffy said crossing his arms and legs on the new hammock that was replaced for them.
"What are we going to do about this?" Ace asked his brothers whose eyes almost glowed in their anger.
"This means war." Luffy and Sabo said at the exact same time.
"Agreed, let's show this old man what White Beard pirates in training really act like." His black eyes matched his Cheshire cat smile.
For the rest of the day Ace, Sabo and Luffy fought against the old man one on one. Garp had shown Luffy a few new ways to use his Armament Haki such as to break down walls and scare the living crap out of them.
"Using this form of Haki is good to fight against Logia's but to use it also as a shield against all else works well." He said coating his fist with the black substance. Luffy had decided to listen this once forgetting his earlier anger momentarily.
"Coat your hands Luffy." Garp said and Luffy did just that watching his grandfather gently hit the side of the ship causing it to smash under the pressure.
Luffy got the hint and hit the wall causing a large dent to be created in its wake.
"That's pretty good." Garp complimented looking at the impressive mark left by the kid's hand.
"I can really do that..." Luffy asked looking down at his hands.
"That and so much more…It's in our blood Luffy…" Garp said and Luffy looked up at his grandfather many questions going through his mind but not knowing where to start.
That evening the boys gathered in their cabin to discuss their day.
"He owned me." Sabo said rubbing his sore back.
"I think I lost some brain cells-no comments from the lot of you." Ace said looking at his brothers.
"Gramps taught me to punch a wall with Haki." Luffy said smiling before he too grabbed his sore head.
"He also taught me how much Haki hurt my head." Garp had hit him with the fist of love over 20 times in one afternoon.
"Well, we'll try again tomorrow." Ace said standing up to head for dinner Sabo following behind him.
"Coming Lu?" Sabo asked and Luffy shook his head.
"You go on; I want to talk to grandpa quickly." Luffy said getting worried glances from his brothers but the boys bright smile convinced them he'd be okay.
Leaving the cabin Luffy couldn't help but take into notice how small this ship was compared to his home.
"You miss them." Garp said leaning against the railing beside Luffy both of them watching the horizon.
"Mm, I've never been this far away from them." He said to his grandpa who nodded his head.
"What was it like?" Garp was curious about his grandson's life.
"Fun, crazy, scary, I've had good times and bad times..." Luffy said to the man who laughed.
"Sounds like life in general kid." Luffy smiled at his grandpa.
"That's why I know I'll be okay." Luffy said closing his eyes.
"I wish I had known you more." Garp confessed and Luffy looked at him from the corner of his eyes.
"You know me now, isn't that good enough?" He asked and Garp couldn't help but smile.
"I wish I had known you more." He repeated and Luffy sighed.
"Ne gramps…What's my father like?" Luffy had always feared that question. He didn't want to ask pops because he considered him his father. He didn't ask Marco because Marco might get mad and Thatch sure got mad that one time.
"Your father is a complicated man…" Garp started and Luffy looked at him seriously.
"He's causing trouble all across the world." Luffy nodded his head figuring as much from the way people didn't talk about him.
"So he's like a pirate." Luffy figured but Garp shook his head no.
"Worse he a revolutionary." Luffy had never heard of the revolutionaries.
"What do they do?" But Garp had started to walk away.
"You look like your father but definitely don't have his personality, or maybe it just hasn't had the chance to show in you yet. Either way Luffy, I'll keep you safe, I promise." Garp waved as he headed to the galley to start dinner Luffy looked towards the man leaving.
"Thanks grandpa…" He said happy to have even a little better of an image of this man who was supposed to be his father.
When morning arrived Luffy got his first glance at the East Blue.
"So this was your home?" He asked Ace and Sabo who smiled and nodded their heads.
"Mn, we're from the Goa Kingdome on dawn Island." Sabo said but his voice felt a little strained at the mention of his home.
"We'll be making a stop at Dawn Island first; we need to restock the ship if we're to continue traveling around." Garp said causing the two boys to turn to face him in case he decided to attack.
"How long till we get there?" Luffy asked happy to get to an island finally.
"Shortly, I let you boys sleep in this morning." Garp said causing the boys to watch him closly.
"And why did you let us do that?" Sabo asked curiously.
"Because I'm a good guy you know." He said but smiled softly in Luffy's direction.
"Right…and the ocean's purple." Ace said under his breath.
"Gramps, why do we only have that icky clothing?" Luffy asked still wearing his clothes from the day before.
"Because I'm going to make you three boys into fine marines!" Garp cheered before walking away leaving three angry miniature pirates.
"Never!" All three shouted at the laughing man. 2 hours later they were pulling up port at a small windmill village. A crowd began to pile around the docks to greet the marine Hero.
"Welcome back Garp!" The mayor called to the man as he jumped from the ship.
"Good to be home mayor." Garp greeted a petite woman with green hair held back by a bandanna that had came to greet the man as well.
"I'm glad to see you're well, Garp." She said smiling softly at him and he returned it to her.
"Makino, I have some children here to meet you." Garp said causing her to tilt her head in confusion.
"Children?" She questioned only to hear a loud shout.
"I'm not a child you old geezer! I'm 16 years old already!" Ace shouted jumping from the ship as well throwing his shirt off his back as he did it.
"I'm free!" He laughed happy to be rid of the yellow button shirt he had been trying to keep wearing.
"Ace…You can't just strip where ever you feel like it…" Sabo said grabbing the piece of clothing that had been discarded knowing that Ace would be wearing it again soon.
"Why not? I'm a pirate; I can do as I please." Ace said putting his hands behind his head and walking backwards before bumping into Makino.
Ace turned around quickly to see who he had bumped into his eyes widened at the sight of the young woman who was staring back at him kindly.
"Hi there." She said happily and Ace helped her back up grabbing her hand pulling her forward. Makino stumbled momentarily due to Ace pulling her a little hard but caught her balance quickly.
"What do you mean you're a pirate brat?" An old man wearing glasses and a hat came forward glaring at the topless teenager.
"Ace no fair! You didn't wait for me!" Luffy said jumping off after his brothers running up to the woman Ace was near.
"Who are you?" Luffy asked bluntly staring blankly at her.
"My name is Makino, what's yours?" She asked him bending down to his level.
"I'm Luffy! And the idiot here is Ace!" Luffy said smiling waking Ace from his daze.
"Oi, Luffy!" He said a faint blush of red tinted on his freckled face.
"He's not wrong Ace… My name's Sabo" Sabo said bending low and kissing Makino's hand before turning his head towards Ace and smirking. Ace's brow twitched in annoyance at his brothers
"Oh my, what charming brothers you are." She said guessing they were related as Garp laughed.
"Aren't they? I'm here to stock up then we're heading out again. Would you mind watching over them for me , Makino?" Garp asked and Makino shook her head smiling.
"I own a tavern close by, why don't you boys follow me and I'll get you something to eat." She said as the boys cheered before following her.
Sabo fell into step with Ace and nudged his brother in the ribs.
"She's kinda cute isn't she?" Sabo asked a smile on his face and his blue eyes dancing.
"Shut up." Ace said but the blush was back.
This was only their first stop but it already promised to be one of entertainment for the trio.
Hello! Last chapter for the weekend :D So my day did not go at all the way I wanted it to but that's the beauty on being flexible with plans :) I've introduced Makino! I have the EB arc planned out so it should be a fun ride :D I've had a glimpse of Dragon for Luffy since I have been asked by many to do so :) I won't give Dragon all away since I want Luffy to meet the man himself later on but not now guys, patience is key ^^ Ace's crush on Makino-he is at that age now ;)- Should I do something little? I of course know she is Shanks's and have no intentions to steal her away from the red haired man :P But first love is important :D In this little arc you'll meet faces you will recognize and love so I hope to bring some fun for everyone :D I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter! My mother in law gave me marshmallow candies since I can't have chocolate so it was super amazing :D My nephew now talks up a storm! Well anyways guys keep well I shall see you all again Saturday! DR
