Hey there, sorry for not uploading in a long time. But I'm back with two chapters for you.

More will be in the Author Notes at the end of the next chapter.

~Chapter 29 – Aftermath ~

It had been a hard fight. Luffy and Ace were sitting on the ground leaning against each. Both brothers are fast asleep. A rare sight.

Ain sighed. While she and Robin had been here only a little time because of their fight against CP9 in the streets of Water 7, she was still able to see the aftermath.

Especially on Shippy. They had taken their flag with them when they brought their stuff to the motel. So this one wasn't damaged. But the rest had burned marks or were broken because of the flames which had danced around only minutes ago.

"Seems like our visit here will be longer than originally intended", Ain spoke out loud. They had intended to leave soon since the reparations shouldn't have taken much time.

But they would now. At least if it was repairable. She wasn't an expert on this stuff and neither was one of the others.

"Where is Law? Wasn't he with you two?", Bartolomeo asked suddenly after he seemed to recover a little.

"We split up when some Cipher Pol Agents decided to target the mayor. He left with him and another person and we kept them busy", Ain said.

"Oh, you mean the surgeon guy? He is with Bakaburg at a safe place, I knocked the one out who dared to follow us there", the man answered, Ain had noticed him until now.

Even if it was quite difficult not to in normal circumstances. But the aftermath of a fight like this wasn't normal.

Because they now had to deal with the world government again. The chances were high that Luffy would be stripped of his title. Too early for her taste.

The others didn't have enough practice with haki, yet. It didn't feel like they were ready for what could be coming for them.

"Strategist-san, don't stay too deep in your thoughts. We should rest before we do anything rushed or some of us might catch a cold", Robin said and seemed to look at Ace.

"Don't worry. That idiot won't catch a cold. He could be sleeping in the snow and wouldn't get one. But I guess we should go and rest…", Ain mumbled.

"Don't worry about your ship and the surgeon guy. 'Cause I still feel super so as thanks I will look after your ship and tell him that you went back", Franky said and did a strange pose which lead to a frown appearing on the bluenette's face.

Bon Clay gave Luffy a piggyback while Bartolomeo and Sanji carried Ace. That left Robin and herself to be supportive of Zoro who was awake but looked seconds away from passing out due to his injuries.

Law sighed and looked at the brothers who are eating and sleeping at the time. That wasn't something that happened often. It only happened when they had been pushed to a limit. Well, it shouldn't surprise him.

Luffy had picked a fight with Rob Lucci who had quite the reputation as a bloodthirsty killing machine. He should have known that this man would be part of CP9. Where else would this bastard be able to kill as much as he likes?

The surgeon sighed.

He didn't know much about CP9's haki level but he guessed that it wasn't weak because Rokushiki could be seen as basics. Add to this that Lucci seemed to have eaten an annoying zoan type and it was a troublesome combination to fight.

But well, at least Luffy was victorious. Law did expect the younger one to shift between sizes quite often to avoid being hit. So that must have cost lots of energy as his captain couldn't do it freely, yet.

So it was no wonder that Luffy was sleep-eating.

With Ace. Well, it was quite common that he fell face first in his food. So he did quite expect it to some degree. But well, it was rare for the older to eat while sleeping.

It must have been tiring to try to control the flames, which weren't made by the logia user, on Shippy. His alpha had tried to help with the damage control as Bepo, Bentham and Bartolomeo could only do as much as pouring water on the flames and trying to put it out with a barrier.

But the damages had been done. They would need a long time until they could leave Water 7. At least that is what he guessed.

But Franky and also the people from Galley-La seemed to be thankful towards them and said something about making or repairing something for them in only a week. Law could only guess that it had either to do with Shippy or the ship was unrepairable and there would be a new one.

"We should be careful. It wouldn't surprise me if the marine will attack us soon. The fight was semi-public. So it will come out soon that we fight with Cipher Pol. This will lead to Luffy losing his title Shichibukai", Ain said while leaning against a wall, from where she was making sure that Zoro wouldn't leave the bed until he was fully healed.

Law nodded in agreement. That was what most likely will happen.

In the next moment, a wall came crashing down and a man wearing a dog mask and a marine coat entered.

"Ain-san, you jinxed", Bartolomeo screamed in a panic which lead the others to get defensive except the sleeping brothers, Law, Bepo, Ain, and Zoro.

"Don't hit them too hard. I don't want to hear them complain", the surgeon mumbled.

This led to another shock from the crew and Bartolomeo was already crossing his fingers for a barrier. But he was a bit too late.

Ace and Luffy both woke up with a little scream of pain.

"That hurts like one of Jii-chan's punches", Luffy complained. "Oi, Luffy, don't mention the old man. You only jinx it", Ace mumbled and rubbed his head.

"Who are you calling old man? Didn't I teach you to be more respectful?", the marine said slightly angry, and took off his mask.

"Jii-chan?!"

There was a silence. Before the whole crew repeated Luffy's and Ace's words except for Ain, Bepo, and Law.

"Technically, the man is only Luffy's grandpa. But he adopted the fire-brain idiot as a grandchild", Law said calmly.

"Oi, don't exclude yourself, brat. You belong to my grandchildren, too! Maybe I should give you one …"

"Stop it, Garp-san. You can just hit them every time you see them!"

A blonde man rushed through the hole in the wall and hugged Law protectively.

"Will you stop treating me like a child?", the surgeon grumbled but his cheeks were slightly red.

"Hahaha, mother Law is embarrassed", Ace laughed. "Keep f… your mouth shut!", Law shouted and glared at the logia user. He had to stop himself shortly not to curse. Even if Luffy knew cursed words, they had agreed to limit their cursing.

Garp laughed, while Corazon looked a bit shocked. "You're too soft on them. Otherwise, they wouldn't behave that way", the marine said before he turned serious. "But what were you thinking about picking a fight with Cipher Pol? After Senny said, he fixed your mistake by getting bounties too early by making Luffy one of the Shichibukais."

"They started it. They threatened Robin and attacked Shippy", Luffy said with a pout and crossed arms. He looked like a child regarding his body language. But his eyes spoke a different tone.

"Well, that won't work as a reason…", Garp mumbled.

Law wasn't quite sure what that meant. But he had a general idea of what the man is possibly thinking about.

"How about you gloss over them like you normally do? After all, Cipher Pol 9 also attacked the beloved mayor of Water 7 and hurt him badly. That would make some bad press around here since basically everyone in town knows about it", Ain said darkly. Her face didn't really show emotion. But if Law had to guess the bluenette would be quite amused about the world government getting a bad reputation.

"I had nothing to say in your situation, Ain. Blame the idiots who are just sitting on their asses 24/7", Garp said.

"Garp-san!", Rosinante protested.

"What?", Garp picked his nose like he hadn't just insulted some higher up. "You shouldn't talk like that. That could lead to trouble."

Law smirked slightly. He knew the old man would never change. Garp had his morals and those morals he would follow.

"Don't worry. Senny knows how I think about this stuff", the marine just waved his hand. Clearly showing that the topic was over for him. Especially since the attention was back on his grandchildren.

A bright grin appeared. "But it looks like my training for you was a success", he said proudly and patted Luffy's head quite gently.

That was a rare gesture since Garp had been quite hard in their youth to prepare them for everything. But since some of their complaints had gotten through the stubborn head of the old man, he had shown some softer gestures towards Luffy to make up for leaving him alone quite often.

But the gesture also reminded him. "Will you let me go already?", he asked again and this time he could free himself from Corazon's hug. "Also why are you here?"

"To give you a piece of my mind! Since your first bounties, I chase after you to do that. But something came up every time like the whole ordeal with Captain Morgans, who has been beaten up by you, then the Arlong Pirates and the return of the Black Cat Pirates, I had to deal with because people were idiots when they promoted Morgans."

"Garp-san! You shouldn't talk about this stuff so casually. You will only speak about classified details." "Lightened up. You don't have to take Senny serious all the time."

"Are they like this every time?", Bon Clay asked quietly after they stepped next to Law. "Unfortunately, yes. And if I had to take a guess it will become much more troublesome", the surgeon mumbled.

And he hated that he was right.

Because at this moment, Rosinante seemed to realize something that Law really didn't want to bring up.

"You have a mate?!"

The surgeon groaned annoyed. That was the one topic he didn't want to talk about. It was between Ace and him.

"None of your business. It is my decision if I want to have a friend with benefits relationship!", Law said annoyed. "But.." "No, buts. It helps because I have more time between my heats meaning more time I can work around the ship. Also, it makes the idiot over there more controllable if he didn't act all the time", the surgeon explained while pointing at Ace with a slight hope that it would stop the topic.

Well… he should have expected more from Garp.

"Huh~ so you two are mated. Well, use prevention. Even if great-grandchildren would be interesting", the vice-admiral said with a smile.

"That is not going to happen!", Law and Ace screamed simultaneously while Garp just laughed.

Luffy sighed while he was laying on top of the roof. He looked up to the stars.

The visit from his grandpa got him thinking. While nothing bad had happened, it was clear that no one of the crew was ready to face off against someone like his Jii-chan in terms of strength. They weren't ready, yet.

They would need more training and more time…

This thought made him frown. While he had openly said that he wanted to reach the New World as fast as possible for hoisting the color. There had been another reason for going through Paradise quite quickly. The second goal had been Fishmen Island but when they reach that island there was no going back.

"Shouldn't you be in bed? I can imagine, Ace and Law will give you an earful when they find out."

Surprised Luffy turned his head to see Zoro standing a few steps away from him.

"But I can't think with them around. At least not about this topic", the young captain said with a pout.

"You aren't really a thinker…" "Meanie! I just don't like this whole planning about food and stuff… But when it involves the crew's safety I, as captain, have to think and make the decision as to, right?"

Luffy watched as Zoro stepped closer and sat next to him.

"So we're having a serious situation, huh?"

This sentence alone made the captain speak more.

"I guess. I mean I want to reach Fishmen Island and the New World fast. But in the New World people are around Jii-chan's strength. I don't know if everyone is ready for this, yet. It's not like I think you guys are weak…"

"But you're worried that something will happen to any of us", Zoro said directly. "Yeah… I mean I train hard to be strong to protect everyone so everyone can grow stronger at their own pace. But maybe that's not enough", Luffy mumbled.

"Well, I guess I can sorta understand you. I mean I don't have a fixed role on board like the others, my role is mostly fighting for the crew… urg… you know what I mean…"

Yeah, Luffy didn't need more words from the swordsman. While Zoro didn't often say directly what he was thinking, he showed it often enough with his actions.

"Ne, Zoro, what do you think about taking a break so everyone can train when we reach Sabaody. That is the ending point of the first half", the young captain asked.

"A break to train?", the swordsman looked like he was thinking. "Well, if it's captain's order, no one can go against it."

"Then I will tell it the other tomorrow", Luffy said.