Chapter 16- Reese

"All right recruits! Twenty laps, in formation! Hup, two, three, four!"

I counted off with the other recruits as we ran laps around the base, noticing how I was able to keep pace without tiring, and congratulated myself for my hard work.

During my first week, as reality sank in, I had an epiphany of sorts.

Hearing Luffy, Zoro and even Coby talk about their dreams had made me realize that I had spent all my time here without coming a single step closer to my own. I needed to find my sisters, and I needed to be able to join them when I did. In order to do that, I needed to be strong enough to conquer all those that who stood in my way just like Luffy and Zoro did with Captain Morgan.

It could take a long time, but even longer if I didn't focus on my goal. So decided, I refused anything that didn't get me closer to achieving my dream of getting my sisters and getting home. Several of the people I had befriended previously tried to resume our friendship, but I just didn't have time.

I spent all my free time either studying, or working on my training. I had drive and ambition to be the best, to move up quickly. And now, I was finally seeing results.

I glanced up and saw Coby hanging from a rope, washing windows. Due to his past run-ins with pirates, Lieutenant Ripper had decided to start him at the bottom as a chore boy. I had felt bad for him, but he simply took it all in stride, and did every job given to him with gusto, even after getting saddled with Helmeppo.

We finished our laps, and came back to the middle of the field, lining up for drills. There was a loud commotion, and we all turned to see Coby and Helmeppo fighting while on the roof of the mess hall. The officer running our drills ran over, and we followed, wanting to see the action.

There were a few winces from others at the sight of punches or kicks connecting, and no one was prepared for when the two of them rolled right off the roof.

A few of us started walking towards them to help, but froze as we saw the cannon that they had fallen near, was now aimed straight for us. The cannon that had been being used for target practice… the cannon that was probably still loaded…

We scattered as the loud BOOM filled the air. I looked up from my spot on the ground to see the laundry building crumble to the ground. I noticed the terrified look on Coby's face as he realized what had just happened.

Later that evening, I was making my way to my bunk to study and ran into Coby and Helmeppo outside the barracks.

"Hey Coby," I said, ignoring the moron. "I'm glad you're still with us," I teased with a smile.

"Yeah," he said flushing. "I thought for sure we were done for."

"You sure you're not hurt? That fall looked pretty bad," I asked him.

"Nah, we're okay," he replied.

"Don't just ignore me!" Helmeppo cut in angrily. I glanced over to him, and saying nothing returned to speaking with Coby. The guy may have had no choice but to join the marines, but that didn't mean I had to treat him with respect.

"I'm glad you're okay," I said to Coby, patting his shoulder. "I'll see you around."

"Oh, Reese, hold on," he said, patting his pockets until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a scrap of paper and held it out to me. "Rika gave me this from the newspaper, look!"

I smiled and angled my head to get a better view. "Is that… Luffy?"

Coby laughed and nodded, "yeah, isn't it great? The paper said he was causing a fuss in Loguetown," he said. Then, when I didn't respond he added, "that's the town closest to the Grand Line, Reese. He's almost made it!"

I grinned as I understood. "Wow, that's so cool!" I remarked.

"Chore boys!" We both turned and Coby saluted the officer who called. I didn't get a chance to speak to Coby again, so I continued on to my bunk.

"Cooper!" I saluted as my name was called, and joined the four other recruits that were sitting in the next room. The Lieutenant followed after me and closed the door.

"Recruits," he began, "you have been selected to assist in the transfer of Captain Morgan to Marine Headquarters."

We all looked at him in disbelief.

"You'll have the honor of seeing Vice Admiral Garp who is coming to accept the prisoner and escort him to Marineford for his court martial." He looked at us as he continued. "You, are the top five recruits and as such I expect nothing but the best from you."

I held back my grin at his words, though inwardly I was beaming. I had gone from the worst to top five, and knew that the extra studying and training was paying off.

"You will report in one hour at the dock. You must be in full uniform." He looked around at each of us, drilling the seriousness of the situation into each of us with just a look. "Dismissed,"he said, as he opened the door.

We stood and saluted, and proceeded back into the training room. One hour. That would give me just enough time to eat, bathe, and get to the docks. I picked up my pace and headed for the mess hall, ignoring those around me.

An hour later, almost every marine boarded our finest ship, all cleaned up and uniformed. Lieutenant Ripper had even brought Coby and Helmeppo aboard, and when I thought about it, I assumed he was trying to help motivate them by letting them see the vice admiral.

We sailed out to sea, each of us being sent to separate areas of the ship to clean and prepare for meeting the vice admiral. Lieutenant Ripper seemed overly worried, and each of us did what we could to ensure we gave a good impression.

"All hands on deck!"

The shout rang out, and as we rushed into our places, my heart was beating rapidly. This was a great opportunity, a chance to further my career if I made a good showing today. We stood at the railing, and I could hear Coby talking about the vice admiral, saying he was also known as "The Fist". That was quite the title, and I wondered if he really fought with his fists, or if he had simply done something heroic with a fist.

I watched as the other marine ship drew near, the figurehead was a huge dog's face complete with a large bone in its mouth. It looked kind of ridiculous, but I could see how it could be intimidating, it would be hard to mistake it as anything else.

It made much more sense as the ship pulled up to ours, and I caught a glimpse of Garp. He was wearing a helmet style hat that was a dog. The mouth was open, and inside, showed Garp's face. If I were a pirate being hunted by the vice admiral, any sight of a dog would probably freak me out.

He wore a white suit, and a large jacket hanging over his shoulders. Lieutenant Ripper spoke to Garp, and I tried hard not to laugh when the vice admiral admitted to being tired due to a desire to set a record for the most doughnuts eaten in a single sitting. But I wasn't able to stop the smile on my face as his head hung forward and he began snoring.

Morgan used the moment as a chance to escape, slicing Garp across the chest, grabbing Helmeppo and using him as a hostage and shield. Coby and Helmeppo both started screaming and the rest of us stood in shock, unwilling to sacrifice a fellow "marine" to recapture a man like Morgan.

Morgan was given the dinghy, and started to sail away with Helmeppo. Bogard, Garp's right hand man, began giving coordinates to the man stationed at the cannon. As they were about to fire, Coby jumped up to stand in the way.

I stared at my friend, amazed that he had the guts to do such a thing. I could see him shaking, and his voice was cracking as he tried to convince them not to shoot. I couldn't believe he was putting all of his dreams and his life in jeopardy in order to save someone that wouldn't even admit to being a friend.

He defied orders, said he would capture Morgan, and turned and jumped in the water. And… I couldn't believe it, but I decided that moment I was going to help him.

Garp suddenly stood up, yawning. I took the opportunity to board his ship as all the marines were focused on Garp. I ran over to their dinghy and lowered it into the water. I grabbed the oars, and began rowing the boat towards Coby. As I rounded the ships, the marines finally saw me, and started calling for me to come back.

I knew I just destroyed all hope of reaching my goals, but I couldn't let Coby do this alone. I could see he and Helmeppo grabbing onto Morgan, trying to fight him, but doing very little. Suddenly Morgan picked them up, and threw them overboard. Helmeppo yelled after him, swearing he would someday capture him. I grew an inkling of respect for him then.

I hollered at them to get in the boat, and they both turned around, surprised to see me. They clambered inside, soaked and shaking.

"Reese, why did you help us?" Coby asked. "We didn't capture Morgan, and now you'll get in trouble too."

"Yeah, and where did this boat come from?" Helmeppo asked.

"Garp's ship." I replied, as I turned the boat around and headed back to the ship.

"You stole this from Garp's ship?!" Helmeppo screeched, and Coby looked like he would pass out.

"How else was I going to help my friends?" I asked, still unsure of myself.

"Thank you Reese," Coby said with a bow. He grabbed one of the oars and helped me row back.

We were helped onto the ship, and escorted back to where Garp stood. I saluted the vice admiral, and then noticed Coby and Helmeppo kneeling in front of him with their heads on the ground. I thought to join them, but couldn't as I really didn't feel bad for what I had done. If they were going to kick me out, so be it.

The Lieutenant took responsibility for us, as he was our superior, and assured Garp that we would be removed from the marines permanently. My head hung, as I realized the end of my ambition.

Garp agreed, stating that no one would be willing to take us, but that we would also be unfit to be among the civilians. I looked up to glare at him at that. He said he had no choice but to take us with him, to marine headquarters.

Lieutenant Ripper and the rest of the men looked shocked, but no more than the three of us did. The vice admiral simply laughed and commented about what an interesting day it had turned out to be. I couldn't agree more.

Luffy stretched his head over to look closer as he ate. He was sure he had seen something in the paper Nami was looking at.

"MMM!"

Nami jumped slightly from being startled. "What is it?" she asked, as Luffy swallowed his mouth full of food.

"There! Zoro, come look!"

"What?" she asked again. "It's just a picture of some marines."

"But not just any marines!"

Zoro leaned over to glance at the paper. "Hey, that's Reese," he said.

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed. "And Coby!"

"Aren't they the ones you were telling us about the other day?" Nami asked. Sanji wandered over to look at the picture, and to be closer to Nami of course.

"Whoa, she's cute!" Sanji said, hearts in his eyes. "Why didn't you invite her to join the crew?"

"I did," Luffy said. "But she was set on being a marine, just like Coby." He turned back to Nami. "So why'd they take their picture?"

"Hmm, it says Vice admiral Garp returns with his crew to Marineford. The picture shown was taken just after the crew crossed reverse mountain. Garp was relaxed and in control, though a few of his newest recruits didn't fare as well."

"Whoa! So Coby and Reese are in the Grand Line too?"

"It said at Marine Headquarters," Zoro added. "Not bad."

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed. "They're going to be mayors some day."

"Officers," Zoro corrected. "Idiot."

Sailing with the vice admiral was an eye opener. His men were so far above any of the marines I had met previously, which made sense, since they came from headquarters. I learned much more about the structure of the marines and realized I had a long way to go. But, I was closer than I had been.

Upon reaching Marineford, I was placed with the others as a chore boy. I could hardly complain, though it felt like a step backwards. There were so many chores, we were kept busy all day long. We stopped frequently to rest, as the boys had a hard time keeping up. We were all in awe of the training the marines here were doing, it made the training when I recruited look like a game.

We were pulled to a stop yet again by Helmeppo, and I pushed the two of them in between two buildings in order to keep them hidden. I used the time to work on my push-ups, as we had just passed the recruits being ordered to do two hundred. I knew I couldn't do that many, so I needed to start building my strength up now.

I was brought back to the present as I heard yelling, and then Coby and Helmeppo came running out and ran right past me. I stood up, and saw the vice admiral standing in between the buildings. I gave him a quick salute, and followed after them.

After a few hours, Coby insisted that we take full shares of the chores, and since I usually finished first, I had some time to sneak in some extra push ups or crunches. Every time Garp came to check on us, he'd give the boys a few punches to motivate them. I started to worry, as he not only didn't hit me, but didn't talk to me either.

I was lost in thought the rest of that day, wondering what the vice admiral was looking for from me. Did he bring me along just because of the boys? No, he didn't seem the sentimental type with kids he had just met.

Did he bring us here just to do chores? No way, there were plenty of recruits here that could do them. So what was he looking for then? Whatever it was, I wasn't showing it.

I was tired, but once we were dismissed, I headed to my room and changed into some plain clothes. I headed out to the field and started on one end. First was the bar, so I did as many sets of pull ups that I could. Once that was done, I went to crunches, then push ups. I was panting heavily by that time, and felt like my limbs were noodles.

I decided to end with running a few miles, and started on the track. Much to my surprise, Helmeppo and Coby joined me as I started my second mile. We didn't talk, but I could see the determination in their eyes, which I hadn't seen before. It seemed we were all on the same page.

The following day as we were weeding the garden, we heard several officers speaking about Luffy. Coby and I smiled to each other, until we heard them talking about executing him. Our smiles turned to looks of anger, and I was much less careful about what I was yanking out of the ground.

Luffy definitely wasn't like other pirates, shouldn't he be given something for saving the town from Captain Morgan? No, it just made his bounty higher. Life could be so unfair.

"Vice Admiral Garp, Sir!" I turned and hastily rose to my feet to join in Helpmeppo's and Coby's salute. Garp was smiling at us, which usually meant pain for the boys.

"You'll come with me now," he said, and the three of us gulped.

I wasn't expecting Garp to invite us to fight with him, but I was more than happy to accept. Even together, we were literally no match for him. Each time we came in, he'd fling me away, then punch Coby and Helmeppo until they could hardly scrape themselves off the ground.

As they were getting back up, Garp started to walk away. I was livid, and the part of me that kept my mouth shut had given up. I was being treated differently, and I wanted to know why.

"Ahem," I coughed as I came up behind Garp, causing him to turn around. He waited for me to make my move, but I just crossed my arms and glared.

"What's going on here, Sir?" I asked with absolutely no respect. I could hear Coby gasp, but I was too far in now. "Why won't you fight me like you do them?" I demanded as I pointed back at the boys.

"I didn't think you needed the motivation, and besides, I don't punch girls."

"Listen up, Gramps!" I yelled. "I'm not a girl, I'm a MARINE!" I stood, shocked and panting as Garp burst into laughter so hard he started crying.

Suddenly he was serious, explaining how we would now have nightly special training sessions. How he had tested us, to be sure we had the will and determination to succeed with him. He also told us he would keep an eye on the "Luffy Situation" but that we needed to keep that between us.

Coby and Helmeppo straightened into a salute, and Garp turned to walk away. He glanced back at me, a questioning look on his face. I looked at him for a moment, trying to determine the catch, but finding none, I also saluted. Garp continued on his way, laughing harder.

I wasn't sure what had happened, but apparently we showed him something worthwhile. I smiled as I thought of calling him Gramps. He really did remind me of my Gramps, all tough on the outside, and super soft on the inside. I wondered if Garp was the same.

After that, Bogard and Garp met with us each night, Bogard training and Garp observing. Anytime Garp would comment on my form or lack thereof, I'd yell out, "Stuff it Gramps!" or "come show me how it's done!" He would just grin, and go back to observing.

Helmeppo and Coby were appalled that I would speak to the vice admiral in such a manner, but I actually felt much better about my situation. I may not get hit like the boys do, but Garp wasn't going to "pull any punches" with my training either, and I knew he would help me reach my goals.