Monkey D. Garp

And Luffy could prove they were memories. But he didn't want to. It just didn't feel right, so he didn't. Cause what Luffy hadn't told the man that he could actually feel what happened in his dreams. The ache in his muscles as he ran from beasts in the woods with his two brothers, the hard bed he shared in their fort in the trees, the almost physical pain that caught in his chest from when Sabo was killed. He could clearly remember the sharp feeling of stabbing himself under his eye, and the warmth of the soft hands that touched his face after he had done it.

His head would still ached from the fists that pounded the top of his head too. It was nothin' compared to Gramp's Fists of Love when the scar first appeared under his eye, but they still hurt.

There was something else he hadn't said yet. At the end of his dream, after the peaceful sailing faded away, a face flashed before his eyes. He'd only catch a glimpse of the teenager with green hair and three earrings each time, but he remembered the face. It was almost impossible for him to forget. Something about the teen just stuck in Luffy's brain.

"The face makes me happy and relaxed." he thought briefly. "It's really weird. He's like a mystery man."

"LUUUUUUUUUFFFFYYYY!" A large voice roared out. It literally shook the vehicle he laid in, forcing Luffy to sit up.

Luffy frowned, adjusting his baseball cap without a thought. "That sounded like Gramps. Better see what he wants." he commented to himself. He reached over and opened the car door, hurriedly sliding out and shutting the it behind him. Then he rushed to the fence and pulled himself over the brick wall with ease. Landing on grass on the other side, he took off towards the house.

Monkey D. Garp was a big man, there was no way around it. He towered over practically everyone that surrounded him. His chest was broad as a tire and boasted the same thickness as well. With his wise old eyes staring into your soul, and his scruffy white beard that nearly gave him the appearance of a wildman, he intimidated the toughest Police Officers out there.

Which was to be expected. Garp worked for the police after all. And a pretty high rank up there as well. He was an Assistant Director, the third highest rank in the government. Above Assistant Director was Associate Director, and the very top was the Director.

But having a position so high in the government made life a little difficult for him. Because he also had his two grandsons to deal with. One would think as their legal guardian, he would endlessly dote upon them, but the opposite was quite true. Make no mistake, he loved both Ace and Luffy equally, but he treated them no different then the police he trained. Especially after Ace left to join a gang.

Mornings started with Garp, already in his uniform, screaming at Luffy in his room to get up and out of bed. That tactic usually didn't work, and was quickly followed by the daily 'Fist of Love'. In other words, a punch on the head. Once Luffy was up and whining about being punched, the chaos of getting ready for the day began.

Actually it was more randomly falling asleep in strange places then actual preparing. Then there was the classic accusations of the other falling asleep on them, followed by more 'Fists of Love' and insults. Once that was settled, they continued to get ready, only to fall asleep once more. After half an hour of this routine, Garp would leave for work, and Luffy would leave for school.

Despite all that, Luffy really did love his grandfather. But sometimes the old man was really annoying.

Luffy ran through the backyard of his house, slapping aside bushes and tripping over roots. Maybe if he was fast enough, he could reach the house before the old man got to him, and he could jump out and scare him again. As he bursted through the last bush, Luffy's heart wilted. The mighty Garp already stood on the back porch, his arms crossed and a bored slash annoyed look on his face.

"Hey Gramps." Luffy called, walking up to him. A trail of leaves and other natural debris followed him, leaving a track on the clean swept porch for the maids to take care of. Both grandfather and grandson ignored the mess.

"How many times have I told you?! Call me Grandfather!" Garp roared and swung his fist forward. Luffy tried to duck but ended up yelping, and rubbed the newly acquired bump on his forehead.

"Okay okay." Luffy grumbled, feeling the size of the lump. It was about average size. Good, the old man wasn't actually mad at him. "Yeesh."

"Dinner time." Garp pointed at double glass doors that lead to inside the mansion. Luffy let out an enormous sigh, and trudged carefully past his grandpa. A strong blast of wind nearly ripped his worn baseball cap off his head at the doors, but Luffy managed to catch it before it flew off. "Whew. That was close."

"Oh yeah! That reminds me. Don't forget to take your hat off for dinner. It's a new policy I'm starting." Garp spoke gruffly, pushing his grandson into the house. Luffy promptly ignored the extra motivation in favor of sticking his tongue out at the old man, and took off through the living room and into the dining room table in a big haste. Garp was always trying to make new policies or whatever. They never worked so Luffy just ignored them.

Oooo, Luffy loved dinner! Cause it was all MEAT! Steak, pork, ham, drum sticks of all sorts, lunchboxes, takoyaki, Land King meat with multiple sauces and garnishing, and whole roasted pigs with apples in their mouths! The table could barely hold the whole feast. It was absolute heaven! And it was hardly enough to make Luffy stuffed, but there was plenty to satisfy him and Garp. Both the hungry Monkey D. men dived into the feast with relish.

Halfway through the meal Garp glared at Luffy, a giant ham shoved part of the way into his mouth. He swallowed the rest of the meat quickly, letting out a loud burp before placing a elbow on the table and leaning forward to stare intensely at the young boy at the other end of the table. "Luffy! What did I say about hats?"

"N-nothin?" Luffy stuttered, not making eye contact. Maybe if he didn't say anything the old man would forget about it. With a sigh, Garp reached over and plucked the worn baseball cap off Luffy's head.

"Hey!" Luffy protested, his hands coming to cover his raven hair in surprise. He barely saw the old man move, he was so fast!

"I let you wear your vest and your weird shorts with the fluffy cuffs, but I decided there shall be no hats at the table. Until you understand that rule, I'll be keeping this." Garp scolded. The baseball cap disappeared into his government cloak. Which was several feet above Luffy's head.

"But that's like forever!" Luffy shouted, his eyes wide as he stared in dismay.

Knock! Luffy yelped and scrambled backwards, nursing the new lump on his head.

"No yelling in the house!" Garp hollered, then crossed his arms with his face locked in a determined expression. Luffy knew that face. The old man wasn't about to back down or change his mind.

A ball of anger ignited inside Luffy. It was a hot kind of anger, the kind that makes you want to destroy something and not feel bad about it. Or when somebody did something that was really, really mean, and you can't control your body because all you see is red. The feeling was weird, but strangely familiar at the same time. Like he had felt this kind of anger many times before. Odd, considering this was the first time he remembered being this mad before in either life. But that wasn't cool of Gramps! How dare that old coot take his hat! Sure it wasn't the straw hat from Shanks, but that was his!

"Not fair!" Luffy roared, clenching his fists. His arms quivered at his sides. The edges of his vision were red, and Luffy really wanted to punch something. But if he did that, the old man would yell at him again. So instead, Luffy reigned himself in and turned and stormed out of the dining room. Garp jerked in surprise. He was expecting an upset reaction, but not to that caliber. That was unusual. He settled into a confused state of mind as he watched his grandson exit the room.

"If only I could stretch like in my dream-memories!" Luffy muttered as he ran. "Then I'd sneak my long arms under that stupid coat and steal my hat back."

His feet took him to the entrance area of the mansion, and up the double grand staircase. He burst onto the second floor and ran into the first room on the right, his bedroom. It was the second biggest, which was unfair cause the old man's room was bigger but Gramps never uses it. Luffy should have the bigger room 'cause he used his a lot more. Luffy jumped onto his pirate themed bed and buried his face in his Jolly Roger-decorated pillow.

"Stupid Gramps. Doesn't understand." he muttered after a moment, depression filling his voice. The next sentence slipped out of his mouth on its own accord. "That hat is my treasure."

"Fine." he flopped onto his back. Defiant determination filled up inside him. "If Gramps takes my hat, I'll just find another."

And Luffy knew exactly where to find one.

He sat up and scrambled to his bedroom door. Ever so carefully, he cracked the door open about a inch. Peeking his head outside, he checked to see if any of the maids or Gramps were traversing the hall. Seeing no one, he took off towards the end of the long hallway, where Garp's room took the very end. The large decorated doorway towered over the small ten year old, but Luffy was undaunted.

He swung open the door. An empty room greeted him. A bright smile appeared on his face, and Luffy confidently strode into the old man's room. It was a simple room, colored white with navy blue furniture. Inside was a bed, two wardrobes, a TV, a small nightstand, and a walk-in closet.

Luffy headed into the closet. The place was simple as closets go, the only obvious abnormal thing was that all the clothes hanging on the rack were identical. That was, until you notice the hidden door. Luffy had accidently discovered the hidden door a couple years ago, when he was exploring and ran into the wall too hard, which popped the door open. It was an awesome discovery that left Luffy's eyes as sparkles. Gramps didn't know that he knew about it, and he wanted to keep it that way. The old man would probably ban him from going in there if he found out. Cause inside was where Garp's collection of trinkets from years of fighting gangs was stored.

It was hidden treasure, and it thrilled Luffy to no end. Sometimes Gramps would pulled out a trinket and tell him stories on how he got the item, and when he was gone Luffy would always sneak into the secret room to admire it for longer. The place was so cool. There was even pedestals for the objects! There was a rusty old shotgun, a pair of gloves with claws on the end of each finger, one muddy red boot, and a lot more cool things. There was even a sword with a black sheath and a rusted away blade.

But that wasn't what he was after today. What Luffy wanted was the baseball hat that rested on the biggest pedestal. A replacement hat for his own lost hat. And since Gramps took his hat, it was only fair Luffy took a hat from him.

He knew Garp claimed that hat was from Red-hair Shanks, whose managed to avoid the old man for years. The old man said he got the hat when someone shoved Red-hair from behind on top of a roof where he was taunting the police, and the hat was knocked off his head and it literally fell down into Garp's hands. Gramps sure was surprised. It was almost like the hat wanted to come with him, he would say later. Shanks must have figured that his hat was a lost hope, because he never came back for it even though it looked like it him hurt to leave it.

Luffy paused a moment to take in the gangster's hat. It was a dark blue with a skull and crossbones on the front. It was in surprisingly good shape for its age, almost brand new.

"Shanks probably really loved this hat to keep good care of it." Luffy thought. "He musta' been so mad when Gramps snatched it from him!"

"Perfect!" Luffy picked it up from the pedestal and placed it on his head. It fit perfectly. He didn't even need to mess with the strap on the back to adjust it to his head size. He beamed. It was perfect! Meant to be!

His conscious chose that moment to kick in. Luffy froze, guilt worming its way onto his face. "Wait! I can't steal it! That's bad!" His brain thought furiously for a loophole. He really, really, really wanted this and- Aha! Found one! "Oh wait, I know. I'm only borrowing it. I'll give it back when I get my hat back!"

Luffy grinned. Then he turned around and skipped to the secret door. Oooo, what could he do now that he had his hat back? Maybe go play pirates in his room some more. He could reenact beating up the fat pirate lady again! That was a bunch of fun! Completely absorbed in his memory, Luffy failed to measure the distance between the doorframe and his head.

His forehead smacked against the top of the doorframe, taking the boy completely by surprise and knocking him off his feet. Luffy landed on his back, hands instantly coming up to gingerly cover his bruised head. His hat fluttered to the floor behind him.

"Owwwww." Luffy whined. Where did that come from?! Nothing in the secret room was short enough to smack his head. He looked up, frowning. That was weird. The door seemed shorter than normal. Weird. Oh well, it was probably because he had a different hat on. It probably made him taller or something. He shrugged it off. Luffy reached behind him for his hat. He touched something, but it definitely wasn't fabric. It felt dry and stiff.

"What the heck?" Luffy swiveled his head and looked at the ground behind him.

There was an old straw hat with a red ribbon wrapped around the base of the hat resting on the ground besides him.