Chapter 4: Training,Meeting a new friend!
Ace and Luffy woke up before dawn as normal and went downstairs,Ace to start running his laps and Luffy to grab some breakfast before joining Ace outside. As Ace had finished his tenth lap and Luffy had finished his breakfast,they noticed that neither Garp or Shanks and his men were there,the two boys decided to train in the outskirts of the jungle, by jumping from tree to tree and (sometimes) improvise their landings.
They kept doing this until they heard an unfamiliar voice shout: "Help me!" the boys followed the voice until they got to a pit where they saw a boy close to Ace's age were being stuck under a tree trunk and a tiger getting close. Ace,thinking quickly said: "Luffy,you help the kid,and I'll try to lure away the tiger and hopefully alert the old man while I'm at it,okay?" Luffy stared wide-eyed at Ace for a moment before he said: "You better be careful,Ace, or you'll never hear the end of it from Gramps".
With that Luffy ran around the clearing to get a better view of the boy,while Ace grabbed a decent-sized rock and threw it at the tiger. The rock hit it at the back of its head with enough force to make the tiger turn around and see Ace,who was prepared to run like hell, and started pouncing off the side of the pit to follow its new prey. In the meantime,Luffy had gotten down to the unknown boy who was stuck.
"Hey,are you hurt?" he asked, to which the boy answered: "I'm stuck in the branches under here, my arm is bleeding and I think my ankle is broken,but other than that I'm fine. Why did he do that? He'll get himself killed for sure" the boy looked up at Luffy who had started to laugh. "Shishishishi! Ace is too fast for him,and by the time the tiger catches up to him Ace'll have gotten reinforcements. Now, let's see if we can't at least break off some branches to make it easier for you to get out." Luffy said as he got to work,careful as to not hurt the unknown boy.
"I'm Luffy by the way. Monkey D. Luffy" he added as an afterthought as he smiled at the slightly older boy, who smiled back and said: "Sabo. My name is Sabo"
Luffy had been making good progress on removing the branches that prevented Sabo from escaping the tree when they heard Ace's voice: "Luffy!How's it going?" Luffy put both hands in front of his mouth and shouted: "I need help getting the tree trunk off!" and then turned to Sabo. "You'll be out of there soon. Gramps will be here in a second" he said,to which Sabo frowned.
"How's an old man able to help? He'll probably break his back trying to lift an axe" he said,causing Luffy to frown,but before he could respond,he heard a voice from behind him. "Oh? Someone's being mouthy,eh?" to which Luffy grinned. "he's been stuck under there for a while,gramps!I'm sure that's the only reason" he said and moved so Sabo could take a look at the newcomer and paled; the old man was huge! Then the old man did something that made Sabo almost faint: he punched the trunk with enough force to turn the entire thing into millions of toothpicks! He soon got up a bit unsteady and looked to Luffy and the man who apparently was Luffy's grandpa, and bowed slightly.
"Thank you both for helping me,I hope the other one is okay" the blonde kid said nervously. "The other one? You mean Ace?" the old man asked to clarify. Sabo nodded. "Considering he hit a fully grown tiger in the back of the head with a rock,I don't blame the animal to angry,I just hope he didn't end up as the tiger's lunch". "Don't worry about it,my grandson is pretty strong,as is little Luffy here. Why don't you join us for lunch?" the old man said with a smile as Luffy lit up like a candle.
"Oh! Why can't he stay with us,gramps?" the hyperactive raven hair said with a grin. Garp scratched his head. "Well,I assume his family will want him back,Luffy. You can understand that,right?" he said, seeing his grandson frown before nodding. "That makes sense,I guess"the young boy said before turning to Sabo. "Hey,where do you live? I've never seen you around the village before" he asked,causing Sabo's eyes to widen as he thought about how to lie his way out of the situation.
"I-eh,I come from Grey Terminal" Sabo said,hoping they wouldn't notice his half-lie. Garp narrowed his eyes at the mention of Grey Terminal as he looked over Sabo's clothes. Dark blue jacket,white shirt and a dark blue top hat and a pair of black shoes. 'Hmm,clearly not from Grey Terminal,he might be from the capital,but if he's from there,then...' Garp's eyes widened at the thought of who Sabo's relations were and doing some quick thinking he said : "Luffy,why don't you go find Ace and find Shanks and his men? They should be at Makino's bar" he said, successfully distracting his grandson, who immediately started running away screaming "AAAACCCCEEEEE!" at the top of his lungs,leaving Garp alone with Sabo. Garp turned to the blonde.
"I have a feeling I know who you really are" he said,causing Sabo's eyes to widen in fear,then confusion as the old man continued speaking: "Just relax,I have no intentions to send anything to those bastards in the capital, and no low-brow criminal would dare tried to approach this place,not while me and my grandsons are here" he grinned as he saw the look of confusion on the young boy's face.
"I forgot to introduce myself,didn't I?I'm sure you've heard or me,name's Monkey D. Garp" he said,causing Sabo's eyes to widen in realization of who exactly he was talking to. 'This is the third mate of the Roger Pirates,THE Monkey D. Garp? Maybe he can help me after all' Sabo thought. "You-You are THE Monkey D. Garp?third mate of the Roger Pirates?" he asked for clarification. Garp nodded as he motioned for Sabo to follow him. After a few minutes,they had reached the end of the jungle and Sabo laid eyes on a nice,two-story house, with a big garden and a beautiful view of the ocean. Garp looked down on the stunned young boy.
"You are more than welcome to stay here. I am sure Ace and Luffy will welcome having someone else to play with...when they're not training,that is" Garp said with a chuckle. Sabo tilted his head in confusion. "Training? Training for what?" he asked. Garp barked out a short laugh. "Hah! You'll have to ask them what they're training for,it's not my right to tell,I'll say this though,they both want to go out to sea one day,for one reason or another" their conversation was ended when Luffy and Ace came up to them with four men Sabo did not recognize.
"Hey gramps,we found them,they were with Makino getting drunk when we found them!" Luffy called with a big grin as he ran ahead of the group. Garp sighed as he looked at Shanks. "Really Shanks? First you promised me to help train the kids,and then you go and get drunk on me? Some help you are" Garp grumbled as he walked into the house to make breakfast,momentarily forgetting about Sabo,who was frozen in Shock at the sight of 'Akagami no Shanks' and three of his top men.
Shanks in turn tilted his head at the sight of the blonde. "Hey Garp,who's the new kid?" he asked before Garp managed to open the door. Garp turned,looked at Sabo and then looked to Shanks. "His name is Sabo, Luffy and Ace found him about to become tiger lunch. He's gonna stick with us for a while,so we might as well train him too." Garp said, gaining an "EEEHH?" from Sabo, a confused look from Ace, a wide grin from Luffy and four head scratches from Shanks and his men.
Shanks then shrugged his shoulders. "Alright. Nice to meet you Sabo, I am Shanks, and with me is my top men, Benn Beckman, Lucky Roo and Yassopp" Shanks said with a small smile. Sabo hesitated to reply,but when he did, it was with a small smile and an outstretched hand. "Nice to meet you too Shanks" he said,gaining a larger grin from Luffy in the background as he and Ace followed Garp into the house. Shanks shook Sabo's hand, then said: "Well,let's go in. Garp makes a pretty mean meal when he feels like it" Sabo smiled,nodded and walked in with the four men.
After a good meal,consisting of the tiger that had tried to eat Sabo,some fish, and fruits and vegetables, Garp turned to Sabo and said "I'm sure you're wondering why we need to train Ace and Luffy,right?" gaining a nod from Sabo. "It's because of who their fathers are. You see,Luffy is my biological his father Dragon,my son. As for Ace, well,his father is our-"he pointed at himself and Shanks- "-former captain."
Sabo was wide-eyed at mention of Luffy's father being the most wanted man in the world. When Ace's father was mentioned, Sabo could've sworn he was about to pass out. Then he started thinking. 'If Ace and Luffy will be hunted for who their parents are,they'll need all the help they can get. With training from Both Garp-san and Shanks-san and his men, they will be able to survive a lot,but they'll still need help. Yes,I'll help them get wherever they want to get. After all,they saved me from that tiger'
Aloud he said: "Garp-san. I am in debt to Ace and Luffy. Without them,and you, I'd most likely be dead. As such,I have a request." The old man widened his eyes as he heard the words that would forever change their lives as Sabo looked determined into his eyes and said: "Please train me along with them! I wish to not only survive myself,but I want to help them reach their goals. I'm a fast learner, and, if I may be so bold, I am quite smart for my age. I'll do whatever it takes, but please,TRAIN ME!"
The silence dominated the room as Garp looked at Shanks,Benn,Yassop and Lucky before looking down at Sabo,who was still looking down. Garp grinned.
"It's not even noon yet...Luffy,you'll spend the day With Lucky, Ace,you'll spend it with Benn, Yassop,I think we'll wait a bit before learning these kids any kind of marksmanship, As for Sabo, you'll spend the day with me and Shanks" causing Shanks to look at Garp curiously while Sabo's head snapped up in shock so fast,it's a miracle he didn't get whiplash. "Your training...STARTS NOW!"