Here we are again, this time with a more calm chapter.
DISCLAIMER: I don't know if I should do this or not but whatever, I don't own anything here apart from my OC's.
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February 1518 – Marineford, Grand Line
A crescent moon-shaped Island that is mostly composed of bricks and steel, with many canons on the edges, at the back of the island standing tall and proud was a majestic building of Japanese-oriented style, the word 'Marines' written at the base in big blue letters, at the four cardinal corners a small mountain with building's carrying a flag with the Marine's symbol on it.
Even from afar a form of formless pressure of power and dignity could be felt emanating from the building, a pressure that came from the highest authority when it came to justice in this world, a place that would make those who tread the path of evil feel their heart's grown cold just by hearing it, the marine headquarters;
Marineford
There's always the saying that nothing beats having first-hand experienced something, and since coming to this world Lucas had come to really believe in this phrase, for instance, seeing Garp in the anime/manga and seeing him in real life, are two completely different things. He had experienced this even more when he finally came across a devil fruit.
But nothing he had experienced before portrait this phrase better than seeing the Marine Headquarters in person.
Marineford is a key location in the World of One Piece, and this was shown very well in the anime/manga, after all, this was the place where the biggest war seen in the show had occurred.
'The War of the Best" was probably the biggest, and most memorable, arc the canon had ever seen. This, in turn, marked the place be as memorable in the minds of everyone who saw the arc.
But standing there in person Lucas had come to realize that, the Marineford he saw back on Earth, the one that's memorable, is actually just a dull, lifeless copy of the real thing.
The sheer aura that emanates from this place is something no drawn, or animated scene, could ever dream to copy…
No, it's simply impossible!
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"Let's go Lucas" Said Garp to his grandson.
Hearing the voice of his grandpa pulled Lucas out of his daydreaming, looking around he finally noticed that the ship had already docked in the base.
Following beside his grandpa Lucas started to walk down from the ship, finally stepping into the base he looked around in wonder.
The dock they arrived is a massive indoor one, marines ships doing different things could be seen around, some are loading and preparing to depart in some mission while others are docking, a few of them have marines escorting down some pirates, where's one or two are just floating there, waiting for anyone who would need them.
Five big entrances could be seen in the back of the dock, the first four had several busy marines walking from and forth, while the fifth one in the middle, the one they are walking to, was basically empty with only two Toguro look-alike marines standing guard on the side.
All the marines they passed would look at Garp with clear reverence and respect in their eyes, Lucas that was walking beside his grandpa inevitably also caught the eyes of all the present marines.
Had this happened before Lucas certainly would have been shy under the eyes of so many people, but his time in the island had beat, literally, this side out of him. So he took the looks aimed at him in stride, barely noticing them as he followed his grandpa around.
"Hey Grandpa, where exactly are we going?" A few minutes earlier Garp had gone into his room and dragged him out to the ship's deck without a word of warning, not even giving Lucas time to get his things or anything "If we are going to your house shouldn't I get my suitcase?"
"We are not going there yet, there's someone I want you to meet first" said Garp without stopping walking, a smirk on his face as he saw Lucas confused face "Bogard will get your suitcase and tiger friend to my house later, so just relax and follow me"
'Easy for you to say…'
Lucas followed his grandpa into the fifth entrance where there's a big staircase leading up was waiting for them just past a few couple meters, and hile walking in silence beside his grandpa he pondered about who was this person his grandpa wanted him to meet.
'Well, there's only a couple of people it could be considering who his grandpa is, most probably is either Sengoku or Tsuru...'
His grandpa Garp, of course, only laughed at his nervous expression.
They went up the staircase for a few good minutes, Lucas didn't know how many floors they had passed, at one point they walked out of the stairs into a Japanese looking corridor.
The floor was composed of green-blue tatamis, at both sides of the corridor you could see walls of fusumas, beige in color with the drawn of a tree on them. Walking a few meters forward they turned right, the left wall turned into a sort of continuous red balcony.
"Marvelous…"
The view from the balcony completely stunned Lucas, there he could basically see all of Marineford with a single glance.
From the base below him and the many big buildings surrounding it filled with all types marines, busy man and woman going past and forth without stop. To the large bustling town in the island, home of families that eagerly await for their heroes to return home.
The moon-shaped bay with its big steel walls, almost impervious to all things mortal. All down to the endless blue sea, a mirror to the azure sky that seems to stretch into infinity.
The wind that came from the sea blew through the island mixing its calm feeling with the aura of justice of the headquarters, the result hit Lucas at his face making the white haired young man feel something that few words could describe, walking to the balcony Lucas put his hand on the railing and closed his eyes.
Freedom
Justice
This was similar to the liberating feeling he would always feel when flaying, but mixed with a never felt before feeling of dignity, honor, and justice!
He ended up letting spark fly out his body, only stopping when he felt a strong hand on his shoulder.
Opening his eyes he saw his grandpa Garp beside him, smiling at him before also looking at the view.
"Stunning isn't? Your father had the same reaction the first time I brought him here"
The Monkey D. duo stood there watching the view for a minute more.
Walking just a couple meters from there the two arrived at a big double door, Lucas that at that point had already pretty much figured who he was going to meet became a little tense. After all, why wouldn't he?
Behind this door very probably is one of the three biggest marines to ever live in this world, Garp is one of them, but being his grandpa he never felt nervous when in his presence. His grandpa noticed his nervousness, giving a wide smirk he grabbed Lucas by the shoulder and abruptly opened the door.
"BWAHAHAHA Sengoku, I have brought someone to meet you!"
"Wait grandp-"
Without giving Lucas a moment to react Garp dragged his grandson through the double door, the room they entered, like the rest of the building, had a very Japanese look.
The walls are of a spotless white, a big wooden frame with golden detail and kanjis written on was hanged on the right wall, behind it something that looked like a blue ranma, bellow it a big blue couch. Going to the back of the room you would see a big dark wooden desk, and sitting behind this desk was the figure of the highest-ranking person in the marine. A person that, alongside Garp, was one of the greatest marine this world has ever seen.
Fleet-Admiral Sengoku
Sengoku was a tall, fair-skinned, and muscular man, with a respectable braided goatee and a mustache, a cap with a seagull at top of his head covering his black afro-hair, he also wore black glasses and a white and gold full admiral marine uniform, one that was adorned with many medals, and like other marines he had his coat on his back like a cape, the symbol of the marine was behind him covering the entire wall.
"Garp! What a said about coming here without warning?"
Sengoku was sitting on his desk looking at some papers when Garp abruptly entered while laughing, by reflex he started scolding his long time friend before his gaze fell on the white-haired young man he was dragging by the shoulder.
Sengoku paused for a moment as he took in the oddly familiar features of the young man, a second later a look of realization flashed through his eyes
"So this is Luciano's son?"
"Bwhahaha that's right, this is my grandson Lucas, he is going to be a great marine" grinning Garp brought his still stunned grandson forward "Hey Lucas, didn't you said that you want to be Fleet-Admiral? So here, greet the man you are going to replace"
Lucas composed himself from been dragged by his grandpa, something that is really becoming common, then looked forward at the leading figure of the marine organization.
Like his grandpa Sengoku was a very imposing man, just by sitting there he was emanating an aura of power and honor that few could wish to match, a formless pressure of one that is among the few who stood at the peak of this world.
Lucas never before met someone of this caliber on his life, well, Garp is actually one of those, but being his grandpa he never felt nervous on his presence, even when he first met the man as a baby he never felt pressured by him, he was family after all.
The gaze of the many marines aimed at him when he arrived are nothing in comparison to that of the Budha before him.
Taking a breath he calmed himself down, he was a Monkey D. after all, he could not get so pressured by higher figures like this, how could face Luffy if he was? he thought, I'm a dragon and no pressure should faze me he thought
'Remember, you are a D.'
Thinking like this Lucas quickly took a hold of himself, just a second later his nervous expression was replaced by his usual calm smile ."
"Hello Fleet-Admiral Sengoku, it's an honor to meet you" he said giving Sengoku a polite bow "My grandpa talked a lot about you, for what he said you two seemed to be really good friends"
"Have he told you about all the trouble he had put me through?"
"well…" Lucas smiled awkwardly
"Hmph Exactly what I thought" Sengoku gave a sharp glare at Garp, who only laughed and sat at the couch.
Sengoku returned his gaze back to Lucas, he couldn't help but nod in approval at the younger Monkey D; Many young marines would feel nervous on his presence, shaking even, the young man before him entered the room with visible signs of nervousness, but quickly took reign of them.
Some traces of nervousness could still be felt though, but that's to be expected, what really got his attention was his eyes. They practically glowed with energy and desire to do great things, a depth of still unrefined primal power could also be felt from them.
Sengoku smiled
"So, you want to succeed me? That's something very hard to achieve, I have high requirements for a successor"
"Yeah, but I least have to try, who knows, I may end up really succeeding your position" Lucas smirked.
Sengoku chuckled a bit
"I admire your confidence, but you should know that no normal person can succeed my position, you will need great power to do that, Garp mentioned you had the potential needed to achieve this great power" he gave Lucas a deep look "Could you show me?"
Lucas expression turned serious, with a firm nod he raised his right arm, then clenching his hand he called upon his powers. Quickly his arm became covered in black dragon scales and his hand turned into a dragon claw, the air around him started to crack as lightning surged around his arm.
The lightning glowed with power, with dragon power. It surged with intensity and control, at one moment you would think it would burst out of Lucas's arm, only to realize the lightning was actually pretty stable and contained, clearly showing Lucas control of his powers.
Garp that was sitting on the couch, eating a sandwich he got from somewhere, smirked at his grandson's display of his devil fruit powers.
Sengoku looked at the young man draconic arm with a hard to discern look on his eyes.
Garp had told him about his grandson rare situation, how he was now the user of the rarest type of devil fruit in the world, and how he had greatly improved during his training in the island, and now finally seeing he got to agree with him. The young man can become a really great marine.
He mentioned with his hand for Lucas to end his display.
"Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit… never thought I would see another user of it enter the marine"
He raised his right hand and made it briefly glow in golden light. Lucas's eyes widened at this action, he clearly could sense a somehow familiar feeling from the golden glow
"You grandpa might have mentioned this, I'm also a Mythical Zoan user. I know the potential of this fruit better than him. I'm glad he finally made a good thing after so much time, having a young man like you amongst our ranks will be a good boost to our strength"
"Bwhahaha, what I had told you Sengoku? Lucas will be a big addition to our side, I cannot wait to see those pesky pirates running from hearing his names. Bwhaha we are going to have a good time together"
For a change Sengoku agreed with his boisterous friend.
Lucas smiled sheepishly at the Fleet-Admiral praise, hearing something like this for someone not from his family is certainly a good feeling.
He chatted with Sengoku more for a time, getting some advice on how to progress with his devil fruit powers.
After all it's not every day he would get a chance to talk with a more experience Mythical Zoan user, as the highest-ranking marine Sengoku is a very busy man, which means he would not be able to talk with him all the time like he does with his grandpa Garp.
After a few minutes Sengoku looked at his wristwatch, seeing that a lot of time had passed already he said.
"It's getting late, you should head to Garp's house to get some rest, seeing he dragged you here without giving you time to proper rest from the trip" he extended his hand at Lucas and smiled "It's good to meet you Lucas, I'm looking forward to seeing you become a great marine like your grandpa, hopefully, you will cause less trouble than him"
Lucas shook the Flee-admiral hand "I try not to" he said smiling.
"Good, maybe you'll be able to help me get your grandpa on the line for once"
Garp that was sitting on the couch got up laughing "I don't know are you talking about"
Sengoku threw him a sharp glare which he ignored, walking out of the room with his grandson he vanished from there before Sengoku realized his hidden snacks had been all eaten by him.
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The residence for all the high ranking marines is located between the headquarters and the town, inside a sort of special residential area, not too hard to find.
Most of the houses are very similar to one another, white walls and blue roofs, what really would differentiate one from another would be the nameplates on the front of the houses, all of them being very eccentric.
Garp's house, as expected of someone with respected status within the organization, is more special than the rest and is located on a different part of the residential area.
The first time Lucas saw his grandpa house he honestly thought it looked a lot more with a mansion than with a house, it had a Japanese look similar to that of the headquarters, albeit with a clear mix of western design.
The entrance had tall walls with a big red gate, similar to a torii, with the head of a dog on top of it. The frontyard was big with some Sakura trees planted on it, besides the mansion looking house a building was on its left, probably a gym of sorts.
Whistling Lucas said to his grandpa "You never told me you had a mansion"
To which Garp only gave a nonchalant shrug "Sengoku was the one who pushed this place onto me, something about maintaining the appearance of the marine hero"
Still impressed with the place Lucas followed his grandpa into his future residence, walking only a couple of meters before starting to hear a very familiar growl coming from inside the house.
The doors from the residence opened and a giant striped figure lipped from within on top of the white-haired young man.
Who could it be but the former forest king?
"Haha Good to see you too Kitty"
Still smiling Lucas got up and started to pat the head of his tiger friend, looking at the house he saw his grandpa right-hand man, Bogard, walking out of the it.
"He was quite anxious for your return" Bogard said while looking at the two friends "Honestly I never thought I would be a tiger caretaker one day"
"Haha Sorry for the inconvenience" Lucas said while still patting his friend kitty, who looked at Bogard and gave a growl saying 'Thanks for that meat by the way'
"Bwhaha Come, let me show you your room" said Garp before entering the house.
The inside of the house had a more modern style than it's outside would suggest, and contrary to what he expected from his grandpa's house the place was spotlessly clean and very well decorated
'Granny Tsuru probably is related to this'
Following his grandpa through the main corridor they arrived on a stair leading up to a second floor, turning right at the simple corridor they arrived before a door.
"This is going to be your room" Garp opened the door.
The room was big, a tidy double bed with dark blue sheets could be seen at the back. Opposite to it on the other wall was a simple-looking, but somehow big, closet.
At the left of the bed was a wooden desk with some books and many writing tools on top of it, a dark blue couch could also be found at one side of the room with a bookshelf filled books of all sorts at its side. On the other end of the room was a sliding door leading to a balcony with a great view of the island outside.
"This room…"
Lucas walked around the room with wide eyes, never on his two lives he had stayed on a room like this, just like the rest of the house the room had a very beautiful and majestic look, making the white haired young stunned again on the beauty of the place he is going to live in the future.
"You like it?"
"How could I not?"
Garp gave the room a deep, somehow sad look.
"This used to be your father's room…"
Lucas turned his face to look at his grandpa, the sad look he gave hit Lucas hard, giving another look around the room he walked to his grandpa he put a hand on his arm."
Thanks grandpa… for the room, and for everything. This last year was one of the best of my life, and as you said before, I'm looking forward to spending a good time with you" he gave his grandpa a caring loving smile.
Garp looked at his grandson's face, his sad expression vanished giving way to his trademark wide smile
"BWAHAHAHA You got that right! Those pirates don't know what's to come"
Lucas gave a wide similar to his grandpa "Yeah just they wait, they are in for a big surprise"
"BWAHAHAHA"
"HAHAHAHA "
The two Monkey D. laughed boisterous like that for a while, saying their predictions of their good time ahead and the doom that was waiting for the pirates in the future.
Growl
Was the sound of the grandson grandpa duo stomach that came after a while
"Bwahahaha I will ask Bogard to get something for dinner, for now, you can just stay are and get a feel on the room" after saying that he walked out of the room.
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Lucas walked to the balcony and looked at the view outside. The house was in a more elevated area, so from there he had a very good view of the entire island.
At one point Khan arrived on the room and sat beside him, in silence the two stood there at the balcony watching the sunset on the horizon reflected on the sea, the azure of the sea and sky gave way to a mesmerizing reddish orange, creating a dreaming and mystical scene.
'My new life really starting now, and I will make the most of it… no matter the challenge the world throws at me'
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This chapter we got to see another great character of One Piece, Sengoku, I hope I did him right, before the time skip he always appeared was a serious man, while after the time skip we saw him with a more cheerful look. Marineford is also another thing that got me while writing this chapter, never in the series did he got a more in-depth look of the marine headquarters, so I used the little he saw and mixed with some original ideas, like Garp's house. Next chapter we will get some more interactions with other characters, like a very loved blue-haired girl, along with a proper introduction of Lucas into the marine.
Anyway, thanks for reading, a special thanks to everyone who had follow/favorite this, leave your comments if you feel like it, constructive critics are welcomed.