Hey guys, I'm back. I kinda disappeared for a while, the world's current situation wiped my drive recently, I'm good now, and I hope you guys are too.
Anyway, first I want to point out that we don't have as much in-depth information about OP marine as I wished, which somehow understandable considering Luffy is a pirate and not a marine. As such, while part of the info about the marine is canon, some other parts it's made up by me to better fit this world I'm writing.
Second, I wish to thank all of you, the fic had reached 200/297 favorites and follows, an mind boggling number for me when I first posted this fic on the site, really guys, thank you.
Now that I think about it, it has been almost a year since I first uploaded this, and only now I'm posting chapter seven... I kinda feel ashamed.
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.
May contain Grammar errors
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February 1518 – Garp's Residence, Marineford
The sun started to rise from the horizon, chasing away the darkness of the night just like a hero would chase away an evildoer.
The skies slowly lost his darkened visage and began to take on his usual mesmerizing azure color, the sunlight slowly but steadily began enveloping the island of Marineford, bringing a warmth to the island similar to a hug of a loving mother.
All the inhabits of the island feeling the rise of the sun also started to rise from their beds. Housewives would start to cook their family's breakfast, fathers would rose to go work, marines that had been standing on night-duty would be relieved from their post, then returning to their quarters they would finally have the reprieve of a good time of sleep.
On the residence of the marine hero the situation is no different.
Going to the second floor the first rays of sunlight would pierce past the curtains on the windows and enter the room of the house new resident, slowly bathing the room on warmth the dim light would eventually found its way to the white haired figure sleeping on the double bed.
"Hmmn…"
Feeling the morning light on him Lucas that was silently sleeping opened his blue eyes, sitting on the edge of the bed he stretched his arms while letting a low draconic roar as a yawn, after that he looked around his room.
It's still surprised him that this big room was now his, he always had thought the room he had on his mother's house was already big enough for him, but this room that used to be of his father is a completely new beast.
Looking at his right he saw the sleeping figure of his tiger friend, the once king of the forest had coiled himself into a furry ball and was now sleeping beside his bed
"Haha It looks like I brought a kitty from the island instead of a tiger"
"growl"
Smiling at the giant tiger's actions Lucas got up and walked to the balcony at the end of the room.
Sliding the door he looked at the rising sun on the horizon, the lingering coldness of the night was still there but it was slowly being chased away by the sunlight. Using his sense he could clearly 'see' that many parts of the island had already kicked into high gear.
'Time to start the day'
Turning back Lucas walked out his room into the corridor, his grandpa had toured him around the house yesterday so he now knows his way around the house. Walking just a few meters down the corridor he already arrived at the bathroom.
The bathroom was big, and like many other parts of the house had an oriental look mixed with a more modern western design, complete with a big bathtub and a shower and also surprisingly being very well decorated.
Taking off his pajama (which is only his boxer underwear and a loose grey-shirt) he entered the shower.
A hot shower is something he rarely had on his year-long training, for obvious reasons, most of the time he would just go to a small pond shown to him by Khan to take a quick bath.
So Lucas couldn't help but to indulge himself in a long hot shower now that he is back on civilization, a good time later he walked out of the shower wet and covered in steam, if this was before he would have quickly grabbed his towel, but now…
Zap
With a thought his body became completely covered in lightning making the water on his body quickly evaporated thanks to the lightning's heat, a second later the coat of blue energy vanished leaving Lucas dry as when he entered the bathroom.
With steam still lingering around him he walked to the mirror, cleaning the mirror's surface blurred by the steam he looked at his reflection
"I'm not that bad huh?" commented Lucas seeing his reflection.
He likes to think that on his last life he was not bad looking, definitely not an example of beauty, but not exactly bad either, a little above average if you say, but on this life things are different.
Having inherited the good genes of his mother, who is a woman with angelic white hair and soft blue eyes that represent the epitome of beauty known to this world, easily surpassing the likes of Boa Hancock and Vinsmoke Reiju (clearly not being bias here).
He now had white hair befitting a certain bitter archer from one of the animes he used to watch, and a pair of piercing blue eyes. The genes of his father, who was pretty muscular, made him taller than others of his age. The training on the island with his grandpa gave him the build of an athlete.
The point is, he was handsome now.
"The most strange part is that, somehow, I can still see traces of how I looked on earth on the present me. in a way I look similar to what I used to be while still being different, if that makes any sense…"
smirking Lucas shook his head at his strange thoughts.
Walking out of the bathroom, naked of course, he returned to his room on the end of the corridor, then going to his closet he picked his uniform and started to dress.
He needs to compliment the speed his grandpa made things work, Garp had passed his measures to Bogard before the dinner, thirty minutes later a new marine uniform was already presented to him.
The uniform was a simple white short-sleeved shirt with the marine symbol on it, blue neckerchief, dark blue trousers, and a cap with 'Marine' written on it.
"Not that bad" said Lucas while looking at the mirror inside his closet, for all its simplicity the white and blue uniform was quite pleasing to the eye "Aesthetics aside, the fabric used on this is soft and comfortable, really better than what I expected"
"Growl"
"Good Morning Khan" hearing the growl Lucas smiled, turning back he saw his tiger who had just woke up from his sleep and was now looking at his white-haired friend "What do you think about my new uniform?"
"Growl"
"Better without the cap?"
Hearing that Lucas looked again at the mirror, trying his friend advice he took off his marine cap, and sure enough, he indeed looked better without the cap.
"I see your point kitty, but then again I need to use it, dress code is now a thing for me. But from what I learned starting from petty officer I will be able to custom my uniform, even wear my normal clothes if I want to, so no stress"
"Growl"
"Thanks, now let's go to the kitchen"
Closing the closet with a push he dashed out of his room with Khan tagging behind him, just for fun when he arrived at the stairs Lucas used his hand to lean at the railing, lifting the rest of his body he practically glided down the stairs. Khan that was just behind him decided to do something similar, climbing the railing the tiger surfed down the stairs.
Close to the stairs down the main corridor of the house was the living room, which most likely is the biggest room in the house, just past that was the kitchen of the house.
The kitchen was big and beautiful, close to the door there's a large table with many seats, a big counter with a stove in the middle was in the center. At the right and back wall you had a row of kitchen counters, above them, you had a few cabinets, at the right wall a window, and finally at the corner of the back and the right wall you had a fridge.
"I'll do something simple… "
Tying an imaginary headband Lucas started his work in the kitchen.
His movements are just like that of a very precise clock. Lucas had started to grow a liking to cooking since back on Earth, for one his mother that also loved to cook encouraged him, and two, there was a manga that managed to make cooking battles look like they had jumped out of a shounen.
Then on this life he has a mother who also loved cooking and had the biggest bakery shop on his home island, all of this resulted in him becoming quite good in cooking if he was being honest
'At the very least I'll not embarrass myself in the kitchen'
"Hey, Khan" Lucas called the tiger that was already salivating watching him cook "Can you go grab grandpa's newspaper outside? The news coo had probably already delivered it"
"Growl?"
"Yeah, I'll give you a reward for that"
"Growl!"
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"BWAHAHA You sure is your mother's son" said Garp laughing as he practically inhaled a sandwich of meat on a bread roll.
He and Lucas are sitting at the table eating a Monkey D. version of breakfast that Lucas had made, well, devouring was a better world. Khan was beside the table eating a medium-rare piece of meat.
"Thanks" Lucas took a sip of coffee.
"So…" Garp drank a bowl of cereal "Excited about your first day?"
Lucas chuckled "There's even a need to ask? I had been waiting almost a year for this, the word 'excited' is just not enough to express how I'm feeling right now"
"Bwahaha" Garp smiled as he looked at his grandson with clear amusement on his eyes "I can see that, you got dressed and made the breakfast even before I got out of the bed. That's good, really good"
"No biggie, during my training I would also rise earlier and get my breakfast before the sun was out. Haha now I wouldn't be able to change this habit even if I wanted to" checking the wall clock Lucas saw that was already time for him to report for his first day "It's time for me to get going"
Just after that Lucas rose from his chair, then nodding at his grandpa and tiger he walked to the door.
"Do you know the way to your post?"
At his grandpa's words Lucas froze at the kitchen door
"I think this will help you then"
Slightly turning in his seat Garp extended a piece of paper in Lucas's direction.
"Oh" giving embarrassed smile Lucas quickly grabbed the paper from his grandpa's hand "Thanks"
Avoiding the large amused grin on Garp's face he dashed out of the door.
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Ten minutes later, Marine Headquarters
Calling the marine headquarters a small city was not far from the truth.
Apart from the majestic main building the base has a large variety of other buildings on its composition, the process of walking between these many buildings can give someone the feeling of walking around a city instead of a military base.
Lucas that was walking down a 'street' following his grandpa handmade 'map' looked up at the buildings around him and the passing marines in silent wonder, the marine headquarters was never showcased in a more in-depth way in the show, only brief shots of some important buildings
'In a way I'm the first person from Earth to see how Marineford looks like from a ground perspective' Lucas glanced at the map on his hand 'I'm still on time, I just need to turn here an-'
BUMP
"Ough"
Someone that was walking behind Lucas tripped and bumped into him.
Acting on his quick reflex Lucas grabbed the person by the shoulder with his left hand, preventing the person from falling, while his right shot and caught the glasses that had fell from the person when they were halfway to the ground.
Shifting his gaze to the person who bumped on him Lucas saw that was a young woman.
She was wearing a uniform similar to his, with the difference being that she was carrying a green handle katana. She also looked to be around his age and was shorter than him, had light skin, dark blue, almost black, shin-and shoulder-length hair and dark brown eyes
'Hmn?'
The young woman that appears to be a fellow seaman looked familiar to Lucas for some reason, especially her katana, a name came to his mind but Lucas was not sure if he was right.
'The problems of trying to recognize someone in real life based on their appearance on an anime you last saw more than sixteen years ago' he secretly sighed
"Here, your glasses" said Lucas with his usual calm friendly voice as he handed back to the young woman her red frame glasses.
"Oh, Thank you"
Thanking him she received her glasses, putting them back she adjusted them a little.
Looking to the person she bumped into she was surprised to see that the person in question was taller than her. She slightly raised her head to look at the person's face, and what she saw was a young man around her age in the same uniform she was wearing, with white hair and a pair of piercing blue eyes.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm" she gave an embarrassed smile "Sorry for bumping into you"
"It's okay, you don't need to fret about this" smiling he slightly raised his cap to better show his face with his left then extended his right to her "I'm Lucas, new seaman apprentice starting today, you?"
"Oh nice to meet you, Lucas, my name is Tashigi. You said you are a seaman apprentice? Me too. It is nice to meet a friendly fellow apprentice during my first day" shaking his hand she returned his friendly greeting with one of her own, not noticing the brief slight widening of eyes of Lucas.
Who would have guessed it? Even before arriving at his post he had already met another canon character, the ever follower of Smoker and the person who in the future would most likely become the greatest swordswoman of the marine, if not of the world, Tashigi herself.
"'The bird that one day will fly', that's quite a nice name" his compliment of her name made her blush a little "So Tashigi, what attracted your attention so much that made you stumble?"
"Oh that, I was going to report for my first day, but then I saw an officer carrying a very beautiful meito and got a little distracted" lightly scratched her cheek she smiled sheepishly "Because of that I ended bumping into you"
Looking behind him Lucas saw a marine officer walking down the street with a fine looking katana on his hip
"Looks like you like meitos "she nodded at him "Haha I can see that, people like you that carry a Wazamono around tend to like meitos"
Tashigi immediately got perked when she heard the term 'Wazamono' coming from Lucas's mouth.
"Do you know about meitos?" practically blinking she closes on Lucas while asking him with a very excited voice
"Yeah, I know about them"
"Are you also a swordsman? If so what's your sword? It's also a meito?"
Not caring about the invasion of personal space Lucas chuckled at the young woman's excitement
"Sorry to disappoint you, but no, I'm not a swordsman" her excitement dropped a little "I learned about meitos from a friend of my grandpa. He told me about some of them, I noticed by the outer design and quality of your sword that it was probably a Wazamono, thou I'm not sure which one"
"This friend of your grandpa must have taught you very well" grasping her katana Tashigi and starter to showcase it to Lucas just like a child would do when showing her favorite toy to someone "This is my precious treasure, Shigure"
"Could I hold it?"
"Sure" with no hesitation she handed her sword to Lucas so he could hold it "Here"
"Thanks"
Taking the sword from her hand Lucas started to give a better look at the famous Wazamono.
Tashigi's katana had a green handle with a four-petaled guard, its sheath was quite elaborated, the first half was green with a bumpy design. The second half, on the other hand, was white and had a smooth design, furthermore circular designs are embedded across the entire sheath, truly a beautiful sword.
'One of the famous meitos of One Piece… it looks even more impressive in person' slightly drawing Lucas took a glance at its blade.
It was needed no more than a look to see that it was sharp, the blade surface was spotless like a mirror, and Lucas could see the reflection of his blue eyes staring back at him 'To think that this is just the first grade. I can almost feel myself wanting to become a swordsman'
"Shigure, Autumn Rain, what a beautiful sword" after a couple of minutes Lucas sheathed the sword and handed it back to Tashigi "it makes one wonder how a Ryo Wazamono or an O Wazamono will look like in person"
"You are right, but sadly most of the meitos around the world, especially the higher grade ones, are in the hands of pirates and evildoers" she looked at Shigure with a sad expression on her face "Why the evil is so strong these days? these swords… they should be used for good, to protect people"
'This is similar to what she will say to Zoro…'
It was one thing to hear these words from a character on an anime and was a completely different thing to hear then coming from a real flesh and blood person. The sadness she expressed on her eyes was palpable, and her desire to see these swords used for good genuine.
Her expression moved Lucas in a way that he really couldn't have predicted 'A sad expression doesn't fit her'
"Well, If it's like that then you just need to challenge them, taking all of those swords back to the side of good"
Tashigi looked at Lucas with a confused expression "Do… do you think that I can do that?"
"Why you wouldn't? I know we had just met but from what I can see you do care about meitos, furthermore, I can tell from your body language that you are a very skilled swordswoman, you are a perfect fit for the job" Lucas smiled at her stunned expression
"Of course, the people that own a high grade meito are no herbivores, so you will need to train diligently to beat all of them, it's hard, but achievable" raising a clenching hand Lucas gave an excited smile, his eyes briefly glowed with lightning "Of course, I hope that you call for me when in need of a training partner"
A little stunned at the declaration Tashigi stared intensely at Lucas's eyes to gauge if he was telling the truth, but even after staring at him for an awkwardly long time she saw nothing, his eyes only show an appreciation for her cause.
'How he could have such faith in me?... It even feels like he knows me for a very long time, but how could that be? We had just met'
She had joined the marines wishing to help others, she also wished to claim the title of 'Greatest Swordsman/Swordswoman' back to the side of justice, to retrieve back the misused meitos around the world was her greatest dream, but many would look down on her when she told them her dreams.
in the recruit camp of the marine, for instance, some would look down on her, on her dreams, especially others aspiring swordsman.
Swordsmanship is a big part of the marine, with a good number of the high-rank marines being really good swordsmen, but even so, not many of them are woman, even outside in the world there were not many famous swordswomen, which kind lowered their stance in the eyes of some.
Of course not everybody is like that, in fact the majority isn't, but those few that are always sticking to the top of her head. Even so Lucas was honestly the first that has had such a good outlook of her dreams at first contact, he even really look excited about the prospect of fighting her.
She stood there in silence for a few more moments before looking at Lucas
"Thanks"
She looked at him with a solemn face
"I swear, alongside Shigure, that I will work hard to live up to your expectations" she smirked at him "And be sure that I will call on this training favor you said"
Lucas said nothing, only returning a smirk at her.
Just like that a good relationship based on a very good first impression begun between the two.
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"By the way Tashigi"
"Yes?"
"Aren't we supposed to go report for our first day?"
"You are right!" she exclaimed with widened eyes "We can arrive late for our first day"
Adjusting Shigure back on her waist she dashed forward, a smiling Lucas by her side as he kept up with her in a very relaxed manner, probably because he knew they are still on time.
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Since they were already close it didn't took long for Lucas and Tashigi to arrive at their reporting place.
The place was a two floors high, light blue rectangular building, the standard look for a marine building.
Entering from the main door they arrived at your typical reception, walking past a few marines leaving the building they arrived before a large front desk, there a woman with light skin, apple-shaped red hair and green eyes, wearing a color swapped marine outfit was sitting behind the desk, and going by the nameplate on the desk she was called Malum.
She was sorting some papers when she noticed the two approaching.
"What can I help?" she asked with a smile, her voice sweet and pleasant to hear.
"We are the new seaman apprentice, here to report for our first day"
It was Tashigi that answered her, Lucas by her side only nodded in agreement.
"So you two were new apprentices, the high ups had informed me that you two would come. I was just sorting your papers. Let's see here… seaman apprentice Aki Tashigi, top of the class on the recruit camp, high praises from the instructors, very skilled in swordsmanship"
Tashigi smiled sheepishly at the words on her sheet, Malum giggled at her reaction before proceeding to Lucas's sheet.
"Seaman apprentice, your name… Monkey D. Lucas!"
"YOU SURNAME IS MONKEY D.?!"
Both the receptionist Malum and Tashigi made a stunning reaction in a somehow comic way fitting OP when they heard that he had the same surname that the Marine Hero Garp.
Lucas could only smile awkwardly at their reaction, after all the prestige of his grandpa on the marine was just too big, the people back on Dragon Island knew of this fact since a long time ago, but almost no one outside of Dragon Island knew of this
'Well I kind knew it people would react like this when they heard my name, Luffy received the same reaction when his ties to grandpa were revealed back on the canon'
With a light sigh he turned to Tashigi and nodded
"So your grandpa is the Marine Hero, Monkey D. Garp?" Lucas nodded at her again "WHY YOU HADN'T SAID THAT EARLIER!?"
"You hadn't asked"
""Thud!""
Lucas's answer made both women fall to the ground in a funny anime way, to Lucas silent amusement.
Tashigi knew they had just met, but even so, she threw a look that said 'You are going to tell me more about this later' and left him at that.
After a few seconds Malum also got her bearing back, although she still looked at Lucas with a strange gaze.
"Sorry about my outburst, this piece of information is… surprising, to say the least. Resuming what I was saying, your sheet says that you hadn't gone to the recruit camp, but received a 'special' training instead"
The marine ranking system in this world is composed of eighteen ranks, that are then divided in Commissioned Marine Officers and Infantry and Sailor division, when first enlisted you would start as seaman recruit, the lowest of ranks (the rank chore boy doesn't count), and then sent to one of the many recruit training camps.
After that you would be promoted to seaman apprentice and sent to one of the many marine bases around the world, and that's when you really start your career as a marine.
Tashigi is a good example of that process, after enlisting she was sent to a training camp, thanks to her talent and great results she was then sent to serve in the headquarter in Marineford, Lucas on the other hand passed through a different process.
Because of his devil fruit powers he was dropped alone in an island by his grandpa Garp, who returned after a few weeks to introduce a 'special training' to him, which was mostly training of his devil fruit powers and physique (aka. take a beating) with his grandpa, and a few theoric lessons with Bogard.
Thanks to this Lucas skipped the recruit camp and directly arrived at Marineford as a seaman apprentice, a position his grandpa firmly believe he would not stay for long before being promoted to a higher one.
'It was certainly special, there's no doubt there' Lucas chuckled at the mention of the special training
"That's right" he said ignoring the confused stares.
"It's good that you two are here at the same time. Both of you had been assigned to Dock fourteen" taking a map Malum pointed the way to the dock "You will report to Ensign Jean, he will give your tasks"
"Okay"
"Thank you Malum"
After receiving their assigned location the two new apprentices said their farewell to Malum and then walked out of the building. Malum waved her hand at the two with a sweet smile, but as soon the two vanished she wiped the drop of sweet on her forehead, grasping Lucas sheet she looked again at his information.
'The grandson of Monkey D. Garp, and the son of the deceased Vice-Admiral Luciano… I need to tell sister Isuka about this' she giggled cheerfully and her eyes sparkled 'Maybe the other girls too'
Just twenty minutes later word about the Marine Hero's grandson started to spread across the headquarters, by the end of the day a good chunk of the island knew about this piece of information.
Who spread this? No one was sure.
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Dock Fourteen, Marine Headquarters
The dock fourteen, or just D-14, is situated on a small bay in the eastern region of the marine headquarters.
D-14 is mostly used to receive marine ships carrying goods, like supplies and equipment's, in and out of the marine headquarters, and because of its small-to-medium size D-14 normally doesn't receive much traffic compared to other docks of this type. Because of this most of time the workload of the marines assigned to this deck was less intense than the other docks, although was still a little more than for marines in some other areas.
Following Malum instructions both Lucas and Tashigi quickly arrived at their destination.
To Lucas the inside of D-14 looked similar to the dock used by his grandpa ship on their arrival on Marineford, albeit on a much smaller scale, it had only one big main entrance instead of five and the number of ships docked was also smaller.
Arriving there the two had been directed to a platform high on the left wall of D-14, there a desk with few seats had been arranged in an office of sorts.
Seating behind the desk was a lightly tanned man that looked to be on his middle-twenty, average in height and relatively muscular in build, brown-green eyes and short light-brown hair, trimmed shorter and black on the back and sides, he wore a light green button-up shirt and dark blue pants, and draped over his shoulders like a cape the emblematic coat with 'justice' on its back used by marine officers.
This man is the marine officer in charge of D-14, Ensign Jean.
"Seaman apprentice Lucas reporting"
"Seaman apprentice Tashigi reporting"
'?'
Jean that was busy with some papers raised his head and looked at the two with a confused expression that after a second morphed into a calm one.
"Oh it's you two" after lightly coughing on his hand he looked at the two with a slight smile "I'm Ensign Jean, the one in charge of this place. You too arrived in a good moment, I was just thinking we could use some more hands here"
Leaning on the platform rail he called a marine down there with his hand.
"Chief petty officer Odar will show what you two needed to do"
""Yes Sir""
Seconds later a slightly buffed marine arrived at the platform, he wore a no-sleeve marine uniform showing his slightly tanned muscles, his chin as almost perfectly square, and he also had long black three-pointed sideburns growing back and up on the sides of his head.
"You called sir?" he said saluting.
"These are Tashigi and Lucas, our two new seaman apprentices" said Jean gesturing with his hand "Go and show them their tasks"
"Yes" Looking at the two apprentices he called them with his head "Come on you two"
Lucas and Tashigi nodded back, turning to salute Jean they followed Odar down the stairs
"It's your guy's first day right?" he asked the two in a friendly manner with his deep voice.
"It is" answered Lucas in a light tone "We talked with Malum and she pointed us here"
"I see" turning his head he looked at the two walking close together, curious he asked "I saw that you two arrived together, and you two also seems close to each other. Are you two friends? Maybe you two had gone to the same recruit camp?"
The two looked at each other "I think we can be called friends, right?"
Lucas said to Odar with a smile while looking at Tashigi with amusement on his eyes.
A slightly blushing Tashigi nodded in agreement "Yeah, but we don't know each for too long. We just met before talking to miss Malum, I was walking a little absentminded and… bumped on him"
"'The greatest friendships always begin in the unusual ways', this is a saying my father once told me. Haha it's a little strange, but I believe to be true"
Walking them past a few marines he brought them in front of a ramp
"We have a load of equipment and cannons that will be shipped to some of our bases in the West-Blue. Tashigi will help me with the checklist, while you Lucas will help the others loading the ship, just go there and talk with Torlo" raising his left he pointed at a fatty marine beside a pile crates "Understood?"
""Yes""
"Alright, let's work"
Lucas looked and Tashigi and said 'Have a good work' with his eyes to which she seems to catch the meaning, smiling she nodded at him. After this brief exchange Lucas started to walk to Torlo
'Ensign Jean seems a nice guy, he doesn't appear to be very strict, and Odar seems friendly. Overall the marines I meet until now have been quite nice, hope that continues'
Arriving beside the crates Lucas saw the man he needed talk to.
Torlo is a marine that looked to be only a few years older than Lucas, his skin was tanned and his build somehow fat. He had short spiky blonde hair and brown eyes, he wore a dark-yellow shirt underneath the normal marine uniform, and the white shirt of the uniform was open. H also didn't used the standar marine cap, instead he had a red bandana around his forehead.
"I'm seaman apprentice Lucas, chief petty officer Odar told me to help with the load"
"New guy?" Torlo gazed intensely at Lucas for a few seconds before smirking "You kind looked cool"
Surprised at first at the blunt compliment Lucas recovered and returned the smirk "Haha Thanks, you are not bad either. You bandana kinda reminds me of a certain buffed commando I once read about"
"That's the idea"
Returning to their jobs he pointed with his thumb at the pile of crates behind him, each crate with the size of a minivan
"My name is Torlo, I'm a petty officer. These crates are filled with cannons J-05 that we need to load on that ship over there" He pointed at a marine galleon before turning to the crates with an annoyed look "The problem is that these babies are too freaking heavy! We are going to need kong-lifters for them. Their cannonballs are there so you ca-"
While explaining Torlo moved his gaze away from Lucas for a moment and when he returned his gaze to Lucas the scene we saw made his jaw drop.
Lucas had walked to one of the crates and lifted the entire thing over his head and started to walk away with it, no sign of strain or difficulty could be seen on his face. He was walking with tens of ton over his head calmly and easily as if he was carrying nothing!
"HEEEE?!"
Seeing the scene Torlo reacted in an exaggerated way that you would only see in the World of One Piece. Other marines around the place heard his exclamation, and when they saw what caused his astonishment they also reacted funnily.
"Huh?"
"What?!"
"Holy…"
As he carried the crate over to the ship Lucas saw and heard the many reactions of astonishment and thought 'I think I kinda overdid'
In this world feats of supernatural strength are very possible, basically all of the high ranking marines can do then, however amongst the lower ranks they are not exactly that comomn. To see a young man that was starting as a seaman apprentice today carry a few tons over his head was quite a shocker to the unprepared marines around him.
'Lucas, you are strong like this?...'
From her position where she was checking a few pieces of equipment to be loaded Tashigi turned and looked at the figure of Lucas walking with the crate into the cargo compartment of galleon.
She had seen many recruits do some incredible feats of strength back on the training camp, but none of them close to what Lucas was doing.
Because of her studies about great masters of the sword she knew people could achieve inhuman levels of strength, but she never thought she would see a young man around her age with such a high level of strength.
'Of course, I hope that you call for me when in need of a training partner'
She recalled the words he said to her earlier, her competitive side became thrilled on the idea of sparring against him now that she saw a glimpse of his strength.
The seed of something special was unknowingly planted on Tashigi, Lucas would have never imagined that his blunt actions at that moment had been the spark of something.
But even if he knew, he would not regret them…
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Path to Female Dormitory, Marineford
At the end of the day, after working tirelessly on the dock fourteen Lucas and Tashigi had been dismissed along the rest of the marines.
During their day they had met and interacted with almost all of the marines working on D-14, Ensign Jean was quite content with their first-day results, he praised them and said that should they keep with this level of competence they would receive promotions in no time.
Lucas decided to accompany her to the female dorm, which is housed closer to the town that the residential area used by high officers. Beautiful green hills could be seen around them. After a time walking and talking together they arrived before the path leading down to the female dormitory.
"I can only go until here"
"Thank you for accompanying me until here" she said smiling at him but blushed at averted her gaze when she realized their situation.
The sun was already on the horizon painting the sky orange and red, its light covered the two making so that Lucas couldn't see the blush on her face.
"It's nothing' Lucas smiled at her "We got along quite well, I hope we stay like this"
"Me too" Tashigi gazed at the horizon "It even feels like… like we knew each other before…"
Lucas chuckled and looked back at her "Who knows? Maybe we do"
In amusement he gave her a small mysterious smile. She could never even start to guess that he knew her from a show he used to watch in his previous life.
"Huh" was her only response,
Tipping his hat at her Lucas started to back away.
"I see you tomorrow, Aki Tashigi"
at that he turned and walked away.
...
Tashigi stood there for a minute watching his back vanish down the path, her thoughts complex, after all, when she would have guessed that she ended up meeting such unusual young man on her first day as seaman apprentice?
"See you tomorrow, Monkey D. Lucas… "
With a sigh she grasped firmly at Shigure and started to walk to her dorm, lost on her thought she didn't noticed a figure watching them from afar in the female dorm.
…
…
…
...
There we go.
This chapter was quite relaxing to write, it mostly focused on the interaction between Lucas and Tashigi, which I noticed didn't have an official surname so I chose one for her, Aki, which according to the web means autumn, which fit with her katana name, Tashigi's past was never revealed, when only know that she joined the marine at some point and that she was a master chief petty officer when she debuted and that she was twenty-one years old.
In the current year of the fic she is seventeen, so I took the liberty to make her join the marine alongside Lucas. I don't know if their interactions came out good, but its what I have for now, her declaration about swordswomen is kinda true when you looked at their numbers amongst the cast.
A few new characters also had been introduced, Torlo is based on Torlo from the DS game Infinite space (Awesome game), and Jean... Jean is kinda obvious, right? he is from SnK. Malum name literally means apple in Latin, and Odar is just a design I envisioned in my head.
Also, do you guys know which manga Lucas talked about in the beginning? and what your thoughts on the figure mentioned in the end?.
Anyway, thanks guys for reading, again you all are awesome. Constructive critics are always welcomed.