The Marine

Chapter 2

Becoming a Marine and Meeting Recruits

It has been a year since Blake and Luffy's brother, Ace left to be a pirate when he turned 17. Surprisingly enough, Garp wasn't back yet. Thankfully, for Luffy, Blake and the Bandits. They did not want to know how Garp would react. Especially since he spent the past ten years wanting them to become Marines.

Luffy and Blake were both 15. They trained and hung out together, ignoring Dadan's demands to clean the hut as they waited until they were old enough to leave. At the moment, they were both laying on their backs with the sun brightly shining down. Luffy's Strawhat was over his face, the movement of his stomach going up and down showing he was sleeping. Blake's eyes were blinking sleepily, about to fall asleep. They just ate a big lunch.

Suddenly, the ground shook.

Blake squeezed her eyes shut and tried to fall asleep.

The ground shook again.

Blake blinked her eyes open. "Huh? Luffy, you hear that? Oi, get up!"

Luffy woke up with a cut off snore and yawned. "What?"

Blake sat up, stretching and scratching the back of her short brown hair. "You hear-"

The ground shook again and Blake got to her feet. Luffy rolled up on his upper back, hopping to his feet with a 'yup' sound. He fixed his hat on his head firmly and looked around as the ground shook again. Luffy tilted his head and looked around some more. "You think it's a King Bear?"

Blake shook her head immediately. "No, but it's familiar." She wasn't concerned, it could be anything. A animal, the weather, Dadan when she was mad or it could be...Blake paled at the thought, her eyes widened in horror.

"WHERE ARE MY GRANDKIDS!?"

Luffy and Blake slowly turned to look at each other, mouths dropping in horror at the voice. Blake said with a squeak. "Run?"

Luffy nodded quickly, glancing with wide eyes in the direction of the loud voice. "Run!"

They ran in different directions, trying to hide from Garp as he was getting close to where they were. She went in a different direction. She ran through the forest, even if she knew that hiding from Garp was impossible. Blake stopped when she heard Luffy let out a yell, it was an automatic reaction for her. Realizing she couldn't do anything against Garp, she kept running.

"BLAKE! GET OVER HERE!"

Blake gulped, running in a different direction from his loud voice. "Go away!"

"YOU CAN"T RUN FROM GRANDPA!"

She yelped. "Watch me!" In the end, like every time, Garp caught up to her, knocking her back with a, "Fist of Love" and Luffy was dangling from his other hand. It looked a little strange as he hit his growth spurt, but Garp was so large it didn't matter. He dropped Luffy and he scrambled to be by her side. They both glared at the older man, who glared back.

"You brats! I finally found you. Ace might of left, but you're both gonna be Marines!" Both siblings were sitting, watching him. Blake winced, rubbing the bump on her head. She hated the "Fist of Love".

Luffy burst out. "I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" Blake slapped a hand to her face with a groan. Does his brain even work?

Blake noticed the vein pulsing in his forehead. "WHY YOU-"

She got between the both of them, already seeing how this was going to go. Her and Luffy were both 15, though she was older by a few months, which was something she already argued made her older. "Wait, hold on, Gramps. I gonna be a Marine."

He stopped his growling at Luffy and stared her down. He was used to his grand kids denying being in the Marines. "Huh, why's that?"

She tilted her chin, giving him a serious look. "I'm gonna protect people. The people who can't protect themselves. And I'm gonna do that as a Marine." Luffy already knew this and Ace did too. It didn't change anything. But she had made another decision. "I want to start my Marine training now." She's been training since she was a kid, but there was nothing else she could learn on this island. Ace left at 17 and Luffy was training his powers, but Garp could teach her a lot, even if he was scary as hell.

Luffy gaped. "Wait, now?"

"Yeah, my training needs to be increased, Gramps."

Garp laughed deeply, his voice echoing off the trees. "Bwahaha! Alright, I hope you don't think it'll be easy!"

Blake crossed her arms over her chest. "I know it won't."

Garp said. "Both of you will be Marines!"

Luffy sucked in a breath and Blake quickly slapped a hand over his mouth. "I'm going now. Luffy, uh, wants to wait till he's 17."

Garp stared them down. Luffy tried to talk over her and she grabbed his shoulders tightly, tightened her hand over his mouth. "Alright! Makes sense! I'm going to yell at Dadan for Ace! See you brats later!" He stomped toward the hut, his footsteps shaking the ground.

Luffy and Blake shivered. "Scary." She suddenly made a sound of disgust. "Ew, Luffy, don't lick me!" She wiped off her hand on her t-shirt.

"You covered my mouth!"

"Oh? And did you want another Fist of Love?"

He shivered. "No. You really leaving now?"

She grimaced at the puppy look he aimed in her direction. "Yeah, you 'n Ace are waiting until you're 17. I need to further my training, as scary as it is, Gramps can help. My dream is be a Marine and to save people who need it and to protect them. Waiting to 17 won't help. Plus I won't be on my own." For people who couldn't defend themselves. Like their other brother, Sabo who was strong, but not strong enough when he was ten and killed. She wanted to be strong enough to protect people like that. She frowned, having a sudden thought. "Will you be okay without me?" She didn't want to abandon her brother.

Luffy's expression was blank and then he gave her a wide grin. A grin that would've been impossible without his devil fruit. "I'll miss you, but I won't get in the way of your dream, you'll be the best Marine ever."

Blake smirked. "Of course, you'll be the Pirate King."

Luffy's grin widened, touching the top of his hat. "Of course I will!" She had a armful of her brother, which had her hugging him back. This was one thing she would miss. His stomach growled. "Hungry."

This caused her own to growl. "You wanna get lunch?" He bounced off and she followed.

She was one step closer to her dream. Even if it included her scary Grandpa.

Dermont D. Blake sat in her office, finishing off her third plate of food that she brought from the kitchen. She still laughed at the look of horror of the Head Chef's face once he realized both her and Gramps were going to be on the same ship. She was moving the stuff on her desk around, looking for her map of the East Blue. She groaned. "What the hell-" Her hand bumped into a newspaper. "Huh?" She opened it and felt a grin stretch across her face. "You little shit..." It was her brother, Luffy, running from Captain Smoker of Lougetown. This meant he was probably on the Grand Line by now. A few papers slipped out and her grin widened enough to hurt. It was his wide grinning face. 'Monkey D. Luffy'. 30 Million Berries. Not bad for a rookie out of the East Blue.

Ace's was higher at first, but not by much. She grabbed the wanted poster, folding it up and tucking it into her pocket. She had a similar one of Ace. It was a little embarrassing and she would die before letting anyone find out, especially her older brother, but she was proud of them. Even as pirates.

Just as she finished with the paper, her Transponder Snail was going off. She was feeding him lettuce from her plate. He was wearing a little Marine Coat on his back. She picked it up. "Yo, Co'mander Blake speaking."

She heard a deep sigh. A familiar sigh. The snail copied an exasperated expression. "Blake, do you have to answer the phone so unprofessionally?"

Blake shrugged, smiling. "It's fine. I answered it, didn't I?"

"You know how Admiral Sakazuki feels about that?"

Blake just laughed. "Of course I do. So, what's up?" The Admiral, AkaInu did not like her and she didn't like him either. But, it amused Blake to piss him off. They were just too different.

"I was wondering when you were getting back. HQ is probably going to sent the unit on a mission soon."

Blake leaned back in her chair, thinking. "Well, I'm with Gramps dealing with a corrupt Marine on a Base. After that, you can meet me in the East since I won't have a ship to get through the Red Line." The Navy ships were cool in that the coating allowing them to pass through the Calm Belt undetected. Garp had made her fight Sea Kings for training, but not in the Calm Belt.

"Sounds like a plan." The Snail had a glare on it's face. "Blake. Do not forget to call me when you're almost ready."

Blake rolled her eyes. "I won't."

"I can see you rolling you eyes, dumbass. You always forget the details."

"I'll call, okay-" A knock sounded on the door. "Hold on."

"Yo?"

She heard Rosque grumble. "That's not how you answer people in the Marines." Blake grinned. Rosque was so easy.

"Commander Blake! We have arrived at Shellstown! Vice Admiral Garp alerted us to have you come on deck!"

Blake said. "Well, got to go, Ros. See you later."

"Blake-" She hung up the receiver, gave her snail some more lettuce and opened the door. She smiled at the man. He was a normal navy sailor with a white uniform and blue neckerchief tied under his chin. He straightened. "Ma'am!"

Blake grinned. "Lead the way."

She walked up the deck and saw they were closing onto a smaller ship with naval sailors on board and a man who had to be ex-Captain Morgan. "So, we goin' or what?"

Bogard said. "Patience Commander."

Blake said. "Gram-stop falling asleep!"

Garp coughed awake, finishing the doughnut in his hand. "How many times do I have to tell you, brat? I'm just resting my eyes!"

"You are not! There was snoring!"

"Shut up, you rude brat!"

Blake groaned. "Let's just go!"

They boarded the ship, being met with salutes from everyone.

A man who seemed to be in charge stepped forward, his hands behind his back and spoke to them. "Vice Admiral Garp and Commander Blake, welcome to our ship."

She nodded at him, snatching a doughnut from the box one of their Marines were holding. She was still hungry. "So, where's this guy at?" She frowned. She hated corrupt Marines. She had brought down a couple on her own in the past. Blake looked around and the Marine looked toward Garp, who looked like he was three seconds from falling asleep. Blake rolled her eyes. If he was going to do this dumb contest, he should have stayed at HQ. "Where's this jerk at?" They looked at her in shock, but Blake shrugged. He was a corrupt Marine. She didn't care.

The Marine saluted again. "Over here, Commander!"

She straightened out her Marine Coat, the arms dangling behind her. It was a large man decked out in a ball and chain manacles. He had short cropped blond hair, a steel contraption over his jaw and was built very broadly. Blake noticed he may have looked large, but he felt very weak for a Marine Captain. Probably because he was an East Blue Captain. He had a reputation, but it didn't take much for promotion in these Seas. She looked around and saw the Marines standing around and at attention.

She noticed two that looked out of sorts, a blond with a horrible haircut and a pink haired boy, both looking scrawny. Blake bit back a snicker. That blond had a shitty haircut. The guy had a dark glare as he locked eyes with her. She raised an eyebrow. Not scared, that's for sure. Did this guy known who she grew up with? Talk about a younger Ace pissed off and then they could talk. She shook her head a little to cut that thought off, shivering slighting and stopped the smile that wanted to show. Time to deal with this guy.

Captain Morgan was brought in front of her and Garp. Blake watched them stare at each other. Shrugging, she walked away, feeling eyes looking at her and she went to the railing, leaning on it. This was boring her already. She had a meeting with Rosque to get to. The head Marine said. "Sir? Did you hear me? Vice Admiral Garp, sir! Vice-"

"Be quiet! I heard you. I'm a bit tired because I've been up for 5 days now."

The Marine shouted. "You are indeed a dedicated Marine, sir!"

Blake laughed, quieting everyone on the ship, even the two yelling boys. "Nah, he's just trying to beat a doughnut record." She snickered. It was a bit ridiculous, but she was more annoyed because it was less doughnuts that she could eat. And his shorter temper was worse. Which then made her lose hers.

"Shut it, brat! The sugar kept me going for awhile, but I've been doing this was a long time. I guess the lack of sleep is getting to me." While eating a doughnut, his head tilted downward and he started snoring.

The Head Marine glanced at her. "Commander?"

Blake waved a hand. "Bah, he'll be fine. Give the old man a minute." The Head Marine looked like he was sweating bullets, glancing between the two superior officers. One was sleeping due to a eating contest and the other one didn't care. Higher up were crazy.

Morgan snapped. "What a pathetic geezer."

The Head Marine shouted. "Vice Admiral Garp deserves to be treated with respect by the likes of you!"

Blake rolled her eyes, snorting. She ignored the head turns in her direction, grinning a little. Of course the old man was asleep. She glanced over after hearing some noise and saw the pink haired kid holding back the blond as they yelled stuff she wasn't really paying attention to. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back on the railing, closing her eyes. She felt her eyebrow twitch as her Haki picked up Morgan's intent. Blake shrugged, she knew Gramps could handle himself and would probably move out of the way.

Morgan said lowly. "Old Man, quit the sleeping act already."

Blake watched as it was silent and Morgan's intent had gotten stronger in her mind. She narrowed her eyes. They widened when Morgan slashed Garp across the chest, his blood spraying in the air. Bogard got on guard, his hand going to his sword and all the other Marines freaked out. Blake rolled her eyes again. "Damn Gramps! Why didn't you dodge that?" The pink and blond Marine stared at her in shock. Her voice sounded bored. She wasn't concerned. He was Gramps, nothing could touch him, especially not some low level Marine. Garp probably didn't even see Morgan as a threat so he didn't react.

Morgan jumped back, breaking his chains and grabbing the blond as the boy screamed. Morgan held his axe against the boy's throat. "Don't move! If anyone moves a muscle, I'll hack this chore boy up and feed him to the sharks!" From the yelling from both boys, the blond was his son, which made this worse. Blake fixed a glare at the ex-Marine Captain. Morgan claimed he didn't care if he was his son, he just wanted his freedom.

Blake frowned, straightening her body. Garp dealing with an attack she could ignore. But, having a rookie Marine as a hostage, that was something she couldn't sit with and do nothing about. "Hey, you don't want to do that, Morgan." Her voice was low with warning.

The guy laughed. "You wouldn't want anything to happen to the chore boy, would you, Commander Blake?" At her scowl, he laughed deeper. "Ha, I know about you, Dermont! Your caring makes you weak!" Blake narrowed her eyes into slits, feeling her mouth set into a angry grimace. She knew it was not a weakness, but hearing this guy say it was made her want to kick his ass. He was holding his son in a way that attacking him would harm them both. Morgan realized this, jumping on a boat and getting away. Blake knew he got away, she would just track him down. It was the East Blue, she could swim pretty well.

"Ready the cannon." The pink haired boy screamed. Blake watched as Bogard looked on calmly. Her and Bogard didn't even react to Garp, he would get up soon. Bogard said. "Target. 16 degrees starboard. 8.63. Now, ready!"

Commander Blake arched an eyebrow. "Bogard. Is that necessary?"

He mixed her with a stern look. "Commander Blake. Other than his crimes as a Marine Captain, he attacked Vice Admiral Garp. He cannot get away."

Blake shrugged. "The old man is fine, but you still have that kid on there." Nevermind that was probably only a couple of years younger than she was or about the same age. Their training was different.

Bogard sent her another look. "Rules are still rules, Commander."

"What are you doing?!"

She looked over and saw the pink haired boy get in front of the cannon. "Please wait! I'm begging you not to shoot! Please stop! Like the Commander said, he has a hostage!"

Bogard said. "Move it."

"I won't!"

"In that case, you're dead."

Blake stared at Bogard. She's known the man for the past couple of years and he was testing the boy for some reason. The other Marines tried to get him to get down. The chore boy said. "I won't! Helmepoo is on there and he is...he is...he is my friend!"

Blake stared for a moment, looking at the pink haired boy and suddenly smiled. It was more of a wide grin, showcasing her teeth. If Bogard would have looked at her, he would've been concerned. It was a similar grin that Garp shared when he was planning something. Blake liked this kid.

The kid yelled out. "Please, I can fix this! I will capture Morgan myself!"

He turned away from the cannon and looked at the water. The Marine tried to call him back as he swan toward the boat. Bogard grinned. "Let him try. He's either brave and dumb or just dumb. If he fails, I have no doubt Commander Blake will jump in after him."

All looks went to Blake who was shrugging off her Marine's coat, letting it rest on the railing of the ship and untying her boots, toeing them off. "Commander?!"

She waved a hand, watching the pink haired boy get closer to Helmeppo and Morgan. "Yo. Yeah I'll jump in to help." She said it in a calm, easy going tone. She decided to wait to see what he would do. She knew better than anyone sometimes people needed a challenge to better themselves. After all, her training spoke to struggling. Blake felt a twitch in the back of her mind and looked to see Garp, yawning loudly and stretching, slamming a hand into the cannon. She snickered. "Well, you can't use it now."

Bogard rolled his eyes. "Obviously."

Garp sighed. "Alright, I'm awake again. Now, what's with all this racket?"

The Head Marine called. "Garp, you're alive! I was certain that monster had killed you."

"What? One of the men has been killed?! I can't believe I slept through something like that. Who was it? Brat, what happened?"

Blake rolled her eyes, biting back a laugh. He never changed. "Gramps, it was you. Guy slashed you across the chest. I thought you would dodge. I could tell he was gonna do it."

The Marines gaped at her. "You knew?!"

She shrugged. "Of course I did." They yelled and almost fell over.

Garp looked down. "Oh, right." The Marines yelled again and fell over once more. Blake smirked at Bogard's expression. His face looked like he was done dealing with Blake and Garp being on the same ship. Blake looked over at the direction of the boat where the pink haired boy, Helmeppo and Morgan were in. She hopped on the railing, her bare feet landing on the metal.

Garp called. "Brat, where are you going?"

"Don't worry about it, Gramps. Be right back." Blake crouched and jumped in the water, gliding through. She ignored the other Marines yelling for her. She grinned at Bogard's sigh. He should be used to her by now. She did a strong front stroke, catching up to the boat. Part of her training was being able to swim really well. She could hear the two boys yelling. She swam up to the boat in time to catch the two boys that were thrown in the air, her fists bunched in the back of their uniform shirts. "Hey, there."

The pink haired boy squawked in shock and stiffened. "C-C-Commander Blake!"

Helmeppo yelled. "My Dad's still on there!"

Blake dropped them in the water, feeling the water splash around them. "Don't worry, I'll get him." Blake waited for him to defend his Dad, but he didn't. "You guys can swim back." She jumped on the boat, balancing her weight because it was too small, with Morgan being a heavy man with his axe and Blake not being very light either. "Yo, Morgan."

He turned around quickly, making the boat rock. "YOU!"

Blake gave him a cocky grin. "Me."

"You little brat! You swam all the way here?!"

Blake nodded. "Sure did." She frowned at him. "I'll show you how you're wrong. Caring is not a weakness."

He snarled and swung at her head with his axe. She ducked down by the knees and kicked a strong leg at his chest, making him fall back. He was physically weak, so she didn't need her Haki. He was mostly in power due to his size and intimidation of those weaker and smaller than him. That was something that made Blake angry, especially as a Marine. She hated corrupt Marines.

The boat kept on shaking, the water splashing into the boat. "C'mon. I thought you stronger than me?"

"You shitty little..." She backed up toward the end of the boat due to a wild swing of his axe. She jerked her arm away at the last second, hissing out a curse as the blade of the axe cut her forearm.

She shook it, grimacing in pain. "You bastard..."

Morgan's grin turned feral with rage. "That should have took your arm!"

Blake laughed. "As if! It's gonna take more than that to hurt me!" She dodged a couple of more blows, the boat rocking dangerously. Blake knew she would be fine, she fought fine in the water. He would be majorly weighted down with his body weight and that axe. Morgan realized this, trying to steady his feet on the unsteady boat.

Coby and Helmeppo watched her easily fight off Morgan except for the cut on her arm, which was dripping blood, but she wasn't reacting to it. Coby was worried for the Commander. He knew Luffy could defeat the Marine Captian, but he didn't know this Commander. Though looking at her, he noticed they fought a little similar to each other. Helmeppo couldn't believe this, but he wanted the Commander to defeat his dad, especially after his dad beat up him and Coby.

Morgan wanted to end this quickly and lunged forward at his next swing, letting her feet land on the flat side of the axe, flipping toward his massive shoulders and balancing on them. He let out a yell, trying to buck her off, but she clasped her hands together and slapped them onto the top of his head, making him crash face first on the floor of the boat. Blake made a face at the crunch his noise made. "Ouch." Her arm strength was climbing. It wasn't close to Gramps, but she was working on getting stronger with the intense training she's been doing for the past two years. "Hey, boys! Get on!" She shifted his arms on the boat and sat on his back.

They gaped her from where she was perched on his back. He was knocked out. With a hit like that, Blake estimated he would wake in a hour. Helmeppo called. "We can't just get on there!"

Blake shrugged. "Sure you can."

Coby cried out. "Will it really be okay, Commander?! What if he wakes up?"

Blake looked to be thinking for a moment, but then shrugged, shifting on his back. "I'll just knock him out again."

Coby and Helmeppo blanched. Coby was getting a sense this was familiar to what he dealt with before. Blake raised an eyebrow. "Unless you guys want to swim back to the ship."

They got on the boat quickly. Coby looked at her. "Commander Blake, thank you for saving us." Helmeppo nodded quickly.

Commander stared for a moment. "Hey, what's you name?"

Coby almost fell off the boat, his mouth dropping. "Uh-I-my name is Coby, ma'am!" He gave her a salute. In return, she waved. "Cool. No problem about Morgan. Someone had to take him out."

They got back to the ship and were scolded for almost getting the ex-Marine to get away if not for the Commander. Commander Blake threw the large man over her shoulder and dropped him on the ship's deck. "Here you go."

"WHAT?!" The Marines all started screaming.

Garp let out a deep bellowing laugh. "That's my grandchild!" Coby and Helmeppo fell over the side of the boat panting, when they were scolding by the Head Marine. The other Marines chained up Morgan and handed him over to Bogard, who gave him to Garp's Marines and sent him to the brig. One of the Medical Marines wrapped up the slice on her arm, covering it with a bandage and gauze wrapping.

In the end, Garp decided to take the boys with him to train at Marineford, shocking the other Marines on board. Blake grinned. "I have to say, I feel bad for you guys being stuck with Gramps."

Coby and Helmepoo glanced at Garp. Helmeppo glanced at the Commander. "Really?"

Blake snickered. "Yeah, he's a crazy bas-oh shit!" Blake let out a yelp as a Fist of Love slammed into her head, knocking her to the deck. "Stop doing that!" She rubbed the growing bump on her head with a grimace, wincing.

"FIST OF LOVE! Don't insult me in front of these brats, you brat!"

Blake got to her feet, squaring off against Garp. "I'm just giving them a fair warning! You're insane!"

Garp waved a hand. "Bah! Good training is painful!"

Coby and Helmeppo were looking at them, horrified. They didn't realize what they were getting themselves into.

Blake threw her hands up. "Oh, please! Your training could kill people. I'm just strong. You're a insane old bastard!"

The Marines around them were looking around warily. They knew how this would end with Vice Admiral Garp and Commander Blake. Bogard spoke up. "Commander Blake. We are heading to Marineford now."

Blake stopped glaring at Garp and turned to look at Bogard. "Yeah? So?"

Bogard smirked a bit. "Weren't you supposed to call Lieutenant Commander Rosque."

Blake blanched, jumping back a bit. "Oh, crap! He's gonna kill me!" Blake went toward her room and called him on her snail. After a few moments, it picked up. Blake said. "Hey, Ros."

She could hear Garp yelling at her not to run when he yelling at her, but she ignored it.

"Blake! Stop hanging up on me!" She could see him glare on the snail.

Blake laughed. "I had to take care of something."

Rosque asked. "So, when can you leave?"

She gave a sheepish laugh and didn't reply.

Rosque said slowly over the receiver. "...Blake?"

Blake chuckled. "Now."

Rosque let out a frustrated groan. She knew he was running his hand over his hair. She could almost see it. "I told you to warn me beforehand."

Blake shrugged. "Yeah, but I am now."

Rosque could see her easy going expression on the snail. "That doesn't leave me with enough time to get you. Garp wants to leave now, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but relax, just meet me at uh...Shellstown. HQ gave us orders, right?"

"Yes, they did. I'll meet you there tomorrow."

After her call, she went back to the deck where the boys were cleaning it. "Yo, Gramps."

Garp turned. "Yeah, brat?"

"I got orders from HQ. I'm going to meet Ros and my unit at Shellstown."

Garp nodded. "Ah, alright. Don't be an idiot while you're gone."

Blake narrowed her eyes. "Ha! That's rich coming from you."

"You little..."

Blake turned toward Coby and Helmeppo, walking over. "Good luck you two." They both snapped a salute and stood at attention. Blake smirked and ruffled their hair. "Kick ass and be strong Marines." Coby flushed and Helmeppo balked under the gesture.

She waved at Bogard and went toward the smaller Marine ship. "Hey." All the Marines jumped at her presence. "You guys have to work on your awareness."

The Head Marine stood at attention. "Commander Blake! Did something happen to Morgan?"

She shook her head. "Naw, I just need a ride to Shellstown. Can I get one?"

"Yes, Ma'am! We would be honored. I would like to thank you for catching that criminal."

Blake shrugged, grabbing her coat off the railing and shrugging it on and adjusting the lapels. "No problem."

With that, the Marine ship was headed to Shellstown, which is where she would reunite with Rosque and her crew.

She couldn't wait to go on her next adventure.