One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda
Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney
OCs belong to me.
-Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-
"I treated the Franky Family's wounds, but I didn't let Robin out of my sight for a single second!" Chopper saluted.
"Mission accomplished!" Sanji and I saluted right back as I raised my sunglasses once more and allowed them to rest atop of my head.
"I already told you, I'm not going anywhere" Robin chuckled.
"You promise?" Chopper asked.
"You have my word, soldier" she smiled.
"Good!" I brightly smiled as I folded the letter I had pulled out back up and stuffed it back into the portrait, making sure that it was safely tucked inside along with the others.
"Guys, look! Can you believe it?!" Nami excitedly asked. "My tangerine trees are okay—we got our money back and our stuff too!" she squealed as she happily showed off the tangerine trees as well as the big bags that were stuffed with all our belongings.
"Really?" Chopper questioned as I nodded my head and held out the picture frame for him to see.
"Look! It's still there, along with all the letters!" I happily chirped before I hugged the portrait close.
"Once we buy a new ship, we'll be good to go!" Nami grinned.
"Alright, that's great!" Chopper smiled as he happily laughed, joining in on the ginger haired woman's excitement as he rushed over to get a good look at the bags of our belongings, shifting through them as well himself in search of his own stuff as if wanting to make sure that it really was all there. I smiled at the sight before owlishly blinking as I turned my attention towards Robin, quick to note how her eyes were once again staring me down. She looked like she wanted to say something, that's how it's been these past few days, but every time she looks away before I can say anything about it and goes back to acting like everything's normal—acting like she hadn't just been intensely staring me down. This time was no different as she eventually directed her gaze towards our happy navigator and smiled, never once saying a single word to me.
"Wow! Baby! You guys feeling super or what?" Franky asked as he, Kiwi, and Mozu entered the room. "Oh? Some folks aren't here, whatever" he said when he saw that not everyone was present.
"What's with the big entrance? Something going on?" Sanji asked.
"You bet! Now better listen close, brother" Franky said. "So, there's this island that's always at war" he said as he sat down, wasting no time really as he just dived straight into the story he was about to tell us.
"Wait, stop, I don't care—if you're here to tell a bedtime story, go bother someone else" Sanji frowned.
"I don't know, I wouldn't mind hearing a bedtime story" I hummed as I busied myself with safely putting away the portrait in my hands.
"Shut up! This is important—listen!" Franky snapped at the two of us, annoyed that we both had been so quick to interrupt his story before he could fully get into it. "For years, fire has rained down on that island, death and destruction are the only thing that its people know—houses burn down, cities fall to ruin, there's no place to run from all that chaos and in the midst of all this madness, there's a single tree" he continued. "No matter what happens, it never falls and no matter how much the island is destroyed, its people gather around it and build it up again. It's the strongest tree in the world, as far as anyone knows, only a few exist.
"It's known as the Jewel Tree Adam" he finished.
"Huh?" Sanji questioned.
"Okay, so what?" Chopper curiously tilted his head, not quite understanding why we had needed to hear such a story about a tree.
"What was the importance of this story, good sir?" I asked.
"Every so often a piece of wood from that tree shows up in the Black Market, I've wanted one for a long time now, but the going price is 200,000,000 belis—too expensive for me" Franky said. "That is until a bunch of pirates showed up, flailing their money around and begging me to take it" he grinned.
"Bastard! You used our money to buy some stupid log and then you brag about it!" Sanji snapped.
"I told you to shut up!" Franky snapped right back, harshly smashing his fist into the ground which caused silence to wash over the room. "A long time ago, I decided that I was done building ships for the rest of my life and yet...I couldn't help but follow in the footsteps of my old master, and soon enough, I found myself designing a ship" he admitted. "Now, my hope is to use that special wood to build it, to put all my heart into one last ship—a ship of dreams that can sail across any sea. I've had the blueprints for ages, now I finally have the wood. All that's left is to make it, so what I'm saying is it would be my honor if you took my ship and sailed the world."
"Wait, so does that mean...?" Chopper asked.
"You…you're going to give us the ship? Free of charge?" Sanji questioned.
"How generous of you" I smiled.
"Uh-huh, because that way I'll know my masterpiece is in good hands—trust me, that's all I could ask for" Franky grinned. "Well, that, and you kind of paid for it already" he said, reminding us that it was the money he stole from us that had been what paid for the supplies he needed to build the ship. "Gold Rodger is the only man in history who sailed across the whole world and his ship, the Oro Jackson, was made from a Jewel Tree as well" he said. "Mark my words, I'll show you the best damn ship you've ever seen!"
"You're a shipwright, after all! You can pretend all you like, but in the end, you're just like old Tom—ain't you?!" Kokoro laughed.
"Guess you're right, I get it now" Franky smiled. "It took a while, but I think I finally understand the meaning of pride Tom felt when he died" he admitted as everyone in the room burst out cheering.
"You're the best, Franky! Thank you, we'd be happy to take your ship!" Chopper cheered.
"Alright, now onto the next island!" Sanji grinned.
"Luffy, did you hear that?! We have a new ship!" Nami excitedly told our sleeping captain.
"I think he's still asleep" I chuckled as I listened to the way our captain continued to snore before flinching when the wall to the building was suddenly busted down without any warning.
"What the hell?!" Franky asked.
"What's going on?!" Chopper worriedly questioned, frantically looking around in fear.
"Pardon me, but are you folks the Straw Hat Pirates? You see, I have some friends here that would like to share a word with Monkey D. Luffy" a man wearing a dog hat over his head said.
"The Navy?" Sanji and Franky questioned, quick to take note of the man's pristine uniform and the coat that rested on his shoulders, a coat that was heavily associated with those of higher positions within the Marines.
"Dumb kid never learns, just as careless as ever!" the man grinned the minute he spotted Luffy who was still asleep—quickly did he rush past Sanji and Franky, heading straight for the sleeping teen before any of us could really react.
"What?" Franky owlishly blinked, startled by how fast the man had been to get past him and the blond.
"Damn, he's fast!" Sanji cursed.
"Rise and shine!" the man wasted no time as he harshly struck the top of Luffy's head.
"No!" Chopper cried out.
"The hell you do that for?!" I snapped.
"Ow! That hurt!" Luffy whined, snapping awake as he now began to rub the bump on his head.
"What happened? Why would one little punch hurt so much?" Sanji frowned. "You're made of rubber!" he pointed out, distressed that the captain was whining in pain over one little punch despite the fact that punches like that didn't usually have such a negative effect on him.
"It's because there is no defense against the Fist of Love!" the man proclaimed as he finally removed his hat. Almost in an instant did my body tense up the moment I got a good look at the man's face and realized who he was—Marine Vice Admiral Garp. "You've been getting into a lot of trouble lately, haven't you, Luffy?" he huffed, sounding almost annoyed and disappointed in the rubber man.
"G-Grandpa!" Luffy stuttered out.
"What?!" everyone shouted in shock as my eyes widened...I didn't really know Garp's full name, but I had been aware that he had a grandson. I had always been under the impression that his grandson was just like him—had plans to go into the Marines just like him, to learn that instead, my captain was his grandson was quite the shock. It almost made me wonder...what would have happened if father had gone through with that threat of his years ago? The threat to just arrange a marriage between me and Garp's grandson if I didn't obediently play along and accept the arranged marriage between Zach and me. There was something amusing and almost ironic about the fact that I still wound up meeting this man's grandson and getting involved with him in some way, though not in the way that my father would have expected.
"A Marine Vice Admiral is your…" Chopper gaped.
"Grandpa?!" we all shouted.
"It's been a while" Garp said. "I think you owe me an apology, boy—you've been up to no good" he scowled.
"Garp never told us he had a grandson" one of the Marines from outside muttered in disbelief.
"I haven't heard a word about his family at all" another admitted.
"Garp?" Nami questioned as I found my breathing slowly beginning to pick up the more I stared at the man—the feeling I felt was no different from the feeling back then when we had run into Admiral Aokiji, a sense of dread that if this man looked at me and really recognized me he could easily rat me out and drag me home. "But isn't that the name of the Navy hero that fought against Gold Rodger?" the ginger inquired.
"Luffy, is this Navy guy really your grandpa?" Sanji asked.
"Sure is—no matter what, don't try to fight him" Luffy frowned. "He'll kill you just like he almost killed me over and over when I was little!" I don't know why I was having such a violent reaction to seeing the Vice Admiral considering the fact that he seemed more focused on his grandson to really care about the rest of us. Perhaps it really was that fear that if he just took the time to look—to really look—my way, he could so easily let it slip that I was Varen's daughter. I don't want them to know that because...because Zach's words were still bouncing around inside my skull to the point that I still heavily feared what they all would think, what they all would do if they knew.
"Now, now, you're going to give them the wrong idea" Garp said as he attempted to calm down his grandson. "Although I admit, I did throw you into a ravine that one time and I left you in the jungle a few times too, and sure there were those times I sent you sailing on those balloons—but I didn't do it to kill you, I did it to make you a man!" he proclaimed in defense as my body just continued to violently shake. Why? Why was I acting this way towards a man that wasn't even looking at me? That wasn't even paying the slightest bit of attention to me?
"I see, so this is where Luffy's endurance comes from, this is why everything rolls off him" Sanji realized as I flinched upon feeling a delicate hand suddenly rest on my shoulder. I didn't look to see who it was, instead, I decided to take some form of comfort in the way the person lightly squeezed at my tense muscles as if they were attempting to soothe my frayed nerves and get me to calm down.
"When I left you and Ace with my friends for training, I thought everything would work out fine" Garp sighed. "But I turn my back and you end up like this, I wanted to make you into a Navy man! You stinking ingrate, how the heck did you become a criminal?!" he frowned and what he said didn't surprise me, most Marines did heavily wish for the men in their family to follow in their lead. But Luffy wasn't required to be a Marine, in the end, only expected just like any other man in this world was expected to—I felt a pang of jealously at the thought that he actually had a choice in life, that he actually got to choose his own fate instead of having it ripped from him from the day he was born and chosen for him.
"I told you a million times I wanted to be a pirate, it's not my fault you wouldn't listen!" Luffy snapped as I slowly began to regulate my breathing and stop my shaking, softly taking comfort in the hand that continued to gently squeeze my shoulder. He wasn't paying attention to us, he didn't care about the rest of us, I had nothing to fear.
"This is all that damn redhead's fault, the fool!" Garp frowned.
"I...I wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for Shanks! Shut up!" Luffy angrily snapped as the Vice Admiral grabbed the front of his shirt.
"Shut up? Huh? Is that any way to speak to your grandpa?!" Garp glared as he drew his fist back.
"Alright! I'm sorry!" Luffy frantically apologized as he held up his hands in defense which immediately caused my body to tense right back up as so many memories flooded my mind at such a familiar scene—the scene of a child cowering in fear of an adult that they were meant to trust, of an adult that was meant to love and protect and care for them.
"We're all done for!" Chopper cried. "Our captain's been captured by the Marines!" my body started to shake as I once again tried my hardest to find comfort in the hand that was tightly squeezing my shoulder, bringing up my own hand now to grasp at the one holding my shoulder in some vague attempt to ground myself and bring myself back to reality.
"Luffy!" Nami worriedly cried out.
"Help! No!" Luffy shouted.
"This is bad—if we try to help Luffy, then all those Marines outside are going to rush in and attack us!" Sanji grounded out before everything suddenly grew silent saved for the sounds of snoring. Instantly did my shaking stop as I gave a deadpanned expression towards the two men that had fallen asleep, both still in the same position they had been holding when awake.
"They're asleep?!" Franky, Sanji, and Chopper exclaimed.
"Uh...wait, what are we supposed to do here?" Franky hesitantly asked. "I've never been in a situation like this before" he admitted, not knowing what to do now that the threat we had been worried about was neutralized solely because the two individuals involved had fallen asleep
"I don't know whether we should wake them up or let them sleep..." I said as the hand on my shoulder slipped itself out from under my own and Robin calmly stepped beside me.
"Oh no! Did I fall asleep again?" Garp tiredly asked as he jolted awake, looking around in a slight daze for but a moment in an attempt to gather his bearings. "Wake up and take a lecture like a man!" he snapped when he noticed that Luffy was asleep once again. "Don't you dare go dozing off on me when I'm talking to you! If you don't show your grandpa some respect, I'll have to beat it out of you!" he threatened as he started to beat up on the raven-haired man. It made me uncomfortable as my mind was already once again playing tricks on me as the images around me warped into twisted memories. Memories of a child cowering before a man much bigger than them...that's all I could think of as I wrapped my arms around my body and clutched my shoulders as if I was attempting to hug myself close.
"Speaking of that redheaded pirate friend of yours, do you have any clue what kind of dangerous business he's been involved in?" the Vice Admiral suddenly asked the moment he was finished beating up on his grandson.
"No, I haven't heard anything about Shanks in a long time, is he okay? What's he up to?" Luffy asked.
"Is he okay? Of course!" Garp huffed. "There are as many pirates out there as there are stars in the sky, but that redhead is one of the brightest—he's the same class as Whitebeard even. There are only four pirates as powerful as that and they rule over the second half of the Grand Line like kings" he told us. "They're the Four Emperors, the Seven Warlords and us folks of the Navy have allied against them—the idea is to create a balance of power, if any one of these three forces grew stronger than the others, then the peace we worked so hard to protect would come crumbling down" he revealed.
"I don't really get it, but I'm glad he's okay" Luffy admitted. "Man, brings back memories, huh?" he smiled as he looked down at his straw hat with such a fond expression on his face.
"Luffy has connections to Red Hair Shanks?" Robin questioned.
"That's where he got his straw hat from" Nami said. "Shanks asked him to take care of it, I had no idea he was such an important guy though" my lips twitched upwards upon hearing this before we all soon became aware of the sounds of fighting going on outside.
"What's going on out there?" Garp asked his men.
"It's the pirate hunter, he seems to be going on some sort of rampage" one of the men answered back.
"Hey, Skylar, looks like your man's kicking up a fuss out there" Nami said.
"Of course, he is" I sweat dropped. "Idiot can't just behave himself, can he?" I sighed which caused the navigator to chuckle.
"Ah, he's from Luffy's crew, huh? He looks pretty tough—go ahead, you two, give them hell" Garp said as he motioned for two young men to deal with the problem.
"Sir!" the two saluted—one looked to be about my age and had pink hair while the other was a blond that looked to be about a few years older. I didn't care much for the words exchanged as I followed behind Luffy who made his way over towards Zoro—I just wanted to put a little distance between me and the Vice Admiral in some vague attempt to calm my nerves and settle my mind which was still running wild with thoughts that I wish would just go away. My mind was elsewhere, I couldn't really find myself to care about the fight that was occurring as I just stood there with glazed over eyes and pretended like I actually cared what was happening. I didn't really snap out of my dazed thinking until I heard Garp's boisterous laughter fill the air the minute Luffy and Zoro had the blond and pink haired man down on the ground.
"Boy, you're no match at all!" Garp laughed, seemingly not all that bothered that his men had lost to two pirates.
"You're as tough I thought you'd be!" the pink haired man laughed. "That was a nice one! Anyways, I give" he said as the two pirates stepped back and allowed the two to stand back up. "Hi, Luffy, Zoro, it's been a while—do you know who I am?" he asked the minute he was back up on his feet.
"Uh...no" Luffy shook his head as I made my way over towards them, stopping right beside Zoro as I grabbed his hand and intertwined our fingers together.
"Look, it's me, it's Coby" the man said, raising a curious eyebrow at my actions as his gaze seemed to focus for a moment on mine and Zoro's hands as if he was having a bit of trouble understanding what he was seeing. "You mean you don't remember me?" he asked, shaking his head and looking back towards Luffy.
"Coby, huh?" Luffy questioned, tilting his head to the side in thought. "Well, I do have a friend named Coby, but the Coby I knew was a whole lot smaller than you—sorry" he apologized.
"Nope, that's the right Coby" Coby nodded. "The crybaby, good for nothing Coby from before" he chuckled.
"Quite harsh on yourself there" I said with the raise of my eyebrow.
"No way!" Luffy gawked as his eyes widened in shock, not believing what he was seeing.
"Yeah, that's him, but why is he on the Grand Line?" Zoro asked as he gave my hand a small squeeze.
"To be honest, I'm not a Navy Commissioner Officer yet" Coby admitted. "But when I heard you guys were in the area, I had to stop by and say hello while I still had the chance" he said. "If it wasn't for you two, we wouldn't be where we are today" he smiled.
"Well, I wouldn't go quite that far" the blond beside him said.
"A lot of stuff happened, but long story short, we ended up being trained by Vice Admiral Garp himself" Coby said.
"Cool, that must have been hard work!" Luffy smiled. "Man, you grew so much from before, I didn't even recognize you! It's crazy, the Coby I remember was a pudgy, little dorky guy!" he laughed.
A/N: Enjoy
Please Review, Favorite, and Follow.